Skip to main content

Full text of "The American naturalist"

See other formats 


This  is  a  digital  copy  of  a  book  that  was  preserved  for  generations  on  library  shelves  before  it  was  carefully  scanned  by  Google  as  part  of  a  project 
to  make  the  world's  books  discoverable  online. 

It  has  survived  long  enough  for  the  copyright  to  expire  and  the  book  to  enter  the  public  domain.  A  public  domain  book  is  one  that  was  never  subject 
to  copyright  or  whose  legal  copyright  term  has  expired.  Whether  a  book  is  in  the  public  domain  may  vary  country  to  country.  Public  domain  books 
are  our  gateways  to  the  past,  representing  a  wealth  of  history,  culture  and  knowledge  that's  often  difficult  to  discover. 

Marks,  notations  and  other  marginalia  present  in  the  original  volume  will  appear  in  this  file  -  a  reminder  of  this  book's  long  journey  from  the 
publisher  to  a  library  and  finally  to  you. 

Usage  guidelines 

Google  is  proud  to  partner  with  libraries  to  digitize  public  domain  materials  and  make  them  widely  accessible.  Public  domain  books  belong  to  the 
public  and  we  are  merely  their  custodians.  Nevertheless,  this  work  is  expensive,  so  in  order  to  keep  providing  this  resource,  we  have  taken  steps  to 
prevent  abuse  by  commercial  parties,  including  placing  technical  restrictions  on  automated  querying. 

We  also  ask  that  you: 

+  Make  non-commercial  use  of  the  files  We  designed  Google  Book  Search  for  use  by  individuals,  and  we  request  that  you  use  these  files  for 
personal,  non-commercial  purposes. 

+  Refrain  from  automated  querying  Do  not  send  automated  queries  of  any  sort  to  Google's  system:  If  you  are  conducting  research  on  machine 
translation,  optical  character  recognition  or  other  areas  where  access  to  a  large  amount  of  text  is  helpful,  please  contact  us.  We  encourage  the 
use  of  public  domain  materials  for  these  purposes  and  may  be  able  to  help. 

+  Maintain  attribution  The  Google  "watermark"  you  see  on  each  file  is  essential  for  informing  people  about  this  project  and  helping  them  find 
additional  materials  through  Google  Book  Search.  Please  do  not  remove  it. 

+  Keep  it  legal  Whatever  your  use,  remember  that  you  are  responsible  for  ensuring  that  what  you  are  doing  is  legal.  Do  not  assume  that  just 
because  we  believe  a  book  is  in  the  public  domain  for  users  in  the  United  States,  that  the  work  is  also  in  the  public  domain  for  users  in  other 
countries.  Whether  a  book  is  still  in  copyright  varies  from  country  to  country,  and  we  can't  offer  guidance  on  whether  any  specific  use  of 
any  specific  book  is  allowed.  Please  do  not  assume  that  a  book's  appearance  in  Google  Book  Search  means  it  can  be  used  in  any  manner 
anywhere  in  the  world.  Copyright  infringement  liability  can  be  quite  severe. 

About  Google  Book  Search 

Google's  mission  is  to  organize  the  world's  information  and  to  make  it  universally  accessible  and  useful.  Google  Book  Search  helps  readers 
discover  the  world's  books  while  helping  authors  and  publishers  reach  new  audiences.  You  can  search  through  the  full  text  of  this  book  on  the  web 

at  http  :  //books  .  google  .  com/| 


Digitized  by 


Google 


Digitized  by 


Google 


I 


Digitized  by 


Google 


H 


Digitized  by 


Google 


THE 


AMERICAN   NATURALIST, 


AN  ILLUSTRATED  MAGAZINE 


NATURAL     HISTORY 


EDITED  BY 

ALPHEUS  S.  PACKARD  and  EDWARD.  D.  COPE. 

ASSOCIATE  EDITORS: 

W.  N.  LOCKINGTON,  Dep.  of  Geography  and  Travels. 
W.  S.  BAYLEY,  Dep.  Mineralogy  and  Petrography. 
Prof.  C.  E.  BESSEY,  Department  of  Botany. 
J.  S.  KIJIGSLEY.  Invertebrata. 
JOHN  A.  RYDER,  Department  of  Embryology. 
Prof.  HENRY  SEWALL.  Department  of  Physiology. 
Prof.  OTIS  T.  MASON,  Department  of  Anthropology. 
Dr.  C.  O.  WHITA^N,  Department  of  Microscopy. 


VOLUME  XX. 


PHILADELPHIA: 
1886. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


Digitized  by 


Google 


CONTENTS. 


Boulder  Mouiics  in  Dakota.    [Illustrated.] J.  E,  Todd \/ 

A  Study  of  the  Dandelion,    [Illustrated.] E.  Lewis  Siurtevant 5^ 

The  Relations  of  Mind  ajod  Matter.    (Concluded  from  p.  1x59, 

December  number) CkarUs  Morris so 

Some  Notes  on  the  Liie-history  of  the  Common  Newt Nicolas  Pike 17 

The  Relation  of  the  Pectoral  Muscles  of  Birds  to  the  Power  of 

Flight Charles  L.  Edwards 95 

Geological  Extinction  and  some  of  its  Apparent  Causes  ,  .  ,  ,  A.  S.  Packard 36 

The  Pcst-mortem  Imbibition  of  Poisons George  B.  Miller        loi 

Ascent  of  the  Volcano  of  Popocatepetel.     [Illustrated.]  .  .  .  .A.S,  Packard Z09 

Notes  on  the  CEcod9mas.  or  Leaf-cutting  Ants  of  Trinidad. 

intustrated.] C.  Brtni 133 

The  Teivdo,  or  Shipworm.    [Illustrated.] R,  E.  C.  Steams 131 

The  Flood  Rock  Explosion William  Hosea  Ballou  ....  137 

Migration  of  Sionan  Tribes.    [Illustrated.] J.  Owen  Dorsey 2xx^ 

The  Torture  of  the  Fish-hawk.    [Illustrated.] /.  Lancaster 223 

A  Study  of  Garden  Lettuce E.  L.  StMrte^L'ani 330" 

Aquatic  Respiration  in  Soft-shelled  Turtles :  A  Contribution  to 

the  Physiology  of  Respiration  in  Vertebrates Simon  H.  and  Susanna  Phelps 

Gage ,.  .  933 

Description  of  a  new  Subspecies  of  the  common  Eastern  Chip- 
munk   C.  Hart  Merriam 239 

Fish  Remains  and  Tracks  in  the  Triassic  Rocks  at  Wcehawken, 

N.  J.    [Illustrated.] L.  P.  Gratacap 943 

ResemHaaces  In  Arts  widely  separated Otis  T.  Mason 946 

The  Ancestry  of  Nasua Samuel  Lockwood 391 

The  Mechanics  of  Soaring.    [Illustrated.] /.  Lancaster 3«6 

The  Stone  Ax  in  Vermont.   [Illustrated.] Geo.  H.  Perkins 333 

GffOBse's  Oassification  and  Structure  of  the  Bird-lice  or  Mallo- 

phasa.    [Illustrated.] G.  Macloskie 340 

Track  of  a  Cyclone  which  passed  over  Western  Indiana  more 

than  three  hundred  years  ago Jno.  T.  Campbell 348 

On  the  Mounting  of  Fossils.    [Illustrated.] Franklin  C.  Hill 353 

The  Limits  of  Organic  Erolution H.  W^,  Conn 413 

Andent  Rock  Inscriptions  in  Eastern  Dakota.  [Illustrated.] .  .  T.  H  I.ewis 423  "^ 

Variation  of  Water  in  Trees  and  Shrubs.    [Illustrated.]  ,  .  ,  .  D.  P.  Penhallow 495 

Domestication  of  the  Grizzly  Bear John  Dean  Caton  . 434 

On  the  Nature  and  Origin  of  the  so-called  "  Spiral  Thread  "  of 

Trachec    [Illustrated.] A,  S.  Packard 438 

The  Making  of  Man Charles  Morris 493 

Review  of  the  Progress  of  North  American  Invertebrate  Palae- 
ontology for  1885 J.  B.  Marcou 505 

Gravitation  and  the  Soaring  Birds.    [Illustrated.] /.  Lancaster 514 

Causes  of  Forest  Rotation John  T.  Campbell s^x,  851 

Ofaaenratioos  on  Young  Humming-birds H  S.  Greenoug-h 528 

The  Mechanics  of  Soaring J.  E.  Hendricks 532 

A  New  Trap-door  Spider.    [Illustrated.] Geo.  F.  Atkinson 583 

A  few  Legendary  Fragments  from  the  Toint  Barrow  Eskimos  ,  John  Murdoch 593 

History  of  Celery.    [Illustrated.] E.  Lewis  Stttrtevani 599  '^ 

The  Ydlow-bilkd  Magpie Barton  IV.  Evermann  ....  607 

The  Pbyk)geny  of  the  CamelidsB.    [Illustrated.] E.  D.  Cope 611 

Ants' Ncsu  and  their  Inhabitants John  B.  Smith 679 

Geographical  and  Geological  Explorations  in  Brazil John  C.  Branner 687 


Digitized  by 


Google 


iv  Contents. 

The  Wings  oi  Birds /.  LancatUr 701 

Animal  Traits /.  LanctuUr 757 

^  Navajo  Names  for  Plants W.  Matthrws 767 

Some  Deities  and  Demons  of  the  Navajos W.  Afattkewt 841 

Buffido  and  Chicago,  or  "What  Might  Have  Been?" E.  H^.  ClayPoU, 856 

The  Arthropod  Eye.    [Illustrated.] J.  S.  ICingsi^ 86a 

Comparative  Studies  upon  Glaciation  of  North  America,  Great 

Britain  and  Ireland H.  Carvill  Lewis 919 

Some  Peculiarities  of  the  Local  Drift  of  the  Rocky  Mountains  .  .  TJuo.  B.  Comttcck 925 

The  Mammary  Gland  of  the  Elephant Spencer  Trotter 937 

Is  Littorina  litorea  introduced  or  indigenous  f IV,  F.  Ganong 931 

On  Lemurine  Reversion  in  Human  Dentition E.  D.  Cope 941 

The  Scallop  and  its  Fishery Ernest  Ingersoll xooi 

Superonetamorphism  and  Vulcanism TJuo,  B.  Comstock xoc6 

Zoic  Maxima,  or  Periods  of  Numerical  Variation  in  Animals  . .  ,  L.  P.  Graiaeetp 1009 

The  Peabody  Museum's  Explorations  in  Ohio F.  W.  Putnam 1017 

An  Interesting  Connecting  Genus  of  Chordata  •  • S.  D.  Cope X037 

Editors'  Tablb. 

The  Naturalist,  40 ;  State  Academies  of  Science,  41 ;  The  Academy  of  Original  Research,  140  ; 
Evolution  of  the  Alphabet,  95a ;  The  bestiarians,  354 ;  The  relations  of  the  National  Academy 
of  Sciences  to  the  Government,  443 ;  The  Missing  Link,  534 ;  The  U.  S.  Geological  Survey,  536 ; 
A  Government  Department  of  Science  and  Public  Instruction.  634 ;  Theology  on  Evolution,  708  ; 
Illustration  in  U.  S.  Geological  Survey  Work,  709 ;  The  Method  of  Teaching  Natural  History, 
868:  The  Recent  Earthquake,  8e9;  The  U.  S.  Geological  Surrey,  870;  Instruction  and  Investiga- 
tion, 948 ;  The  Function  of  the  American  Naturalist,  X039. 

Rbcxnt  Litbratubx. 

Homaday*s  Two  Years  In  the  Jungle  [Illustrated],  4a :  Goodale's  Vegeuble  Physiology,  45  ; 
Wood's  Nature's  Teachings,  47 ;  Report  of  the  State  Geologist  of  New  Jersey  for  X884,  48 ; 
Fourteenth  Annual  Report  of  the  Geology  and  Natural  History  Survey  of  Indiana,  48 :  Recent 
Books  and  Pamphlets,  48;  The  unpaired  Fins  of  Selachians,  143 ;  Bower  and  Vines'  Practical 
Botany,  143;  Torrey's  Birds  in  the  Bush,  X45 ;  Louis  Agassis,  His  Ldfe  and  Correspondence, 
X4s;  Our  Living  Worid  [Illustrated],  X46;  Recent  Books  and  Pamphleu,  X47;  Coulter's  Rocky 
Mountain  Botany,  354 :  The  Catalogue  of  Uzards  in  the  British  Museum,  956:  Hartman's  An* 
thropoid  Apes  [Illustrated],  358 ;  Kane's  Hand-book  of  European  Butterflies,  358 ;  Langille's 
Our  Birds  and  their  Haunts,  359:  Our  Living  Worid,  359 ;  Thompson's  Bibliography  of  Protozoa, 
etc.,  359;  Recent  Books  and  Pamphlets,  360;  CroU's  Climate  and  Cosmology,  359:  Leunis' 
Synopsis  der  Thierkunde,  361 ;  Beddoe's  Races  of  Briuin,  363 ;  Zittel's  Handbuch  der  Palae- 
ontologie,  363 ;  Faxon's  Revision  of  the  Crawfish,  363 ;  Graber's  Aninul  Mechanics,  363 ; 
French's  Butterflies  of  the  Eastern  United  States,  364 ;  Government  PubMcations,  364 ;  The 
Annals  of  the  Cakchiqueh,  444 ;  Report  of  the  New  York  Agricultural  Experiment  Station, 
448 ;  Schmidt's  Mammalia  in  their  Relation  to  Primeval  Times,  450 ;  Geikie's  Class-book  ot 
Geology,  450;  A  Hand-book  of  Plant  Dissection,  536;  The  Fourth  Annual  Report  of  the  U. 
S.  Geological  Survey  [Illustrated],  538 :  The  Zoological  Record  for  1884.  538 ;  The  American 
Ornithologists'  Union  Check-list  of  North  American  Birds,  539 ;  Recent  Books  and  Pamphlets, 
539;  Gilbert's  Topographic  Features  of  Lake  Shores  [Illustrated],  636;  Recent  Books  and 
Pamphlets,  638 :  The  Olden  Time  Series,  7x0;  Conn's  Evolution  of  To-day,  7XX ;  Recent  Books 
and  Pamphlets,  7x3;  Japanese  Homes  and  their  Surroundings  [Illustratedl,  778  ;  Recent  Books 
and  Pamphleu,  794 ;  Theodore  H.  Hittell's  History  of  California,  87X ;  Packard's  First  Lessons 
in  Zoology,  873 ;  Studies  from  the  Biological  Laboratories  ot  the  Owens  College*  874 ;  Recent 
Books  and  Pamphlets,  874 ;  Milne's  Earthquakes  [Illustrated],  949  :  Wheeler's  Report  upon  the 
Third  International  Geographical  Congress,  955 ;  The  Morph(^eny  of  the  Vertebral  Column  in 
the  Amniota,  956;  Die  Classen  u.  Ordnungen  des  Thierreichs  in  Wort  u.  Bild,  956:  Recent 
Books  and  Pamphlets,  957.*  Smith's  "Albatross,"  Crustacea,  X033:  Sedgwick  and  Wilson's 
Biology,  X033 ;  Whitfield's  Brachiopoda  and  Lamellibranchiau  of  New  Jersey,  X034 :  Recent 
Books  and  Pamphlets,  1034. 

Gbnbral  Notbs. 

Geography  and  Travels. ^^^va^ :  The  Trigonometrical  Survey  of  India,  Mr.  Hosie's  Travels 
in  China,  Asiatic  News,  50 ;  Africa :  Somaliland,  The  Lake  Moeris,  The  Kassai  Tributary  of  the 
Congo,  African  News,  53;  Asia:  The  Rivers  of  the  Punjab,  Some  Himalayan  Peaks,  M. 
Potaneri's  Journey,  Asiatic  News,  148 ;  America :  The  Claims  of  France  in  Brazil,  American 
News,  151 ;  Africa :  Capello  and  Ivens'  Journey,  153 ;  General,  361 ;  Arctic  Regions,  361 ;  Africa  : 


Digitized  by 


Google 


Contents.         .  v 

The  ResouKes  of  Africa,  Lieut.  Wissman's  Expedition^  African  News,  262 ;  Asia  :  Southern 
India,  Asiatic  News,  364;  America:  The  Goajira  Peninsula,  American  News,  365:  Asia:  Col. 
PrejeYabky's  Journey,  Asiatic  News,  365  :  Africa  :  British  and  German  Protectorates,  African 
News,  366 :  Europe :  European  News,  367 ;  Asia :  Railway  projects  in  the  Shan  country.  The 
Heri-nid  ralley,  Asiatic  Notes,  541 ;  Africa:  Mr.  Kerr's  Journey  to  Lake  Nyassa,  The  Berbers, 
The  Congo,  54a;  America:  American  News,  544;  Europe  :  European  News,  544:  Asia:  Tong- 
king.  The  Survey  of  Japan,  Asiat'c  Ne%-s,  639 ;  Asiatic  Islands  and  Australia,  etc.,  630 ;  Europe  : 
European  News,  631 ;  America :  American  News,  631 ;  Africa  :  African  New«,  63a  ;  Asia  and 
the  Islands:  The  Hill  country  of  Assam,  Mr.  Carles  upon  Corea,  New  Guinea,  Asiatic  News, 
714 ;  Africa:  Madagascar,  Algeria,  African  News,  717;  America :  The  Gran  Chaco,  718 ;  Ocean, 
7x9;  America:  American  News,  797;  Asia:  Persia,  Exploration  on  the  Lena,  The  Turki 
Tongues,  Asiatic  News,  797;  Africa  :  The  Congo,  The  Ibland  of  Diego  Garcia,  African  News, 
798;  Asia:  The  Aralo-Caspian  basin,  Asiatic  News,  876:  America:  American  News,  878: 
Africa :  Mr.  Farini's  Journey  in  the  Kalahari,  The  Congo,  African  New«,  878 ;  Europe :  European 
Kews,  881;  General, 960:  America:  The  Zingu,  American  News,  960;  Africa:  Mozambique, 
96s  ;  Europe  :  Surveys  in  the  Pyrenees,  96a;  Asia  :  Burmah,  The  Drj-ing  up  of  Siberian  Lakes, 
969;  America:  The  Ruins  of  Copan,  etc..  American  News,  1037 ;  Europe  and  Asia :  Lake  Le- 
Bum,  The  Pamir,  1038 ;  Pacific  Islands  :  Captain  Bridges'  Cruises,  The  New  ZealaQd  Earth- 
quake, 2039  :  Africa  :  African  News,  1041. 

Gtology  and  PalaoiUology.^'XvXtnaX  Chemical  and  Mechanical  Erosion  a  Factor  in  Continent 
aiid  Mountain  Building,  53:  Geological  Survey  of  Belgium,  57;  The  Bed  of  the  Ocean,  57: 
Geological  News,  59 ;  The  Sternum  of  the  Dinosauria  [Illustrated],  153  ;  Corrections  of  Notes 
00  Dinocerata,  155;  Discovery  of  lamellate  thoracic  Feet  in  the  PhyUocarida,  155;  Geological 
Survey  of  Penn<tylvania,  156:  Geological  Survey  of  Minnesota,  156;  Geological  News,  X56; 
The  English  Cretaceoiis,  a66 ;  On  Proscorpius  osbornei  Whitfield,  269 ;  An  Extinct  Dog,  374 ; 
The  Vertebrate  Fauna  of  the  Ticholeptus  Beds,  367:  Scudder's  Fossil  Insects,  369;  Oscar 
Schmidt  on  the  Origin  of  the  Domestic  Dog,  370 ;  Geolo^cal  News,  37a ;  The  Plagiaulacida  of 
tlie  Puerco epoch,  451 :  "  List  of  the  Geological  Formations  of  Spitsbergen."  451 ;  Nicholson  on 
Stromatoporidae,  453  ;  Fossil  Hippopotami,  45a  ;  The  long-spined  Theromorpha  of  the  Permian 
epoch,  S44:  The  Report  of  the  Congress  of  Geologists,  546:  First  Appearance  of  flie  Grasses, 
546 :  Geological  News,  547 ;  The  Fossil  Man  of  Penon,  Mexico,  633 ;  On  the  Fossil  Flora  of  the 
Laramie  Series  of  Western  Canada,  635 ;  Notes  on  the  Variation  of  certain  Tertiary  Fossils  in 
overiyiog  beds  [Illustrated],  637 ;  Geological  News,  638 ;  Schlosser  on  the  Phylogeny  of  the  Un- 
gulate Mammalia,  719;  Geological  News,  731 ;  Walcott  on  the  Cambrian  of  North  America,  800 ; 
Geological  News,  8oa ;  The  Permian*  in  Nebraska,  88z  ;  The  Recent  Earthquake  in  the  United 
States,  883  ;  Geological  News,  884 ;  A  remarkable  extinct  Geyser  Basin  in  S.  W.  Colorado,  963  ; 
Schlosser  on  Creodonu  and  Phenacodus,  965 ;  DoUo  on  extinct  Tortoises,  967 ;  Geological  News, 
968;  Notice  of  Geological  Investigations  along  the  eastern  shore  of  Lake  Champlain,  made  by 
Professor  H.  M.  Seely  and  Prest.  Ezra  Brainard,  1041 ;  The  Veins  of  Southwestern  Colorado, 
1043 ;  A  giant  Armadillo  from  the  Miocene  of  Kansas,  1044 ;  Geological  News,  1046. 

Mimeralogj  atut  Pttrograpkf.^Pixaecicxck  Minerals,  60;  Microchemical  Reactions,  63  ;  Crys- 
taDographic  News,  63;  Miscellaneous,  63 ;  Etched  Figures,  158 ;  Andesite,  160;  WildschSnau 
Gabbro,  160;  Petrc^;raphical  News,  x6o:  Miscellaneous,  x6x  ;  Tin,  974  ;  Petrographicnl  News, 
•75;  Mineralogical News,  377 :  New  Books,  377 ;  Hussak's  "Determination  of  Rock-forming 
Mioerals,"  374;  Peirographical  News,  375:  Mineralogical  News,  376;  Miscellaneoiis,  378:  Min- 
cialogica]  News,  453;  Petrographical  News,  455;  Miscellaneous,  456:  Petrographical  News, 
548 :  Mineralogical  News,  550 ;  Petrographical  News,  640 ;  Mineralogical  News,  643 ;  Petro- 
graphical News,  733 :  Mineralogical  News,  735 ;  Miscellaneous,  737 ;  New  Books,  X047 :  Minera- 
logical News,  X048 ;  Petrographical  News,  Z049. 

^tflai^.— The  Asa  Gray  Vase,  63 ;  Caulogue  of  the  Plants  of  North  America,  64  ;  The  De 
OuKiotle  Prise,  64 ;  The  Drying  of  Wheat,  64 ;  The  Study  of  Plants  in  Winter,  65 ;  The  Bo- 
tanical value  of  Agricultural  Experiments,  65 ;  Fertilization  of  Teucrium  canadense,  66 ;  Speci- 
mens of  Cuscuta  wanted,  67:  Bounical  News,  67:  Can  Varieties  of  Apples  be  distinguished  by 
their  Flowers  [Illustrated],  i6a  ;  Formation  of  Starch  in  the  Leaves  of  the  Vine,  165  ;  The  Pro- 
duction of  Male  and  Female  Plants.  t66 ;  Pear  Blight  Bacteria  and  the  Horticulturists,  x66 ; 
Botanical  News,  z66 ;  The  adventitious  Inflorescence  of  Cuscuta  glomerata  known  to  the  Ger- 
mans, 378:  Symbiosis  between  a  Fungus  and  the  Roots  of  flowering  Plants,  379  ;  Internal  Spore- 
formation  ia  Diatoms,  380 ;  Botanical  Laboratories  in  the  United  States,  381 :  Linhart's  Un* 
gams  Pilze,  Century  iv,  381 :  Botanical  News,  383;  Branching  of  Osmunda  claytoniana  [Illus> 
trstcd],  379 ;  Movements  of  Dcsmids,  379 ;  Pleomorphism  of  Algx,  380 ;  Tree  Growth  on  the 
PUIos,  380;  Botajiical  News,  381 ;  Carbonaceous  Reserve  Food-materials  in  Fungi,  456;  Hens- 


Digitized  by 


Google 


vi  Contents. 

low's  Studies  of  Evaporation  of  Water  from  Plants,  457 ;  Ellis  and  Ererfaart's  North  American 
Fungi,  458 :  Botanical  News,  459 ;  Variations  of  Tradescantia  vtiiginica,  551 ;  Some  abnormal 
Forms  of  Vaucheria  [Illustrated],  55a ;  Botany  tn  Winter,  553 :  Figures  of  some  American  Coni- 
fers, 643;  Strange  Pollen-tubes  of  Lobelia  [Illustrated],  644:  Books  on  Fungi,  645 ;  A  Pocket 
Manual  of  BoUny,  646;  A  cheap  Hand-book  of  Mosses,  647;  Botanical  News,  648:  Aids  to 
Botanixing,  7*7;  A  Broader  Elementary  Botany,  738;  Watson's  Contributions  to  American 
Botany,  xiii,  799 ;  Botany  at  the  Approaching  Meeting  of  the  A.  A.  A.  S.,  739 ;  Botanical  News, 
799;  The'PhaUoideaeorStink-hom  Fungi,  804 ;  The  Rust  of  the  Ash  Tree,  806;  Twigs  Killed 
by  Telephone  Wires,  806 ;  An  Instance  of  Individual  Variation,  807 ;  Botanical  News,  807 ;  Bo> 
Unical  Work  of  the  American  Association  for  the  Advancement  of  Science,  886;  The  Bounical 
Qub  of  the  A.  A.  A.  S.,  888 ;  Botanical  News,  888;  How  shall  Botany  be  Uught  in  Agricul- 
tural  Colleges,  970 ;  Botanical  News,  97a ;  I1ie  Wind  and  the  Tree-tops,  1051 ;  A  Hybrid  Apple, 
105a :  Ruppia  maritima  L.  in  Nebraska,  X052 ;  The  Roughness  of  certain  Uredospores,  1053  ; 
Another  "  Tnmble-weed,"  1053:  Botanical  News,  1054.' 

Em/ffmo/eay.— Recent  Discovery  of  Carboniferous  Insects,  68 ;  Plateau's  Experiments  on  Vis- 
ion in  Insects,  69 ;  The  Division  of  the  Sexes  of  Hymenoptera,  71 :  Entomological  News,  71 : 
The  Preparatory  Stages  of  Calocampa  cineritia  Grote,  168;  Morphology  of  Lepidoptera,  169  ; 
Flights  of  Locusts  at  San  Luis  Potosi,  Mexico,  1885.  170;  Longevity  of  Ants,  170:  Ento- 
mological News,  171:  Witlacril  on  Psyllidae  [Illustrated],  383;  Entomological  News,  987;  On 
the  Cinurous  Thysanura  and  Symphyla  of  Mexico,  38a  ;  The  Locust  in  Southeastern  Russia, 
383  :  Entomological  News,  384  ;  Dcvelopmsnt  of  the  Mole  Cricket  [Illustrated],  460 ;  Develop- 
ment of  the  Hooey  Bee,  46a:  Lintner's  Second  Report  as  State  Entomologist  of  New  York, 
464 ;  Entomological  News,  464  .-  A  carnivorous  Butterfly  Larva,  Plant-lice  feeding  Habit  of 
Fenesica  tarquinius,  556;  Witlaczil  on  Coccidx,  557;  The  Origin  of  the  Spiral  Thread  in 
Tracheae,  A  Correction,  558 ;  Destructive  Locusts  in  Texas,  558 ;  Entomological  News,  559 ; 
Description  of  the  Form  of  the  Female  in  a  Lampyrid  (Zarhipis  riversi  Horn),  648  ;  History 
of  the  Buffalo  Gnat,  650;  Larval  Forms  of  Polydesmus  canadensis,  651 ;  Occurrence  of  early 
stages  of  Blepharocera,  651 ;  Entomological  Notes,  65a ;  Hubbard's  Insects  Affecting  the  Orange, 
730;  Stridulating  and  Sense-organs  in  Diplopod  Myriopoda,  731 ;  Entomological  News,  731; 
A  new  Arrangement  of  the  Orders  of  Insects,  808 ;  Luminous  Organs  of  Mexican  Cucuyo,  808 : 
The  Distribution  of  derived  Plant-pigments  in  certain  Larvae,  8x0 :  The  Fluid  ejected  by  Noto- 
dontian  Caterpillars,  81  z ;  Peculiar  subcutaneous  Organs  in  the  Caterpillar  of  Catocala,  8ta  ;  The 
Darkening  of  the  Hairs  of  the  Larva  of  Acronycta  before  Pupation,  813  ;  An  Eversible  "  Gland" 
in  the  Larva  of  Orgyia,  814;  Entomological  News,  814 ;  The  Organ  of  Smell  in  Arthropods, 
^1  973  i  Coxal  Glands  in  Spiders  and  perhaps  Insects,  975 ;  Heart  of  Insect),  976  ;  Migrations 
of  Ajax  Butterfly,  976 ;  Entomological  News,  977  ;  A  remarkable  case  of  Longevity  in  a  Longi- 
com  Beetle  (Eburia  quadrigeminata),  X055. 

ZcoUgy.^LWmg  and  Dead  Protoplasm,  ji ;  Sphaerularia  in  America,  73 ;  Notes  on  some 
Eastern  Iowa  Snails,  75 ;  The  Batrachian  Intercentrum,  76:  Antidote  to  the  Scorpion's  Sting, 
273 ;  The  CrusUcea  of  the  Black  Sea,  17a ;  The  Molting  of  the  Lobster,  173  ;  llie  Oldest  Tanut, 
173  ;  The  Intercentrum  of  Living  Reptilia,  174:  The  Intercentrum  in  Sphenodon,  175;  On  the 
Tarsus  of  Bats  [Illustrated],  175;  Range  of  the  American  Bison,  177;  Zoological  News,  177: 
The  Proatlas,  Atlas  and  Axis  of  the  Crocodilia  [Illustrated],  a88 ;  Three  problematical  Gen* 
era  of  Mexican  Boaeform  Snakes,  393 ;  Note  on  the  Problem  of  Soaring  Birds,  394 ;  On  the  Types 
of  Tooth-structure  in  Mammalia,  395;  An  extraordinary  Human  Dentition,  297;  Zoological 
News,  997;  Phosphorescence  of  Marine  Animals,  385;  The  Fauna  of  the  Aralo-caspian  Basin, 
387 ;  Amcsba  infesting  Sheep,  388 ;  Desiccation  of  Rotifers,  388 ;  Parasite  of  the  Rock  Oyster, 
389 ;  Sense-organs  of  Copepod  Crustacea,  389 ;  Birds  breeding  in  Ants'  Nests,  389 ;  The  Soaring 
of  Birds,  390 ;  Zoological  News,  391 ;  Markings  of  Animals,  465;  Blind  Crabs,  465;  The  Inter- 
centrum in  Sphenodon  (Hatteria),  465  ;  Zoological  News,  466:  Self-division  in  Septic  Monads, 
559 ;  Blue  Color  of  Animals,  561 :  Perception  of  Brightness  and  Color  by  Marine  Animals, 
56s ;  The  Sacrum  of  Menopoma  [Illustrated],  561 ;  Zoological  News,  563 ;  Physiological  Selec- 
tion, 653 :  Mechanics  of  Soaring.  653 ;  Limulus  in  the  Pacific,  654 ;  The  Swim-bladder  of  Fishes, 
654 ;  The  former  Southern  Limiu  of  the  White  or  Polar  Bear  [Illustrated],  655 ;  Zoological  News, 
659 1  Geographical  Distribution  of  Pelagic  Marine  Animals,  73a ;  Influence  of  High  Pressures 
on  Animal  Tissues,  73a ;  Shell  Formation  in  Bivalve  MoUusks,  73a ;  Mechanism  of  Opening  of 
the  Shell  of  Mussels,  733 ;  Abyssal  Decapod  Crustacea  of  Ihe  North  Atlantic,  734 ;  The  Most 
Southern  Salmon,  735  ;  The  Habits  ot  Eublepharis  variegatus  Baird,  73s  ;  The  Sense  Organ  in 
the  Pineal  Gland,  736 ;  The  Vertebrae  of  Sphenodon,  736 ;  The  Rattlesnake  in  New  England, 
736 ;  Zoological  News,' 737 ;  Hair-like  Processes  on  Glandular  Epithelium,  8x5  ;  Organs  of  Flight, 
8x5 ;  Unusual  Abundance  of  Aurelia  aurita,  816 ;  The  Leeches  of  Japan,  8x6 ;  Some  Notes 
on  Bird  Migrations,  8x7;    Bambeke  on  Heredit}',  819;  Domestication  of  Wild  Fowl,  8ao; 


Digitized  by 


Google 


Contents,  vii 

Zoological  News,  8ai ;  Reproduction  of  the  Viscera  in  the  Feather-stars,  894 ;  The  Leeches  of 
Japan.  895 ;  Myriapod  Anatomy.  895 ;  Leptodora  in  America,  896 ;  Nervous  Physiology  of  the 
Lobster,  896;  Mortality  of  Fish  at  Lake  Mille  Lac,  Minnesota,  896  :  Longevity  of  Turtles,  897  ; 
Gapes  in  Fowls,  89^ ;  Protracted  Flight  of  a  Golden  Plover,  898 ;  Notes  on  the  Zoological  Gar- 
dens at  Antwerp  and  London,  900  ;  Human  Cerebral  Fissures,  their  Relations  and  Names  and 
the  methods  of  studying  them  [Illustrated],  90Z ;  Zoological  News,  93a ;  Classification  of 
Sponges,  977 ;  New  Freshwater  Coelenterate,  976;  Nervous  System  of  the  Sea-urchin,  978;  The 
Cnastaoean  Carapax,  978 ;  Development  of  Phyilopods,  979 ;  The  Ribs  of  Sphenodon  (Hatteria), 
979 ;  Birds  killed  by  electric  light  towen  at  Decatur,  111. ,  981 ;  Zoological  News,  981 ;  Leptodora  in 
America,  1057;  Blood  of  Invertebrates,  1058;  The  Byssal  Organ  in  Lamellibranchs,  1059;  On 
the  class  Podostomata,  a  group  embracing  the  Merostomata  and  TrilobiteSi  1060 :  Oyster  Culture, 
io6x  :  Echinoderm  Development,  xo6x :  The  Brazza  Exhibition  at  Paris,  xo6a  ;  Zoological  News, 
1061. 

£m^0lcjgy.— The  Development  of  the  Toad-fish,  77 ;  The  Origin  of  the  Amnion  [Illustrated],. 
Z79 ;  The  Development  of  Anurida  maritima  Guerin  [Illustrated],  399 ;  On  an  unusual  Relation 
of  the  Notochord  to  the  Intestine  in  the  Chick  [Illustrated],  392;  Professor  Selenka  on  the^ 
Development  of  the  Opossum  (Didelphys  virginiana).  394;  On  the  Symmetry  of  the  fint  seg- 
owstation  Furrows  of  the  Blastodisk  of  Elasmobranchii  [Illustrated],  470:  x.  The  Develop* 
neat  of  Patella,  563:  a.  TheD  evdopment  of  DenUlium,  565 ;  3.  The  Development  ofChitoi^idae 
or  Polyplacophora,  565 :  4.  The  Development  of  the  Gill  in  Fasciolaria,  567 ;  The  early  Devel- 
opmextt  of  Julus  terrestris,  663 ;  The  Development  of  Agelena  nxvia,  666 ;  Embryology  of  Ar- 
nadinos,  667;  The  Metamorphosis  of  the  American  Lobster,  Homanis  americanus  H.  Milne- 
Edwards,  739 ;  The  Monstrosities  observed  amongst  recently  hatched  Lobsters,  74a ;  The  Devel- 
opment of  the  Mud-minnow,  833 ;  The  Development  of  Fundulus  heteroclitus,  824  ;  Observa- 
tions on  the  Embryology  of  Spiders,  835 ;  Why  do  certain  Fish  Ova  Float?  98^  ;  The  Origin  of 
the  Pigment  cells  which  invest  the  Oil-drop  in  Pelagic  Fish  Embryos,  987 ;  The  Life-history  of 
Thataasema,  988. 

/*Ai^m^^.~Conditions  which  determine  Coagulation  of  the  Blood,  80 ;  Special  Physiology 
of  the  Embryo,  80;  Are  the  Muscles  Dead  or  Alive  during  Cadaveric  Rigidity?  8x;  Glandular 
and  Vaso>motoT  Fibers  of  the  Chorda  Tympani  and  Glossopharyngeal  Nerves,  8a ;  The  Ex- 
kteaoe  of  two  kinds  of  Sensibility  toward  Light,  185 ;  The  Circulation  in  Ganglion  Cells,  186  ; 
Pasteur's  Method  for  the  Prevention  of  Hydrophobia,  t86 ;  Report  of  Committee  on  Disinfect- 
ants of  the  American  Public  Health  Association,  30a ;  Recent  Investigations  on  the  Respiratory 
Center,  304 ;  The  action  of  Sulphate  of  Sparteine  on  the  Heart,  396 ;  The  Microbe  of  Hydro- 
V^^iiahiai,  397;  The  Transformation  of  Peptones  by  the  Liver,  and  the  relation  of  the  Sugar  in 
the  Blood  to  the  Nature  of  the  Food  Supply,  397 ;  Plethysmographic  and  Vaso-motor  Experi- 
nents  wUh  Frogs,  399 ;  Glycogenic  Function  of  the  Liver ,  473 ;  The  Delicacy  of  the  Sense  ot 
SneU,  896 ;  Some  Notes  on  Recalcification  of  Human  Teeth,  989. 

/'jr^A^^ify.— The  Material  Conditions  of  Memory,  83  ;  Sir  J.  Lubbock  on  the  Intelligence  of 
the  Dog,  x8S :  Intelligence  of  Anthropoid  Apes,  306 ;  Dr.  Preyer's  Criticism  of  Telepathy,  307 ; 
Menault's  Intelligence  of  Animals,  308 ;  Anthropology  and  Psychology,  400 ;  Philadelphia 
Branch  American  Society  for  Psychical  Research,  40X ;  Meynert's  Psychiatry,  Vol.  x  [Illus- 
trated], 474 ;  Intelligence  of  the  Hen  and  Opossum,  568 ;  The  Swallow  as  a  Surgeon,  568 ;  Gam- 
betta*s  Brain,  668;  Memory  in  the  Humble  Bee,  669;  The  Vision  of  Birds,  670;  A  Curious 
Sopentitioo,  744 ;  The  Copperhead  and  other  Snakes,  744 ;  Canine  Reason,  837 ;  The  Dreams 
of  the  Blind,  904. 

AmiArt^^legy^-'Stoat  Plummets,  8$ ;  Polynesia,  86 ;  Annual  Report  of  Progress,  86 ;  The 
"Indian  Local  Names,"  87:  Anthropological  News,  67;  Some  Moot  Points  in  American 
ArchsDoIogy,  X93 ;  An  Important  Contribution  to  Califomian  Folk-lore,  X94 ;  Kiche  Grammar, 
S9S ;  The  Anthropological  Society  of  Washington,  195 ;  Ethnology  of  Borneo,  196 ;  The  Eskimo 
of  Point  Barrow,  197;  The  Blow  Tube  in  the  United  States,  X98 ;  Physical  Education  of  Chil- 
dren, 199 ;  Annual  Report  of  the  Bureau  of  Ethnology,  309 ;  The  Crania  of  Negroes,  3x3 ; 
lACUStrian  Antiquities  of  Dr.  Gross,  3x3  ;  Recent  Articles  by  Dr.  Tschudi,  3x3 ;  Supplement 
Co  the  Grammar  of  the  Cakchlquel  language,  313  :  Maori  Pharmacopoeia,  401 ;  The  Laplanders, 
#09  ;  ReiatioiMhips  between  E^mo  Tribes,  403 ;  Archaeological  Map,  403 ;  The  Revue  d'Aa- 
thropologie,  404;  like  Races  of  Men,  404:  Anthropological  News,  406;  The  Aboriginal  Ax  of 
the  Salt  River  Valley.  Ariaona  [Illustrated],  479:  The  so-called  Deformed  Crania,  481;  Corea, 
369;  The  Rdation  of  Anthropology  to  the  Science  of  Mind,  570:  Jewish  Ability,  571;  The 
Maagoe  Language,  573;  "  Tableau  des  Bacabs,"  573;  Aboriginal  Baking  Pans,  573;  War^ubs 
99,  Diggfa^-atida,  S74 :  The  Axtec  Language,  574 ;  The  Davenport  Academy,  671 ;  Vocabu* 


Digitized  by 


Google 


viii  Contents, 

Ury  of  Archery,  673;  Child  Growth,  745;  Skull  of  Adult  with  Frontal  Suture,  748;  The  Ba- 
thekes,  750;  The  Nicobar«se,  750;  Anthropological  Nomenclature,  828  :  The  Parts  of  Eskimo 
Harpoons,  8a8 :  Anthropology  in  Brazil,  8jx;  Manufacture  of  Bows  and  Arrows  among  the 
Natano  (Hupa)  and  Kenuck  (Klamath)  Indians,  83a ;  Califomtan  and  Polynesian  Fish-hooks,  833 ; 
Ancient  Egyptian  Classification  of  the  Races  of  Man,  834 ;  Anthropometry,  905  :  The  Cephalic 
Index,  906  :  The  Peabody  Museum,  907  ;  West  Indian  Stone  Implements,  908  ;  Indian  Children's 
■Cames,  908 :  Ancient  Commerce,  908  ;  The  Fijian  Nanga  Custom,  909  ;  Melanesia,  909 ;  Archae- 
ological Frauds,  910 ;  Folk-lore,  991 ;  Arrow  Release,  995 :  The  Origin  of  Languages,  997 ;  Aus- 
tralian Medicine  Men,  X067  ;  The  Iconographic  Encyclopedia,  1070. 

Mtcrotetifyr.— The  Eye  of  Insects,  88 ;  Grenacher's  Methods  of  Preparing  the  Arthropod  Eye, 
9g  :  Method  of  Examining  the  Reflex  in  the  Compound  Eye  of  Insects,  90 ;  Method  of  Isolating 
the  Dioptric  Layers  of  the  Compound  Eye,  91 :  The  Sac-like  Nature  of  the  Wings  of  Insects, 
9a  :  Osmic  Acid  and  Merkel's  Fluid  as  a  means  of  developing  nascent  histological  Distinctions, 
aoo ;  The  Function  of  the  Compound  Eye,  303 ;  A  method  of  bleaching  Wings  of  Lepidoptera 
to  facilitate  the  study  of  their  Venation,  904:  Natural  Injection,  3x3;  Methods  of  Injecting 
Annelids,  3x4;  An  Injection-mass  to  be  used  Cold,  3x4  ;  Method  of  Killing  Gephyrea,  3x5;  A 
Macerating  Mixture,  3x5;  Haller's  Macerating  Fluid^  3x6;  The  Dioptrograph  [Illustrated], 
406 ;  Opalin:\,  408 ;  An  Alcoholic  Drip  for  the  Thoma-Jung  Microtome  [Illustrated],  488 ; 
Structure  of  tbe  Human  Skin  [Illustrated],  575:  Karyokinesis,  578 :  A  Staining  Dish  [Illus- 
trated], 675;  Some  Laboratory  Appliances  [Illustrated],  9x0:  Revolving  Automatic  Microtome 
[Illustrated],  X07X  ;  Embryograph  for  use  with  Zeiss  Microscope  [Illustrated],  1073. 

SciBNTiPic  News,  9a,  305,  3x6,  4x0,  49X,  578,  676,  751, 834, 9x6, 999,  1074. 

Procbbdikgs  of  Scxbhtxvic  Socibtxbs. 

The  International  Geological  Congress,  94  ;  National  Academy  of  Sciences,  99  ;  Academy  of 
Sciences  of  Indiana,  xoo ;  New  York  Academy  of  Sciences,  xoo ;  Society  of  Naturalists  Eastern 
U.  S.,  ao7:  American  Philosophical  Society,  ao8 ;  Biological  Society  of  Washington,  tog ;  Amer- 
ican Ornithologist  Union,  ao9 ;  Linnaean  Society  of  Lancaster,  ao8 ;  New  York  Academy  of  Sci- 
ences, axo ;  Boston  Society  of  Natural  History,  axo :  Appalachian  Mountain  Club,  a  10  :  Indiana 
Academy  of  Sciences,  3x8 :  The  American  Committee  of  the  International  Congress  of  Geolo- 
gists, 3x9  :  New  York  Academy  of  Sciences,  320 :  Boston  Society  of  Natural  History,  330 ;  Ap- 
palachian Mountain  Club,  330 ;  The  Cincinnati  Society  of  Natural  History,  330 ;  Crawfordsville 
Scientific  Society,  330  ;  Biological  Society  of  Washington,  4x3  ;  New  York  Academy  of  Sciences, 
4x3  ;  Appalachian  Mountain  Club,  4x3 ;  National  Academy  of  Sciences,  481,  580;  Biological  So- 
ciety of  Washington,  580 ;  New  York  Academy  of  Sciences,  s8r ;  Boston  Society  of  Natural 
History,  58X ;  Appalachian  Mountain  Club,  58a ;  Biological  Society  of  Washington,  678  ;  Boston 
Society  of  Natural  History,  67S ;  Philadelphia  Academy  of  Sciences,  75a  ;  The  Indiana  Acad- 
emy of  Sciences,  755  ;  American  Association  for  the  Advancement  of  Science,  836;  Philadelphia 
Academy  Natural  Sciences,  9x6;  American  Philosophical  Society,  999  ;  Philadelphia  Academy 
of  Natural  Sciences,  xooo;  Natiuxul  Acad  .'my  of  Sciences,  X076:  Biological  Society  of  Wash 
ington,  X077  ;  New  York  Academy  of  Sciences,  X077  ;  Boston  Society  of  Natural  Hi>tory,  1077 


Digitized  by 


Google 


THE 

AMERICAN    NATURALIST. 

Vol.  joi.— JANUARY,  1886.— No.  i. 


BOULDER  MOSAICS  IN  DAKOTA. 

BY  PROFESSOR  J.  E.  TODD. 

SUCH  a  name  seems  best  to  express  the  character  of  certain 
strange  works  noticed  by  the  writer  upon  some  of  the  con- 
spicuous hills  of  Southeastern  Dakota.  The  term  mosaic,  though 
describing  better  than  any  other  word  their  structure,  may  sug- 
gest greater  delicacy  than  they  possess,  but  the  qualifying  epithet 
sufficiently  corrects  it. 

A  typical  example,  and  the  first  to  come  to  the  writer^s  knowl- 
edge, was  found  on  the  summit  of  Keya  Kakop,  or  Turtle  point, 
three  miles  north  of  Wessington  springs  in  Jerauld  county.  The 
point  is  a  high  promontory-like  hill  standing  out  on  the  western 
edge  of  the  James  River  valley,  above  which  it  rises  nearly  500 
feet  It  is  the  northern  end  of  a  high  ridge  of  drift  constituting 
a  well  washed  interlobular  portion  of  the  principal  moraine.  A 
view  of  Turtle  point  and  a  portion  of  the  ridge  from  the  north- 
west is  shown  in  Fig.  i.  Upon  the  highest  portion  of  the  point 
is  a  low  broad  mound  built  of  earth,  perhaps  fifty  feet  in  diame- 
ter and  three  or  four  feet  high.  It  does  not  differ  materially  from 
many  that  are  found  on  the  summit  of  bluffs  along  the  James  and 
Missouri.  Its  chief  attraction  is  the  gigantic  figure  of  a  turtle 
upon  its  southern  slope,  as  is  shown  in  Fig.  ?.  This  figure  is 
i  rmed  of  boulders,  four  to  six  inches  in  diameter,  quite  closely 
a.V  regularly  set,  so  as  to  describe  its  outline.  The  head,  legs 
'*' « tail  are  extended.  Its  general  appearance,  position  and  struc- 
ture are  shown  in  Fig.  3.  Visitors  to  the  locality  will  also  notice 
a  rude  human  figure,  sketched  with  similar  material,  on  the 
south-west  side  of  the  mound  as  shown  in  Fig.  2,  but  it  is  con- 
fessedly the  work  of  an  early  owner  of  the  ground.    To  one 


Digitized  by 


Google 


2  Boulder  Mosaics  in  Dakota.  f  January , 

not  informed  of  the  fact  its  recency  \vouId  be  apparent  from  the 
pebbles  comprising  it  lying  on  the  surface  o^the  ground,  while 
those  forming  the  turtle  are  half  imbedded.  That  it  is  not  of 
the  same  origin  as  the  turtle  is  further  indicated  by  the  represen- 
tation of  the  legs  and  arms  by  single  rows  of  stones.  The  locality 
was  first  visited  by  the  writer  in  1881,  and  the  figures  were 
intact  when  seen  again  in  1883.  The  figure  is  about  fifleen  feet 
in  length  from  tip  of  tail  to  front  of  head.  A  little  pile  of  stones 
lies  a  short  distance  in  front  of  the  head. 

This  work,  interesting  as  it  is,  sinks  into  insignificance  when 
compared  with  a  similar  work  upon  Paha  Wakan,  or  Medicine 
hill,  near  Blunt,  in  Hughes  county.   This  hill  is  also  a  high  inter- 
lobular portion  of  th^  principal  moraine,  and  presents  the  same 
general  features  as  Turtle  point,  as  will  be  seen  in  a  sketch  of 
it,  from  the  east,  in  Fig.  6.     It  rises  above  the  surrounding  plain 
about  200  feet,  and  nearly  400  feet  above  the  adjoining  valley  of 
Medicine  creek.     Its  summit  is  flat  and  includes  many  acres. 
Granite  and  limestone  boulders  abound  in  profusion.    Tipi-rings, 
i  e.^  circles  of  boulders  which  were  used  in  holding  down  the 
covering  of  the  conical  tents  used  by  the  Dakotas,  are  very  abun- 
dant upon  the  summit.    A  few  mounds  of  ordinary  size  are  scat- 
tered in  no  apparent  order.     Near  the  north-western  angle  of  the 
summit  platform  is  the  gigantic  figure  represented  in  Fig.  4.     Its 
length  measured  roughly  along  its  central   line,  following  the 
crooks,  is  120  paces.     The  general  form,  with  length,  breadth 
and  number  and  shape  of  crooks,  are  as  faithfully  represented  as 
a  hasty  sketch  could  give.    The  boulders  composing  it  are  from 
six  to  twelve  inches  in  length,  and  are  laid  much  less  closely 
than  in  the  turtle.    The  direction  of  its  northern  half  is  N.  18° 
W.    The  presence  of  the  mound  at  its  side  seems  to  b^  acci- 
dental.   The  head  is  more  carefully  represented  in  Fig.  5,  where 
an  attempt  is  made  to  express  the  shape,  size  and  position  of  the 
boulders  composing  it.   The  eyes  are  much  more  expressive  than 
it  would  at  first  seems  possible  to  make  them  with  such  material. 
They  have  literally  a  *' stony  stare."  They  are  formed  of  two  oblong 
boulders  nearly  a  foot  in  length.    The  angular  head  and  heavy 
body  suggest  the  rattlesnake  as  the  designer's  model,  but  there  is 
no  clear  representation  of  the  rattles.     Perhaps  that  was  beyond 
the  artist's  inventive  power.    At  c,  in  Fig.  4,  the  boulders  have 
evidently  beei^  displaced,  prob^I^ly  by  W4ter  or  frpst  fictiop,  Ȥ 


Digitized  by 


Google 


1 886.]  Boulder  Mosaics  in  Dakota.  3 

that  portion  is  on  an  inclined  surface.     This  gigantic  serpent  was 
in  good  condition  when  seen  in  1883. 

An  examination  of  similar  localities  over  all  Southeastern 
Dakota  has  failed  to  discover  any  other  similar  representations  of 
animals.  Numerous  rude  sketches  of  animals  on  a  smaller  scale 
are  found  near  Pipestone,  Minn.,  chipped  or  pecked  on  the 
smooth  surface  of  the  red  quartzite.  Some  of  the  best  of  these 
are  exhibited  in  the  Minnesota  Geological  Report,  Vol.  i.  In 
these  the  turtle  is  a  favorite  figure,  but  none  are  as  symmetrically 
represented  as  in  the  one  on  Turtle  point.  No  serpent  is  repre* 
sented  among  them. 

Similarly  made  figures,  but  quite  imperfect,  were  noticed  by 
the  writer  on  Wolf  creek,  south-west  of  Bridgewater,  Dak. 

But  although  no  more  animal  figures  have  been  found,  a  few 
other  similarly  constructed  works  have  been  noted.  Upon  Indian 
hill,  north-west  of  Valley  City,  is  a  rectangular  figure  between 
two  mounds  which  iqay  be  natural.  The  sides  are  remarkably 
straight  and  parallel,  and  the  stones,  which  are  four  to  twelve 
inches  in  diameter,  are  quite  regularly  laid.  The  ends  are 
rounded  a  little.  Its  form  is  shown  in  Fig.  7.  It  is  eighteen 
paces  long  and  three  paces  wide.  The  direction  of  its  sides  is 
N.  78**  E.  A  number  of  the  stones  composing  it  had  been  lately 
displaced  in  1882  when  the  writer  visited  it.  The  holes  in  which 
they  had  lain  were  fresh  and  showed  their  form  clearly. 

Upon  a  high  broad  terrace  of  Crow  creek,  a  few  rods  back  and 
east  from  a  remarkably  fine  spring  which  is  at  the  foot  of  the  ter- 
race, and  about  a  mile  north-west  of  the  town  of  Waterbury,  is 
found  a  somewhat  similar  figure  on  a  much  larger  scale ;  more* 
over  it  is  incomplete  and  somewhat  irregular.  Its  outline  is 
shown  in  Fig.  8.  It  eastern  side  is  ninety-two  paces  in  length 
and  is  directed  N.  2°  E.  The  north  end  is  curved  slightly,  but 
lies  nearly  at  right  angles  with  the  left  side,  which  is  directed 
N.  15°  E.  At  a  is  an  opening  which  may  represent  a  gateway, 
as  an  oblique  line  of  stones,  sufficient  in  length  to  close  it,  is  at 
one  end.  Near  it  and  at  various  other  places  are  small  circular 
pits,  two  to  four  feet  across.  No  pains  was  taken  to  locate  them 
accurately,  as  it  was  thought  that  they  had  no  special  connection 
with  the  lines  of  boulders. 

The  gap  at  d  was  probably  caused  by  some  recent  removal  ot 
the  boulders  for  use  in  forming  some  tipi-rings  not  far  away.    At 


Digitized  by 


Google 


4  Boulder  Mosaics  in  Dakota.  [January, 

^  is  a  circular  pit  with  boulders  on  its  sides  and  a  pile  of  pebbles 
in  its  bottom.  At  ^  is  a  triangular  pile  of  stones  about  three  feet 
on  each  side.  The  southern  ends  of  the  sides  are  not  far  from 
the  side  of  a  ravine.  A  more  careful  examination  would  prob- 
ably discover  other  interesting  and  perhaps  more  significant 
relations. 

According  to  Mr.T.  H.  Null,  of  Waterbury,  who  has  seen  it,  there 
is,  on  the  S.  W.  }^,  S.  28,  109.66,  a  cross  formed  of  two  lines  of 
boulders.  One  four  rods  long  is  crossed  at  right  angles  by  an- 
other one  and  a  half  rods  long.  At  the  end  of  the  first,  which 
would  correspond  to  the  foot  of  the  cross,  is  a  pile  of  stones. 

Though  this  completes  the  list  of  ''  boulder  mosaics/'  it  may 
not  be  out  of  place  to  speak  of  a  somewhat  related  work  noted 
by  the  writer,  in  188 1,  in  Brown  county  a  few  miles  north-west  of 
Westport.  On  the  right  bank  of  Elm  river  were  two  quite  con- 
spicuous mounds,  270  paces  apart,  upon  two  symmetrical  knolls. 
Beginning  at  the  top  of  the  north-western  one,  a  line  of  bones 
extended  over  the  center  of  the  other,  and  146  paces  beyond, 
where  it  ended  in  a  small  pile  of  boulders.  The  bones  were 
mostly  the  le^;  bones  of  buffalo  set  up  in  the  ground  like  stakes. 
That  was  before  the  land  was  in  market.  Ere  this  the  plow  of 
the  white  man  has  probably  removed  all  trace  of  them.  A  few 
years  more  and  the  more  enduring  "  boulder  mosaics  "  will  prob- 
ably help  to  form  the  stone  wall  of  some  enterprising  settler,  as 
careless  of  the  sacred  associations  attending  them  as  the  Turk 
who  builds  the  fragments  of  ai)ciei)t  ten^ples  into  his  hovel. 

EXPLANATION  OF  PLATE  I. 

Fig.  I . — A  sketch  of  Turtle  point  from  the  north-west. 
«*    2, — Plan  of  mound  with  figures  upon  the  summit  of  X^jtle  point,  npar  Wessing- 

ton  Springs,  Dak. 
"     3 — Enlarged  view  of  the  turtle  in  Fig.  2. 
**    4. — Ground  p)an  of  the  great  serpent  on  the  summit  of  Medipine  h^U,  near 

Blunt,  Dak. 
••     5. — Enlarged  view  of  the  head  of  the  same. 
**    6. — ^Vicw  of  Medicine  hill  from  the  east. 

"     7. — Plan  of  a  figure  on  the  summit  of  Indian  hill,  near  Valley  City,  Dak. 
"    8. — Plan  of  a  figure  near  Waterbury,  Dak. 

Note. — The  figures  are  all  drawn  in  their  correct  position  with  ^eferpnpp  ^  ftv^ 
points  of  the  compass. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


tLATE  I 


Boulder  Mosaics  in  Dakota. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


Digitized  by 


Google 


1 886.]  A  Study  of  the  Dandelion.  5 

A  STUDY  OF  THE  DANDELION. 

BY  E.  LEWIS  STURTEVANT,  M.D. 

THE  dandelion  is  a  plant  of  northern  climates,  especially 
found  growing  amidst  the  herbage  of  meadows,  and  as  a 
weed  in  gardens.  Its  common  name  is  a  corruption  of  dent  de 
leon^  a  word  which  is  met  with  in  the  Welsh  Dant y  Llew  of  the 
13th  century.  Its  vernacular  names  in  various  languages  have 
usually  reference  to  the  peculiar  indentation  of  the  leaves,  or  to 
some  other  resemblance  or  character  of  the  plant.  By  commen- 
tators it  has  been  identified  with  the  aphake  of  Theophrastus,  a 
in  composition  signifying  absence  of,  and  phake  lentils,  or  the 
name  perhaps  signifying  that  the  plant  can  be  used  as  a  green 
before  lentils  appear  in  the  spring  (?) ;  the  ambubeia  of  Pliny  may 
suggest  the  scattering  of  the  seed,  ambulo  meaning  the  going 
backward  and  forward,  but  some  commentators  assign  this  name 
to  the  wild  endive  or  chicory;  the  hedypnois  of  Pliny  is  but 
doubtfully  identified  with  our  dandelion,  and  appears  to  be  de- 
rived from  two  Greek  words  signifying  sweet  breath,  and  may 
refer  to  the  sweet  smell  of  the  flowers.  Pinaeus,  1561,  calls  it  Dens 
Learns,  Dens  Caninus,  caput  Monachi,  Rostru porcinum  or  Ambubeia^ 
the  aphake  of  Theophrastus  ;  by  the  French,  Pissenlit  or  Dent  de 
Lyon ;  by  the  Germans,  Pfaffen  roerlin.  Pena  and  Lobel,  15  70, 
g^ve  additional  names  of  Urinaria^  German  Korlkraut  dLtiA  Phaffen- 
Mat,  Belgian  Pappen  cruyt,  English  Dent  de  Lyon.  The  modern 
vernacular  names  are  :  English  dandelion,  swine* s  snout  (Prior); 
France  pissenlit,  dent-de-lion  (Vilm.) ;  German  lowenzahn  (Lenz)  ; 
Flanders  molsalaad  (Vilm.) ;  Danish  moelkebtte  (Vilm.) ;  Italian 
tarassaco  (Lenz),  dente  de  leone,  virasole  dei  prati  (Vilm.) ;  Span- 
ish diente  de  leon^  Amargon  (Vilm.) ;  Greek  agriomaroulia  (Sibth.), 
pikraphake  (Fraas)  ;  Japanese  fosei  or  usually  fudsina  or  tsugumi 
gusee  or  tampopo  (Pick.). 

Bauhin,  in  his  Pinax,  edition  of  1623,  enumerates  two  varieties 
of  dandelion,  one  the  Dens  Leonis  latiore  filio  carried  back  in 
his  synonomy  to  Brunselsius,  1539  ;  the  other.  Dens  Leonis  an- 
gustiore  folio,  carried  back  in  like  manner  to  Caesalpinus,  1583. 
The  first  kind,  he  says,  has  a  large  and  a  medium  variety,  the 
leaves  sometimes  pointed,  sometimes  obtuse.  In  the  Flore  Natu- 
relleet  Economique,  Paris,  1803,  the  same  varieties,  apparently, 
are  mentioned,  one  with  narrow  leaves  and  the  other  with  large 


Digitized  by 


Google 


6  A  Study  of  the  Dandelion.  [January, 

and  rounded  leaves. '  In  Martyn's  Millers  Dictionary,  1807,  the 
leaves  of  the  dandelion  are  said  to  vary  from  pinnatifid  or  deeply 
runcinate  in  a  very  dry  situation  to  nearly  entire  in  a  very  moist 
one,  generally  smooth,  but  sometimes  a  little  rough,  and  Leonto- 
don  palustre  is  described  as  scarcely  more  than  a  variety,  as  vary- 
ing very  much  in  its  leaves  which  have  few  notches  or  are  almost 
entire;  the  plant  smoother,  neater,  more  levigated  and  more  glau- 
cous than  the  common  dandelion.     In  Geneva,  N.  Y.,  on  the 
grounds  of  the  New  York  Agricultural   Experiment  Station,  a 
large  number  of  varieties  are  to  be  commonly  noted,  both  in  the 
habit  and  appearance  of  the  plant  and  irrespective  of  difference 
of  soil  or  exposure,  as  varieties  may  readily  be  separated  whose 
roots  are  intertwined.    Some  plants  groiv  with  quite  erect  leaves, 
others  with  their  leaves  closely  adpressed  to  the  soil ;  some  have 
broad,  others  narrow  leaves;  some  have  runcinate  leaves,  others 
leaves  much  cut  and  almost  fringed,  and  yet  others  the  leaves 
nearly  entire  ;  some  have  almost  sessile  leaves,  some  have  smooth 
leaves,  others  roughened  leaves;  some  have  thin,  others  thick 
leaves  ;  some  as  varieties  grow  to  a  larger  size,  others  are  always 
dwarfer ;  some  have  an  open  manner  of  growth,  others  a  close,  etc. 
The  use  of  the  wild  plant  as  a  vegetable  seems  to  have  been 
common  from  remote  times,  but  its  culture  is  modern.     In  1836 
a  Mr.  Corey,  of  Brookline,  Mass.,  grew  dandelions  for  the  Boston 
market,.the  seed  obtained  from  the  largest  of  the  wild  plants 
(Mass.  Hort  Soc.  Tran.s.,  1884,  128);  in  1863  dandelions  are  de- 
scribed among  garden  esculents  by  Burr  (Field  and  Gard.  Veg. 
of  America,  345),  but  the  context  not  indicating  any  especial 
varieties  ;  in  1828  Fessenden  (New  Am.  Gardener)  says  the  wild 
plant  is  used  but  never  cultivated.     In  1874  the  seed  appears  for 
sale  in  seed  catalogues  (Briggs  Bros.  Cat,  1874),  perhaps  earlier, 
and  the  various  seed  catalogues  of  1885  offer  six  names,  one  of 
which  is  the  "  common."     In  England,  dandelion  culture  is  not 
mentioned  in  Mawe's  Gardiner,  1778,  nor  in  Martyn's  Millers 
Dictionary,   1807;  the  first  notice  I  find  is  in  the  Gardeners' 
Chronicle,  1846  (p.  340),  where  an  instance  of  cultivation  is  noted, 
the  herbage  forming  "  a  beautiful  and  delicate  blanched  salad." 
In  1880  its  culture  had  not  become  common,  as  this  year  its  cul- 
tivation in  France,  and  not  in  England,  is  noted  (Jenkins  Jour. 
R.  A.  S.,  XVI,  94).     In  France,  Noisette,   1829  (Man.  du  Jard., 
1829,  356)  gives  cultural  directions,  and  says  the  wild  plant  fur- 


Digitized  by 


Google 


1 886.]  A  Study  of  the  Dandelion.  7 

nishes  a  spring  pot-herb ;  the  plant  is,  however,  not  mentioned  in 
L'Horticulteur  Francais,  1824-5,  nor  in  Nouveau  Dlctionnaire  du 
Jardinage,  1826.  Vilmorin  (Bon  Jardinier,  1882)  states  its  cul- 
ture in  France  as  dating  from  1868,  and  the  firm  of  Vilmorin, 
Andrew  et  Cie  in  1885  offer  four  sorts  of  seed,  one,  the  "  improved 
moss"  as  new.  In  Vilmorin's  Les  Plantes  Potageres,  1883,  two 
forms  are  figured,  Pissenlit  ameliore  a  cceur  plein  and  Pissenlit 
ameh'ore  tres  hatif.  The  first  of  these  is  named  in  Album  de 
Cliches,  Pissenlit  ameliore  frise,  and  a  fourth  name  or  third  form 
is  figured,  the  Pissenlit  mousse. 

1.  The  type  of  the  Pissenlit  mousse  can  be  readily  found 
among  the  wild  plants  of  the  station  grounds,  very  closely  resem- 
bling Vilmorin's  figure  in  every  respect  when  growing  on  rich 
soil  except  that  the  leaf  divisions  are  scarcely  as  much  crowded. 

2.  The  type  of  the  Pissenlit  ameliore  a  cceur  plein  is  perhaps 
to  be  recognized  in  Anton  Pinaeus'  figure,  1561,  and  is  certainly 
to  be  found  growing  wild  at  the  station. 

3.  The  Pissenlit  ameliore  tres  hatif  is  figured  in  1616,  the 
resemblance  between  the  two  figures,  the  one  by  Dodonaeu§  and 
the  other  by  Vilmorin,  is  very  close.  It  is  also  to  be  found 
growing  wild  on  the  station  grounds. 

The  influence  of  rich  soil  and  protected  growth  upon  the  dan- 
delion is  to  give  increased  size  and  succulency  to  the  plant,  and 
to  thicken  the  branching  of  the  leaves,  in  the  direction  of.answer- 
ing  the  description  of  a  coeur plein;  but  this  influence  appears  to 
be  limited  by  the  heredity  of  the  plant,  as  the  types  do  not  react 
to  an  equal  extent.    This  fullness  or  hearting  in  No.  2  seems 
to  come  from  the  strong  tendency  in  plants  of  this  type  to  divide 
the  root  into  a  group  of  crowns ;  the  leaves,  also,  in  rich  soil, 
grow  rather  upright  with  the  upper  portion  curving  outwards, 
giving  a  curled  appearance  to  the  plant,  and  thus  justifying  Vil- 
morin's alternate  name  *•  frise."    The  No.  3  form  is  more  succu- 
ent  in  rich  soil  than  the  others,  attains  size  distinctly  earlier,  is 
less  crowded  and  less  upright  in  growth,  and  in  some  cases  is 
very  closely  adpressed  to  the  ground.     No.  i  type  does  not  in 
all  cases  seem  to  be  a  depauperate  form,  as  it  is  found  on  fertile 
soil  along  with  the  rest,  it  is  usually  small,  but  in  some  instances 
is  of  fair  size  and  quite  bunchy  growth.    A  form  with  nearly 
entire  leaves  has  not  yet  reached  culture  under  a  distinct  name ; 
this  type  is  distinctly  smaller  than  the  rest,  and  some  plants  have 


Digitized  by 


Google 


8  A  Study  of  the  Dandelion,  Qanuary, 

sessile  and  thickened  leaves,  other  plants  long  petioled  and  spat- 
ulate-like  thin  leaves.  In  all  the  forms  some  plants  may  be  looked 
for  with  hairy  and  roughened  leaves. 

In  view  of  the  limited  extent  of  the  present  culture  of  the  dan- 
delion, and  the  short  time  since  its^ cultivation  was  first  attempted, 
as  well  as  to  the  fact  that  its  present  culture  about  Geneva  seems 
unknown,  it  seems  unreasonable  to  infer  that  our  plants  are 
escapes  from  cultivation,  and  much  more  so  when  it  is  consid- 
ered that  these  same  described  types  are  common  elsewhere  in 
Western  New  York.  If  not  escapes  from  cultivation  the  infer- 
ence seems  strongly  established  that  our  cultivated  varieties  did 
not  originate  under  cultivation,  but  are  simply  selections  from 
wild  types.  If  this  be  granted  it  may  be  legitimately  questioned 
whether  other  of  our  cultivated  form-species  in  other  plants  are 
not  likewise  of  natural  origin. 

A  careful  investigation  into  the  history  of  the  origin  of  our 
cultivated  varieties  fully  justifies  the  statement  that  I  have  as  yet 
secured  no  data  which  justifies  the  belief  that  form-species  in  cul- 
ture are  other  than  of  natural  origin,  and  I  have  secured  much 
evidence  in  favor  of  the  view  that  form-species  are  introductions 
from  natural  variations.  Before,  however,  such  a  radical  belief 
can  receive  countenance,  much  must  be  done  in  the  herbarium 
study  of  varieties  as  collected  from  various  sources,  in  or^er  that 
we  may  have  wild  forms  to  which  our  cultivated  types  can  be  re- 
ferred. Our  so-called  modern  vegetables,  introduced  as  novelties, 
often  seem  to  be  such  only  because  we  are  unfamiliar  with  what 
our  predecessors  possessed.  Thus  the  figure  that  Pinaeus  gives, 
in  1 561,  of  a  lettuce  answers  to  our  stone  tennis-ball  variety  as 
closely  as  do  the  figures  in  our  seed  catalogues  to  the  varieties 
whose  name  they  carry;  the  deer-tongue  lettuce  introduced  as  a 
novelty  in  1883  seems  nearly  identical  with  the  Lactuca  folio 
oblongo  acuto  of  Bauhin's  Prodromus,  1671 ;  a  large  number  of 
our  capsicums  or  peppers  seem  to  be  identical  with  the  varieties 
figured  in  Hortus  Eystettensis,  1623 ;  new  types  of  squash  fol- 
lowed the  appearance  of  the  Valparaiso  from  Chili  in  the  early 
part  of  the  present  century,  etc.,  etc. 

Under  the  hypothesis  that  the  form-species  of  cultivation  are 
originally  from  nature,  we  can  explain  the  permanency  of  these 
form-species,  and  their  resistance  to  change  from  cross  fertiliza- 
tion, the  tendency  seeming  strongly  towards  trueness  to  type,  and 
the  purging  themselves  from  contaminations   unless  restrained 


Digitized  by 


Google 


1 886.] 


A  Study  of  tJu  Dandelion. 


perhaps  by  human  selection.  Thus  two  form-species  of  maize, 
when  crossed,  have  not  produced  intermediates  in  their  crop,  but 
the  parent  types  without  intermediates,  and  the  continuous  plant- 
ing of  the  progeny  tended  toward  a  complete  separation  into  the 
original  types.  Various  crossings  of  a  like  kind,  made  at  the 
Experiment  station,  seem  confirmatory  of  this  view,  and  seem  to 
suggest  in  addition  that  seeming  sports  are  often  the  result  of 
atavism. 

Appended  are  a  few  of  the  variations  which  are  to  be  found  in 
the  leaves  of  the  dandelion,  selected  rather  as  representative  than 
as  exceptional.  A  series  could  readily  have  been  selected  show- 
ing a  passage  from  one  type  to  another,  as  frequently  leaves  of 
quite  different  appearance  appear  on  the  same  plant 


Varieties  o!  Dandelion  leaves. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


lo  The  Relations  of  Mind  and  Matter.  [January, 

THE  RELATIONS  OF  MIND  AND  MATTER. 

BY  CHARLES  MORRIS. 

(Continued  from  /.  //jp,  December  number.) 

MUCH  space  might  here  be  given  to  the  numerous  and  impor- 
tant observations  on  hypnotic  phenomena  published  of  late 
years,  but  we  must  confine  ourselves  to  the  mesmeric  experiments 
of  the  Psychic  Society.  These  experiments  were  very  numerous, 
and  were  conducted  with  such  extreme  care  that  their  evidence 
in  favor  of  direct  mental  communication  seems  incontestable. 
Their  results  were  of  a  more  declared  character  than  those  of  the 
thought  transfer  experiments.  Not  only  thought  transfer  but 
mind  control  appeared.  The  active  seemed  to  take  full  posses- 
sion of  the  passive  mind,  and  this  often  with  a  considerable  dis- 
tance  intervening  between  the  parties.  The  thoughts  of  the  one 
mind  appeared  to  infuse  themselves  into  the  other,  driving  back  its 
own  consciousness  and  replacing  it  with  a  pseudo-consciousness, 
and  this  so  completely  that  the  sensations  of  pain,  taste,  &c.,  felt 
by  the  operator,  were  also  felt  by  the  sensitive,  and  referred  by 
him  to  their  appropriate  locality  in  his  own  body.  In  like  man- 
ner the  direct  control  of  the  mind  of  the  sensitive  over  his  body 
and  of  his  body  over  his  mind  was  exercised  by  the  operator, 
and  consciousness  of  pain  in  any  part  could  be  abolished  at  will. 
Some  of  these  phenomena,  indeed,  were  so  curious  and  the  mode 
of  producing  them  so  significant,  that  it  certainly  appeared  as  if 
the  whole  body  was  permeated  by  psychic  substance,  and  that 
the  mind  was  related  to  the  outer  world  by  psychic  nerves  in  an 
equivalent  sense  to  its  material  nerve  connection. 

In  these  mesmeric  phenomena,  however,  it  is  evident  that  the 
channel  of  communication  between  mind  and  mind  is  not  usually 
an  open  one,  or  the  body  psychically  transparent.  Most  persons 
are  more  or  less  obtuse  to  the  psychic  sense,  and  only  in  special 
cases  is  it  freely  active.  And  in  these  cases  the  relations  of  oper- 
ator and  sensitive  are  personal.  No  second  operator  can  exert  an 
equal  control  over  the  sensitive.  It  is  as  if  the  psychic  nerve, 
like  the  physical  nerve,  became  susceptible  to  familiar  influences, 
but  resistant  to  unfamiliar  ones. 

Of  the  other  phenomena  adduced  by  this  society  it  will  suffice 
to  refer  to  those  of  psychic  communication  at  a  distance,  of  which 
they  give  many  seemingly  well  authenticated  instances.     In  one 


Digitized  by 


Google 


1886.1  Vie  Relations  of  Mind  and  Matter.  1 1 

of  these  the  thought  transfer  passed  as  far  as  from  Burmah  to 
England.  In  these  latter  instances  there  was,  in  nearly  every 
case,  an  active  mental  excitation  in  the  one  mind  in  reference  to 
the  other.  They  are  most  usual  at  the  moment  of  death,  the 
mind  of  the  dying  person  appearing  to  be  affected  with  a  strong 
emotional  longing  to  communicate  with  the  living.  In  many 
such  cases  a  spectral  reproduction  of  the  dying  person  has  ap- 
peared to  the  subject  of  his  or  her  thoughts,  apparently  in  real 
form,  but  doubtless  as  an  image  impressed  directly  on  the  mind. 
It  may  be  that  a  sudden  rousing  of  the  recollection  of  any  dis- 
tant person,  without  its  being  led  up  to  by  a  train  of  conscious 
thought,  might,  if  the  effect  be  a  strong  one,  seem  like  an  actual 
vision.  An  object  seen  is  not  led  to  by  consciousness,  and  a 
mental  image  not  led  to  by  consciousness  might  easily  have  the 
force  of  an  object  seen,  or  of  a  temporary  hallucinatioji.  In 
many  of  the  numerous  instances  given,  the  person  whose  image 
was  seen  was  in  full  life,  yet  in  some  perilous  situation  or  other 
condition  that  would  be  likely  to  arouse  sudden  and  intense  emo- 
tion. And  usually  the  recipient  was  the  object  of  this  emotion. 
There  is  no  evidence  to  show  that  this  relation  did  not  exist  in 
every  instance,  but  simply  that  it  was  not  always  observed. 

As  to  the  distances  to  which  these  impressions  were  frequently 
conveyed,  or  the  rapidity  with  which  they  passed  from  mind  to 
mind,  there  is  nothing  surprising  if  the  hypothesis  we  have  given 
be  accepted.  We  know  the  rapidity  with  which  light  travels 
through  the  ether,  and  the  electric  current  through  solid  matter, 
affecting  objects  very  far  removed  in  very  minute  intervals  of 
time.  We  know  that  the  influence  of  gravitation  is  felt  with  no 
apparent  lapse  of  time  through  vast  distances.  The  least  varia- 
tion in  distance  and  weight  of  one  body  is  instantly  felt  by  other 
bodies,  though  they  may  be  very  distant.  If  there  be  a  psychic 
substance  it  is  highly  probable  that  the  same  relations  may  exist 
between  its  separate  masses.  The  ether  may  convey  its  vibra- 
tions to  vast  distances,  as  it  does  those  of  matter,  and  produce 
similar  effects  on  distant  psychic  masses.  If  this  substance  is 
transparent  to  the  vibrations  produced  by  matter,  matter  may  be 
similarly  transparent  to  its  vibrations  and  no  check  to  their  out- 
flow be  felt  We  know  that  an  electric  charge,  when  sent  "  to 
earth/'  spreads  with  immense  rapidity  throughout  the  substance  of 
the  earth.    It  weakens  as  it  spreads,  yet  may  be  strong  enough 


Digitized  by 


Google 


1 2  The  Relations  of  Mind  and  Matter.  [Jan  uary, 

at  a  considerable  distance  to  act  upon  a  sen5itive  electric  instru- 
ment The  matter  of  the  earth  may  be  still  more  transparent  to 
psychic  radiations,  and  permit  them  to  spread  with  the  utmost 
freedom  and  rapidity.  Such  impulses  might  touch  without  eflect 
a  multitude  of  minds,  and  yet  rouse  one  mind  to  consciousness 
if  it  met  there  with  conditions  in  harmony  with  the  conditions  oi 
the  vibration.  A  thought  is  an  active  and  peculiar  motor  energfy. 
It  carries  with  it,  when  emitted,  the  characteristics  of  its  source. 
If  it  meets  anywhere  a  psychic  condition  to  which  these  charac- 
teristics are  familiar,  or  with  which  they  are  harmonized,  it  might 
rouse  a  conscious  response,  or  call  up,  more  or  less  completely, 
\  the  mental  image  of  the  emitting  mind  and  person. 

There  are  other  phenomena  which  seem  to  indicate  the  exist- 
ence of  such  a  medium  of  psychic  communication.     And  the  in- 
dications are  that  emotion  is  necessary  as  a  preliminary  to  distant 
and  vigorous  outflow  of  psychic  energy,  though  not  necessarily 
so  in  case  of  contiguity.     In  emotion  the  motor  conditions  of  the 
mind  seem  strongly  exercised,  as  are  those  of  matter  in  case  of 
high  temperature,  and  in  both  cases  there  seems  an  energetic 
outflow  of  vibrations.     It  is  well  known  that  a  congregation  in  a 
state  of  emotional  excitement  can  be  swayed  by  an  emotional 
speaker  in  a  manner  that  utterly  ignores  all  exercise  of  reason  or 
individual  intellect.   The  power  of  all  great  orators  over  an  audi- 
ence has  been  largely  of  this  emotional  character,  and  audiences 
are  frequently  fully  controlled  by  addresses  which,  read  in  a  cool 
state,  arouse  surprise  how  they  could  have  affected  any  person  of 
sense.    An  instance  of  the  same  character  is  that  of  the  sudden 
panic  which  has  so  often  spread  like  wild  fire  through  a  whole 
army,  sweeping  away  regiments  that  have  not  felt  a  bullet  of  the 
enemy.    The  intense  mental  excitement  seems  to  flow  out  in 
vibratory  waves,  affecting  all  minds   within   its  influence,  and 
arousing  everywhere  a  similar  excitement  without  regard  to  dif- 
ference of  circumstances. 

History  is  full  of  instances  of  the  same  general  character.  And 
we  find  in  every  instance  that  it  is  the  ignorant,  or  the  strongly 
emotional,  who  are  swayed  by  these  influences,  while  the  educated, 
the  cool  and  the  reasoning  minds  resist  them.  Several  instances 
from  the  history  of  middle  age  Europe  may  be  adduced.  We 
might  describe  the  epidemics  of  migration,  as  in  some  of  the 
Crusades,  of  witch-craft,  sorcery,  lycanthrophy,  etc.,  that  have 


Digitized  by 


Google 


1 886.]  The  Relations  of  Mind  and  Matter.  1 3 

from  time  to  time  broken  out,  and  raged  in  spite  of  every  effort  at 
suppression.  But  we  have  only  space  for  some  of  the  more  par- 
ticular instances.  It  is  significant  that  the  mobt  remarkable  of 
these  emotional  epidemics  have  followed  terrible  pestilences, 
famines,  or  other  great  national  calamities.  Thus  the  terrible 
"  Black  Death  "  pestilence  of  the  fourteenth  century,  which  threw 
all  Europe  into  a  condition  of  severe  mental  depression,  and 
roused  a  host  of  superstitious  fears,  was  followed  by  extraordinary 
outbreaks  of  fanaticism.  These  were  the  Flagellation  mania  and 
the  Dancing  epidemic.  In  the  one,  Europe  was  filled  with  throngs 
of  self-flogging  maniacs.  In  the  other  hosts  of  dancing  and  sing- 
ing convulsionists  everywhere  appeared,  seemingly  possessed  by  a 
fury,  and  convulsively  leaping  until  they  sank  down  in  utter  ex- 
haustion. The  Tarantula  epidemic  of  Italy  was  of  the  same  gen- 
eral character. 

Two  cases  related  by  Zimmerman  may  be  here  particularly 
given.  In  one  case  a  nun,  in  a  very  large  French  convent,  began 
to  mew  like  a  cat.  Soon  others  of  the  nuns  imitated  her,  and  ere 
long  the  whole  of  the  sisterhood  were  diligently  mewing.  So 
strongly  did  the  mania  possess  them,  that  it  was  only  broken  up 
by  the  stationing  of  a  company  of  soldiers  near  the  convent,  with 
a  threat  to  whip  any  one  who  should  indulge  in  the  peculiar  vocal 
exercise.  Dread  of  the  whip  proved  a  stronger  mental  force  than 
the  desire  to  mew,  and  the  convent  returned  to  its  former  peace 
and  quiet.  In  the  other  instance  a  nun  in  a  German  convent,  of 
the  fifteenth  century,  began  to  bite  her  companions.  Soon  all  the 
nuns  fell  to  biting  one  another.  As  the  news  of  this  spread  to 
other  convents  the  biting  mania  broke  out  there  also,  until  it 
spread  throughout  Germany  and  Holland,  and  extended  so  far  as 
Rome* 

The  emotional  character  of  the  mental  operations  of  a  religious 
sisterhood  probably  renders  them  specially  susceptible  to  such 
psychic  influences.  In  all  such  cases  a  considerable  degree  of 
mental  excitement  seems  to  have  attended  the  mania.  And  it  has 
been  usually  confined  to  the  lower  classes,  though  in  a  case  of 
long  continuance,  like  that  of  the  Flagellants,  nobles  and  ecclesi- 
astics, with  many  other  persons  of  honorable  birth,  became  affect- 
ed. In  these  days  of  science,  education,  and  active  thought  gen- 
erally, such  extended  manias  have  ceased  to  exist,  though  minor 
examples  may  yet  be  found  in   ignorant  communities.     In  all 


Digitized  by  VjOOQIC 


1 4  77ie  Relations  of  Mind  and  Matter.  [January, 

these  instances  there  seems  to  be  a  general  outflow  of  psychic 
energy  of  a  peculiar  kind,  which  acts  to  produce  accordant  states 
in  all  minds  into  which  it  flows,  unless  they  are  intellectually 
active  enough  to  resist  its  influence.  We  all  know  how  difficult 
it  is,  even  in  educated  persons,  to  resist  the  psychic  influence  of  a 
strongly  emotional  speaker,  even  though  the  reason  may  resist 
his  arguments,  and  how  resistance  becomes  lulled  and  conviction 
produced,  by  the  pure  force  of  "personal  magnetism."  And 
knowing  this  we  cannot  wonder  at  the  remarkable  influence  of 
some  very  irrational  revivalists. 

The  subject  has  here  been  very  briefly  and  incompletely  treat- 
ed. Had  we  space  to  give  in  full  the  abundant  evidence  that 
might  be  oflered,  and  to  detail  the  strict  test  conditions  under 
which  it  was  often  received,  the  fact  of  a  direct  intercourse  of 
mind  with  mind,  and  control  of  one  mind  by  another,  without 
the  intermedium  of  the  senses,  might  be  shown  far  more  clearly. 
And  the  indications  strongly  point  to  some  such  conclusion  as 
that  here  reached,  that  the  mental  powers  are  based  in  a  special 
psychic  substance,  and  that  masses  of  this  substance  act  upon 
each  other  through  the  ether  in  methods  closely  similar  to  those 
in  which  masses  of  matter  act  on  each  other. 

One  further  question  of  great  importance  here  comes  into 
play.  If  psychic  substance  begins  its  existence  as  "  bound  ether/' 
ether  condensed  by  the  attractive  force  of  atoms  and  molecules, 
can  it  exist  in  this  condensed  form  separate  from  the  atoms  and 
molecules  ?  If  these  continue  to  exist  must  their  ethereal  atmos- 
pheres remain  permanently  bound  to  them  ?  If  they  should  in 
any  way  be  destroyed,  would  the  ethereal  atmospheres  resume 
their  original  condition  of  free  ether  ?  If  we  have  dealt  with 
pure  hypothesis  so  far,  it  may  be  well  to  follow  our  hypothesis  to 
its  ultimate  consequence. 

That  bound  ether  is  an  existing  fact  is  becoming  more 'and 
more  generally  admitted.  Sir  William  Thomson,  in  a  recent 
paper,^  views  it  as  a  necessary  condition  to  the  phenomena  of 
refraction.  And  if  it  exists  it  seems  equally  necessary  that  the 
ethereal  atmosphere  must  be  affected  by  the  motions  of  its 
nucleus  and  assume  accordant  motions.  If  so,  the  destruction  of 
the  material  nucleus  might  leave  the  condensed  ether  as  a  per- 
sistent atom  or  molecule,  since  it  would  possess  the  motor  organ- 

^  Read  before  the  Royal  Society  of  Edinburgh,  January,  1885. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


1 886.]  The  Relations  of  Mind  and  Matter.  1 5 

ization  of  a  material  atom  or  molecule.  On  the  other  hand,  while 
the  atom  or  molecule  of  matter  continues  intact,  it  would  seem 
as  if  its  bound  ether  must  remain  confined  to  it  and  accompany 
it  through  all  its  integrations  and  disintegrations.  Absolute 
accordance  in  motions  and  the  persistent  vigor  of  attraction  must 
prevent  any  separation  of  the  bound  ether  from  its  nucleus. 
Under  these  conditions,  therefore,  there  could  be  no  separate 
existence  of  a  psychic  substance. 

But  this  is  but  one  of  the  probable  conditions  of  existence  of 
this  substance.  Bound  ether  may  be  strongly  influenced  by 
other  motor  energies,  which  but  feebly  influence  its  material 
nucleus.  In  this  respect  the  phenomena  of  the  mind  lead  to  some 
very  interesting  conclusions.  If  the  physical  basis  of  the  mind 
be  the  bound  ether  of  the  cerebral  cells  and  molecules,  it  must 
originally  be  intimately  related  in  motion  and  condition  to  these 
cells  and  molecules,  and  can  have  no  power  of  separate  exist- 
ence. But  the  whole  process  of  development  of  the  mind  is  one 
that  tends  to  break  up  this  intimate  connection.  The  psychic 
substance  of  the  cerebrum  is  aflected,  not  only  by  the  normal 
cerebral  motions,  but  by  innumerable  motor  conditions  coming 
from  external  substances,  through  the  medium  of  the  nervous 
system.  These  conditions  but  slightly  and  temporarily,  so  far  as 
we  can  judge,  affect  the  sluggish  matter  of  the  cerebrum,  but 
strongly  and  permanently  the  mobile  substance  of  the  mind. 
The  mental  substratum  thus  becomes  affected  by  motor  condi- 
tions which  have  no  fixed  counterpart  in  the  brain  substance. 
The  original  close  motor  accordance  is  broken ;  and  with  it  the 
effect  of  molecular  attraction  is  weakened.  Such  a  result  would 
be  precisely  parallel  to  that  common  in  chemical  action,  in  which 
motor  inharmony  seems  a  steady  opponent  of  the  force  of  affin- 
ity. Affinity  is  most  vigorous  when  motor  harmony  exists.  If 
the  motor  inharmony  becomes  great,  molecular  separation  takes 
place.  A  similar  rule  may  well  hold  good  between  the  cere- 
bral molecules  and  their  bound  ether.  As  the  absorption  of  ex- 
ternal energies  by  the  bound  ether  produces  motor  inharmony^ 
the  effect  of  the  attraction  is  steadily  weakened.  The  bound 
ether  is  converted  into  specially  organized  psychic  substance.  In 
such  a  case  there  might  be  a  fresh  condensation  of  ether  around 
the  molecules,  and  this,  in  its  turn,  would  become  the  recipient 
of  new  inflowing  energies.    In  this  way  a  continually  increasing 


Digitized  by 


Google 


1 6  The  Relations  of  Mind  and  Matter.  [January, 

volume  of  psychic  substance  might  be  formed  by  the  addition  of 
new  surface  films,  each  becoming  specially  organized  by  sensory 
influences,  and  losing  its  intimate  relation  to  cerebral  matter. 

In  such  a  method  the  bound  ether  of  material  molecules  may 
be  converted  into  the  psychic  substance  of  mind.  And  with 
every  transfer  of  energy  from  matter  to  psychic  substance,  con- 
sciousness may  declare  itself.  The  conditions  of  mental  devel- 
opment and  mental  reception  of  sensations,  as  considered  in  the 
preceding  section,  are  in  close  accordance  with  this  idea.  We 
have  not  matter  with  two  sides,  or  with  duplicate  physical  and 
mental  motor  relations,  as  considered  by  Mr.  Bain  in  his  Mind 
and  Body,  but  two  distinct  conditions  of  substance,  originally  in- 
timately bound  together,  but  becoming  separate  as  their  motor 
conditions  become  inharmonious.  In  such  a  case  the  disintegra- 
tion of  the  brain  would  not  carry  with  it  the  disintegration 
of  the  mental  substratum.  The  latter  has  ceased  to  be  the 
bound  ether  of  the  former,  and  the  cerebral  molecules  could  only 
*  carry  with  them  their  latest  increment  of  bound  ether  without 
affecting  that  which  had  escaped  from  this  condition.  Nor  could 
the  energies  which  cause  the  disintegration  of  the  brain  produce 
the  same  effect  upon  the  psychic  substance.  A  substance  through 
which  the  most  vigorous  motor  energies,  such  as  those  of  light 
and  heat,  pass  without  producing  any  permanent  disturbance  of 
its  conditions,  might  remain  utterly  unaffected  by  the  most  in- 
tense disrupting  energy  of  material  agencies,  and  survive  the 
body  as  a  concrete  organism. 

In  fact  the  close  connection  between  brain  and  mind  seems  to 
depend  in  some  measure  upon  the  activity  of  the  brain.  This 
activity  appears  to  enhance  the  attractive  hold  of  the  cerebral 
cells  upon  their  psychic  outgrowth.  It  is  during  the  stage  of 
cerebral  activity  that  external  sensations  are  most  abundantly  and 
intensely  received.  With  the  partial  cessation  of  this  activity 
which  takes  place  during  sleep,  some  degree  of  weakening  of  the 
bonds  between  mind  and  body  seems  to  take  place.  During 
deep  sickness,  or  at  the  near  approach  of  death,  the  bond  seems 
to  become  still  weaker,  and  the  mind,  with  no  impairment  of  its 
activity,  seems  often  to  be  partially  independent  of  the  inactive 
body.  The  complete  cessation  of  cerebral  activity,  which  comes 
with  death,  may  utterly  break  the  bond  of  connection,  the  mole- 
cules of  the  brain  only  retaining  their  latest  increment  of  bound 


Digitized  by 


Google 


1 886.]       Notes  an  the  Life-histary  of  the  Common  Newt.  17 

ether,  while  the  organized  psychic  cerebrum  becomes  a  free 
organism.  Whether  with  it  is  freed  a  closely  related  psychic 
organism,  the  outcome  of  the  whole  body  development,  and 
reproducing  every  detail  of  the  body,  is  a  question  of  secondary 
concern.  It  is  sufficient  for  our  present  purpose  to  show  the  con- 
ceivable separate  existence  of  a  psychic  cerebrum,  possessing  the 
definite  organization  of  the  material  cerebrum,  and  in  addition  all 
the  thought  conditions  of  the  developed  mind. 

If  the  human  body,  as  the  highest  outcome  of  its  organization 
of  energy  in  matter,  is  capable  of  producing  such  a  self-centered 
and  self-existent  psychic  organism,  a  like  power,  though  in  a 
lower  degree,  must  exist  in  lower  organic  beings,  and  possibly  in 
inorganic  compounds.  Every  concrete  mass  which  received 
external  energies,  without  being  molded  by  them,  might  have  its 
bound  ether  molded  by  these  energies  and  thus  converted  into 
psychic  substance,  capable  of  self  existence  when  definitely  sep- 
arated from  its  nucleus.  AH  matter  may  thus  act  as  a  laboratory 
for  the  elimination  of  psychic  substance  from  bound  ether.  The 
freed  mental  organism  might  find  an  accordant  sphere  of  exist- 
ence thus  prepared  for  it,  and  as  thoroughly  adapted  to  its  pow- 
ers and  needs  as  the  material  earth  is  to  ours.  Nor  could  we 
become  sensible  of  the  existence  of  substance  in  this  condition, 
its  complete  transparency  to  radiations  of  light  and  heat  render- 
ing it  imperceptible  to  our  senses  and  our  instruments.  Such 
may  be  offered  as  a  speculative  conception  of  the  possibility  of 
the  existence  of  the  mind  after  the  dissolution  of  the  body,  in  a 
sphere  of  substance  suitable  to  its  needs  and  powers.  It  is  a  con- 
ception towards  which  many  partial  steps  Lave  been  made,  but 
this  may  be  offered  as  the  first  definite  hypothesis  of  the  devel- 
opment and  conditions  of  the  mind,  based  upon  the  conclusions 

of  modern  science. 

:o: 

SOME  NOTES    ON    THE    LIFE-HISTORY    OF    THE 
COMMON  NEWT. 

BY  COL.  NICOLAS  PIKE. 

THIS  little  reptile,  our  common  newt  or  spotted  eft,  Diemycty- 
ius  miniatus  viridescens  (Raf.)  Cope,  is  numerous  on  Long 
Island  from  Brooklyn  to  Greenport,  and  is  equally  well  known 
all  over  the  Eastern  States.  It  may  be  caught  from  March  to 
December,  as  it  bears  a  very  low  temperature,  and  I  once  saw  it 

▼ox..  xx.'KO.  f.  a 


Digitized  by 


Google 


1 8  Notes  on  the  Life-history  of  the  Common  Newt,  [January, 

swimming  under  the  ice  in  a  pond  near  Fort  Hamilton.  It  is 
gregarious,  bears  confinement  well,  and  I  have  often  kept  it  for 
over  a  year  in  my  aquarium. 

Its  food  is  very  varied ;  it  will  take  aquatic  and  other  insects, 
small  tadpoles,  worms,  especially  earthworms,  and  it  will  eat 
small  pieces  of  raw  beef  and  fish  when  hungry.  Though  a  harm- 
less little  reptile,  it  will  quarrel  occasionally  with  its  companions 
about  food.  I  have  seen  one  seize  a  worm  twice  its  own  length  and 
try  to  gulp  it  down  holding  it  with  the  hands ;  a  second  would 
snatch  up  the  other  end  and  begin  swallowing  it  till  the  two  met. 
Then  such  a  pulling  and  wriggling  ensued,  till  the  strongest  or 
most  persistent  succeeded  in  making  the  other  disgorge  its  meal. 
Sometimes  it  would  take  nearly  a  day  before  the  worm  vanished,  the 
first  part  having  to  be  digested  before  the  last  could  be  swallowed. 
In  confinement  they  should  have  only  the  smallest  worms,  as  the 
large  ones  disagree  with  them,  and  I  have  often  had  them  die 
after  one  of  these  gorging  meals.  They  are  very  fond  of  the 
small  fresh-water  bivalves  so  abundant  in  most  of  the  ponds  they 
frequent.  Many  are  swallowed  whole ;  one  I  dissected  had  four 
— shells  and  all — in  its  stomach. 

When  caught  the  little  harmless  creatures  do  not  try  to  escape 
but  hang  limp  in  the  fingers.*  They  are,  however,  as  cunning  as 
all  the  rest  of  their  race.  I  placed  one  on  my  table  to  examine 
it,  when  it  crawled  under  a  sheet  of  paper  and  crouched  down  as 
if  asleep.  I  was  called  away  for  a  few  minutes,  and  on  my  return 
found  my  little  friend  had  absconded.  Now  it  had  not  attempted 
to  move  for  over  an  hour  in  my  presence,  but  was  evidently  at 
once  conscious  of  my  absence.  It  was  sometime  before  I  found  it 
on  the  opposite  side  of  the  room,  it  was  so  nearly  the  color  of  the 
carpet.  It  never  does  to  trust  to  the  apparent  helplessness  of  any 
animal,  for  what  it  lacks  in  outward  means  of  defense  it  is  sure  to 
make  up  in  cunning. 

I  accidentally  found  out  one  of  this  animal's  most  deadly  ene- 
mies. I  once  brought  home  a  lot  of  the  viridescens  in  a  box  of 
leaves  in  which  I  had  thrown  some  wire-worms,  thinking  they 
might  serve  as  food,  they  were  so  abundant  around  the  pond. 
The  next  morning  I  found  my  poor  little  prisoners  had  all  been 

'  Sometimes  they  emit  a  faint  cry,  but  this  is  generaUy  in  the  breeding  season.  It 
is  a  faint  squealing  sound  not  unlike  that  made  by  the  Spelerpes  ruber,  but  not  so 
loud,  and  is  I  believe  only  heard  from  the  males. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


i886.]       Notes  on  the  Life-history  of  the  Common  Newt.  19 

attacked  by  the  wire- worms,  pieces  of  flesh  being  eaten  out  of 
their  living  bodies.  One  had  coiled  so  tightly  round  its  victim 
it  was  paralyzed  and  died  directly  I  removed  it  Though  so 
abundant,  yet  large  numbers  when  young  are  devoured  by  the 
strong  larvae  of  the  Amblystoma  punctatum  ;  the  robust  frog  tad- 
poles also  mercilessly  nip  ofT  their  gills  and  tails,  and  they  soon 
die.     These  facts  I  have  often  witnessed  in  my  aquarium. 

Everyone  knows  these  pretty  olive-backed  newts,  yellow 
underneath,  the  whole  body  and  tail  spotted  black,  and  on  the 
sides  a  row  of  flame-colored  spots  encircled  black,  but  every- 
one does  not  know,  and  perhaps  never  saw  the  change  that  takes 
place  on  the  approach  of  springs  when  the  males  assume  their 
brightest  dress  preparatory  to  courtship.  Over  the  back  and 
tail  waves  a  graceful  spotted  crest,  the  color  underneath  changes 
to  orange,  and  the  inner  side  of  the  legs  is  deeply  barred  jet 
black — all  of  which  last  during  the  breeding  season  and  then  the 
crest  is  absorbed,  the  black  bars  and  bright  color  fade  out  till  the 
next  love  time  of  the  year  calls  them  forth. 

I  believe  this  animal  is  incapable  of  reproduction  under  four 
years  of  age,  for  its  growth  is  very  slow  even  in  its  natural  state. 
When  the  love-making  commences  there  is  a  busy  time  amongst 
the  denizens  of  the  ponds.  The  males  dart  about,  gyrating  round 
their  chosen  mates,  heading  them  ofl*  in  their  endeavors  to  escape, 
and  when  they  have  at  last  won  the  victory  they  seize  the  females 
round  the  lumbar  region  and  remain  thus  often  for  hours.  The 
milt  and  ova  pass  simultaneously,  and  the  operation  takes  some 
time,  but  it  is  generally  accomplished  under  cover  of  darkness. 
The  older  females  often  deposit  150  to  300  eggs  at  a  time,  which  , 
they  attach  to  twigs  in  the  water  or  long  grass.  The  eggs  are 
very  small  at  first  but  rapidly  swell.  Younger  females  only  lay 
from  twenty  to  fifty  eggs  in  a  small  group. 

I  am  not  aware  of  any  one  having  published  any  account  of 
the  hatching  of  the  eggs  of  D,  viridescens  except  Professor  A.  E. 
Verrill,  who,  in  the  Amer.  Naturalist  for  1870,  wrote  as  follows : 
••  The  eggs  of  the  common  water  newt  were  observed  by  Mr.  S.  J. 
Smith  and  "myself  at  Norway,  Maine,  in  '63  and  '64,  attached  in 
round  masses,  two  or  three  inches  in  diameter,  resembling  frogs' 
eggs,  on  stems  of  water  plants  in  ditches  in  a  meadow.  The  eggs 
were  found  May  5th,  and  reared  by  Mr.  Smith,  hatched  May 
17th,  and  by  October  ist  were  one  and  a  half  inches  long.   They 


Digitized  by 


Google 


20  Notes  on  the  Life-history  of  the  Common  Newt,  fjanuary, 

had  stout  bodies  and  broad  heads,  and  still  retained  their  exter- 
nal gills,  though  they  had  partially  acquired  the  colors  of  the 
adult.  The  experiment  was  then  discontinued  but  the  specimens 
all  preserved." 

This  only  came  under  my  notice  in  October,  '84,  when  I  was 
delighted  to  find  Professor  Verrill's  statement  verified  my  own 
experience,  which  I  will  now  relate : 

On  the  6th  April,  '84,  a  quiet  cool  morning,  whilst  sweeping 
my  net  in  a  pond  at  Jamaica  ridge,  I  detached  some  bunches  of 
ova  from  several  dead  branches  that  lay  in  the  water.  They 
varied  in  size  from  two  and  a  half  to  six  inches  in  diameter,  con- 
taining from  25  to  150  eggs  each,  all  enclosed  in  a  glairy  mass. 
The  eggs  were  brown  above,  pale  beneath,  each  in  a  greenish 
double  envelope,  but  so  transparent  that  the  development  was 
distinctly  visible. 

This  is  a  most  perfect  arrangement  for  the  protection  of  the 
ova ;  a  space  lies  between  the  envelopes  and  each  can  be  sepa- 
rated in  its  own  globe  of  glaire  from  the  rest.  These  xroverings 
are  tough  and  not  easily  injured,  and  so  firmly  attached  to  the 
branch  I  had  difficulty  in  loosening  the  whole  without  breaking 
it  up.  It  would  take  a  very  strong  wind  or  current  to  dislodge 
these  carefully  protected  embryos. 

They  were  all  deposited  on  the  south  side  of  the  pond  where 
the  sun  shone  in  between  the  trees,  about  six  or  eight  inches 
below  the  surface,  in  very  clear  water.  I  brought  them  home  in 
a  pail  of  water  and  placed  them  in  an  aquarium.  I  prepared  for 
them  with  aquatic  plants  and  debris  from  the  pond.  I  thought  I 
had  secured  the  spawn  of  the  A.  punctatum,  not  thinking  of 
Diemyctylus,  which  is  mostly  accredited  with  depositing  one  or 
two  eggs  separately  in  a  folded  leaf.  From  the  appearance  of  the 
ova  some  must  have  been  laid  the  preceding  night,  while  others 
showed  a  curious  mass  of  small  granulations. 

In  a  few  days  a  sort  of  break  up  of  some  of  the  ova  took 
place,  if  I  may  so  express  it.  The  embryo  assumed  a  fish-like 
appearance  with  a  blunt  head,  curled  up  tail  and  a  thick  solid 
body.  During  the  next  fourteen  days  the  brown  body  enlarged, 
head  was  very  dark,  outline  of  eyes  visible,  snout  broad  and 
thick  and  if  shaken  the  little  creature  displayed  considerable  irri- 
tation by  a  twitching  of  the  tail.  By  the  20th  the  body  was 
elongated  and  curved,  the  flattened  tail  showing  a  fin,  the  verte- 


Digitized  by 


Google 


1 886.]      Notes  on  the  Life-history  of  the  Common  Newt,  21 

bral  strix  and  branchiae  with  the  minute  claspers  all  were  visible 
with  a  good  glass.  The  glairy  coverings  enlarged  with  the  crea- 
ture's needs,  and  by  the  28th  some  had  emerged  and  commenced 
life  on  their  own  account  On  the  9th  May  the  film  disappeared 
from  the  ^e^^  the  gills  were  free,  and  what  seemed  to  be  thin 
white  threads  were  really  the  first  appearance  of  the  anterior 
legs,  but  only  by  the  aid  of  a  powerful  glass  could  the  two  little 
claw-like  fingers  be  seen.  A  dark  stripe  showed  from  nostril  to 
eyes  and  another  on  the  head,  and  the  whole  body  was  covered 
with  fine  dottings. 

It  is  very  diflUcult  to  know  what  is  the  food  of  these  mites,  at 
this  stage  only  half  an  inch  long.  It  can  only  be  the  minute 
monads  and  confervacious  spores  in  the  water.  The  glairy  en- 
velopes remained  long  without  decomposition,  intact  but  for  the 
cleft  by  which  its  occupant  emerged.  I  am  half  inclined  to  think 
the  young  still  feed  on  them,  for  they  hang  round  them  con- 
stantly; I  know  frog  and  toad  tadpoles  will  feed  greedily  on 
these  empty  shells. 

The  little  newts  would  remain  motionless  for  a  long  time  as 
if  dead,  but  if  disturbed  would  rush  madly  round.  The  whole  of 
the  ova  did  not  hatch  till  the  middle  of  May,  so  the  first  out 
must  have  been  laid  in  March.  By  the  15th  there  was  little 
doubt  in  my  mind  that  I  had  at  last  solved  the  problem  of  the 
spawning  of  the  Diemyctylus.  The  reddish  gills  were  well 
fringed,  the  eyes  prominent,  the  front  legs  transparent  and  white 
fingers  free,  the  abdomen  shewing  the  viscera,  and  the  body 
dotted  all  over.  A  dark  stripe  from  snout  to  eyes  is,  I  find,  never 
absent  in  the  larva  of  this  species. 

On  the  25th  I  procured  a  quantity  of  Lemna  or  duckweed  for 
my  aquarium,  and  it  spread  all  over  the  surface  of  the  water. 
My  little  pets  delighted  in  it,  and  when  the  sun  shone  they  would 
crowd  under  it  in  every  position,  seeming  to  hang  on  to  the  slen- 
der roots.*  They  certainly  throve  in  their  leafy  home,  and  flour- 
ished so  well  that  in  a  month,  on  the  25th  of  June,  they  were  an 
iilch  long,  very  active,  brownish-gray  in  color,  with  a  series  of 
whitish  markings  where  the  spots  were  to  appear  later.  The 
abdomen  alone  was  spotless.  Two  fingers  and  two  knobs  showed 
in  front,  and  the  hind  legs  were  out  but  the  feet  only  slightly 

^Possibly  the  Lemna  contained  minute  spores,  or  ova  of  insects,  which  served 
them  as  fresh  food. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


22  Notes  on  the  Life-history  of  the  Common  Newt,  [January, 

developed.  The  young  begin  to  molt  in  confinem^ent  about  the 
second  month ;  later  on,  with  every  change,  the  spots  which  are 
only  blurred  white  markings  at  first,  assume  a  more  definite 
shape.  The  adults  change  their  skin  frequently  when  they  have 
abundant  food,  which  has  the  same  efTect  on  the  Urodela  as  on 
the  ophidians. 

Thus  bx  all  went  well,  but  then  began  the  great  trouble  always 
experienced  at  this  stage  in  rearing  the  Urodela,  much  greater 
than  that  of  the  Anura.  The  latter  will  feed  greedily  on  decom- 
posed animal  matter  that  the  former  seem  to  care  little  for,  in 
confinement  at  least  I  tried  every  kind  of  aquatic  plant  and 
small  insect  I  could  get  from  the  ponds,  but  uselessly,  many  died 
and  the  rest  were  thin  as  shadows  but  active  as  ever.  A  few  sur- 
vived till  August  and  well  proved  their  identity,  when  I  put  the 
last  but  one  in  spirits  to  save  its  life!  The  last  I  kept  alive  till 
nearly  the  end  of  the  month  by  feeding  it  on  little  red  mites  that 
swarm  in  the  ponds  at  that  season,  but  even  it  succumbed,  and  it 
was  still  only  one  inch  long  when  it  followed  its  mates,  never 
having  grown  since  June.  I  preserved  a  series  of  specimens  from 
the  spawn  upwards,  and  I  hunted  the  ponds  so  persistently  that  I 
was  able  to  supplement  my  own  deficiencies  by  larvae  from  them 
in  every  stage,  so  that  now  it  is  complete  in  my  cabinet  from 
spawn  to  a  fine  adult  five  inches  long. 

To  show  the  difference  in  rearing  these  animals  in  confinement 
and  in  their  natural  state,  I  will  mention  that  on  June  14th  I  took 
some  larva:  from  the  same  pond  over  two  inches  in  length  and 
quite  fat  Doubtless  the  great  increase  of  aize  over  mine  was 
due  to  abundance  of  suitable  food,  fresh  air  and  abundant  room 
to  swim  about  in.  I  have  had  ample  proof  that  the  breeding 
season  extends  even  to  May,  from  the  very  small  larvae  I  have 
taken  even  in  July. 

Some  young  taken  in  September  were  a  dark  olive,  the  tail 
nearly  black  and  feet  dark ;  those  of  October  showed  a  little  dot- 
ting on  the  chin;  those  of  November  had  the  gills  absorbed, 
were  about  two  and  a  half  inches  long,  and  were  sparsely  dotted 
underneath,  but  the  side  spots  still  white.  I  do  not  think  the 
flame  color  always  comes  in  till  the  second  year,  and  the  bufT 
color  of  the  abdomen  shews  about  the  same  time.  As  the  ani- 
mal nears  the  period  when  the  gills  completely  disappear,  its 
body  diminishes  in  si;(e,  and  I  have  taken  some  in  the  second 


Digitized  by 


Google 


1 886.]       NoU$  on  tlu  Life-history  of  the  Common  Newt.  23 

year  on  land  barely  two  inches,  tail  included.  The  atrophy  of 
the  branchis  begins  at  the  extremities  and  goes  on  very  gradually 
till  the  fimbriae  are  absorbed,  when  the  rest  roll  up  and  leave  two 
rounded  tubercles  that  I  have  still  found  in  specimens  taken  in 
December  just  before  hibernation.^  As  the  gills  are  absorbed  the 
form  of  the  head  changes.  During  their  growth  it  widens  con- 
siderably in  front  of  them,  but  on  absorption  the  neck  becomes 
narrow,  and  between  the  eyes  it  is  broaden  The  fin,  round  back 
and  tail  vanishes  at  the  same  time. 

Both  s^^xts  leave  the  water  after  the  mating  is  over  for  a  time, 
and  hide,  without  feeding,  under  stones  and  tussocks.  The  young 
of  the  second  year  sometimes  leave  the  water  for  months  to- 
gether and  secrete  themselves  in  damp  places.  When  droughts 
occur  and  the  ponds  dry  up  I  have  often  dug  them  out,  all  hud- 
dled together,  more  than  a  foot  below  the  surface,  and  where  the 
clayey  ground  has  become  so  parched  that  they  are  unable  to 
burrow  they  are  often  seen  several  together,  dead  and  dried  up. 

This  season,  1884,  an  exceptionally  mild  one,  I  took,  on  a  bright 
warm  day  early  in  December,  quite  a  number  of  large  viridescens^ 
both  male  and  female,  very  active  although  there  was  a  thin  coat- 
ing of  ice  on  the  pond.  The  former  had  the  legs  already  barred 
and  the  tails  finned,  while  the  latter  were  large  and  fat.  I  dis- 
sected a  female  and  found  her  full  of  good-sized  ova. 

Diemyctylus  mineatus  (Raf.)  Cope  (Eastern  water  newt). — This 
little  animal,  formerly  supposed  to  be  distinct  from  the  last  de- 
scribed, and  mentioned  in  the  latest  bulletin  of  the  Smithsonian 
Institution,  is  now  generally  acknowledged  to  be  only  a  color 
variety  of  the  D.  viridescens.  Dr.  Hallowell  was  the  first  to 
express  his  belief  that  the  so-called  distinct  species  were  the 
same.  Professor  Cope^  says,  "  the  nominal  D.  miniatus  is  a  state 
of  D.  viridescens*'  and  that  he  has  had  it  change  to  the  latter  in 
confinement. 

Mr.  Howard  A.  Kelly,  in  an  article  in  the  Am.  Naturalist, 
states,  "he  brought  home  a  number  of  D.  miniatus  (Raf.)  or  little 
red  lizard  or  red  eft,  and  after  keeping  them  in  a  dark  box  filled 

>  These  animals  do  not,  I  believe,  really  hibernate  in  the  usual  acceptation  of  the 
term,  that  iy,  they  do  not  often  become  dormant.  In  January  And  February,  when 
the  poods  are  frozen  over,  they  resort  to  the  deep  holes,  where  they  remain  huddled 
together,  if  not  disturbed,  till  the  genial  sunshine  again  calls  them  forth  to  activity. 

'  Professor  Cope  has  studied  the  Urodela  perhaps  as  much  and  as  carefully  as  any 
ooe  in  this  country,  and  is  therefore  an  undoubted  authority  on  the  subject. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


24  Notes  on  the  Life-history  of  the  Common  Newt.  [January , 

with  saturated  moss,  they  changed  their  color  from  a  bright  ver- 
milion to  the  olive  state  characteristic  of  the  D,  viridescens**  and 
he  kept  them  all  winter. 

I  have  gradually  come  to  the  conclusion  that  the  two  are  iden- 
tical. Some  years  ago  I  captured  quite  a  number  of  red  ones  in 
the  Catskill  mountains,  brought  them  home  and  kept  them  in  a 
box  with  other  salamanders,  where  they  could  resort  to  water  if 
they  chose.  For  some  days  they  remained  hiding  under  the 
wet  moss  and  stones,  but  finally  crept  out  at  night  and  went  into 
the  water.  I  gave  them  insects  and  worms,  which  they  readily 
devoured.  In  about  three  months  they  lost  their  bright  red,  and 
in  less  than  a  year  they  were  of  the  usual  olive  of  the  wW* 
descens. 

Another  fact  still  more  decidedly  bearing  on  the  case,  is,  that 
some  two  year  old  olive-colored  viridescens  taken  from  the  ponds 
and  put  in  earth  an^  dead,  wet  leaves  in  a  tub  in  my  garden  with- 
out water,  in  a  month  or  so  began  to  lose  their  green  tint  and 
assume  a  dingy  brownish  hue. 

It  is  well  known  that  the  Diemyctylus  often  stays  away  from 
water  for  months  at  a  time,  but  roams  round  at  night  in  the  damp 
earth  and  grass  in  wet  weather. 

The  food  these  animals  take  plays  also  a  very  important  part 
in  their  coloration  and  growth,  just  as  we  see  in  the  whole  animal 
kingdom.  In  the  ponds  the  viridescens  is  generally  a  dull  olive, 
almost  the  color  of  the  green  slime  and  plants  covering  them,  in 
which  they  hide  almost  unseen.  On  land,  where  they  are  always 
in  the  day  time,  either  under  stones  or  dead  wood  or  in  the  earth 
they  have  burrowed  in,  they  assume  more  the  color  of  these  ob- 
jects to  hide  from  whatever  enemies  they  may  have  in  their  new 
habitat. 

Then  as  to  food ;  in  the  water  they  have  abundance  of  succu- 
lent nutriment  —  mollusks,  tadpoles,  ova  of  reptiles  and  fish^ 
aquatic  insects  and  plenty  of  confervaceous  plants  on  which  they 
and  their  prey  alike  feed,  and  which  doubtless  assists  in  their  col- 
oration. Now  as  soon  as  they  leave  the  water  their  food  changes 
at  once  to  spiders,  insects,  earthworms,  &c.,  so  totally  diflferent 
from  the  prey  of  the  ponds,  and  it  is  most  probable  this  is  the 
first  cause  in  the  change  of  color  in  the  little  Diemyctylus. 

Locality  has  also  considerable  to  do  with  the  tints  of  the  skin 
in  these  animals,  as  we  see  so  prominently  in  snakes,  especially 


Digitized  by 


Google 


1 886.]  Relation  tf  Pectoral  Muscles  of  Birds  to  Power  of  Flight.  25 

in  the  genus  Eutaenia,  where  difference  of  locality  has  had  such 
an  effect  on  the  coloration  as  to  give  rise  to  several  species 
being  made  out  of  the  common  garter  snake. 

I  have  procured  these  newts  from  many  places  in  New  York 
and  New  Jersey  States  and  different  parts  of  Long  Island,  of 
every  shade  of  red-up  to  very  bright  scarlet,  yet  within  a  radius 
of  many  miles  from  Brooklyn,  where  the  viridescens  and  its  vari- 
ety are  both  plentiful,  I  never  find  the  latter  other  than  a  reddish- 
brown,  varying  from  light  to  very  dark.  Sometimes  late  in 
December  I  find  little  brown  ones  with  flame-colored  spots,  in 
the  ponds.  These  are  so  greatly  attenuated  it  is  possible  they 
have  returned  to  the  water  in  search  of  food,  lacking  on  land,  at 
so  late  a  period  when  all  anitnal  life  which  would  be  available  for 
them  disappears  from  the  surface. 

THE  RELATION  OF  THE  PECTORAL  MUSCLES  OF 
BIRDS  TO  THE  POWER  OF  FLIGHT. 

BY  CHARLES  L.  EDWARDS. 

OF  all  the  modes  of  animal  locomotion  flight  is  the  most  rapid, 
the  most  graceful,  the  most  fascinating.  With  one  important 
exception  this  power  separates  the  bird  from  the  other  verte- 
brates and  gives  it  preeminence  in  motion.  Its  whole  structure — 
the  conical  form  of  the  body  offering  so  little  resistance  to  the 
air,  the  hollow  bones,  the  air-sacs  and  the  weaving  together  of 
the  smallest  barbules  to  form  the  close  web  of  the  wing — all 
denote  that  in  the  air,  in  flight,  is  the  bird's  life. 

While  in  a  very  general  way  much  has  been  observed  with 
regard  to  the  variation  in  the  power  of  flight  of  species  differing 
quite  widely  from  each  other,  yet  tliere  are  still  some  unsolved 
problems  connected  with  the  highest  form  of  motion. 

Before  attempting  the  solution  of  any  special  problem  there 
are  certain  mechanical  elements  of  flight  with  which  we  must 
become  familiar. 

A  body  much  heavier  than  air  is  to  be  propelled  with  great 
speed  through  the  air.  The  resistances  are  the  force  of  gravity 
and  the  air  itsel£ 

The  perpendicular  action  of  the  broadly  expanded  wings  op« 
poses  as  much  as  possible  the  force  of  gravity,  while  the  narrow 


Digitized  by 


Google 


26  The  Relation  of  the  Pectoral  Muscles  of  [January, 

wing-line  and  the  cleaving  form  of  the  conical  body  reduce  a& 
much  as  possible  the  resistance  of  the  air  in  front. 

The  cause  of  motion,  is  the  action  of  the  wings  upon  the 
highly  elastic  air  producing  by  reaction  forward  movement  of  the 
body.  The  source  of  this  action  is  in  the  pectoral  muscles.  Its 
instruments  are  the  wings.  Wonderfully  indeed  are  the  wings 
adapted  to  their  purpose.  Of  extreme  lightness  and  of  g^eat 
rigidity  and  streng^th,  their  weight  is  but  a  slight  hindrance  and 
their  leverage  a  vast  advantage  in  producing  motion. 

Concave  beneath  and  convex  above,  with  underlapping  feathers^ 
to  the  one  side  is  presented  a  grasping  surface  almost  impervious 
to  air,  and  to  the  other  a  lattice-work  structure  through  which 
air  easily  rushes.  So  in  the  depression  of  the  wing  all  possible 
advantage  is  gained  from  the  elastic  resistance  of  the  air,  and  in 
its  elevation  the  least  amount  of  force  is  lost. 

The  muscles  which  furnish  the  propelling  force  to  the  wings 
are  those  of  the  breast,  the  pectoralis  major  and  the  pectoralis 
minor.  The  pectoralis  major  is  a  large,  triangular  muscle  form- 
ing the  principal  part  of  the  bulk  of  the  breast.  It  arises  from 
the  ribs,  from  the  outer  portion  of  the  ventral  sur&ce  of  the 
sternum,  from  the  side  of  the  keel  of  the  sternum,  from  the  fur- 
culum  and  the  membrane  connecting  the  furculum  with  the 
sternum  and  the  coracoid.  The  fibers  converge,  the  outer  turn- 
ing under  the  inner  and  inserted  by  a  tendon  on  the  greater 
tuberosity  of  the  humerus.  In  action  this  muscle  depresses  the 
wing  and  thus  furnishes  the  great  motive  power  of  flight. 

The  pectoralis  minor  is  much  smaller  than  the  preceding,  and 
beneath  it ;  arising  from  the  middle  portion  of  the  sternum  and 
the  membrane  attaching  the  furculum  to  the  sternum  and  the 
coracoid.  Its  fibers  converging  terminate  in  a  tendon  which,  after 
passing  through  the  end  of  the  coracoid,  is  inserted  on  the  inner 
side  of  the  greater  tuberosity  of  the  humerus.  This  muscle,  to- 
gether with  the  resisting  force  of  the  air,  elevates  the  wing  after 
it  has  been  depressed. 

From  the  structure  of  the  wing  it  is  apparent  that  the  work  of 
this  muscle  is  relatively  small  except,  perhaps,  in  "  sailing,"  as 
seen  in  the  flight  of  swallows,  where  the  wings  must  be  held 
tense  and  at  a  constant  angle  by  this  muscle.  It  would  clearly 
appear,  when  we  consider  the  law  of  muscular  development,  that 
in  those  species  which  fly  most  of  these  muscles  would  be  rela- 


Digitized  by 


Google 


1 886.]  Birds  to  the  Power  of  Flight.  27 

tively  larger  than  in  those  of  less  power  of  flight  Conversely,  other 
things  being  constant,  those  birds  in  which  the  pectoral  muscles 
form  a  larger  percentage  of  the  weight  of  the  body,  would  have 
a  greater  power  of  flight. 

This  being  true  the  question  naturally  rises:  What  is  the  varia- 
tion in  the  development  of  the  pectoral  muscles  for  the  different 
species  of  birds,  and  is  this  variation  by  natural  &milies  or  by 
individual  speeies? 

In  the  solution  of  our  problem  the  shape  of  the  wing  plays  an 
important  part.  The  long,  narrow,  sharp-pointed  wing  is  most 
advantageous  to  continued  flight,  and  the  shorter,  rounded,  less- 
compact  form  is  least  so.  Between  these  two  extremes  there  is 
an  indefinite  shading  of  the  one  form  into  the  other,  with  more 
or  less  resulting  advantage  as  the  case  may  be. 

The  pectoral  muscles  may  be  relatively  large,  yet  if  the  wing 
be  of  impeding  form,  so  that  considerable  force  is  lost  in  over- 
coming the  consequent  disadvantage,  the  resulting  power  of 
flight  is  much  lessened. 

In  this  paper  I  have  taken  the  weight  of  the  whole  body  as  a 
constant  basis  and  found  the  percentage  by  weight  of  the  pec- 
toral muscles  in  the  body.  The  data  are  derived  from  the  dissec- 
tion of  1 19  birds,  having  in  all  cases  possible  taken  an  average 
for  each  species  from  three  individuals. 

There  are  represented  seven  orders,  twenty-five  &milies  and 
fifty-three  species.  It  will  be  seen  that  variation  is  not  by  natural 
&milies  but  by  individual  species.  This  is  explained  by  the  fact 
that  though  certain  species  may  have  structures  so  allied  as  to 
join  them  together  in  a  family,  yet  because  of  their  distinct  habits 
of  life  they  may  differ  considerably  in  their  power  of  flight. 

List  of  species  examined,  arranged  in  order  of  percentage  of 
pectoral  muscles  to  total  weight  of  body : 

Broad-winged  hawk 5.98  per  cent.  Maryland  yellow- throat. . . .  7.50  per  cent. 

Buteo  pemuyhanictUm  Geathlypis  trichas, 

Screechowl 6.14  ««      Blue-jay 7.68        " 

Scops  asio,  Cyanociita  cristata. 

Mallarddnck 6.68  "      Song  sparrow... 7.84        " 

Anas  bosckas.  Melospiza  fasciata. 

House  wren 6.87  ««      Mud  hen  or  coot 7.89        «« 

Troglodytes  adon,  Fulica  americana. 

Cat-bird 7.12  «•      Brown  thrush ...8.00        " 

Mtptus  carolinensis.  Harporhytichus  rufus. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


28 


Relation  cf  Pectoral  Muscles  of  Birds,  &c.         [January, 


Loggerhead  shrike 8.04  per  cent.     Gold'n-wing'd  w'dpeckerio.09  per  cent. 

Lanius  ludovicianus  excuhiiorides,                  Colaptes  auratus. 
Red-headed  woodpecker. . .  8.2 1  per  cent.     Wild  goose 10.2a        *' 


Melanerpes  erytkrocephalus. 
White-throated  sparrow ....  8. 3 1        ' 

ZoHOtrickia  albicoUis, 
Chewinck 8.60        < 

Pipilo  erythrophihalmui, 
Olive-backed  thrush 8.73        * 

HylocUhla  ustulaia  swainsoHU 
Cliff  swallow 8.74        < 

Petrochelidon  luni/rons. 
Summer  warbler. 8.76        " 

Dendraca  astiva. 
White-bellied  nuthatch 9.03        •' 

Sitta  carolinensis. 
Purple  martin 9.19        * 

Progne  subis. 
Ruddy  duck 9.33        * 

Erismatura  rubida. 
Orchard  oriole .....9.42        < 

Icterus  spurius. 
Baltimore  oriole •  •  9*5  <        ' 

Icterus  galbula, 
Blue-winged  teal 9.58        < 

Querquedula  discors. 
Rose-breasted  grosbeak. ....  9.66        ' 

Ilabia  ludoviciana. 
Titmouse 9.78        ' 

Parus  atricapWus. 
Fox  Sparrow 9.87        < 

Passerelta  iliacm. 
Snow-bird 9.97        ' 

yunco  hyemaHs, 
Crow  blackbird 9.99        < 

Quiscalus  versicolor. 
Belted  kingfisher.. 10.03        ' 

Ceryie  alcyom. 
Tree  sparrow • lox>3        < 

Spiulla  montUola, 

Blu«-bird « ia05        ' 

Sialia  sialis. 


Branta  canadensis. 
Meadow  lark 10.34 

Stumella  magna. 
Red-eyed  rireo.  .....••  10.40 

Vireosyluia  olivaeea. 

Field  sparrow .  .....  t .  •  10.55 

Spixella  pusiila. 
Scarlet  tanager. 10.65 

Pyranga  rubra. 
Chimney  swift 10.75 

Chatura  pelagica. 
Pigeon 11.09 

Ectopistes  migratorius. 
Chipping  sparrow 1 1. 14 

Spizella  soeialis. 
Black-throated  bunting.  .11.23 

Euspiza  americana, 
Robin 1 1.41 

Turdus  migratorius. 
American  goldfinch. ....  1 1.43 

Astragalinus  tristis. 
Cow-bird 11.50 

Molothrus  ater. 
King-bird 1 1.61 

Tyrannus  carolinensis. 
Wood  duck 1 1.91 

Aixsponsa, 
Wood  pewee 12.10 

Contopus  virens. 
Green-winged  teal 12.14 

Nettion  carolinense. 
Shore  lark ^ .  13.32 

Otocoris  alpestrisn 
Quail ««......  14.99 

Ortyx  virginianus. 
Ruffed  grouse  •••••••«.  15.51 

Bonasa  umbettus. 
Mourning  dove « .  16.33 

Zencedura  caroiinensis. 


From  the  following  comparisons  of  the  hen  and  the  goose  with 
the  nearest  allied  wild  species  which  I  have  been  enabled  to  ob- 


Digitized  by 


Google 


1 886.]  GeologUal  ExHnctum  and  same  of  its  Apparent  Causes.    29 

tain,  the  results  of  domestication  as  affecting  pectoral  develop- 
ment is  readily  seen : 

Ruffed  grouse  iBonasa  umbeUus) 15.51  per  cent. 

Hen 4.66        " 

Wild  goose  {Brofiia  canadensis) 10.22        " 

Tamegoose .•......••  6.40        " 

I  do  not  claim  that  from  this  list  the  exact  place  of  a  bird  can 
be  given  as  to  its  power  of  flight,  because  other  elements  than 
The  size  of  the  pectoral  muscles  enter  into  this  complex  problem 
so  as  to  preclude  an  absolute  classification  on  the  basis  of  pec- 
toral development,  yet  I  think  that  there  is  a  relative  variation 
expressed  by  the  figures  given  in  this  list,  and  that  when  together 
with  this  element  the  other  elements  of  flight  are  considered  we 
can  tell  the  place  a  bird  should  occupy  in  the  scale  of  flight 

:o: 

GEOLOGICAL  EXTINCTION  AND  SOME  OF  ITS 
APPARENT  CAUSES. 

BY  A.   S.   PACKARD. 

IN  his  Origin  of  Species,  Darwin  says :  "  The  extinction  of  species 
has  been  involved  in  the  most  gratuitous  mystery.  Some 
authors  have  even  supposed  that,  as  the  individual  has  a  definite 
length  of  life,  so  have  species  a  definite  duration.  No  one  can 
have  marveled  more  than  I  have  done  at  the  extinction  of  spe- 
cies." Finally,  he  remarks,  "  Thus,  as  it  seems  to  me,  the  man- 
ner in  which  single  species  and  whole  groups  of  species  become 
extinct  accords  wells  with  the  theory  of  natural  selection.  We 
need  not  marvel  at  extinction ;  if  we  must  marvel,  let  it  be  at  our 
own  presumption  in  imagining  for  a  moment  that  we  understand 
the  many  complex  contingencies,  on  which  the  existence  of  each 
species  depends;  If  we  forget,  for  an  instant,  that  each  species 
tends  to  increase  inordinately,  and  that  some  check  is  always  in 
action,  yet  seldom  perceived  by  us,  the  whole  economy  of  nature 
will  be  utterly  obscured.  Whenever  we  can  precisely  say  why 
this  species  is  more  abundant  in  individuals  than  that ;  why  this 
species  and  not  another  can  be  naturalized  in  a  given  country ; 
then,  and  not  till  then,  we  may  justly  feel  surprised  why  we 
cannot  account  for  the  extinction  of  any  particular  species  or  any 
group  of  species." 
The  iact  of  extinction  is  indeed  not  less  marvelous  than  that 


Digitized  by 


Google 


30  GeologiccU  Extinction  and  (January, 

of  evolution,  and  one  cannot  in  these  days  feel  satisfied  that  the 
solution  of  the  problem  lies  in  the  theory  of  natural  selection, 
which  accounts  for  the  preservation  of  species  rather  than  their 
origin  or  extinction.  Mr.  Darwin  having  been  the  means  of 
bringing  many  naturalists  to  believe  in  the  theory  of  descent,  they 
are  not  to  lie  supinely  on  their  backs,  resting  securely  on  the 
dogma  of  natural  selection  and  cease  from  all  attempts  to  inves- 
tigate the  cause  of  evolution,  to  cease  building  a  foundation  for 
the  working  of  natural  selection.  On  the  contrary  the  search  for 
the  causes  of  the  transformation  of  species  will  be  carried  on  with 
more  energy,  thoroughness  and  success.  The  clews  which  we 
already  have  discovered  will  be  followed  up,  and  finally  we  shall, 
by  means  of  observation  in  the  field  and  experiment  in  the  labor- 
atory, wrest  from  nature  the  secrets  of  life  and  its  origin,  and  of 
the  phenomena  of  death  and  extinction,  not  only  of  species  but  of 
orders. 

Extinction  may  be  both  slow  and  rapid,  the  causes  of  each  be- 
ing primarily  dependent  on  slow  or  rapid  changes  in  the  environ- 
ment The  object  of  this  article  is  to  endeavor  to  show  that  the 
extinction  of  species  is  intimately  connected  with  geological 
changes.  It  is  a  meagre  'sketch  or  outline  of  the  more  salient 
facts  and  laws  which  appear  to  us  to  immediately  bear  upon  this 
intricate  and  difficult  subject. 

In  Palaeozoic  times  the  climate  of  the  globe  was  far  more  uni- 
form than  now.  The  continents  of  the  present  day  were  then  of 
much  less  extent,  in  fact  archipelagoes  rather  than  continents ; 
the  land-surfaces  were  of  moderate  height,  and  mountain  ranges 
smaller  and  lower.  While  the  land  masses  or  embryo  continents 
of  the  eastern  and  western  hemispheres  were  more  or  less  inde- 
pendent centers  of  evolutionary  creation,  there  was  on  the  whole 
a  great  uniformity  of  plant  and  animal  life.  Species  were  perhaps 
more  cosmopolitan  than  now. 

When  at  the  end  of  the  Coal  period  the  process  of  continent- 
making  and  mountain-building  became  greatly  accelerated,  result- 
ing in  that  stupendous  crisis  in  American  geological  history,  the 
upheaval  of  the  Appalachian  mountain  system,  there  must  have 
been  some  degree  of  differentiation  or  setting  aside  of  portions  of 
the  then  continent  into  distinct  areas  or  basins  bounded  by  moun- 
tains, inland  seas  and  rivers,  and  some  slight  subdivision  into 
local  faunas.    We  know  that  there  was  a  distinct  coal  basin,  or 


Digitized  by 


Google 


X  886.]  some  of  its  Apparent  Causes.  3 1 

series  of  them,  for  example  in  Arctic  America,  another  in  North- 
eastern United  States,  and  in  the  Central  States  of  the  Upper  Mis* 
sissippi  valley. 

Other  crises,  extending  over  comparatively  brief  periods  of 
geological  time,  however  long  when  measured  by  centuries,  were 
the  elevation  of  the  Rocky  mountains,  of  the  Wasatch,  the  Uin- 
tah ranges,  the  Sierra  Nevada  and  Cascade  ranges ;  and,  mean- 
while, the  union  of  the  Atlantic  moiety  and  the  Pacific  moiety  of 
our  continent  into  a  continuous  land-mass.  These  periods  of  ac- 
tivity, signalized  by  extensive  volcanic  outpourings  and  great 
changes  in  the  relative  distribution  of  land  and  sea,  must  have 
been,  as  palaeontology  shows,  periods  of  rapid  extinction  as  well 
as  of  reparation  or  recreation.  Progress  in  continent-making  was 
accompanied  by  progress  and  an  onward  sweep  in  the  tide  of  life, 
not  only  in  animals  with  jointed  bodies  and  limbs,  but  more  espe- 
cially in  those  with  back  bones  and  brains  to  correspond  with  their 
vertebrate  rank. 

Until  the  end  of  the  Tertiary  period  the  earth's  climate  was  still 
nearly  uniform.  There  was  through  the  Miocene  a  general,  in- 
deed most  remarkable  resemblance  between  the  flora  of  Europe 
and  the  United  States,  with  that  of  Greenland  and  Spitsbergen,  or 
the  regions  now  lying  in  the  frigid  zone ;  this  flora  being  in  some 
respects  like  that  of  Lx>uisiana. 

It  was  not  until  the  Glacial  epoch  that  the  earth's  climate  be- 
came diflerentiated  into  tropical  and  frigid  and  temperate  zones. 
That  great  geological  crisis,  whether  due  to  astronomical  or  geo- 
logical causes,  or  both  combined,  by  which  over  enormous  tracts 
of  land  in  Northern  and  Central  Europe,  and  Northeastern  Amer- 
ica a  frigid  climate,  with  continental  glaciers,  was  spread — that 
crisis  produced  results  on  the  life  of  the  glaciated  region  which  we 
can  easily  appreciate.  The  extinction  of  life  over  the  stated  areas 
became  widespread.  The  incoming  of  the  Ice  age  also  must 
have  induced  extensive  migrations  to  the  southward.  As  the 
glaciers  melted,  and  the  climate  ameliorated,  fresh  migrations 
from  the  south  set  in,  and  thus  in  the  early  Quaternary  period, 
when  species  were  exterminated  on  a  vast  scale  by  causes  readily 
aiqireciable,  we  have  set  before  us,  in  a  language  which  everyone 
can  translate,  some  of  the  geological  causes  of  extinction,  modi- 
fication and  consequent  evolution  of  new  forms. 

We  will  begin,  then,  with  a  reference  to  the  changes  in  the  life 


Digitized  by 


Google 


32  Geological  Extinction  and  [January, 

of  the  northern  and  southern  hemispheres  due  to  the  glacial 
period.  They  are  so  familiar  to  the  general  reader  that  they  need 
not  detain  us  long. 

By  the  end  of  the  Tertiary  period  the  northern  regions,  includ- 
ing the  land  around  the  north  pole,  viz :  Spitzbergen,  Novaya- 
Zemlya,  Siberia,  Greenland,  together  with  Northern  Europe  and 
Northeastern  America,  must  have  abounded  in  life.  Forests  of 
trees,  deciduous,  evergreen  and  palmaceous,  in  their  general  ap- 
pearance resembling  those  of  Louisiana,  spread  like  a  mantle 
over  the  land,  bordering  the  vast  Tertiary  lakes  and  sheltering 
herds  of  herbivorous  mammals,  such  as  deer,  oxen,  mammoths* 
which  were  attended  by  packs  of  dogs,  or  by  solitary  secretive 
cats  prowling  through  the  forest  glades,  waging  war  on  the  weak 
and  defenceless  or  scattered  ruminants. 

This  rich  assemblage  of  mammalian  life,  with  countless  species 
of  insects,  and  other  invertebrate  organisms,  land,  fresh-water 
and  marine,  was  swept  away.  A  large  proportion  died  outright, 
perhaps  a  larger  proportion  migrated  southward ;  a  very  small 
per  centage  survived.  The  mammoth  and  mastodon  lived  on, 
adapted  themselves  to  the  great  change  of  climate,  but  just  as 
the  ice  had  passed  away  and  the  climate  had  ameliorated,  and 
when  the  condition  of  life  seemed  more  favorable,  they  suc- 
cumbed. The  Arctic  bear,  fox,  lemming  and  hare,  with  the  white 
ptarmigan  and  snowy  owl,  by  Sidaptation  to  a  snow-clad  land  sur- 
vived, so  to  speak,  the  change,  or  rather,  they  are  the  descendants 
of  species  so  plastic  that  they  became  modified,  and  adapted  to  an 
Arctic  life.  Even  man,  who  appeared  in  the  old  world  before  or 
about  the  time  of  the  incoming  of  the  ice,  not  only  followed  the 
retreat  of  the  glaciers,  but  adopted  a  strange  sort  of  existence  in  a 
regionVhere  the  climate  has  a  mean  annual  temperature  of  less  than 
32°  F.  Wherever  the  Eskimo  lived  he  found  the  walrus  and 
seal,  the  modified  relatives  of  the  sea  lions  and  sea  elephants  of 
other  parts  of  the  world.  The  profusion  of  Tertiary  insect  life 
was  succeeded  by  a  scanty  assemblage  of  Arctic  butterflies, 
moths,  bees  and  other  stragglers  from  the  temperate  regions. 

The  forests  died  outright,  and  where  Sequoia,  the  sweet  gum, 
the  palm  and  other  luxuriant  semi-tropical  trees  flourished,  now 
grow  the  dwarfed  birch,  willows  and  low  herbs  of  Alpine  and 
Arctic  barrens.  It  is  sufficiently  manifest  that  the  circumpolar 
flora  and  fauna  are  the  dwarfed,  or  otherwise  modified  descend- 


Digitized  by 


Google 


l886.]  some  of  its  Apparent  Causes.  33 

ants  of  the  Pliocene-Tertiary  life  of«the  same  regions.  Again, 
peculiarities  in  the  distribution  of  plants  and  animals  in  North 
America  and  Northern  Eurasia  indicate  strongly  that  there  was 
an  extensive  migration  southward  down  the  Atlantic  and  Pacific 
borders  of  the  continents  as  the  glacial  cold  crept  over  the  once 
populous  circumpolar  regions. 

A  second  series  of  causes  of  extinction  arose  from  the  eleva- 
tion or  depression  of  extensive  regions  of  the  earth.  The  par- 
oxysmal, elevatory  process  in  the  formation  of  the  Cordillera  of 
North,  and  particularly  South  America,  involved  corresponding 
more  or  less  rapid  changes  in  the  flora  and  fauna  of  the  Pacific 
Coast  regions  of  those  continents.  In  South  America,  particu- 
larly, during  the  Quaternary  period,  though  there  was  no  glacial 
period  north  of  Patagonia,  the  extinction  of  life  was  widespread 
and  marked. 

As  observed  by  Darwin  and  Alexander  Agassiz,  within  historic 
periods  there  have  been  paroxysmal  upheavals  over  thousands  of 
square  miles,  if  not  over  the  whole  extent  of  the  Western  Andean 
plateau. 

For  example,  in  1822,  after  an  earthquake,  the  coast  line  of 
Patagonia  and  Chili  was  suddenly  elevated  from  two  to  seven  feet 
above  the  level  of  the  ocean.  In  1835  Darwin,  while  at  Valdivia 
on  the  coast  of  Chili,  experienced  the  earthquake  which  devasta- 
ted Conception,  and  he  says  his  **  compassion  for  the  inhabitants 
was  almost  instandy  banished,  by  the  surprise  in  seeing  a  state  of 
things  produced  in  a  moment  of  time,  which  one  was  accustomed 
to  attribute  to  a  succession  of  ages.  In  a  single  day,  Feb.  20th, 
this  earthquake  shook  the  coast  of  South  America  over  an  area 
of  600,000  square  miles,  and  the  whole  coast  line  of  Chili  and  Pat- 
agonia was  elevated  from  two  to  ten  feet  above  the  sea  level." 
Darwin  in  his  Voyage  of  a  Naturalist  remarks :  **  At  the  island 
of  S.  Maria  (about  thirty  miles  distant),  the  elevation  was  greater  ; 
on  one  part.  Captain  Fitz  Roy  found  beds  of  putrid  mussel-shells 
^tiU  adhering  to  the  rocks ^  ten  feet  above  high -water  mark;  the 
inhabitants  had  formerly  dived  at  low-water  spring-tides  for  these 
shells.  The  elevation  of  this  province  is  particularly  interesting 
from  its  having  been  the  theatre  of  several  other  violent  earth- 
quakes, and  from  the  vast  numbers  of  sea-shells  scattered  over  the 
land,  up  to  a  height  of  certainly  600  and,  I  believe,  of  1000  feet. 
At  Valparaiso,  as  I  have  remarked,  similar  shells  are  found  at  the 

▼OL.  XX.—  MO.  1.  3 


Digitized  by 


Google 


34  Geological  Extinction  and  [January, 

height  of  1300  feet ;  it  is  hardly  possible  to  doubt  that  this  great 
elevation  has  been  effected  by  successive  small  uprisings,  such  as 
that  which  accompanied  or  caused  the  earthquake  of  this  year, 
and  likewise  by  an  insensibly  slow  rise,  which  is  certainly  in  pro- 
gress on  some  parts  of  this  coast"  Darwin  adds :  "  Two  years 
and  three-quarters  afterwards,  Valdivia  and  Chiloe  were  again 
shaken,  more  violently  than  on  the  20th  [Feb.  20,  1835],  and  an 
island  in  the  Chonos  archipelago  was  permanently  elevated  more 
than  eight  feet" 

As  observed  by  Mr.  A.  Agassiz,  there  are  sea  corals  of  species 
still  living  in  the  Pacific  ocean  adjacent,  attached  to  the  surface 
of  interstices  in  the  rocks  at  Tilibiche,  Peru,  at  a  point  about 
2900  feet  above  the  level  of  the  sea.  This  locality  is  situated  on 
a  ridge  parallel  to  the  coast,  there  being  a  pampa  or  basin  be- 
tween this  ridge  and  the  coast  range.  This  basin  was  probably 
the  bottom  of  an  internal  sea  which  afterwards  became  a  salt 
lake,  and  was  eventually  drained  into  the  Pacific  by  the  breaking 
through  of  the  mountain  barriers.  The  extensive  saline  ba- 
sins on  the  western  slope  of  the  Andes,  at  an  elevation  of  over 
7000  feet,  may  have  been  former  ocean  bottoms.  In  his  Andes 
and  the  Amazon,  Orton  says :  "  President  Loomis  of  Lewisburg 
University,  Pa.,  informs  the  writer  that  in  1853,  after  nearly  a 
day's  ride  from  Iquique,  he  came  to  a  former  sea-beach.  It  fur- 
nished abundant  specimens  of  Patellae  and  other  shells,  still  per- 
fect, and  identical  with  others  that  I  had  that  morning  obtained  at 
Iquique  with  the  living  animal  inhabiting  them.  This  beach  is 
elevated  2500  feet  above  the  Pacific."  (p.  116.)  Also,  the  pres- 
ence of  a  species  of  Amphipod  Crustacean  belonging  to  "a  truly 
marine  family,"  dredged  by  M.  Agassiz  in  Lake  Titicaca  at  a 
depth  of  sixty-six  fathoms,  indicates  that  this  lake  may  be  a  rem- 
nant of  the  Pacific  ocean  ;  though  it  now  stands  at  an  elevation 
of  12,500  feet  above  the  sea. 

These  facts  tend  to  prove  that  the  Andean  plateau  during  the 
Quaternary  period  was  paroxysmally  elevated  into  the  air  some 
12,000  feet  Let  us  now  look  at  the  possible  results  of  such  an 
enormous  upheaval  on  the  plants  and  animals  of  this  region.  Be- 
fore and  at  the  time  this  movement  began,  when  the  land  was 
12,000  feet  lower  than  now,  the  Atlantic  trade  winds  which  now 
cross  Brazil,  impinge  upon  the  Andes  and  drop  their  moisture  on 
the  eastern  slopes  alone,  then  favored  as  well  the  western  slopes 


Digitized  by 


Google 


1 886.]  some  of  its  Apparent  Causes.  35 

and  Pacific  coast.  The  tropical  flora  and  fauna  now  confined  to 
the  neighborhood  of  Guyaquil  on  the  coast  of  Peru  then  probably 
spread  over  Bolivia,  Elcuador,  Peru  and  Chili  to  Patagonia.  The 
tropical  belt  in  Peru  ends  with  the  chinchona  forests  of  Loja,  which 
is  6768  feet  above  the  Pacific  ocean.  The  sugar  cane  grow^  in 
Banos  which  is  about  6500  feet  high.  At  Riobamba,  with  an 
elevation  of  9200  feet,  the  climate  and  vegetation  are  temperate  ; 
here  occur  bones  of  the  mastodon,  horse,  deer  and  llama — ^animals 
which  may  have  lived  in  a  temperate  climate.  But  was  not  their 
extinction,  and  that  of  the  colossal  sloths,  armadillos,  and  other 
animals  of  the  pampas  largely  due  to  a  change  of  climate  result- 
ing from  the  elevation  of  the  Andean  plateau  ? 

As  the  land  gradually  rose,  the  atmosphere  would  become  more 
rarified  and  insupportable  to  tropical  life  ;  the  animals  and  plants 
would  either  seek  lower  levels  or  undergo  extinction,  or  in  certain 
cases  become  modified  into  species  suited  to  a  temperate  climate. 
As  the  plateau  rose  still  higher,  the  air  would  become  too  cold 
and  rarified  for  even  the  mastodon  and  horse.  Gradually  an  alpine 
zone  became  established,  and  finally  the  higher  peaks  of  the  Andes, 
at  an  elevation  of  15,000  feet,  became  mantled  with  perennial  snow, 
and  on  the  eastern  flanks  of  Chimborazo,  which  intercepts  the 
moisture  of  the  Atlantic  trades,  glaciers  established  themselves. 
We  thus  see  how,  within  Quaternary  times,  temperate  and  alpine 
zones  became  established  over  the  vast  Andean  plateau,  originally, 
perhaps  at  the  end  of  the  Pliocene,  a  plateau  of  the  third  order, 
clothed  with  vast  forests  like  those  of  Brazil  and  Venezuela. 

In  Patagonia,  likewise,  the  elevation  of  the  Cordillera,  and  the 
change  of  level  of  the  low  lands  of  the  eastern  coast,  now  well- 
known  to  have  happened,  are  they  not  suflicient  to  account  for 
the  extinction  of  the  fauna  of  the  pampas  ? 

The  same  phenomena  obtained  in  Western  North  America. 
Throughout  the  Tertiary  period  there  was  in  the  northern  portion 
of  the  plateau  region  a  secular  rise  o!  land,  if  not  at  times  parox- 
ysmal, resulting  in  the  drainage  of  the  plateau  into  the  Pacific  and 
the  formation  of  vast  inland  seas  and  estuaries  which  eventually 
became  fresh-water  lakes. 

During  the  Laramie  epoch  the  Rocky  mountain  plateau  be- 
came dry  land,  and  the  elevation  and  drainage  went  on  during  the 
Eocene.  The  Gulf  of  Mexico  was  much  larger  in  the  Eocene 
epoch  than  now ;  afterwards  the  coast  of  Texas  rose  from  3C0 


Digitized  by  VjOOQ IC 


36  Geological  Extinction  and  [January, 

to  700  feet,  while  farther  north,  in  Colorado  and  Wyoming,  the 
Rocky  mountain  plateau  rose  from  4000  to  points  10,000  feet 
above  the  ocean. 

The  plains  east  of  the  Rocky  mountains  are  underlaid  by  beds 
deposited  by  vast  inland,  fresh-water  lakes.  In  Texas  these  beds 
dip  under  the  Gulf  of  Mexico,  but  at  the  base  of  the  Rocky  moun- 
tains in  Colorado  they  are  7000  feet  above  the  sea.  They  have 
been  tilted  up.  Gen.  Warren  and  Mr.  King  have  shown  that  after 
the  Pliocene  epoch  such  a  tilting  took  place.  These  lakes  dried 
up,  and  the  marvelously  abundant  mammalian  life  which  thronged 
about  their  shores  became  extinct  as  the  Quaternary  period  opened. 
May  not  the  extinction  of  life  so  widespread  throughout  the  West, 
particularly  at  the  end  of  the  Eocene,  the  Miocene  and  the  Plio- 
cene, have  been  mainly  due  to  the  great  changes  in  the  physical 
geography  of  that  vast  region  ?  We  see  also  why  a  semi-tropical 
climate  and  flora  and  fauna  continued  to  exist  around  the  Gulf  of 
Mexico,  but  ceased  to  live  on  the  elevated  Rocky  Mountain  pla- 
teau, as  well  as  the  Sierra  Nevada  and  Cascade  plateaus.  The 
whole  western  portion  of  the  continent  was  carried  up  bodily,  the 
lakes  drained  off  by  the  Missouri,  Columbia  and  Colorado  rivers 
and  the  air  at  such  an  elevation  becoming  rarified,  dry  and  cooler, 
the  tropical  life  became  either  extinct  or  migrated  southward  to 
warmer  and  lower  regions.  Towards  the  end  of  the  Pliocene  mul- 
titudes of  llamas,  droves  of  horses,  mylodons,  elephants  and  mas- 
todons, with  lions,  cats  and  dogs,  flourished  in  Oregon,  Montana, 
Utah,  Wyoming,  Colorado  and  New  Mexico ;  changes  of  level 
and  consequently  of  climate  were  perhaps  the  main  factors  con- 
cerned in  their  demise. 

There  were  throughout  the  Tertiary  most  widespread  and  all 
pervading  geological  changes,  culminating  in  the  upheaval  of  the 
two  great  mountain  chains  of  the  West.  Horizontal  Cretaceous 
strata  lie  on  the  Rocky  mountains  at  an  elevation  of  io,coo  feet, 
the  sign  and  proof  of  an  extensive  upheaval.  We  know  that  the 
movement  in  South  America,  while  gradual  for  the  continent,  was 
more  or  less  locally  paroxysmal.  Was  it  not  the  case  also  in 
North  America  ? 

By  the  end  of  the  Pliocene,  North  America  assumed  its  present 
continental  proportions.  The  Rocky  mountains  and  Sierras  shot 
their  peaks  into  the  sky  to  elevations  of  10,000  and  15,000  feet 
above  the  Pacific,   These  great  walls  shut  oflT  the  moist  trade  winds 


Digitized  by 


Google 


1 886.]  some  of  its  Apparent  Causes,  37 

from  the  Pacific,  a  period  of  dessication  set  in  throughout  the  great 
basin  between  the  Rocky  mountains  and  Sierra  Nevada,  and  exten- 
sive rainless  districts  resulted.  But  even  then  there  were  alter- 
nate wet  and  dry  cycles  throughout  the  early  Quaternary.  Great 
Salt  Lake,  from  being  a  vast  body  of  fresh  water,  became  a  shal- 
low brine  pool ;  the  sources  of  the  Colorado,  Columbia  and  their 
tributaries  likewise  partially  dried  up. 

Finally,  the  Glacial  epoch  came  in,  the  glaciers  invaded  North- 
eastern America ;  these  on  the  one  hand,  and  the  great  elevation 
of  the  western  plateau,  seem  to  have  been  the  causes  which  re- 
moved the  Pliocene  fauna;  which  removal  was,  geologically  speak- 
ing, comparatively  sudden. 

Either  at  the  end  of  the  Pliocene  or  beginning  of  the  Quater- 
nary, as  seen  by  the  bones  in  the  Port  Kennedy  cavern  described 
by  Professor  Cope,  there  was  a  singular  mixture  of  what  we  now 
regard  as  tropical  and  temperate  forms  living  so  far  north  as  Penn- 
sylvania ;  with  the  tapir,  peccary,  Mylodon,  Megalonyx,  Castor- 
oides  and  sabre-toothed  tiger,  were  apparently  associated  the  deer, 
bison,  horse,  porcupine,  raccoon,  dog,  weasel  and  smaller  mam- 
mals. The  fauna  was  in  part  extinguished  by  the  glacial  cold, 
Port  Kennedy  being  situated  a  little  south  of  the  edge  of  the  great 
glacier. 

The  result  of  a  change  of  climate  was  a  change  in  the  nature 
of  the  forests ;  the  tapir  and  peccary  were  forced  to  migrate  south- 
ward ;  the  colossal  sloth  and  sabre-tooth  tiger  died  outright ;  the 
Castoroides,  horse  and  mastodon  lingered  through  the  Glacial 
epoch,  their  remains  being  found  at  the  bottom  of  swamps,  but 
above  the  glacial  and  river  drift ;  while  the  deer,  bison,  raccoon, 
dog  or  wolf,  and  other  forms  survived  with  unimpaired  vigor  and 
became  adapted  to  a  lower  climate,  forming  the  typical  .members 
of  the  north  temperate  fauna  of  America. 

Farther  south,  in  the  river  gravels  and  caves  of  the  Middle  and 
Southern  States,  are  found  the  bones  of  the  great  sloths.  Megathe- 
rium, Megalonynx  and  Mylodon,  the  American  lion  and  bear ; 
these  were  possibly  swept  out  of  existence  by  the  cooler  winters 
of  the  Mississippi  valley,  which  was  free  from  ice,  but  probably  had 
from  their  proximity  to  the  great  glaciers  a  lower  climate  than  in 
Pliocene  times. 

Professor  Cope  remarks :  "Since  the  Eocene,  the  mammalian 
fauna  of  the  northeri;  hemisphere  has  diminished  in  number  of 


Digitized  by 


Google 


38  Geological  Extinction  and  [January, 

species  and  genera.  The  Eocene  fauna  was  richer  than  the  Mio- 
cene, the  Miocene  than  the  Pliocene,  and  the  Pliocene  than  the 
modem  fauna."  There  is  certainly  a  significant  parallelism  be- 
tween the  widespread  change3  in  the  physical  geography  of  North 
America,  the  differentiation  of  climates  and  of  faunal  areas,  and 
the  increasing  extinction  of  life. 

The  West  Indies  meanwhile  were  the  scene  of  notable  changes 
in  the  distribution  of  land  and  sea.  From  being  much  larger, 
and  in  some  cases  connected  perhaps  with  South  America,  they  be- 
came submerge^  Cope  has  described  the  fossil  remains  found  in  a 
cave  on  the  Island  of  Anguilla.  Out  of  twelve  species  of  mam- 
mals, seven  are  extinct  and  several  were  chinchillas  of  large 
size. 

About  the  shores  of  the  Mediterranean  there  were  remarkable 
changes  in  the  relations  of  land  and  sea.  The  species  of  dwarf 
and  other  elephants  whose  bones  have  been  discovered  on  the  Is- 
land of  Malta,  show  that  within  recent  times  that  island  must 
have  been  connected  with  the  main  African  continent. 

In  the  old  world,  simultaneously  with  the  mountain-building  of 
America,  the  Alps  during  the  later  Pliocene  ^ittained  their  present 
proportions;  the  Himalayas  rose  to  their  present  heights;  the 
continents  of  Asia,  with  Europe,  and  of  Africa  assumed  their  pres- 
ent outlines. 

The  extent  and  nature  of  the  changes  which  took  place  late  in 
the  Pliocene  in  the  physical  geography  of  the  globe  were  without 
doubt  much  greater  than  at  any  previous  time  in  the  history  of 
our  planet.  While  the  present  coast  lines  were  being  established 
volcanic  agencies  were  widespread  and  powerful,  and  over  what 
were  then  regions  of  intense  volcanic  activity  are  to  be  now  seen 
but  the  dying  embers  of  subterranean  fires. 

The  long,  quiet  preparatory  eons  of  the  Mesozoic  and  early 
Tertiary,  werp  succeeded  by  a  crisis  in  geological  history,  just  as 
the  compar?itive  quiet  of  the  Palaeozoic  age  terminated'  in  the 
widespread  disturbances  which  took  place  at  the  end  of  the  Coal 
period. 

If  we  glance  back  through  the  geological  ages  we  shall  see 
that  there  were  cases  of  the  comparatively  rapid  extinction  of 
types  or  whole  groups  of  animals.  The  more  remarkable  were 
the  extinction  of  the  trilobites  and  ammonites.  Darwin  remarks : 
"The  extermination  of  whole  groups,  as  of  ammonites  toward 


Digitized  by 


Google 


some  of  Us  Apparent  Causes,  39 

the  close   of  the  secondary  period,  has  been  wonderfully  sud- 
den." 

In  the  same  manner  the  trilobites  as  well  as  the  Eurypterida 
ceased  to  exist  at  the  end  of  the  Palaeozoic  age ;  the  Silurian 
graptolites  disappeared  with  comparative  suddenness ;  the  crinoids 
and  brachiopods  mostly,  and  the  dinosaurs  and  ornithosaurs,  aS 
well  as  pythonomorphs  wholly  perished  during  the  Cretaceous 
period. 

The  views  we  have  presented,  while  opposed  to  ultra-uniformi- 
tarian  ideas,  have  nothing  in  common  with  the  Cuvierian  catas- 
trophic doctrine  of  sudden,  wholesale  extinctions  and  re-creations. 
But  known  facts  in  palaeontology  postulate  long  periods  df  quiet 
preparation,  succeeded  by  more  or  less  sudden  crises,  or  radical 
changes  in  the  physical  structure  of  continents,  resulting  in  catas- 
trophies,  both  local  and  general,  to  certain  faunas  or  groups  of 
animals,  as  well  as  individual  species. 

The  biological  changes  were  not  due  to  climatic  and  geological 
changes  alone,  but  it  should  be  borne  in  mind  that  the  great 
changes,  slowly  induced  but  not  without  striking  final  results,  end- 
ing in  the  addition  or  loss  of  vast  areas  of  land,  induced  extensive 
migrations,  the  incursions  of  prepotent  types  which  exterminated 
the  weaker.  The  reaction  of  one  type  of  life  upon  another,  the 
results  of  natural  selection,  were  apparent  all  through ;  but  these 
secondary  factors  were  active  both  during  periods  of  quiet  and 
periods  of  change.  Here  again  we  may  quote  from  Darwin,  the 
leader,  next  to  Lyell,  of  the  uniformitarian  school,  who  remarks : 
**  We  have  every  reason  to  believe,  from  the  study  of  the  Tertiary 
formations,  that  species  and  groups  of  species  gradually  disappear, 
one  after  another,  first  from  one  spot,  then  from  another,  and 
finally  from  the  world.  In  some  few  cases,  however,  as  by  the 
breaking  of  an  isthmus  and  the  consequent  irruption  of  a  multi- 
tude of  new  inhabitants  into  an  adjoining  sea,  or  by  the  final  sub- 
sidence of  an  ^island,  the  process  of  extinction  may  have  been 
rapid." 

Local  extinctions  due  to  local  changes  of  level ;  the  formation 
of  deserts,  saline  wastes  and  volcanic  eruptions  and  vast  outpour- 
ings of  lava,  such  as  took  place  in  Oregon  and  Idaho  during  the 
Tertiary,  with  sub-marine  earthquakes  causing  the  death  of  fishes 
on  a  vast  scale,  these  are  quite  subordinate  factors. 

In  closing  this  meager  sketch  of  a  subject  which  has  not  re- 


Digitized  by 


Google 


40  Editor^  Table.  [January, 

ceived  very  much  attention,  we  have  endeavored  to  attract  notice 
to  what  we  have  been  accustomed  to  regard  as  the  main  factors  in 
the  extinction  of  species  and  of  higher  groups.  That  there  is  a 
limit  to  the  age  of  species  as  well  as  to  individuals  almost  goes 
without  saying.  As  there  is  in  each  individual  a  youth^  manhood 
and  old  age,  so  species  and  orders  rise,  culminate  and  decline,  and 
nations  have  risen,  reached  a  maximum  of  development  and  de- 
cayed. The  causes,  however  complex,  are,  in  the  case  of  plants 
and  animals,  apparently  physical ;  they  are  general  and  pervasive 
in  their  effects,  and  have  been  in  operation  since  life  began  ;  there 
have  been  critical  periods  in  palaeontological  as  well  as  geological 
history,  and  periods  of  rapid  and  widespread  extinction  as  well 
as  a  continual,  progressive  dying*out  of  isolated  species.  Such 
extinction  was,  so  to  speak,  a  biological  necessity,  for  otherwise 
there  would  have  been  no  progress,  no  evolution  of  higher  types. 


-:o:- 


EDITORS'  TABLE. 
editors:  a.  s.  Packard  and  e.  d.  cope. 

In  entering  upon  the  twentieth  year  of  the  publication  of  this 

magazine,  the  friends  of  the  undertaking  may  congratulate  them- 
selves on  its  signs  of  good  health  and  strength,  as  seen  in  the 
portly  appearance  of  the  later  volumes.  Having  passed  through 
the  perils  of  infancy  and  childhood,  may  we  hope  that  in  entering 
upon  years  of  maturity  it  will,  with  each  volume,  gain  in  strength, 
and  character  as  an  exponent  of  American  natural  science. 

While  the  magazine  has  doubled  in  size,  the  number  of  depart- 
ments and  of  assistant  editors  has  correspondingly  increased  • 
More  space  is  given  to  reports  of  scientific  discoveries  so  as  to 
render  the  magazine  more  useful  to  science-teachers,  and  the 
working  naturalist. 

Our  great  need  is,  more  numerous  plates  and  cuts ;  to  secure 
this  end  our  friends  are  urged  to  aid  in  enlarging  our  subscription 
list. 

Our  hearty  thanks  are  due  to  the  public  for  its  support,  and  to 
our  contributors  and  assistant  editors.  Depending  on  their  aid 
and  good  will  we  hope  to  make  the  future  volumes  of  the  Nat- 
uralist still  more  deserving  of  public  support  and  ^ste^m, 


Digitized  by 


Google 


1886.]  EdUars'  Table.  41 

^The  proposition  to  create  an  Academy  of  Sciences  of  the 

State  of  Indiana,  suggests  some  reflections  as  to  the  future  of  such 
bodies  in  the  United  States.  It  has  appeared  to  us  desirable  that 
each  State  should  have,  at  some  future  time,  its  academy  of 
sciences,  but  we  have  refrained  from  enlarging  on  the  topic,  since 
it  is  plain  that,  as  regards  the  greater  number  of  States,  the  time 
has  not  vet  arrived.  But  Indiana  now  comes  to  the  front,  and  if 
she  succeeds  in  establishing  a  real  academy  of  sciences,  she  will 
hold  the  place  of  honor  in  our  history.  There  is  no  doubt  that 
among  the  men  of  her  leading  schools,  her  geological  surveys, 
etc.,  she  has  the  material  for  the  organization  of  such  a  body.  In 
most  of  the  States  there  is  no  material  out  of  which-  to  make  an 
academy  of  sciences,  and  in  none  is  there  much  material. 

Of  course  all  are  agreed  that  merit  only  shall  be  the  test  of 
membership  in  such  a  body;  but  all  are  not  agreed  as  to  what 
the  test  of  merit  ought  to  be.  There  can,  however,  be  but  one 
test,  and  that  is  the  one  which  has  been  adopted  in  the  old  coun- 
tries, and  by  our  own  National  Academy  in  recent  years,  and  that 
is  the  test  of  meritorious  work  done.  It  may  be  that  this  is  an  im- 
perfect guide  to  the  merits  of  some  men,  but  it  is  the  best  we 
have,  and  the  one  open  to  the  fewest  objections.  Moreover  the 
estimation  of  the  merit  of  work  done  should  be  guided  by  the 
attribute  of  quality  rather  than  of  quantity,  and  chiefly  by  the 
quah'ty  of  originality  or  novelty.  There  are  many  meritorious 
compilations,  but  the  best  of  them  stand  in  the  second  rank  of 
merit.  The  first  rank  is  held  by  the  discovery  of  new  truths.  As 
the  amount  of  truth  yet  to  be  learned  far  exceeds  that  which  has 
been  acquired  hitherto,  its  discovery  is  the  business  of  the  scien- 
tific man.  Since  the  truths  that  lie  at  the  foundation  of  a  major- 
ity of  phenomena  are  yet  unknown,  the  work  of  compilation  had 
better  be  left  to  those  who  for  any  cause  whatever  are  incapable 
of  original  research. 

In  the  first  organization  of  an  academy  of  sciences,  the  seeds 
of  its  future  success  or  failure  are  sown.  The  admission  of  per- 
sons to  membership  who  regard  science  as  a  mere  ornament,  or 
amusement,  will  vitiate  its  future  life.  Still  more  will  the  entrance 
into  its  councils  of  persons  who  regard  membership  merely  as  a 
step  to  personal  advancement.  In  many  portions  of  this  country, 
especially  in  some  regions  where  intelligance  is  not  wanting,  the 
fact  of  the  speciahzation  of  men's  abilities  is  not  suHiciently  ad- 


Digitized  by 


Google 


42  Recent  Literature.  [January, 

mitted.  In  such  communities  it  is  still  believed  that,  intellectu- 
ally speaking,  '*  all  men  are  born  equal/'  or  nearly  so.  In  such 
places  a  fluent  expression  of  interest  in  some  form  of  human  prog- 
ress, will  be  regarded  as  identical  with  ability  to  aid  in  that  form 
of  human  progress. 

Since  academies  of  sciences  in  this  country  are  not  yet  sus- 
tained by  government  grants,  it  will  be  necessary  to  have  a  lay 
membershipi  whose  annual  dues  will  meet  the  necessary  expenses. 
There  should  therefore  be  two  degrees  of  association,  vfz.,  mem- 
bership and  fellowship ;  the  latter  to  be  conferred  exclusively  on 
persons  who  have  contributed  important  work  to  the  progress  of 
science,  chiefly  of  original  research.  Such  fellowship  becomes 
an  order  of  merit,  which  serves  both  as  a  stimulus  and  as  a  re- 
ward for  work. 

The  local  academies  of  science  hitherto  established,  generally 
possess  libraries  and  museums.  This  property  may  become  a 
great  evil,  as,  for  instance,  when  its  conservators  claim  equal  place 
in  the  councils  of  the  academy  with  the  scientific  men.  But  it 
could  be  administered  by  a  financial  or  property  committee  of 
lay  members,  who  should  ad  with  the  fellows,  when  management 
of  financial  matters  is  in  question. 

The  numbers  of  the  American  Naturalist  for  1885 

were  issued  at  the  following  dates:  January,  Dec.  30th,  1884; 
Februaiy,  Jan.  19th,  1885;  March,  Feb.  24th;  April,  March 
2 1st;  May,  April  20th;  June,  May  i8th;  July,  June  20th; 
August,  July  28th ;  September,  Aug.  15th;  October,  Sept.  22d; 
November,  Oct  23d;  December,  Nov.  2Sth. 

RECENT  LITERATURE. 

Hornaday's  Two  Years  in  the  Jungle.^ — ^The  author  spent 
two  years  in  the  East  Indies  dividing  his  time  between  India, 
Ceylon,  the  Malay  peninsula  and  Borneo,  collecting  specimens 
for  Ward's  establishment  at  Rochester.  Wherever  he  went  Mr. 
Homaday  kept  his  eyes  open.  Of  apparently  a  hardy,  iron  con- 
stitution, which  was  not  subdued  by  repeated  attacks  of  the  jun- 
gle fever,  of  great  industry  and  bravery,  and  withal  a  good  story- 
teller, the  result  is  one  of  our  best  books  of  travel  in  countries 
which  have  been  ransacked  by  English  and  German  travelers. 
The  interest  of  the  narrative  is  sustained  throughout,  and  if  at 
times  too  much  slang  is  introduced,  we  forgive  these  slight  dere- 
lictions in  view  of  the  manifest  honesty,  kind-heartedness  and 
scientific  zeal  of  the  author.     Though  by  profession  a  taxider- 

^  Two  Years  in  the  Jungle. -^-Tht  experiences  of  a  hunter  and  naturalist  in  India, 
Ceylon,  the  Malay  peninsula  and  Borneo.  By  William  T.  Hornaday,  with  maps 
and  illustrations.  New  York,  Charles  Scribner's  Sons.  1885.  l2ino,  pp.  512. 
^4.00. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


PLATE  II. 


Digitized  by 


OF  '      ' 

Google 


Digitized  by 


Google 


PLATE  III. 


s 


i 


I 


I 

h 

I 


Digitized  by 


Google 


Digitized  by 


Google 


i886.]  Recent  Literature.  43 

mist  and  collector,  Two  Years  in  the  Jungle  abounds  in  observa- 
tions on  the  physical  geography,  ethnography,  zoology  and 
botany  of  the  countries  visited.  We  get  a  clear  idea  of  Western 
India,  its  people,  their  castes,  of  British  rule,  on  the  whole  so  be- 
neficent, as  well  as  how  to  skeletonize  elephants,  skin  monkeys, 
crocodiles,  tigers,  snakes  and  orangs.  The  maps  are  convenient 
and  the  illustrations  numerous,  new  and  fresh,  if  not  always  ex- 
cellent from  an  artistic  point  of  view.  These  which  we  have  been 
permitted  to  introduce  are. fair  specimens  of  the  plates.  Among 
the  more  valuable  contributions  to  zoology  are  the  portions  refer- 
ing  to  the  elephant,  its  natural  history  and  psychology,  the  croc- 
odiles and  gavials,  the  orangs  and  gibbons,  the  sharks,  particular- 
ly that  strange  connecting  link  between  the  sharks  and  skates, 
Rhamphobates,  down  to  the  jumping  fish.  If  Mr.  Hornaday  in 
slaying  elephants  showed  rare  nerve  and  skill  as  a  marksman, 
quite  another  set  of  qualities  were  brought  into  play  in  catching 
these  odd  fish.  These  creatures  live  on  the  mud  flats  of  the  Si- 
amese rivers,  hopping  about  over  the  deep  mud,  feeding  on  the 
tiny  crustaceans  left  on  the  bank  by  the  receding  tide ;  but  we 
will  let  the  author  tell  the  story  in  his  own  way : 

•*  The  Malays  were  thunderstruck  when  I  pulled  off  my  shoes 
and  told  them  to  put  me  ashore.  Seeing  that  I  was  really  going, 
Francis,  like  a  good  boy,  did  not  hesitate  to  follow,  and  we  step- 
ped out  of  the  sampan  into  mud  and  water  hip  deep. 

"  We  will  never  know  the  actual  depth  of  the  mud  on  that 
bank,  but  we  sank  into  it  to  our  knees  at  every  step,  and  were 
fortunate  enough  to  stop  sinking  at  that  point.  What  a  circus  it 
must  have  been  for  those  who  looked  on!  But,  in  for  a  penny  in 
for  a  pound,  and  bidding  Francis  choose  the  largest  fish  when 
possible,  we  went  for  them.  There  were  probably  a  dozen  in 
sight,  hopping  spasmodically  about,  or  lying  at  rest  on  the  mud, 
but  when  we  selected  the  nearest  large  specimens  and  made  for 
them«  they  developed  surprising  energy  and  speed,  and  made 
straight  for  their  burrows.  They  progressed  by  a  series  of  short 
but  rapidly  repeated  jumps,  accomplished  by  bending  the  hinder 
third  of  the  body  sharply  around  to  the  lefl,  then  straightening  it 
very  suddenly,  and  at  the  same  instant  lifting  the  front  half  of  the 
body  clear  of  the  ground  by  means  of  the  arm-like  pectoral  fins 
which  act  like  the  front  flippers  of  a  sea  lion.  These  fins  are  al- 
most like  arms  in  their  structure  and  use,  the  bones  being  of 
great  length,  and  thus  giving  the  member  great  freedom  of  move- 
ment. Owing  to  the  sofl  and  yielding  nature  of  the  mud  the 
leaps  were  short,  about  six  inches  being  the  distance  gained  each 
time,  but  they  were  so  rapid,  the  mud  so  very  deep  and  our  pro- 
gress so  slow,  the  fish  always  succeeded  in  getting  into  their 
holes  before  we  could  reach  them.  Their  burrows  were  simply 
mud  holes,  going  straight  down  to  a  depth  of  three  to  four  feet, 
large  enough  in  diameter  to  admit  a  man's  arm  easily,  and,  of 


Diigitized  by 


Google 


44  Recent  Literature.  Qanuaay, 

course,  full  of  water.  Although  the  mud  was  soft,  it  was  not 
sticky,  and  we  were  able  to  use  our  hands  for  spades  very  ef- 
fectually. By  digging  a  big  hole  two  feet  deep,  and  standing  on 
one's  head  in  the  bottom  of  it,  we  were  able  to  reach  an  arm  down 
two  feet  farther  and  seize  our  fish  at  the  bottom  of  the  burrow. 
Lucky  it  was  for  us  that  they  had  no  sharp  and  poisonous  spines, 
like  the  mud-laff  which  stung  me  in  Singapore  and  paralyzed  my 
right  hand  for  some  hours. 

"  My  first  fish  was  hard  to  get  and  hard  to  hold,  but  in  the  im* 
mortal  words  of  Tlu  Shaughraun^ '  Begorra,  'twas  worth  it.' " 

In  hunting  tigers  and  elephants,  the  most  dangerous  game  in 
the  world,  Mr.  Homaday  proved  himself  a  mighty  Nimrod.  He 
naturally  has  much  to  say  of  the  elephant,  and  we  are  surprised 
to  learn  that  in  such  a  populous  country  as  India  the  animal  is 
on  the  increase.  Though  at  present  they  are  rigidly  protected 
by  law,  it  is  evident  that  their  number  will  soon  increase  to  such 
an  extent  "as  to  render  further  elephant  shooting  positively 
necessary." 

The  height  of  the  Indian  elephant  is,  the  author  claims,  like 
that  of  nearly  all  large  animals,  usually  recorded  in  exceptional 
figures.  "  Even  the  best  scientific  writers  are  apt  to  fall  into  the 
habit  of  giving  the  largest  measurements  fairly  obtainable,  which 
therefore  brings  the  average  animal  far  below  the  standard  they 
set  up.  I  can  scarcely  recall  an  instance  of  having  shot  a  mam- 
mal, even  out  of  a  score  of  the  same  species,  which  came  up  to 
the  measurements  recorded  by  Jerdon  in  his  Mammals  of  India. 
The  height  of  the  male  hlephas  indicus  should  be  recorded  as 
nine  feet  six  inches,  vertical  measurement,  at  the  shoulder,  and 
the  female  eight  feet,  for  these  figures  represent  the  height  of 
from  eight  to  twelve  individuals  to  be  found  in  every  hundred ;  in 
other  words,  animals  which  can  be  seen  without  searching 
throughout  the  length  and  breadth  of  India." 

The  height  of  the  Indian  elephant  is  everywhere  recorded  as 
from  ten  to  ten  and  a  half  feet,  but  the  largest  one  ever  measured 
"was  a  tusker  described  by  Mr.  Corse  in  1799  as  belonging  to 
Asaph-ul-Daula,  a  former  Vizier  of  Oudh,  which  really  measured 
ten  feet  six  inches,  perpendicularly  at  the  shoulder.  This  animal 
was  merely  one  out  of  ten  thousand,  and  it  would  be  quite  as 
sensible  to  measure  Chang  and  record  the  height  of  Chinamen 
as  being  seven  and  a  half  feet,  as  to  say  that  the  Indian  elephant 
is  as  tall  as  the  Vizier's  giant." 

Our  author  spent  a  month  with  the  Dyaks  in  Borneo,  orang 
hunting,  his  trophies  now  adorning  the  National  Museum  at 
Washington.  His  account  of  the  two  species  of  orang  (SinUa 
wurmbii  and  satyrus)  inhabiting  Borneo,  is  detailed,  and  stamped 
with  the  mark  of  accuracy.  The  nesting  habits  were  observed 
and  described  as  follows  :  "  I  got  there  just  In  time  to  see  the 
orang  build  a  large  nest  for  himself.     He  took  up  a  position  in  a 


Digitized  by 


Google 


PLATE  IV. 


Digitized  by 


Gog 


Digitized  by 


Google 


PLATE  V. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


Digitized  by 


Google 


1886.]  Recent  Literature.  45 

fork  vrhich  was  well  screened  by  the  foliage,  and  began  to  break 
ofT  small  branches  and  pile  them  loosely  in  the  crotch.  There 
was  no  attempt  at  weaving,  nor  even  regularity  in  anything.  He  • 
reached  out  his  long,  hairy  arm,  snapped  off  the  leafy  branches 
with  a  practiced  hand,  and  laid  them  down  with  the  broker^  ends 
sticking  out.  He  presently  got  on  the  pile  with  his  feet,  and 
standing  there  to  weight  it  down  he  turned  slowly,  breaking 
branches  all  the  while  and  laying  them  across  the  pile  in  front  of 
him,  until  he  had  built  quite  a  large  nest.  When  he  had  finished  » 
he  laid  down  upon  it,  and  was  so  effectually  screened  from  us 
that  I  could  not  dislodge  him,  and  after  two  or  three  shots  I  told 
the  natives  they  would  have  to  cut  the  tree."  During  one  day's 
travel  along  the  Upper  Simujan  river,  Mr.  Hornaday  counted 
thirty-six  old  nests  and  six  which  were  regarded  as  new  or  fresh. 
He  thinks  that  an  orang  after  building  a  nest  sleeps  in  it  several 
nights  in  succession,  unless  he  leaves  its  neighborhood  altogether. 
He  never  saw  nor  heard  of  any  house-building  by  orang-utans, 
though  he  was  led  to  believe  that  some  individuals  may  have  a 
habit  of  covering  their  bodies  with  branches  for  protection  against 
the  dashing  of  the  rain  drops  during  a  heavy  storm.  "  My  little 
pet  orang,"  he  says,  "  would  invariably  cover  his  head  and  body 
with  straw  or  loose  clothing  the  moment  it  began  to  rain,  even 
though  he  was  under  a  root" 

Forty-three  orangs  were  shot  by  Mr.  Hornaday  and  his  hun- 
ters, and  of  these  seven  exceeded  the  maximum  height  as  given 
by  Mr.  Wallace,  viz.,  four  feet  two  inches.  "  My  tallest  Simia 
«/i!/rm^£r  or  *mias  chappin,'  measured  four  feet  six  inches  from 
head  to  heel,  and  the  next  in  size  four  feet  five  and  a  half  inches. 
Then  a  satyrus,  or  *  mias  rombi,'  measured  four  feet  four  and  a 
half  inches,  two  other  wurmbii  four  feet  four  inches,  and  four  feet 
three  inches  respectively,  a  satyrus  four  feet  three  inches,  and  a 
wutmbii  four  feet  two  and  a  half  inches." 

The  account  of  the  gibbons  and  other  animals  of  Borneo,  its 
forests  and  of  the  Dyaks  are  interesting — indeed  there  is  not  a 
dull  page  in  the  book.  Besides  the  general  map  there  is  an  ethno- 
graphic map  of  Borneo,  showing  the  distribution  of  the  Dyak 
tribes  and  subtribes,  as  classified  by  the  author.  Much  ethno- 
graphic material  is  given,  with  frequent  illustrations.  We  see 
little  in  point  of  fact  to  criticise,  except  where  the  author  speaks 
of  nummulites  as  '*  little  flat  echinoderms." 

GooDAL£*s  Vegetable  Physiology.* — Early  in  the  past  year 
we  had  the  pleasure  of  noticing  the  first  part  of  this  work,  which 
is  now  completed  by  the  appearance  of  Part  il  The  chapters  in 
the  part  before  us  deal  successively  with.  Protoplasm  in  its  rela- 

»  Grayt  Botanical  Text  Book  (Sixlh  Edition),  Vol.  ll.  Physiological  Botany. 
II.  Vegetable  Physiology.  By  George  Lincoln  Goodale,  A.M.,  M.D.,  Professor 
of  Botany  in  Harvard  University.  Ivison,  Blakeman,  Taylor  &  Company,  New 
York  and  Chicago,  1885.     pp.  xxi.     195  to  5004-36.     Illustrations  142  to  214. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


46  Recent  Literature,  [January, 

tions  to  its  surroundings ;  difTusion,  osmosis  and  absorption  of 
liquids ;  soils,  ash  constituents,  and  water  culture ;  transfer  of  water 
through  the  plant;  assimilation;  changes  of  ors^anic  matter  in 
the  plant ;  vegetable  growth ;  movements  ;  reproduction  ;  the  seed 
and  its  germination;  resistance  of  plants  to  untoward  influences. 
The  whole  volume  thus  covers  the  field  of  the  general  anatomy 
and  physiology  of  plants,  and  especially  of  the  flowering-plants. 

In  looking  over  the  chapters  one  is  struck  with  the  fact  that  in 
.  them  much  new  material  has  been  brought  for  the  first  time  be- 
fore the  American  student.  There  is  thus  a  freshness  about  much 
of  the  matter  which  adds  greatly  to  its  interest  The  treatment, 
too,  is  sufficiently  different  to  distinguish  the  book  at  once  from 
others  covering  the  same  general  ground.  Very  naturally  the 
work  has  much  of  the  German  method  in  it  In  fact  a  great 
part  of  the  matter  is  the  result  of  work  done  in  German  labora- 
tories. 

A  noticeable  feature  of  the  book  is  its  wider  range  of  subjects 
than  is  usual  in  botanical  works.  There  is  much  in  it  which  we 
are  accustomed  to  consider  as  belonging  to  agriculture  and  agri- 
cultural chemistry.  This  feature  will  commend  the  book  to  the 
teachers  and  students  in  our  agricultural  colleges.  We  have 
thus  in  chapter  viii  such  topics  as  the  following  taken  up  and 
discussed  at  some  length,  viz :  Formation  of  soils ;  classification 
of  soils;  condensation  of  gases  by  soils;  temperature  of  soils;  etc., 
etc.  In  chapter  xvi  we  have  discussed  the  following  practical 
topics,  viz  :  Winter  killing ;  improper  food ;  noxious  gfases ;  liquid 
and  solid  poisons ;  mechanical  injuries. 

The  chapters  which  interest  us  most  are  the  tenth,  eleventh  and 
twelfth,  devoted  respectively  to  assimilation,  change  of  organic 
matter  in  the  plant,  and  vegetable  growth.  In  the  first  there  is 
some  danger  of  confusion  from  the  double  sense  in  which  the 
word  assimilation  is  used,  viz:  i,  For  the  conversion  of  all  food- 
matter  (in  which  sense  it  is  employed  in  the  heading  to  the  chap- 
ter and  headings  of  the  pages  throughout  the  chapter),  and  2,  the 
appropriation  of  carbon.  This  last  is  called  assimilation  proper 
(p.  285),  and  a  few  lines  further  on  the  statement  is  made  that  "  the 
term  assimilation  in  the  following  pages  will  be  made  to  refer  to 
the  appropriation  of  carbon."  Aside  from  this  confusion  of  terms, 
the  treatment  is  exceedingly  satisfactory.  In  the  eleventh  chapter 
the  word  transmutation  is  used  in  place  of  the  usual  one,  metas- 
tasis, or  the  less  usual  one,  metabolism.  This  appears  to  us  to  be 
a  desirable  improvenrent  in  the  nomenclature  of  the  subject 

The  chapter  on  vegetable  growth  brings  before  the  student  the 
latest  results  of  the  German  investigators,  and  this  is  done  in  so 
clear  and  concise  a.  manner  as  to  leave  nothing  to  be  desired.  The 
author  has  sifted  the  great  mass  of  literature  upon  this  subject  and 
given  in  summary  form  the  results. 

The  illustrations  throughout  the  volume  are  drawn  mainly  from 


Digitized  by 


Google 


1 886.]  Recent  Literature.  47 

the  publications  of  Pfeffer,  Sades,  Darwin  and  others,  and  in  many 
cases  have  b^n  reduced  in  size  by  the  publishers  iSo  as  to  give 
them  a  better  appearance  upon  the  octavo  pages.  The  printer's 
work  has  been  well  done,  and  the  book  has  an  attractive  appear- 
ance.— Charles  E.  Bessey. 

Wood's  Nature's  Teachings.* — Mr.  Wood  has  written  a  good 
many  books  on  zoological  subjects,  all  useful,  but  none  of  them 
particularly  profound  or  especially  inspiring,  but  we  think  that 
in  the  present  case  he  has  produced  a  most  readable  book.  The 
object  of  the  writer  is  to  show  the  close  connection  between  the 
actions  of  the  different  organs  of  animals  and  plants  and  human 
inventions,  and  to  prove  that  there  is  scarcely  an  invention  by  man 
which  has  not  its  prototype  in  nature.  The  author  has  placed 
side  by  side  a  great  number  of  parallels  of  nature  and  art,  with 
terse,  brief  descriptions,  and  illustrated  with  a  great  number  of 
original  sketches.  As  a  result,  we  have  just  the  book  to  put  into 
the  hands  of  a  boy,  not  only  serving  to  interest  him  but  to  lead 
him  to  observe  the  common  objects  of  nature;  and  grown-up  peo- 
ple will  also,  if  we  mistake  not,  relish  its  pages  and  illustrations. 
The  author  draws  the  corollary  from  the  facts  presented,  "  that 
as  existing  human  inventions  have  been  anticipated  by  nature,  so 
it  will  surely  be  found  that  in  nature  lie  the  prototypes  of  inven- 
tions not  yet  revealed  to  man." 

As  examples,  the  raft  with  its  sail  is  anticipated  by  the  Velella ; 
the  boat  by  the  gnat-egg  boat,  the  floating  sea-anemone,  or  water- 
sail  or  pupa-skin  of  the  mosquito ;  and  the  boatman  in  his  boat 
by  the  '*  water-boatman,"  or  Notonecta.  Examples  of  paddle- 
wheels  are  seen  in  those  of  the  Ctenophores,  and  the  movements 
of  the  tail  of  the  fish  anticipate  those  of  the  propeller.  The 
arrangement  of  the  ribs  of  a  fish  are  like  those  of  a  vessel,  while 
the  form  of  a  ship's  anchor  is  outlined  in  the  spicule  of  the 
Synapta,  and  that  of  a  grapnel  in  the  spicules  of  sponges  and 
Echinococcus ;  ice-anchors  and  ice-hooks  are  anticipated  by  the 
tusks  of  the  walrus ;  an  eagle's  claw  presages  a  flesh-hook,  and 
the  grapple-plant  the  ordinary  drag ;  boat-hooks  are  typified  in 
the  pushing  spikes  of  sea  worms  ;  Captain  Boynton's  life-dress  in 
the  float  oi  a  Portuguese  man-of-war,  and  Janthina's  raft  in  a  cask- 
pontoon.  Under  the  caption  of  war  and  hunting,  pit&lls  are 
shown  to  be  but  an  imitation  of  that  of  the  ant-lion,  and  poisoned 
arrows  of  the  fangs  of  serpents  and  the  stings  of  insects.  Barbed 
spears,  harpoons  and  arrows  have  multitudes  of  semblances  in 
nature,  as  do  projectiles  of  all  descriptions.  Nets,  traps,  defences 
of  all  sorts,  armor  of  varied  description,  forts,  scaling  implements, 
tunnels,  as  well  as  the  houses  of  savages,  and  the  porches,  eaves, 
windows,  thatch,  slates  and  tiles  of  civilized  architecture,  with 

*  Natures  Teachings,    Human  inventions  anticipated  by  Nature.     By  Rev.  J.  G. 
Wood,  with  upwards  of  750  engravings.    Boston,  Roberts  Brothers.    i2mo,  pp.  533. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


48  Recent  Literature.  [January, 

girders,  ties,  buttresses,  dovetailing,  and  varnish,  all  existed  in  na* 
ture  before  man  conceived  them.  So  with  spades,  scissors,  chisels, 
the  plane,  saw,  boring,  striking  and  grasping  tools.  Philosophic 
toys,  fans,  water-rams  and  paper-making — in  short,  many  of  the 
arts  of  every-day  life  are  the  reflections  of  nature.  The  book  is 
full  of  curious  facts,  and  set  forth  in  a  plain,  simple,  attractive  style. 

Report  OF  the  State  Geologist  of  New  Jersey  for  1884. 
Geo.  H.  Cook,  Director. — From  this  report  we  learn  that  the 
geodetic  survey  of  New  Jersey  is  completed  except  in  the  interior 
of  the  southern  part,  and  that  the  topographical  survey  has  com* 
pleted  over  three-fifths  of  the  total  area.  The  volume  includes 
notices  of  the  buried  forest  near  South  Amboy,  consisting  of 
chestnut,  oak,  cedar,  etc.,  in  complete  preservation,  and  probably 
buried  since  the  settlement  of  the  country ;  of  the  glacial  drift 
and  yellow  sand  and  gravel ;  of  the  continuation  of  the  plastic 
clays,  marls,  etc.,  of  the  Cretaceous  and  Tertiary  strata  under  the 
ocean  for  one  hundred  miles;  of  the  now  celebrated  columnar 
trap  rocks  of  Orange  mountain  ;  of  the  Devonian,  Silurian  and 
Archaean  areas  of  Northern  New  Jersey ;  of  the  mines  and  min- 
ing industry;  artesian  wells,  etc.,  of  the  State. 

Perhaps  the  most  interesting  result  given  is  that  the  slope  of 
the  sea  bottom  beyond  the  continental  plateau  is  almost  exactly 
the  same  as  the  dip  of  the  Cretaceous  strata.  The  presence  of 
the  Cretaceous  beds  in  the  marginal  deposits  of  the  ocean,  as 
proved  by  borings,  seems  to  prove  the  Pre-cretaceous  age  of  the 
ocean  bottom. 

Fourteenth  Annual  Report  of  the  Geology  and  Natural 
History  Survey  of  Indiana.  John  Collett,  Director — ^This  vol- 
ume is  accompanied  by  a  geological  map  giving  a  fair  exhibit  of 
the  surface  geology  of  the  State.  The  topographical  and  geo- 
logical features  of  Madison,  Hamilton,  Fayette  and  Union  coun- 
ties, are  given  more  in  detail,  and  Dr.  J.  S.  Newberry  describes 
the  drift  deposits  of  the  State.  The  volume  closes  with  an  account 
'  of  the  mammalian  fauna  of  the  Post-pliocene  deposits,  by  Profes- 
sor E.  D.  Cope  and  J.  L.  Wortman.  The  Artiodactyla  are 
Platygonus  compressus  and  Cariacus  dolichopsis ;  the  Proboscidea, 
Elephas  primigenius  and  Mastodon  americanus  ;  while  the  Roden- 
tia  are  represented  by  the  singular  Castoroides  ohioensis,  an  animal 
exceeding  the  capybara  in  size,  and,  spite  of  its  name,  diflfering 
widely  in  character  from  the  beaver.  MegcUonyx  jeffersoni  repre- 
sents the  sloth-like  edentates,  and  the  genus  Equus  has  left  the 
remains  of  two  species,  E^fraternus  and  E,  major ^  in  the  Pliocene 
and  Post-pliocene  of  Indiana. 

Recent  Books  and  Pamphlets. 

Ray^  P.  H, — Report  of   the  expedition  to   Point  Banow,  Alaska.     Washington, 

1885.    From  the  author. 
Murray^  y, — Report  on  the  specimens  of  bottom  deposits.  Bull.  Mus.  Comp.  Zool.. 

Vol.  XII,  No.  2.,  1885.     From  Alex.  Agassis. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


i886.]  Recent  Literature.  49 

GftUk,  F.  A. — Contributions  to  mineralogy.    Contrib.  from  the  laboratory  of  the 

Univ.  Penn.,  xxiv.     From  the  author. 
Ward,  L,  F. — Moral  and  material  progress  contrasted.     Ext.  Trans.  Anthrop.  Soc. 

of  Washington,  1885.     From  the  author. 
LannlUt  y.  H, — Our  birds  in  their  haunts,  a  familiar  treatise  on  birds  of  Eastern 

North  America.     Boston,  Cassino  &  Co.^  1884.    From  the  author. 
Woodward,  A.  S.-^n  the  literature  and  nomenclature  of  British  fossil  Crocodilia. 

Ext  Geol.  Mag.,  Nov.,  1885.     From  the  author. 
Wrifk/,  R.  /?.,  AfcAfurrich, /,  P.,  MacCallum;  A,  B,,  and  MeKenzie,  r.— On  the 

skin,  osteology,  myology,  nervous,  digestive  and  vascular  systems  of  Amiurus- 

catus.  Proc.  Canadian  Inst.,  October,  1884.     From  the  institute. 
Jordan,  D.  S, — ^Note  on  Mr.  Carman's  paper  on  The  American  salmon  and  trout. 

Proc.  U.  S.  Nat.  Mus.,  1885,31. 
-— ^Identification  of  the  species  of  Cyprinldae  and  Catostomidae,  described  by  Dr. 

C.  Gerard  in  the  P.  A.  N.  S.  Phila.  for  1856.     Idem,  113. 
-^Note  on  Epinephelns  nigritus.    Idem,  208. 
Note  on  the  scientific  name  of  the  yellow  perch,  striped  bass  and  other  N.  Am. 

fishes.     Idem,  72. 
A  Ibt  of  the  fishes  known  from  the  Pacific  coast  of  tropical  America,  from  the 

Tropic  of  Cancer  to  Panama.     Idem,  361. 
^Note  on  some  Linnsean  names  of  American  fishes.     Idem,  394.     All  from  the 

author. 
Jordan^  D.  S.,  and  Gilbert^  C,  H, — Descriptions  of  thirty-three  new  species  of  fishes 

from  Mazailan,  Mexico.     Idem,  338.     From  the  authors. 
Underwood,  L,  M, — The  North  American  Myriapoda.    Entomologica  Americana* 

Nov.,  1885. 
—A  preliminary  list  of  the  Arthrogastra  of  North  America.     From  the  Canadian 

Entomologist,  Sept.,  1885.     Both  from  the  author. 
Becker,  G.  F. — Geometrical  form  of  lava  cones  and  the  elastic  limit  of  lava.     Ext. 

Amer.  Jour,  of  Science,  Oct.,  1885. 
BouUnger,  G.  A. — A  description  of  the  German  river-frog   (Hana  esculenta  var. 

ridibundd).     Ext.  P.  Z.  S.  London,  1885. 
— ^Remarks  on  the  common  viper,  V.  berus,  and  on  its  sub-sp.  V,  s/oanei.    From 

The  Zoologist,  Oct.,  1885. 
Remarks  on  a  paper  by  Professor  E.  D.  Cope  on  the  reptiles  of  Rio  Grande  do 

Sul,  Brazil.    All  from  the  author. 
SAu/eidt,  R,  IK— Description  of  Hesperomyi  truei.    Ext.  Proc.  U.  S.  Nac.  Mus., 

403.     From  the  author. 
Cragin,  F.  W.,  Call,  R.  E,^  Bruner,  Z.,  and  Faxon,  fF.— Bulletin  of  the  Washburn 

College  Laboratory  of  Nat.  History,  Topeka,  Kansas,  1885.     From  the  editor. 
RodrigueSf  J.  J, — Catalogo  de  los  G6neros  y  Especies  de  los  animales  que  se  en- 

cuentran  en  Guatemala.     Mammalia.     1885.     From  the  author. 
Meyer,  O. — Insectivoren  und  Galeopithecus  geologisch  alte  Formen.     Sep.-abd.  a. 

d.  Neu.  Jahrb.  f.  Min.,  1885.     From  the  author. 
Lewis,  T.  /^.—-Notice  of    some  recently-discovered  effigy  mounds.    Science,  No. 

106.     From  the  author. 
Peirce,  C,  N. — A  factor  in  tooth  preservation.    From  the  Dental  Cosmos,  a  monthly 

record  of  dental  science,  Sept.,  1885.     From  the  author. 
Baur,  G. — Einige  Bemerkungen  t|ber  die  Ossification  der  einigen  Knocken.     Ext. 

Abd.  u.  d.  7jqo\,  Anzeiger,  No.  206. 
— -*Zar  Morphologic  des  Carpus  und  Tarsus  der  Wirbelthiere.    Sep.-abd.  a.  d. 

Zool.  Anzeiger,  No.  196,  1885. 
—Preliminary  note  on  the  origin  of  limbs.    Am.  Nat.,  Nov.,  1885.    All  from  the 

author. 
Troueuart,  E, — Les  microbes,  Bibliotheque  Scientifique  International,  1886.  From 

the  author. 

vol.  XX.— NO.  f.  4 


Digitized  by 


Google 


5  o  General  Notes.  ( Jan  uary , 

A/arcoUn  y.^nd  Marcouy  J.  B, — Mapoteca  Geologica  Americana.  A  catalogue  of 
geol.  maps  ol  Amcr.»  N.  and  S.,  1752-1881.     Bull.  U.  S.  Geol.  Surv.,  No.  7. 

Irving,  R.  /?.,  and  Van  Ilise,  C.  R. — On  secondary  enlargements  of  mineral  frag- 
ments in  certain  rocks.     Bull.  U.  S.  G.  S.,  No.  8. 

Clarke,  F.  IV.,  and  Ckatard,  T,  Af,—K  report  of  work  done  in  the  Washington 
laboratory  1883-1884.     Bull.  U.  S.  (;.  S.,  No.  9. 

Walcoit,  C— On  the  Cambrian  faunas  of  N.  Am.    Bull.  U.  S.  Geol.  Surv.,  No.  10. 

Call,  R.  £.,  and  Gilbert,  G,  K, — On  the  Quaternaty  and  recrnt  Mullu«ca  of  the 
Great  basin,  also  a  sketch  of  the  Quaternary  lakes.     Bull.  U.  S.  G.  S.,  No.  1 1. 

Dana  E,  S. — A  cry^tallographic  study  of  the  thiuolite  of  Lake  Lahoiitan.  BnU.  U. 
S.G.  S.,  No.  12. 

Burns,  €,,  and  Stronhal,  ^.— The  electrical  and  magnetic  properties  of  the  iron 
carburets.     Bull.  U.  S.  G.  S.,  No.  14. 

Gannett,  H. — Boundaries  of  the  United  Stntes,  of  the  States  and  Tenitories.  Bull. 
U.  .S.  Gdol.  Sarv.,  i  i.     All  from  the  department. 

Third  annual  report  of  the  lioard  of  control  of  the  N.  Y.  Agric.  Experiment  Sta- 
tion, 1884.    From  the  board. 

Heiiprin.  A,,and  Meyer,  O, — Notes  on  the  clas<;ification  and  palaeontology  of  the 
U.  S.  Tertiary  deposits.    Science,  June  12,  July  17,  July  31,  Aug.  21. 

Boettger,  O, — Liste  d.  v.  Hrn.  Dr.  med.  W.  Ko'ielt  in  Algerien  uud  Tunisien  ges- 
ammehen  Kiiechihiere,  1885.     From  the  author. 

Dollot  Af.  L. — L'appareil  sternal  de  L*Iguanodon.  Ext.  d.  1.  Rev.  d.  Quest.  Scien., 
Oct.,  1885.    From  the  author. 

James,  J,  F. — Remarks  nn  a  supposed  fossil  fungus  from  the  coal  measures.  Ext. 
Jour.  Cin.  Soc.  N.  H.,  Oct.,  1885.     From  the  author. 

Agassit,  A.,  and  Whitman,  C.  O.— -The  development  of  osseons  fi^he«.  Mem. 
Mus.  Comp.  2^1.,  Camb.,  Vol.  xiv,  No.  i,  I'art  i,  1885.     From  the  authors. 

JJull^  E, — On  the  geological  age  of  the  North  Atlantic  ocean.  Sci.  Trans.  Roy. 
Dublin  S>)C.,  1885.     From  the  author. 

Everhart,  B,  Af — Index  to  Ellis'  North  American  fungi.    From  the  author. 

Baker  and  Harrigan, — Catalogue  of  trotting  stock,  Great  Meadpw  farm,  1886. 

GENERAL  NOTES. 

QBOaBAPHT  AND  TBAVBLS.^ 

Asia. — The  Trigonometrical  Sun^ey  of  India, — At  the  meeting 
of  the  British  Association,  held  at  Aberdeen  in  September  of  this 
year,  the  president  of  the  geographical  section.  General  J.  T. 
Walker,  gave  an  account  of  tlic  survey  of  Hindostan.  Survey 
operations  along  the  coast-lines  began  before  the  commencement 
of  the  seventeenth  century,  and  the  first  general  map  of  India, 
publi.^hed  by  D'Anville  in  1752,  was  compiled  from  the  charts 
of  coast-lines  and  the  itineraries  of  travelers.  Major  Renncll, 
appointed  surveyor  of  Bengal  in  1764,  was  the  father  of  Indian 
geography.  In  nineteen  >  ears  he  survej  ed  300,000  square  miles, 
and  after  his  return  to  England,  published  k  great  work  on  Indian 
geography.  At  the  close  of  the  last  century  Major  Lambton 
drew  up  a  project  for  a  general  triangulation  of  Southern  India* 
He  commenced  woik  by  a  careful  triargulHtion  of  Scuthern 
India,  but  for  several  years  no  notice  was  taken  of  his  import- 

*  This  depftrtm^At  is  edited  by  W.  N.  LockingtOaN,  Philadelphia, 


Digitized  by 


Google 


1 886.]  Geography  and  Travels.  5 1 

ant  services  to  science.  In  18 17  the  French  institute  elected 
him  a  corresponding  member,  and  after  this  honors  and  ap- 
plause followed  from  his  own  countrymen.  His  assistant, 
Captain  Everest,  discovered  that  Lacaille's  meridional  arc,  at  the 
Cape  of  Good  Hope,  was  in  error  through  the  deflection  of  the 
plumb-line  at  the  ends  of  the  arc,  under  the  influence  of  the  at- 
traction of  the  neighboring  mountains,  and  thus  became  aware  of 
the  necessity  of  placing  astronomical  stations  where  this  cause 
would  not  be  active.  Everest  introduced  great  improvements 
into  the  methods  of  the  survey,  which,  before  Lambton's  death, 
had  been  extended  in  its  scope  to  embrace  the  whole  of  India, 
and  his  methods  were  followed  until  the  completion  of  the  princi- 
pal triangulation.  Many  of  the  forest  regions  of  India  are  most 
pestilential.  Native  troops  mutinied  at  being  taken  into  the  God- 
avery  basin,  for  fifty  years  the  chain  of  triangles  passing  through 
it  remained  untouched,  and  its  execution  cost  the  life  of  the  officer 
in  charge.  The  Terai,  at  the  base  of  the  Nepalese  Himalayas, 
was  still  more  formidable,  yet,  owing  to  the  refusal  of  the  Ne- 
palese government  to  permit  Europeans  to  enter  their  territory,  a 
connecting  chain  of  triangles  had  to  be  carried  along  its  500 
miles,  necessitating  the  clearance  of  some  2000  miles  of  line 
through  forest  and  jungle,  and  the  construction  of  over  100  towers 
to  overlook  the  earth*s  curvature.  The  mortality  was  greater 
than  in  many  a  famous  battle.  In  1843  Everest  was  succeeded 
by  Waugh,  who  retired  in  1861,  and  the  last  chain  of  the  princi- 
pal triangulation  was  completed  in  1882. 

The  two  longitudinal  arcs  first  measured  in  India  were  employ- 
ed by  Colonel  Clarke  in  his  last  investigation  of  the  figure  of  the 
earth,  and  General  Walker  stated  his  belief  that  they  are  the  only 
twoarcs  sufficiently  accurate  to  be  thus  used.  These  investigations 
show  that  the  equator  has  much  less  ellipticicy  than  was  formerly 
believed,  and  that  the  major  axis  is  S^  15'  west  of  Greenwich, 
instead  of  15°  34'  east  of  it,  as  was  previously  supposed.  The 
French  meter,  supposed  to  be  a  ten-millionth  part  of  the  earth's 
meridional  quadrant,  is  now  known  to  be  nearly  gj^^h  part  less 
than  the  magnitude  it  was  intended  to  represent. 

Mr,  Hosiers  Travels  in  China, — At  the  recent  meeting  of  the 
British  Association  Mr.  A.  Hosie  gave  an  account  of  three 
journeys  in  Southwestern  China  made  by  him  since  the  beginning 
of  1882.  The  first  was  through  Southern  Ssu-ch*uan  and  North- 
cm  Kweichou  to  its  capital,  Kwei-yang-Fu,  westward  to  Yun- 
nan Fu,  then  through  Northern  Yunnan  and  along  the  Nan-kuang 
river  to  the  Yang-tsie,  where  he  took  boat  to  Ch'ungch*ing, 
his  starting-point.  In  1883  he  passed  to  Ch'en^  tu,  the  capital  of 
Ssu-ch'uan,  by  way  of  the  brine  and  petroleum  wells  of  Tzu-liu* 
ching,  then  through  the  country  of  the  Lolos,  then  by  Ning-yiian, 
in  a  valley  famous  as  the  habitat  of  the  white-waK  insect,  to  and 
through  thq  mountainous  Cain-du  of  Marco  Polo,  inhabited  in 


Digitized  by 


Google 


52  General  Notes.  [January, 

great  part  by  Mantzu  tribes.  Reaching  the  Chin-sha  Chiang  or 
river  of  golden  sand,  he  then  proceeded  to  Ta-li  Fu  and  Yunnan 
Fu,  when  he  descended  the  Yung-ning  river  to  Lu  Chou.  In 
1884  he  went  to  Ho  Chou,  north  of  Ch'ung-Ch'ing.  thence  through 
a  cultivated  and  fertile  country  to  Chia-ting  Fu,  on  the  right 
bank  of  the  Min  and  thence  south  on  the  eastern  side  of  indepen- 
dent Lolodom,  to  the  river  of  Golden  Sand  at  the  town  of  Man-i- 
ssu.  Chia-ting  is  the  great  center  of  sericulture  in  Ssu-ch'uan, 
and  the  chief  insect  wax-producing  city  in  the  empire.  A  day's 
journey  from  it  is  the  famous  mount  0-mei,  11,000  feet  high, 
sacred  to  the  worship  of  Buddha. 

Asiatic  News, — The  total  forest  area  of  British  India  is  com- 
puted at  75,270  square  miles. Colonel  Prejevalsky  has  again 

failed  to  penetrate  into  Tibet  over  the  Keria  mountains  in  conse- 
quence of  the  strenuous  opposition  of  the  Chinese. Dr.  Otto 

Finsch  has  explored  1000  miles  of  the  coast  of  Northern  (Ger- 
man) New  Guinea,  has  discovered  several  good  harbors,  and  has 
followed  a  large  river  thirty  miles  into  the  interior.  The  interior 
is  mountainous,  the  plains  near  the  sea  are  richly  covered  with 
trees  and  bush  and  well  watered,  the  soil  is  of  the  richest  fertility, 
and  the  natives  are  friendly.  Dr.  Finsch  found  no  trace  of  min- 
erals, and  regards  the  reported  discovery  of  gold  on  the  Fly  river 
as  a  "  schwindel." 

Africa. — SomalUand, — The  October  issue  of  the  Proceedings 
of  the  Royal  Geographical  Society,  contains  F.  L.  James's  account 
of  his  journey  through  the  Somali  country  to  the  Webbe  Shebeyli. 
The  journey  was  in  many  respects  the  most  successful  that  has 
ever  been  made  in  that  region,  since  the  party  succeeded  in  pene- 
trating Ogadayn,  more  than  half  crossing  the  peninsula,  and 
returning  without  a  contest.  The  return  was,  however,  compelled 
by  the  attempt  of  the  Sultan  of  Barri  to  make  his  visitors  assist 
him  against  his  rival.  The  greatest  danger  to  which  the  travelers 
were  exposed,  arose  from  Lord  Granville's  telegram  forbidding 
the  expedition  to  proceed.  This  arrived  after  their  departure,  but 
its  open  publication  in  Berbera  caused  the  Somali  to  believe  that 
the  travelers  were  in  disfavor  with  the  British  government  Fire- 
arms were  new  to  the  Somali  of  Ogadayn,  and  the  rifles  insured 
respect.  Most  of  the  country  appears  to  be  a  stony  desert,  but 
settlements  are  abundant  on  the  Webbe,  which  does  not  reach  the 
ocean,  but  loses  itself  a  few  miles  from  the  coast.  In  Ogadayn 
there  is  a  subject  people  called  Adone,  with  strongly- marked 
negro  features.  About  1 50  species  of  plants,  chiefly  herbs  and 
under-shrubs,  were  brought  back,  including  a  specimen  of  an 
apocynaceous  plant  which  affords  an  arrow-poison.  Sixty-one 
species  of  birds,  seven  of  which  are  new,  and  forty-six  kinds  of 
Lepidoptera,  seventeen  of  them  new,  were  also  brought  back. 
The  genealogy  of  the  Somali  tribes  is  given.    They  arp  aU  sjiid 


Digitized  by 


Google 


1 886.]  Geology  and  Paleontology.  S  3 

to  be  descended  from  two  brothers,  Darode  and  Tsak,  Ogadayn 
was  a  son  of  the  former. 

The  Lake  Moeris, — Mr.  Cope  Whitehouse  described  to  the  British 
Association  the  basin  of  the  Reian  Moeris  in  Egypt,  and  spoke  of 
the  possibility  of  the  restoration  of  this  historic  lake.  South  of 
the  Fayoum  exists  a  depression  of  several  hundred  square  miles, 
not  less  than  150  feet  below  the  Mediterranean,  and  in  the  parts 
visited  by  the  writer,  175  to  180  feet  deep.  The  area  is  irregular, 
curving  like  a  horn  from  near  Behnessa  to  the  ridge  which 
separates  it  from  the  Fayoum.  Ruins  exist  in  its  southern  part. 
The  level  of  the  ruins  proved  that  the  ancient  station  of  Ptole- 
mais  might  have  been  as  shown  in  the  text  and  maps  of  Ptolemy, 
on  a  horn-shaped  lake  about  thirty-five  miles  long  and  fifteen  wide. 

The  Kassai  Tributary  of  the  Congo, — Lieut.  Wissman  speaks 
enthusiastically  of  the  Kassai  as  a  magnificent  fluvial  artery,  fre- 
quently of  enormous  breadth,  leading  into  the  heart  of  the  new 
Congo  State.  The  country  on  its  banks  is  of  wonderful  fertility. 
During  the  forty-two  days  occupied  in  the  voyage  from  Luluaburg 
to  Kwamouth,the  health  of  the  expedition  was  excellent,  the  five 
whites  and  200  negroes  ill  arriving  in  good  health  at  Leopold- 
ville  on  July  i6th.  The  Sankaru  and  Lubilash  are  one  river, 
which  turns  westward,  and  joins  the  Kassai.  The  Kassai  receives 
the  great  Koango,  and  enters  the  main  river  by  the  Kwamouth, 
after  receiving  the  waters  of  Lake  Leopold. 

African  News, — ^The  country  between  Blantyre  and  Quilli- 
mane  has  been  described  by  Mr.  H.  E.  O'Neill  and  Mr.  D.  J. 
Rankin  in  the  Proceedings  of  the  Royal  Geographical  Society. 
The  Portuguese  authority  has  recently  been  considerably  ex- 
tended up  the  Shire  towards  Lake  Nyassa. The  Kassai,  the 

great  southern  tributary  of  the  Congo,  instead  of  entering  the 

main  stream  north  of  the  equator,  joins  it  in  3°  13'  S.  lat. Mr. 

D.  D.  Veth,  leader  of  a  Dutch  expedition  into  Portuguese  West 
Africa,  died  on  May  loth,  between  Benguela  and  Humpata. 

GBOLOChY  AND   PALEONTOLOGY. 

Internal  Chemical  and  Mechanical  Erosion  a  Factor  in 
Continent  and  Mountain  Building. — As  soon  as  it  is  affirmed 
that  since  early  Laurentian  times  the  great  continental  folds  and 
depressions  have  not  changed  places,  so  soon  it  becomes  neces- 
sary to  explain  how  these  great  ridges  and  troughs  have  per- 
sisted, as  such,  in  spite  of  the  amount  of  erosion  and  sedimenta- 
tion which  are  known  to  have  taken  place  and  which  we  know  to 
be  still  going  on  at  no  small  rate.  Either  the  pre-Laurentian 
inequalities  of  surface  were  vastly  greater  than  they  are  now,  or 
else,  during  all  the  ages  the  ocean  beds  have  been  constantly  re- 
ceiving sediment  and  sinking,  while  the  continents  have  been  as 
constantly  eroded  and  rising.     But  this  latter  hypothesis  implies 


Digitized  by 


Google 


54  General  Notes.  [January, 

that  there  has  been  and  is  a  continuous  circulation  of  the  mate- 
rial of  the  solid  land  from  the  continents  to  the  ocean,  and  from 
the  ocean  back  to  the  continents  again,  a  circulation,  in  some  de- 
gree, like  what  is  taking  place  in  the  ocean  between  the  equator 
and  the  poles,  that  is,  a  bodily  transfer  of  superficial  materials  one 
way  and  a  slow  general  under-creep  of  materials  back. 

But  how  is  such  a  system  possible  and  how  can  it  be  maintained  ? 
If  we  assume,  as  appears  to  be  required  by  both  physical  princi- 
ples and  geological  facts,  that  the  earth's  surface  is  only  slightly 
out  of  equilibrium  and  is  constantly  tending  toward  that  state, 
then  any  transfer  of  material  from  the  continents  to  the  ocean 
would  cause  a  subsidence  of  the  ocean  beds  which,  in  turn,  must 
necessitate  a  setting  of  the  deeper  earth  materials  from  beneath  the 
ocean  beds  toward  the  continents  causing  them  to  rise.  This  cir- 
culation appears  to  be  entirely  possible  and  even  probable,  if  not 
almost  certain,  and  this  too,  while  granting  that  the  earth  is  essen- 
tially solid  throughout  and  as  rigid  as  glass.  By  this  is  meant,'  of 
course,  as  rigid  as  glass  would  be  under  the  internal  earth  pres- 
sure. 

It  appears  to  me,  geologists  have  no  occasion  for  dissenting 
from  the  views  expressed  by  leading  physicists  in  regard  to  the 
rigidity  of  the  earth  for,  as  I  see  it,  there  may  be  all  the  rigidity 
which  physicists  have  claimed  and  yet  all  the  mobility  geological 
facts  can  demand.  When  cold  metals  are  subjected  to  artificial 
pressure,  causing  their  molecules  to  flow  into  new  positions  so 
that  the  form  of  the  mass  is  greatly  changed,  it  is  not  to  be  sup- 
posed that  these  metals  while  under  such  pressure  are  to  be  le- 
garded  as  true  liquids,  in  any  sense  obedient  to  all  the  laws  of 
fluids,  nor  could  any  mere  pressure,  however  great,  convert  them 
into  true  liquids.  I  think  it  will  not  be  maintained,  even  by  those 
who  believe  "pressure  itself  would  reduce  the  interior  of  the 
earth  to  a  fluid  condition,"  that  this  fluid  is  such  to  the  extent  of 
permitting  bodies  moving  freely  through  it  as  fish  move  through 
the  sea ;  nor  would  they  maintain  that  this  interior  fluid  would 
remain  such  with  the  pressure  removed.  It  could  hardly  be 
maintained  either,  that  such  a  fluid  would  possess  the  degree  of 
elasticity  characteristic  of  true  fluids,  but  unless  these  are  insisted 
upon  by  geologists,  physicists  have  all  the  rigidit>'  they  have 
claimed. 

Even  if  it  is  admitted  that  such  a  circulation  is  possible  when  con- 
ditions are  once  favorable,  unless  there  is  some  disturbing  agent 
continually  working  to  destroy  the  equilibrium  which  the  circu- 
lation tends  to  establish,  eventually  the  earth's  surface  must  have 
existing  differences  of  level  f^really  reduced.  1  here  appears  no 
escape  from  the  conclusion  that  the  density  of  the  earth  increases 
as  its  center  is  approached.  This  being  the  case,  a  continual  denu- 
dation from  certain  regions  and  constant  sedimentation  in  others 
must,  in  due  time,  whatever  may  have  been  the  original  distribu- 


Digitized  by 


Google 


1 886.]  Geology  and  Paleontology,  5  5 

tion  of  density  near  the  earth's  surf.ice,  remove  all  materials  of 
low  density  from  the  continents  and  place  them  over  the  sea  bot- 
tom, while  the  elevation  of  the  denuded  region  would  bring  den- 
ser materials  to  the  surface,  thus  tending  to  restore  equilibrium 
mrith  the  two  surfaces  more  nearly  on  the  same  level,  unless 
there  is  some  agent  operating  to  reduce  the  average  specific  grav- 
ity of  the  continents. 

If  the  earth  does  increase  in  density  toward  the  center,  this  may 
be  due  :  first,  to  a  diflerence  of  chemical  composition  ;  or  second, 
to  increasing  pressure ;  or  third,  to  these  two  conditions  in  combi- 
nation. With  either  the  first  or  third  conditions  existing,  and 
continued  denudation  with  no  counter  agent,  a  leveling  up  would 
inevitably  result.  With  the  second  conditiqp  existing,  unloading 
in  one  place  and  loading  in  another  of  equal  area,  would  permit  of 
expansion  in  the  continental  mass  and  cause  a  compression  of 
strata  under  the  oceans,  and  might  maintain  the  differences  of  level 
already  established ;  but  this  view  being  very  improbable,  it  re- 
mains to  search  for  some  cause  which  may  reduce  the  specific 
gravity  of  the  continents,  and  an  adequate  one,  it  seems  to  me,  may 
be  found  in  internal  chemical  and  mechanical  erosion. 

Taking  Mr.  T.  M.  Read's  estimate  of  chemical  erosion  (Am. 
Jour.  Sci.,  April,  1885),  at  100  tons  per  square  mile  annually  on 
the  average  the  world  over,  as  a  fair  estimate  of  the  work  done 
by  the  waters  which  come  to  the  surface  before  emptying  into  the 
ocean,  it  is  plain  that  a  vast  work  must  be  done  in  reducing  the 
average  specific  gravity  of  the  continents,  unless  it  is  maintained 
that  the  small  cavities  produced  are  closed  by  compression  as  fast 
as  formed.  This  ceitamly  is  not  the  case  in  the  supefficial  strata, 
nor  can  it  be  the  case  in  the  deeper  strata  where  the  cavities  pro- 
duced by  solution  remain  filled  with  water. 

Data  are  altogether  too  meager  to  allow  of  a  quantitative  treat- 
ment of  the  question.  We  do  not  know,  for  example,  what  propor- 
tion of  the  matter  carried  in  solution  to  the  sea  by  rivers  annually 
is  obtained  through  purely  superficial  action.  Neither  do  we 
know  what  proportion  of  the  water  falling  upon  the  continents 
enters  the  ocean  below  ocean  level.  It  is  reasonable  to  suppose 
that  this  amount  is  not  small,  and  that  the  water  entering^the  sea 
below  ocean  level  carries  a  higher  per  cent  of  solids  tRan  the 
average  river  water.  Now  that  our  Government  scientific  work  is 
being  consolidated,  it  would  seem  eminently  fitting  that  these  fun- 
damental questions  should  occupy  the  joint  attention  of  the  U.  S. 
Geological  Servey  and  the  Signal  Service,  and  they  are  possibly 
already  under  consideration. 

This  internal  erosion,  by  excavating  small  cavities  in  the  body 
of  the  continents,  would  lighten  them  without  in  the  same  degree 
lowering  their  surfaces,  anH  exi.^ting  diflerences  of  level  would  be 
longer,  if  not  permanently,  maintained,  because  in  case  the  denser 
strata  were  to  be  thrust  up  into  the  heart  of  the  continents,  into  the 


Digitized  by 


Google 


56  General  Notes,  [January, 

region  of  aqueous  action,  they  would  be  attacked  by  the  water  and 
their  average  specific  gravity  lowered.  Now  in  case  superficial  ero- 
sion were  to  exceed  internal  erosion,  the  result  would  be  a  lowering 
of  the  continents ;  but  any  lowering  of  the  continents  would  reduce 
the  rate  of  mechanical  erosion  much  faster  than  it  would  the 
chemical,  because  very  feeble  springs  and  the  mere  capillary  up- 
draught  of  saturated  water,  would  remove  the  solid  ingredients  of 
the  continents  and  place  them  in  position  to  be  drawn  off  to  the 
sea  by  currents  too  feeble  to  bear  much  solid  material  in  suspen- 
sion. The  specific  gravity  of  the  continents  would,  by  this  means, 
be  continually  lowered,  and  the  oceanic  areas  as  continuously 
loaded,  and,  for  this  reason,  we  might  expect  the  continents  and 
oceanic  basins  to  persist.  Again,  even  if  we  suppose  the  same 
degree  of  porosity  to  exist  in  the  sedimentary-  beds  under  the 
ocean  as  exists  in  those  of  the  continents  and  the  materials  of  the 
two  to  have  the  same  specific  gravity,  the  same  number  of  feet  of 
sediment  under  the  ocean  would  be  heavier,  volume  for  volume, 
than  the  land  because,  if  for  no  other  reason,  the  beds  would 
be,  in  all  probability,  more  lully  saturated  with  water.  Now  Pro- 
fessor Ferrel  has  shown  that  the  attraction  of  continental  plateaus 
must  be  neglected  in  reducing  both  pendulum  and  barometric  ob- 
servations to  sea  level,  and  therefore  they  do  not  represent  so 
much  material  added  between  a  given  station  and  the  earth's  cen- 
ter ;  that  is,  these  earth  masses,  although  possessing  longer  radii, 
are  no  heavier  than  equal  sections  in  the  ocean  areas. 

Assuming  that  the  continents  and  ocean  beds,  with  their  super- 
incumbent water,  aie  essentially  in  equilibrium,  and  taking  the 
ave;-age  depth  of  the  oceans  as  I5,cx)0  feet  and  the  average  height 
of  continents,  above  sea  level,  as  looo  feet,  we  could  obtain  a 
tolerably  accurate  estimate  of  the  average  specific  gravity  of  the 
continents  if  we  knew  the  average  density  of  the  rocks  below. the 
sea  bottom,  knowing,  as  we  do,  the  specific  gravity  of  15,000  feet 
of  superimposed  matter.  The  specific  gravity  of  the  earth  400 
miles  below  the  surface  is  estimated  at  40478  (U.  S.  Coast  and 
Geodetic  Survey,  1879),  and  our  heaviest  known  rocks  scarcely 
run  above  3.  From  these  considerations,  and  from  what  we  know 
of  the  specific  gravity  of  sedimentary  rocks,  we  should  not  expect 
the  segmentary  beds  of  the  sea  bottom  to  have  a  specific  gravity- 
much  above  2.5.  Assuming  an  average  of  2.5  for  the  first  5CXX) 
feet  below  sea  bottom  and  of  2.95  for  the  next  10,000  feet,  then 
the  average  specific  gravity  of  the  continental  mass  required  to 
exactly  balance  this  woUld  be  1.85 1,  assuming,  of  course,  that 
a  surface  of  uniform  density  under  both  oceans  and  continents  is 
reached  at  a  depth  of  30,000  feet  below  the  sea  level.  Now  con- 
sidering the  specific  gravity  to  increase  below  15,000  feet  below 
sea  bottom  at  the  rate  of  .05  for  every  10,000  feet  downward,  it 
would  then  be  necessary  to  go  to  a  depth  of  about  thirteen  miles 
below  sea  level  to  obtain  an  average  density  sufficiently  large  to 


Digitized  by 


Google 


i886.]  Geology  and  Fal(Bontology.  57 

balance  continental  masses  having  an  average  specific  gravity  of 
2.5.  If  the  specific  gravity  does  not  increase  downward  as  rap- 
idly as  the  rate  assumed,  as  we  may  infer  from  Mr.  Pierce's  table 
(U.  S.  Coast  and  Geodetic  Survey,  1879,  p.  200),  then  a  still 
greater  depth  would  be  required  to  secure  equilibrium.  From 
these  considerations  it  would  appear  that  the  superficial  continen- 
tal strata  must  have  an  average  specific  gravity  much  below  2.5 
and,  in  order  that  this  may  be  so,  that  much  material  must  have 
been  removed  from  within  the  mass. — F.  H.  King^  River  Falls, 
l^is..  May  12, 1885. 

Geological  Survey  of  Belgium. — In  1878  a  commission  was 
appointed  to  undertake  a  more  exhaustive  investigation  of  the 
geology  of  Belgium  than  that  embodied  in  the  map  of  Dumont. 
The  topographical  map  serving  as  a  basis  consists  of  369  sheets. 
Each  important  group  of  formations  is  entrusted  to  one  or  more 
specialists,  who  are  each  furnished  with  two  assistants,  and  trace 
the  system  completely  across  the  country.  Every  actual  outcrop 
of  rock  is  marked  on  the  map,  and  where  the  rock  is  fossiliferous 
the  fossils  are  noted.  Special  attention  is  given  to  soils  and  sub- 
soils, and  care  taken  to  express  on  the  map  the  agricultural  char- 
acter of  the  ground.  It  is  believed  that  one-third  of  the  entire 
work  of  the  survey  is  now  completed.  By  a  novel  system  of 
broad  washes  of  subdued  tints,  M.  Dupont,  the  head  of  the  sur- 
vey and  Director  of  the  Royal  Museum  at  Brussels,  contrives  to 
show  the  surface  deposits,  as  well  as  the  formations  below,  which 
are  shown  in  deeper  tints ;  while  shaded  lines  of  the  proper  color 
mark  the  margins  of  the  stage.  Professor  Archibald  Geikie  ex- 
presses in  Nature'\i\s  conviction  of  the  success  of  the  new  system 
of  cartography. 

The  Bed  of  the  Ocean. — TheTuesday  evening  discourse  during 
the  late  meeting  of  the  British  Association  was  delivered  by  Mr.  J. 
Murray,  F.R.S.,  of  the  Challenger  expedition,  who  took  for  his 
subject  the  "  Bed  of  the  ocean,  and  some  results  of  the  expedi- 
tion." In  commencing  his  lecture,  Mr.  Murray  traced  the  devel- 
opment of  geographical  knowledge  from  the  crude  conception  of 
the  ancients  down  to  the  extended  knowledge  of  the  nineteenth 
century.  It  was  not  easy,  he  said,  to  estimate  the  relative  impor- 
tance of  the  events  of  one's  own  time,  yet,  in  all  probability,  the 
historians  of  the  reign  of  Victoria  would  point  to  the  recent  dis- 
coveries in  the  great  oceans  as  the  most  important  events  of  the 
century  with  respect  to  the  acquisition  of  natural  knowledge — as 
among  the  most  brilliant  conquests  of  man  in  his  struggle  with 
nature ;  and  doubtless  they  would  be  able  to  trace  the  effects  of 
these  discoveries  on  the  literature  and  on  the  philosophic  concep- 
tions of  our  age.  The  last  of  the  great  outlines  showing  the  sur- 
face features  of  our  globe  had  been  boldly  sketched ;  the  founda- 
tions of  a  more  complete  and  scientific  physiography  of  the  earth's 


Digitized  by 


Google 


S8  General  Notes.  *  \]^viyi^xy^ 

surface  had  been  firmly  laid  down.  The  lecturer  then  briefly  de- 
scribed the  chief  surface  features  of  the  gIobe,th^  action  of  wind  and 
water  and  ocean  currents ;  referred  to  the  temperature  of  the  sur- 
face of  the  sea,  and  explained  that  the  most  important,  as  well  as 
the  most  direct,  effect  of  the  unequal  distribution  of  temperature 
over  the  surfaces  of  the  oceans  and  continents  was  an  unequal  dis- 
tribution of  atmospheric  pressure,  varying  more  or  less  with 
season.  He  then  proceeded :  The  advances  during  recent  years 
in  the  knowledge  of  one  form  of  life  inhabiting  the  floor  of  the 
ocean  surpassed  those  in  any  other  department  of  oceanic  investi- 
gation. Thousands  of  new  organisms  had  been  discovered  in  all 
seas  and  at  all  depths  in  the  ocean,  and  either  had  been  or  were 
now  being  described  by  specialists  in  all  quarters  of  the  world. 
There  did  not  seem  to  be  any  part  of  the  ocean  bed  so  deep,  so 
dark,  so  still,  or  where  the  pressure  was  so  great  as  to  have  cflTect- 
ually  raised  a  barrier  to  the  invasion  of  life  in  some  of  its  many 
forms.  Even  in  the  gre.iter  depths  all  the  great  divisions  of  the 
animal  kingdom  were  represented.  As  they  descended  into  the 
deeper  waters,  and  proceeded  further  seaward  from  the  borders  of 
the  continents,  species  and  the  number  of  individuals  became 
fewer  and  fewer,  though  they  often  presented  archaic  or  embry- 
onic characters,  till  a  minimum  was  reached  in  the  greatest  depths 
furthest  from  continental  land.  Distance  from  continental  land 
was,  indeed,  a  much  more  important  factor  in  the  distri- 
bution of  deep-sea  animals  than  actual  depth.  If  they  neg- 
lected the  Protozoa  and  compared  the  results  of  twelve  of  the 
Challengers  trawlings  and  dredgings  in  the  central  line  of  the 
Pacific,  in  depths  greater  than  2000  fathoms,  on  globigerina  ooze, 
radiolarian  ooze,  and  red  clay,  with  twelve  trawlings  and  dredgings 
taken  under  simitar  conditions  and  depths,  but  on  the  blue  and 
green  muds  within  2CO  miles  of  the  continents,  they  found  that 
the  central  Pacific  stations  yielded  ninety-two  sj^ecimens  of  ani- 
mals belonging  to  fifty-two  species,  all — with  two  doubtful  excep- 
tions— new  to  science,  and  among  them  thirteen  new  genera.  On 
the  other  hand,  the  stations  near  the  continents  gave  over  1000 
specimens,  belonging  to  21 1  species,  of  which  145  were  new  spe- 
cies and  sixty-six  belonged  to  species  previously  known  from 
shallower  water.  Although  no  new  types  of  structure  had  been 
discovered  in  organisms  from  the  deep  sea,  the  peculiar  modifica- 
tions which  animals  had  undergone  to  accommodate  themselves 
to  abysmal  conditions  were  sufficiently  interesting  and  remarka- 
ble. The  t:y^s  of  some  fish  and  crustaceans  had  become  atrophied 
or  had  disappeared  altogether,  while  in  others  they  had  become 
of  exceedingly  large  size,  or  been  so  modified  as  to  be  scarcely 
recognizable  as  eyes.  Fins  and  antennae  had  become  extraordi- 
narily elongated,  and  at  times  appeared  to  simulate  the  alcyonarians 
of  the  deep  sea.  The  higher  Crustacea  and  some  families  of  fish  had 
very  few  and  very  large  eggs  in  the  deep-sea  species,  while  their 


Digitized  by 


Google 


i886]  Geology  and  PalcBontology,  59 

shallow-water  representatives   had  a  very  larp^e  number  of  v^xy 
small  eggs;  showing  apparently  that  the  deep-sea  ppccies  had  rel- 
atively few  enemies.     Many  deep- sea  animals  emitted,  and  some 
had  special   organs   for  the   emission  of  phosphorescent   light, 
which  appeared  to  play  a  large  fole  in  the  economy  of  deep- 
sea  life.    One  of  the  most  striking  facts  with  respect  to  deep- 
sea  animals  was  their   very   wide  distribution,  the   same   spe- 
cies being  found  in  all  the  great  ocean  basins.     After  referring  to 
examinations  of  coral  atolls  and  barren  reefs,  Mr.  Murray  said 
the  results  of  many  lines  of  investigation  seemed  to  show  that  in 
the  abysmal  regions  they  had  the  most  permanent  areas  of  the 
earth's  surface,  and  he  was  a  bold  man  who  still  argued  that  in 
Tertiary  times  there  was  a  large  area  of  continental  land  in  the 
Pacific,  that  there  was  once  a  Lemuria  in  the  Indian  ocean,  or  a 
continental  Atlantis  in  the  Atlantic.     It  mattered  little  whether 
the  opinions  which  he  had  given  as  to  the  bearing  of  some  of  the 
researches  be  correct  or  not.     The  great  point  was  that  tl  ere  had 
been  a  vast  addition  to  human  knowledge,  and  it  must  be  a  mat- 
ter of  satisfaction  that  our  own  country  had  taken  so  large  a  share 
in  these  important  investigations  as  to  call  forth  the  admiration  of 
scientific  men  of  all  countries.     In  the  matter  of  deep-sea  inves- 
tigation, neglecting  mere  details,  we  could  say  that  successive 
governments  during  the  past  twenty  years  had,  either  from  design 
or  by  accident,  undertaken  a  work  in  the  highest  interests  of  the 
race,  had  carried  it  on  in  no  mean  or  narrow  spirit,  and  were  likely 
to  carry  it  to  a  termination  in  a  manner  worthy  of  a  great,  free 
and  prosperous  people. 

Geological  News. — General, — The  third  International  Con- 
gress of  Geologists  has  just  been  held  in  Berlin,  255  members  be- 
ing present,  the  majority  Germans.  Italy  sent  eighteen,  Austria 
sixteen,  Great  Britain  eleven,  France  ten,  and  the  Unittd  States 
nine  representatives.  The  most  important  work  of  the  congress 
is  the  preparation  of  a  geological  map  of  Europe.  It  is  expected 
that  next  year  proofs  in  color  of  many  of  the  sheets  will  be  ready. 
The  unification  of  geological  nomenclature  does  not  appear 
likely  to  be  realized,  but  the  congress  has  agreed  that  the 
Archaean  rocks  shall  be  divided  into  sections  according  to  their 
petrographical  characters,  without  expressing  any  opinion  as  to 
their  relative  age. 

Jurassic. — At  the  recent  meeting  of  the  French  Association,  M. 
Cotteau  stated  that  the  Jurassic  strata  of  France  have  furnished 
125  species  of  Fichini,  belonging  to  fifty  genera,  two  only  of  which, 
Cidaris  and  Stomechinus,  subsist  at  the  present  day.  The  shal- 
low seas  of  the  Jurassic  epoch,  full  of  islands  and  coral  reefs  were 
favorable  to  the  development  of  Echini. M.  Loriol  has  pub- 
lished, in  the  Paleo  tologie  francaise,  descriptions  of  209  crinoids 
found  in  France.    Of  these  eighty-nine  were  new  to  science; 


Digitized  by 


Google 


6o  General  Notes,  [January, 

while  the  Echini  were  most  abundant  in  the  Bajocian  stage  of  the 
Jurassic,  the  crinoids  attained  their  maximum  in  the  Oxfordian. 
After  the  Sequanian  they  suddenly  diminish,  and  only  one  spe- 
cies occurs  in  the  Portlandian. 

Quaternary, — At  Ternefine  near  Maseara  (Algeria)  teeth  of  two 
species  of  Elephas  (E,  atlanticus  and  E,  meiitensis)  have  been 
found,  also  Rhinocems  mauritanicus,  a  hippopotamus  and  Came- 
lus  thomasi.  The  last  is  of  about  the  size  of  the  dromedary,  but 
differs  in  the  shape  of  the  palate  and  jugal  bones.  With  these 
were  found  a  horse  rather  larger  than  the  zebra,  some  antelopes, 
an  ox,  and  a  single  bone  of  a  swine.  Roughly-shaped  hatchets 
of  limestone  or  coarse  sandstone  show  the  presence  of  man,  but 
no  remains  of  the  domestic  dog  and  no  bones  marked  by  the  teeth 
of  Carnivores  were  found.  The  presence  of  a  large  number  of  the 
cotyloid  cavities  of  the  pelvis  of  the  elephant  seem  to  indicate 
that  they  were  used  as  utensils,  and  the  numerous  canines  and 
incisors  of  the  hippopotamus  found  were  probably  employed  as 
weapons. 

MINBRALOChY  AND  PETROGRAPHY.^ 

American  Minerals. — Quartz. — Vom  Rath  describes^  quite  a 
number  of  complicated  forms  on  the  quartz  crystals  from  Alex- 
ander and  Burke  counties,  N.  C.  The  former  have  already  been 
mentioned  in  these  notes.'  Among  the  rare  forms  on  the  latter 
are  — }-J  R  Vi  P»  and  a  rough  face  to  which  the  symbol  oP  may 
be  referred. 

Stephanite. — In  the  same  article  a  stephanite  crystal  from  Mex- 
ico, containing  the  new  form  V  P  V  is  described. 

Alaskaite  of  Konig,*  has  been  reexamined  by  Th.  Liweh,  of 
Strassburg,  who  declares  it  to  be  tetrahedrite.  He  found  it  to 
crystallize  in  the  hemihedral  division  of  the  regular  system. 

In  the  November  number  of  the  Naturalist,  fayalite  was 
mentioned  as  having  been  found  by  Mr.  J.  P.  Iddings  in  the  lith- 
ophyses  of  the  obsidian  and  rhyolite  from  the  Yellowstone  Park. 
About  the  same  time  C.  A.  Tenne,**  of  Berlin,  found  the  same 
small  black  crystals  in  the  lithophyses  of  obsidians  from  the 
Cerro  de  las  Navajas,  Mexico.  They  were  measured  and  pro- 
nounced to  be  the  same  mineral  which  G.  Rose,  as  early  as 
1827,'  had  declared  to  be  olivine. 

1  Edited  by  W.  S.  Bayley,  Johns  Hopkins  Univ.,  Baltimore,  Md. 
'  Mincralogische  Mittheilungen.    Zeitschrift  fiir  Krystallographie,  x,  pp.  156  and 
475. 

«  May,  1885. 

*  Ueber  die  alaskaite,  ein  neues  died  aus  der  Reihe  der  wismuthsulfosalze.  Zeit- 
schrift  fiir  Krystallographie,  vi,  p.  42. 

^  Zeitschrift  der  deutschen  geol.  Gesellschaft,  1885,  p.  613. 

•  Annalen  der  Physik.  u,  Chemie,  1827,  Bd.  x,  pp.  323-332. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


1 886.]  Mineralogy  and  Petrography,  6 1 

Turquoise  pseudomorphs  after  apatite  have  been  discovered^  in 
several  localities  in  California  with  the  original  forms  so  well  pre- 
served as  to  leave  no  doubt  as  to  the  character  of  the  mineral 
after  which  they  are  pseudomorphed.  The  angles  between  the 
oo?  &COS  gave,  on  the  reflexion  goniometer,  a  mean  value  of 
59°  56',  that  between  oP  and  ^  measured  89°  39',  and  those 
between  oP  and  P  40°  35^'.  (Kokscharon  found  on  apatite 
from  Tokovaia  oP  /\P  =  40°  i8'-40°  47'.)  Professor  H.  Bucking 
examined  thin  sections  of  the  specimens  and  found  the  substance 
to  consist  of  an  aggregate  of  small  spherulites  composed  of  fibers 
radially  arranged. 

Two  pure  iton  micas  from  Branchville,  Conn.,  have  been  added 
to  the  mica  group  by  Rammelsberg.^  One  of  a  light  color  gave, 
on  analysis : 

SiO,        AI,0,        Fc,0,        FcO        K,0        Na,0        Li,0        H,0        H 
44.19      32.69         4.7s         3.90        8.00  .59  .21         .3.85        .93 

A  dark-brown  variety  gave: 

SiO,        A1,0,        Fe,0,        FeO        K,0        Na,0       Li,0       H.O      Fl      TiO, 
39.94      23.43         7.65         11.87        9.64         1.13        1.18        2.64     2.43     .20 

r6R/SiO,   ) 
The  composition  of  the  first  corresponds  toi   Fc,  SiO^    v  •  of  the 
^2R/SiO^  \  '7»,  Si,0„J 

second  to]  ^^j  SiO*    K     In  neither  case  was  any  Mg  detected. 
( 2  ft,  S13O,,  J 

Their  optical  properties  were  not  investigated. 

Microlite, — C  Hintze*  has  shown  by  optical  methods  that  this 
mineral,  first  described  by  Dunnington*  from  Amelia  county,  Va., 
crystallizes  in  the  regular  system. 

In  a  paper  read  before  the  American  Philosophical  Society,  F. 
A  Genth*  gives  the  results  of  the  analyses  of  a  number  of  min» 
erals  belonging  to  the  sulpho-salts  and  allied  groups.  The  min- 
eral joseite,  concerning  whose  composition  there  has  been  con- 
siderable doubt,  yielded  the  author : 

Tc  Sc  S  Bi 

14.67  per  cent        146  per  cent        2.84  per  cent        81.23  per  cent 

This  composition,  Genth  thinks,  cannot  be  expressed  by  a  rational 
formula  unless  we  suppose  the  mineral  to  be  a  bismuth  sulphide  in 
which  the  sulphur  is  replaced  in  part  by  tellurium,  selenium  and 
bismuth,  giving  the  general  formula  both  for  joseite  and  the 
closely  related  tetradymite  Bij  (Te  Se  S  Bi)3.    An  argento-bis- 

*  Kallait  pseadomorph  nach  apatite  aus  California,  G.  E.  Moore  and  V.  von  Zeph- 
arovich.    2^itschrift  lUr  Krystallographie  x,  p.  240. 

SNeues  Jahrb.  fllr  Min.,  etc.,  1885,  li,  p.  225. 

*Zeitschrift  ftir  Krystallographie,  X,  p.  86. 

^Amtr.  Ckem.  Jour.,  3,  p.  130,  May,  l8bl. 

^  Contributions  from  the  laboratory  of  the  Univ.  of  Pennsylvania.  No.  XXIV* 
Contributions  to  mineralogy,  read  Oct.  2,  1885. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


62  General  Notes.  [January, 

muthite.  froTi  Lake  City,  Col.,  gave  results  corresponding  to 
( Agg  Pb)  S.  Bi,  Sa.  Cosalite  is  a  sulpho-bismuthite  of  the  formula 
2  (Pb  Agj) S.  BIj Ss  from  Cosala,  Mexico.  In  the  Gladiator  mine, 
Ouray  county,  CoL,  a  compact  mineral  occurs  in  small  irregular 
masses.  An  analysis  shows  it  to  be  cosalite  with  part  of  the  sil- 
ver replaced  by  Cu,  having  the  formula  2  (Pb  Apj  CU2)  S,  B»j  Sj. 
Schinnerite,  beegerite,  tetrahedrite,  sylvanite  and  polybasite  from 
Colorado,  and  arsenopyrite  and  scorodite  from  Alabama  are  the 
other  sulphur  salts  examined.  Ilmenite  from  Carter's  mine,  N.  C, 
topaz  from  Stoneham,  Me.,  muscovite  pseudomorphs  after  neph- 
elme  from  Wakefield,  Conn.,  stilpnomelane  pseudomorphs  after 
"  an  unknown  tabular  mineral,"  from  Sterling  mine,  near  Antwerp, 
N.  Y.,  and  several  alteration  products  of  the  magnesian  limestone 
of  Berks  county,  Pa.,  are  also  described  and  the  results  of  their 
analyses  given. 

MicROCHEMicAL  REACTIONS. — Tt  IS  oflcn  possible  by  means  of 
a  few  simple  chemical  tests  to  determine  the  character  of  a  min- 
eral under  the  microscope  without  the  trouble  of  separating  and 
analyzing  it.  The  methods  in  most  general  use  for  this  purpose 
are  those  of  Streng^  for  the  detection  of  apatite  and  nepheline,  of 
Knop^  for  the  minerals  of  the  Hauyne  group,  of  Boricky*  for  the 
feldspars  and  of  Behrens^  for  the  characteristic  elements  of  many 
other  minerals.  These  and  a  great  many  others  have  been  de- 
scribed at  length  in  the  various  mineralogical  magazines,  but  have 
not,  until  very  lately,  been  collected  and  put  in  shape  for  ready 
use.  Dr.  Haushofer,  of  Munich,  has  recently  brought  together 
all  those  metljpds  which  have  stood  the  test  of  experience,  and 
to  these  has  added  others  of  his  own.  The  result  is  a  compact 
little  book*  containing  minute  directions  for  the  detection  of  fifty 
elements  by  means  of  simple  tests,  most  of  which  may  be  applied 
to  the  rock  section  or  mineral  particle  on  the  stage  of  the  micro- 
scope. The  illustrations  are  good  and  the  directions  for  working 
clearly  given. 

Crystallographic  News. —  E.  Rethwisch*  has  made  a  very 
thorough  study  of  pyrargyrite  and  proustite  from  an  historical, 

^  A.  Stren;;.  Ueber  die  mikroskopiRchs  Unterscheidung  von  nepheline  and  apa- 
tite.   Tschermak's  Min.  und  Pet.  Muih.,  1876,  p.  167. 

'  A.  Knop.  Ueher  eine  mikrochemische  reaction  auf  die  Glieder  der  Hauyn- 
familie.     Neues  Jahrb.  der  Min.,  etc.,  1875,  P*  74* 

*  £.  lioricky.  Elemente  einer  neuen  chenaisrh  mikrosk'^ptftchen  Mineral-  und  Ges- 
tein^-analyse.  Archiv.  d.  naturw.  Landes  durchforsch.  BOhmens.  ill  Bd.,  v  Abth., 
Piag,  1877,  &n<^  Neues  Jahrb.  f.  Mm.,  etc.,  1879,  p.  564. 

*Th.  II.  Behrens.  Mikrr>chemische  Meihoden  zur  Mineral-ana1y«e.  Verslaf^en 
en  Mededeelingen  der  K.  Akad.  v.  Wetenschappen.  Amsterdam,  i88l.  Afdceling 
N  ituurkunde,  2  Reeks,  xvi!  Deel.,  pp.  27-73. 

*  Mikroskf)pi<«che  keactionen.  Eine  Anieitung  zur  Erkennung  Ver^chiedener 
Elemente  und  Verbindungen  unter  dem  Mikroskop.  Vieweg  und  Sohn,  1885. 
162  pp.,  137  iUuK.  > 

*  Neues  Jahrb.  fiir  Min. ,  etc.    Beilage  Band  iv,  p.  40. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


i8«6.]  Botany.  63 

chemical  and  crystallopfraphic  standpoint.  His  paper  is  particularly 
interesting  as  a  resume  of  our  knowledge  in  regard  to  these  two 

minerals. In  the  same  way   F.  Sansoni    proposes  to  study 

calcite.  He  begins  his  work  with  an  exhaustive  paper  of  fifty- 
six  pages  on  the  crystals  from  Andreas>burg.^  He  divides  these 
into  eight  groups,  according  to  their  development,  and  then 
studies  each  group  separately.  Tables  giving  the  frequency  with 
which  the  131  forms  actually  observed  occur,  and  the  combina- 
tions in  which  they  are  found,  make  up  a  considerable  part  of  the 
article. 

Miscellaneous. — A  chemical  examination  of  nocerite*  from 
Samo-Nocera  leads  E.  Fischer  to  consider  it  a  mixed  fluoride  and 

oxide  with  the  composition  2  (Ca  Mg)  Ff,  +  'Ca  Mg)  O. In  an 

article  on  the  Thuringian  minerals,  Luedeckc'  describes  crystals 
of  orthite,  from  near  Schmicdefeld,  with  the  two  new  planes 
5  P^and  00  1*10  1  t»thers  from  a  granitite  near  Brotterode  with 
I  P  ^,  and  tmy  brown  anatase  crystals  on  small  quartz  crystals  in 
the  lithophyses  of  a  quartz  porphyry  from  Brand,  Thiiringer 
Wald. 

BOTANY.* 

The  Asa  Gray  Vase. — During  the  meeting  of  the  American 
Association  for  the  Advancement  of  Science,  at  Ann  Arbor,  in 
August  last,  the  presence  of  so  many  botanists,  and  especially 
their  frequent  club  meetings,  suggested  to  the  editors  of  the  Bo- 
tanical  itazette  the  possibility  of  some  concerted  action  on  the 
part  of  the  botanists  of  the  country  to  commemorate  Dr.  Asa 
Gray's  seventy-fifth  birthday  anniversary.  After  some  informal 
consultation,  the  matter  was  left  in  the  hands  of  the  originators 
to  be  managed  as  they  thought  best  Accordingly,  notices  were 
sent  to  as  many  American  botanists  as  it  was  possible  to  reach  in 
the  short  time  at  the  disposal  of  the  committee.  The  responses 
were  most  gratifying,  and  enabled  the  committee  to  select  a 
design  of  a  vase  by  L.  E.  Jenks,  of  Boston.  The  vase  is  solid 
silver,  eleven  inches  in  height,  and  stands  upon  a  silver-hooped 
ebony  pedestal.  The  ornamentation  is  very  properly  entirely 
botanical,  and  consists  of  plan's  in  some  way  associated  with  Dr. 
Gray's  work,  or  which  are  distinctively  American.  In  the  center 
of  one  side  is  Grayia  polygaloides,  on  the  other  Shortia  galatifolia. 
The  following  species  are  represented  in  the  surrounding  figures, 
viz :  Adlumia  cirrhosa^  Rudbeckia  speciosa,  Centaurea  americana^ 
Aquiiegia  canadensis.  Aster  bigelovii^  Solidago  serotina.  Not /tola  na 
grayi^  Lilium  grayi,  Dioncea  muscipula,  ytfftrsoma  diphylla,  Mitch* 
eUa  repens^  Epigcea  repens.    The  beauty  of  design  and  finish,  as 

>Z«itschrift  fflr  Krystattographie,  X,  p.  545. 

'  Zeitfechrift  lUr  tCrystallugraphie,  X,  p.  271. 

»lh.,  x.p.  187. 

*  Edited  by  l^rofessor  Cuarlbs  £.  B£SS£Y,  Lincoln,  Nebraska. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


64  General  Notes.  Qanuary, 

well  as  the  botanical  accuracy  of  the  work,  have  been  much 
admired.  Upon  the  hoop  of  the  pedestal  the  following  legend  is 
engraved : 

l8io — November  eighteenth — 1885. 

Asa  Gray, 

In  token  of  the  universal  esteem  of  American  botanists. 

The  vase,  accompanied  with  the  cards  of  one  hundred  and 

eighty  botanists,  was  presented  without  formality  on  Wednesday 

morning,  the  i8th  of  November. 

It  is  a  very  pleasant  duty  to  record  in  the  Naturalist  the  con- 
summation of  such  a  fitting  plan  of  showing  the  esteem  in  which 
the  name  of  Asa  Gray  is  held  by  the  botanists  of  America.  That 
the  days  of  the  genial  doctor  among  us  may  be  prolonged  for 
many  years  is  the  fervent  prayer  of  every  botanist. 

Catalogue  of  the  Plants  of  North  America. — Every  bot- 
anist who  has  charge  of  a  considerable  collection  of  plants  has 
felt  the  need  of  a  convenient  check-list  of  North  American  plants. 
The  old  Gray  Catalogue,  which  was  followed  by  the  Mann  Cata- 
logue, both  confined  to  the  plants  included  in  Gray's  Manual,  and 
later,  the  more  extended  list  compiled  by  A.  H.  Curtiss,  served 
a  good  purpose.  These,  however,  included  a  comparatively 
small  part  of  the  species  of  the  whole  continent,  and  the  botanist 
who  added  Western  species  to  his  collection  was  left  without  the 
means  for  noting  his  accessions.  This  want  is  now  supplied  (in 
part,  at  least)  by  the  Catalogue  of  the  Phaenogfamous  and  Vascu- 
lar Cryptogamous  plants  of  North  America  (north  of  Mexico) 
compiled  by  J.  H.  Oyster,  of  Paola,  Kansas.  It  contains  entries  of 
9867  species.  The  arrangement  of  Choripetalae  and  Gamopetalae 
conforms  very  nearly  with  that  of  Bentham  and  Hooker's  Genera 
Plantarum.  For  some  unexplained  reason  the  arrangement  of 
Apetalae  and  the  Monocotyledons  is  not  that  of  the  Genera  Plan- 
tarum, an  unfortunate  feature  which  might  easily  have  been 
avoided.  The  species  of  each  genus  are  arranged  alphabetically, 
as  is  proper  in  a  check-list.  The  proof-reading  has  been  carelessly 
done,  and  the  printing  is  not  of  the  best ;  yet,  with  all  its  faults, 
the  pamphlet  is  worth  the  price  charged  for  it  (|i.oo),  and  will 
serve  a  good  purpose. 

The  De  Candolle  Prize. — The  Physical  and  Natural  History 
Society  of  Geneva  oflTers  a  prize  of  five  hundred  francs  for  the  best 
monograph  of  a  genus  or  family  of  plants.  The  manuscript  may 
be  written  in  Latin,  French,  German,  English  or  Italian,  and 
should  be  sent  to  M.  le  President  de  la  Societe  de  Physique  et 
d'Histoire  Naturelle  de  Geneve,  a  I'Athenee,  Geneve,  Switzerland. 
— Gardner's  Chronicle. 

The  Drying  of  Wheat. — Experiments  were  made  in  1884  at 
the  New  York  Agricultural  Experiment  Station  upon  the  loss  of 
water  by  wheat  in  drying.    In  the  first  case  Clawson  wheat,  har- 


Digitized  by 


Google 


i886.] 


Botany. 


65 


vested  July  16  and  threshed  July  18,  contained  27.02  per  cent  of 
water,  of  which  there  were  lost  by  evaporation  the  following  per- 
centages, viz : 


July  27 loss  13.80  per  cent. 

Aug.  3 "    17.33    "    " 

«'  la *«    18.59    "    " 

«   17 "    19.58    "    " 

"  24. «    20.62    "    «• 

«  31 «    19.97    "    « 


Sept.  14 loss  20.33  P^i^  cent. 

«     21 "    20.39    "    " 

«    28 «    19.54    "    " 

Oct.     5 "    18.97    "    " 

"     12 "    19.48    "    " 

Nov.  22 «•    24.06    '*    <• 


In  the  second  case  samples  were  taken  from  the  bin  on  Sep- 
tember 4,  with  the  following  results,  viz  : 


Sept.  14 loss  2.77  per  cent. 

"    21 •*    3.12    «    " 

•«    28 "    2.15    "    " 


Oct.     5 loss  1.57  per  cent. 

"     12 «    2.18    "    " 

N0V.22 •'   8.12    "    " 


In  both  cases  the  samples  were  exposed  to  the  natural  air  of 
the  laboratory  until  October  12,  after  that  date,  to  November  22, 
the  air  was  warmed  by  steam  pipes. 

The  amount  of  water  in  wheat  in  the  bin  taken  at  different  dates, 
from  the  interior  of  a  mass  of  several  hundred  bushels,  was  as 
follows,  viz: 

September  22 • 1 1.96  per  cent  of  water. 

October       13 16.57  ••     ««         •' 

•'  23 14.62  «'      ««         " 

NoTember     i 14.17  "      «         " 

"  12 , 14.87  "      "         " 

The  Study  of  Plants  in  Winter.— The  old-fashioned  text- 
books tell  us  to  begin  the  study  of  plants  in  the  spring,  and  the 
custom  still  in  most  colleges  is  to  confine  the  study  to  the  spring 
and  early  autumn  months.  Winter  usually  stops  all  work  except 
in  the  laboratories  when  ''  pickled"  specimens  are  dried  and  exam« 
incd  microscopically.  Perhaps  in  a  few  cases  the  green-house 
may  supply  unseasonable  specimens  for  class  or  laboratory  study ; 
but  this  is  not  the  study  of  plants  in  winter  that  we  refer  to.  All 
our  perennials  have  winter  states  which  are  full  of  interest  to  the 
student.  The  writer  of  this  note  has  taken  classes  of  young  peo- 
ple, who  knew  nothing  of  botany,  and  set  them  at  work  in  mid- 
winter studying  the  out-of-door  vegetation,  with  nothing  but  their 
^ei&^  pocket-knives,  pencils  and  note-books  in  the  way  of  appa- 
ratus and  helps.  The  structure,  position  and  functions  of  buds, 
the  structure  of  twigs  and  branches,  including  wood,  bark  and 
pith,  the  structure  of  the  fruits  and  seeds,  of  various  trees  and 
shrubs,  were  taken  up  in  succession,  with  constantly  increasing 
interest  No  text-book  was  used,  the  pupil  depending  upon  his 
own  resources  entirely.  By  the  time  that  spring  came  with  its 
bursting  buds,  its  leaves  and  its  flowers,  these  trained  young  eyes 
were  eager  for  their  study. 

The  Botanical  Value  of  Agricultural  Experiments. — ^That 
many  of  the  so-called  ^ricultui^l  experiments  should  have  a 

VQL.  XX--lfP.  I. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


66  General  Notes.  [January, 

high  botanical  value  is  evident  to  every  scientific  man,  but  it  is  a 
melancholy  fact,  which  does  not  speak  well  for  the  accuracy  of 
the  experimenters,  that  very  little  of  their  work  has  been  of  use 
in  scientific  botany.  In  the  experiments  recorded  in  the  third 
^  annual  report  of  the  New  York  Agricultural  Experiment  Station, 
'  we  have  a  notable  exception  to  the  rule.  Many  of  the  results 
obtained  have  a  high  value  to  the  physiological  and  pathological 
•botanist.  Thus  we  find  such  topics  as  the  following,  viz :  The 
hygroscopic  properties  of  grains ;  Hybrid  barley ;  Germinations 
of  commercial  seeds ;  The  cross-fertilization  of  maize ;  A  classifi- 
cation of  maize,  with  a  description  of  the  species  and  varieties 
(with  plates) ;  A  classification  of  the  agricultural  species  of  gar- 
den peas ;  The  size  and  distribution  of  roots  of  various  plants 
determined  by  washing  away  the  soil ;  A  classification  of  barley 
and  oats ;  Report  of  the  botanist  upon  diseases  of  the  pear,  apple, 
quince,  peach,  tomato,  oats,  clematis  and  Canada  thistle.  Topics 
like  these,  treated  as  these  are,  command  the  respect  of  scientific 
men.  We  hope  to  see  the  time  when  such  will  be  the  rule,  and 
not  as  now  the  exception. 

We  hold  that  every  agricultural  experiment  which  has  to  do 
with  plants  must  be  sufficiently  accurate  to  commend  itself  to  the 
scientific  man,  in  order  that  it  may  be  of  any  permanent  value  to 
agriculture.  Such  an  experiment  which  has  no  botanical  value 
cannot  have  a  permanent  agricultural  value.  The  demands  of 
scientific  botany  are  in  no  wise  more  exacting  than  those  of  sci- 
entific agriculture. 

Fertilization  of  Teucrium  canadense. — Of  interest  to  Amer- 
ican botanists  is  the  proterandry  of  the  American  germander, 
simulating  that  of  T,  scarodonia  of  Europe.  The  corolla  here  is 
iiot  bilabiate  as  usual  in  this  family,  but  the  tube  is  split  open 
above  as  far  as  the  calyx  and  the  five  lobes  are  arranged  on  one 
— lower — lip.  In  the  bud  the  lowest  or  midcjle  lobe  turns  up 
over  the  stamens  and  style,  serving  as  a  protection  to  them. 
This  lobe  is  embraced  by  the  two  lobes  on  either  side,  and  these 
in  turn  by  the  two  upper  lobes,  which  usually  form  the  upper 
lip  in  the  L^biatae,  In  their  first  state,  as  in  almost  all  flowers  of 
this  family,  the  stamens  are  curved  forwards  so  as  to  come  into 
more  ready  contact  with  the  body  of  the  entering  insect,  in  this 
case  usually  a  bee.  The  stigma  is  bent  forwards  like  the  stamens, 
but  the  stigma  lobes  having  not  yet  opened,  cannot  be  fertilized. 
Later  the  stamens  bend  far  backwards,  and  since  ther^  is  no 
upper  lip  to  check  this  motion  they  actually  recurve  at  tipies. 
The  style  in  the  meantime  retains  its  position  or  takes  a  slightly 
higher  position,  while  its  stigma  lobes  open.  The  stamens 
themselves  may  be  short  and  these  are  usually  of  almost  equal 
length,  or  one  or  more  of  them  may  continue  growth  and 
even  equal  fh?  style  ip  length.    There  is  no  regulvity,  how- 


Digitized  by 


Google 


i886.]  Botany.  67 

ever,  ia  their  unequal  development,  but  if  the  visits  of  bees 
should  become  less  frequent,  this  variation  would  offer  a  means 
of  self-fertilization,  and  would  soon  become  fixed  in  all  individ- 
uals of  the  species.  The  proterandry  in  this  species  is  not  per- 
fect The  stigmas  sometimes  mature,  I  might  almost  say, 
precociously,  and  the  stamens  in  turn  often  contain  good* 
pollen  when  the  stigma  lobes  open.  Again,  the  visits  of  bees 
seem  to  be  less  frequent  in  this  part  of  the  country  than  is  usual 
with  cross-fertilized  Labiatae,  so  I  suspect  that  even  the  casual 
irregular  growth  of  the  stamens,  is  in  some  way  correllated  with 
this  fact. — Aug,  F.  Foerste,  Grawjiile^  Ohio. 

Specimens  of  Cuscuta  wanted. — Dried  or  alcoholic  specimens 
of  various  species  of  Cuscuta  are  wanted  by  the  subscriber.  Any 
one  having  good  specimens  in  flower  or  fruit  for  sale  or  exchange 
will  confer  a  favor  by  communicating  with  Charles  E.  Bessey, 
Lincoln,  Neb. 

Botanical  News.— Among  the  topics  discussed  at  the  Inter- 
national Congress  of  Botany  and  Horticulture,  held  at  Antwerp 
(Belgium),  August  i  to  10,  were  the  following,  viz :  The  role  of 
the  laboratory  in  modern  science ;  Instruction  in  cryptogamic 
botany ;  .Instruction  in  vegetable  pathology ;  On  the  monograph- 
ing of  large  genera ;  The  role  and  organization  of  botanical  lab- 
oratories ;  Labeling  in  botanic  gardens,  public  parks,  private  gar- 
dens and  conservatories ;  The  progress  of  botany  (mainly  in  the 
schools)  since  the  Congress  of  1878;  Instruction  in  vegetable 
physiology.  The  papers  are  published  in  a  thick  pamphlet  of 
over  400  pages.— The  September  Journal  of  the  Linnean  So- 
ciety contains ;  Supplementary  notes  on  Restiaceae,  by  Dr.  M. 
T.  Masters ;  Observations  on  continuity  of  protoplasm,  by  S.  Le 
M,  Moore;  On  RosanofTs  crystals  in  the  endosperm-cells  of 
Mamhot  glaziovU,  by  S.  Le  M.  Moore;  On  venation  and  the 
methods  of  development  of  foliage  as  protection  against  radiation, 
by  Geo.  Henslow. E.  A.  Rau  contributes  a  short  list  of  Kan- 
sas mosses  to  the  fourth  bulletin  of  the  Washburn  College  Lab- 
oratory of  Natural  History. wBertrand  continues  his  paper  on 

Phylloglqssum  in  late  numbers  of  Archives  Botaniques  du  Nord 
de  la  France.— ^The  thirty-eighth  report  of  the  New  York  State 
Museum  of  Natural  History  appears  much  earlier  than  usual, 
greatly  to  its  advantage  and  usefulness.  The  report  of  the  bot- 
anist contains  descriptions  of  many  species  of  fungi.  The  New 
York  species  of  Lactarius  and  Pluteus  are  arranged  and  described. 
Every  botanist  will  welcome  the  early  appearance  of  this  report. 

May  the  vexatious  delays  of  former  years  not  occur  again. 

Limpricht's  Laubmoose  (mosses),  which  will  constitute  Vol.  iv  of 
the  new  edition  of  Rabenhorst's  Kryptogamen  flora,  is  announced 

by  the  publisher,   Ed.   Kummer,  of  Leipsig. »Dr.  Havard's 

report  on  the  flora  of  Western  and  Southern  Texas,  in  the  Fro- 


Digitized  by 


Google 


68  General  Notes.  [January, 

ceedings  of  the  U.  S.  National  Museum,  is  a  valuable  contribu- 
tion to  our  knowledge  of  the  flora  of  the  Southwest. In  a 

twenty-four  page  pamphlet,  reprinted  from  Studies  in  the  Bio- 
logical Laboratory  of  the  Johns  Hopkins  University,  Dr.  William 
Trelease  records  his  observations  on  several  Zoogloeae  and  related 
forms.  The  following  new  species  are  described  and  figured,  viz : 
Bacterium  candidum^  B.  aurantiacum^  B.  luteum,  B,  chlarinum^  B. 
incamatum,  A  valuable  feature  of  the  work  recorded  Js  its  bio- 
logical character.  One  lays  down  the  pamphlet  with  the  feeling 
that  much  work  can  be  done  upon  the  basis  of  Dr.  Trelease's 

observations.    This  record  is  an  incentive  to  further  study. 

Dr.  Trelease's  inaugural  address,  delivered  upon  his  accession  to 
the  directorship  of  the  Henry  Shaw  School  of  Botany,  in  St.  Louis, 
November  6,  is  an  admirable  presentation  of  the  claims  of  botany 

to  a  place  in  general  education. The  January  Botanical  Gazette 

will  contain  a  portrait  and  biographical  sketch  of  Dr.  Asa  Gray, 
together  with  some  of  the  poems,  congratulatory  addresses,  etc.^ 
which  were  sent  on  his  birthday,  November  i8,  X885. 

ENTOMOLOGT. 

Recent  Discovery  of  Carboniferous  Insects.^— A  rich  deposit 
of  Carboniferous  insects  has  been  discovered  at  Commentry,  in 
the  department  of  Allier,  France,  and  has  been  worked  up  by 
C.  Brongniart,  whose  work,  however,  has  not  yet  been  received. 
From  a  notice  of  his  paper  in  the  Entomologiscke  Nackrickten  for 
November  last,  we  learn  that  over  1300  specimens  of  insect 
remains,  not  wings  alone  but  also  the  bodies,  have  been  preserved 
to  science. 

While  an  exclusive  study  of  the  shape  and  venation  of  the  wings 
must  necessarily  have  led  to  many  errors,  the  discoveries  at  Com- 
mentry show  that  insects  which  are  regarded  as  among  the  most 
ancient  are  still  surprisingly  like  those  of  the  present  time,  and 
only  differ  in  comparatively  unimportant  respects. 

In  the  oldest  strata,  the  Silurian,  has  been  found  but  a  singfe 
winged  insect,  the  still  very  problematical  Palceoblattina  dotevUlei 
Brong. ;  in  the  Devonian  only  the  six  species  of  insects,  as  to 
whose  relations  excellent  naturalists,  such  as  S.  (i.  Scudder  and 
H.  Hagen,  have  very  different  views,  and  relative  to  which  dis- 
cussion has  not  yet  closed.  Before  the  present  discovery  only 
120  specimens  of  Palaeozoic  insects  were  known. 

From  the  Carboniferous  formation  of  Commentry  brongniart 
has  obtained  over  1300  examples.  Among  them  occurs  the  first 
fossil  Thysanuran,  represented  by  forty-five  specimens,  It  differs 
from  existing  forms  only  by  having  a  single  caudal  filament,  and 
exclusive  of  this  is  1 5  to  22™"^  long,  and  is  generally  similar  to 
Machilis ;  it  is  named  Dasyleptus  lucasi.  Numerous  representa- 
tives of  our  recent  Acridians  are  brought  together  under  the 


Digitized  by 


Google 


1 886.]  Entomology.  69 

nams  of  Palseacridiodea,  and  divided  into  three  groups  with  seven, 
mostly  new.  genera. 

The  types  so  discovered  belong  to  the  three  orders  of  Orthop- 
tera,  Neuroptera,  and  Hemiptera,  also  to  the  Heterotnetabola  of 
Packard  and  of  Scudder,  while  the  Metabola  are  still  entirely 
wanting.  But  of  the  Heterometabola  the  Coleoptera  are  entirely 
wanting. 

Between  the  Orthoptera  and  Neuroptera  is  placed  the  new  order  of 
Neurorthoptera,  with  the  sub-order  of  Neurorthoptera  in  a  special 
sense,  and  the  Palaeodictyoptera  of  Goldenburg ;  the  first  of  these 
suborders  embraces  two  families,  the  progenitors  of  the  recent 
Phasmidse,  the  Protophasmida,  with  genera  containing  the  colossal 
forms:  Protophasma,  Lithophasma,  Titanophasma  and  Arche- 
gogryllus,  and  the  Stenaropterida  with  three  genera. 

To  the  Palaeodictyoptera  belong  the  Stenodictyoptera  with  the 
grenera  Eugereon  Gold.,  Haplophlebium  Scudd.,  Goldenbergia 
Scudd.,  Dictyoneura  Gold.,  and  two  new  genera  wholly  without 
recent  representatives ;  in  addition,  the  Termes-like  Hadrobrachy- 
poda«  with  Miamia  Scudd.,  and  the  new  genus  Leptoneura,  besides 
the  wholly  extinct  Platypterida  provided  on  the  end  of  the  abdo- 
men with  two  filaments,  which  belong  to  the  three  genera,  Lampro- 
ptilia,  Zeilleria  and  Spilatera. 

In  the  Pseudoneuroptera  Brong^iart  places  the  wholly  extinct 
fitmily  of  Megasecopterida,  with  eight  new  genera  whose  relatives 
in  part  bore  respiratory  appendages  on  the  abdomen,  a  group  to 
which  also  belongs  de  Borre's  much-discussed  Breyeria  borinensis. 
Also  a  family  of  Protodonata,  regarded  as  the  forerunners  of  the 
recent  Libellulidae,  with  Protagrion  n.  g.  Likewise,  thirdly,  the 
family  of  Homothetida  Scudder;  also,  new  families,  the  forerun- 
ners of  the  recent  ones,  viz :  the  Protephemerina,  Protoperlida  and 
Protomyrmeleonida. 

Of  the  Hemiptera  five  different  genera  belonging  to  the  Ho- 
moptera  have  been  found,  among  which  belongs,  in  Brongniart's 
opinxon,  Phthanocoris  occidentalis,  erroneously  regarded  by  Scudder 
as  a  Heteropteron. 

.  Plateau's  Experiments  on  Vision  in  Insects. — The  question 
whether  insects  can  distinguish  the  form  of  objects  is  asked  by 
Professor  Plateau  in  a  communication  to  the  Royal  Academy  of 
Belgium.  He  rejects  the  mosaic  theory  of  vision  proposed  by 
MuUer,  following  Exner  in  his  essay  on  the  perception  of  move- 
ments, and  on  the  theory  of  compound  ^y^s^  presented  to  the 
Vienna  Academy  in  1875. 

The  work  of  Exner,  says  Plateau,  leads  to  the  theoretical 
deduction  that  insects  and  other  Arthropods  possessing  com- 
pound eyes  do  not  distinguish  the  form  of  objects.  Exner  sup- 
poses that,  in  the  Articulates  and  in  many  other  animals,  vision 
operates  in  a  different  way   from  that  generally  admitted,  and 


Digitized  by 


Google 


70  General  Notes.  [January, 

consists  mainly  in  the  perception  of  movements.  He  enumerates, 
in  support  of  his  thesis,  a  series  of  important  facts.  In  man  the 
power  of  plainly  distinguishing  forms  only  belongs  to  the  cen- 
tral part  of  the  retina,  while  we  perceive  movements  very  well  by 
the  aid  of  the  peripheral  region  of  this  sensitive  layer. 

Most  animals,  both  vertebrates  and  invertebrates,  seem  but 
little  impressed  by  the  form  of  their  enemies  or  of  their  victims, 
but  their  attention  is  immediately  excited  by  the  slightest  dis- 
placement Hunters,  fishermen  and  entomologists  have  made  in 
this  respect  numerous  and  demonstrative  observations. 

Finally,  though  the  production  of  an  image  in  the  facetted  eye 
of  the  insect  or  the  crustacean  seems  impossible,  we  can  easily 
conceive  how  the  Arthropod  can  ascertain  the  existence  of  a 
movement  Indeed,  if  a  luminous  object  is  placed  before  a  com- 
pound eye,  it  will  illuminate  a  whole  group  of  simple  eyes  or 
&cets ;  moreover  the  centre  of  this  group  will  be  clearer  than  the 
rest  Every  movement  of  the  luminous  body  will  displace  the 
center  of  clearness ;  some  of  the  facets  not  illuminated  will  first 
receive  the  light,  and  others  will  reenter  into  the  shade ;  some 
nervous  terminations  will  be  excited  anew,  while  those  which 
were  so  formerly  will  cease  to  be. 

In  resume,  careful  physiologists,  relying  on  the  structure  of  the 
compound  eyes  of  Arthropods,  admit  that  these  animals  do  not 
see  the  form  of  objects,  but  only  perceive  colors  and  movements. 
Their  facetted  eyes  are  not  complete  visual  organs,  but  simple 
organs  of  orientation. 

Plateau  then  details  the  experiments  he  made  to  determine  this 
question ;  and  which  we  cannot  well  abstract  He  calls  attention 
to  one  result  of  his  experiments :  that  insects  only  utilize  their 
eyes  to  choose  between  a  white  luminous  orifice  in  a  dark  cham- 
ber, or  another  orifice,  or  group  of  orifices,  equally  white.  They 
are  guided  neither  by  odorous  emanations,  nor  by  differences  of 
color.  A  fact  which  will  certainly  astonish  all  entomologists  and 
likewise  surprise  the  experimenter  himself  is,  that  bees  have  as 
bad  sight  and  comport  themselves  almost  exactly  aS  flies. 

From  numerous  experiments  on  Diptera,  Hymenoptera,  Lepi- 
doptera,  Odonata  and  Coleoptera,  Plateau  comes  provisionally  to 
the  following  conclusions : 

1.  Diurnal  insects  have  need  of  a  quick,  strong  light,  and  can- 
not direct  their  movements  in  partial  obscurity. 

2.  In  diurnal  insects  with  compound  ty^s,  the  simple  eyes  offer 
so  little  utility  that  it  is  right  to  consider  them  as  rudimentary 
organs. 

3.  Insects  with  compound  eyes  do  not  notice  differences  of 
form  existing  between  two  light  orifices,  and  are  deceived  by  an 
excess  of  luminous  intensity  as  well  as  by  the  apparent  excess  of 
surface.  In  short,  they  do  not  distinguish  the  form  of  objects,  or, 
if  they  do,  distinguish  them  very  badly. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


i886.]  Zoology.  7X 

The  Division  of  the  Sexes  of  Hymenoftera. — ^We  translate 
in  a  rather  clumsy  way  Fabre's  interesting  article  on  this  subject, 
published  in  the  Annates  des  Science^  Naturelles  (Tome  xvii,  Nos. 
5  and  6).  The  entire  article  should  be  read  to  understand  the 
subject 

The  Osmias,  the  Chalicodomas  and,  as  the  closest  analogies 
show,  a  great  number  of  other  honey-making  Hymenoptera, 
arrange  their  egg-laying  in  female  at  first  and  then  in  male  cells, 
when  the  two  sexes  have  a  different  size  and  require  unequal 
quantities  of  nourishment.  If  there  is  an  equality  of  size  between 
the  two  sexes,  the  same  succession  may  exist,  but  less  constantly. 

This  binary  arrangement  disappears  when  the  place  chosen  for 
the  nest  is  not  large  enough  for  the  entire  egg-laying.  Then  par- 
tial egg-layings  occur,  composed  both  of  females  and  of  males, 
and  in  harmony,  as  to  their  number  and  distribution,  with  the  dis- 
engaged space. 

To  be  able  to  give  to  each  larva  the  room  and  the  nourishment 
which  it  needs  according  to  whether  it  is  male  or  female,  the 
mother  decides  the  sex  of  the  egg  she  is  about  to  lay.  Accord- 
ing to  the  conditions  of  the  home,  often  the  work  of  another  or  a 
natural  habitation  slightly  or  not  at  all  modifiable,  she  lays  at  her 
will  either  a  male  or  a  female  egg.  The  division  of  the  sexes  is 
subject  to  her  will. 

The  same  prerogative  belongs  to  the  carnivorous  Hymenoptera, 
the  sexes  of  which  have  a  different  shape,  and  therefore  need  one 
more,  the  other  less  food.  The  mother  must  know  the  sex  of  the 
egg  she  is  about  to  lay;  she  must  dispose  of  the  sex  of  this  egg 
so  that  each  larva  shall  obtain  the  right  amount  of  food. 

In  a  general  way,  when  the  sexes  are  of  different  size,  every 
insect  which  collects  the  living  prey,  which  prepares  or  at  least 
chooses  an  abode  for  its  offspring,  must  decide  the  sex  of  the  egg 
to  satisfy  without  error  the  conditions  imposed  upon  it. 

It  remains  to  tell  how  this  elective  determination  of  the  sexes  is 
made.  I  do  not  absolutely  know,  I  have  never  understood  this 
delicate  probfem  but  attribute  it  to  some  fortunate  circumstance 
which  it  is  necessary  to  know  or  rather  to  watch  for. 

Entomological  News.^ — From  a  series  of  experiments  by  Pro- 
fessor Graber,  says  Nature^  Oct.  22,  relating  to  the  effects  of  odor- 
ous matters  on  invertebrate  animals,  it  appears  probable  that  in 
the  case  of  many  insects  neither  the  antennae  nor  the  palpi  can 
be  absolutely  pronounced  the  most  sensitive  organ  of  smell, 
inasmuch  as  the  one  organ  is  most  sensitive  to  some  odorous 

matters,  and  the  other  for  others. Apropos   of  Hickson's 

account  of  the  structure  of  the  eyes  of  insects  in  our  last  number, 
we  may  say  that,  in  1883,  B.  T.  Lowne  published  a  paper  in  the 
Proc.  Roy.  Soc.  London,  of  which  an  abstract  has  been  published 
by  Dr.  Mack  in  Psyche^  as  follows :  The  author  claims  four  forms 


Digitized  by 


Google 


^2  General  Notes,  \}2Xi\xaLry^ 

of  eyes:  simple  ocellus,  compound  ocellus  (larval  insects),  aggre- 
gate (Isopoda)  and  compound  eye.  A  brief  description  of  each 
is  given.  Discarding  all  previous  theories  of  vision  by  compound 
eyes,  it  is  held  that ''  a  continuous  picture,  a  mosaic  of  erect  mag- 
nified central  portions  of  the  severad  subcorneal  images,  falls  upon 

the  retina." Kraepelin  (Ueber  die  geruchsorgane  der  Glie- 

derthiere),  Osterprogram  der  Realschule  des  Johanneums,  Ham- 
burg, 1883,  gives  an  historical  sketch  of  the  olfactory  organs  of 
Arthropods,  followed  by  a  bibliographic  list  (59  numbers)  grouped 
according  to  the  languages  in  which  the  articles  were  written. 
He  criticises  the  results  of  others,  and  compares  them  with  his 
own  observations  on  several  Crustacea,  beetles,  chrysopa,  Orthop- 

tera,  butterflies,  flies  and  Hyn^enoptera  [Psyche^  296). In  the 

Annales  des  Sciences  Naturelles  (xvii,  Nos.  s  et  6)  is  an  interesting 
article  by  J.  H,  Fabre  on  the  division  of  the  sexes  in  the  Hymenop- 
tera ;  it  gives  the  results  of  many  years  observations  on  the  subject 

which  we  refer  to  more  at  length  elsewhere. The  Transactions 

of  the  American  Entomological  Society  (xii,  No.  2)  contain  sev- 
eral papers  by  Dr.  Horn,  viz :  Descriptions  oif  new  North  Ameri- 
can Scarabaeidae;  Contributions  to  the  Coleopterology  of  the 
United  States ;  Descriptions  of  new  Cerambycidae,  with  notes ; 
Synopsis  of  the  Throscidae  of  the  United  States;  while  Mr.  F. 
Blanchard  discusses  the  species  of  Canthon  and  Phanaeus  of  the 
United  States,  adding  notes  on  other  genera ;  and  Mr.  W.  H. 
Ashmead  remarks  on  the  cynipidous  galls  of  Florida,  giving 
descriptions  of  new  species. 

ZOOLOGY. 

Living  and  Dead  Protoplasm. — Dr.  Oscar  Loew  read  an 
important  paper  before  the  British  Association  on  a  chemical  dif- 
ference between  living  and  dead  protoplasm.  Protoplasm,  it  was 
found,  contains  certain  aldehyde  groups,  which  account  for  the 
extreme  mobility  and  readiness  of  change  in  living  protoplasm. 
These  aldehyde  groups  can  be  reduced  by  alkaline  silver  solution. 
'  Spirogyra,  one  of  the  lower  algae,  acts  on  this  solution  in  a  pecu- 
liar way.  Living  protoplasm  reduces  the  salt,  while  dead  proto- 
plasm does  not.  The  specific  gravity  of  the  protoplasm  of  Spyro- 
gyra  was  increased,  and  was  found  to  contain  silver  deposited  in 
its  interior.  Argyria,  or  the  effect  of  nitrate  of  silver  on  the 
human  subject  in  certain  diseases,  was  found  in  these  algae. 
Thus  was  shown  a  specific  chemical  diflerence  between  living  and 
dead  protoplasm.  Ordinary  poisons,  such  as  prussic  acid  and 
strychnine,  seem  to  have  no  particular  effect  on  lower  organisms, 
while  the  poison  irresistible  by  all  protoplasm  is  hydroxylamyl. 
Professor  Burdon-Sanderson  said  that  this  investigation  had  more 
importance  than  might  at  first  appear,  for  it  had  arisen  out  of  the 
epoch-making  paper  of  Pfliiger.  Pfliiger  concluded  that  there 
must  be  a  chemical  change  in  the  transition  from  living  to  dead 


Digitized  by 


Google 


I88&J  Zoology.  73 

protoplasm,  and  Dr.  Loew^  took  up  the  question  as  to  what  ex- 
actly this  change  was.  His  investigations  are  an  important  step 
in  deciding  this  important  question.  Professor  Stirling  said  this 
gave  a  new  test  for  living  protoplasm.  The  chief  thing  to  settle 
was  what  exactly  causes  reduction  of  the  silver. 

SPHiERULARiA  IN  AMERicA.-rIn  1 836  Leon  Dufour  described 
(Annales  des  Sciences  Naturelles,  ser.  2,  v.  7,  p.  9),  a  peculiar  ver- 
miform parasite,  which  he  found  in  Bombus  terrestris  and  B.  horto^ 
rum,  to  which  he  gave  the  name  of  Sphcerularia  bombi,  placing 
his  new  genus  among  the  entozoa.  In  noting  the  occurrence  of 
this  genus  of  parasites  in  America,  it  may  not  be  out  of  place  to 
give  some  further  account  of  it  because  of  its  unique  structure 
and  metamorphoses,  and  to  enable  its  easy  recognition. 

Dufour's  description  reads :  "  Teres,  albido-pellucida,  mollis* 
filiformis,  baud  annulata,  undique  sphaerulis  vesiculae  formibus 
granulata,  aittero  posticeque  obtusa  subrotundata."  He  adds  in 
the  French  notes  which  accompany  the  above  description  that 
the  length  is  6-8  lines,  that  it  is  not  very  slim  since  it  is  about  a 
line  in  diameter,  that  it  shows  no  distinction  of  head  or  tail,  being 
obtuse  or  rounded  at  both  ends,  and  that  all  the  surface,  both 
above  and  below,  is  covered  with  spheroidal  granulations  which 
are  like  subdiaphanous  vesicles. 

Von  Siebold,  in  1838,  wrote  of  this  worm,  and  mentioned  find- 
ing its  young  in  bees,  and  that  the  young  differed  greatly  from 
the  supposed  adult  in  having  smooth  skin.  From  the  active 
young  he  saw  that  the  worm  belonged  to  the  nematoids,  but  in 
the  supposed  adults,  which  were  all  females,  he  could  discover  no 
motion.  He  further  notices  that  its  digestive  apparatus  ^differs 
from  that  of  all  nematoids. 

Siebold  and  Stannius  write, "  One  finds  neither  mouth  nor  anus 
in  SpluBrularia  bombiy  and  the  intestinal  canal  is  replaced  by  a 
series  of  elongated  cells,  adhering  together,  and  around  which  the 
genital  organs  are  entwined." 

The  next  naturalist  to  investigate  this  curious  animal  was  Lub- 
bock, who  published,  in  1861,  in  the  Natural  History  Review,  a 
paper  "  On  Spharularia  bombi"  illustrated  by  a  plate.  Lubbock 
discovered  at  one  end  of  the  body  which  Dufour  had  described  a 
minute  nematoid  worm,  and  wrongly  thought  this  minute  worm 
to  be  the  male  in  copulation  with  the  large  body  which  was  the 
female.  In  describing  the  so-called  male,  he  is  careful  to  state 
that  he  had  not  been  able  to  distinguish  any  generative  organs  or 
any  trace  of  spermatozoa,  and  discusses  the  possibility  of  the 
appended  worm  being  a  parasite  of  Sphsrularia,  or  even  its  larval 
skin.  Lubbock,  whose  article  is  very  interesting,  describes  the 
anatomy  of  the  so-called  female,  and  states  that  it  has  "no 
muscles,  no  nervous  or  circulatory  systems,  and  no  intestinal 
canal,"  and  that  **  the  interior  of  the  body  is  wholly  occupied  by 


Digitized  by 


Google 


74  General  Notes.  fjanuary, 

two  relatively  enormous  organs — ^the  double  series  of  secretory 
cells,  and  the  ovary."  The  double  series  of  cells  ,he  terras 
the  corpus  adiposum,  and  homologizes  it  with  the  intestine 
of  other  nematoids.  Lubbock  mentions  briefly  the  prolificacy 
of  Sphaerularia,  and  the  mode  of  development  of  its  eg^gs. 
He  discovered  that  the  parasite  was  only  present  in  large  females 
of  Bombus,  but  he  was*  unable  to  trace  its  metamorphosis,  and  to 
discover  how  the  bees  were  infected. 

In  a  later  paper  Lubbock  gives  a  brief  account  of  his  further 
studies  on  Sphaerularia.  He  succeeded  in  keeping  the  young 
alive  several  weeks  in  water,  and  suggests  that  the  young  pass 
from  moist  earth  into  the  bees  while  the  latter  are  going  about  in 
moss  and  damp  grass.  He  found  half-grown  females  of  Sphaeru- 
laria,  but  still  always  with  the  so-called  male  attached,  and  he 
calls  attention  to  the  peculiar  cell-structure  of  the  so-called 
females. 

Schneider  was  led  by  the  cell-structure  of  the  so-cllled  females, 
and  by  the  organic  union  between  them  and  the  little  worm  at 
their  end,  a  union  at  a  point  where  the  sexual  opening  should  be, 
to  express  the  opinion  that  the  so-called  female  was  the  evagi- 
nated  and  full-grown  ovary  of  the  little  worm  to  which  it  was 
attached.  Schneider's  opinion,  derived  from  structure,  awaited 
proof  based  on  observation,  and  this  has  at  last  been  furnished  by 
Leuckart. 

Leuckart,  in  a  preliminary  communication  in  the  Zoologiscker 
Anzeiger  of  this  year  traces  the  evagination  of  the  genital  organs 
of  the  female  to  form  the  appendage  which  was  so  long  regarded 
to  be  the  female  itself,  the  subsequent  growth  of  the  appendage, 
and  the  origin  and  homological  significance  of  its  parts.  This 
worm-like  body  may  even  lose  the  minute  female  from  which  it 
was  originally  an  evagination  even  before  its  eggs  are  ripe. 

Lubbock,  in  the  paper  already  mentioned,  and  Linstow,  in 
his  "  Compendium  der  Helminthologie,"  enumerate  the  species 
of  Bombus  in  which  Sphcerulatia  bombi  has  been  found;  the 
former  author  gives  their  relative  abundance  in  different  species 
of  bees,  and  states  that  the  number  of  Sphaerulariae  usually  pres- 
ent in  a  single  bee  is  from  four  to  eight,  but  in  one  specimen  he 
obtained  no  less  than  thirty- four,  the  greater  number  of  which 
were  full-grown.  In  some  European  species  of  Bombus  one-half 
the  large  females  which  have  hibernated  contain  these  parasites 
in  May  and  June. 

Wishing  to  see  if  Sphaerularia  was  to  be  found  in  America,  I 
examined  ten  specimens  of  Bombus  taken  on  the  loth  of  June 
last,  in  Cambridge,  Mass.  The  species  of  Bombus  were  not 
determined.  Only  two  of  the  specimens  were  parasitized ;  in  one 
was  a  single  Sphaerularia,  in  the  other  were  two.  The  Sphaeru- 
laria  found  single  was  2.9  centimeters  in  length;  each  of  the 
other  specimens  was  a  trifle  shorter.     Nothing  seemed  to  indi- 


Digitized  by 


Google 


1 886.]  Zoology.  75 

cate  that  the  specimens  found  in  the  American  bees  were  other 
than  Sphitrularia  bombi,  except  that  they  were  a  trifle  larger  than 
the  size  usually  given  for  that  species.  Dufour  states  the  length 
of  5.  bombi  to  be  from  "  6-8  lin.,"  Lubbock  "  nearly  one  inch," 
and  Leuckart  **  1.5  cm."  Further  examination  of  females  of 
determined  species  of  bees,  at  the  time  when  they  come  from 
their  winter  retreat,  and  mere  specimens  are  necessary  to  know 
whether  Sphaerularia  is  as  abundant  here  as  it  is  in  Europe,  and 
whether  the  species  is  the  same. — George  Dimmock, 

Notes  on  some  Eastern  Iowa  Snails. — During  the  past  sea- 
son I  have  taken  several  interesting  species  new  to  the  vicinity  of 
Davenport,  la.  Among  them  the  Gundlachia  meekiana  Stimp., 
a  shell  not  before  reported  from  the  West.  The  specime;is  are 
decidedly  larger  than  Stimpson's  types,  and  extremely  variable — 
some  of  them  j^eeing  exactly  with  the  description  and  figures  of 
the  G.  stimsoniana  Smith  and  Prime,  and  plainly  indicating  the 
specific  identity  of  the  two  forms.  As  Stimpson  writes,  the 
septum  in  the  aperture  of  Gundlachia  seems  to  be  formed  at  the 
end  of  the  first  season's  growth ;  but  numbers  of  these  limpets 
formed  no  plate,  simply  adding  the  second  season's  growth  on 
the  margin  of  former  peristome,  thus  making  a  real  Ancylus  with 
black  conical  cap.  IJly  pads  seem  to  be  their  favorite  station. 
Each  limpet  eating  an  irregular  area  on  the  under  side,  but  never 
perforating  the  leaf. 

Numerous  specimens  of  the  Fyrgula  scalarifomiis  Wolf,  unno- 
ticed since  the  publication  of  the  original  description  nearly 
twenty  years  ago,  were  found  near  the  mouth  of  Rock  river,  a  few 
miles  below  Davenport.  The  validity  of  this  species  has  recently 
been  questioned  by  Mr.  R.  E.  Call,  who  refers  it  to  Pomatiopsis 
lapidaria  Say !  The  specimens  taken  leave  no  doubt  concerning 
the  position  of  these  tiny  snails  in  the  genus  Pyrgula — unless  the 
anatomy  show  greater  divergence  from  that  type  than  the  shell. 
Our  Rock  river  specimens  are  smaller,  stouter  than  typical  fossil 
scalariformis^  and  more  compactly  coiled — never  exhibiting  the 
peripheral  carina  on  upper  whorls.  The  shorter  forms  remind  one 
of  the  common  rhomboidal  variety  of  Anculosa  dissimilis  Say. 
These  have  been  distributed  by  the  writer  to  correspondents 
under  the  varietal  name  of  P,  scalariformis  mississippiensis. 

Observations  on  Mississippi  river  Lioplax  tend  to  confirm 
the  opinion  of  the  late  Jas.  Lewis,  that  the  eastern  and  western 
Ltoplaces  are  especially  distinct.  The  foot  in  our  specimens  only 
slightly  exceeds  the  shell  in  length,  while  Binney's  figures  (of  the 
eastern  form)  represent  it  nearly  double  the  length  of  shell. 

My  measurements  were  taken  while  the  animal  was  in  rapid 
motion — its  greatest  length  being  then  attained.  —  Harry  A. 
PUsbry. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


76  General  Notes.  [January^ 

The  Batrachian  Intercentrum. — ^The  determination  of  the 
homologies  of  the  segments  of  the  vertebral  centra  of  the  rhachi- 
tomous  and  embolomerous  batrachians  is  a  question  of  impor- 
tancei  in  the  history  of  the  evolution  of  the  three  classes  of  land 
Vertebrata,  the  Batrachia,  the  Reptilia  and  the  Mammalia.  I 
have  already  made  such  determinations,  but  Professor  Gaudry 
subsequently  made  different  ones,  and  in  this  he  is  followed  by 
the  European  palaeontologists,  especially  by  Fritsch  in  his  Fauna 
der  Gaskohle  der  Permformation  Boehmens.  I  have  reexamined 
this  question,  and  with  the  aid  of  new  material  I  am  able  to  reach 
further  definite  conclusions  in  the  matter. 

The  facts  which  I  have  discovered  are  the  following : 

I.  In  the  Pelycosauria  the  chevron  bones  form  a  continuum 
with  the  intercentrum*  (hypoccntrum  Gaudry). 

II.  In  the  caudal  vertebrae  of  Eryops  also  (Rhachitomi),  the 
chevron  bones  form  a  continuum  with  the  intercentrum.^  I 
therefore  believe  the  intercentra  of  Clepsydrops  and  of  Eryops 
to  be  homologous  parts. 

III.  In  the  caudal  series  of  Cricotus'  (Embolomeri)  the  inter- 
centra are  as  large  as  the  centra,  and  except  that  they  form  a  con- 
tinuum with  the  chevron  bones,  resemble  them,  and  take  part 
with  them  in  supporting  the  neural  arch. 

IV.  In  the  dorsal  region  of  Cricotus  the  neural  arch  loses  its 
articulation  with  the  intercentrum  and  stands  exclusively  on  the 
centrum.*  The  serial  homologies  of  the  centra  and  intercentra 
are  readily  traceable  in  this  genus  throughout  the  column. 

In  spite  of  these  facts  Dr.  Fritsch  and  others  regard  the  inter- 
centrum of  the  Rhachitomi  (hypocentrum  of  Qaudry)  as  the  true 
centrum.     His  reasons  for  this  course  are  the  following: 

I.  In  the  caudal  region  of  Sparagmites  and  Diplovertebron  the 
neural  arch  stands  on  the  intercentrum,^  so  that  it  is  easily  mis- 
taken for  a  centrum. 

II.  In  the  dorsal  region  in  Chelydosaurus  and  Sphenosaurus, 
the  neural  arch  stands  above  or  on  the  intercentrum,  while  the 
centrum  (pleurocentrum  and  hypocentrum  pleurale)  is  reduced  in 
dimensions. 

III.  It  thus  results  that  the  small  hypocentrum  pleurale  resem- 
bles the  intercentrum  of  the  Reptilia  and  certain  Mammalia, 
rather  than  the  centrum,  to  which  it  truly  belongs. 

I  am  of  the  opinion  that  the  homological  determinations  of 
Gaudry  and  Fritsch,  in  this  matter,  are  erroneous,  and  for  the  fol- 
lowing reasons : 

I.  The  neural  arch  being  free  may  change  its  articulation  from 

^Proceedings  Amen  Philosoph.  Soc,  1878,  p.  510. 

»Loc.  cit.,  1880.  Pal.  Bulletin,  No.  32,  p.  15,  PI.  ni.  fig.  5. 

>  Loc.  cit.,  1878,  p.  522. 

*  Loc.  cit.,  1878  522,  and  1884,  p.  29.  Dr.  Fritsch  has  overlooked  these  refer- 
ences,  and  wrongly  believes  that  the  complete  intercentra  of  Cricotus  are  confined, 
to  the  caudal  region. 

B  Fauna  der  Gaskohle,  Bd.  il.  Heft  i,  PI.  50,  fig.  14,  15-16. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


l886.]  Efnbryology  77 

centrum  to  intercentrum  and  vice  versa,  while  the  chevron  bones 
being  continua,  cannot  do  so. 

II.  The  neural  arch  actually  does  shift  its  position  in  Cricotus. 
In  the  posterior  part  of  the  caudal  series  it  is  principally  on 
the  intercentrum  ;  in  the  dorsal  region  it  is  on  the  centrum. 

From  the  preceding  considerations  I  get  the  following  impor- 
tant results : 

I.  The  principal  vertebral  bodies  in  the  Sphenosauridae^ 
(Sphenosaurus  and  Chelydosaurus),  if  Fritsch's  descriptions  be 
correct,  are  intercentra  and  not  centra. 

II.  It  is  probable  that  the  true  centra  become  extinct  in  the 
batrachian  descendants  of  this  family,  so  that  the  solid  vertebra; 
of  such  Batrachia  are  intercentra,  and  not  centra. 

III.  The  characters  of  Cricotus  on  the  other  hand  point  to  the 
extinction  or  reduction  of  the  intercentra  as  we  find  it  in  the 
pelycosaurian  Reptilia,  and  point  to  the  probability  of  the  Embolo- 
xneri  being  ancestors  of  the  Reptilia,  as  I  have  already  suggested.' 

IV.  The  Sphenosauridae  (which  must  also  include  Sparagmites) 
are  intermediate  between  the  Rhachitomi  and  the  Embolomeri,  re- 
sembling ratherthe  latter  in  the  completion  of  the  true  centrum,  but 
resembling  the  former  in  the  incompleteness  of  the  intercentrum. 

I  note  here  that  Dr.  Credner*  does  not  understand  why  I  should 
have  overlooked  the  discovery  of  the  rhachitomous  structure  of 
Archegosaurus  by  Von  Meyer  forty  years  ago.  I  think  any 
one  who  examines  Von  Meyer's  description  and  figures  will  find 
ample  reason  why  one  should  not  see  the  rhachitomous  structure 
in  them,  without  overstepping  the  bounds  of  scientific  caution. 
And  it  is  evident  that  European  naturalists  did  not  recognize  this 
structure,  as  they  make  no  mention  of  it  during  those  forty  years, 
although  specimens  of  Archegosaurus  are  abundant ;  but  rather 
frequently  referred  Archegosaurus  to  the  Labyrinthodontia,  which 
are  described  as  having  the  vertebrae  undivided. 

I  had  hoped  to  have  given  before  now  eng^ravings  in  quarto  of 
these  important  forms,  but  the  present  U.  S.  Geological  Survey 
having  suspended  my  work,  I  am  unable  to  do  so. — E.  D,  Cope. 

BMBRYOLOGT.^ 

The  development  of  the  Toad-fish.— The  development  of 
the  Batrachidae  is  not  well  known,  as  will  appear  from  some  of 
the  statements  in  systemetic  treatises.  One  author  states  that : 
''  The  young  of  some  or  all  the  species  fasten  themselves  to  rocks 
by  means  of  an  adhesive  disk,  which  soon  disappears." 

It  is  the  purpose  of  this  notice  to  point  out  that  the  adhesive 
disk  referred  to  above  is  of  a  wholly  diflTerent  nature  and  origin 
from  that  found  in  the  lump-fishes  and  Gobiesocidae  in  which  such 

^  Cope.  Naturaust,  1885,  P*  592* 
*  American  Naturalist.,  18S4,  p.  37. 

'Die  Scegocephalen  aus  dem   PUuenschen    Gnindes  bei  Dresden;    Zeitschr. 
Deotsches  Geol.  GessclUch.,  Berlin,  1885,  p.  721. 
« Edited  by  John  A.  Ryder,  Smithsonian  Insti  tution,  Washington,  D.  C. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


78  General  Notes,  [January, 

a  disk  is  formed  by  the  confluence  or  coalescence  of  the  pectoral 
pair  of  fins. 

The  adult  toad-fish  burrows  a  cavity  under  one  side  of  a  sub- 
merged boulder,  and  to  the  solid  roof  of  this  cavity  the  female 
attaches 'her  ova  in  a  single  layer.  The  eggs  are  very  adhesive 
and  quite  large,  measuring  about  one-fifth  of  an  inch  in  diameter. 
Like  the  male  cat-fish,  the  male  toad-fish  assumes  charge  of  the 
adherent  brood  of  eggs  and  remains  by  them  until  they  are  hatch- 
ed and  subsequently  become  free. 

The  egg-membrane  or  zona  radiata  is  very  firm,  and  adheres  to 
the  under  surface  of  the  stone  by  a  discoidal  area  about  3°^ 
in  diameter.  The  free  globular  pole  of  the  egg  is  accordingly  di- 
rected downwards.  The  germinal  disk  is  developed  at  the  lower 
pole  and  gradually  spreads  so  as  to  enclose  Uie  vitellus  from 
below  upwards.  The  result  is  that  the  embryo  is  formed  upon 
the  lower  or  free  pole  of  the  egg,  where  it  develops  until  it  finally 
ruptures  the  egg  membrane,  when  it  may  be  said  to  have  hatched, 
but,  unlike  all  o3ier  types  of  fish-embryos  known  to  me,  the  young 
fish  does  not  at  once  drop  out  of  the  egg-membrane  when  the  latter 
is  ruptured.  This  is  prevented  by  the  adhesion  of  the  ventral  (now 
upper)  pole  of  the  yolk-sack  to  the  inside  of  the  egg-membrane 
just  before  the  latter  is  ruptured.  Just  how  this  secondary  adhe- 
sion of  the  yolk-sack  is  effected  has  not  been  determined,  but  the 
adhesion  persists  until  the  embryos  are  considerably  over  one-half 
inch  in  length. 

In  the  course  of  the  development  of  other  parts,  the  yolk-sack 
is  finally  constricted  horizontally  round  the  middle  below  the 
body  of  the  embryo,  and  becomes  hour-glass-shape.  This  is  due 
in  part  to  the  down  growth  of  the  mesoblastic  somites  on  either 
side  of  the  yolk  from  above ;  as  a  result  of  this  a  part  of  the  yolk 
becomes  intra-abdominal  while  a  part  of  it  remains  for  a  time  in 
the  lower  bulb  of  the  yolk-sack  and  outside  of  the  true  abdominal 
cavity.  Eventually  the  whole  of  the  yolk  becomes  intra-abdomi- 
nal ;  this  is  due  in  part  to  its  further  absorption  and  the  further 
development  of  the  abdominal  walls  of  the  embryo,  but  during 
all  of  this  time,  or  until  yolk-absorption  is  completed,  the  embryo 
remains  adherent  as  described  above.  At  this  stage  the  embryo 
is  so  far  developed  that  it  would  be  recognizable  as  belonging  to 
the  genus  Batrachus. 

The  pectoral  and  pelvic  fins  develop  as  very  short  folds  which 
are  close  together,  the  latter  arising  almost  immediately  behind 
the  former.  In  the  course  of  further  development,  the  pelvic 
fins  are  suddenly  translocated  forwards  in  advance  of  the  pectorals, 
and  are  finally  brought  to  lie  near  the  constriction  in  the  yolk-sack 
and  just  above  the  lower  bulbous  portion  of  the  latter.  It  will 
therefore  be  obvious  to  any  one  that  neither  the  pectoral  nor  pel- 
vic fins  have  anything  to  do  with  causing  the  adhesion  of  the  em- 
bryos, for  both  of  these  fins  arise  far  above  the  point  where  the 
young  fish  is  adherent. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


1 886.  J  Embryology.  79 

The  paired  spinal  nerves  which  pass  to  the  pelvic  fins  are  caused 
to  cross  those  passing  to  the  pectorals,  because  of  the  sudden 
translocation  of  the  former  pair  of  fins  already  alluded  to. 

It  has  also  been  stated  by  authors  that  Batrachus  possesses  no 
lateral  line.  This  is  an  error,  for  the  writer  found  that  the  neuro- 
mastic  grooves  or  furrows,  which  remain  open  for  a  considerable 
time  on  the  heads  of  the  larvae,  are  continued  into  a  lateral  line 
system  on  the  sides,  a  condition  of  things  which  is  also  very  evi- 
dent in  the  adult,  if  the  latter  is  carefully  examined.  There  are 
also  series  of  efferent  pores  present  in  the  adults.  The  lateral 
neuromastic  canal  bifurcates  in  the  vicinity  of  the  shoulder-girdle 
and  sends  a  dorsal  branch  backward  below  the  base  of  the  dorsal, 
and  a  ventral  branch  above  the  base  of  the  anal.  These  two  canals 
run  nearly  parallel  along  either  side  of  the  body  and  even  extend 
backward  upon  the  tail,  as  shown  by  some  fine  preparations  of  the 
skin  of  the  embyro  mounted  by  Professor  Libbey,of  Princeton. 

Another  point  of  some  interest  is  the  fact  that  the  entire  brood 
of  young  embryos  upon  any  one  stone  have  their  heads  directed 
one  way  and  toward  the  light,  which  comes  in  at  one  side  of  the 
little  retreat  prepared  by  the  adults.  This  is  very  remarkable  and 
seems  to  indicate  that  the  direction  whence  the  light  comes  has 
some  influence  in  determining  the  direction  in  which  the  embry- 
onic axis  will  be  formed  in  the  blastoderm. 

Very  active  movements  of  the  tail,  and  especially  of  the  pectoral 
fins,  begin  as  soon  as  these  parts  are  fairly  developed ;  these  move- 
ments become  more  energetic  toward  the  close  of  the  fixed  stage 
of  existence  of  the  young  toad-fish.  It  is  very  probable  that  the 
active  wriggling  movements  of  the  young  embryos  finally  frees 
them  from  the  surface  to  which  they  are  firmly  glued  by  some  ad- 
hesive material  secreted  by  the  yolk-sack,  but  which,  like  that 
which  in  the  first  place  caused  the  egg-membrane  to  adhere,  is  not 
soluble  in  water. 

The  yolk  is  peculiarly  homogeneous  and  does  not  readily  coag- 
ulate or  harden  in  the  presence  of  ordinary  reagents,  such  as 
chromic  acid,  as  long  as  the  egg-membrane  is  intact.  There  are 
no  oil-drops  present  and  the  ova  are  much  heavier  than  their  own 
volume  of  sea-water.  The  number  of  ova  found  in  one  brood 
varies  considerably,  but  it  does  not  seem  that  there  are  ordinarily 
much  over  two  hundred  laid  in  one  place.  They  are  dirty-yellow 
in  color  and  very  firm  to  the  touch,  with  a  very  narrow  space  be- 
tween the  vitellus  and  enveloping  egg-membrane. 

The  development  of  the  toad-fish  is  peculiar,  if  not  unique,  in 
presenting  a  prolonged  fixed  stage  after  *the  period  of  hatching  or 
escape  from  the  egg-membrane  is  over,  during  which  all  or  nearly 
all  of  the  yolk  is  absorbed.  The  embryo  is  therefore  finally  set 
free,  without  being  encumbered  by  a  heavy  yolk,  such  as  is  met 
with  in  the  embryos  of  the  salmon.  Such  a  provision  obviously 
has  its  advantages,  especially  since  the  young  are  also  guarded  by 
the  male  parent  during  the  period  of  their  helpless  fixation.    One 


Digitized  by 


Google 


8o  General  Notes.  [January, 

may  frequently  find  recently  hatched  embryos,  around  the  affixed 
pole  of  the  yolk-sack  of  which  shreds  of  the  ruptured  egg-mem- 
brane still  adhere ;  during  the  later  stages  such  shreds  are  not 
usually  visible.  There  is  a  decidedly  heterocercal  tail  developed 
from  a  special  tail-fold,  since  there  is  no  absolutely  continuous 
median  fin-fold  developed,  as  in  many  other  forms. 

Oviposition  occurs  about  the  middle  of  July,  in  the  latitude  of 
Wood's  HolL  How  long  it  lasts  has  not  been  determined,  but 
judging  from  the  condition  of  the  roes  and  milt  of  the  adults  at 
that  time,  it  seems  very  probable  that  they  do  not  spawn  later. — 
John  A.  Ryder. 

PHYSIOLOaY.* 

Conditions  which  determine  Coagulation  of  the  Blood. — 
Herr  Holzmann  adds  something  to  our  knowledge  of  the  con- 
ditions of  blood-clotting.  His  results  are  summed  up  as  follows: 
I.  A  body  called  fibrinogen,  belonging  to  the  clsC^s  of  globulins, 
can  be  obtained  from  horse's  blood,  and  solutions  of  fibrinogen 
neither  coagulate  spontaneously  at  ordinary  temperatures  nor 
upon  dilution  with  water.  2.  Defibrinated  blood,  blood  serum, 
watery  extract  of  the  albuminous  coagulum  formed  in  blood 
serum  by  the  addition  of  alcohol,  or  the  extract  obtained  from  egg- 
albumin  coagulated  in  the  same  way,  the  putrescent  fluids  ob- 
tained from  cooked  egg-albumin,  and  long-continued  passage  of 
oxygen,  all  cause  typical  coagulation  of  the  solution  of  fibrinogen 
at  ordinary  temperatures,  with  the  production  of  fibrin.  3.  Fib- 
rin-ferment is  not  peculiar  to  the  blood,  but  occurs  among  the 
decomposition  products  of  albumin.  4.  It  is  probable  that  fibrin 
is  the  product  of  the  oxidation  of  fibrinogen.  5.  When  a  dog  is 
rapidly  bled  to  death  (one  and  a  half  to  three  hours),  the  last 
portions  of  blood  drawn  clot  quicker  than  the  first,  though  the 
amount  of  fibrin  formed  does  not  markedly  vary.  6.  Venous 
blood  clots  more  slowly  than  arterial  blood ;  suffocation  delays 
coagulation.  Curare,  chloralhydrate,  chloroform,  quinine  and 
soda  carbonate,  also  delay  the  coagulation. 

Special  Physiology  of  the  Embryo.^ —  The  last  of  the  four 
separately  issued  parts  of  this  work  having  now  appeared,  it 
becomes  possible  to  speak  of  it  as  a  whole.  It  may  be  said  that  the 
author  has  done  for  the  physiology  of  the  embryo  what  Balfour 
did  for  the  morphology  in  his  Hand-book,  Some  of  the  researches 
described  here  are  closely  connected  with  those  on  new-born 
children  described  in  the  author's  previous  work.  Die  Seele  des 
Kindes^  to  which  he  has  frequently  occasion  to  make  reference. 
His  most  important  general  results  are  that  mobility  appears  long 
before  sensibility,  and  that  the  sense-organs  and  the  parts  of  the 

1  This  department  is  edited  by  Professor  Henry  Sewall,  of  Ann  Arbor,  Michigan. 
*By  Professor  W.  Preyer,  Leipzig,  1885.    pp.  xii.  644. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


1886.]  Fhysidogy.  8i 

nervous  system  connected  with  them  are  capable  of  functioning 
before  it  is  at  all  likely  that  in  normal  embryonic  life  they  have 
any  proper  functions  to  perform.  By  "  mobility  "  is  to  be  under- 
stood more  especially  the  power  of  making  spontaneous  or  "im- 
pulsive "  movements.  The  presence  of  sensibility  can  only  be 
proved  by  the  existence  of  what  is  really  a  kind  of  mobility — ^that 
is,  reflex  mobility.  When  the  appropriate  reflex  movements  are 
obtained  on  stimulating  the  sense-organs  It  is  inferred  that  the 
corresponding  kind  of  sensibility  is  present.  Reflex  movements 
are  not  only  later  in  appearing,  but  can  also  be  made  to  disappear, 
more  easily  than  impulsive  movements.  The  movements  that  indi- 
cate sensibility  can  be  suppressed  (in  the  artificially  extracted  em- 
bryo of  the  rabbit)  by  applying  chloroform  to  the  skin;  with  more 
difiiculty  by  cs^using  chloroform  to  be  breathed.  In  either  case  the 
anaesthesia  passes  ofl*very  rapidly.  It  is  supposed  that  the  chloro- 
form in  the  first  case  acts  directly,  in  the  second  case,  indirectly,  on 
the  nerves  of  the  skin  ;  that  it  only  secondarily  affects  the  spinal 
cord,  and  that  it  does  not  act  at  all  on  the  brain.  The  movement  of 
sensibility  in  the  embryo  gradually  rises  from  its  first  appearance 
up  to  birth.  In  the  embryo  of  the  rabbit,  the  skin  being  irritated, 
two  seconds  may  pass  from  the  contact  to  the  reaction.  The  oc- 
currence of  respiratory  movements  is  dependent  on  the  power 
already  present  of  reflex  movement  in  response  to  stimuli  on  the 
skin,  not  the  power  of  reflex  movements  on  respiration.  Little 
has  been  ascertained  with  regard  to  the  sense  of  temperature  and 
the  muscular  sense  ;  the  fact  that  mobility  is  increased  by  warmth, 
diminished  by  cold,  of  course  proves  nothing  as  to  the  sense  of 
temperature  properly  so-called.  The  human  icetus  gives  signs  of 
having  feelings  of  taste  two  months  before  birth.  The  whole 
complex  of  parts  belong^ing  to  the  ear  is  functionless  before  birth, 
as  are  also  the  parts  of  the  eye ;  but  the  power  of  raising  the  eyelid 
is  present ;  the  eyes  are  not  closed  in  the  human  embryo  after  the 
sixth  month.  The  conditions  for  the  organic  feelings  are  present 
several  weeks  before  birth;  pleasure  and  pain  can  be  distinguished. 
The  author  finally  puts  the  question,  What  is  the  actual 
state  of  the  embryo  normally?  He  arrives  by  a  series  of  argu- 
ments that  seem  pretty  conclusive  when  taken  together,  at  the 
result,  that  its  state  is  normally  like  dreamless  sleep  or  like  the 
state  of  a  hibernating  mammal ;  it  does  not  wake  up  from  this 
state  before  birth  except  momentarily,  and  then  only  when  strongly 
stimulated. — Mind^  No,  xxxvii^  pp.  152. 

Are  the  Muscles  Dead  or  Alive  during  Cadaveric  Rigid- 
ity ?— ^Professor  Brown-Sequard  has  demonstrated  that  for  several 
weeks  after  death,  or  as  long  as  rigor  mortis  persists,  the 
muscles  of  an  animal  undergo  slow  alternate  contractions  and 
elongations.  The  movements  were  only  perceptable  when  one 
or  the  other  set  of  a  group  of  antagonistic  muscles  was  divided, 
and  they  ceased  totally  when  cadaveric  rigidity  finally  passed  away. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


82  General  Notes.  [January, 

The  movements  were  determined  by  measuring  the  angles 
through  which  a  limb  was  turned,  and  also  by  obtaining  on  a 
rotating  cylinder  a  graphic  tracing  representing  the  rate  and  ex- 
tent of  the  muscular  change.  A  dog  was  killed  on  October  6th, 
and  on  the  15th  one  hind  limb  was  fastened  in  extension  and 
the  angular  movements  of  the  foot  observed ;  on  the  15th,  the 
angle  formed  by  foot  and  leg  was  34° ;  on  the  i6th,  32° ;  the 
iVth,  16° ;  the  22d;  12° ;  the  25th,  21°  ;  the  28th,  23°  ;  the  30th, 
18°;  the  31st,  20°;  November  4th,  23°.  The  rigidity  still  per- 
.  sisted  on  November  8th  when  the  observations  were  described. 

These  movements  are  absolutely  independent  of  external  con- 
ditions, temperature,  moisture,  etc.  In  fact,  in  the  same  animal, 
while  some  of  the  rigid  muscles  are  elongating,  others  are  con- 
tracting and  still  others  are  at  rest.  Professor  Brown-Sequard 
comes  to  the  stajtling  conclusion  that  these  movements  prove  that 
the  muscles  in  rigor  mortis  are  not  dead,  but  are  still  endowed  with  , 
vital  powers,  but,  however,  are  in  a  certain  chemical  condition 
which  is  antecedent  and  preparatory  to  final  death. — Comptes 
Rendus,  T,  ci,  p,  ^26, 

Glandular  and  Vaso-motor  Fibers  of  the  Chorda  Tympani 
AND  Glossopharyngeal  Nerves. — Professor  Vulpian  has  renewed 
after  a  new  method  his  researches  on  this  important  and  difficult 
subject.  Curarised  dogs  were  operated  on  in  such  a  way  that  the 
cranial  nerves  could  be  stimulated  by  an  induction  current  at  their 
points  of  origin  within  the  skull.  The  nerves  were  usually  laid 
intact  upon  the  electrodes ;  reflex  effects  failed,  probably  because 
the  appropriate  nerve  centers  were  injured  in  the  operation. 
M.  Vulpian  concludes  that  both  the  glandular  and  the  vaso-dila- 
tor  fibers  of  the  chorda  tympani  leave  the  medulla  with  the  facial 
but  none  of  them  come  from  the  trigeminal  nerve.  It  is  certain, 
apparently,  that  the  chorda  tympani,  besides  its  glandular  and 
vaso-dilator  filaments,  supplies  to  a  large  extent  the  anterior  two- 
thirds  of  the  tongue  with  sensory  nerves  of  taste. 

Stimulation  of  the  facial  nerve  at  its  origin  causes  an  abundant 
flow  of  saliva  from  the  sub-maxillary  gland  on  the  same  side,  but 
none  from  the  parotid  gland,  and  intense  congestion  of  the  an- 
terior two-thirds  of  the  corresponding  side  of  the  tongue.  Stim- 
ulation of  the  glossopharyngeal  nerve  at  its  foramen  of  exit  from 
the  skull  causes  congestion  in  the  posterior  third  of  the  tongue 
on  the  same  side  and  secretion  from  the  corresponding  parotid 
gland.  When  the  trigeminal  nery^*  is  excited  in  the  same  way, 
no  secretion  is  obtained,  nor  is  therp  j^ny  vaso-motor  change  in  the 
mucous  membrane  of  the  tongue. 

The  geniculate  ganglion  is  a  trophic  center  for  the  chorda 
tympani,  for,  after  intra-cranial  section  of  the  facial  nerve,  the 
fibers  of  the  chorda  contained  in  Jhe  latter  remain  intect  while 
^11  the  others  degenerate, 


Digitized  by 


Google 


1 886. )  Psychology.  83 

Thoug^h  not  bearing  directly  on  the  present  subject,  it  is  impor- 
tant to  observe  that  Vulpian  hassucceeded  in  separately  stimulating 
near  their  origin  both  the  spinal  accessory  and  the  pneumogastric 
nerves.  Excitement  of  the  first  named  alone  causes  arrest  of  the 
heart,  while  both  are  able  to  set  up  movements  in  the  stomach 
and  other  organs.  Stimulation  of  the  pneumogastric  seemed  to 
have  no  influence  upon  the  circulation  or  the  secretion  of  the 
mucous  membrane  of  the  stomach. — Comptes  Rendus^  T,  a,  p.  8ji. 

PSYOHOLOQY. 

The  Material  Conditions  of  Memory. — The  greatest  pos- 
sible importance  attaches  to  the  question  of  the  physical  condi- 
tions of  consciousness,  but  the  investigation  of  it  is  surrounded 
with  great  difficulties.  One  of  the  most  available  points  of  ap- 
proach is  by  a  study  of  the  characteristics  of  memory.  Memory 
may  be  defined  as  intermittent  or  recurrent  consciousness;  and  it 
follows  that  whatever  produces  or  destroys  memory  is  also  a 
cause  of  the  appearance  or  disappearance  of  consciousness.  I 
refer  especially  to  reminiscence,  or  the  recurrent  consciousness 
of  a  previous  impression,  as  that  part  of  memory  which  gives  it 
its  importance  in  this  connection. 

Memory  is  reasonably  understood  to  be  the  result  of  an  impres- 
sion made  on  a  physical  basis  of  consciousness  by  some  stimulus. 
The  structure  of  this  matter  is  affected,  so  that  on  the  recurrence 
of  consciousness  within  it,  the  consciousness  takes  the  form  or  char- 
acter of  the  modified  structure  it  finds  there.  Important  informa- 
tion as  to  the  effects  of  different  .stimuli  may  therefore  be  gained 
by  a  consideration  of  their  relative  capacities  for  reproduction  in 
the  reminiscent  phase  of  memory.  On  this  point  the  following 
propositions  may  be  considered : 

There  are  two  sources  of  impressions  which  reappear  as  memo- 
ries; those  from  the  subject  or  subjective  activities  of  the  mind, 
and  those  from  objects  or  things  external  to  the  mind.  Before 
considering  these,  it  is  necessary  to  guard  against  confounding  the 
recollection  of  the  occurrence  of  an  event,  with  the  recollection  or 
reminiscence  of  the  sensations  which  constituted  that  event.  Thus 
one  can  remember  that  he  reached  some  conclusion  in  a  given  dis- 
cussion, but  may  be  unable  to  remember  the  conclusion  itself. 
He  may  remember  that  he  was  angry,  but  be  quite  unable  to  re- 
produce the  passion.  He  may  remember  that  he  had  a  toothache, 
but  may  be  unable  to  reproduce  the  suffering  itself 

Subjective  stimuli  are  of  the  two  classes  into  which  all  mental 
acts  fall,  the  intelligent  and  the  emotional.  Objective  stimuli  be- 
long to  the  pains  and  pleasures  of  all  parts  of  the  body,  and  to  the 
special  and  general  senses.  To  what  extent  are  all  these  phases 
of  consciousness  susceptible  of  reproduction  in  the  reminiscent 
part  of  memory  ?  There  is  a  kind  of  memory  not  strictly  remi- 
niscent, which  may  be  well  termed,  recognition.    The  difference 


Digitized  by 


Google 


84  GiHiral  Notes.  [January, 

between  reminiscence  and  recognition  is  this.  In  reminiscence 
the  pecuh'ar  form  of  consciousness  is  actually  reproduced,  accord- 
ing to  the  law  of  associated  ideas ;  in  recognition  the  recurrence 
of  the  original  stimulus  is  necessary  to  arouse  memory ;  other- 
wise the  sensation  would  not  return  to  consciousness.  The  for- 
mer is  evidently  the  stronger  and  truer  form  of  memory,  and  as  it 
answers  our  purpose  best,  and  is  most  easily  examined,  I  confine 
my  attention  to  it  for  the  present. 

This  much  being  understood,  it  appears  to  me  that  the  follow- 
ing propositions  may  be  maintained  : 

I.  That  objective  impressions  are  less  profound  than  subjective, 
the  capacity  for  reminiscence  being  the  index. 

II.  That  of  the  objective,  those  introduced  by  the  special  sen- 
ses are  more  profound  than  those  introduced  by  the  general 
senses. 

III.  That  of  the  former,  those  introduced  by  supposed  vibra- 
tions (sound,  sight)  are  more  profound  than  those  produced  by 
supposed  contact  of  matter  (taste,  smell). 

IV.  That  of  subjective  impressions,  those  produced  by  acts  of 
intelligence  are  more  readily  and  exactly  reproduced,  than  are 
those  produced  by  the  emotions. 

These  propositions  might  be  illustrated  at  great  lengthy  but  for 
the  present  I  content  myself  with  the  following : 

II.  The  pleasures  and  pains  of  general  sensation  cannot  be  re- 
produced by  an  act  of  memory.  No  one  can  reproduce  any  par- 
ticular pain  for  instance.  It  is  probable  that  pleasures  and  pains 
which  are  characteristic  (locality  being  left  out  of  account),  can  be 
more  or  less  recognized  on  their  recurrence,  showing  that  they 
make  a  real,  but  comparatively  slight  impression  on  the  physical 
basis  ofconsciousness. 

III.  No  one  can  reproduce  a  taste  or  a  smell  with  the  same  de- 
gree of  distinctness  that  is  possible  in  the  case  of  a  sound  or  a 
sight.  Most  persons  cannot  reproduce  them  at  all.  As  to  sounds, 
the  reproduction  is  very  imperfect ;  and  although  the  reproduc- 
tion of  visible  objects  is,  in  vt^osX  people,  more  distinct^  it  is  short 
of  the  reality  of  seeing. 

IV.  Mnemonic  reproduction  of  an  emotion  is  not  difficult,  but 
falls  short  of  the  emotion  itself,  even  in  the  most  pronounced 
cases.  Although  emotiot^s  leave  behind  them  deep  impressions, 
they  are  plainly  evanescent,  in  some  persons  more  so  than  in 
others.  Nevertheless  a  reproduced  emotion  is  more  distinctly  like 
the  original  than  is  a  reproduced  sight. 

Of  processes  of  the  intelligence,  those  of  the  imagination  are 
reproduced  with  great  precision  and  clearness  in  most  persons, 
but  not  more  so  than  processes  of  reason.  It  is  only  in  the  intel- 
ligence that  it  is  safe  to  say  that  the  reproduction  or  reminiscence 
is  identical  with  its  original.  It  is  true  that  the  impression  may 
be  evc^nescent  h^re  a}so,  but  \X  is  less  so  than  in  th^  P§^?  pf  ftn 


Digitized  by 


Google 


I886.J  Anthropology.  8$ 

emotion.  It  is  only  in  bad  mental  health  that  association  fails  to 
revive  completely  a  process  of  intelligence.  It  is  a  consequence  of 
this  fact  that  intelligence  is  more  cumulative  in  its  character  than 
emotion,  and  much  more  so  than  pleasure  or  pain.  Could  we  re- 
produce in  our  consciousness  sights,  sounds  and  sensations  as 
truly  as  we  do  thoughts,  we  would  be  different  beings  from  what 
we  are.  And  were  they  cumulative  in  our  consciousness  in  the 
same  sense  that  thoughts  are,  we  would  be  still  more  different. 

Thus  there  seems  to  be  a  relation  between  the  nature  of  stimuli 
and  their  effects  on  consciousness,  which  may  perhaps  be  formu- 
lated as  follows :  The  persistence  of  an  impression  on  the  physical 
basis  of  consciousness  is  in  inverse  proportion  to  its  intensity  in  con- 
sciousness. Thus  the  most  violent  and  least  permanent  of  impres- 
sions are  molar,  as  in  physical  sensations.  The  intermediate  are 
those  of  such  special  senses  as  are  supposed  to  be  the  result  of  ex- 
terior vibrations.  The  most  delicate  and  the  permanent,  are  those 
produced  by  the  supposed  extremely  rapid  vibrations  of  living 
brain-tissue.  These  create  an  accustomed  channel  of  apparently 
greater  perfection  of  construction  than  do  the  more  violent  forms 
of  consciousness,  which  are  therefore  longer  preserved,  and  more 
readily  followed  by  new  arrivals  of  consciousness.  The  reason 
for  this  is  to  be  found  in  the  probable  fact,  which  is  also  supported 
by  other  considerations,  that  the  more  violent  forms  of  conscious- 
ness destroy  more  tissue,  while  the  most  delicate  forms  destroy 
less,  rendering  rearrangement  more  easy. 

These  considerations  are  of  course  applicable  only  to  new  stim- 
uli, which  are  not  mere  repetitions  of  old  ones,  and  are  especially 
not  applicable  to  the  secondary''  stimulus  furnished  by  reminis- 
cence itself,  in  which  are  to  be  included  dreams.  That  the  mate- 
rials of  thought  are  often  only  reminiscences  is  no  objection  to 
the  theory  here  presented ;  for  the  processes,  and  conclusions  of 
thought  are  perfectly  new  experiences  when  first  performed  and 
attained.  And  the  precision  with  which  intelligent  thoughts  are 
reproduced  is  a  guarantee  of  their  persistence,  since  each  remi- 
niscence acts  in  some  degree  as  a  new  stimulus.  This  is  true  of 
the  simplest  processes  of  intelligence  in  the  lowest  types  of  mind. 

We  can  derive  some  hints  from  these  considerations,  as  to  the 
evolution  of  temporary  and  permanent  states  of  consciousness. — 
E.  D.  Cope. 

AKTHROPOLOGY.' 

Stone  Plummets. — In  the  summer  of  1884  Mr.  H.  W.  Hen- 
shaw  spent  a  portion  of  his  vacation  in  Southwestern  California, 
and  while  there  was  enabled  to  gather  some  information  from  the 
Santa  Barbara  Indians  concerning  the  so-called  stone  plummets. 
They  have  been  called  sinkers,  plummets,  sling-shots,  bolas,  spin- 
ning-weights, fetishes  and  sorcery-stones.     With   reference  to 

*  Edited  by  Prof.  Otis  T.  Mason,  National  Museum,  Washington,  D.  C. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


86 


General  Notes, 


[January, 


these  objects  Mr.  Henshaw  says  :  "  The  moment  the  stones  were 
shown  to  the  Santa  Barbara  Indians,  and  without  leading  ques- 
tions from  me,  I  was  told  that  they  were  "  medicine  or  sorcexy 
stones,"  used  by  the  medicine  men  in  making  rain,  in  curing  the 
sick  and  in  various  ceremonies."  This  opinion  is  maintained  by 
the  writer.  A  very  ingenious  supplement  to  this  theory  is  sug- 
gested by  Mr.  John  Murdoch,  to  the  effect  that  objects  of  this 
kind  were  primarily  sinkers,  and  that  handed  down  to  their  pres- 
ent owners  they  v/ould  become  invested  with  great  sacredness. 
Assuming  this,  "it  would  eventually  follow  that  the  groove 
having  no  longer  a  special  function  would  either  disappear  en- 
tirely or  be  only  slightly  indicated." 

Polynesia.  —  The  nineteenth  volume  of  the  Encyclopaedia 
Britannica  contains  an  extended  article  by  S.  J.  Whitmee  on  the 
Polynesian  peoples.  There  are  three  different  types  inhabiting 
these  islands  belonging  to  the  two  distinct  divisions,  the  dark 
and  the  brown.  These  three  types  are  the  Papuan,  the  Sawaiori 
or  brown  Polynesians  and  the  Tarapon  or  Micronesians.  Mr. 
Whitmee's  table  given  below  shows  his  conception  of  the  rela- 
tionship of  the  various  groups  of  islands  to  his  three  types : 

Countries  where  found, 

Australia, 

Andaman  Is. 

Samang,  etc. 

Aru  Is. 

Western  New  Guinea. 

Solomon  Is.,  etc. 

New  Hebrides,  etc 

Fiji. 

Samoa,  etc. 

Hawaii. 

Cook  Is.,  etc. 

Society  Is.,  etc. 

New  Zealand. 

Madagascar. 

Formosa. 

{Malays  of  Sumatra,  etc. 
Java,  etc. 
r   Caroline  Is. 
\    Marshall  Is. 
(   Gilbert  Is. 

The  history  and  migrations  of  the  Sawaiori  race  are  discussed 
very  thoroughly.  To  the  names  Tarapon  (from  Tarawa  and  Ponape) 
and  Sawaiori  (from  Samoa,  Hawaii  and  Maori)  objections  of  a 
potent  character  have  been  raised,  but  it  is  impossible  to  find  an 
aboriginal  word  to  cover  the  ground,  and  the  question  is  purely- 
one  of  scientific  priority. 

Annual  Report  of  Progress. — The  editor  of  these  notes  has 
for  many  years  taken  great  pleasure  in  publishing  a  record  of 
progress  in  anthropology  for  each  year,  with  the  resources  at  his 
control.     The  time  will  soon  come  when  this  work  will  be  done 


Races. 

'   Austral 

Brown  people : 
Negrito-Polyne-  ' 
sians 

Negrito 
Papuan 

Indo-Pacific 

Races  of 

'   Sawaiori 

Men. 

Dark  people: 
Malayo-Polyne-  ■ 
sians 

Malagasy 
Formosan 

Malayan 
Tarapon 

Digitized  by 


Google 


1 886.]  Anthropology.  87 

sjrstematically  and  at  greater  length,  but  until  that  time  arrives 
some  one  must  do  the  pioneer  work.  The  board  of  regents  of 
the  Smithsonian  Institution  have  changed  their  year  from  the 
fiscal  to  the  calendar,  making  it  necessary  to  hand  in  manuscript 
earlier.  All  anthropologists  are  most  cordially  requested  to  send 
to  my  address  the  titles  of  all  their  publications. 

The  "Indian  Local  Names,"  recently  published  by  a  school- 
teacher of  York,  Pennsylvania,  Mr.  Stephen  A.  Boyd,  is  a  rather 
extensive  collection  of  North  American  local  names  of  Indian 
origin  (there  are  but  a  few  Central  and  South  American  names  in- 
serted), of  which  the  interpretation  is  added  or  attempted.  In  an 
appendix  we  find  etymologies  of  a  number  of  topographic  names 
from  the  Eastern  hemisphere  also.  The  undertaking  is  laudable, 
though  difficult ;  for  the  compiler  should  not  only  be  a  copyist  of 
etymologies  given  by  others,  but  we  expect  him  to  be  able  to 
judge,  which  one  of  the  ten  or  twelve  explanations  of  one  name 
is  the  correct  one,  and  to  do  that  he  must  have  some  knowledge  of 
the  language  to  which  the  name  belongs.  The  local  names  of 
North  America  belong  to  more  than  150  different  dialects,  and  of 
all  of  these  he  who  knows  enough  to  pass  a  judgment  on  this  mat- 
ter, may  fairly  be  regarded  as  the  Pico  de  la  Mirandola  or  the 
Mezzofanti  of  American  linguistics.  Mr.  Boyd  is  not  a  man  of  this 
sort ;  for  he  does  not  even  give  the  name  of  the  language  from  which 
his  copied  interpretations  are  taken,  and  moreover  we  are  often 
left  the  choice  between  three  or  four  totally  diverse  etymologies 
of  the  same  name.  But  in  the  preface  he  is  candid  enough  to  give 
his  scientific  authorities,  which  form  quite  an  extensive  list. — 
Albert  S.  Gatschet. 

Anthropological  News. — In  Vol.  106  of  the  Transactions 
of  the  Austrian  Academy  of  Sciences,  philol.-hist.  department 
(Vienna,  1884),  Professor  Dr.  Friedrich  Miiller  has  published 
the  paradigms  of  several  Koloshian  (or  Thiinkit)  nouns  and 
verbs,  based  upon  data  contained  in  a  rare  publication  of 
the  priest,  J.  Wenjaminow  (St.  Petersburg,  1846).  Guided  by 
the  principles  governing  the  grammar  of  agglutinative  lan- 
guage in  general,  Professor  Miiller  by  his  publication  intends 
to  rectify  several  statements  made  by  Professor  Dr.  A.  Pfitz- 
maier  upon  the  same  linguistic  subject. The  Abnaki  dia- 
lect of  the  Passamaquoddy  river,  Maine,  has  been  made  the  sub- 
ject of  an  article  read  before  the  American  Philosophical  Society 
of  Philadelphia,  on  Feb.  6,  1885,  by  Abbie  Langdon  Alger.  This 
article  consists  of  a  vocabulary  of  words,  phrases  and  sentences,  in 
all  about  450  items  on  fifteen  pages ;  the  accentuation  is  indicated 
by  signs  of  length  or  macrons  upon  the  vowels.  The  terms  are 
not  given  after  certain  categories  of  objects,  as  parts  of  body,  re- 
lationships, etc.,  and  this  makes  it  difficult  to  find  in  the  long 
list  any  word  that  may  be  looked  for.     It  would  have  been  pref- 


Digitized  by 


Google 


88  General  Notes.  [January, 

erable  to  arrange  the  terms  in  alphabetical  order. Nearly  one 

hundred  geographic  names  from  the  State  of  Minnesota  have  been 
traced  to  their  origin  in  the  Dakota  language  in  the  thirteenth 
annual  report  of  the  State  geologist  of  Minnesota,  Professor  N. 
H.  Winchell  (1884,  pp.  104-112,  8vo).  The  author  of  the  trea- 
tise, Professor  A.  W.  Williamson,  gives  evidence  of  assiduous  work 
in  tracing  the  etymologies  of  all  these  village,  lake  and  river 
names.  The  usual  spelling  of  local  names  of  Indian  origin  gen- 
erally diflfers  from  their  pronunciation  by  the  Indians,  which  is 
the  correct  one;  this  Indian  mode  of  spelling  has  therefore  been 
added  to  each  name,  whenever  there  was  necessity  for  it.  His  re- 
mark, that  •*  most  Dakotas  very  slightly  nasalize  all  their  vowels," 
must  be,  we  think  modified  by  adding  the  statement,  that  they  do 
not  nasalize  the  vowels  in  eifery  word  of  the  language,  but  in  a 

large  number  of  them. Recent  numbers  of  the  Bulletin  of  the 

Torrey  Botanical  Club,  New  York,  contains  linguistic  inquiries 
into  the  origin  of  plant  names.  Thus  we  find  disclosures  upon 
so-called  Southern  moss,Tillandsia,  upon  ginkgo  (Salisburia  adian- 
Hflora\  Cintractia,  Savoyanne,  a  species  of  Coptis ;  this  name  is 
traced  by  W.  R.  Gerard,  of  New  York,  to  a  term  appearing  in  sev- 
eral of  the  northern  Algonkin  dialects.  All  the  above  will  be 
found  in  the  July  number  6f  1885.  In  the  August  number  Mr. 
Gerard  has  an  interesting  article  upon  the  Indian  peach,  which  he 
states  was  introduced  into  North  America  both  by  way  of  Mexico 
and  the  Atlantic  seaboard.  The  Indian  equivalents  are  given  at  the 
close  of  the  article. — Albert  S.  Gatschet. 

MICROSCOPY.* 

The  Eye  of  Insects. — The  following  is  a  summary  of  some  of 
the  methods  employed  by  S.  J.  Hickson*  in  the  study  of  the  eye 
of  Musca  vomitoria  : 

1.  For  making  sections  of  the  eye,  it  is  best  to  dissect  away  the 
posterior  wall  of  the  cranium,  and  then  expose  it  to  the  fumes  of 
an  osmic  acid  (i  p.  c.)  solution,  40  minutes,  then  to  wash  in  60  p. 
c.  alcohol  for  a  few  minutes,  and  finally,  to  harden  in  absolute 
alcohol. 

2.  The  ribbon  method  of  sectioning  can  be  employed  with  this 
species ;  but  with  most  insects,  owing  to  the  hard  chitinous  cra- 
nium, it  is  necessary  to  cut,  with  the  knife  set  obliquely,  so  as  to 
get  a  long  sweep  at  each  stroke,  and  to  remove  the  sections  one 
by  one. 

3.  The  best  method  of  depigmenting,  is  that  of  exposing  the 
.sections  to  nitrous  fumes.  The  sections  are  fixed  on  the  slide 
with  P.  Mayer's  albumen  fixative,  the  paraffine  removed  with  tur- 
pentine, the  turpentine  driven  off  by  absolute  alcohol,  and  then 

^  Edited  by  Dr.  C.  O.  Whitman,  Mus.  Comparative  Zoology,  Cambridge,  Mass. 
'Quart.  Journ.  Mic.  Sc.,  xxv,  April,  1885,  p.  243. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


1886.]  hficfoscopy.  89 

the  slide  inverted  over  a  capsule  containing  90  p.  c.  alcohol  to 
which  a  few  drops  of  strong  nitric  acid  have  been  added.  Copious 
fiimes  are  given  off,  and  the  pigment  dissolves.  The  action  can 
be  arrested  at  any  moment  by  washing  with  neutral  alcohol. 

4.  The  sections  are  next  stained  with  hsematoxylin  or  with  any 
other  solution.  The  best  results  were  obtained  with  haematoxylin 
made  after  Mitchell's^  formula. 

For  teasing  the  best  solution  is  chloral  hydrate.  The  prepara- 
tion is  left  in  a  5  p.  c.  solution  for  twenty-four  hours,  and  then 
teased  with  needles  and  mounted  in  glycerine. 

Grenacher's  Methods  of  Preparing  the  Arthropod  Eye.* 
— Hardening  Fluids. — Chromic  acid  and  its  salts  produce  a  coarse 
granulation,  and  on  this  account  must  be  considered  objection- 
able. Oxalic  acid,  in  aqueous  or  alcoholic  solution,  as  recom- 
mended by  M.  Schultze  and  Steinlin,  gives  good  results  in  some 
cases,  bad  in  others.  Picric  acid  gives  wholly  unsatisfactory 
preparations,  while  picro-sulphuric  acid  works  well  in  many 
cases.  The  latter  fluid,  cannot,  however,  be  used  with  most 
of  the  Crustacea,  as  here  the  integument  contains  calca- 
reous salts  which  react  with  the  acid  to  produce  crystals  of 
gypsum  and  carbonic  acid,  both  of  which  work  injury  to  the  soft 
tissues.  MerkeFs  chrom-platinum  solution  gives  excellent  results 
with  some  simple  eyes  {e,g.  Phalangium  and  Acilius  larvae),  but  is 
unsatisfactory  in  the  case  of  spiders  and  with  compound  ^yts. 
Osmic  acid,  so  highly  recommended  by  M.  Schultze,  while  it  has 
some  valuable  qualities,  is,  on  the  whole,  not  very  serviceable.  Jt 
preserves,  to  a  certain  extent,  the  character  of  the  fresh  tissues, 
but  it  renders  the  pigment  less  easily  soluble^  lessens  important 
difierences  in  refrangibility  {e,  g,  between  the  rhabdomeres  and 
the  protoplasm  of  the  cells),  and  besides  leaves  the  preparation 
brittle,  so  that  good  sections  are  not  easily  obtained. 

The  most  serviceable  hardening  fluid  for  the  compound  eye  is 
alcohol  (70  p.  C.-90  p.  c).  The  hyaline  rhabdomeres  generally  re- 
main clear  and  transparent,  but  lose  their  color  and  often  a  part  of 
their  refrangibility. 

Bleaching, — ^The  pigment  is  dissolved  very  rapidly  by  caustic 
potash,  but  this  agent  destroys  almost  equally  rapidly  other  parts, 
even  to  the  chitinous  parts.  The  strength  first  recommended  by 
Moleschott,  30-35  p.  c,  allows  time  for  examination  in  detail. 
The  best  means  of  bleaching  is  found  in  nitric  acid,  first  recom- 
mended for  this  purpose  by  Gottsche^  Gottsche  used  the  full 
strength,  M.  Schultze,  25  p.  c;  Grenacher  employed  20-25  P«  c-t 
adding  a  drop  to  the  sections  lying  in  dilute  glycerine,  under  the 
cover-glass.    The  demonstration  of  nuclei  by  means  of  the  ordi- 

>The  Science  Monthly,  March,  1884. 

*"!>•»  Seborgan  der  Arthropoden,"  p.  22-25,  *^79« 

>  Mill.  Arch.  1852,  p.  486.    , 


Digitized  by 


Google 


go  General  Notes.  [January, 

nary  dyes,  after  the  use  of  nitric  acid,  is  very  difficult.  This  can 
be  accomplished,  however,  in  the  following  simple  way:  Add 
only  a  trace  of  nitric  acid  to  the  prepared  section,  and  leave  it  1 2- 
24  hours.  The  pigment  dissolves  slowly,  and  is  taken  up  by  the 
nuclei,  and  thus  acts  as  a  stain.  The  preparations  are  not  beau- 
tiful, but  are  quite  clear  and  distinct,  and  can  be  mounted  without 
danger  of  disturbing  the  pigment  A  similar  proceeding  (pig- 
ment dissolved  by  acetic  acid)  has  been  described  by  Leydig.^ 

The  following  is  another  mixture  employed  by  Grenacher,  as 
given  by  Carriere  :* 

Glycerine i  part. 

Alcohol  (80  p.  c.)   ! 2    " 

Hydrochloric  acia 2-3  p.  c. 

The  preparations  remain  in  this  mixture  until  the  pigment 
changes  color  and  becomes  diffuse. 

Method  of  Examining  the  Reflex  in  the  Compound  Eye 
OF  Insects. — Lowne'  recommends  the  substitution  of  a  reflecting 
ophthalmoscope  for  the  eye-piece  of  a  microscope.  "  By  this 
means  a  bright  luminous  spot  may  be  observed  as  a  real  image 
in  the  tube  of  the  instrument.  A  quarter  objective  must  be  used, 
and  the  mirror  of  the  ophthalmoscope  must  be  strongly  illumi- 
nated. The  microscope  is  then  focused  s6  that  a  real  image  of 
the  corneal  facets  is  seen  between  the  objective  and  the  eye  of  the 
observer.  By  bringing  the  object-glass  gradually  nearer  to  the 
insect's  eye  the  reflex  will  come  into  view.  The  reflex  appears 
as  a  disk  having  a  fiery  glow,  in  moths,  and  as  a  bright  ruby  spot 
in  the  cabbage  butterfly.  Sometimes  six  spots,  surrounding  a 
central  spot,  are  seen  in  the  eye  of  the  insect ;  perhaps  these  are 
diffraction-images.  A  similar  appearance  is  seen  when  the  eye  of 
this  insect  is  observed  by  the  naked  eye,  except  that  the  spots 
are  black.  *  *  *  The  reflex  seen  with  the  microopthalmoscope 
is  green  in  Tipula,  and  bright  yellow  in  the  diurnal  flies.  Colored 
diflraction-fringes  are  usually  present  around  the  central  bright 
spot  in  both  these  insects ;  but  the  central  image  is  sometimes 
surrounded  by  a  perfectly  black  ring." 

"  The  manner  in  which  the  luminous  reflex  scintilates  is  very 
suggestive  of  an  alteration  in  the  focal  plane  of  the  dioptric  struc- 
tures under  the  control  of  the  insect." 

The  color  of  the  reflex  obtained  is  supposed  to  depend  on  the 
color  of  the  fluid  contents  of  the  *'  spindle"  ("  Rhabdom"  of  Gren- 
acher), while  the  reflex  itself  is  due  to  reflection  from  the  spindles, 
which,  in  moths,  are  surrounded  by  very  close  parallel  tracheal 
vessels,  which  form  a  very  perfect  reflector. 

The  reflex  disappears  w^ry  quickly  even  in  diffused  daylight, 

^  Auge  der  Gliederthiere,  p.  41. 
•Die  Sehorgane  der  Thiere,  p.  205.  1885. 

■  Trans.  Lmn.   Soc.  Loni.     Second  Ser.,  Zoology.     Vol.  ii.  Part  2,  p.  406-7. 
Dec,  1884. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


i886.J  Microscopy.  91 

but  can  be  restored  by  keeping  the  insect  in  the  dark  for  half  an 
hour.  The  disappearance  of  the  reflex  in  the  light  is  due  to  the 
contraction  of  the  pigmented  iris  cells. 

Method  of  Isolating  the  Dioptric  Layers  of  the  Com- 
pound Eye. — Gottsche^  was  the  first  who  succeeded  in  isolating 
the  whole  dioptric  portion  of  the  compound  eye,  so  that  the  cor- 
neal &cets  and  the  cones  could  be  examined  in  situ.  The  isola- 
tion of  the  corneal  layer  alone  is  more  easily  effected ;  this  had 
already  been  accomplished  by  Leeuwenhoek,  Baker,  Brants  and 
Gruel,  who  examined  with  the  microscope  the  images  produced 
by  the  corneal  facets. 

Gottsche  took  the  eye  of  a  fly,  and  separated  the  inner  wall,  so 
that  only  the  cornea  with  the  optical  apparatus  remained.  Hold- 
ing the  cornea  fast  by  one  end,  he  next  removed  the  red  portion 
of  the  eye,  1./.,  the  retinulx.  These  break  off"  at  the  inner  ends 
of  the  cones,  leaving  the  cornea  with  the  cones  intact  The 
preparation  is  next  laid  on  a  slide  with  the  convex  side  of  the 
cornea  down  (there  should  be  just  glycerine  enough  beneath  the 
cornea  to  make  it  adhere  to  the  slide).  A  cover-glass  is  then 
placed  over  the  preparation,  with  care  to  leave  the  concave  upper 
side  filled  with  an  air-bubble.  Slight  pressure  on  the  cover-glass 
will  usually  be  found  suflicient  to  create  the  air-bubble.  If  no 
undue  pressure  has  injured  the  cones,  the  preparation  is  now 
ready  for  examination  with  the  microscope.  The  tube  of  the 
microscope  may  now  be  placed  so  that  the  hexagonal  facets  are 
in  focus,  and  then  raised  until  the  inner  (upper)  ends  of  the  cones 
become  visible,  but  not  sharply  focused.  If  any  object,  ^.^.,  a 
steel  pen,  is  now  held  between  the  mirror  and  the  preparation,  a 
minute  inverted  image  of  the  same  will  be  seen  in  each  facet. 

Grenacher  thinks  the  contents  of  the  cones  ("  pseudocones") 
would  escape  by  Gottsche's  method,  so  that  the  experiment  would 
really  amount  to  no  more  than  that  of  Leeuwenhoek,  Baker,  &c, 

Grenacher  (Das  Sehorgan  d.  Thiere,  p.  148),  taking  the  eye 
of  acrepuscular  or  nocturnal  m6th  that  had  been  hardened  in 
alcohol,  cuts  off  a  section  with  a  sharp  knife,  places  it  on  a  slide 
with  the  convex  corneal  surface  below,  and  then  removes  the  pig- 
ment by  a  careful  use  of  nitric  acid.  With  this  preparation  he 
repeats  the  experiment  of  Gottsche,  and  finds  that  the  images  fall 
not  behind  nor  in  the  ends,  but  near  the  middle  of  the  crystal 
cones.  This  position  of  the  images,  at  points  where  there  are 
no  percipient  elements,  is  held  by  Grenacher  to  be  fatal  to  the 
view  that  they  are  seen  by  the  insect.  According  to  Lowne's* 
view,  the  retinulae  constitute  a  second  refractive  system  which 
serves  to  magnify  and  erect  the  images  formed  within  the  cones, 
so  that  the  whole  visual  field  consists  of  a  mosaic  of  erect  images. 

)  Mul.  Arch.,  1852,  p.  488,  489. 

>  Trans.  Linn.  Soc  Lond.,  p.  389.    Dec,  1884. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


92  Scientific  News^  [January, 

He  places  the  retina  behind  the  basilar  membrane,  precisely 
where  it  was  supposed  to  be  by  Gottsche. 

The  Sac-like  Nature  of  the  Wings  of  Insects.'^ — Mr.  G.  Dim- 
mock  showed  the  two  halves  of  a  split  wing  ol  AUacus  cecropia^  in 
which  the  two  layers  of  the  wing  had  been  separated  by  the  follow- 
ing mode :  The  wing  from  a  specimen  that  has  never  been  dried  is 
put  first  into  seventy  per  cent  alcohol,  then  into  absolute  alcohol, 
and  from  the  latter,  after  a  few  days'  immersion,  into  turpentine. 
After  remaining  a  day  or  two  in  turpentine,  the  specimen  is 
plunged  suddenly  into  hot  water,  when  the  conversion  of  the  tur- 
pentine into  vapor  between  the  two  layers  of  the  wings  so  far 
separates  these  layers  that  they  can  be  easily  parted  and  mounted 
in  the  usual  way  as  microscopical  preparations  on  a  slide. 

SCIENTIFIC  NEWS. 

— No  glaciers  exist  in  the  United  States  but  those  of  the  Pacific 
coast,  as  only  here  the  atmospheric  conditions  are  favorable,  and 
the  ice-streams  of  Mt  Hood  are  the  only  ones  on  this  coast 
easily  reached.  Down  far  below  the  snow  line,  great  seas  of  ice 
push  their  way  through  valleys  they  have  cut  for  themselves. 
Their  downward  motion  varying  in  speed  with  the  slope  of  the 
channel  and  the  weight  of  snow  above,  is  constant — a  few  inches 
a  day.  The  lower  part  is  ice,  higher,  icy-snow ;  and  where  there 
is  little  thaw,  pure  snow.  The  fields  of  the  ice  are  strewn  with 
unassorted  debris,  from  bowlders  weighing  tons,  to  the  finest  sand 
which  falls  from  the  walls  of  the  glacier  valley.  Near  the  foot  of 
the  glacier  the  rubbish  is  twelve  inches  or  more  thick,  while  in 
other  places  one  can  walk  over  nearly  bare  ice — aye,  can  travel 
for  miles  and  study  moraines,  crevasses,  ice  wells,  caves,  ice  tables 
and  all  the  appurtenances  of  a  first-class  glacier  without  guide  or 
alpenstock,  ropes,  or  spiked  shoes.  The  ice  moves  as  only  ice 
can,  moulding  itself  to  variations  in  the  channel,  and  splitting 
across  to  form  crevasses  only  when  meeting  some  great  descent 
in  the  bed.  Melting  extends  up  over  the  surface  as  well  as  at  the 
base ;  the  traveler  steps  across  streamlets  flowing  upon  the  ice 
surface  toward  the  base,  perhaps  to  lose  themselves  in  crevasses 
further  down ;  and  from  the  wedge-shaped  snout  of  the  ice  giant 
pours  a  deluge  of  water,  while  down  its  face  rains  a  shower  of 
sand  and  rocks.  The  water  assorts  the  debris,  soon  dropping  the 
bowlders,  carrying  the  coarse  sand  further,  and  bearing  to  the 
Columbia  much  of  the  ashy  sand  that  is  filed  oflf  by  the  bottom 
of  the  glacier. — Portland  Oregonian. 

—  Professor  W.  A.  Rogers,  of  the  Harvard  Observatory,  has 
reported  to  the  American  Academy  of  Arts  and  Sciences,  in  Bos- 

^G.  Dimmock,  Pysche,  May,  1884,  p.  170. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


i886.]  Scientific  News.  93 

ton,  the  results  of  his  observations  on  the  transmission  of  shock 
from  the  Flood  rock  explosion. 

The  air-line  distance  between  the  observatory  in  Cambridge 
and  Flood  rock  is  190  miles,  and  the  observations  were  timed  as 
follows:  Disturbance  first  seen,  11. 17. 14;  instant  of  maximum 
disturbance,  11. 18.03;  disturbance  ceased,  11.20. 

The  first  vibration  perceived  was  about  a  thousandth  of  an  inch, 
and  recurred  at  intervals  for  nearly  two  minutes,  the  greatest 
swaying  of  the  mercury  being  over  a  space  of  one  five-hundredth 
of  an  inch. 

In  this  connection  it  is  interesting  to  note  that  General  Abbot 
reported  that  the  shock  from  50,000  pounds  of  dynamite,  exploded 
in  1876  at  Hallet's  Point,  was  transmitted  through  the  drift  for- 
mation of  Long  Island,  at  the  rate  of  5300  feet  per  second  for  13^ 
miles.  Assuming  the  figures  of  the  Cambridge  report  as  correct, 
and  that  the  mine  at  Flood  rock  was  exploded  at  1 1.14,  seventy- 
fifth  meridian  time,  it  took  the  wave  just  194  seconds  to  travel 
190  miles,  or  at  the  rate  of  5120  feet  per  second.  This  is  very 
near  the  rate  of  transmission  observed  by  General  Abbot,  when 
the  greatly  increased  distance  is  taken  into  account — Exchange. 

—  While  M.  Pasteur,  at  his  country  retreat,  has  been  develop- 
ing a  means  of  combating  the  spread  of  hydrophobia,  alarmist 
notes  have  been  sounded  in  the  public  press.  There  can  be  no 
doubt  that  hydrophobia  is  oji  the  increase,  and  will  continue  to 
increase  until  the  owners  of  dogs  are  sufficiently  educated  to 
recognize  the  preliminary  symptoms  of  rabies.  A  dog  that 
slobbers  with  hanging  jaws,  and  barks  unnaturally,  should  be 
destroyed.  Dumb  rabies  is  the  most  dangerous,  perhaps,  because 
the  animal,  while  retaining  a  knowledge  of  his  master  and  friends, 
is  apt  to  be  snappish,  and  bite  without  warning.  Cauterization 
of  such  wounds  is  practically  of  little  value,  and  the  best  thing 
that  can  be  done  is  to  suck  the  wound  forcibly,  so  as  to  draw  as 
much  blood  and  fluid  from  the  part  as  possible.  At  Monday's 
sitting  of  the  Paris  Academy  of  Sciences,  M.  Pasteur  read  a  long 
paper  on  this  subject,  and  furnished  proofs  that  his  methods  of 
inoculation  had  cured  hydrophobia,  and  was  easily  practicable. 
Dr.  Vulpian  corroborated,  from  personal  observation. — English 
Mechanic. 

—  The  second  division  of  the  Zoologischer  Jahresbericht  fur 
1884,  edited  by  the  zoological  station  at  Naples,  and  now  pub- 
lished at  Berlin  by  R.  Friedlander  &  John,  has  appeared  and  is 
devoted  to  the  Arthropoda.  It  can  be  purchased  separately,  as 
can  the  other  three  parts.  The  present  part  is  edited  by  Drs. 
Mayer  and  Giesbrecht.  • 

—  Carl  von  Gumppenberg,  of  Munich,  is  preparing  a  mono- 
graph of  the  geometrid  moths  of  the  northern  hemisphere,  and 


Digitized  by 


Google 


94  Proceedings  of  Scientific  Societies.  [January, 

would  like  to  receive  from  American  entomologists  copies  of  their 
papers  containing  descriptions  of  new  species  of  this  group  issued 
since  the  publication,  in  1876,  of  Packard's  monograph  of  Ameri- 
can geometrids, 

—  The  lecture  course  of  the  New  York  Academy  of  Sciences 
opened  on  December  14th,  by  a  lecture  on  the  genealogy  of  the 
Mammalia  by  Professor  E.  D.  Cope.  The  next  lecture  will  be 
January  I  ith,  1886,  by  Professor  E.  S.  Morse,  on  Prehistoric  Man 
in  America. 

—  Professor  Joseph  Prestwich  has  a  treatise  on  geology  in  the 
Clarendon  Press.  He  advocates  non-uniformitarian  views  of 
geology. 

—  Professor  H.  Weyenbnrgh  died  at  Haarlem,  July  25.  He 
was  professor  of  zoology  in  the  university  of  Cordova,  Argentine 
republic.  He  did  a  great  deal  for  progress  in  his  science,  and  of 
a  set  of  thorough-going  entomologists  in  that  country  he  was 
chief. 

PROCEEDINGS  OF  SCIENTIFIC  SOCIETIES. 

The  International  Geological  Congress,  at  Berlin,  Sept. 
29th  to  Oct.  3,  1885. — ^The  third  and  most  important  session  of 
the  International  Geological  Congress,  which  was  instituted  by  an 
American  committee  of  the  A.  A.  A.  S.,  at  its  Buffalo  meeting  in 
1876,  has  just  been  held.  • 

The  first  session  at  Paris,  in  1878,  was  really  a  pourparler 
which  broke  ground.  The  next  session  at  Bologna,  in  1881, 
accomplished  something,  but  was  especially  useful  in  preparing 
for  the  work  of  the  session  just  closed  by  deciding  to  produce  a 
geological  map  of  Europe  on  a  scale  of  yyoioooi  and  entrusting 
its  execution  to  one  committee,  while  another  was  appointed  to 
devise  some  scheme  for  unifying  the  nomenclature  and,  where 
possible,  of  fixing  the  limits  of  various  congeries  of  beds  which 
had  heretofore  been  differently  understood  by  different  geologists. 
The  obstacles  which  faced  these  committees  will  be  at  once  under- 
stood from  this  bare  statement  and  will  modify  any  hasty  impres- 
sion that,  in  fact,  very  little  has  been  accomplished. 

The  two  committees,  or  a  majority  of  members  of  each,  met  at 
Foix,  and  at  Zurich,  during  the  four  years  which  intervened  be- 
tween the  Congresses  of  Bologna  and  Berlin,  and  the  action  of 
the  congress  which  has  just  ended  was  almost  exclusively  con- 
fined to  the  propositions  made  in  the  printed  reports  of  these 
committees. 

Those  who  arrived  in  Berlin  some  days  before  the  opening  of 
the  congress  found,  at  the  superb  Bergakademie  on  the  Invaliden 


Digitized  by 


Google 


i886.]  Proceedings  of  Scientific  Socieiies,  95 

strasse,  a  bureau  organized  to  examine  the  credentials  of  dele- 
gates and  provide  each  with  the  necessary  card  and  receipt  for  the 
ten  marks  cotisation,  besides  a  medal  in  silver  bearing  the  inscrip- 
tion on  one  side :  "  Geologorum  Conventus.  Mente  et  Malleo," 
with  the  conventional  schlagel  und  eisen  crossed  and  surrounded 
by  a  wreath  of  oak.  On  the  other  side,  within  a  similar  wreath 
were  the  words :  "Berlin,  1885."  The  medal  was  suspended  by 
a  white  satin  ribbon  and  worn  on  the  lapel  of  the  coat  for  identifi- 
cation on  excursions,  etc.  « 

A  programme  of  the  order  of  events  may  be  thus  condensed : 
Monday,  Sept.  28,  at  10  a.  m.,  meeting  of  the  council  at  the  Reich- 
stagsgebiude ;  5  p.  m.  social  reunion  of  the  members  of  the  con- 
gress in  the  ante-chamber  of  this  palace.  Tuesday,  Sept.  29,  1 1 
A.  M.,  opening  of  the  congress;  2  p.  m.,  visit  to  the  Bergakademie 
to  view  the  collections  and  the  objects  sent  to  the  congress.  Wed- 
nesday, Thursday,  Friday  and  Saturday,  sitting  of  the  congress 
at  2  P.  M.  7  p.  M.  Saturday,  close  of  the  congress.  Sunday,  9  a.  m. 
excursion  to  Potsdam.  Then  followed  announcements  of  the 
excursions  to  the  Hartz,  to  Stassfurt,  etc.  This  programme 
was  followed  in  the  main,  only  an  extra  session  of  the  congress 
being  intercalated.  The  usual  course  was  to  devote  two  hours  to 
the  discussion  of  the  committees'  reports  (2  to  4  p.  m.),  and  the 
last  two  hours  (4  to  6  p.  m.)  to  scientific  discourses  of  various 
delegates. 

The  weather  during  the  entire  week  was  very  disagreeable, 
cold  and  rainy.  On  Sunday  morning  after  the  close  of  the  con- 
gress, it  promised  to  be  fair,  but  9nly  to  deceive  the  hopes  of  those 
who  took  part  in  the  Potsdam  excursion.  The  commencement  of 
this  trip  was  very  beautiful,  but  towards  the  close  it  degenerated 
into  a  procession  of  dripping  and  shivering  people  who  tried  to 
look  as  if  it  were  pleasant  in  order  not  to  offend  their  kind  hosts. 

The  language  of  the  congress  had  been  decided  upon  as  French, 
and  this,  no  doubt,  accounts  for  the  greater  share  taken  by  the 
Swiss,  Belgians,  and  French  in  the  debates,  than  by  the  people  of 
other  nationalities.  The  Germans,  for  instance,  who  outnumbered 
all  other  nationalities  taken  together  several  times  over,  had  only 
one  representative  who  managed  the  language  with  fluency  and 
led  in  debate — M.  Hauchecorne,  the  active  spirit  of  this  con- 
gress. It  is  true  that  M.  Neumayer  retorted  very  effectively  once 
to  M.  Lapparent,  and  his  excellency  v.  Dechen  spoke  frequently, 
if  not  easily;  but  Df,  Beyrich,  the  nominal  president,  was  en- 
tirely unintelligible,  clnd  M.  Stur  was  obliged  to  get  a  dispensation 
from  the  congress  and  speak  in  German. 

Report  of  Proceedings. — On  Tuesday  evening  at  6  o'clock,  M. 
Renevier,  of  Switzerland,  the  secretary  of  the  committee  appointed 
to  prepare  the  European  map,  with  a  few  preparatory  words  ex- 
plaining that  what  he  was  about  to  read  did  not  emanate  from 
him  but  from  the  committee,  presented  this  report. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


96  Proceedings  of  Scientific  Societies.  [Januaiy, 

The  committee  appointed  to  prepare  the  map  was  thus  consti- 
tuted :  Beyrich  and  Hauchecome  (formerly  the  sub-committee  of 
direction  in  Berlin),  Germany ;  Daubree,  France ;  Giordano,  Italy; 
de  Moeller,  Russia;  Mojsisovics,  Austro- Hungary;  Topley, 
Great  Britain ;  Renevier  (secretary  general),  Switzeriand.  The 
committee  of  direction  had  made  an  arrangement  with  D.  Reimer 
&  Co.,  of  Berlin,  according  to  which  this  firm  agreed  to  undertake 
the  publication  of  the  map  at  its  own  risk,  provided  the  committee 
would  guarantee  them  an  edition  of  900  copies  at  100  fi-ancs  a 
cdpy,  and  would  advance  them  sums  on  account. 

The  map  is  to  consist  of  forty-nine  sheets — 7  in  breadth  and  7 
in  height.  Each  of  these  sheets  is  48  by  53*^"*  and  the  whole  of 
them  together  will  form  a  chart  3.36  meters  high  and  3.71  meters 
broad.  Professor  Kiepert,  of  Berlin,  is  to  prepare  the  topo- 
graphic base,  using  for  the  purpose  all  data  at  his  disposition, 
both  published  and  unpublished.  Great  Britain,  France,  Spain, 
Italy,  Austro-Hungary,  Germany,  Scandinavia,  and  Russia,  each 
takes  100  copies  =  800.  The  remaining  100  copies  are  to  be 
divided  between  the  six  smaller  States,  Belgium,  Holland,  Den- 
mark, Switzerland,  Portugal,  and  Roumania.  The  central  com- 
mittee is  to  receive  from  each  national  committee  the  maps  of  its 
country  and  to  make  them  harmonize. 

The  report  ends  with  the  following  six  resolutions,  which  the 
committee  asked  the  congress  to  pass : 

I.  M.  Karpinski  will  succeed  M.  de  Moeller  (resigned),  in  representing  Russia 

on  the  committee. 

II.  The  Carbonic  system  (or  Permou^rboniferous)  shaU  be  represented  on  the 

map  by  three  distinct  shades  of  gray. 
III.   Brown  shades  will  be  applied  to  the  "  Devonic** 

IV.  The  color  to  represent  the  "Si/uric*'  is  left  to  the  discretion  of  the  com- 
mittee. 

v.  The  eruptive  rocks  shall  be  represented  by  seren  tints  ranging  from  bright  red 
to  dark-brownish  red. 

VI.  The  determination  of  the  other  questions  mentioned  in  the  report  shall  be  left  to 
the  discretion  of  the  committee.^ 

Proposition  i  was  adopted  without  dissent. 

Proposition  11  after  much  opposition  was  agreed  to  with  the 
understanding  that  the  proposed  method  of  the  committee  should 
not  be  understood  to  have  any  bearing  on  the  scientific  settlement 
of  the  question,  but  should  be  regarded  purely  as  a  provisional 
expedient  adopted  in  order  to  complete  the  map. 

Proposition  iii  was  agreed  to. 

^  The  questions  here  referred  to,  comprise  several  matters  about  which  the  commit- 
tee was  m  doubt,  e.  g. :  a.  How  are  the  terranes  to  be  represented,  of  which  the 
subdivisions  were  doubtful  ?  b.  How  are  those  subdivisions  to  be  indicated  which 
are  too  small  to  appear  on  the  adopted  scale  of  T^o^^irir?  ^<  How  are  measures 
to  be  represented  when  even  their  age  is  doubtful  r  How  represent  subdivisions 
concerning  the  affiliations  of  which  geologists  differ  (Gault,  Rhetien,  etc.). 


Digitized  by 


Google 


1 886.]  Proceedings  of  Scientific  Societies,  97 

Propo<5itioii  IV,  after  strong  opposition  from  Professor  Hughes 
and  M  Jacquot,  was  finally  so  modified  as  to  allow  the  com- 
mittee to  adopt  it  provisionally  for  the  purposes  of  the  map  with- 
out prejuJaring  abstract  scientific  questions  at  all,  and  thus  carried. 

Propositions  v  and  vi  were  carried  without  objection. 

Sept.  30.  1885,  at  2.30  p.  M.,  the  congress  reassembled  to  take 
action  on  the  report  of  the  committee  on  the  unification  of  no- 
menclature which  was  then  presented  by  M.  Dewalque. 

The  reading  of  this  report,  which  was  much  longer  than  the 
other,  was  taken  up  at  p.  1 3,  A. 

The  thirteen  pages  of  the  report  thus  skipped  had  been  in  the 
main  adopted  at  the  Bologna  Congress,  a  few  minor  points  having 
been  left  for  future  adjustment.  They  concerned  for  the  most  part 
definitions  of  terms  such  as  '*  group,"  which  it  was  advised  should 
be  applied  to  the  division  of  the  highest  order  (^.;f.  secondary 
group,  etc.) ;  the  next  division  should  be  systems  (Devonian  sys^ 
tern,  etc.) ;  the  third  should  be  series  {e.g.  the  coal  measures  series 
of  the  Carboniferous  system) ;  the  fourth  division  should  be  stages 
("ctages")  (millstone  grit,  stage,  etc.);  the  division  of  the  fifth 
order  was  decided  upon  for  French  only,  *'  assise  '*  or  "  couches!* 
^  **  /.one  "  should  be  used  for  a  number  of  beds  having  one  or  more 
fossils  to  characterize  them,  but  it  should  be  inferior  as  an  order 
of  classification  to  "  staged  ^^ Bank*'  was  selected  to  imply  a  bed 
(couche  or  assise),  thicker  or  more  coherent  than  those  in  its  vi- 
cinity, among  which  it  is  intercalated.  These  and  certain  conclu- 
sions as  to  the  application  of  the  terminations  '*  ary,"  "  ic/*  and 
'•  ian " — ^the  first  for  the  groups,  the  second  for  the  series,  and 
the  third  for  the  stages — completed  the  linguistic  portion  of  the 
report  It  is  to  be  observed  that  no  adjective  termination  to  pre- 
cede system  was  proposed. 

The  remainder  of  the  report,  unacted  upon,  concerned  subjects 
partly  implied  in  the  later  portions. 

Arc/uean. — It  was  decided  to  give  to  the  Pre-palaeozoic  rocks  the 
name  Archaean  instead  of  Primitive,  and  while  recognizing  three 
divisions  to  allow  each  geologist  to  distinguish  them  by  petro- 
graphic  characters. 

Silurian.— 'On  the  motion  of  Professor  Archibald  Geikie,  the  de- 
cision as  to  the  limits  of  the  Silurian  and  Devonian  is  left  till  the 
meeting  of  the  congress  in  London  in  Ib88,  but  the  committee 
on  the  chart  has  liberty  to  divide  the  lower  system  of  the  Palaeozoic 
group  into  three  parts  of  which  the  names  will  be  determined 
upon  later. 

Devonian.-^\fttr  B,  long  and  exciting  discussion,  it  was  proposed: 
a.  That  the  Devonian  should  be  divided  into  three  parts  corre- 
sponding respectively  with  those  termed  the  Rhenan.the  Eifelian, 
aod  the  Famennian.  ^.  That  the  calceola  beds  should  form  part 
of  the  Eifelian.  c.  "  That  the  upper  limit  of  the  Devonian  should 
be  drawn  at  the  base  of  the  Carboniferous  limestone,  that  is  to 

TOU  XX.— MO.  1.  7 


V" 


Digitized  by 


Google 


98  Proceedings  of  Scientific  Societies.  [January, 

say,  the  system  which  includes  the  psammites  of  Condroz  and 
the  upper  Old  Red"  [the  words  "the  Lower  Carboniferous 
(Kilborkan,  Marwood,  Pilton)"  and  "or  the  calciferous  sand- 
stone Dura  Den  "  were  stricken  out  of  the  committee's  resolution 
at  the  request  of  Professor  A.  Geikie  as  not  representing  the  real 
associations  of  these  beds]. 

Carboniferous, — The  question  of  associating  the  Permian  with 
the  Carboniferous  provoked  the  most  interesting  discussion  of  the 
congress,  Stur  of  Vienna,  Lapparent,  Blanford,  and  Professor  New- 
berry spoke  in  favor  of  such  union.  Hughes,  Topley,  Nikitin,  and  a 
great  many  others  spoke  against  the  association.  Professor  New- 
berry in  the  course  of  his  remarks,  said  that  "  his  honored  col- 
league, Professor  Hall,  was  of  the  opinion  that  the  Permian  did 
not  exist  in  America,  and  that  his  own  studies  confirmed  this 
view."  M.  Neumayr  thought  "  the  decision  of  such  questions 
as  this  should  not  depend  upon  a  majority  vote  which  would 
change  in  each  country,  and  after  each  eloquent  speaker  (referring 
to  M.  Lapparent*s  brilliant  defense  of  the  committee's  proposition). 
This  view  was  finally  taken,  and  the  congress  adopted,  with  about 
fifteen  dissenting  votes,  the  following  proposition  formulated  by 
M.  Dewalque : 

"The  congress  not  wishing  to  pronounce  an  opinion  on  the 
scientific  question  will  leave  the  classification  as  it  is." 

Triassic, — Afler  much  debate  the  three-fold  division  of  the 
Triassic  was  agreed  to.  but  without  giving  names  to  the  divisions. 

furassic, — The  division  of  this  system  into  three  was  adopted, 
but  without  specifying  the  names  of  the  divisions. 

It  was  agreed  that  each  geologist  might  draw  the  upper  hori- 
zon of  the  lias  where  he  thought  best 

Cretaceous. — It  was  agreed  thaf  the  Gault  should  be  joined  to 
the  Cretaceous. 

Tertiary. — The  divergence  of  views  on  this  subject  was  so  great 
that  M.  Capellini  then  in  the  chair,  cut  short  the  whole  ques- 
tion by  asking  for  a  vote  of  confidence  in  the  committee,  which 
was  unanimously  given. 

Emptives. — Finally  the  seven-fold  division  of  the  eruptive  rocks, 
in  as  many  tints  of  red,  was  carried  without  opposition. 

This  completed  the  serious  geological  work  of  the  congress, 
and  it  was  then  agreed  to  meet  in  London  in  1888.  A  committee 
consisting  of  Hughes,  Geikie,  Blanford  and  Topley  was  appointed 
to  make  the  necessary  arrangements,  and  the  congress  adjourned. 

During  the  course  of  the  congress  addresses  were  given  by  M. 
Gaudry  on  certain  reptiles ;  Newberry,  on  a  new  large  Devonian 
fish  from  America ;  Posepuy,  on  the  fluid  condition  of  the  earth's 
interior;  Ochsenius  (in  German),  on  the  origin  of  salt  deposits; 
Neumayr,  on  the  plan  for  the  "  nomenclator  palaeontologicus," 
which  he  is  compiling  (and  which  the  congress  voted  to  publish 
under  its  auspices  and  through  the  agency  of  ^  special  committee 
consisting  of  MMf  Gaudry,  Zittel,  ^nd  Neumayr);   M.  flikitin 


Digitized  by 


Google 


1 886.]  Proceedings  of  Scientific  Societies.  99 

presented  his  map  of  the  Middle  and  Southeast  Russia,  including 
the  valley  of  the  Volfja ;  M.  Vasseur,  thirteen  sheets  of  the 
map  of  France ;  and  Dr.  Frazer,  on  behalf  of  Mr.  McGee,  pre- 
sented an  explanation  of  the  methods  employed  by  the  director 
of  the  United  States  Geological  Survey. 

The  delegation  which  represented  the  United  States  at  this 
congress  consisted  of  Professor  James  Hall  and  Professor  J.  S. 
Newberry,  members  of  the  original  committee  which  suggested 
the  congress ;  Professor  D.  Ph.  H.  S.  Williams  and  Professor  D. 
Sc.  Persifor  Frazer,  who  were  elected  by  the  American  Associa- 
tion for  the  Advancement  of  Science  at  its  Ann  Arbor  meeting. 
Besides  this,  Professor  Brush  was  elected  by  the  committee  under 
the  powers  granted  to  it  Mr.  J.  F.  Kemp  (assistant  to  Professor 
Newberry),  Mr.  H.  B.  Patton  (student),  and  Mr.  H.  E.  Miller 
(chemist),  from  America,  also  appeared  on  the  roll  of  the  congress. 
The  last  two  named  were  not  known  to  the  secretary,  who  can- 
not say  whether  or  not  they  attended  the  sittings.  Mr.  McGee, 
representing  Maj.  Powell  and  the  U.  S  Geological  Survey,  arrived 
after  the  sessions  had  commenced. — From  Science,  Oct.  jo,  Petsi-- 
for  Frazer^  Secretary  of  the  American  Committee  delegates, 

[Note. — A  more  detailed  report,  giving  the  debates  in  part,  will 
appear  shortly  in  the  Am.  yourn.  of  Sci.  and  Arts.  In  Science  for 
Dec.  II,  Professor  Dewalque  does  not  agree  as  to  the  action  on 
paragraph  C.  c,  under  the  Devonian.  I  am  sorry  not  to  feel  au- 
thorized to  change  it.  Several  members  of  the  congress  think 
that  the  action  was  as  above  stated. — P.  F.,  Dec.  15,  /^^J.] 

National  Academy  of  Sciences,  Albany,  Nov.  ia-12,  1885. 
— The  following  papers  were  presented :  Obscure  heat,  by  S.  P. 
Langley ;  A  new  form  of  craniaphore,  for  taking  composite  pho- 
tographs, by  John  S.  Billings ;  The  carboniferous  xiphosuran  fauna 
of  America,  by  A.  S.  Packard ;  Stellar  photography,  by  E.  C. 
Pickering ;  Two  new  forms  of  polyodont  and  gonorhynchid  fishes, 
from  the  Eocene  of  the  Roclgr  mountains,  by  E.  D.  Cope ;  Yale 
College  Observatory,  New  lines  on  the  spectra  of  certain  stars,  by 
0.  T.  Sherman  (by  invitation);  Certain  stars  observed  by  Plam- 
steed,  and  supposed  to  have  disappeared,  by  C.  H.  F.  Peters ; 
Remarks  upon  the  international  geographical  congress  at  Berlin, 
with  a  brief  historical  notice  of  the  origin  of  the  congress,  by 
James  Hall ;  Notes  on  some  points  in  the  geology  of  the  Mohawk 
valley,  by  James  Hall ;  When  shall  the  astronomical  day  begin  ? 
by  Simon  Newcomb;  Primordial  rocks  among  the  Waffinger  val- 
ley limestones  near  Poughkeepsie,  N.  Y.,  by  William  B.  Dwight 
(by  invitation);  The  errors  of  star  catalogues,  by  C.  H.  F.  Peters; 
Preliminary  report  on  the  investigation  relating  to  hereditary 
deafness,  by  A.  Graham  Bell ;  The  new  star  in  the  nebula  of  An- 
dromeda, by  C.  A.  Young ;  Recent  progress  in  economic  ento- 
mology, by  J.  A.  Lintner(by  invitation);  Remarks  on  the  stone 
ruins  of  the  Colorado  and  the  Rio  Grande,  by  J.  W.  Powell ; 


Digitized  by 


Google 


100  Proceedings  of  Scientific  Societies.         [Jan.,  iS85. 

The  New  York  State  herbarium,  by  Charles  H.  Peck  (by  invita- 
tion); The  formation  of  a  polar  catalogue  of  stars,  by  T.  H.  Saf- 
ford  (by  invitation) ;  A  section  through  the  southern  tertiaries, 
by  Otto  Meyer  (by  invitation) ;  Remarks  upon  the  Lamellibran- 
chiate  fauna  of  the  Devonian  rocks  of  the  State  of  New  York, 
and  the  results  of  investigations  made  for  the  palaeontology  of  the 
State,  by  James  Hall ;  Recent  discoveries  of  gigantic  placoderm 
fishes  in  the  Devonian  rocks  of  Ohio,  by  J.  S.  Newberry;  The 
flora  of  the  Cretaceous  clays  of  New  Jersey,  by  J.  S.  Newberry. 

Academy  of  Sciences  of  Indiana. — ^The  preliminary  circular 
proposing  the  formation  of  a  State  Academy  of  Science  of  Indi- 
ana, issued  by  authority  of  the  Brookville  Society  of  Natural 
History,  has  elicited  such  a  general  response  in  favor  of  the  move- 
ment that  there  has  been  issued  a  circular  calling  a  meeting  of  all 
of  the  people  of  Indiana  interested,  to  be  held  in  the  criminal 
court  room  (Hall  of  Representatives)  of  the  Marion  county 
court  house,  at  Indianapolis,  Ind.,  on  Tuesday,  December  29, 
1885,  at  2  o'clock  P.M. 

In  order  that  a  proper  understanding  may  be  had  of  the  present 
state  of  scientific  study  in  Indiana,  it  has  been  thought  advisable 
to  ask  from  competent  authority  a  statement  of  the  present  con- 
dition of  each  branch  of  science  that  is  being  studied  within  the 
borders  of  our  State.  The  following  persons  have  kindly  con- 
sented to  present  papers  upon  the  several  subjects  mentioned. 

Richard  Owen,  M.D.,  Sketch  of  the  work  accomplished  for 
Natural  and  Physical  Science  in  Indiana;  David  S  Jordan,  M.D., 
Icthyology ;  Professor  John  M.  Coulter,  Botany ;  Professor  J.  P. 
Naylor,  Physics;  R.  T.  Brown.  M.  D.,  Geologv ;  Professor  O.  P. 
Jenkins,  Lower  Invertebrates ;  E.  R.  Quick,  Mammalogy ;  Pro- 
fessor Robert  B.  Warder,  Chemistry;  Professor  O.  P.  Hay,  Her- 
petology;  Daniel  Kirkwood,  LL.D.,  Astronomy;  P.  S.  Baker, 
M.D.,  Entomology;  Maurice  Thompson,  Mineralogy;  Rev.  D. 
R.  Moore,  Conchology;  Sergeant  Orin  Parker.  Meteorology; 
J.  B.  Conner,  Statistics;  A.  W.  Butler,  Ornithology. 

New  York  Academy  of  Sciences,  Nov.  9. — ^The  following 
paper  was  presented :  Description  of  some  gigantic  placoderm 
fishes  recently  discovered  in  the  Devonian  of  Ohio  (with  illustra- 
tions), by  Dr.  J.  S.  Newberry. 

Nov.  16. — The  following  paper  was  read:  The  rise  and  pro- 
gress of  invertebrate  Zoology,  by  Dr.  J.  B.  Holder. 

Nov.  23. — The  following  paper  was  read :  The  preservation  of 
building  materials  by  the  application  of  parafline,  as  recently  used 
upon  the  obelisk  (illustrated  with  apparatus  and  experiments),  by 
Mr.  R.  M.  Caffall. 

Nov.  30. — The  following  papers  were  presented :  On  meteoric 
irons  (i.  From  Glorieta  mountain,  Santa  Fe  county.  New  Mexico; 
2.  From  Jenny's  Creek,  Wayne  county,  West  Va.),  by  Mr.  Geo.  F. 
Kunz ;  Minerals  of  Harlem  and  vicinity,  by  Mr.  B.  B.  Chamberlin. 


• 

Digitized  by 


Google 


THE 


AMERICAN   NATURALIST, 


AN  ILLUSTRATED  MAGAZINE 


OF 


NATURAL     HISTORY. 


EDITED  BY 

ALPHEUS  S.  PACKARD  and  EDWARD  D.  COPE. 

ASSOCIATE  EDITORS : 

W.  N.  LOCKINGTON,  Dep.  of  Geography  and  Travels. 
Dr.  GEO.  H.  WILLIAMS,  Dep.  Mineralogy  &  Petrography. 
Prop.  C.  E.  BESSEY,  Department  of  Botany. 
JOHN  A.  RYDER,  Department  of  Embryology. 
Prof.  HENRY  SEWALL,  Department  of  Physiology. 
Prof,  O.  T,  MASON,  Department  of  Anthropology. 
Dr.  C.  O.  WHITMAN,  Department  of  Microscopy. 


VOLUME  XIX. 


PHILADELPHIA  : 

PRESS  OF  McCALLA  A  STAVELY, 

Nos.  337  AMD  139  Dock  Strbbt. 

1885. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


Copyrighted  1885, 

By  McCalla  &  Stavely, 

,  For  the  Proprietors. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


CONTENTS. 


ConpairatiYe  Physiology  and  Psychology S.  V,  Cievngtr z 

Some  apparently  undcscribed  InAisoria  from  fresh  Water.    [Il- 
lustrated.]       Al/rtd  C.  Stokes i8 

Notes  on  the  Physical  Geography  of  the  Amazons  valley.  .  ,  .  Herbert  H,  Smith a/ 

Hibernation  of  the  Lower  Vertebrates Amos  IV.  Butler 37 

The  Amblypoda.    (Continued  from  p.  120a,  Vol.  xviii).    [Illus- 
trated.]   E,  D,  Cope 40 

The  Habits  of  Some  AnricolinaB.    [Illustrated.] Edaar  R.  Quick,  A.  IV.  Butler  w^ 

On  a  Parasitic  Copepod  of  the  Clam.    [Illustrated.] R.  Ramsay  Wright 118 

On  the  Rudimentary  Hind  Limb  of  Nf  egaptera  longimana  .  •  .  John  Struthers 134 

On    Finger   Mitsdes    in    Megapiera   longimana  and  in  other 

Whaks John  Struthers 136 

The  Struct'sre  and  Development  of  the  Suspensory  Ligament  of 

the  Fetlock  in  the  Horse,  Ox,  &c J.  D.  Cunningham 127 

The  Winoosici  or  Wakefield  Marble  of  Vermont Geo.  H.Perkins 128 

A  Bounical  Study  of  the  Mite  Gall  found  on  the  Black  Walnut 

{Illostratcd.J Lillie  J,  Martin 146 

Ob  the   Evolution  of  the  Vertebrata,  Progressive  and  Retro- 
gressive  ,  \  ,  .  E.  D.  Co^e X40,  934,  341 

Indian  Corn  and  the  Indian E.  Lewis  Sturtevant 325 

On  the  Larval  Forma  of  Spirorbis  borenlls.     [Illustrated.].   .   ,J.  Walter  Fewkes 247 

Pennsylvania  before  and  after  the  Elevation  of  the  Appalachian 

mountains,  a  study  in  Dynamical  Geotoi^y.    [Illustrated.]  .  £".  W.  ClayftoU 157 

Life  and  Nature  in  Southern  Labra^dor.    [Illustrated.] A.S.Packard.         .  .   .  .369,365 

Why  certain  kinds  of  Timber  prevail  in  certain  I^ocaliries  .   .  .John  T.  Campbell. 337 

Progress  of   North  American    Invertebrate    Palaeontology  for 

s8i4 J.  B.  Mdreou 353 

The  Qam-Wonn Samuel  Loekwood. 360 

Some  new  Infusoria.    [Illustrated.]     Alfred  C  Stokes 433 

Kitchen  Garden  Esculents  of  American  Origin E.  Lnvis  Sturtevant .  444,  549,  658 

The  Lemuroidea  and  the  Insecttvora  of  the   Eocene  period  of 

North  America*    [Illustrated.] E.  D.  Cope 457 

Notes  on  the  Labrador  Eskimo  and  their  former  range  South- 
ward.    [Illustrated.]  .  . A.  S.  Packard.      ....      47',  553 

The  Relations  of  Mind  and  Matter Charles  Morris    533,  68o,  754,  845, 

940,  Z059, 1x50 

The  Inter-relattonshlps  of  Arthropods J.  S.  Kingsley 560 

Hovr  the  Pitcher  Plant  got  its  Leave».    [Illustrated.] Joseph  F.James      567 

An  Adiroodack  National  Park William  Hosea  Ballou  ....    578 

Ev  4otioa  in  the  Vegetable  Kingdom,    t  Illustrated.] Lester  F.  Ward <S37,  745 

On  the  Vertical  Range  of  certain  Fossil  Species  in  Pennsylvania 

and  New  York E.  W.  ClayPole 644 

Ancient  Rock  Inscriptions  on  the  Lake  of  the  Woods.    [lUus- 

traied] A.  C.  Lawson. 654 

Moorainc  and  War  Customs  of  the  Kansas     [Illustrated.].  .  ,J.  Otven  Dorsey 670 

Notice  of  some  Human  Remains  found  near  the  City  of  Mex- 
ico.    [Illustrated  ] Mariano  de  la  Barcena     .  .    739 

ASoJtics  of  Annelids  to  Vertebrates.     [Illurtrated.] E.  A.  Andrews.      .   .  .  .    767 

The  Us«  of  Copper  by  the  Delaware  In  li  in4.    [Illustrated.].   ,  Charles  C.  Abbott 774 

Tta«  Reputation  of  the  Lantern  Fly.    [Illustrated.]  ..••••  John  C.  Branner 835 


Digitized  by 


Google 


iv  Contents. 

Age  of  Forest  Trees yno.  T.  CampMl.  ....••   838 

The  Exhalation  of  Ozone  by  Odorous  Plants y.M.  Andtrs^  G.  B.  M,  Miller  858 

Glacial  OriK'tn  of  Presque  Isle,  Lake  Erie T.  Dwigkt  lugtrs^ll 86s 

Mythic  Dry-paintings  of  the  Navajos.    [Illustrated.] W.  Maitkrws 931 

A  Biography  of  the  Halibut G.  Brown  Goode 953 

Traces  of  Prehistoric  Man  on  the  Wabash Jno.  T.  Campbell,  ......   965 

Examples  of  Iconoclasm  by  the  Conquerors  of  Mexico.     [Illus- 
trated.]  W,H.  Holmes 1031 

The  Present  Condition  of  the  Yellowstone  National  Park. ,  ,  ,  E.  D.  Co/e Z037 

An  Observation  on  the  Hybridization  and  Cross-breeding  of 

Plants ,,,,£.  Lewis  Sturievami X040 

Observations  on  the  Muskrat Amos  IV.  Butler 1044 

The  Problem  of  the  Soaring  Bird .  .  /.  Lancaster 1055,  xi6x 

The  Stone  Ax  in  Vermont.    [Illustrated.] Geo.  H.  Perkins 1x43 

Floods,  their  History  and  Relations •  •  William  Hosea  Ballon  .  .  .  .1159 

The  Significance  of  the  "Collar  Bone  "  in  the  Mammalia.  •  .  .  Spencer  Trotter 117^ 

Pear  Blight  and  its  Cause /.  C,  Arthur xz77 


Editors'  Tablb. 

Evolution  and  the  Church,  55 ;  Vagaries  of  Noroenclators,  56 :  Dates  of  issue  of  Naturaust 
for  1884,57;  Report  of  the  Museum  of  Comparative  Zoology.  148;  Professor  Jayne  and  the 
School  of  Biology,  149  ;  Naturalists  in  Mexico,  150;  The  Origin  of  Speech,  150;  The  National 
Museum  at  Washington,  976 ;  Last  Year's  Discoveries  In  Zoology  and  Palaeontology,  377 ; 
The  Geological  Survey  of  Canada,  377 ;  The  Dimensions  of  Matter,  482  ;  The  Geological  3ur- 
vey  of  Indiana,  48a ;  The  Bestiarian«,  483 ;  The  National  Academy  of  Sciences,  583;  Papers  at 
the  National  Academy  Meeting,  584 ;  Original  research,  its  motives  and  opportunities,  691 ; 
Criticism,  777 ;  Receipts  for  Government  publications,  778 ;  Evolution  in  "Mind  in  Nature," 
778 :  The  Ann  Arbor  meeting  of  the  American  Association  for  the  Advancement  of  Science, 
972:  Presence  of  a  tail  in  embryo  man,  973;  The  death  of  Mime- Edwards,  973:  The  U.  S. 
Coast  Survey,  974:  Acknowledgment  of  the  receipt  of  Government  publications,  974;  The  de- 
struction of  animab,  1077;  Tertiary  man  in  France,  1078;  The  Comision  Cientifica  of  Mexico, 
X079;  The  Political  Scientist,  zx86;  The  Geological  Survey  of  Michigan,  X187. 

Rbcxnt  Litskatvrb. 

Merriam's  Mammals  of  the  Adirondack  region,  57;  Gray's  Synoptical  FIora,'6o;  Allen's  Hu- 
man Anatomy ,  6z ;  Recent  Books  and  Pamphlets,  61  ;  Third  Annual  Report  of  the  U.  S.  Geo- 
logical Survey  [Illustrated],  x>i  ;  Hyatt  on  the  genera  of  fossil  Cephalopods,  153;  Parker's 
Zootomy,  154 :  Shepard's  Mineral  Record,  156 ;  Recent  Books  and  Pamphlets,  157  ;  De  Nadail- 
lac's  Prehistoric  America  [Illustrated],  278'  Ingersoll's  Country  Cousins,  282;  The  Geology  of 
Indiana,  283 ;  Recent  Books  and  Pamphlets,  283;  Cope's  Vertebrata  of  the  Tertiary  formations 
of  the  West,  373 ;  Claus'  Elementary  Text-book  of  Zoology,  374  ;  Goodale's  Physiological 
Botany,  376;  Smith's  Diseases  of  Field  and  Garden  Crops,  378 ;  Recent  Books  and  Pamphlets, 
378;  Recent  Palx)ntological  Reports  of  the  Second  Geological  Survey  of  Pennsylvania,  483  ; 
The  Zoological  Record  for  1883,  484:  Millspaugh's  American  Medicinal  Plants,  485  ;  Philo- 
sophic Zoology  before  Darwin,  483;  Canadian  Geological  Survey,  486;  Twelfth  Annual  Report 
of  the  Geological  and  Natural  History  Survey  of  Minnesota,  486 ;  Recent  Books  and  Pam- 
phlets, 486  ;  Hand-book  of  Central  European  Forest  Entomology,  584 ;  Claus'  Elementary  Text- 
book of  Zoology,  535 ;  Upham's  Fbra  of  Minnesota,  583 ;  Recent  Books  and  Pamphlet«,  586 ; 
The  Cruise  of  the  "  Alice  May  "  [Illustrated],  693 ;  Irving's  Copper-bearing  Rocks  of  Lake 
Superior,  694;  The  Microscope  in  Botany.  695  ;  The  Amateur  Naturalist,  The  Hoosier  Mineral- 
ogist and  Archasologist,  The  Museum,  The  Young  Mineralogist  and  Antiquarian,  69s ;  De 
Candolle's  Origin  of  Cultivated  Plants,  778  ;  Our  Living  World  [Illustrated],  780  ;  Memoirs  of 
the  National  Academy  of  Sciences  [Illustrated],  780;  Dr.  Krauss'  Slavic  Customs,  761 :  Kings- 
ley's  Madam  How  and  Madam  Why,  783 ;  Eyferth's  Naturgeschichte  der  mikroskopischen 
Siisswasser  bewohner,  78a ;  Gatschet's  "  A  Migration  Legend  of  the  Creek  Indians,"  783 ;  Re- 
cent Books  and  Pamphlets,  783 ;  Prince  Roland  Bonaparte's  Les  Habitants  de  Suriname,  868 ; 
Bergen's  Development  Theory,  869  ;  Recent  Books  and  Pamphlets,  869  :  Forbes'  A  Naturalist's 
Wanderings  in  the  Eastern  Archipelago  [Illustrated],  975 ;  The  Report  of  the  Fifty-fourth  Meet* 
ingof  the  British  Association,  977:  Vining's  "An  Inglorious  Columbus,"  978;  Report  of  Pro- 
gress of  the  Geological  and  Natural  History  Survey  of  Canada  for  z883-'83-'84,  979  ;  Walcou's 


^  Digitized  by  Google 


Contents,  v 

Palaeontology  of  the  Eureica  district,  979 ;  Curtis*  Silver-lead  Deposits  of  Eureka,  Nevada,  979 ; 
Recent  Boolcs  and  Pamphlets,  979 ;  White's  Review  of  the  Fossil  Oysters  of  North  America, 
X079 ;  Recent  Books  and  Pamphlets,  1080 ;  Romanes'  Researches  on  the  Nervous  Systems  of 
Jelly  and  Star*fis*a  [Illustrated],  zi88  ;  Jordan's  Catalogue  of  Fishes  of  North  America,  1199: 
Recent  Books  and  Pamphlets,  isoo. 


GsmoiAL  Nons. 

Geography  mnd  Travgi*. —'Africzn  Notes,  63 ;  American  Notes,  64 ;  Asiatic  Notes,  66 ;  Miscel- 
laneous Notes,  66  ;  America :  The  Chilian  Andes,  The  Supposed  New  Island  off  Iceland,  Mrade 
river.  Lake  Mistassini,  American  Notes,  158;  Africa:  Mr.  O'Neill's  Journey,  The  Kwilu  Expe- 
dition, AfriciD  Notes,  161 :  South  Georgia,  i6a  •  Asia  :  Asiatic  Notes,  285 ;  Africa:  Results  of  the 
Journey  of  Mr.  Jon.  Thomson,  Mr.  O'Neill's  Explorations,  a86 ;  Asia  :  The  Island  of  Formosa, 
Northern  Afghanisun,  Asiatic  Notes,  380 ;  Africa :  African  Notes.  38a ;  America :  Norse  and  Por- 
tuguese Colonies  in  North  .\merica,  Source  of  the  Mississippi,  The  Fuegians,  383;  Africa :  The 
Niger,  Hanar,  487 ;  Asia :  Asiatic  Notes,  488 ;  Europe :  Eairopean  Notes,  489 ;  America  ;  Physical 
Aspect  of  Brazil.  American  Notes,  Lake  Mista<«stni,  489 ;  Dr.  Carver,  a  Correction,  491 ;  Africa : 
Kilimanjaro,  The  Egyptian  Sudan,  587:  Asia  :  The  Lower  Hetmund.  Discovery  of  the  Sources  of 
the  Hoang-ho,  Asiatic  Notes,  588 ;  Australia :  The  North  Coast  of  New  Guinea,  589  ;  America, 
590;  Europe,  590;  Africa^  The  Sahara,  M.  Giraud's  Expedition,  Recent  Acquisitions  of  Spain, 
The  Kingdom  ot  the  Congo:  The  Red  Sea  Coast,  African  News,  696:  Asia:  The  Sanpo  and 
the  Irawadi;  Corea  ;  M.  de  Mailly-Chalon's  Journey,  784:  Oceanica :  New  Zealand,  786; 
South  America  :  Roraima  ;  The  Saskatchewan  region.  The  Xtngu,  787:  Europe,  788  :  Africa : 
African  News,  789:  Asia:  The  Badghis  district.  The  Pescadores,  Port  Hamilton,  Asiatic  News, 
87a;  Africa,  874:  America,  87s:  Geographical  News,  876;  Africa:  African  News,  983;  Asia: 
Asiatic  News,  984 ;  America:  American  News,  984;  General,  1083:  Africa:  M.  Foucauld'j 
Travels  in  Morocco,  African  News,  1083 ;  America :  American  News,  1086 ;  Asia:  Asiatic  News, 
1087:  Europe:  European  News,  1087 ;  Asia  and  Oceanica :  The  Badghis,  The  Carolines. Corea, 
Asiatic  and  Oceanic  News,  zaoa  ;  Atrica:  African  News,  iao6 ;  America :  American  News,  iao6; 
Europe :  European  News,  1307. 


Gtaloty  and  PaUconMogy, — Rodentia  of  the  European  Tertiaries,  67 ;  Marsh  on  American 
Jurassic  Dinoaauria,  Part  viii,  67 ;  The  Eocene  of  North  Carolina,  69  ;  Character  of  the  Deep- 
sea  Deposits  off  the  Eastern  Coast  of  the  United  States,  69  ;  Geological  News,  70;  The  White 
River  beds  of  Swifk  Current  river,  Northwest  territory,  163  ;  Occurrence  of  Boulders  of  Decom- 
poftitlon  at  Washington,  D.  C.«  and  elsewhere,  163:  Are  there  any  fo<isil  Algae?  165;  Geologi- 
cal New«,  167;  The  Position  of  Pterichthys  in  the  System  [Illustrated],  389;  Types  of  Carbon- 
iferoiu  Xiphosura  new  to  North  America,  397 ;  Geological  Notes,  394 ;  The  Oldest  Tertiary 
Mammaliai  385;  A  Barometer  for  measuring  separately  the  Weight  and  Pressure  of  the  Air  [Il- 
lustrated], 387;  The  Eriboll  Crystalline  Rocks.  389;  The  Theater  of  the  Earthquakes  in  Spain, 
390:  Geological  Notes,  390;  The  Mammalian  genus  Ilemiganus,  49a ;  Marsupials  from  the 
Lower  Eocene  of  New  Mexico,  493 :  The  Loup  Fork  Miocene  in  Mexico,  404  ;  Discovery  of  an 
extinct  Elk  in  the  Quaternary  of  New  Jersey,  495  ;  Tertiary  Man  at  Thenay,  495 ;  Geological 
Notes,  496;  The  Origin  of  Fre«h*water  Faunas,  590;  The  Batrachia  of  the  Permian  beds  of 
Bohemia  and  the  Labyrinthodont  from  the  Bijori  group  (India),  59a ;  The  Genera  of  the  Dino- 
cerata,  594 :  The  United  States  Geological  Survey,  594  ;  Insects  of  the  Carboniferous  period,  594: 
Gealc^tCal  News,  595:  Sir  William  Dawson  on  the  Mesozoic  Floras  of  the  Rocky  Mountain 
region  of  Canada,  699:  The  Syncarida,  a  group  of  Carboniferous  Crustacea,  700;  Marsh  on 
the  Dinocerata,  703 :  Geological  News,  705 ;  The  Mammalia  of  ihe  Oligocene  of  Buenos  Ayres, 
789;  Oa  the  Gampsonychidx.  an  undescribed  family  of  fossil  Schizopod  Crustacea,  790; 
Geological  News,  793  ;  The  Relations  of  the  Palaeozoic  Insects,  876 ;  Garman  on  Didymodus, 
878 :  On  the  Anthracaridae,  a  family  of  Carboniferous  macrurous  decapod  Crustacea,  allied  to 
the  Eryonidae.  880;  The  Geological  History  of  New  Zealand,  881 ;  Geological  News,  88a;  The 
Relations  of  the  Puerco  and  Laramie  Deposiu,  985:  Crosby's  Continents  and  Ocean  Basins, 
986 :  Geological  News,  987 ;  On  the  Presence  of  Zones  of  certain  Silicates  about  the  Olivine 
occurring  in  Anorthosite  Rocks  from  the  River  Saguenay,  1087 ;  Eocene  Paddle-fish  and  Gono- 
rliynchidae,  1090 ;  A  Critique  of  Croll's  Glacial  Theory,  1091;  Occurrence  of  a  deep-sea  Fora- 
.  minifer  In  Australian  Miocene  Rocks,  109a:  Geological  News,  zc^a;  Polemics  in  Paiaeontology, 
S907 ;  The  Ankle  and  Skin  ot  the  Dinosaur,  Diclonius  mirabilts  [Illustrated],  iao8 ;  Pliocene  Horses 
of  Southwestern  Texas  [Illustrated],  iao8;  List  of  the  Geological  Formations  of  Spitzbergen , 
xaa9  ;  Geological  News,  laio. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


vi  Contents, 

Mineralogy  and  Petrography. — Optical  Anomalies  In  Crystal*  of  the  Regular  Sy<teni,a96: 
Mineral  SynihesJ*.  998 :  Boron  Minerals,  799  :  Recent  Text-bo  »k«  of  Mfneralojcy  and  Petrogra- 
phy, 392:  Croctdolite  from  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope,  394;  PetrograpSical  Notes.  39s  :  Wads- 
worth's  Lithologlcal  Studies,  Part  i.  497  ;  Mineralngicat  Notes,  500;  Physical  Mineralogy,  596  ; 
The  Fetd«pars,  599  ;  Hyperathene-basalt,  601 ;  New  Minerals,  708:  The  Cla»sification  of  Nat- 
ural Silicates,  795 ;  Mineralogical  News,  798:  Amphibole-Anthophyllite  from  Mt.  Washington, 
Baltimore  county,  884 ;  New  Planes  on  Hornblende  Crystals,  885 :  Leucite,  886 ;  Tcschnite, 
991 :  Metamorphosis  of  Gabbro,  99a ;  Petrographical  News,  993  ;  New  MineraLs,  1095  ;  Amer- 
ican Minerals,  1096 ;  Meteorites,  zazz  ;  Mineralogical  News,  1214  ;  Petrographical  News,  xais* 

Botany. — ^The  Fertilization  of*  the  Mullein  Foxglove  (Seymcria  macrophylla)  [Illustrated], 
7a;  Botany  in  Kansas,  73:  fertility  of  Hybrids,  73;  The  Younger  School  of  Botanists,  75:  New 
Species  of  North  American  Fungi,  76:  Botanical  Notes,  77;  The  Fertilization  of  Phy«ostegia 
virginiann  [Illustrated  |,  168  r  Beginning  Botany,  169  ;  The  Study  of  Parasitic  Fung!.  170:  Varia- 
tion in  Cultivated  Plants.  171;  Botanical  Notes.  171 ;  Seedless  Apples,  30Z  :  Why  Flowers  Blos- 
som Early,  301 ;  A  Significant  Discovery,  309  ;  The  H  istory  of  Discovery  in  Ferns,  303  ;  De 
Bary's  Comparative  Anatomj^of  Vegetative  Organs,  303;  Journal  of  Mycology,  304:  Botanical 
Notes.  304  :  Hybridization  of  Potatoes,  396  ;  Heteroecism  of  Cedar  Apples,  396:  North  Amerv 
can  Forcst^i,  396 :  The  Fertilization  of  the  Leather-flower  (Clematis  vioma)  [Illustrated]  397; 
Plant  Migrations,  398 ;  Gray's  Botanical  Contributions,  i884*'85^  399 :  Botanical  Notes,  399  ; 
The  Node  of  Equisetum  [Illustrated],  50a  ;  Dispersion  of  Spores  in  a  Toadstool,  503  :  The  Fer- 
tilization of  Cuphea  viscosissima  [Illustmted],  503  ;  The  internal  Cambium  Ring  in  Gelsemtum 
sempervirens,  504 ;  Strasburger's  Botnntsche  Practicum,  505 :  The  Pampas,  505  :  Botanical 
Notes.  506  ;  Fertilization  of  the  Wild  Onion  (Allium  cernuum)  [Tllusirated],  6ot ;  The  continuity 
of  Protoplasm  in  many-celled  Plants,  60a  ;  Willkomm's  Arrangement  of  the  Vegetable  King<1om, 
603 ;  The  Study  of  the  Liverworts  in  North  America,  604 ;  Botany  at  Salem,  605 ;  Botanical  News, 
606;  American  Medicinal  Plants,  710:  Development  of  Stomata  of  the  Oat  [Illustmted],  7x0; 
The  Opening  of  the  Flowers  of  Desmodium  sessilifolium  f  Illustrated] .  711 ;  Botanical  News.  713  ; 
Branching  of  Pteris  aqtiilina  [Illustrated].  799 ;  Attempted  Hybridization  between  Pond-<cnms 
of  different  Genera  [Illustrated],  800;  More  Popular  Botany,  8oa:  The  Botanical  Club  of  the  A. 
A.  A.  S.,  80a ;  Botanical  News,  803;  The  Abundance  of  Ash  Rust,  886;  The  Fertilization  of  the 
Wild  Bean  (Phaseolus  diversifolius)  [Illustrated],  887;  The  Movement  of  Protoplasm  in  the 
Styles  of  Indian  Com,  88S  ;  Bacteria  as  Vegetable  Parasites,  888;  Work  for  the  Botanical  Qub 
of  the  A.  A.  A.  S.,  889 ;  Botanical  News,  890 ;  Botanical  Work  of  the  American  A^^sociation  for 
the  Advancement  of  Science,  994  :  The  Botanical  Club  of  the  A.  A.  A.  S.,  997  ;  The  Growth  of 
Plants  watered  with  Acid  Solutions,  1099  ;  Botanical  News,  1103;  The  Grasses  of  Maine,  1117  ; 
The  Spectrum  of  Chlorophyll,  1J17;  The  Treatment  of  Sets  of  Botanical  Specimens,  iai8; 
Botanical  Notes,  iaz8. 


Entomology.-^.  Emery  on  the  Fire-fly  of  Italy,  77:  Entomological  Notes,  80;  Embryology 
of  Aphides  [Illustrated],  17a:  Nerve-terminations  on  Antennae  of  Chilognath  Myrinpods.  176; 
Poison  ApparHtus  and  Poison  of  Scorpions,  177 :  Occurrence  of  Tachina  Flies  in  the  Tracheae 
of  Insects,  178;  Eaton's  Monograph  of  recent  Ephemeridx,  Part  11,  178:  Structure  and  Function 
of  the  Legs  of  Insects,  178:  Entomological  Notes,  180;  The  Flight  of  the  Robber  Flies  during  Con- 
nection, 305;  Notes  on  the  Mounds  of  the  Occident  Ant,  305  ;  Notes  on  the  Breeding  Habits  of 
the  Libellulidae,  306;  The  number  of  Abdominal  Segments  in  Lepidopterous  larvs.  307  ;  Ento- 
mological Notes.  308 :  Generic  Position  of  Polvdesmus  ocellaius,  400;  Aquatic  Caterpillars,  401 ; 
Organs  of  Hearing  and  Smell  in  Spiders,  40a  ;  Ignivorous  Ant,  403  ;  Entomological  Notes,  403  ; 
Reproduction  in  the  Honey-bee,  506;  Life  histories  of  Mites,  507;  Firefly  Light,  508;  Use  of 
an  adhesive  fluid  in  jumping  Insects,  509;  Entomological  Notes,  509  ;  Riley's  Entomologica' 
Report  for  1884  [Illustrated],  607  ;  Latzel's  Myriopoda  of  Austro-Hungaria,  607;  Troue^sart  and 
Megnin's  Sarcoptid  Mites,  608  ;  Entomological  News,  608 ;  Unusual  number  of  Legs  in  the 
Caterpillar  of  Lagoa  [Illustrated  1,  7x4;  Use  of  the  Pupae  of  Moths  in  distinguishing  Species,  715; 
Swarming  of  a  Dung-beetle,  Aphodius  ihquinatus,  716  :  Insect  Pests  on  the  Pacific  Coast,  716; 
Entomological  Notes,  716;  The  Black,  Wheat-stalk  Isosoma  (Isosoma  nigrum,  n  sp.)  [Illus- 
trated], 804:  Entomological  News,  808;  A  new  species  of  Crambus  injuring  Com  Roots,  891  ; 
Unusual  Abundance  of  Grasshoppers  in  Colorado,  89a :  Mimicry  of  a  Dragon  fly  by  a  Sumatran 
Butterfly,  893:  Edible  Mexican  Insects,  893:  EntomoloKical  News,  893:  Dr.  Brauer's  Views  on 
the  Classification  of  Insects,  999:  Histology  and  Embryology  of  Insects,  looi ;  Horn  on  the 
Anisotomini,  Z003 ;  Entomological  News,  Z004  ;  On  the  Parasites  of  the  Hessian  Fly,  z  104  . 
Forbes'  Report  on  the  Noxious  Insects  of  Illinois  for  1884,  TZ05;  Flights  of  Locusts  in.  Eastern 


Digitized  by 


Google 


Contents.  vii 

Mexico  in  i88s#  "05;  Chinese  Insect  White  Wax,  1x06:  Palpi  of  Insects,  1107;  Entomologi- 
cal  News,  1x07;  Occurrence  of  Colias  nastes  in  the  Pamir  mountains,  xaao ;  The  Eye  and  Optic 
Tract  of  Insects,  xaao ;  How  Insects  adhere  to  flat  vertical  Surfaces,  xaax ;  Season  Dimorphism 
in  Spiders,  tsax  ;    Entomological  News,  xaax. 

Z^ology.-^'Wi^  Deep-sea  Explorations  of  the  "  Talisman,"  8x  ;  The  depth  to  which  Sunlight 
penetrates  Water,  84 :  On  the  Structure  of  the  Brain  ot  Asellus  and  the  Eyeless  form  Cecidotaea,  85 ; 
On  the  Morphology  of  the  Tarsa<«  in  the  Mammals,  86;  Zoological  Notes,  88;  The  Deep  sea  Ex- 
plorations of  the  "  Talisman"  (continued),  183;  The  Nervous  System  of  Antedon,  184;  Herrick's 
Ciadocera  and  Copepoda  of  Minnesota,  185 ;  Morphology  of  the  Vertebrate  Auditory  Organ, 
186  ;  Some  preliminary  notes  on  the  Anatomy  of  Fishes,  187;  The  Larva  of  Esthcria  mexicana 
[iilu-strated],  X90;  Aberration  in  the  Perch,  193  ;  A  Lizard  running  with  its  Fore  Feet  off  the 
Ground,  X9a:  Feathers  of  the  Dodo,  19a;  The  Armadillo  in  Texas,  X92  ;  Another  Swimming 
Woodchuck,  19a  ;  Nest  of  Neotoma  floridana,  193;  Haacke's  Discovery  of  the  Eggs  of  the  Aus- 
tralian Echidna,  193 ;  Distribution  of  Mammals,  194 ;  On  the  Centrale  Carpi  of  the  Mammals, 
195;  The  Trapezium  of  the  Camelids,  196;  Last  appearance  of  the  Bison  in  West  Virginia, 
X97:  Zoological  Notes,  X98:  Function  of  Chlorophyll  in  Animals,  309 ;  A  Free-swimming  Sporo- 
cyst,  310;  Structure  of  Echinoderms,  311 ;  Affinities  of  Onchidia,  31a  ;  Zoological  Notes,  31a  ; 
The  Anatomy  ot  the  Hirudinca,  404 ;  Netimayr's  Classification  of  the  Lamellibranchs,  404  ;  An- 
tennary  Gland  of  Cytheridx,  405  ;  An  Eyeless  Eel,  405;  Temperature  and  Hibernation,  405; 
The  Chameleon  Viviparous,  407 ;  A  Crow  Cracking  Clams,  407 ;  The  Turkey  Buzzard  breeding 

in  Pennsylvania,  407  ;  A  Beaver  Dam  built  without  Wood,  407;  The  Wild  Horse  of  Thibet, 
408;  Zoological  Notes,  408;  Another  Vorticella  with  two  contractile  Vesicles,  510;  Cuvierian 
Organs  of  the  Cotton-spinner,  510;  Earth-worms,  511 ;  Deep-sea  Explorations  of  last  Summer 
by  the  U.  S.  Fish  Commission,  5xa  ;  Anatomy  of  a  Catfish,  sxa ;  TheSpiraclesof  AmiaandLep- 
idosteus,  513  :  Birds  out  of  Season, a  Tragedy,  513  ;  How  far  does  the  Jerboa  jump?  5x4;  Dis- 
tribution of  Color  in  the  Animal  Kingdom,  609;  Life-history  of  Stentor  caeruleus,  6x0;  A  Ner- 
vous System  in  Sponges, 6x1 ;  Shells  of  Bivalves,  6xx ;  The  Lateral  Line  of  Fishes,  6x3 ;  Zoolog- 
ical News,  613;  Indestructible  Infusorial  Life,  7x7;  On  the  Morphology  of  the  Carpus  and 
Tarsus  of  Vertebrates,  718 ;  A  Black-footed  Ferret  from  Texas,  720  ;  Zoological  News,  730; 
Sense  of  Color  and  of  Brightness  in  Animals,  809 ;  Artificial  Division  of  Infusoria,  809;  Organ- 
isms in  Ice,  8x0;  A  Fresh-water  Sponge  from  Mexico,  810  ;  A  Hermaphroditic  Crab,  8xx  ;  Dis- 
covery of  Blind  Fishes  in  California,  81 1 ;  The  Mule  Deer  in  Domestication,  81 1 ;  The  Greek 
and  the  Modern  Foot,  81a:  Zoological  News,  8x3;  The  Skeleton  of  the  Marsipobranchi,  894 ; 
The  Star-no»ed  Mole  Amphibious,  895 ;  Iridescence  in  the  Oregon  Mole,  895  ;  The  Pine  Mouse 
in  Northern  New  York,  895 ;  Capture  of  the  Pine  Mouse  at  Sing  Sing,  New  York,  896 ;  A  new 
genus  and  species  of  Shrew,  896 ;  Harelda  glacialis  at  New  Orleans,  896 ;  Origin  of  the  American 
varieties  of  the  Dog,  896 ;  Zoological  News,  90X  ;  £.  Ray  Lankester's  Contributions  to  a 
Knowledge  of  Rhabdopleura,  X005 ;  The  large  Iguanas  of  the  Greater  Antilles,  X005 ;  M.  Paul 
Atbrecbt's  Identifications,  xoc6  ;  Presence  of  a  Tail  in  the  Human  Embryo,  X009  ;  Zoological 
News,  101  x;  Recent  Work  on  Balanoglotsus,  X107;  The  Reproduction  of  the  Common  Mus- 
sel, 1x09;  Manner  in  which  the  Lamellibranchs  attach  themselves  to  Foreign  Objects,  XX09; 
Pulmonale  Uropneustic  Apparatus,  xxxo;  Helix  cantiana  at  Quebec,  xxxi ;  Rats  nesting  in 
Trees,  xxia;  Preliminary  note  on  the  Origin  of  Limbs,  xiia;  Zoological  News,  1x13  ;  The  Sig- 
nificance of  the  Cell  Nucleus  to  the  Problem  of  Heredity,  xaa3  ;  The  Retrograde  Metamorphosis 
of  Siren,  iaa6;  Recent  Additipns  to  the  Museum  of  Brown  University,  xaa7;  Zoological 
News,  Kaa8. 

Embryohgy.—Kii  Outline  of  a  Theory  of  the  Development  of  the  unpaired  Fins  of  Fishes 
[Ilustrated],9o;  The  Development  of  the  Rays  of  osseous  Fishes  [Illustrated],  aoo ;  On  the 
Translocation  forwards  of  the  Rudiments  of  the  Pelvic  Fins  in  the  Embryos  of  Physodist 
Fishes,  3x5:  Development  of  the  Viviparous  Edible  Oyster,  317;  On  the  position  of  the  Yolk- 
blastopore  as  determined  by  the  size  of  the  Vitellus,  41X:  Development  of  the  Spines  of  the 
anterior  dorsal  of  Gasterosteus  and  Lophius,  4x5;  On  the  probable  origin,  homologies  and  de- 
velopment of  the  flukes  bf  Cetaceans  and  Sirenians,  5x5  ;  On  the  Formation  of  the  Embry- 
onic Axis  of  the  Teleostean  Embryo  by  the  Concrescence  of  the  Rim  of  the  Blastoderm  [Illus- 
trated], 6x4 :  Tde  mode  of  Formation  and  the  morphological  value  of  the  Egg  of  Nepa  and 
Nocooccta,  6x5;  On  the  Development  of  the  Ma'mmary  Glands  of  Cetacea  [Illustrated],  616; 
On  the  Embryology  of  Limulus  polyphemus.  III  [Illustrated],  72a ;  On  the  availability  of  embry- 
ological  characters  in  the  classification  of  the  Chordata,  815,  903:  On  the  Genesis  of  the  extra 
terminal  Phalanges  in  the  Cetacea,  X0X3  ;  (^  the  Manner  in  which  the  Cavity  of  the  Heart  is 
Ibnned  in  certain  TeleosU,  1015  ;  The  Archistome-Theory,  xxxs;  The  Development  and  Struc- 
ture of  Mtcrohydra  ryderi  Potts  [Illustrated],  1333. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


viii  Contents. 

Phystoiogy.'—'T\ic  Therapeutic  Effects  of  Oxygen  and  of  Otone,  97:  The  Presence,  Source  and 
Significance  of  Sugar  in  the  Blood,  98:  The  Prevention  of  Hydrophobia,  98 :  The  Temperature 
Sense,  318  ;  Rhythmic  Contraction  of  the  Capillaries  in  Man,  319 ;  The  Piston  Recorder,  320; 
The  Origin  of  Fibrin  formed  in  the  Coagulation  of  Blood,  330 ;  Voluntary  Acceleration  of  the 
Heart-baei  in  Man,  320 ;  Function  of  the  Thyroid  body,  416 ;  The  Place  of  Formation  of  Urea> 
in  the  Body,  4x6;  On  the  Specific  Energy  of  the  Nerves  of  the  Skin,  4x7;  Bacteria  Literature, 
618;  Vaso-motor  Nerves,  618;  The  Physiological  purpose  of  turning  the  incubating  Hen's  Egg» 
6x9:  Science  vs.  the  "Zoophilist,"  727;  Conditions  modifying  the  diastatic  action  of  Saliva. 
737;  Physiology  of  the  Sympathetic  Nerves,  728;  Pfluger's  "  Avalanche  Theory"  of  Nerve- 
Conduction,  819;  Movement  of  the  Retinal  Cones  under  the  influence  of  Light,  819;  A  Contri- 
bution  to  the  Knowledge  of  Pepsin,  907;  Contribution  to  the  Knowledge  of  Bile  Capillaries, 
908 ;  The  Microscopic  Appearance  of  Striped  Muscle  during  Contraction, 908;  Medical  Physics, 
xxai ;  Influence  of  Cocaine,  Atropine  and  Caffeine  on  the  Heart  and  Blood-vessels,  xxaa  ;  Re- 
striction of  Vaso-motor  Excitement  in  Hypnotised  Patients  by  Suggestion,  1x33 ;  Koch's 
Cholera  Bacillus,  1x24;  Heat  Center  in  the  Brain,  1134;  Specific  Energy  of  Skin  Nerves,  1x34; 
Recent  beliefs  concerning  Cell-structure,  X236  ;  The  Physiological  Chemls*'y  of  the  Kidney, 
1339 :  A  valuable  Series  of  Physiological  Journals,  1240 ;  The  Histology  of  Striped  Muscle-fiber, 
1341. 

Psychology. — Clevengcr  on  the  Evolution  of  Mind  and  Body  of  Man  and  Animals, 99^;  A 
Horse's  Memory,  xoa  ;  Training  Elephants,  lox  ;  The  Chimpanzee  in  Confinement,  xos ;  Dogs  as 
Newspaper  Carriers,  304  ;  Hearing  and  Smell  in  Aflts,  305  ;  Psychical  Research,  306  ;  Intelli- 
gence of  a  Setter  Dog,  331,  4x8;  An  affectionate  Angora  Cat,  430;  Intelligence  of  Tortoises, 
431 ;  Intelligence  of  the  Dmpet,  519;  Psychical  Research,  620;  A  Dog  ashamed  of  Theft,  631  ; 
Applied  Metaphysics  of  Sex,  820.*  Tenacity  and  Ferocity  in  the  Raccoon,  833:  Likes  and  Dis- 
likes of  a  Deer,  824  ;  Do  Monkeys  invariably  Learn  by  Experience  ?  909  ;  A  Dog's  Strategy, 
909  ;  Do  the  lower  Animals  suffer  Pain?  9x0;  Psychical  Research,  911 ;  Curiosity  of  Monkeys, 
XC17;  llxe  Inverness  Dog  "Clyde,"  10x7;  Mind  and  Motion,  1x35;  Intelligence  of  the  Ele- 
phant, 1341 ;  Intelligence  of  the  Orang,  134a. 

Anthropology. — The  Precursor  of  Man,  xoa  ;  International  Geographical  Exposition,  Z03  : 
Turner's  Samoa,  104  ;  Snake  Dance  of  the  Moquis,  X04  ;  Why  Tropical  Man  is  Black,  105;  The 
ProtO'Helvetians,  308 :  The  Antiquity  of  Man,  atx  ;  Itinerant  Anthropology,  2x3;  Section  of 
Anthropology  at  Turin,  313 ;  The  Proto-Helvetians  (continued),  334  ;  Western  Tribal  and  Local 
Names,  337 ;  The  History  of  Religion,  338;  £lastem  Sudan,  431 ;  The  Retrieving  Harpoon :  aa 
undescribed  type  of  Eskimo  weapon,  423  ;  Elements  of  General  Anthropology,  522;  Anthropol- 
ogy at  the  New  Orleans  Exposition,  622  ;  Dental  Index,  624 ;  The  American  Antiquarian,  739  ; 
Metallurgy  among  Savages,  739:  Ttte  Frankfurt  Craniometric  Agreement,  730  ;  Revue  d'Anthro- 
pologie,  73X ;  Ethnography  of  Guatemala,  731  ;  Burnt  Clay  in  the  Mounds,  825  ;  Mortality  in 
Washington,  836 :  Anthropology  at  Johns  Hopkins  University,  836 ;  The  Davenport  Elephant 
Pipes,  837;  Anthropological  Publications,  9x3  ;  The  Fuegians,  915  ;  The  Eighth  Volume  of  the 
Tenth  Census,  10x8  ;  Texan  Mounds,  xot9;  Anthropological  Collectors,  X0X9  :  Pujahs  in  Sutlej 
Valley,  xoso;  The  Kansas  City  Review,  102:  ;  Further  Confirmation  of  the  Post-mortem  Char- 
acter of  the  Cranial  Perforations  from  Michigan  Mounds,  XX27;  Pilling's  Biblit^raphy,  1x38  ; 
The  Mound-builders  and  the  Historic  Indians,  X129;  The  Natives  of  New  Guinea,  xz3x:  The 
Mad  beds  of  Kunda,  1x32;  Anthropology  in  Japan,  1x32;  Anthropological  Ne%^,  1133  ;  Dr. 
Rau's  Prehistoric  Fishing,  1243;  A  new  Cranial  Race  Character,  X244;  Ethnology  of  Ancient 
Italy,  xa44 ;  Geographical  Names  in  Mexico,  1345 ;  The  Kansas  City  Review,  xS4S. 

Microscopy. — Modern  Methods  of  Microscopical  Research,  106 ;  Caldwell's  Automatic  Mi- 
crotome [Illustrated],  2x5;  The  Brains  of  Urodela  [Illustrated],  328  ;  Semper's  Method  of 
making  Dried  Preparations,  330;  Rabl's  Methods  of  Studying  the  Karyokinetic  Figures  lllius- 
trated],  330;. The  Preparation  of  Meroblastic  Ova,  333  ;  Bohm's  Carmine  Acetate.  33a  ;  La  BioU 
ogie  Cellulaire,  425 ;  Pergenz's  Picrocarmine,  428;  Proceedings  of  the  American  Society  of 
Microscopisis,  438;  Journal  of  the  New  York  Microscopical  Society,  428;  Method  of  Making  Ab- 
solute Alcohol,  439:  Some  Anatomical  and  Histological  Methods  [Illustrated],  526;  The  Uses  of 
Collodion,  636 ;  Notes  on  Section  Cutting,  6a8 ;  Mayer's  Carbolic  Acid  Shellac,  733 ;  An  Ether 
Freezing  Apparatus  t  Illustrated],  733  ;  A  new  Freezing  Microtome  [Illustrated],  735;  Some  His- 
tological Methods  by  Dr.  C.  S.  Minot  [Illustrated],  828 ;  Microtome  Knives  [Illustrated  ,  830;  Some 
Histological  Methods  by  Dr.  C.  S.  Minot  (conynued)  [Illustrated],  9x6  ;  A  new  Water-bath  [lUuS' 
trated],  9x7;  Suggestions  as  to  the  Preparation  and  Use  of  Series  of  Sections  in  Zootomical  In- 
struction, 9x9  ;  A  cheap  Bell-glass  for  the  Laboratory  Table,  933 ;  A  simple  Method  of  Inject- 


Digitized  by 


Google 


Contents.  '  ix 

iag  the  Arteries  and  Veins  in  Small  Animals  [Illustrated],  990;  Treatment  of  the  Eggs  of  the 
Spider  (Agalena  naevia),  xoaz  ;  The  Rocking  Microtome  [Illustrated].  1022  ;  A  Means  of  differ* 
cntiating  Embryonic  Tissues,  1x34 :  Repairing  Balsam  Preparations,  1x37 ;  The  Eyes  of  AonelidSp 
XX37 :  A  new  Solvent  of  Chitin.xijy  ;  White  Zinc  Cement,  1x38;  The  Alimentary  Canal  of  the 
Cnisucea,  X346 ;  Frenzel's  Chrome  Mucilage  as  a  Fixative,  1946 ;  The  retractile  Tentacles  of 
the  Pulmonata,  1246 :  Imbedding  in  Paraffine  [Illustrated],  2247 ;  Orientation  with  small  Oh- 
jects,  1348;  Prevention  of  Bubbles,  za48;  Box  and  warm  Bath  combined  [Illustrated],  1349. 

Scismnrxc  Nmws,  xo8,  aiQ,  333,  4a9>  530«  ^3X»  7i^%  S3'>  93x>  >c»5«  ><39*  ^350. 

PROCBBOXNGS  OF  SclBIfTXFIC  SOCIKTIBS. 

Biological  Society  of  Washington,  uo;  New  York  Academy  of  Sciences,  zxz  ;  Boston  Society 
of  Natural  History,  zix  ;  American  Geographical  Society,  xxz  ;  Appalachian  Mountain  Qub, 
zxx :  Philaaelphia  Academy  of  Natural  Sciences,  xxz,  aaa  ;  American  Society  for  Psychical  Re- 
scardi,  223 ;  Biological  Society  of  Washington,  323 ;  New  York  Academy  of  Sciences,  224 ; 
American  Geographical  Society,  224 ;  Appalachian  Mountain  Club,  224 ;  Boston  Society  of  Nat- 
ural Hbtory,  324;  Society  of  Naturalists  of  North  America,  334;  Biological  Society  of  Wash- 
ington, 335;  New  York  Academy  of  Sciences,  335;  Boston  Society  of  Natural  History,  33s; 
Appalachian  Mountain  Club,  336 :  American  Geographical  Society,  336  ;  Philadelphia  Academy 
of  Natural  Sciences,  336:  Biological  Society  of  Washington,  432 ;  Appalachian  Mountain  Club, 
432  ;  Boston  Society  of  Natural  History,  432 ;  American  Geographical  Society,  432 ;  New  York 
Academy  of  Sciences,  432  ;  Philadelphia  Academy  of  Natural  Sciences,  432  :  Biological  Society 
of  Washington,  530 ;  New  York  Academy  of  Sciences,  531 ;  Boston  Society  of  Natural  History,  531 ; 
American  Geographical  Society,  53X  ;  Appalachian  Mountain  Club,  531 ;  Philadelphia  Academy 
of  Natural  Sciences,  531 ;  National  Academy  of  Sciences,  633 ;  American  Geographical  Society, 
634  ;  Biological  Society  of  Washington,  634 ;  New  York  Academy  of  Sciences,  634 ;  Boston  So- 
ciety of  Natural  History,  634 ;  Appalachian  Mountain  Club,  635 ;  Philadelphia  Academy  of 
Natural  Sciences,  635 ;  American  Philosophical  Society,  636 ;  Biological  Society  of  Washington, 
738 :  New  York  Academy  of  Sciences,  738 ;  Boston  Society  of  Natural  History,  738 ;  American 
Philosophical  Society,  738 ;  Philadelphia  Academy  of  Natural  Sciences,  833, 927  ;  Cincinnati 
Society  of  Natural  History,  930 ;  The  American  Fisheries  Society,  930 ;  Appalachian  Mountain 
Oub,  930;  American  Association  for  the  Advancement  of  Science,  X027;  Philadelphia  Academy 
of  Natural  Sciences,  114X  ;  Linnaean  Society,  LAncaster,  Pa.,  1x42;  Biological  Society  of  Wash- 
ington, Z252 ;  New  York  Academy  of  Sciences,  X2S9  ;  Boston  Society  of  Natural  History,  1252. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


Digitized  by 


Google 


INDEX  TO  VOLUME  XIX. 


Abbott.  C.  C.p  use  of  copper  by  the  Delaware 

iDdians,  744. 
Absolute  alcohol,  method  of  making,  439. 
Academy,  National,  of  Sciences,  proceedings  of, 

Acanchotelson,  700. 
Acersta,  561. 
Acette,  taaS. 

AchznodoB  insolens,  470. 
robustus,  470. 
Adams,  Frank  D.,  presence  of  tones  of  certain 
silicates  about  the  olivine  occurring  in  anor- 
thosite  rocks  from  the  River  Saguenay,  Z087. 
iEcidium  fraxini,  886. 
At^haaistan,  38 z . 
Africa,  63,  ite,  382.  696,  69B,  789,  874,  883,  1083, 

1064,  1139.  I3o6. 
Agaricus  alveolatus,  75. 
Ainos,  1133. 
Alaska,  piants  of,  1319. 
Ala«modon  arcuata,  366. 
Alcelaphus  cokii,  614. 
AlkekcnKi,  444. 
Allen's  human  anatomy,  61. 
Amaaons,  37. 

Anblvstoma  copeianum.  1330. 
Amencs,  64,  i6o,  490,  875,  984,  1086,  S3o6. 
American  Associati<m  Adv.  Science,  1037. 

Geographical  Society,  proceedings  ot 

III,  334,  336.  43a,  53 «.  634- 
languages.  913 
Philosophical  Society,  636. 
Society  of  Microscopisu,  proceedings 

of,  438. 
Society  of  Psychical  Research,  333. 
America,  South,  marine  amimals  of,  934. 
Amta,  spiracles  of,  513. 
Amoetta,  3. 

Anpbibolc-anthophyllite,  884. 
Anaptomorphus  aemulus,  465. 

bomunculus,  465, 
Anatomy  of  fishes,  some  preliminary  notes  on, 

187. 
Anders,  J.  M.,  and  G.  B.  M.  Miller,  exhalation 

ol  ozone  by  odorous  plants,  858. 
Andesite,  994. 

Andrews,  E  A.,  affinities  of  annelids  to  verte- 
brates, 767. 
Angora  cat,  430. 

Animal*,  do  the  lower,  suffer  pain,  910. 
Anisotomini,  10 ->3. 
Ankle  of  Diclonius  mirabilis,  z3o8. 
Annelids,  affinities  of,  to  vertebrates,  767. 

eyes  of,  1137. 
Anorthosite  rucks,  1087. 
Ant,  305,  403. 

Antedon.  nervous  system  of,  184. 
Antelope,  815. 
Anthessius  solecurti,  xso. 
Anthracaridae,  880. 
Anthracomartus  krejdl,  497, 
Aathrapaldcmon,  880. 
Anthn^Mlogy,  533. 

at  the  New  Orleans    exposition, 

633 
itinerant,  313. 
section  of,  at  Turin,  313, 
Antimony,  1^98. 
Aphdnctts  insidiosus,  460. 
Aphides,  embryology  of.  273. 
Aphodius  inquinatus,  716. 
Apicidture,  1036. 
ApterygogencA,  xoox. 
Aquatic  caterpillars,  401. 
Arachnida,  fossil.  x3io. 
Aniia  quiaqiMfiilia,  joa. 


Aralite, 
Archicftrcy,  91. 
Archistome  Uieory,  XI15. 
Archaeopteryx,  93. 
Armadillo  in  Texas,  193. 
Aromochelys  odoratus,  38,  1338. 
Arthur,  J.  C,  bacteria  as  vegetable  parasites 
888. 
pear  blight  and  its  cause,  Z177. 
Arvicola  pinetorum,  x  25,  895. 

riparius,  xi6. 

austerus.  X17. 
Asellus  communis,  85. 
Ash  rust,  886. 

Asia,  66,  385,  38X,  483,  589,  784.  87a,  984,  X363. 
Askonema,  81. 
Aspleninm  filix-foemina,  change  in  development 

of.  ^oa. 
Ass,  wild,  1x15. 
Astrodisci.s  arenaceus,  zi6. 
Atkins,  H.  A.,  obituary  of,  1351.] 
Atophyrax  bendirii,  Sg6. 
Atractonema  tortuosa,  435. 
Australia,  glaciation  of,  991. 

Bacillus,  933. 

Koch's  cholera,  1x34. 
Bacteria,  6t8,  888,  89*. 
Badger,  Mexican,  93a. 
BadKhis.  1203. 
Balanogiossu.«.6z3,  X107. 

Ballou,  W.  H.,  an  Adirondack  national  park, 
578. 
floods,  their  history  and  rela- 
tions, XI 59. 
Balsam  preparations,  1x37. 
Barcena,  M.  de  la,  human  remains  found  near  the 

City  of  Mexico,  739. 
Barley,  X04X.  . 
Barometer  for  measuring  separately  the  weight 

and  pressure  of  the  air,  337. 
Bat,  free-tailed,  933. 
Bathydoris  abyssorum,  3x3. 
Bathyopsis,  44. 

nssidens,  53,  54. 
Batrachians,  8x4. 

of  the  Permian  beds  of   Bohemia 
etc.,  593. 
Baur,  G.,  morphology  of  the  tarsus  in  the  Mam- 
malia, 86. 
on  ihe  centrale  carpi  of  mammals.  195 
morphology  of  the  carpus  and  laisus  ot 

vertebrates,  718. 
origin  of  limbi,  xxis. 
Bean,  wild,  887. 
Bears,  xxi4« 
Beaver  dam,  457. 
Beetle,  dung,  7x6. 
Beetles,  aauatic  carnivorous,  X33x. 
fielinurus  lacoei ,  393 . 
Bertrandite,  708. 
Bessey,C.  E.,  abundance  of  ash  rust,  886. 

attempted  hybridisation  between 

pond-scums,  800. 
movement  of  protoplasm  in  the 

styles  of  Indian  com,  888. 
work  for  the  Botanical  Club  of  the 

A.  A.  A.  S,  88q. 
opening  of  the  fiowers  of  Desmo- 

dium  sessilifoHum,  7x1. 
the  microscope  in  botany,  695. 
Bibliography,  Pilling's,  xx38. 
Bile  capillaries,  908. 

Biological  Society  of  Washington,  1x0,  393,  335, 
43a.  5y>#  «34- 


Digitized  by  Vj005lC 


1254 


Index  to  Vol.  XIX. 


Birds,  513,  8x4,  Z013,  2931. 

age  of,  937. 
Bird,  ftoaiing,  prublemor  1055, 1163. 
Bison,  last  appearance  of,  in  W .  Virginia,  197. 
Bianding's  tortoise,  1237. 
Blight,  pear,  X177. 
Bone,  collar,  1172. 
Boron  minerals,  aoa. 
Boston  Society  of  Natural  History,  proceedings 

of,  XIX,  335.  43a.  53».  634. 
Botanical  specimen»,  sets  ol.  iax8. 
Botanists,  younger  school  ot,  176. 
Bouny  at  Salem,  605. 
Bothnocephalus  ceatus,  929. 
Botocudos,  ZZ34. 

Boulders  of  decomposition  at  Washington,  zz3. 
Box,  imbedding,  1247. 

and  warm  bath,  xa49. 

tortoise,  common,  37. 
Brarhypyge  carbonis,  X22z. 
Brain,  heat  centers  in,  1x24. 
Branner,  j.  C,  reputation  of  the  lantern  fly,  835. 
Braxil,  489. 

geolo|[y  of|  987. 
Breeding  habas  ot  the  LibelluUde,  306. 
Briiifth  Association.  977. 
Buenos  Ayres,  fossil  mammals  of,  789. 
Bumpus,  H.  0. .  recent  additions  to  the  museum 

of  Brown  Universii)r,  1227. 
Butler,  A.  W.,  hibematiun  of  the  lower  verte- 
brates, 37 
obsenratiuna    on     the    muakraC 
X044. 
Butterflies,  X004. 

California,  geology  of,  xaxi. 
Cambrian  &ds,  988. 
Campanula  americana,  995. 
Campbell,  J.  T.,  age  of  forest  trees,  838. 

traces  of  prehistonc  man  on  the 

Wabash,  969. 
why   certain   kinds   of  timber 
prevail  in  certain   localities, 

Canadian  geological  survey,  486. 
Capromsrs,  myology  of,  X99. 
.Carbonic  acia  shellac,  733. 
Carboniferous  Arachnida,  \9»:%, 

insects,  X093. 

mosses,  foj, 

of  Tonkm,  72. 

Xiphosura,  types  new  to  America, 

Carchesium,  25. 

Caroline  islands,  xao4. 

Carpenter,  W.  B.,  obituary  of,  x25o. 

Carpoides,  39. 

Carpus.  718. 

Carver,  Dr.,  49X. 

Caterpillars,  markings  of,  XX07. 

Catfish,  anatomy  of  a,  512. 

Caton,  J.  D.,  blind  fishes  in  California,  8zx. 

mule  deer  in  Uomesticaiion,  811. 
Catostomus.  39. 
Cat,  wild.  X228. 
Caucasus,  1206. 
Cecidotaea  stygia,  85. 

structun:  of  brain  of,  8s. 
Cecropia  moth,  XX42. 
Cell  nucleus,  1222. 
Cell-structure,  xa36. 
Celts,  2x43. 

Cement,  white  sine,  1x38. 
Centrale  carpi,  X95. 
Ceratosaurus,  67. 
Cervalces  amencanus,  495,  883. 
Cervus  macrotis,  8x^. 

Cetacea,  genesis  of  the  extra  terminul  phalanges 
in,  xot3. 
mammary  glands  of,  6x7. 
Chaliarileyi,8i. 
Chameleon  viviparous,  thttj  407, 
Chelifer,  the  aevelopixient  pf|  4x9^ 


Chilognath  myriopods,  X76. 
Chilian  Andes,  the,  X53. 
Chimaeia  monstrosa,  91, 95- 
Chimpanzee  in  confinement,  20a. 
Chitin,  new  solvent  of,  XZ37. 
Chinta,  lake,  63. 
Chlorophyll,  spectrum  of,  2227. 
Chordau,  8x5. 

embryological  characters  of,  903. 
Chriacus  hyattianus,  385. 
Cicada,  x7-decem,  925,  2x42. 
Cladophora  glomcrata,  24. 
Claus'  elementary  text-book  of   xoology,   374, 

Clavicles,  xxts. 

Claypole,  K.  W.,  Pennsylvania  before  and  af^ 
the  elevation   of  the   Appa- 
lachians, 257. 
vertical  range  of  certain  fossil 
species  in  Pennsylvania  and 
New  York,  644. 
Clematis  vioma,  fertilization  of,  397. 
Clevenger,  S.   v.,  comparative  physiology  and 
psychology,  x. 
evolution  oi  mind  and  body 
of  men  and  animals,  99. 
Cobra,  994. 

Coelenterata,  nervous  system  of,  xx88. 
Culias  nastes,  1220. 
Collodion,  626. 
Color  sense^  800. 
Columbus,  inglonous,  978. 
Condylura  cristata,  895. 
Congo,  697. 

Cook,  A.  j.,  black  Isosoma,  804. 
Cope,  E.  D.,  Albrecht's  identificatioiu,  X006. 
the  Amblypoda,  40. 
applied  metaphysics  of  sex,  820.  ^ 
Bairachia  ot  Bohemia   and    India^ 

592. 
Clevenger  on    evolution  of  mind, 

99. 
the  dimensions  of  matter,  48a. 
on  the  evolution  of  the  Vertebtatap 

140, 234,  34X. 
Carman  on  Didymodus,  878. 
large  iguaxus  of  the  Greater  Antfl- 

les,  X005. 
Mammalia    of    the    Oligocene    of 

Buenos  Ayres,  789. 
Marsh  on  the  Dinocerata,  703. 
the  oldest  Tertiary  Mammalia,  38s. 
original  research,  its   motives  and 

opportunities,  691. 
Pliocene   hones   of    Southwestern 

Texas,  X909. 
relations  of  Puerco  and   Laramie 

deposits,  685. 
retrograde  metamorphosb  of  Siren, 

2926. 
scientific  criticism,  777. 
the  Lemuroidea  and  Insectivora  of 

the  Eocene  of  N.  Amer.,  457. 
Vertebrata  of  the  Tertiary   forma- 
tions of  the  West,  37s. 
the  White    River    beds   of   Swift 
Current  river,  263. 
Copper,  use  of,  by  Indians,  774. 
Coral  reed,  origin  of,  2094. 
Corea,  786,  X205, 
Cercospora  racemosa,  76. 
Corn,  664. 

CorydaUts  asiatica,  8x. 
Coryphodon,  43. 
Coteau  of  the  Missouri,  xax«. 
Cotton  worm  moth^  ^17,. 
Crab,  hermaphroditic,  8x2. 
Crambessa  masurea,  623. 
Crambus  zeelhis,  891. 
Cranial  perforations,  2x27. 

race  charactexs,  X244. 
Craniometrv,  730. 
Cretaceous  oeds  of  Sahara,  989, 


Digitized  by 


Google 


Index  to  Vol.  XIX. 
\ 


I2SS 


Crecaoeoos  period,  Z093. 

of  Pyrenees,  167. 
CribUnina  mooocerus,  3x3. 
Criooids,  706.  79t,  813. 
Crocodilia,  skull  of,  loia. 
Crocodilus  suvelianus,  986. 
Crow  cracking  clams,  407. 

Croxier,  A.  A.,  branching  of  PteHs  aquilina,  799. 
Crustacea,  81^,909,  XI13,  izaS,  1246. 

unnary  organs  of,  73X. 
Crystalline  rocks,  the,  389. 
Cucumis  anguria,  455. 
CunniiiEham,  J.  T,,  on  the  suspensory  ligament 

of  the  fetlock  of  the  horse,  127. 
Ctucuuglomenta,  996. 
Cuvierian  organs  of  the  cotton-spinner,  5x0. 
Cydophis  acsdvus,  929. 
Cyduni  onchiopsis,  1006. 
Cydus  americanus,  393 
Cynodootonrys  laddens,  465. 
Cynthia  pynfonnis,  365. 
Cytberidae,  anteanary  gland  of,  405. 
Cyxtdophosis  mucicola,  439. 

Danotirite,  798. 

Darllngtoma,  57Z. 

Darters,  xaao. 

Davidson.  T.,  obituary  of,  1250. 

De  Bary  s  ccmparative  anatomy  of   vegetable 

organs,  303. 
Deep-sea  deposits  of  the  east  coast  U.  S.,  69. 

ezploratioiis  by  U.S.  Fish  Commission, 

5»a. 
explorations  of  the  "  Talisman,"  x8a. 
fishes,  8a. 
Deer,  mule,  8xx. 

De  Wadaillac's  prehistoric  America,  973. 
Dendropupa  waLJchiarum,  497. 
Dental  index,  624. 
Denudation,  925. 

Depth  to  which  sunlight  penetrates  water,  84. 
Desmodium  sessilifolium,  7x1. 
Drrdopment  of  unpaired  fins  of  fishes,  outline  of 

a  theory  of,  90. 
Devonian  of  Russia,  X70. 
Dtallage,  993. 
Diamond,  199,  883. 
Diatoms,  structure  of,  927, 
Dtdonius  mirabilis,  x9o8. 
Didynodus,  878. 
Dinoceras  laticeps,  53. 
Dinocerata,  40, 4a,  703. 
Dioomis,  883. 

Dinosauria,  Marsh  on  American  Jurassic,  67. 
Dipeltis  diplodiscus,  293. 
Diphycercy,  91. 
Dipiera^  halteres  of,  1004. 
Dispersion  of  spores  in  a  toadstool,  503. 
Distribution  of  color  in  the  animal  kingdom,  609. 
Ditetrodon,  594. 
Dodo,  leathers  of  the,  192. 
Dog,  American,  896. 

carrier  Indian,  897. 

Fskiroo,  896. 

Hare  Indian,  896. 

intelligence  of,  204,  62X,  909.  11x7. 

Mexican,  899. 

Newfoundland,  899. 

prairie,  922. 

prehistoric.  9x1. 
Dorscy,  J.  O.,  mourning  and  war  customs  of  the 

Kansas,  670. 
Dragon-fly,  893. 

Ear,  norohologyof,  x86. 

Eartfujuake  in  ^pain,  the  theater  of,  390. 

Earthworms,  haoits  of,  51X. 

Eastern  Sucan,  421. 

Echidna,  discovery  of  the  eggs  of,  193. 

Echini,  deep-sea,  iaa8. 

Echinoi terms,  311,  xoiz. 

Echinus,  1092. 

Edwaids^Jliliie-,  obituary  of,  973. 


Ryeless  eel.  405. 

EfiTects  of  light  on  color'of  beedes,  80. 

Egyptian  Sudan,  587. 

E^pnant,  1241. 

Elephants,  training,  xox. 

Elephas  indicus,  48. 

Elpasolite.  1096. 

Emys  meleagris,  1227. 

Endlichiie,  909. 

Eobasileus  iurcatus,  45. 

pressicomis,  44,  51. 
Eobasiliidae,  43. 
Eocene  of  North  Carolina,  619. 
Ephemeridae,  178. 
Epicriuro,  1230. 
Equisetum,  the  node  of,  509. 
Equus,  pliocene.  1209. 

prejevalskyi,  408. 
Estheria  mezicana  190. 
Eucheirosaurus,  171. 
Euglena  torta.  18. 
Eunephrops  bairdii,  1228. 
Euplotes  carinata,  441. 

plumipes,  442. 
Euproops  longisplna,  292. 
Europe,  489,  1087,  1207. 
Eurypharytix  pelecanoides,  83. 
Evigtokite.  708. 
Evolution  in  plants,  644,  745. 
Ewing,  A.  L.,  hermaphroditic  crab,  8xx. 


Feldspars.  599. 
Ferns,  007. 

history  of  discovery  in,  303. 
Ferret,  black-footed,  720,  9aa. 
Fertility  of  hybrids,  173. 
Fertilization  of  Cuphea  viscosissima,  503. 
of  the  wild  onion,  60 1. 
phenomena  of,  1223. 
Fewkes,  J.  W.,  on  larval  forms  of  Spirorbis  bore- 

alis.  247. 
Fibrin  found  in  the  coagulation  of  the  blood,  320. 
Firefly  light,  308. 

of  Italy,  C.  Emery  on  the,  77. 
Fisher,  A.  K.,  pine  mouse  at  Sins  Sin^,  896. 

star-nosed  mole  amphibious,  895. 
FUh,  4., 

blind,  8x. 
embryo,  614. 
Fishes,  aoo,  737.  814,  xoxa,  1229. 
flying,  1229. 
hermaphrcxiite,  189. 
of  North  America,  X199. 
'  origin  of  cavity  of  heart  in,  rozs. 

Fishing,  prehistoric,  1243. 
Flea,  926. 

Flight  of  robber  flies,  305 
Floods,  XX59. 
Flora,  Mesozoic,  699. 

of  Minnesota,  Upham's,  585. 
of  Rocky  motmtains,  X219. 
Flowers,  30X. 

Foerste,  A.  F.,  fertilization  of  the  wild  bean,  887. 
Foot,  Greek  and  modern,  812. 
Foraminifera,  recent  deep-sea,  in  Australian  Eo- 
cene, XOQ2. 
Forbes,  S.  A.,  new  species  of  Crambua  injuring 

corn  roots,  89X. 
Formosa.  380. 

Fossil  algae,  are  there  any  T  165. 
Freezing  apparatus,  733. 
Frigate  Dird,  soaring  of,  1056. 
Frost,  W.  H  ,  do  monkeys  invariably  learn  by 

experience  f  909. 
Fuchsia  fuigens,  74. 
Fiiegians,  384,915. 
Fulgora  lanternaria,  835. 
Fulgur  perversus.  928. 
Function  o(  the  thyroid  body,  4x5. 
Fungi,  803.  907. 

in  coal  beds,  79^. 

new  spedes  ot  N.  American,  76. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


I2$6 


Index  to  Vol  XIX. 


xa44. 


G^bbro,  99|a. 

Gaitermanite,  709. 

Gambusia  patruelis,  1339. 

Gampsonychidae,  790. 

Gannet,  soaring  of,  1056. 

Garden,  xoological,  Cincinnati  and  St.  Louis, 
1 1 40. 

Gastomis,  037,  X091. 

Gatschet,  A.  S.,  ethnology  of  ancient  Italy, 
Krauss'  slavic  customs,  781. 

Gazella  thomsoni,  6x4. 

Gclsemium  sempervirens,  the  Internal  cambium 
ring  in,  504. 

Genera  of  \wsa\  cephalopods,  Hyatt  on,  153. 

Genera  of  the  Dinocerau^  594. 

Geological  and  natural  history  survey  of  Minne- 
sota, 486. 

Gephyroccrcy,  96. 

Gerhardite,  1095. 

Giilman,  H.,  further  confirmation  of  the  pjost- 
mortem  character  o>  the  cranial  perforations 
from  Michigan  mounds, 

Glaciers  of  Swiss  Alps,  168. 

Glacial  theory,  X091. 

Gladiolus,  75. 

Gloxinia  rubra,  ^^. 

Gljrptonotus  sabini,  89. 

Goodale's  phyjvioloistcal  botany,  176. 

Goode,  G.  B..  brief  biography  of  the  halibut,  953. 

Goose,  least  barnacle,  1331. 

Gorgonia  florida,  39. 
nirabilis,  39. 

Grasses,  7x3. 

of  Maine,  13x7. 

Grasshoppers,  89a. 

Gratacap,  L.  P.,  growth  of  plants  watered  by 
acid  solutions,  1090. 

Gray's  botanical  contributions,  399* 
synoptical  flora,  60. 

Guatemala,  731. 

Guinea,  New,  1131. 

Gutta  percha  plant,  936. 

Hair,  microscopic  study  of,  934. 
Halesia  tetrapteia,  74. 
Halibut,  9^3. 
Hali«arca  fobularis,  408. 
Hard-shelled  turtles,  38. 
Harelda  glacialis,  896. 
Hanksite,  1095. 
Heart,  1x33. 
Heliamphora,  563, 
Helix  contiana,  xxii. 
Heroiaster,  abnormal,  7a. 
Hemiganus,  493. 
Hen's  egg,  619. 
Heredity,  1333. 

Herrick  s  Cladocera  and   Copepoda  of  Minne- 
sota, x8s. 
Hessian  fly,  7x6. 

parasites  of,  X104. 
Heterocarpus,  83. 
Hetcrocercy,  94. 

Heteroecisra  of  cedar  apples,  396. 
Hippoglossus  vulgaris,  953. 
Hirudinea,  anatomy  of,  404. 
History  of  religion,  338. 
Hoang-Ho.  588. 
Holmes,  W.  H.,  examples  of  iconoclasm  by  the 

conquerors  of  Mexico,  X031. 
Homocercy,  96. 

Honey. bee,  reproduction  in  the,  506.  » 

Hornblende,  885,  13x5,  I3i6. 
Horse,  xox. 

Pliocene,  of  Texas,  1309. 

Quaternary,  990. 
Hudson!  te,  994. 
Human  embryo,  tail  iif,  X009. 
Hunt,  T.  S.,  classifications  of  natural  silicates, 

Hybrid  dogs,  9'o. 
Hybridizaiion  of  potatoes,  396. 
Hydrastis  canadensis,  X77. 
Hydroids,  90X. 


Hydrophobia,  prevention  of,  98. 
Hyopsodus  paulus.  460. 

vicarius,  463. 
Hypnotism,  1133. 
Hypersthene-basalt,  66x. 
Hyrax  capensis,  195. 

Ice,  organisms  in,  8x0. 

Identity  of  hunger  and  sexual  appetite,  7. 

Iguana,  1005. 

Indian  inscriptions,  654. 

Infusoria,.  7 1 7. 

artificial  division  in,  809. 
IngersolKs  country  cousins,  383. 
Ingersoll,  T.  D.,  glacial  origin  of  Presque  tsle» 

Lake  Erie,  865. 
Insects,  Brauer's  classification  of,  999. 
edible  Mexican,  893. 

of,  894. 


nervous  system  of,  894. 
embryology  of,  7x6. 
eye  of,  717,  xaio. 

-Ig     X107. 

Ipi  of,  1x07. 


fig 

fossil,  988,  Z093. 

histology  of.  xoox. 

how  they  aahere  to  flat  vertical  surfaces, 

X33X. 

of  Illinois,  XX05. 

of  the  Carboniferous  period,  595. 

Palaeozoic,  876. 
InteTltgence  in  a  setter,  33X,  4x8. 
International  geographical  exposition,  X03. 
Irrawadi,  ^84. 
Isosoma  nigrum.  804. 
Italy,  ancient  ethnology  of,  1344. 

James,  J.  F.,  how  the  pitcher  plant  got  its  leaves, 

567. 
Janclus  australis.  3x3. 
Japan,  anthropology  in,  1x32. 

S:ology  of,  987. 
,  nervous  system  of,  1x88. 
lerboa. 5x4. 

Jerusalem  artichoke,  54a. 
Jurassic  crinoids,  77. 

echini,  77,  88a. 
plant  bed,  167. 
reptiles,  789. 

Kansas,  biological  survey  of,  93X. 

the  mourning  and  war  customs        the, 
670. 

Karateghin,  66. 

Karyokinetic  figures,  Rabt's  method  of  studying, 
330. 

Kerr,  W.  C,  obituary  of,  XX4X. 

Kidney,  X339. 

Kilimanjaro,  587. 

Kingsley,  J.  S.,  the  inter-relationships  of  arthro- 
pods, 560. 

Kocia  breviceps.  xxx^. 

Kohn,  G..  Harelda  glacialis  at  New  Orleans,  896. 

Kowinckite,  709. 

Koodoo,  815. 

Korea,  984. 

Kunde,  marl  beds  of,  xx3a. 


Labrador,  8^3,  876. 

birds  of,  ] 
Ltclaps,  986. 


,nara,  590. 
Mistassint,  160,  401. 
Superior,  copper-bearing  rocks,  694. 
Lamellibranchs,  xiop. 

Neumayr's  classification  of,  404. 
Lamprey,  933. 
Lanca!(ter,  I.,  problem  of  the  soaring  bird,  X055, 

1163. 
Land,  rise  of,  X087. 
Lantern  fly,  885. 
Lapp,  788. 

I^Aramie  deposits,  985. 
Lasius  flavus,  305. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


Index  to  Vol.  XIX. 


1257 


I 


Latchfbrd.  F.  R.,  Helix  cantianaat  Quebec,  xxxx. 

Lateral  line  of  fishes,  61a. 

LawM>n,  A.  C,  ancient  rock  inscriptions  on  the 

Lake  or  the  Woods.  654. 
Les«of  tmccts,  structure  and  function  of,  X78. 
Ijemnrs,  fcetal  development  of.  90. 
Lepidopierous  larvx,  number  of  segments  in,  307. 
Lepidopiera,  mouth-parts  of,  xaaa. 
Lower  Helmund,  588. 
Lettuce.  1042. 
Lencite.  886. 

Life-hi«tOTy  of  Stentor  coeruleus,  6x0. 
IJmbs,  origin  of,  xxia. 
Limpet,  51Q. 

Limuhis  polyphemus.  793. 
Lindnhl.  J.,  geological  formations  of  Spitsbergen, 

X908. 

Liskeardite,  708. 

Liihodes  tropicalis,  83. 

Littorina  irrorata.  X14X. 

Liard  running  with  fore-feet  off  the  ground,  X93. 

Lnckwood,  S  ,  the  clam-worm,  360. 

Locusts  in  Mexico  in  1885,  1x05. 

in  Turkestan,  893. 
Locy,  W.  A.,  treatment  of  tke  egg^  of  the  spider, 

loat. 
Lophhis,  903. 
Lophocercy,  ^. 
Lophyrua  pint,  x8o. 
Loup  Fork  Miocene  in  Mexico,  494. 
Loxotophodon,  42,  44. 

comutus,  45,  46,  47,  48. 
galeatus,  45,  46,  47,  50. 
spierianus.  45,  46,  47. 
Loxokypbus  adapinus,  386. 
Loxosoma,  730. 
Luakiba,  sources  of,  XX39. 
Lujenda,  nver,  64. 
Lntra  canadensis,  xaaS. 
Lynx  nilus,  xxaS. 

Madarlane,  J.,  obituary  of,  xasx. 
MacTDscincus,  90. 
Macrotoma  phimbea,  7x6. 
Macrurus,  81,  83. 
Maine,  grasses  of,  12x7. 
Maize,  104X. 
Malay  archipelago,  975. 
Mammalia,  fossil,  789. 
Mammals,  1^4.  XX14. 

Tertiary,  707. 
Mammilaria,  938.  « 

Mammoth,  and  human  remains,  1x33. 
Man,  antiquity  of,  aix,  XX33,  X134. 

precursor  of,  103. 

prehistoric  remains  in  Mexico,  739* 

prehistoric,  969. 

tail  in  embryo,  973. 
Manchuria.  X305. 
Manieanesc  in  sea-water,  70. 
Maneanoferite.  xx4x. 
Marcnanda,  998. 

Marcou,  J.  B.,  progress  of  N.  American  inverte- 
brate palaeontology  for  1884,  353. 
Mark,  E.  L.,  repairing  balsam  preparations,  1x37. 
Marsh,  swarming  of  a  dui^c-beetie,  716. 
Marsipobraixrhii,  skeleton  of,  896. 
Marsupials,  from  the  Lower    Eocene  of    New 

Mexico,  493.^ 
Martin,  L.  J.,  study  of  the  mite  gall  of  the  black 

walnut.  X36,  X40.       * 
Martynia,  543- 
Mastodon,  1309. 

Matthews.  W.,  mythic  dry  painting  of  the  Nava- 
jos,  931. 
new  cranial  race  characters,  Z244. 
Maya  Quichie,  914. 
Meade  river,  159. 
Medusa,  nervous  system  of,  xx88. 
Megadomia  gigas,  99. 
Megalosaurus .  67. 
Megascolex  coeruleus,  198. 
Meianocetus  johnsoni,  83. 
Merism  subapterus,  X104. 


Merriam,  C.  H.,  iridescence  in  the  Oregon  mole, 
895 
pine   mouse  in    Northern   New 
York,  895. 
Merriam's  Aammals  of  the  Adirondacks,  57. 
Mesocarpus,  800. 
Mesonacis,  707. 
Mesostoma  viridatum,  3x0. 
Meteorites,  xais. 
Mexico,  1345,  1350. 

idoB  of,  103X. 
locusts  in,  in  XS85,  XX05. 
Meyer,  O.,  Tertiarics  of  the  Southern  Slates,  794. 
Microsyops  gracilis.  405. 
Microhydra  ryderi,  939,  2333. 
Microscopical  research,  modern  methods  of,  xo6. 
M  icrotome,  215, 830. 

f reeling,  734. 
rocking,  xoaa. 
Migration  of  birds,  90. 
Miller,  G.  B.  M.,and  J.  M.  Anders,  exhalation 

or  ozone  by  odorous  plants,  858. 
Millspau^h's  American  medicinal  plants,  485. 
Mimicry  in  insects.  893. 
Mind  and  matter,  845,  940,  Z059,  XX50. 

and  motion.  11 35. 
Mineralogy  and  petrography,  recent  text-books  of, 

39a- 
Mineralogical  notes,  500. 
Mineral  synthesis,  398. 
Minot,  C.  S.,  histolo^cal  methods,  9x6. 

some  histological  methods,  838. 
Mixodectes  pungens.  465. 
Mississisippi,  the  source  of  the,  384. 
Mites,  life  nistories  of,  507. 
Mole  cricket,  1004. 
Oregon,  805. 
star>nosea,  895 
structure  of,  58. 
MoUusks,  901,  loxa. 

eye  of,  10x3. 
abnormal,  xoxa. 
'        Floridan,  1338. 
pulmonale,  2246. 

pulmonate,  europneustlc  apparatus  of, 
xixo. 
Monkeys,  10x7. 

intelligence  of,  909. 
Morris,  Charles,  relations  of  mind  and  matter, 
,  ,    533»  680,  754.  845, 940, 1059,  X  ISO. 
Mosquitoes,  destroying  young  trout,  1239. 
Mosses,  890. 

Carboniferous,  707. 
etc.,  of  Kansas,  73. 
Mound-builders,  xxa9. 

Mounds  of  the  Occident  ant,  notes  on  the,  305. 
Mount  Taylor.  390. 
Mouse,  pine,  895,  896. 
Muato  Yanoo,  64. 
Mucilage^  chrome,  X3^6. 
Muliain  foxglove,  fertilization  of,  71. 
Muscles  of  man  and  apes,  99. 
Muscle,  striped,  908,  X34X. 
Muskrat,  1044. 
Musk  turtle,  1338. 
Mussel,  XX09. 
Mya  truncata,  8x. 
Myenia  plumosa,  930. 

mexicana,  810. 
Myicola  metisiencis,  xax. 
Myriopoda,  fossil,  xsxo. 

of  Austro-Hungaria,  607. 

Nachtrieb,  H.  P.,  new  water  bath,  9x7. 

Names,  geographical,  spelling  of,  XM3. 

Nasturtium.  543. 

Navajos,  mythic  dry-painting  of,  93X. 

Necrolemur  antiquus,  464. 

Nematocarcini,  83. 

Nematodes,  89. 

Neoplagiaulax  americanus,  493. 

Neotoma  floridana,  nest  ot,  X93. 

Nereis  limbata,  363. 

Nerve,  conduction,  819. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


1258 


Index  to  Vol.  XIX. 


NenreSfSkin,  1x94. 

sympathetic,  738. 
Nervous  system  in  sponges^  6tx. 
New  Guinea,  580. 

New  York  AcaHemy  of  Sciences,  proceedings  of, 
III,  294,  335,  43a.  531,  634.  738,  "Sa. 

New  York  Microftcopical  Society,  journal, 
New  Zealand,  786. 

geology  of,  88x. 
Niger,  487. 

Norse  colonies  In  N.  America,  383. 
Note«  on  section-cutting,  638. 
Notharctus  tenebrosus,  461. 
Notosolenus  sinuatus,  437. 

Oat,  stomata,  7x0 

Ocean  basins,  subility  of,  986. 

Octopus,  909. 

Octotomus,  44. 

laticeps,  59. 
CEneis  bore,  809. 
Olenelius  howelli,  358. 
Olivine  J  tcl^'h 
Onchidia,  affinities  of,  3x9. 
O'Neill's  explorations,  988.  ' 
Oocorys  sulcata,  84. 
Opercularia  plicatilis,  96. 
Opisthotomus  flagrans,  461. 
Optical  anomalies  In  crystals,  996. 


Orang,  1943. 
Otgans  of  nes 
Origin  of  fresh-water  faunas,  590. 


Otgans  of  bearing  and  smell  in  spiders,  409. 


Orinoco,  876. 

Ornithology,  economic,  993. 

Osbom  li.  F-,  simple  method  of  injecting  the 

arteries  and  veins  in  small  animals,  990. 
Osbom,  H.  L.,  abstract  of  Lankester's  work  on 
Rhabdopleura, 
recent  work   on    Balanoglossus, 
XX07. 
Otaria,  xtx5. 

Otter,  X998.  • 

Ovularia  monilloides,  77. 
Oxygen  and  Ozone,  dxerapeutic  effects  of,  97. 
Oyster,  317,  xo95. 
Oysters,  fossil,  X079. 
Ozono,  858. 

Packard,  A.  S.,  brain  of  Asellus  and  ^Cecidotea. 

edible  Mexican  insects,  893. 
embryology  of  Limulus,  729. 
life  and  nature  in  Southern  Lab- 
rador, 269,  365. 
locusts  in  Mexico  in  X885, 1x05. 
notes  on  the  Labrador  Kskimo, 

obituary  of  H.  Milne-Edwards, 

973- 

on  the  Gampsonychld«,anunde- 
scribed  family  of  fossil  schizo- 
pod  Crustacea,  790. 

origin  of  the  American  varieties 
of  the  dog.  896. 

origin  of  speech,  X50. 

taiiin  embryo  man,  973. 

Tertiary  man.  X078. 

the^  Anthracaridae,  a  &mi1y  of 
Carboniferous  macrurous  Crus- 
tacea, 880. 

the  Syncarida,  a  group  of  Car- 
boniferous Crustacea,  700. 

uniuual  number  of  legs  in   the 


caterpillar  of  LAgoa,  7x4. 
ise  of  pupa  of  moths  in 
guisihtne  species,  ^15. 


zoological    discovenes   in   1884, 
977. 
Paclabius  tumidus,  i9o. 
Paddle  fish,  Eocene,  X090. 
Palaeoblattina,  395. 
Palaeocarisiypus,  790. 
Paleophycus  rugosus,  x66. 


Palaeophooes  nunius,  391. 

Palaeontology,  979. 

Palmer,  Edward,  burnt  day  in  the  mounds,  895. 

Palmonls  lalandii,  198. 

Pamir,  873. 

Pampas,  505. 

Pantodonta.  40*  4>- 

Pantolambda  bathmodon,  55. 

Paraffine,  imbedding  in,  X947. 

Paramecium  trichium,  437. 

Parai>onyx  oryzalis,  xa99. 

Parasitic  copepod  of  clam,  XX3. 

Parasitic  fungi,  the  study  of,  X70. 

Pea,  X043. 

Pear  blight,  XX77. 

Peltogaster,  nervous  system  in,  731. 

Pelycodus  jarrovii,  468. 

tutus,  468. 
Peppers,  544,  X041. 
Pepsin,  907. 

Perca  americana,  aberration  in,  X99. 
Peridolite.  707,  19x6. 
Perkins,  G.  H.  stone  ax  in  Vermont,  1x43. 

Winooski  or  Wakefield  marble  ot 
Vennont,  ia8. 
Pescadores,  8^. 
Pextaloszia  scirpina,  76. 
Petanoptera,  xoox. 
Petrographical  notes,  395. 
Phacus  anacoelus.  19. 
longicaudus,  19. 
pyrum,  X9. 
pleuronectes,  X9. 
trisaeter,  X9. 
Phallus  coUaris,  399. 
Phaseolus,  887. 

roacrncarpus,  459. 
vulgaris,  447. 
Philadelphia  Academy  of  Nat.  Sciences,  proceed- 
ings of,  XIX,  933,  336,  439,  S3>«635,  833,  9*7, 
X14X. 
Philosophic  zoology  before  Darwin,  485. 
Phocaenadalli,  1339. 
Physical  mineralogy,  596. 
Physics,  medical,  tx9t. 
Physostegia  viniiniana,  fertilisation  of,  163. 
Picrocarmine,  Pergen's,  438. 
Pinnoite,  708. 
Pipes,  elephant,  897. 
Pi!(ton  recorder.  The,  390. 
Pitcher  plantj  890. 
Plants,  American  medicinal,  7x0. 
cultivated,  origin  of,  778. 
evolution  in,  644,  744,  745* 
growth  of,  watered  by  acid  solutions.  1099. 
hybridisation  and  cross-breeding  of,  995, 

1040. 
ozone  from,  858. 
migrations,  398. 
Platygaster  herrickii,  1x04, 
PlatysaiLia  Columbia,  809. 
Pleuraxpidotherium,  996. 
Plecoptera,  looi. 
Poison  of  cobra,  924. 

Polydesmus  ocellatus,  generic  position  of,  400. 
Polymastodon  attenuatus,  494. 
taoensis,  493. 
latimolis,  385. 
Polyps,  813. 
Pond  scums,  800. 
Porpoise,  733. 

ball's,  X939. 
Potato,  550. 

sweet,  666. 
Pottery,  ancient,  913. 
Prehistoric  man,  969. 
Preparation  of  meroblastic  ova,  399. 
Presque  Isle,  glacial  origin  of,  865. 
Proto-Helvetians,  the,  9o8,  394. 
Protoplasm,  603. 

movement  of,  in  wild  bean,  888. 
Psychical  research,  907.  6*0,  911. 
Pterichthys,  position  of,  989. 
Pteris,  799. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


Index  to  Vol.  XIX. 


1259 


Pcilodus  croucMaituuius,  493. 

Puerco  depostu,  985. 

Kujah.  I090. 

Pumpkin,  658. 

Purgatory  at  Sutton,  Man.,  990. 

Pyroxene,  lais. 

Pyrus  polvilleriana,  74. 

Quaternary  geology,  sata. 
OueeasUnd,  exploratioo  in,  66. 
Quick  and  Butler  on  AnricoUniB,  113. 

Raccoon,  833. 
Ramulana  tulasnci,  sax8. 
Raaa,  laio. 

halectna,  39,  406. 
Rat.  itia. 

Retchert,  H.  W.,  obituary  of,  1141. 
R^tilcs,  iii4t  193Z. 

Braxilian,  903. 
Retinal  cones,  819. 
Retrieving  harpoon,  433. 
Rbabdoplcura.  409,  1005. 
Rheumaptera  hastata,  a 71. 
Rhinoccrot,  fossil  Floridan,  834. 

sondaicus,  54. 
Rhipiphonis  pectinaius,  180. 
Rhiaopods,  oa6. 

Rhoaos,  S.  N.,  ferocity,  in  the  raccoon,  833. 
Rhyssa  lunator,  300. 

Rhythmic  contraction  of  the  capillaries,  319. 
Rtley's  entomological  report  fitr  1884,  607. 
Rile^,  C.  v..  parasites  of  the  Hessian  fly,  X104. 
Robin,  C,  obituary  of,  zast. 
Rodeniia  of  the  European  Tertiaries,  67. 
Roraima,  65,  787. 
Ryder,  J.  A.,  archistome  theory,  inc. 

availability  of  embryoTogical  char- 
acters in  the  classification  of  the 
Chordata,  gov 
cheap  bell  glass,  oao. 
development  and  structure  of  Mi- 

crohydra  ryderi,  xaja. 
embryological    chJaracters    in    the 
classification  of   the    Chordata, 
815. 
genesis  of  the  extra  terminal  pha- 
langes in  Cetacea,  Z0Z3. 
manner  in  which  the  cavity  of  the 
heart  is  formed  in  certain  Tele- 
ostt,  1015. 

Sahara,  696. 

Saliva.  7a7. 

Sarootnraustes  coryphsus,  386. 

Sarraoeaia  purpurea,  569. 
variolaris,  570. 

Saskatchewan  region,  787, 

Savages,  meuUurgy  among,  7*9. 

Saw-flv,  wingless,  893. 

Scalpellum,  ,^14. 

Scapanus-  townscndJ,  895. 

Scarlet  runner,  454. 

Scekjglaux  albifacies,  31^. 

Schlagintweit.  R.  von,  obituary  of,  935. 

Schi5nbachia  mflata,  391. 

Sciuropterus  voliicella,  58. 

Scorpion's  poison  apparatus  and  poison,  177* 

Scorpion,  Silurian,  706. 

Scums,  pood,  995 

Sea^mite  and  sea>bug,  z8i. 

urchin,  nervous  system  of,  zi88. 

Second  geological  survey  of  Penn.,  recent  geo- 
logical notes  of,  483. 

Scedlos  apples,  40X. 

Seeds,  vitality  of.  zax8. 

SbeUsofbivahres.6ii. 

Shepard's  nUneral  record,  ts6. 

Shrew,  896. 

Silicates,  j^y 

Silurian  fossils,  703, 988. 

Silver-lead  deposits,  979. 

SIrcB,  ua6. 


Sirentans,  5x5. 

Slavs  of  Austria,  16. 

Slavic  customs,  781. 

Sloths,  extinct,  833. 

Smith  s  diseases  of  field  and  garden  crops, 

Smith,  H.  H..  notes  on  the  physical  geography  of 

the  Amazons  valley,  27. 
Snake  dance  of  the  Moquis,  X04. 
Snake,  green,  9aa. 
Society  of  naturalists  of  N.  America,  proceedings 

o^  334. 
Some  anatomical  and  histological  methods,  537. 
South  America,  787. 
Georgia,  i6a. 
Southworth,  Effie  A.,  stomata  of  the  oat,  7x1. 
Specific  energy  of  the  nerves  of  the  skin,  4x7. 
Sphaerella  platant,  97. 

Sphaerulana  bombi.  7x7.  , 

Spiders,  927. 

eggs  of,  toax. 

seasonal  dimorphism  in,  xsax. 
Spines  of  the  anterior  doisal,  development  in  Gas- 

terosteus  and  Lophius,  415. 
Spirifera,  645. 
Spirogyra,  800. 
Spitzbergen,  geology  of,  xao8. 
Sponges,  90X. 

nervous  system  of,  xasx. 
Sponge,  Mexican  fresh-water,  810. 
Sporocyst,  a,  3x0. 
Sporozoa,  X113. 
Squashes,  658, 104a. 
Squirrel,  gray,  migratory  habits  of,  59. 
Squirrels,  migration  of,  zaso. 
Stanley's  Kwilu  expedition,  x6x. 
Starfish,  nervous  s>nitem  ot,  X184. 
Steinman,  Dr.  G.,  journey  in S.  America,  64. 
Stelechopoda,  313. 

Stokes,  A.  C,  some  apparently  undescribed  Infii- 
soria,  18. 
some  new  Infusoria,  433.  * 
stomata  of  oat,  7x0. 
Strassborger's  Botanische  Practicum,  505. 
Strawberry  leaves,  spot  disease  oi,  xax8. 
Struthers,  J.  M.,  finger  muscles  in  Megaptera 
longimana,  xa6. 
rudimentary    hind    limb    of 
Megaptei'a,  xas. 
Study  of  the  liverworts  in  N.  America,  604. 
Sturtevant,  E.  L.,  hybridization  and  cross-breed- 
ing of  plants,  to4o. 
Indian  com  and  the  Indian, 

325. 
khchcn    garden    esculents   ot 
American   origin,   444,  543, 
658. 
Sugar  in  the  blood,  presence  of,  08. 
Supposed  new  island  off  Icelana,  X59.  | 
Surinam,  natives  of.  868. 
Sweden,  rise  of  land  in,  1087. 
Synaptomys  coopcri,  XX3. 
Syncarida,  700. 

Tachina  flies,  occurrence  in  traches  of  insects, 

X78. 
Talisman,  deep-sea  explorations  of,  80. 
Tarsus,  718. 

in  the  mammals,  morphology  of  the,  86. 
Temperature  and  hibernation,  405. 

sense,  the,  313. 
Tertiary  fossils,  794,  882. 

geology,  900,  xax3. 

granite,  168. 

man  at  Thenay,  495. 

Mammalia,  383. 

of  Sahara,  X7a. 

of  Vosges,  17a. 

period,  X094. 
Teschnite,  99X. 
Testacella.  90X. 
Testudo,  XXX4. 
Tetheopsis.  594. 
Tetracis  lorata,  80. 
Tetrasticus  produaus,  1104. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


I26o 


Index  to  Vol.  XIX. 


Texan  mounds,  1019. 

Thomson,  Jas.,  results  of  the  journey  of,  a86. 
Tissues,  embryonic,  1x34. 
Toad,  common,  139. 
Tomato,  667, 1x41. 
Tomitherium  rosiratum,  461. 
Topaz,  798. 

Trameie»  kacsensis,  Z73. 

Translocation  forwards  of  the  rudiments  of  the 
pelvic  fins  in  the  embryos  of  physoclyst  fishes. 

Trapezium  in  the  Camelidae,  196. 

Trees,  forest,  age  of,  838. 

Trouessart  and  Megnin's  sarcoptid  mites,  608. 

Trotter,  S.,  significance  of  the  collar  bone  in  the 

Mammalia,  X172. 
True,  F.  W. ,  blackfooted  ierret  from  Texas,  730. 
Tset»e  fly,  1x39. 
Tunicata,  730 

Turner,  H.  W.,raU  nesting  in  trees,  zxxs. 
Turkey  buzzard  breeding  in  Peniuylvania,  407. 
Turner's  Sumoa,  X04. 

Uintatherium,  43,  594. 

leidyanum,  53. 

mirabile,  51. 

robustum,  53. 
Urea,  place  of  formation  in  the  body,  416. 
Urodela,  the  brain  of  the,  328. 
Use  of  an  adhesive  fluid  by  jumping  insects,  509. 
U.  S.  geological  survey,  xsx,  59a. 

Variation  in  cultivated  plantt,  iji. 

Varying  hare,  change  of  color  of,  58. 

Varzeas.  10,  31. 

Vermipsylla,  926. 

Vermont,  stone  axes  in,xx43. 

Virginia,  Mesozoic  flora  of,  926. 

Voluntary  acceleration  of  the  beart>beat,  321. 

Vorticella,  another  with  two  contractile  vesicles, 


Vorticelia  smaragdina,  20. 
striata,  22. 
telcscopica,  ax. 

UtliCuluS,  82. 

Wadsworth's  lithological  studies,  497. 

Ward,  L.  F.,  evoluuoa  in  the  vegetable  kingdom, 

Waieita,  63. 

Wax,  insect,  z  106. 

Western  tribal  and  local  names,  327. 

Whales,  1013. 

Whale,  right,  zxxs. 

White  river  beds  of  Swift  Current  river,  1x63. 

Whitman,  C.  O.,  means  of  differentiating  embry- 
onic tissues,  1x34. 

Williams,  G.  H.,  amphibole-anthophyllite,  784. 

new  planes  on  hornblende  crys* 
uls,  885. 

Willkomm's  arrangement  of  the  vegetaUe  kaiig- 
dom.603. 

Woodchuck,  another  swimming,  192. 

Wood,  W.,  obituary  of,  X25X. 

Worms,  earth,  939. 
tape,  930. 
trematode,  XIX3. 

Worsae,  obituary  of,  XX4X. 

Wright,  C.,  obituary  of,  xt49. 

Wright.  R.  R.  suggestions  as  to  the  preparation 
and  use  of  series  of  sections  in  sootomical  in* 
stniction,  9. 


chlorostigma,  9. 
cuculius,  33. 
longifilum,  sx. 
macrocaulis,  ao,  sx. 
macrophya,  33. 


Xingu,  788. 

Yellowstone  national  park,  X037. 
Ygapo.  3X. 

Volk-blasiopore,  position  as  determined  by   the 
size  of  tfie  vitellus,  4x1. 

Zittdte,  798. 

Zoological  Record  for  X883, 484. 
Zoothamnium  adamsi.  34. 

simplex,  34. 
Zunyite,  709. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


Digitized  by 


Google 


po 


>R  SALE— "^  complete  set  of  the  AMERICAN  NATURALIST.   Address,  for  tcnns, 

MUSTICUSf  this  Office. 


$5  to  $15  per  day  made  selling 

HASKELL  BROTHERS* 

ladezed  If  ap  of  tlie  Med  St&tei  a&d  World. 

A  lightning  Qnlck  Town  Finder. 

PRICE,    -    -    -    -    $1.90. 

SlXB,  54X40. 

LIBERAL    TERMS   TO    AGENTS.     SEND    FOR 
PRICE  LIST  AND  CATALOGUE. 

College  students  will  do  well  to  take  an  Agency.  We 
have  many  who  are  paying  their  tuition  by  selling  the 
abo' 


ID^IiTOlT    &   CO., 

380  SOUTH  WATER  STREET,  CHICAGO. 


WHEN 


the  m  u  o  o  n  8 
surfaces  of  the 
bronchia  are 
sore  or  Inflamed, 
Dr.  Jayne*8  Expectorant  will  afford  prompt 
relief.  For  breaking  np  a  cold,  or  subduing  a 
cough,  you  will  find  in  it  a  certain  remedy. 


AN  EXCELLENT  PAPER. 

It  skcms  almost  unnecessary  for  as  to  call  attention 
to  a  paper  so  well  and  finvorably  known  as  the  Youth's 
CoMrANiON,  of  Boston.  It  has  been  for  fifty-eight 
years  a  weekly  visitor,  and  each  year  has  shown  more 
clearly  its  wonderful  usefulness  to  the  class  of  readers 
for  whom  it  is  prepared. 

It  would  be  interesting  to  trace  its  influence  in  the 
case  of  two  families,  one  of  which  began,  we  will  sup> 
pose,  twenty  years  ago,  to  provide  it  for  their  children 
to  read,  while  the  other  furnished  the  more  sensational 
publications.  The  contrast  would  no  doubt  be  a  striking 
one. 

Parents  can  give  their  children  few  things  of  mcr« 
value  and  importance  in  their  growth  of  mind  and  oi 
character  than  a  wide-awake,  intelligt.-nt,  wholesome 
paper  into  whose  management  the  publishers  put  con- 
science and  moral  purpose  as  wdl  as  money  and  ability* 


SCIEHTIRC  LieRART  FOR  SAIL 

The  Subscriber  offen  for  sale  hb  Scientific  Library, 
one  of  the  largest  and  most  complete,  in  the  depart- 
ments of  Geology  and  Palaeontology,  in  the  West.  It 
embraces  about  1350  catalogued  numbers,  and  two  or 
three  hundred  maps  and  pamphlets  not  included  in  the 
cauk)gue.    Address,  A.  H.  WORTH  EN. 

Springfield,  IU», 


PeINTEKS  and   PcBUSHEitS, 


ARE  PREPARED  TO   EXECUTE 


PRINTING  OF  EVERY  DESCRIPTION,  SIZE  OR  QUANTIH,  PUIN  OR  IN  COLOR& 


ESTIMATES  AND  PROOFS  FURNISHED. 


To  those  unaccustomed  to  Printing,  we  will  cheerfully  give  the  benefit  of  our  long  experience 
in  the  business. 


OFFICES,  Nos.  237-9  DOCK  STREET, 

Box  1531.  pmE^AEfiepsk^. 


THE 

AMERICAN    NATURALIST. 

Vol.  xsl— FEBRUARY,  1886.— No.  2. 


THE  POST-MORTEM  IMBIBITION  OF  POISONS. 

BY   GEORGE   B.  MILLER,  M.D.^ 

THE  subject  is  one  not  only  of  a  highly  interesting  character 
to  the  scientific  observer,  but  also  an  important  one  from  its 
medico-legal  aspects.  Perhaps  the  questions  which  very  natu- 
rally first  arise,  viz..  What  is  its  nature  and  what  are  its  medico- 
legal relations?  can  be  best. answered  by  the  following  hypo- 
thetical case,  which  it  is  hoped  will  serve  to  illustrate  the  sub- 
ject in  a  manner  best  calculated  to  aid  in  its  thorough  compre- 
hension. 

Suppose  a  person  dies  of  a  natural  cause,  and  is  buried  in  the 
usual  manner  in  conformity  with  the  established  customs  of  his 
country,  the  body  to  all  external  appearances  not  having  been 
tampered  with.  Also,  that,  after  the  lapse  of  a  few  weeks,  an  indi- 
vidual who  had  previously  introduced  into  the  body,  per  mouth 
or  rectum,  a  poison  or  poisonous  solution  for  the  purpose  of  ac- 
cusing an  innocent  person  of  a  horrible  crime,  should  quietly 
circulate  a  report  that  the  deceased  had  been  poisoned,  and  inti- 
mate that  the  crime  had  been  committed  by  such  and  such  a  per- 
son. With  what  remarkable  lightning  rapidity  does  a  report  of 
such  a  sensational  character  as  this  travel  from  one  individual  to 
another,  rarely  ever  finding  the  doors  barred,  the  contrary  being 
the  rule !  "Piis  report  would  in  a  short  space  of  time  reach  the 
tribunal  of  justice,  cognizance  would  be  manifested  by  the 
proper  authorities,  who  would  order  the  body  to  be  exhumed, 
the  various  organs  removed  and  given  in  charge  of  a  reliable 
expert,  who  would  subject  them  to  a  chemical  analysis,  which 

>  Iiuagural  thesis  presented  to  the  Faculty  of  the  Medipal  Department,  University 
of  Peansylvaniii,  A.  D.  1885. 

VOL.  XX.—IIO.  II.  8 


Digitized  by 


Google 


I02  The  Posi'Mortem  Imbibition  of  Poisons.      [February, 

would  reveal  the  presence  of  the  suspected  poison.  The  subject 
is  not  of  very  recent  date  as  many  are  led  to  suppose  from  the 
meagre  account  given,  if  given  at  all,  in  some  of  the  standard 
text  books  on  toxicology  of  the  present  day.  As  far  back  as  the 
time  of  Orfila,  when  he  swayed  as  chief  of  the  toxicologists,  was 
the  subject  known,  and  indeed  it  appears  that  almost  cotempora- 
neous  with  the  birth  of  toxicology,  already  an  account  of  the 
subject  appeared. 

In  order  to  see  in  what  light  the  subject  was  regarded  in 
former  times,  extracts  from  the  writings  of  a  few  authors  will  be 
here  made,  as  to  go  over  them  all  would  involve  a  great  amount 
of  unnecessary  labor.  How  eloquent  is  the  language  of  Orfila 
on  the  subject,  and  in  what  an  exceedingly  small  number  of 
words  does  he  illustrate  the  whole  subject  (Orfila  on  Poisons). 
He  writes :  "  Suppose  some  wretch,  with  the  design  of  accusing 
an  innocent  person  of  the  crime  of  poisoning,  should  introduce 
into  the  digestive  canal  of  a  dead  body  a  poisonous  solution, 
which  would  afterwards  penetrate  by  imbibition  even  to  the 
remotest  organ  from  which  it  would  be  subsequently  extracted 
by  the  experts,  and  would  lead  them  to  the  conclusion  that  they 
were  dealing  with  a  veritable  case  of  poisoning."  From  the  fol- 
lowing it  will  be  readily  seen  that  the  celebrated  chemist.  Sir 
Robert  Christison,  although  not  in  possession  of  any  evidence  of 
crime  having  been  practiced,  yet  was  fully  aware  of  the  circum- 
stances under  which  it  might  perchance  be  committed.  Says 
Christison:  "Although  I  have  never  been  able  to  find  any 
authentic  instance  of  so  horrible  an  act  of  ingenuity  having  been 
perpetrated,  it  must  nevertheless  be  allowed  to  be  quite  possible." 

The  realization  of  the  greatness  of  the  crime  does  not  seem  to 
be  apparent  to  the  wretch  who  is  meditating  the  commission  of 
it,  brooding  over  the  insults  of  another,  and  holding  malice 
against  a  fellow-man  or  especially  (as  it  affords  a  better  chance 
for  the  full  performance  of  his  crime),  against  one  of  his  relatives, 
and  ravenously  seeking  retaliation ;  for  if  jt  was  realized,  how  is 
it  possible  th^t  an  individual,  capable  of  tjie  perception  of  right 
and  wrong,  living  in  society,  constituting  a  part  thereof,  mutually 
dependent  on  apd  pooperative  with  his  neighbor,  could  use  such 
means  for  the  wicked  furtherance  of  his  ends  ? 

That  there  have  existed  in  times  past  among  the  communities 
of  the  civilized  nations  of  the  world,  individuals  who  Ji^y?  har- 


Digitized  by 


Google 


1 886.]  The  FosUMortem  Itnbibition  of  Poisons,  103 

bored  such  hatred  toward  their  fellow-men  that  they  have  not 
faltered  in  carrying  their  intentions  into  practice,  is  manifested 
by  the  defences  set  forth  in  the  trials  of  various  murder  cases, 
vrhich  are  recorded  in  the  annals  of  the  tribunals  of  justice,  not 
only  of  the  New  but  also  of  the  Old  World. 

That  in  a  number  of  murder  cases  the  defence  has  been  that 
the  poison  was  designedly  introduced  into  the  dead  body  for  the 
purpose  of  crimination  is  made  apparent  by  the  narration  of  the 
following  cases :  Professor  John  J.  Reese,  M.D.,  in  his  article  on 
the  Post-Mortem  Imbibition  of  Poisons  (Transactions  of  the 
College  of  Phy<5icians  and  Surgeons,  1877),  relates  a  remarkable 
case  of  alleged  arsenical  poisoning,  which  occurred  in  one  of  the 
Western  States.  The  suspicions  were  exceedingly  strong  that 
the  poison. was  introduced  after  death  for  various  reasons.  The 
old  man  having  been  treated  in  his  last  illness  for  phthisis, 
his  physician  testifying  to  his  having  died  of  this  disease,  and  to 
his  having  presented  no  symptoms  of  arsenical  poisoning  before 
death. 

The  body  was  buried  four  (4)  years,  during  which  time  no  sus- 
picion of  foul  play  appears  to  have  been  entertained.  In  the 
meantime,  the  widow  again  married,  and  the  suspicion  of  poison- 
ing was  bruited  about.  The  woman  was  accused  of  the  crime, 
the  body  was  exhumed,  and  a  chemical  analysis  revealed  the 
presence  of  this  poison  in  the  stomach  and  liver. 

The  defence  was  that  the  poison  was  designedly  introduced 
into  the  body  not  very  long  before  the  disinterment,  the  body 
being  kept  in  a  vault.  The  case,, singularly  enough,  having  had  a 
preliminary  hearing,  was  abandoned. 

Illustrative  of  the  same,  we  have  an  article  by  Dr.  Victor  C. 
Vaughan  (physician  and  surgeon,  Ann  Arbor,  Michigan^  Aug. 
1883):  "  Enuring  the  past  six  months  there  has  been  tried  in  this 
State  a  murder  case,  in  which  the  question^arose  whether  arsen- 
ious  oxide  could  diffuse  after  death,  after  it  had  been  mixed  with 
water,  and  injected  into  the  rectum  or  mouth  or  both." 

Since  direct  experiments  by  others,  and  by  the  author  himself, 
as  will  be  seen  hereafter,  seem  to  prove  that  the  absorption 
of  poisons  after  death  does  take  place,  it  must  necessarily 
become  an  important  factor  how  (n  such  cases  to  differentiate 
ante-mortem  from  post-mortem  poisoning.  The  methods  are 
very  limited.    Perhaps  the  most  reliable  as  well  ^s  the  most  con* 


Digitized  by 


Google 


104  ^^  Post' Mat  Um  Imbibition  of  Poisons.      [February, 

elusive  evidence  of  ante-mortem  poisoning  are  the  symptoms 
manifested  by  the  patient  before  death.  Of  little  less  importance 
is  the  revealing  of  the  presence  of  the  poison  by  chemical  analy- 
sis in  the  interior  of  a  large  organ,  as  for  instance,  the  liver; 
since  it  does  not  appear  to  be  likely  that  a  poison  introduced  after 
death  could  penetrate  by  imbibition  even  to  the  interior  of  so 
large  an  organ.  That  Professor  Reese  attaches  much  importance 
to  the  detection  of  the  poison  within  organs  will  become  evident 
by  the  following  extract  from  the  article  before  mentioned.  Says 
Professor  Reese :  "  If  the  poison  were  found  on  the  exterior  of  the 
organs  only,  and  not  in  their  interior,  after  a  careful  research,  I 
should  regard  it  as  a  true  case  of  *  Post-Mortem  Imbibition.' " 

In  this  connection  a  digression  maybe  allowable  relative  to  the 
impregnation  of  a  dead  body  from  arsenical  soil  into  which  it  is 
sometimes  unfortunately  placed.  In  those  cases,  where  owing  to 
suspicions  of  poisoning  it  becomes  necessary  to  disinter  a  body 
for  legal  purposes,  it  is  often  found  that  the  coffin  in  which  the 
remains  are  deposited  has  burst  open,  thus  allowing  the  contents 
to  come  in  contact  and  mingle  with  the  soil  (which  in  some  rare 
instances  contains  arsenic).  At  the  trial  of  these  cases  the  counsel 
for  the  defendant,  hard  pushed  for  a  defence,  and  whose  only 
resource  lies  in  a  choice  between  "  insanity "  and  "  arsenical 
impregnation  from  the  soil,"  in  some  cases  selects  the  latter. 
The  actions  of  lawyers  in  setting  forth  such  groundless  defences, 
being  cognizant  of  the  impossibility  of  the  transudation  taking 
place,  and  living  in  the  light  of  present  scientific  knowledge, 
might  be  looked  upon  as  of  doubtful  propriety.  Unfortunately,  in 
order  to  show  that  such  a  course  is  frequently  pursued,  it  is  only 
necessary  to  search  the  actions  taken  by  the  Commonwealth  in 
the  trial  of  cases  of  this  nature,  when  it  will  be  found  that  along 
with  a  chemical  analysis  of  the  organs,  there  is  made  also  a 
chemical  analysis  of  the  soil.  Indeed,  this  mode  of*  action  was 
taken  in  a  recent  case  of  arsenical  poisoning  occurring  in  this 
city  (Philadelphia),  in  which  the  prisoner,  although  twice  con- 
victed, has  not  as  yet  been  sentenced,  on  account  of  the  existence 
of  some  of  the  so-called  "  technicalities."  From  the  following 
opinions  of  certain  toxicologists  who  have  made  it  a  study,  it 
will  be  seen  that  it  is  regarded  as  impossible  for  this  contamina- 
tion to  take  place. 

Professor  Reese^  (Proceedings  of  College  of  Physicians  and 


Digitized  by 


Google 


1 886.]  The  Post-Mot  tern  Imbibition  of  Poisons.  105 

Surgeons,  1877)  says:  "In  the  few  cases  in  which  arsenic  has 
been  discovered  in  cemetery  soils,  it  has  invariably  existed  in  the 
insoluble  state  generally  in  combination  with  either  lime  or 
iron.  Indeed,  it  cannot  be  extracted  from  such  soils  even  by 
boiling  water,  but  the  agency  of  hydrochloric  acid  is  required  to 
render  it  soluble;  consequently,  it  is  impossible  that  arsenic 
should  be  capable  of  transudation  from  the  soil  into  a  dead 
body." 

This  assertion  is  corroborated  by  the  direct  experiments  of 
Orfila  (Acad,  of  Med.,  June  29,  1847),  who  showed  that  bodies 
buried  in  arsenical  earth  for  a  period  of  three  (3)  months,  did  not 
acquire  any  arsenical  impregnation  from  arsenical  soil.  But  even 
admitting  that  it  is  possible  for  a  body  to  become  impregnated 
from  arsenical  soil,  it  could  be  easily  determined  in  case  a  body 
contained  arsenic,  whether  it  derived  the  poison  by  contamination 
with  earth,  or  whether  the  poison  was  introduced  into  the  body ; 
by  taking  two  samples  of  earth,  one  from  the  immediate  contact 
with  the  coffin,  and  the  other  from  the  same  strata,  but  in  an  adja- 
cent portion  of  the  cemetery,  and  subjecting  both  to  a  chemical 
analysis;  if  the  analysis  revealed  the  poison  in  the  coffin  soil,  and 
not  in  the  adjacent  soil,  then  it  would  be  evident  that  the  soil  was 
contaminated  by  the  body  and  not  the  body  by  the  soil. 

With  a  view  of  determining  whether  it  is  possible  for  a  poison 
introduced  into  a  dead  body,  to  penetrate  through  the  various 
organs,  and  be  recovered  by  chemical  analysis,  a  series  of  experi- 
ments were  conducted. 

A  small  dog  was  killed,  and  into  the  stomach  was  introduced, 
by  means  of  a  flexible  catheter,  two  ounces  of  water  containing 
twenty  grains  of  arsenious  oxide.  The  animal  was  placed  in  a 
pine  box,  buried,  and  at  the  expiration  of  sixty  days  was 
exhumed.  The  following  organs,  viz.,  the  stomach,  liver,  kid- 
neys, lungs,  heart  and  brain,  were  then  removed.  On  the  surface 
of  the  organs  were  observed  brownish-black  spots.  The  organs 
were  found  to  be  in  a  remarkable  state  of  preservation,  especially 
the  kidneys.  The  brain  was  only  slightly  broken  down,  but  the 
dura  mater  was  intact.  A  bright  yellow  spot  of  the  sire  of  a  small 
pea  was  observed  on  the  urinary  bladder. 

The  organs  removed  were  placed  in  separate  glass  jars,  and 
then  subjected  to  a  chemical  analysis.  The  process  employed 
for  the  recovery  of  the  arsenic  being  the  "Frenious  and  Babo"  or 


Digitized  by 


Google 


,  lo6  Tlte  Post'Martem  Imbibition  of  Poisons,      [February, 

the  hydrochloric  acid  and  potassium-chlorate  method,  with  the 
purification  method  of  Otto.  These  are  as  follows :  "  The  organ 
is  cut  into  small  pieces,  and  hydrochloric  acid  and  water  added. 
The  mass  is  heated  to  near  but  not  quite  the  boiling  point  on  a 
sand  bath.  Potassium  chlorate  is  added,  in  portions,  the  mass 
being  stirred  continually.  The  chlorine  evolved  disintegrates  the 
organic  matter.  The  mass  is  stirred  and  heated  until  all  the  chlo- 
rine is  driven  ofT,  and  it  becomes  homogeneous.  The  volume  is 
kept  up  by  adding  water.  Allow  to  cool  and  transfer  to  a  moist 
linen  strainer,  and  strain  until  the  filtrate  is  clear,  restraining  all 
that  is  turbid.  The  residue  is  washed  well  with  water.  The 
arsenious  oxide  has  been  oxidized  by  the  potassium  chlorate 
to  arsenic  oxide.  Reduce  to  arsenious  oxide  by  adding  an 
excess  of  a  solution  of  sulphurous  acid  gas,  the  excess  of  gas 
being  known  by  the  odor. 

The  mass  is  evaporated  to  twice  the  volume  of  hydrochloric 
acid  used ;  cool  and  filter  if  necessary.  Thoroughly  saturate  while 
warm  with  a  washed  stream  of  sulphuretted  hydrogen,  which  will 
throw  down  the  arsenious  oxide,  organic  matter,  sulphur  and  the 
sulphides  of  other  metals.  Filter,  wash  the  residue  until  the 
washings  are  free  from  chlorine.  The  residue  is  washed  with  a 
few  c.  c.  of  water  containing  ammonium  hydrate.  The  sulphide 
of  arsenic  will  be  dissolved  by  the  ammonia  water  and  pass 
through.  Evaporate  to  dryness  in  a  water-bath,  and  add  a  few 
drops  of  nitric  acid  to  destroy  the  organic  matter;  the  nitric  acid 
will  also  oxidize  the  sulphide  of  arsenic  to  arsenic  oxide.  Evapo- 
rate to  dryness  and  repeal  until  the  mass  has  a  yellow  color.  To 
the  dry  residue  add  a  small  quantity  of  a  solution  of  potassium 
hydrate  and  powdered  carbonate  of  soda,  and  evaporate  again. 
The  potassium  hydrate  will  combine  with  the  arsenic  oxide,  form- 
ing potassium  arsenate.  Evaporate  to  dryness,  and  add  three  or 
four  drops  of  concentrated  sulphuric  acid.  Heat  on  naked  flame 
until  vapors  of  sulphuric  acid  cease  to  arise.  The  sulphuric  acid 
will  clear  the  organic  matter.  Pulverize  the  residue  if  necessary, 
add  25  c.  c.  of  water,  and  one  drop  of  sulphuric  acid  to  acidulate. 
Boil  and  filter.  The  filtrate  which  contains  arsenic  oxide  should 
be  colorless.  Reduce  arsenic  oxide  to  arsenious  oxide  by  an 
excess  of  a  solution  of  sulphurous  acid.  Concentrate  until  all  of 
the  sulphurous  acid  is  gone,  and  about  20  c.  c.  remain. 

The  reagents  employed  in  the  extraction  of  arsenic,  themselves 


Digitized  by 


Google 


l886.]  Tki  Post'Martem  Ifnbibition  of  Poisons.  107 

frequently  contain  this  substance,  notably  those  of  zinc  and  sul- 
phuric acid ;  hence,  it  becomes  necessary  to  test  all  reagents  to 
determine  that  they  are  absolutely  free  from  this  poison.  None 
but  "chemically  pure"  reagents  were  employed,  the  sulphuric 
acid  being  found  to  be  such  after  subjecting  it  to  Marsh's  test. 
On  the  application  of  Reinsch's  test  to  the  hydrochloric  acid  and 
copper  foil,  they  also  proved  to  be  reliable.  Summary  of  results 
obtained  by  chemical  analysis  of  the  organs  removed  from  dog  con^ 
taining  arsenic :  The  extracts  obtained  from  the  stomach,  liver, 
kidneys,  lungs,  heart  and  brain  were  subjected  to  Reinsch's  test, 
and  from  all  of  these  organs  arsenic  was  recovered.  In  each  case 
a  sublimate  was  obtained  on  the  side  of  the  reduction  tube,  which, 
placed  under  the  microscope,  revealed  the  presence  of  arsenic  by 
exhibiting  many  beautifully  formed  octohedral  crystals.  It  should 
be  remarked  that  the  results  obtained  from  the  examination  of 
these  organs  were  about  equally  striking,  with  the  exception  of 
the  brain,  which  gave  somewhat  less  marked  reactions. 

On  examining  the  literature  of  the  subject  of  the  "Post- 
mortem imbibition  of  poisons,"  it  will  become  apparent  that  it 
has  not  received  the  amount  of  attention  it  so  justly  deserves. 
Indeed,  so  far  as  the  writer  has  been  able  to  learn  the  only  inves- 
tigations pertaining  to  the  subject  are  those  of  Drs.  Victor  C 
Vaughn,  Kedzie  and  George  McCracken. 

Dr.  Vaughn  in  the  first  of  his  experiments  (physician  and  sur- 
geon, Ann  Arbor,  Michigan,  August,  1883),  used  a  musk-rat^ 
injecting  into  the  mouth  and  rectum  by  means  of  a  syringe  fifty 
(50)  grains  of  arsenious  acid  suspended  in  cold  water.  The  rat 
was  buried  twenty-five  (25)  days,  and  the  organs  subjected  to  a 
chemical  analysis,  which  revealed  the  presence  of  this  poison  in 
the  kidneys,  liver,  lungs,  stomach  and  contents,  large  intestine, 
small  intestine,  heart  and  brain.  In  his  second  experiment  a 
cadaver  was  used,  an  unweighed  quantity  of  arsenious  oxide  was 
introduced  into  the  mouth  and  rectum,  the  body  being  then 
placed  in  a  cellar  for  twenty-five  (25)  days.  The  brain  was  broken 
down,  and  in  a  semi-fluid  condition,  the  rest  of  the  organs  firm. 
Chemical  analysis  revealed  the  poison  in  the  right  and  lefl  kid- 
ney, liver,  lower  lobe  of  right  lung,  heart,  rectum,  spleen,  stomach 
and  brain. 

Dr.  Kedzie,  of  the  Michigan  Agricultural  College,  working  inde- 
pendently, made  experiments  on  a  cat  with  like  results.   In  again 


Digitized  by 


Google 


io8  The  Post'Mortem  Imbibition  of  Poisons,      [February, 

referring  to  the  results  of  the  experiments  by  the  writer,  it  will  be 
seen  that  arsenic  was  recovered  from  the  brain  of  the  animal  into 
which  this  poison  had  been  introduced.  The  fact  that  a  poison, 
introduced  after  death,  can  penetrate  through  the  various  tis- 
sues and  saturate  the  great  nerve  centers,  protected  and  sur- 
rounded as  they  are  by  a  bony  casing,  must  be  looked  upon  as 
an  astonishing  as  well  as  an  interesting  fact  Upon  this  point  Dr. 
Reese  (Transactions  of  College  of  Physicians  and  Surgeons, 
1877),  observes:  "  It  is  scarcely  conceivable  that  a  poison  intro- 
duced into  a  body  after  death  could  penetrate  by  imbibition 
within  the  cavity  of  the  cranium  and  spinal  cord." 

In  the  experiments  of  Dr.  Vaughn,  the  following  explanation  is 
offered  for  having  found  arsenic  in  the  brain,  viz.,  "  In  injecting 
the  solution  into  the  mouth,  the  syringe  used  clogged  up,  and  on 
attempting  to  force  it  free,  a  portion  of  the  fluid  was  observed  to 
flow  from  the  nostrils,  some  of  this  fluid  probably  adhered  to  the 
pharynx." 

In  the  writer's  experiments,  when  the  dog  employed  was  being 
placed  in  the  box,  a  small  amount  of  fluid  was  observed  to  trickle 
from  the  nostrils.  Whether  the  presence  of  arsenic  in  the  brain 
was  due  to  the  foregoing  accident  or  not  is  uncertain.  In  a 
series  of  experiments  on  "  Post-Mortem  Imbibition  of  Poisons," 
Dr.  Geo.  McCracken  introduced  the  three  poisons,  viz.,  arsenic, 
tartar  emetic  and  corrosive  sublimate,  and  subsequently  recovered 
them  by  chemical  analysis  from  several  organs. 

Though  always  allowable,  it  is  not  our  purpose  to  attempt  to 
draw  positive  deductions  from  the  facts  adduced,  but  rather  to 
allow  our  own  results,  which  have  been  gained  by  a  strictly  scien- 
tific process,  to  speak  for  themselves.  In  conclusion,  however,  it 
may  be  remarked  that  the  hypothesis  that  arsenic  through  the 
process  of  post-mortem  imbibition  from  the  alimentary  canal  is, 
by  careful  chemical  analysis,  discoverable  in  the  brain,  receives 
entire  confirmation  from  the  present  researches. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


1 886.]  Ascent  of  the  Volcano  of  Popocatepetl,  1 09 

ASCENT  OF  THE  VOLCANO  OF  POPOCATEPETL. 

BY  A.  S.  PACKARD, 

THIS  famous  volcano,  called  Popocatepetl  from  the  Aztec 
popoca,  smoking,  and  tepetl,  mountain,  was  the  objective  point 
of  my  journey  to  the  Mexican  plateau.  The  Nevada  de  Toluca 
I  had  seen  a  few  days  previous  from  the  town  of  Toluca,  on  the 
Mexican  National  Railway.  This  volcano,  however,  is  not  a  sim- 
ple conical  peak,  but  hs  snow-covered  dome  rises  15,156  feet 
above  the  sea,  and  out  of  a  mountain  mass  with  four  lesser  eleva- 
tions about  it  From  Toluca  the  crater  is  seen  to  be  a  very  large 
one,  and  we  were  told  that  it  is  1500  feet  deep  with  a  lake  at  the 
bottom  said  to  be  two  and  a  half  miles  across. 

Orizaba  we  were  yet  to  see ;  but  nothing  could,  we  thought, 
exceed  in  interest  the  distant  view  of  Popocatepetl  from  the  top 
of  our  hotel  in  the  City  of  Mexico,  as  the  setting  sun  gilded  its 
snowy  dome,  and  as  it  went  down  painted  its  snow  fields 
with  roseate  hues.  It  is  the  grandest  mountain  summit  of  the 
valley  of  Anahuac.  It  repeats,  but  with  emphasis,  the  purity  of 
form  and  massiveness  of  Mt.  Shasta,  in  Northern  California.  Its 
twin  sister,  the  volcano  of  Iztacihuatl,  or  the  "  snowy  woman," 
forms  a  part  of  the  same  isolated  range — the  Cordillera  of  Ahu- 
alco — and  was  doubtless  thrown  up  at  the  same  time ;  but  it  has 
no  central  dome  cleaving  the  sky,  the  mountain  mass  extending 
as  a  range  running  nearly  north  and  south,  with  three  broken 
irregular  snow-covered  summits,  of  which  the  central  is  the  high- 
est, reaching  an  altitude  of  4786  meters  or  15,705  feet  above  the 
sea.  The  height  of  Popocatepetl  has  been  variously  estimated. 
Humboldt  placed  it  at  5400  meters,  or  17,716  feet;  Guyot  gives 
its  altitude  as  17,784  feet;  Humboldt's  measurement  combined 
with  those  of  two  later  observers,  is  17,853  feet,  while  the  French 
savans  of  the  Maximilian  expedition  put  it  as  high  as  18,362  feet. 
The  height  of  the  City  of  Mexico  above  the  sea  is  7482  feet,  so 
that  we  had  before  us  an  ascent  of  a  little  over  10,000  feet.  This 
is  nearly  2000  feet  less  of  an  ascent  than  that  of  Mt.  Shasta,  which 
is  14,442  feet  high,  while  the  plain  out  of  which  the  California 
volcano  rises  is  about  2000  feet  above  the  sea. 

For  two  days  previous  to  starting  we  were  occupied  in  arrang- 
ing for  the  ascent.  Our  party  consisted  of  three.  Mr.  F.  A. 
Ober,  author  of  the  interesting  Travels  in  Mexico,  who  had  pre- 


Digitized  by 


Google 


I  lo  Ascent  of  the  Volcano  of  PopocatepetL       [February, 

viously  made  the  ascent,  kindly  accompanied  us  to  the  snow  line 
as  guide,  interpreter  and  friend.^  We  laid  In  supplies  of  boiled 
chicken,  other  meats,  bread  and  tea  for  our  night  at  the  ranch  and 
the  noon  lunch  on  the  summit.  By  the  kindness  of  Messrs.  D.  S, 
Spaulding  &  Co.,  I  obtained  a  letter  from  General  Caspar  Sanchez 
Ochoa,  the  proprietor  of  the  mountain,  to  one  of  Tiis  employes, 
Sn  D.  Mariano  Mendizabal,  at  Amecameca,  who  was  ordered  to 
send  his  son  Rafael  to  guide  us  to  the  summit.  The  day  pre- 
vious to  leaving  the  City  of  Mexico  I  telegraphed  to  Senior  Nor- 
riega,  a  grocer  at  Amecameca,  for  horses  and  guides  for  a  party  of 
four.  That  evening  the  sun  sat  clear  on  Popocatepetl,  and  the 
weather  promised  to  be  clear  and  fine  on  the  morrow. 

On  the  morning  of  March  19th,  after  an  early  breakfast,  we 
drove  to  the  railroad  station  at  San  Lazaro,  leaving  it  at  8  A.  ic. 
The  sky  was  a  little  overcast,  but  soon  the  sun  came  out  clear 
and  hot.  We  soon  crossed  the  edge  of  Lake  Tescuco  over  a 
causeway,  along  the  canals  traversed  by  Indian  dugouts,  over  the 
shallow  reedy  lake,  in  which  were  men  and  boys  naked  or  stripped 
to  the  knees,  wading  through  the  water,  fishing  in  its  shallow 
depths  with  nets  for  shiners  or  axolotls.  The  track  then  leaves 
the  lake  and  its  flaggy,  reedy  shores  and  passes  over  a  broad  dry 
plain,  the  ancient  bottom  of  Tescuco,  the  western  portions  of 
which  are  said,  by  Humboldt,  to  have  been  covered  with  water  in 
1 52 1.  Here  were  to  be  seen  the  mounds  of  that  busy  ant,  Po- 
gonomymtex  occidentalism  so  familiar  a  sight  from  Montana  to 
New  Mexico  and  from  Kansas  to  Reno,  Nevada. 

At  the  first  station  of  Equipajes  we  get  a  fine  view  of  Popo- 
catepetl and  Iztacihuatl.  The  railroad  then  skirts  the  bor- 
ders of  Lake  Chalco,  and  we  see  upon  our  right  many  of  the 
famous  floating  islands  covered  with  green  flags  and  reeds,  which 
had  survived  since  the  time  of  Cortez.  At  the  station  of  Ayotla 
the  Indians  crowd  about  the  train  offering  fishes  wrapped  in  the 
leaves  of  the  pond  lily,  and  here  we  bought  half  a  dozen  large 
axolotls  for  a  cent  apiece.  We  then  passed  within  sight  of  Chalco, 
the  oldest  Indian  town  of  the  valley  of  Anahuac.  Amecameca, 
the  town  where  we  take  our  guides  and  horses,  is  about  forty 
miles  by  rail  from  Mexico  and  1274  toises  or  8223  feet  above  the 
sea.     It  is  the  highest  town  in  Mexico ;   its  elevation  renders 

*  The  two  others  were  Professor  J.  W.  P.  Jenks,  of  Brown  University,  and  Hon. 
Titos  Sheard. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


i886.]  Ascent  of  the  Volcano  of  Popocatepetl.  1 1 1 

it  more  salubrious  and  cooler  than  Mexico,  being  nearly  600  feet 
higher  than  that  city,  and  it  is  somewhat  frequented  by  invalids 
from  the  city  in  hot  weather.  Before  reaching  the  town,  how- 
ever, we  pass  through  foothills  covered  with  a  growth  of  pines 
and  oaks,  with  an  intermixture  of  maguey  or  century  plants 
under  cultivation.  The  scenery  now  becomes  very  grand  as  we 
skirt  along  the  ranges — from  four  to  six — which  are  parallel  with 
Iztacihuatl.  At  10  A.  m.  both  volcanic  peaks  were  enveloped  in 
cumulus  clouds,  but  they  rolled  away  from  the  mountain  of  the 
"  white  woman,"  still,  however,  obscuring  the  snow-clad  dome  of 
Popocatepetl.  The  massive  base  of  Iztacihuatl  below  the  clouds 
was  seen  to  be  studded  with  conical  peaks,  any  one  of  which 
would  be  a  prize  in  Maine  or  New  Hampshire.  As  the  train 
stops  at  Amecameca  we  pass  the  hill  of  Sacramonte,  covered 
with  a  dense  growth  of  noble  cedars  and  pines  surrounding  the 
chapel  on  the  summit,  and  enter  the  railroad  hotel  at  eleven 
o'clock  for  dinner,  first,  however,  regaling  ourselves  with  the  full 
and  superb  view  of  Popocatepetl  and  its  sister  volcano,  whose 
serene  heights  now  clear  and  well-nigh  cloudless,  looked  down 
upon  the  town  spread  out  over  the  valley  at  their  feet. 

After  dinner  we  met  our  guide  Rafael  with  his  men,  horses  and 
pack  mules  at  the  grocery  store  of  Seiior  Francisco  Norriega, 
where  we  laid  in  additional  provisions,  and  punctually  at  one 
o'clock  started  for  our  camp  at  the  base  of  the  peak.  Our  party 
consisted  in  all  of  seven  horsemen,  with  two  pack  mules  and 
three  mozos  or  guias  on  foot.  A  guia  is  an  assistant  guide,  usu- 
ally an  Indian  servant  or  mozo.  For  the  benefit  of  any  *one  in- 
tending to  make  the  ascent,  I  give  in  a  foot-note^  the  particulars 
of  our  outfit  of  guides,  servants,  etc.,  with  the  prices,  being  a 
copy  of  the  items  in  Rafael's  bill. 

>  4  hones  at  $2.00  a  day ^16  00 

3  gaias  at  $2.00 12  00 

2  mules  at  ^1.50 6  00 

I  barley  for  the  horses  and  mules I  75 

6  pieces  of  leather  for  making  sandals I  31 

8  straw  mats 1  50 

8  leather  thongs 50 

8  yards  of  cloth  for  wrapping  the  feet. , I  75 

Thread,  etc ,  25 

A  mozo  to  look  after  the  horses  at  I3.00  a  day 6  00 

Rafael  Mcndixabal , , , , ,  10  00 

$S1  06 


Digitized  by 


Google 


1 1 2  Ascent  of  the  Volcano  of  Popocatepetl.        [February, 

We  were  urged  to  discard  our  shoes  and  let  the  guias  wrap 
our  stockinged  feet  in  rags  with  a  pair  of  rough  leather  sandals, 
but  we  preferred  to  wear  over  woolen  stockings  our  ordinary 
high  shoes  and  over  the  latter  a  pair  of  arctics,  and  found  that 
they  answered  the  purpose  admirably  in  walking  over  the  soft 
snow  and  yielding  sand  of  the  peak,  while  our  feet  did  not  suffer 
from  the  "piercing  cold  winds  of  the  early  morning  hours.  We 
had  provided  ourselves  at  Mexico  with  a  pair  of  native  blankets 
for  the  bivouac  at  the  ranch.  Thick  gloves  are  also  needed, 
while  blue-glass  goggles,  which  most  of  the  party  bought  at 
Norriega's,  are  absolutely  indispensable.  It  is  impossible  to  walk 
over  the  snow  fields  of  Popocatepetl  in  the  glaring  sunshine  with- 
out them.  I  carried  and  tried  to  use  a  pair  of  colored  eye- 
glasses, but  they  would  slip  off  while  walking,  and  proved  a 
source  of  constant  annoyance  until  my  guia  changed  with  me, 
and  considerately  made  the  best  use  he  could  of  my  glasses. 

The  charges  of  the  guide.  Rafael  were  fair,  but  we  could  have 
dispensed  with  the  Spanish  assistant  guide  and  the  mozo  to  attend 
the  horses.  The  guias^  or  sub-guides,  were  Indians,  nearly  or 
quite  full-blooded,  and  were  strong,  faithful  young  men.  They 
expected  and  received  besides  their  regular  pay  a  gratuity  for 
their  services.  Were  I  to  make  the  ascent  again  alone,  a  good 
mozo  besides  the  guide  would  be  indispensable.  No  one  should 
attempt  to  ascend  the  mountain  alone  without  such  attend- 
ance, as  some  accident  might  happen  on  account  of  the  altitude, 
though  there  is  no  dangerous  climbing.  We  were  gone  a  day 
and  a  half  from  Amecameca,  but  of  course  two  working  days 
were  spent  and  charged  in  our  bill. 

Our  cavalcade  passed  through  the  dusty  hot  streets  of  the 
town,  here  and  there  shaded  by  hedges  of  cactus  or  maguey  and 
rows  of  mesquite  trees,  the  unclouded  tropical  sun  beating  upon 
our  heads,  though  a  cool  westerly  breeze  somewhat  refreshed  us. 
Leaving  the  town  the  road  passed  through  broad  wheat  and  corn 
fields,  and  in  an  hour's  ride  from  the  city  we  left  the  plain  and 
came  to  the  edge  of  the  foothills  of  the  cordillera  of  Ahualco, 
the  range  from  which  rises  the  two  volcanoes,  of  which  Popocate- 
petl is  the  southernmost. 

We  were  now  ascending,  and  were  for  several  hours  to  ascend 
the  range,  into  the  pass  between  the  two  volcanoes  over  the  trail 
made  by  Cortez  during  his  march  from  Puebla  to  the  City  of 


Digitized  by 


Google 


1 8^6.]  Ascent  of  the  Volcano  of  Popocatepetl,  1 1 3 

Mexico.  We  met  trains  of  pack  mules  and  donkeys  coming 
from  Puebla,  and  it  added  no  little  zest  to  our  ride  to  recall  the 
memorable  march  of  the  Spanish  conquistador  from  the  plains  of 
Puebla  to  the  then  famous  Aztec  capitalof  Tenochtitlan. 

In  his  Essai  politique  sur  le  Royaume  de  la  Nouvelle-Espagne, 
Humboldt  refers  to  this  road  or  trail,  which  was  first  opened  by 
the  ancient  Aztec  couriers  from  Mexico  to  Puebla  by  way  of 
Amecameca.^ 

The  plains  over  which  we  trotted  were  evidently  an  old  lake 
bottom.  The  road  now  ascended  between  low  rounded  hills 
which  had  every  appearance  of  moraines ;  they  were  composed 
of  loose  sand  and  gravel,  with  boulders  of  black  basalt  like  that 
forming  the  volcano,  and  sloped  gradually  down  to  the  plain. 
One  very  regular  mound  which  we  passed  on  our  right,  which 
rose  abruptly  from  a  corn  or  wheat  field,  seemed  to  have 
been  artificial  in  its  origin.  It  is  Tetepetongo,  "  the  hill  of  the 
round  stones,"  and  according  to  tradition,  says  Ober,  was  for- 
merly used  as  a  place  of  sacrifice.  But  the  zone  of  moraine-like 
hills  we  were  now  passing  over  contrasted  strikingly  with  the 
broad  flat  plains  beneath  us  and  with  the  ragged  volcanic  foothills 
of  Iztacihuatal  far  above  us  on  our  left.  Though  this  peak  was 
capped  with  clouds,  the  larger  part  of  the  snowy  dome  of  Popo- 
catepetl was  in  full  view,  and  from  it  two  glacier-like  streaks  of 
snow  led  down  the  valleys,  losing  themselves  in  the  ragged  lava 
streams  at  the  base  of  the  cone.  As  we  pass  onward  and  upward 
conical  tumuli  of  loose  debris  from  the  mountains  above  confront 
us,  and  well-marked  lateral  moraines  extend  out  upon  the  plain 
on  each  side  of  the  trail.  We  should  judge  that  the  level  at 
which  we  saw  the  lowest  moraines  was  about  9000  feet  above  the 
sea ;  from  that  level  they  were  observed  up  to  or  near  the  snow 
line,  the  height  of  which  above  the  sea,  in  the  latitude  of  the 
City  of  Mexico,  Humboldt  puts  at  4600  meters  or  15,333  feet. 
We  were  unable  to  see  such  good  clear  natural  sections  of  a 

^Lorsqu*aa  mois  d'octobre  de  le  Tannic  15 19,  le  corps  d*arm£e  des  Espagnols  et 
des  Tlascaltdques  marchoit  de  Cholula  k  Tenochtitlan,  il  traversa  la  Cordill^re 
d'AhuaIco,  qui  r^unit  la  Sierra  Nevada  ou  Iztacihuatl  ^  la  cime  volcanique  du  Popo- 
catepetl. Les  Espagnols  suivirent  ^  pen  prds  le  mdme  chemin  que  prend  le  courier 
de  Mexico  pour  aller  ^  la  Puebla  par  Mecameca,  et  qui  se  trouve  trac£  sur  la  carte  de 
la  valine  de  Tenochtitlan.  L*arm£e  couflfrit  &  la  fois  au  froid  et  de  I'extreme  imptd- 
nosit^e  des  vents  qui  rdgnent  constamment  sur  ce  plateau. — Essai  politique,  etc.,  il, 

672. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


1 14  Ascent  of  the  Volcano  of  Popocatepetl,       [February, 

moraine  as  would  have  been  desirable,  but  in  one  instance  the 
moraine  was  composed  of  the  fine  mud  scrapings  of  the  lava  with 
rounded  boulders  of  basalt  of  all  sizes  up  to  four  or  five  feet  in 
diameter,  the  hill  being  covered  with  wheat  and  small  |corn. 
Moreover  the  hills  above  the  moraines  on  each  side  of  the  valley 
had  apparently  been  molded  by  ice.  I  infer  from  all  I  saw  on 
the  ascent  that  the  ice  must  have  filled  the  valley  or  pass  between 
Iztacihuatl  and  Popocatepetl,  spreading  out  over  the  plateau  like 
a  tner-de-glace  and  sending  glaciers  down  to  the  lakes  then  cov- 
ering the  plains  of  Anahuac.  Above  the  rounded  hills  were 
rough  volcanic  spurs  and  hills  which  may  once  have  overlooked 
the  ice  streams. 

It  would  appear,  then,  that  the  Quaternary  lakes  of  the  Mexi- 
can plateau  (unmistakable  evidences  of  which  I  saw  throughout 
the  country  from  Laredo  to  San  Luis  Potosi,  and  thence  to  the 
City  of  Mexico,  as  well  as  along  the  Mexican  central  route 
to  New  Mexico)  were  fed  by  the  melting  of  glacial  ice  in  the 
high  sierras.  At  any  rate  in  the  valley  of  Anahuac  the  volcanoes 
rising  above  it  must  have  been  covered  with  glaciers  which  de- 
scended to  a  point  9000  feet  above  the  sea,  and  about  1000 
feet  above  the  present  level  of  the  plains.^ 

The  change  in  vegetation  as  we  left  the  plains  and  wound 
among  the  moraines  was  an  interesting  feature  of  the  ride.  The 
zone  of  cactus,  nopal,  mesquite,  etc.,.  of  the  Mexican  plateau  was 
replaced  by  a  belt  of  pines,  aromatic  firs  and  cedars ;  the  flowers 
had  changed  in  character  and  become  more  numerous  and  varied 
than  on  the  dry  and  dusty  plains  ;  lupines  predominated,  relieved 
by  a  showy  red  labiate  flower  and  yellow-flowered  shrubs.     Of 

'  In  conversation  with  Mr.  Otto  Finck,  to  whom  I  described  the  moraines  aboat 
Popocatepetl,  he  told  me  that  what  he  regarded  as  true  glacial  moraines  extended 
down  along  the  route  of  the  Mexican  railway  as  far  as  Penuella,  which  is  three  miles 
east  of  Cordova,  and  is  2500  feet  above  the  sea,  Cordova  being  2700  feet  elevation. 
I  had  seen  boulders  of  porphyry  above  the  city  of  Orizaba,  and  Mr.  Finck,  who  is 
an  observer  of  long  experience  in  the  State  of  Vera  Cruz,  having  explored  the 
country  for  hundreds  of  miles  on  foot,  and  being  a  naturalist  of  experience,  kindly 
took  me  down  to  the  bed  of  the  river,  where  were  boulders  of  different  kinds  of 
porphyry,  evidently  derived  from  the  plateau  above  and  westward.  On  the  plains 
of  Jaumatlan  and  Chocaman,  he  told  me,  are  boulders  of  porphyry,  weighing  200 
tons,  and  also  glacial  scratches.  Mr.  Finck  drew  for  me  a  section  of  what  he  re- 
garded as  a  moraine  observed  at  the  Pass  of  Metlac,  in  which  were  angular  blocks 
of  porphyry  of  ten  or  twelve  kinds,  with  gneiss,  which  must  have  been  transported 
from  the  plateau  above.  Below  an  elevation  of  2500  feet  Mr.  Finck  had  not  in  the 
State  of  Vera  Cruz,  or  elsewhere  in  Mexico,  observed  any  glacial  marks. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


1 886.]  Ascent  of  the  Volcano  of  Popocatepetl.  1 1 5 

deciduous  trees,  willows  abounded,  but  few  if  any  oaks.  Through 
these  forests,  not  very  dense  or  continuous,  pumas  and  wolves 
were  said  to  roam.  The  insect  life  of  the  plains  is  scanty  in  the 
dry  season,  but  in  this  zone  bees  and  butterflies  of  different  spe- 
cies visited  the  flowers.  The  zone  of  pines  and  willows  was  suc- 
ceeded by  a  belt  of  tall  coniferous  trees  like  a  spruce  with  a  flr- 
like  habit;  their  slender  shafts  two  to  three  feet  in  diameter  (in  one 
case  of  a  tree  felled  with  the  ax,  five  feet)  pierced  the  clear  sky 
over  perhaps  125  feet.  This  noble  tree  had  very  broad  leaves 
and  a  deep  red  bark,  like  the  red  woods  around  the  base  of  Mt. 
Shasta.  This  zone  of  red  wood  was  succeeded  by  a  belt  of  low 
short-leaved  pines  which  grew  shorter  and  mofe  stunted  until  at 
half-past  four  we  came  to  banks  of  snow  lying  on  the  summit  of 
the  grassy  pass,  the  remnants  of  larger  fields  which  had  but  lately 
disappeared.  The  air  was  now  cool  and  even  chilly,  the  ground 
was  damp  and  often  wet;  here  it  was  early  spring,  like  our  first  of 
April  in  New  England,  too  early  for  flowers ;  scattered  plants, 
perhaps  Alpine  but  quite  unlike  any  we  have  seen  in  the  Rocky 
mountains,  were  not  yet  in  flower,  and  to  add  to  the  resemblance 
to  a  northern  spring  a  flock  of  veritable  robins  flew  among  the 
pines ;  they  were  lingering  on  the  flanks  of  Popocatepetl  before 
taking  their  final  flight  northward. 

The  path  to  the  ranch  now  left  the  Puebla  trail  and  led  us 
among  the  pines  to  the  sheds  where  we  were  to  spend  the  night. 
The  rancho  was  reached  at  5.40,  and  an  hour  still  remaining  be- 
fore dark,  I  walked  to  a  ravine  over  piles  of  volcanic  ash  and  lapilli 
to  entomologize  under  fallen  pine  logs  and  the  bark  of  stumps, 
finding  lizards,  beetles,  spiders  and  myriopods  quite  unlike  any 
forms  yet  seen  in  the  tierra  templada  below,  but  with  no  trace  of 
Alpine  characters. 

The  ranch  was  a  deserted  shed  and  furnace-house  for  roasting 
the  crude  sulphur  formerly  collected  by  the  volcaneros  or  peons 
at  the  bottom  of  the  crater. 

Darkness  gathered  early  about  the  ranch,  but  in  the  bright 
moonlight  the  massive,  marble-like  dome  of  Popocatepetl  rose 
directly  above  us.  Our  horses  and  mules  were  left  to  stand  in 
the  open  air  while  we  bivouacked  in  the  shed,  in  the  center  of 
which  was  a  raised  circular  fireplace  on  which  our  guias  made  a 
fire  of  sticks  and  logs,  the  smoke  and  sparks  passing  up  through 
a  hole  left  in  the  middle  of  the  roof.     The  Indians  boiled  their 


Digitized  by 


Google 


1 16  Ascent  of  the  Vokano  of  Popocatepetl,        [February, 

coffee  in  their  glazed  earthen  jars,  which  in  the  long  run  with- 
stand the  heat  of  the  fire  better  than  a  tin  coffee-pot ;  they  made 
tea  for  the  party  in  other  vessels  of  domestic  manufacture ;  they 
refreshed  themselves  on  cold  tortillas  and  chili,  the  twin  compo- 
nents of  a  Mexican  meal,  and  then  cut  out  their  sandals  for  the 
morning's  climb,  while  we  dismembered  a  cold  broiled  fowl  of  pro- 
nounced toughness  and  ate  it  with  excellent  native  bread  and  tea. 
To  the  tourists  and  head-guides  was  assigned  a  sort  of  low  raised 
divan  or  floor  coyered  with  hay,  over  which  we  spread  the  straw 
petates  or  pallets,  and  finally  a  blanket,  with  a  second  blanket  and 
a  coat  over  us.  The  guias  and  muleteer  lay  on  the  mud  floor, 
their  feet  to  the  fii-e  ;  their  swarthy  faces  and  limbs  not  visible  in 
the  gloom,  their  white  cotton  garments  concealed  by  their  high- 
colored  scrapes  or  blankets.  They  slept  soundly  through  the 
night,  but  not  the  tourists ;  the  beds  were  uneven,  an  occasional 
flea  danced  a  jig  on  our  hands  and  faces,  a  rain  and  hail  storm 
with  a  strong  gale  of  wind  rattled  about  the  ranch;  towards 
morning  it  grew  very  cold  and  chilly ;  added  to  this  two  of  our 
number,  owing  probably  to  the  altitude,  were  unfortunately  seized 
with  vomiting  and  diarrhoea,  so  that  there  was  little  or  no  sleep 
for  the  Americanos  that  night 

At  3.40  A.  M.  of  the  20th  I  awoke  the  party,  the  guias  replen- 
ished the  fire,  prepared  the  coffee  and  tea,  saddled  the  uneasy 
horses  now  shivering  in  the  cold  frosty  morning  air,  and  at  5.30 
we  had  mounted  our  steeds  and  were  under  way  for  the  peak.  It 
was  a  bright,  crisp,  clear,  cold  morning,  the  stars  still  shining 
brightly,  while  a  piercing  cold  wind  swept  down  the  valley  over 
the  pass.  Our  guides  had  wrapped  their  legs  in  thick  layers  of 
cotton  rags,  wound  their  scrapes  tightly  about  them,  and  we 
found  that  our  overcoats  and  gloves  were  but  a  slight  protection 
against  the  intense  cold.  For  two  hours  we  slowly  crept  up  by 
a  zigzag  trail,  urging  on  our  unwilling  nags  over  the  slope  of  the 
mountain ;  first  passing  through  the  pine  woods,  then  descending 
a  barranca  or  ravine,  through  which  ran  a  stream  fed  by  the 
snows  of  the  peak.  The  trail  then  wound  along  the  base  of  the 
cone  over  fields  of  loose,  deep,  coarse,  black,  volcanic  sand, 
through  which  rose  scattered  jagged  masses  of  black  lava.  Our 
faltering  horses  and  not  over  enthusiastic  guides  toiled  up- 
ward and  onward,  until  at  7.30  we  reached  La  Cruz,  a  rock  on 
which  was  a  wooden  cross,  where  we  were  to  leave  our  horses 


Digitized  by 


Google 


1 886.]  Ascent  of  the  Volcano  of  Popocatepetl.  1 1 7 

and  begin  the  ascent  on  foot.  Here,  owing  to  sickness  induced 
by  the  altitude,  my  companions  were  obliged  to  return  to  the 
ranch.    Taking  Rafael  and  two  guias  I  went  on. 

The  ascent  of  Popocatepetl  is  prosaic  in  the  extreme.  Much 
to  my  surprise  there  were  no  rocks  to  clamber  over,  no  difficult 
climbing,  but  an  interminable  steeply  inclined  desert  of  deep, 
coarse,  yielding,  volcanic  sand,  covered  with  a  thin  sheet  of  snow 
— ^neve — making  it  exceedingly  hard  walking,  to  say  nothing  pf 
the  effect  of  the  great  altitude  upon  the  heart.  The  height  of  the 
lower  level  of  the  snow-line  Humboldt  estimated  at  15,300  feet 

The  cone  of  Popocatepetl  is  like  that  of  Vesuvius— only  more 
so.  We  roughly  estimated  the  angle  of  the  slope  at  30®,  but 
judging  by  our  feelings  after  two  or  three  hours*  climb,  it  seemed 
like  75°. 

There  is  no  definite  trail  up  the  mountain,  and  at  no  point  on 
the  route  can  the  summit  or  mouth  of  the  crater  be  seen,  so  that 
there  is  no  goal  in  sight  to  draw  one's  attention  away  from  the 
labor  and  fatigue  of  the  ascent.  Looking  up  hopelessly  from 
time  to  time  as  we  stop  to  get  breath,  anxiously  trusting  to  ob- 
tain a  glimpse  of  a  rocky  peak  breaking  through  the  crust,  noth- 
ing meets  the  eye  but  a  vast  snowy  slope  melting  away  far  aloft 
in  the  sky„the  unsullied  surface  like  polished  marble  of  more  than 
parian  purity,  fading  gradually  away  to  be  replaced  by  the  deep, 
fathomless  azure  of  a  Mexican  sky. 

By  eight  o'clock  the  sun  had  gained  more  power,  the  exercise 
warmed  us,  so  that  we  no  longer  suffered  with  the  cold,  but  the 
eflect  of  the  intense  sunlight  upon  the  eyes  was  blinding  and 
painful ;  it  would  have  been  well-nigh  impossible  to  have  made 
the  ascent  without  blue  goggles. 

Our  small  procession  moved  in  the  following  order :  my  own 
particular  guia^  a  young,  stout,  willing  Indian  picked  out  a  way 
over  the  rough  snow  or  sand,  as  the  case  might  be,  the  writer 
followed,  planting  his  feet  in  the  prints  made  by  the  Indian,  and 
supporting  himself  with  a  rude,  improvised  alpenstock,  usually 
held  'in  both  hands ;  behind  followed  the  supernumerary  gtiia^ 
carrying  the  lunch  basket  on  his  back,  while  Rafael  brought  up 
the  rear,  with  the  air  of  one  fulfilling  a  contract  rather  than  enjoy- 
ing the  ascent.  And  it  was  hard  work.  I  have  ascended  Pike's 
peak  three  times,  walked  up  Gray's  peak  twice,  have  climbed  the 
crater  of  Mt.  Shasta,  which  is  over   12,000  feet  high,  ascended 

VOt.   XX.— HO.  II.  9 


Digitized  by  VjOOQIC 


1X8  Ascent  of  the  Volcano  of  PopocatepetL       [February, 

Vesuvius  and  Snowdon,  and  not  a  few  peaks  in  the  White  mount- 
ain^,  the  Adirondacks  and  Northern  Maine,  but  the  labor  of  the 
ascent  of  Popocatepetl,  owing  to  the  far  greater  altitude  and  the 
consequent  rarity  of  the  atmosphere,  as  well  as  the  yielding  sand 
and  the  nature  of  the  snow  is  peculiarly  difficult. 

To  my  surprise  the  snow  lay  on  Popocatepetl  as  a  thin  sheet  of 
from  a  foot  or  two  to  six  or  eight  feet  thick — deeper  of  course  in 
th^  ravines,  but  the  ravines  were  of  a  mild  type.  The  ascent  is 
made  from  the  northerly  and  westerly  side ;  the  deepest  ravine 
was  filled  with  snow  passing  beneath  into  ice,  thus  forming  an  in- 
cipient glacier  perhaps  nearly  a  mile  in  length.  Looking  at  it 
the  day  previous,  from  the  road  below,  I  supposed  it  to  be  a  true 
glacier  filling  the  ravine,  but  it  can  scarcely  be  regarded  as  such, 
whatever  may  have  been  its  dimensions  in  early  times. 

The  surface  of  the  snow  fields  over  which  we  walked  was  ex- 
ceeding rough.  The  snow  was,  on  the  average,  about  three  feet 
deep,  cut  up  by  deep  narrow  fissures  lying  at  various  angles  to 
our  line  of  march ;  the  footing  was  thus  very  rough  and  uncer- 
tain ;  the  snow  grew  softer  as  the  sun  rose  higher,  and  it  was 
impossible  at  times  to  prevent  slipping  and  falling  down.  Four 
hours  of  such  work  to  one  not  hardened  to  mountain  climbing  at 
such  an  altitude,  reaching  nearly  or  quite  18,000  feet,  are  no 
child's  play.  One  advances  three  or  four  steps,  and  thoroughly 
exhausted  sinks  down  upon  his  staff  to  rest  and  recqver  his  breath ; 
his  heart  beats  in  a  wild  extravagant  fashion,  and  hjs  breathing  is 
short,  quick  and  labored.  No  one  should  attempt  the  ascent  who 
has.  not  a  healthy  heart  and  sound  lungs,  and  is  not  under  fifty. 
There  is  danger  of  over-fatigue.  ; 

At  about  half-past  ten  the  summit  seeming  no  nearer  than  at 
the  start  from  La  Cruz,  I  asked  Rafael  how  long  it  would  take  to 
reach  the  top.  He,  thinking  I  might  give  it  up,  cfaflily  replied, 
"  dos  horasT  not  satisfied  with  this  I  privately  asked  my  trusty 
guide  in  front,  and  he  said,  "  una  haray  . 

.  Just  then  a  whiff  of  sulphur  vapor  passed  by,  the  draught 
though  nauseous  was  inspiring,  and  gave  new  strength  to  my 
tired  limbs,  and  at  eleven  o'clock  I  suddenly  walked  over  the 
edge  of  the  crater  and  could  look  part  way  down  into  the  bowels 
of  Popocatepetl.  We  were  on  the  summit,  could  walk  on  level 
ground  along  the  narrow  sandy  edge  of  the  crater,  without 
fatigue,  the  heart  at  once  resumed  its  normal  beat  and  the  respi- 
ration became  again  natural. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


PLATE  VI. 


c 
3 
B 


I 
I 

p 


Digitized  by 


Digitized  by 


Google 


1 886.]  Ascent  of  the  Volcano  of  Popocatepetl.  1 1 9 

The  transition  was  thrilling.  Here  we  were  on  the  summit  of 
the  highest  mountain  between  Mt.  St.  Elias  in  Alaska,  and  Chim- 
borazo  in  Peru  1  The  sky  was  well-nigh  cloudless,  a  few  cottony 
masses  hung  over  Iztacihuatl  to  the  north  of  us,  partly  obscuring^ 
its  peaks ;  the  plains  of  Anahuac  and  the  Puebla  valley  bathed  in 
the  sunlight,  and  wrapped  in  a  warm,  soft  haze,  stretched  for  hun- 
dreds of  miles  away  west  and  east ;  the  volcano  of  Malinche  to 
the  north-east  seemed  like  a  pigmy  cone ;  the  city  of  Puebla 
could  be  distinguished,  but  Cholula  and  its  pyramid,  which  lay 
nearer,  were  lost  in  the  haze ;  we  could  not  detect  the  city  of 
Mexico  and  its  adjoining  lakes,  nor  could  I  make  out  the  volcano 
of  Orizaba,  which  lay  to  the  eastward  150  miles. 

But  our  interest  centered  in  the  crater.  In  comparison  with 
that  of  Vesuvius  or  Mt.  Shasta  it  was,  it  must  be  confessed,  tame. 
Many  have  looked  down  into  the  crater  of  Vesuvius;  that  of  Mt 
Shasta  is  a  funnel-shaped  chasm  over  a  thousand  feet  in  depth, 
the  snow  fields  extending  from  the  rim  to  the  bottom,  in  which 
lies  a  frozen  lake.    The  view  into  it  was  memorable. 

Descending  a  few  feet  to  a  rock  overhanging  the  chasm  now 
before  us,  we  could  take  in  the  entire  basin.  It  seemed  to  us  to 
be  about  500  feet  deep  and  from  1000  to  1500  feet  across  at  the 
mouth,  but  according  to  Gen.  Ochoa's  measurements  it  is  a  thou- 
sand feet  deep,  and  the  floor  is  200  meters  in  circumference.  It 
is  not  an  irregular  chasm  like  that  of  Vesuvius,  but  like  a  vast 
cauldron  in  shape,  the  steep  sides  visible  all  around,  and  the  bot- 
tom broad  and  somewhat  flat,  with  no  large,  deep  fissures  visible. 
Gen.  Ochoa  told  Mr.  Ober  that  there  are  more  than  sixty  sol- 
&taras  or  smoking  vents  in  the  crater,  one  of  them  over  fifty  feet 
in  circumference ;  he  called  the  vents  respiradores. 

The  northerly  rim  is  of  loose  volcanic  sand  which  has  been 
blown  up  out  of  the  crater.  Perhaps  two-thirds  of  the  rim  was 
of  solid  lava  more  or  less  jagged  and  irregular,  the  highest  por- 
tion on  the  south-cast  side.  Looking  across  from  the  northerly 
side  one  is  confronted  by  three  well-marked  layers  of  vertically 
columnar  basalt  marking  three  successive  overflows,  while  a  less 
regular  fourth  layer  indicated  an  additional  eruption.  The  rock 
composing  the  sides  of  the  crater,  the  mountain  itself  and  the 
sand  lying  on  its  flanks  is  a  tough,  black  basalt,  slightly  por- 
phyritic. 

Near  the  rim  of  the  crater  on  the  west  side  is  a  sulphur  fuma- 


Digitized  by 


Google 


I20  Ascent  of  the  Volcano  of  Popocatepetl        [February, 

role  or  respirador,  a  fissure  from  which  issued  clouds  of  sulphur 
fjumes.  At  the  bottom  of  the  crater  were  plainly  seen  two  large 
sulphur  vents  or  solfataras,  with  smaller  ones  from  which  clouds 
of  vapor  rose  perhaps  to  a  height  of  over  a  hundred  feet,  but  cer- 
tainly not  half  way  up  to  the  edge  or  top  of  the  peak.  Whether 
these  fumes  can  be  seen  from  below,  at  the  base  of  the  mountain, 
is  a  question.  Some  still  claim  that  the  mountain  smokes,  and 
that  the  smoke  can  be  seen  from  below,  but  this  is  doubted.  The 
assertion  was  made  in  the  time  of  Cortez.  Humboldt  says  :  "Ce 
Volcan,  que  j'ai  mesure  le  premier,;  est  constamment  enflamme ; 
mais  depuis  plusiers  si^cles  ou  ne  voit  sortir  de  son  crat^re  que 
de  la  fumee  et  des  cendres."^  It  is  not  impossible  that  the  slight 
amount  of  sulphurous  vapor  which  is  emitted  from  the  crater 
may  at  times  increase  and  be  visible  at  night  by  moonlight  from 
the  plains  be;low,  or  even  in  the  daytime  during  certain  states  of 
the  atmosphere,-  I  well  remember  that  in  May,  1872,  a  month 
after  the  great  eruption  of  Vesuvius,  no  smoke  was  seen  to  rise 
from  the  crater  by  day,  but  by  moonlight,  at  Naples,  I  could  de- 
tect a  slight  column  of  vapor  hanging  over  the  summit  of  the 
cone. 

The  sulphur  vents  were  surrounded  with  masses  of  bright  yel- 
low sulphur.  Near  where  we  stood  were  two  or  three  stumps  of 
posts  which  had  been  driven  into  the  volcanic  sand  and  gravel  to 
support  a  windlass  or  winch,  by  which  the  volcaneros  were  let 
'down  into  the  bottom  of  the  crater  to  gather  the  sulphur  there. 
It  was  borne  in  sacks  on  the  backs  of  Indians  down  to  the  ranch 
or  sheds  where  we  spent  the  night,  and  there  sublimed  in  earthen 
pots.  The  crater  was  not  measured  until  1856,  when  General 
Ochoa  estimated  its  depth  and  circumference.  We  roughly  guessed 
that  its  depth  was  about  500  feet,  but  distances,  looking  down 
into  a  mountain,  are  very  deceptive.  It  appears  that  in  the  time 
of  Cortez  a  Spaniard  descended  the  crater,  tied  to  a  rope,  to  the 
depth  of  from  seventy  to  eighty  fathoms  or  420  to  480  feet.^ 

^  Essai  polUique  sur  le  Royaume  de  la  Nouvelle-Espagne,  Tom.  lit  p.  ^38* 

*"  Ou  voit,  par  la  troisi^me  et  la  quatri^nie  lettrcs  deCorter  \  I'empcreur,  que  ce 
g6n6ml'.aprds  la  prise  de  Mexico,  fit  faire  d'autres  tentatives  pour  reconnoitre  la 
cime  du  volclin,  qui  paroissoit  fixer  d'autant  plus  son  attention,  que  les  indigenes  lui 
assuroient  qu'il  n'iiaii  permii  aucune  mortel  de  f'*approcker  de  ce  site  des  mauvais 
esprits,  'Apfte  deiix  essais  Infructeux,  les  ^spagnols  r^ussirent  enfin,  Tannie  1522, 
k  voir  le  cratire  du  Popocatepetl  (  illeur  parut  avoir  trois  quarts  de  lieue-de  circon- 
f£rence,  tt  ils  trouvdrent  sur  les  bordft  du  precipice  un  peu  de  soufre  qui  avoit  M 


Digitized  by 


Google 


PLATE  VII. 


0 
& 

O 


% 


o 
5* 


7 

a. 


C/3 


•? 


Digitized  by 


Digitized  by 


Google 


1 886.]  Ascent  of  the  Volcano  of  PopocaUpetl.  121 

An  hour  was  spent  on  the  inside  of  the  edge  of  the  crater, 
where  we  ate  our  lunch.  The  air  was  delightfully  clear  and  cool. 
We  were  wonderfully  fortunate  in  having  so  clear  and  bright  a 
day,  as  the  peak  is  usually  covered  with  clouds  by  ten  o'clock, 
and  for  this  reason  we  were  advised  to  start  from  the  ranch  by 
daybreak.  The  summit  is  of  small  extent,  the  edge  of  the  crater 
is  quite  free  from  snow,  but  a  few  feet  down  on  the  outside  from 
the  edge  on  the  north  side,  the  snow  begins  as  a  perpendicular 
wall,  three  or  four  feet  deep,  like  a  petrified  crest  of  a  wave,  as  if 
the  snow  had  been  melted  by  the  breath  of  the  crater.  The  fol- 
lowing week  on  visiting  Puebla,  which  lies  due  east  of  the  mount- 
ain, we  observed  that  there  was  no  snow  on  the  eastern  and 
southern  sides  of  the  volcano,  the  snow  fields  on  the  northern 
side  being  preserved  from  melting  by  their  more  shaded  situation. 
Without  doubt  the  snow  fields  of  Iztacihuatl,  which  extend  along 
the  western  side  of  the  range,  are  also  thin,  and  give  rise  to  no 
extensive  glaciers. 

Whether  there  has  been  an  eruption  of  Popocatepetl  in  historic 
times  is  a  matter  of  doubt.  It  is  possible  that  showers  of  ashes 
may  have  been  blown  out  of  the  crater,  but  certainly  there  is  no 
recent  stream  of  lava  or  obsidian  on  the  mountain  slopes.  Hum- 
boldt, however,  quotes  from  a  letter  of  Cortez  stating  that  much 
smoke  rose  from  the  crater,  and  that  clouds  of  ashes  enveloped 
two  men  who  ascended  part  way  up  the  mountain.^  From  this 
it  would  seem  that  the  volcano  was  rather  more  active  three  and 
a  half  centuries  ago  than  at  present,  but  it  is  to  be  doubted 
whether  there  has  been  an  actual  eruption  of  lava  within  a  thou- 
sand years.  According  to  various  authors  there  were  eruptions 
in  1519,  1539  and  1540. 

d£pos£  par  les  yapeurs.  En  parlant  de  l*6tain  de  Tasco  dont  ou  se  servit  pour  fon- 
dre  les  premiers  canons,  Cortez  rapporte,  *  qu*il  ne  manque  point  de  soufre  pour 
fabriquer  de  la  poudre,  parce  qu*un  Espagnol  en  a  tir6  d'une  montagne,  de  laquelle 
sort  perp^tnellement  de  la  fum6e,en  descendant,  I16  4  une  corde,  &  la  profondeur  de 
70  i  80  brasses.*  II  ajoute  que  cette  mani^re  de  se  procurer  du  soufre  est  tres  dan- 
gereuse,  et  que  par  cette  raison  il  sera  plus  prudent  de  la  faire  venir  de  Serville"  (£s- 
sai  politique,  etc.,  II,  673).  The  depth  of  eighty  brasses  or  fathoms  would  be  480 
feet. 

^  However  Cortez  expressly  says,  "  That  their  men  ascended  very  high,  that  they 
saw  much  smoke  go  out,  but  that  none  of  them  could  reach  the  summit  of  the  vol- 
cano, because  of  the  enormous  quantity  of  snow  which  covered  it,  the  intensity  of 
the  cold  and  the  clouds  of  cinders  which  enveloped  the  travelers"  (Essai  politique, 
etc.,  11,672). 


Digitized  by 


Google 


122  Ascent  of  the  Volcano  of  PopocatepetL       [February, 

Here  in  passing  I  may  remark  that  Orizaba  is  now  said  to  be 
slightly  higher  than  Popocatepetl,  though  Humboldt  claimed 
that  the  latter  was  600  meters  higher  than  any  other  mountain 
from  Mt.  St.  Elias  to  the  Isthmus  of  Panama.  Mr.  A.  H.  Keene, 
in  the  Encyclopedia  Britannica,  gives  the  height  as  17,176  feet.  I 
obtained  excellent  views  of  this  noble  volcano  at  different  points 
along  the  Mexican  railway  to  Cordova.  Seen  from  the  west  the 
snow  fields  stretched  in  glacier-like  streaks  down  its  slopes ;  at 
the  station  of  Esperanza,  however,  the  clouds  parted  so  that  the 
summit  could  be  seen  from  the  south,  and  it  was  observed  that  the 
dark  streaks  of  sand  or  rock  extended  in  broken  patches  to  the 
very  summit.  Orizaba  rather  disappointed  me  from  this  point ; 
it  is  far  less  imposing  and  majestic  a  peak  than  Popocatepetl ;  it 
is  not  so  isolated,  its  great  height  being  apparently  lessened  by 
the  high  mountains  of  the  Sierra  Nigra  extending  from  it  fowards 
the  railroad.  Moreover  its  summit  is  broken  up  into  subordinate 
peaks.  Farther  on  near  where  the  railroad  descends  into  the 
great  barranca  or  ravine  west  of  the  town  of  Orizaba,  the  volcano 
of  that  name  is  seen  to  be  of  solid  lava,  furipwed  by  deep  ravines; 
while  Popocatepetl  is  more  like  a  vast  conical  heap  of  ashes. 
Never,  however,  shall  I  forget  the  magnificent  view  of  Orizaba 
which  I  had  from  under  the  coffee  trees  and  bananas  of  Cordova. 
It  was  eleven  o'clock  in  the  morning,  the  clouds  had  lifted  and 
rolled  away  from  the  mountain,  which  rose  in  a  magnificent  con- 
ical mass  far  above  its  humbler  fellows  of  the  Sierra  Nigra. 
From  the  illustrations  given  by  Humboldt  I  imagine  that  the 
finest  view  of  this  imposing  peak  is  from  the  forest  of  Xalapa, 
to  the  north-east.  This  volcano  is  said  to  have  been  quiet  since 
1566.^ 

^  Mr.  Hugo  Finck  of  Cordova,  who  has  explored  the  base  of  Orizaba,  told  me  that 
the  crater  is  one  and  a-half  miles  long  and  a  half  mile  wide,  but  that  it  cannot  be 
entered.  He  saw  Orizaba  smoking,  probably  the  gases  from  the  solfataras,  and 
stated  that  the  mountain  had  erupted  near  the  base,  where  there  are  small  craters. 
He  has  seen  a  glacier  near  the  summit,  and  thinks  there  are  others  ;  they  slide  down 
and  melt  away,  the  summit  above  being  bare,  with  no  mer-de-glace. 

It  seems  probable  that  there  are  at  the  base  of  Orizaba  Archaean  rocks,  as  Mr. 
Finck  told  me  that  gneiss  occurs  as  far  up  the  sides  of  the  mountain  as  13,000-14,000 
feet,  while  higher  up  the  mountain  is  composed  of  a  grayish  porphyry.  In  the  cen- 
ter of  the  Sierra  Nigra  and  the  mountains  southward  between  Esperanza  and  Oriza- 
ba, are  Silurian,  Devonian,  and  Carboniferous  strata  with  a  foetid  black  limestone, 
succeeded  by  bluish  Jurassic  limestones  containing  fossil  fishes,  oysters,  belemnites 
and  ferns.  In  the  Cretaceous  hills  three  miles  east  of  Cordova  fine  ammonites  oc- 
cur. It  seems  probable  from  what  Mr.  Finck  told  me,  and  my  own  hasty  observa- 
tions from  Mexico  to  Cordova,  that  all  these  principal  formations  occur  from  the 
oemjer  of  the  Mexican  plateau,  to  the  seacoast  at  Vera  Cruz,  the  plains  of  the  latter 
State  being  of  Tertiary  and  Quaternary  age. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


1886."]  Notes  OH  the  Leaf-cutting  Ants  of  Trinidad.  123 

But  we  must  reach  Amecameca  by  dark,  as  in  traveling 
through  the  woods  after  twilight  we  might  fall  in  with  objection- 
able company. 

At  twelve  o'clock  we  began  the  descent,  and  it  reminded  me 
strongly  of  the  twenty  minutes'  descent  or  run  down  Vesuvius. 
After  zigzagging  down  over  the  snow  and  ice,  now  quite  yielding, 
stopping  frequently  to  rest  one's  tired  knee-joints,  on  reaching 
the  sand  below  the  snow  fields,  my  two  guias  each  took  one  of 
my  arms  and  we  ran  down  the  long  sandy  slope  arm-in-arm.  We 
reached  La  Cruz  by  about  two  o'clock,  and  walking  on  a  mile  or 
so  more  down  the  slope,  I  found  a  horse  which  Mr.  Ober  had  sent 
me,  in  waiting.  Reaching  the  ranch  at  about  three,  after  half  an 
hour's  rest  and  refreshment,  Mr.  Ober  and  myself  rode  with  our 
guide  Rafael  fifteen  miles  to  Amecameca,  while  our  guias  trotted 
the  whole  distance  on  foot  behind  their  pack  mules. 

Nothing  is  more  monotonous  in  its  flatness  than  a  Mexican 
bedstead,  while  the  mattress  is  only  thicker  than  a  Mexican  blan- 
ket, the  bed  being  but  a  little  more  yielding  than  the  soft  side  of 
a  pine  board,  but  that  night — spent  in  a  second-class  Mexican 
hostelry,  after  such  a  long  day's  work  with  the  alpenstock 
and  in  the  saddle,  half  frozen  in  the  morning  on  the  mountain  side 
and  half  roasted  in  the  hot  mountain  gorges  and  on  the  dusty 
plains  in  the  afternoon, — ^that  night  was  given  without  reservation 
to  the  worship  of  Morpheus.  The  next  day  at  ten  we  reached  the 
site  of  ancient  Tenochtitlan,  rested  in  the  grand  plaza  under  the 
shade  of  the  orange  and  banana,  by  the  plashing  fountain,  our 
eyes  feasting  on  the  varied,  ever-changing  pictures  of  Indian, 
Mestijo  and  Spanish  types  of  Mexican  life  passing  before  us  in 
that  famous  square. 

NOTES   ON   THE   CECODOMAS,  OR  LEAF-CUTTING 
ANTS,  OF  TRINIDAD. 

BY  C.  BRENT. 

AN  opportunity  was  afforded  me  during  the  winter  of  1884-5 
for  studying  the  life  and  habits  of  this  most  interesting  spe- 
cies on  the  Island  of  Trinidad,  West  Indies.  Several  species  are 
here  distinguished ;  all,  however,  are  alike  in  form  and  habit,  the 
variety  being  produced  by  variation  in  size  and  color.  These 
insects  are  extremely  numerous,  indeed  one  cannot  take  a  walk 
anywhere  in  the  country  without  observing  broad  columns  of 


Digitized  by 


Google 


124  Notes  on  the  Leaf-cutting  Ants^cf  Trinidad,     [February, 

seemingly  animated  leaves  marching  across  the  roads.  Com- 
plaints are  heard  on  every  hand  of  their  ravages  among  the  gar- 
dens and  plantations.  Agriculture  is  all  but  hopeless  in  sections 
infested  by  these  pests,  since  although  they  occasionally  attack 
one  of  the  forest  trees,  they  show  a  decided  preference  for  the 
leaves  of  cultivated  trees  and  garden  plants,  the  cocoa,  coffee  and 
orange  being  particularly  subject  to  their  destructive  visits.  They 
seem  also  to  develop  a  "  penchant "  for  particular  trees.  One 
orange  tree  in  a  grove  of  the  same  species  is  stripped  again  and 
again,  while  the  neighboring  trees  are  left  untouched.  The 
curious  habit  these  ants  possess  of  cutting  and  carrying  off  im- 
mense quantities  of  leaves,  has  often  been  noted  in  books  on 
natural  history,  although  the  question  is  still  an  open  one  as  to 
the  object  of  the  custom  and  the  disposal  of  the  cut  leaves.  My 
own  observations  on  these  points  I  shall  give  farther  on. 

The  speed  with  which  these  little  workers  operate  is  indeed 
marvelous.  A  good  sized  mango  tree,  at  least  as  large  as  an 
average  apple  tree,  I  saw  stripped  of  every  leaf  in  one  night,  and 
greater  feats  than  this  are  recorded  of  these  "  Tourmi  Ciseaux," 
as  they  are  called  by  the  Creoles.  In  the  morning  the  naked 
boughs  bore  only  the  bare  midrib  of  the  leaves  with  here  and 
there  jagged  portions  of  the  parenchyma  left  by  the  circular 
pieces  snipped  off.  The  ground  was  littered  with  circular  pieces 
of  leaves  about  the  size  of  a  ten-cent  piece,  which  the  aqts  had 
neglected  to  carry  off.  Old  leaves  and  young  had  alike  been 
snipped  off,  but  most  of  the  pieces  left  were  cut  from  the  older 
leaves. 

During  the  day  I  discovered  the  formicarium  to  which  these 
ants  belonged,  some  three  or  four  hundred  yards  up  the  mount- 
ain side.  It  was  situated  on  a  gently  sloping  incline  covered 
by  a  dense  "  vastrajo,"  or  second-growth  wood.  The  site  of  the 
hill  had  been  well  chosen  in  a  spot  free  from  large  trees,  and  the 
smaller  bushes  had  been  removed,  leaving  the  soil  as  bare  as  if 
the  vegetation  had  been  destroyed  by  a  fire.  The  mound  was  of 
immense  size,  being  about  forty-five  feet  across  and  about  two 
feet  high.  The  soil  was  of  a  different  color  from  that  of  the  sur- 
rounding hillside,  and  consisted,  I  found,  of  clayey  granules 
brought  up  by  the  ants  from  the  subsoil  below.  No  signs  of  ants 
were  visible,  nor  were  any  recently  used  entrances  to  be  seen. 
Several  tunnels  extended  a  short  distance  into  the  mound,  but 


Digitized  by 


Google 


1 886.]  Notes  an  the  L^f -cutting  Ants  of  Trinidad.  1 25 

they  were  all  stopped  up  by  soil  washed  into  them  by  the  delug- 
ing rains  that  had  been  falling  for  several  previous  days.  Cut- 
ting my  way  through  the  bushes  by  means  of  that  useful  and 
indispensable  part  of  a  forester's  outfit  for  tropical  woods,  the 
"  machete  "  or  cullass,  I  found,  some  twenty  yards  up  the  hillside, 
an  entrance  from  which  led,  as  far  as  the  eye  could  see,  a  wide 
smooth  path,  worn  by  repeated  travel  some  five  inches  deep,  and 
carefully  cleaned  of  all  vegetation,  dead  leaves  and  rubbish.  A 
few  yards  from  the  entrance  a  huge  tree  had  fallen  but  recently 
across  the  pathway,  but  the  industrious  insects  had  dug  a  tunnel 
six  inches  in  diameter  under  it  in  preference  to  climbing  over  it 
or  making  a  new  path  around  it  A  little  farther  on  I  met 
another  instance  of  formic  ingenuity.    The  path  led  to  the  edge 


Fig.  I. — An  CEcodoma  formicariom.    The  cleared   space  is  forty-five  feet  in 
diameter. 

of  a  ravine  where  it  branched ;  one  branch  led  directly  across  the 
ravine,  down  the  precipitous  sides  of  which  an  oblique  path  had 
been  excavated  at  an  angle  of  about  45^  ;  the  other  branch  led 
tip  the  edge  of  the  ravine  some  twenty  yards  to  a  fallen  tree 
which  spanned  it.  Over  this  the  pathway  led  to  the  opposite 
bank,  down  which  it  ran  to  join  the  direct  path  below.  I  subse- 
quently noted  that  during  the  rainy  season  when  the  ravine  held 
a  stream  of  water,  the  ants  toiled  up  the  hillside  to  their  bridge, 
but  as  soon  as  the  water  dried  up  they  used  the  nearer  path 
directly  across  the  ravine.  On  looking  around  the  mound  I 
found  five  other  entrances  to4he  formicarium,  all  at  some  distance 
from  it,  and  from  each  of  these  diverged  a  pathway  through  the 
woods.  Along  one  of  these  traveled  a  dense  column  of  ants,  those 


Digitized  by 


Google 


126  Notes  on  the  Leaf-cutting  Ants  of  Trinidad.      [February, 

outward  bound  keeping  the  right  hand  side,  while  those  return- 
ing home  traveled  along  the  left.  The  incoming  ants  were  nearly 
all  laden  with  their  leafy  burdens  which  they  carried  tightly 
gripped  between  their  mandibles,  sometimes  nearly  upright,  or 
thrown  back  so  as  to  completely  hide  the  insect  below.  This 
curious  fashion  of  carrying  the  leaves  has  earned  for  them  the 
common  English  name  of  "  parasol  "  or  "  umbrella  ants." 

Along  the  path  were  several  heaps  of  leaves,  which  were  prob- 
ably carried  away  by  a  fresh  relay  of  workers ;  often  these  heaps 
may  be  noticed  lying  deserted  along  the  pathways,  but  they  are 
invariably  removed,  sooner  or  later,  to  the  nest.    The  leaves 


Fig.  2. — Ants  at  work  leaf-cutting. 

were  those  of  the  cocoa,  so  I  traced  the  column  down  the  hill- 
side some  four  hundred  yards  to  the  edge  of  a  cocoa  plantation, 
where  I  found  them  actively  engaged  in  leaf-cutting.  The  smaller 
trees  were  swarming  with  the  little  depredators,  leaves  were  fall- 
ing plentifully  as  the  little  sawyers  snipped  them  out.  Numbers 
of  ants  marched  up  the  tree  and  numbers  marched  down,  very 
deftly  managing  their  awkward-looking  burdens.  Sometimes 
they  progressed  sidelong  down  the  tree,  sometimes  backwards, 
according  to  the  condition  of  the  surface  over  which  they  walked . 
In  operating  on  a  leaf  the  ant  places  herself  upon  the  upper 


Digitized  by 


Google 


1 886.]  Notts  on  the  Leaf-cutHng  Ants  of  Trinidad.  127 

sur&ce  near  the  edge,  and  saws  a  circular  cut  nearly  all  the  way 
round  with  a  saw-like  motion  of  her  finely  serrate  mandibles.  To 
prevent  the  section  falling  she  does  not  saw  it  all  round,  but 
when  nearly  severed  seizes  it  by  the  edge  and  by  a  sharp  upward 
jerk  detaches  it.  Now  she  either  marches  directly  off  to  the 
nest  or  lets  the  fragment  drop  to  the  ground  and  begins  sawing 
another.  Often  quite  a  heap  of  pieces  accumulates  beneath  the 
busy  little  sawyer. 

The  CEcodomas  are 
diflferentiated,  as  in 
other  species,  into 
males,  females  and 
workers,  the  latter  be- 
ing of  course  unde- 
veloped females.  Four 
classes  may  be  dis- 
tinguished among  the 
workers,  only  two  of 
which  take  part  in  the 

foraging     expeditions.  ^°-  3— CEcodoma  of  Trinidad,  male. 

The  majority  of  these  workers  are  of  a  pale  reddish  color  with  a 


Fig.  4. 


Fig.  5.  Fig.  6. 

Fig.  5. — Worker  major,  or  so-called  soldier.  F 
size. 

Stout  body,  short  round  unpolished  head,  which  carries  behind  a 


Fic.  4. — Female.    Fig.  5. — Worker  major,  or  so-called  soldier.  Fig.  6. — Worker 
minor.     All  natoral  size. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


1 28  Notes  on  the  Leaf-cutting  Ants  of  Trinidad.     [February, 

pair  of  spines.  The  thorax  is  very  sharply  constricted  in  the 
middle,  the  fore  part,  or  prothorax,  carrying  the  first  pair  of  legs 
and  a  pair  of  spines  upon  the  dorsal  surface.  The  hinder  part,  or 
meso-metathorax,  carries  the  other  pairs  of  legs  and  two  pairs  of 
spines.  The  cutting  instruments  are  a  pair  of  long  extremely 
sharp-pointed  mandibles  finely  serrated  upon  their  inner  surface, 
which  may  be  used  as  saws  or  nippers.  The  workers  vary  ex- 
tremely in  size;  individuals  are  met  with  only  three-sixteenths  of 
an  inch  in  length,  while  others  attain  a  length  of  nine-sixteenths. 
These  smaller  (younger)  ants  accompany  their  older  sisters  in 
their  expeditions  but  rarely  carry  leaves.  They  may  often  be 
seen  riding  upon  the  burdens  of  their  older  and  larger  sisters  as 
if  tired.  I  have  observed  as  many  as  three  clinging  to  a  leaf 
which  was  carried  with  apparent  ease  by  one  of  the  larger  ants. 
A  number  of  these  little  ants  may  be  observed  to  issue  from  the 
mines  with  the  old  ones  and  loiter  around  the  entrances  as  if  as 
yet  unable  to  take  part  with  the  stronger  ants. 

Here  and  there  among  the  mass  of  workers,  perhaps  forming 
about  one  per  cent  of  the  total  number,  may  be  seen  a  much 
larger,  formidable-looking  ant  with  enormously  swollen  triangu- 
lar head,  which  takes  no  part  in  the  work,  but  always  accom- 
panies the  "  worker  minors,"  as  they  are  called,  on  their  expedi- 
tions. I  spent  much  time  trying  to  find  out  the  functions  of  these 
large-headed  ants,  but  failed  to  get  any  clear  notions  as  to  the 
part  they  play  in  the  politics  of  the  commonwealth.  They  may 
nearly  always  be  seen  on  a  bit  of  stick  or  other  eminence,  caress- 
ing now  and  then  the  antennae  of  the  passing  ants  with  their  own. 
Talking,  we  may  suppose,  in  ant  language,  since  it  is  well  estab- 
lished that  ants  are,  by  means  of  their  antennae,  able  to  commu- 
nicate their  ideas  one  to  another.  It  appears  to  me  that  these 
apparently  useless  ants  directed  in  some  way  or  other  the  move- 
ments of  their  working  sisters.  Bates  in  his  Naturalist  on  the 
Amazons,  came  at  first  to  the  same  conclusion,  but  afterwards 
abandoned  this  idea  for  one  I  think  not  more  tenable,  namely, 
that  these  ants  by  their  superior  size  draw  upon  themselves  the 
attacks  of  ant-eating  birds,  &c.,  being  thus,  as  he  terms  it,  merely 
"  pieces  de  resistance,"  thus  only  serving  to  preserve  the  main 
body  of  workers  by  a  self-sacrifice  of  mere  "passive"  resis- 
tance. 

I  went  to  the  trouble  to  shoot  several  ant  thrushes  and  Den- 


Digitized  by 


Google 


1 886.]         Notes  on  the  Liaf-cutHng  Ants  of  Trinidad,  129 

drocolaptes  which  feed  almost  entirely  upon  ants,  to  see  if  there 
was  any  foundation  for  this  theory,  but  found  very  few  indeed  of 
the  so-called  "  worker  majors,"  although  the  crops  were  distended 
with  "worker  minors."  In  other  works. on  natural  history  they 
are  termed  "  warriors,"  but  they  by  no  means  correspond  to  the 
warrior  or  soldier  class  in  the  Termites,  for  instance.  They  have  ^ 
no  special  offensive  or  defensive  weapons,  their  movements  are 
more  sluggish  even  than  those  of  the  smaller  ants,  and  when  the 
nest  is  disturbed  by  poking  it  with  a  stick,  the  smaller  ants  only 
prove  pugnacious.  In  the  battles  which  so  often  occur  between 
the  mail-clad  bandits  of  Trinidad  forests,  the  savage  "  Ecitons," 
or  "  hunting  ants  "  and  the  "  parasol  ants,"  the  brunt  of  the  fight 
is  borne  by  the  "  worker  minors  "  who  always  drive  off  the 
marauding  Ecitons. 

In  some  CEcodomas  there  is  a  series  of  intermediate  forms  be- 
tween the  working  minors  apd  the  working  majors,  and  in  some 
species  all  take  part  in  leaf-cutting.  Besides  these  workers  there 
are  two  other  classes,  which  never  leave  the  mines,  the  worker 
nurses,  to  be  distinguished  from  the  working  minors  chiefly  by 
their  hairy  heads,  and  another  class  of  very  large  ants,  individ- 
uals of  which  are  found  nearly  an  inch  in  length.  This  class  is 
represented  in  each  formicarium  by  only  a  few  individuals,  which 
are  distinguished  by  their  large  hairy  heads  and  the  possession 
of  a  twin  ocellus  placed  in  the  middle  of  the  forehead.  These 
never  leave  the  mines,  and  are  seen  only  when  the  formicarium  is 
opened. 

The  ant  hill  referred  to  above  being'a  pest  to  the  neighboring 
plantations,  it  was  determined  to  destroy  it.  Poisons  were  found 
useless.  Corrosive  sublimate  and  potassium  cyanide  were  mixed 
with  farina  and  deposited  near  the  nest.  These  were  simply 
ignored ;  the  ants  would  not  touch  them  after  a  few  had  fallen 
victims.  A  solution  oV  arseniate  of  soda  was  next  sprinkled 
upon  orange  leaves,  which  were  strewed  upon  the  mound.  These 
were  eventually  cleared  away,  although  at  an  immense  sacrifice 
of  life.  This  points,  I  think,  to  the  true  ant  food,  since  unless 
the  juices  of  the  leaves  as  they  were  sawed  up  were  swallowed, 
the  poison  would  have  had  no  effect.  This  idea  is  strengthened 
by  the  fact. that  fiery  and  strongly  aromatic  plants  as  well  as 
those  with  poisonous,  milky  juices  are  carefully  avoided.  No 
solid  food  is  found  in  the  crops  of  the  insect  at  any  time,  but  if 


Digitized  by 


Google 


130  Notes  on  the  Leaf 'Cutting  Ants  of  Trinidad.     [February, 

these  are  examined  after  the  insects  have  been  engaged  in  leaf-* 
cutting,  they  are  found  full  of  green  leaf  juice.  Finally  we  de- 
stroyed the  nest  by  drowning,  the  common  method  during  the 
wet  season.  A  number  of  channels  were  dug  in  the  hillside,  all 
constructed  to  collect  the  rainwater  as  it  streamed  down  the  hill, 
and  to  pour  it  into  the  nest  by  one  of  the  entrances.  I  visited 
the  nest  during  the  next  rain  to  see  how  the  plan  was  working, 
and  was  surprised  to  find  the  water  pouring  out  of  an  orifice 
twenty  yards  below  the  nest.  After  the  rain  I  examined  this 
tunnel  and  found  that  it  entered  the  nest  at  the  lowest  point,  some 
eight  feet  below  the  surface.  I  examined  many  formicaria  subse- 
quently, and  invariably  found  this  lower  tunnel  wherever  the  in- 
clination permitted  its  construction.  I  have  no  doubt  that  it  is 
constructed  as  a  drain,  and  that  the  ants  know  as  much  about  the 
advantage  of  thorough  drainage  as  they  have  been  proved  to 
know,  by  many  eminent  observers,, of  those  of  other  sanitary 
matters.    On  opening  the  mound,  some  three  feet  below  the  sur- 


FiG.  7. — Diagrammatic  v.  section  of  an  CEcodoma  formicarium,  depth  abont 
eight  feet,  a,  mound  of  clayey  granules ;  B^  unused^  entrance;  C,  chambers  con- 
taining leaves;  Z>, connecting  corridors;  E^  tunnels  to  distant  entrances;  /*,  drain 
from  lower  level  of  mines. 

face  was  found  a  series  of  hall-like  cells,  some  three  feet  in  their 
larger  diameter,  connected  with  each  other  by  short  smooth  cor- 
ridors. From  the  outermost  of  these  proceeded  the  tunnels  com- 
municating with  the  surface  by  the  orifices  mentioned  above. 
Below  there  was  a  second  series  of  somewhat  smaller  cells,  the 
lowest  of  which  was  entered  by  the  drain  just  referred  to.  The 
central  chambers  were  all  washed  out,  but  several  of  the  lateral 
chambers  had  escaped  damage.  In  these  were  found  bushels  of 
leaves,  several  of  the  laige  cyclopean  ants,  many  nurses,  larvae, 
and  an  Amphisbaena.    This  lizard  is  generally  a  guest  of  the 


Digitized  by 


Google 


1 886.]  The  Teredo^  or  SMpwarm.  131 

parasol  ants,  and  repays  their  hospitality  by  feeding  upon  them. 
The  natives  firmly  believe  that  the  "  serpent  a  deux  tetes,"  as  they 
call  it,  is  the  mother  of  the  ants,  and  that  they  procure  the  leaves 
for  the  purpose  of  feeding  it. 

The  larvse  were  imbedded  in  a  soft  woolly  matter  which  proved 
to  be  the  finely  masticated  parenchyma  of  the  leaves.  Thus  a 
use  was  found  for  the  leaves,  althoifgh  it  reflects  seriously  upon 
the  supposed  sagacity  of  the  ants  that  they  should  procure  so 
many  more  than  are  required  for  the  purpose.  Bates  states  that 
the  leaves  are  also  used  for  thatching  the  domes  over  the  en- 
trances to  the  mines,  but  I  have  not  observed  this  practice  in  con- 
nection with  the  Trinidad  species.  The  larvae  are  fed  by  juices 
secreted  by  the  nurses.  A. part  of  the  larvae  emerge  from  the 
^gs  winged  and  ready  for  their  nuptial  flight.  These  are  the 
males  and  females,  and  the  swarming  occurs  during  the  wet  sea- 
son. The  female  measures  an  inch  in  length  and  two  inches  in 
expanse  of  wing.  The  wings  are  clear,  transparent  and  coarsely 
veined.  The  winged  males  and  females  emerge  from  the  woods 
in  clouds  during  the  rains  of  April  and  May.  These  are  almost 
all  destroyed  by  the  flycatchers,  jackamars,  ant-thrushes,  &c., 
which  greedily  devour  them;  only  a  few  impregnated  females  sur- 
vive the  slaughter  to  found  new  colonies  and  propagate  their 
race.  The  colony  is  sustained,  I  suppose,  as  in  other  species,  by 
the  seizure  and  detention  of  impregnated  females  by  their  own 
subjects.  After  impregnation  the  female  loses  her  wings,  these 
being  broken  ofT  by  the  insect  itself.  There  may  be  noticed  a 
natural  suture  at  the  base  of  the  wing,  doubtless  that  this  may 
be  easily  broken  off  when  no  longer  required. 

THE  TEREDO,  OR  SHIPWORM. 

BY  R.  E.  C.  STEARNS. 

THERE  are  several  species  of  what  are  popularly  called  "  ship- 
worms"  which  are  ordinarily  included  under  the  name 
Teredo.  Although  to  the  common  observer  they  have  a  worm- 
like appearance,  they  are  not  worms,  but  true  shell-bearing  mol- 
lusks,  as  much  so  as  the  common  *'  long  clam,"  "  long-necked 
clam  •'  or  "  mananose  "  {Mya  arenaria)  of  the  Atlantic  coast  of 
the  United  States. 

So  much  has  been  written  in  relation  to  the  shipworms  that  it 


Digitized  by 


Google 


132  The  Teredo^  or  Shtpwortn.  [February, 

would  be  nearly  impossible  to  write  anything  that  would  not  be  a 
repetition  or  quotation.  The  shipworms  (Teredo)  were  known  to  the 
ancients,  and  Theophrastus,  the  friend  and  successor  of  Aristotle 
in  the  lyceum  at  Athens,  observed  their  operations  350  B.  C. 

The  late  Dr.  J.  Gwyn  Jeffreys,'  in  his  excellent  volumes  on  the 
moUusks  of  Great  Britain,  presents  in  a  very  concise  and  inter- 
esting way  what  is  in  fact  a  mbst  valuable  memoir  on  the  ship- 
worm,  Teredinidae. 

The  shipworms  are  bivalves^  that  is  to  say,  the  complete  shell 
is  in  two  pieces,  although  one  can  form  no  idea  of  the  Teredo 
from  them,  as  the  shelly  part  is  but  an  insignificant  portion  of  the 
entire  animal,  as  you  will  learn  from  the  following: 

"  The  Teredo  *  *  *  consists  of  a  long  and  nearly  gelat- 
inous, worm-like  body,  without  rings  or  segments,  terminating 
at  one  end  in  a  pair  of  *  *  *  valves  that  somewhat  resem- 
ble the  two  halves  of  a  split  nutshell  which  has  had  a  large  slice 
cut  off  at  each  side,  and  at  the  other  in  a  pair  of  symmetrical 
shelly  paddles  with  handles  of  different  lengths,  which  close  this 
extremity  at  the  will  of  the  animal.  The  open  part  of  the 
bivalve  shell  is  placed  at  the  further  end,  and  receives  a  circular 
disk  of  a  fleshy  or  rather  muscular  nature,  which  may  be  termed 
the  foot ;  this  is  the  broadest  and  widest  part.  Inside  each  valve 
is  seen  a  curved  process,  like  a  bill-hook,  that  projects  from  the 
hinge  at  a  right  angle.  The  shell  covers  and  protects  the  mouth, 
palps,  liver  and  other  delicate  organs.  The  body  tapers  gradu- 
ally to  the  outer  or  nearer  end,  where  it  becomes  quite  small  and 
attenuated ;  it  contains  the  gullet,  intestine  and  gills,  which  form 
at  the  outward  point  two  cylindricaj  tubes,  mostly  of  unequal 
length.  The  larger  tube  takes  in  infusoria  or  similar  animal- 
cules, which  constitute  the  food  of  the  Teredo,  as  well  as 
imbibes  water  charged  with  air  for  the  purpose  of  respiration  and 
keeping  the  whole  fabric  moist,  while  the  smaller  tube  is  em- 
ployed in  the  ejection  of  the  water  which  has  been  exhausted  or 
deprived  of  aeriferous  qualities,  and  also  serves  to  get  rid  of  the 
woody  pulp  that  is  excavated  by  the  Teredo.  Both  tubes  form 
a  kind  of  hydraulic  machine.  At  the  base  of  each  lies  one  of 
the  paddles  often  termed  *  pallets.'    *    *    * 

"When  the  Teredo  is  alarmed,  or  not  feeding,  it  withdraws  its 
tubes  into  the  neck  of  its  sheath  or  shelly  cylinder ;  and  the  pal- 
lets which  had  been  previously  kept  pressed  against  the  sides, 
then  spring  forward  and  close  the  opening  so  as  to  form  an  effica- 
cious barrier  against  all  foes,"  etc. 

^  Britbh  Conchology,  Vol.  ill,  pp.  122-184.  See  also  the  Dictionaire  Universal 
d'Hibtoire,  Vol.  xii,  p.  358,  under  the  title  "Taret,"  and  the  Encyclopedia  Bri- 
tonnica,  Vol.  xv,  p.  353,  under  ••  Mollusca." 


Digitized  by 


Google 


1886.] 


The  Teredo^  or  Shtpwarm. 


133 


''  The  whole  of  what  I  have  endeavored  to  describe  is  found 
only  within  some  hard  vegetable  substance,  either  the  hull  of  a 
vessel  or  boat,  a  harbor  pile,  a  shipping  stage,  a  floating  tree 
*  *  *  a  beacon  or  buoy,"  raft  timbers,  old  spars  and  masts, 
the  planking  or  bracing  of  wharves,  bridges,  &c.,  &c.,  and  old 
hulks  or  wrecks.    The  Teredo  bores  into  these  the  same  as  a 


4 


I,  oatside  of  one  of  the  shells ;  a,  inside  ditto ;  3-3,  pallets ;  4-4,  siphons. 

rabbit  or  mole  in  the  earth,  making  a  continuous  gallery  or  hole 
quite  smooth  inside  and  cased  or  lined  with  shelly  matter  form- 
ing the  sheath  or  cylinder  above  described.  This  shelly  wall  or 
lining  or  cylinder  is  so  fragile  that  it  is  quite  impossible  to  split 
die  wood  containing  one  and  get  it  out  or  even  a  portion  of  any 
considerable  size ;  the  blow  necessary  to  cleave  the  wood  shatters 

TDL.  n.— WO.  II.  to 


Digitized  by 


Google 


134  The  Teredo^  or  Shipworm,  [February, 

the  shelly  lining  of  the  Teredo's  gallery  or  burrow  into  countless 
pieces. 

These  burrows  vary  from  one  quarter  of  an  inch  or  less  to  half 
aji  inch  or  more  in  diameter. 

It  is  only  in  its  very  earliest  stages  that  the  Teredo  is  a  free 
moving  animal.  At  this  time  no  one  other  than  a  practiced  nat- 
uralist would  be  likely  to  recognize  it.  "  It  is  very  minute,  nearly 
spherical,  and  covered  with  cilia  or  hair-like  projections,  by  means 
of  which  it  swims  rapidly  through  the  water.  In  thirty-six  hours 
it  assumes  a  new  form,  and  speedily  changes  it  for  another,  after 
which  it  returns  again  to  its  original  form,  so  that  in  a  very  few 
hours  the  little  creatur*  is  first  spherical,  then  oval,  then  triangu- 
lar, and  then  spherical  again.  In  this  stage  of  existence  it  pos- 
sesses a  foot  which  enables  it  to  crawl  after  the  manner  of  snails, 
and  also  has  organs  of  hearing  and  sight." 

It  does  not  enjoy  its  locomotive  powers  for  any  long  time  but 
fixes  itself  to  some  suitable  object,  passes  through  its  last  change, 
becomes  a  veritable  shipworm  and  begins  its  lifelong  task  of 
boring. 

The  Teredo  is  not  very  particular  as  to  the  kind  of  timber  into 
which  it  bores,  but  always  goes  with  the  grain,  unless  it  meets 
with  some  obstacle,  such  as  a  nail  or  a  very  hard  knot ;  and  in 
such  a  case  it  turns  out  of  its  track  for  a  short  distance  and  then 
resumes  its  former  course.  As  it  bores  its  way  along,  it  lines  the 
tunnel  (as  before  stated)  with  a  coating  of  shelly  matter,  but  this 
is  not  attached  or  in  any  way  connected  with  the  body  or  sub- 
stance of  the  shipworm. 

It  is  not  believed  that  the  wood  it  perforates  furnishes  any 
nutriment  to  the  animal,  but  that  its  sustenance  is  derived  entirely 
from  the  water  which  is  constantly  passing  through  its  body. 

The  holes  made  in  the  wood  at  the  time  or  just  after  the  young 
Teredos  commence  burrowing  are  quite  small,  the  appearance  of 
the  surface  of  a  pile  or  other  infested  timber  is  usually  deceptive, 
affording  but  little  evidence  of  the  size  or  number  of  the  burrows 
or  the  extent  of  the  ravages  within.  After  awhile  the  interior  is 
so  completely  "  honeycombed  "  that  a  slight  blow  or  bump  by  a 
vessel  upon  the  outside  shatters  the  pile,  &c.,  and  their  damaging 
work  can  be  seen. 

Upon  the  water  front  of  San  Francisco  I  have  known  piles,  of 
Oregon  pine  and  fir  over  a  foot  in  diameter,  rendered  worthless  in 


Digitized  by  VjOOQIC 


i886.]  The  Teredo,  or  Shipworm.  135 

eighteen  months,  and  have  heard  of  even  a  more  rapid  destruc- 
tion of  wharf  piles  in  the  harbor  of  that  city.  In  one  instance 
reported  to  me  the  destruction  was  accomplished  in  about  six 
months.  In  the  case  which  came  under  my  notice,  as  above,  the 
wood  of  the  pile  had  not  lost  its  original  fresh  or  bright  appear- 
ance when  it  had  to  be  removed  from  the  wharf  and  a  new  one  put 
in  its  place.  My  friend,  Mr.  Dall,  informs  me  of  a  case  of  the  de- 
struction of  the  supports  of  a  small  pier  made  of  piles  (probably 
pine)  six  to  eight  inches  in  diameter  in  about  six  weeks.  The 
structure  was  at  one  of  the  small  capes  near  the  entrance  to 
Chesapeake  bay. 

As  the  shipworms  are  gregarious,  and  furthermore  as  they  grow 
and  multiply  with  astonishing  rapidity,  their  destructive  work  is, 
as  shown  above,  often  accomplished  in  a  very  short  time. 

The  extent  of  their  operations  and  the  money  loss  entailed 
thereby,  both  upon  private  parties  and  business  corporations  en- 
gag^ed  in  commercial  marine  enterprises  and  on  the  naval  equip- 
ment and  appurtenances  of  the  great  maritime  nations,  are  enor- 
mous. 

This  has  led  to  a  great  number  of  experiments  by  govern- 
ments and  inventors  for  the  protection  of  wood  work  used  in 
marine  structures. 

Jeffreys  remarks  that  "  in  all  probability  the  constitution  of  a 
shipworm  is  poison-proof"  Most  of  the  remedies  proposed  in  the 
last  century  were  of  this  nature,  and  they  signally  failed. 

The  saturation  or  impregnation  of  the  wood  with  creosote  or 
some  other  carbolic  preparation  by  hydrostatic  pressure,  the 
kyanizing  of  piles,  and  sheathing  with  copper,  the  filling  of  the 
exposed  sur&ce  with  large-headed  nails  have  all  been  tried.  The 
two  last,  copper  sheathing  and  scupper  nailing,  Jeffreys  says^ 
^  have  been  successfully  used,  but  the  former  is  expensive  and 
the  crust  of  iron  (unless  they  are  closely  driven  in  so  as  to  com- 
pletely cover  the  piles)  is  superficial  and  liable  to  scale  off*.  I 
have  known  the  Teredo  to  bore  through  a  pile  which  was  sup- 
posed to  be  protected  by  large  broad-headed  nails  in  the  usual 
way.  At  Christiania,  in  April,  1863,  I  found  that  Teredo  navalis 
was  very  destructive  to  the  woodwork  in  the  harbor,  and  to  boats 
lying  at  anchor  in  the  fiord.  The  chief  engineer  told  me  that  all 
the  piles  had  been  creosoted  (ten  pounds  to  the  square  foot)  be- 
fore they  were  driven  in,  but  not  to  much  purpose!" 


Digitized  by 


Google 


136  The  Teredo,  or  Shpwarm.  [February, 

Certain  kinds  of  wood  are  less  subject  to  their  attacks  than 
others.  The  tree  palmetto  of  the  Southern  States,  it  is  said,  is 
never  bored  by  the  shipworm,  and  some  of  the  Australian  woods 
have  similar  immunity.  Dr.  Mueller  says  of  the  Eucalyptus  mar^ 
ginata  (Smith) :  "  The  Jarrah  or  mahogany  tree  of  S.  W.  Austra- 
lia, is  &med  for  its  indestructible  wood,  which  is  attacked  neither 
by  Chelura  nor  Teredo  nor  Termites,  and  therefore  so  much 
sought  for  jetties  and  other  structures  exposed  to  sea  water,  also 
for  underground  work,  and  largely  exported  for  railway  sleepers. 
Vessels  built  of  this  timber  have  been  enabled  to  do  without  cop- 
per sheathing.  It  is  very  strong,  of  a  close  grain  and  slightly 
oily  and  resinous  nature;  it  works  well,  takes  a  fine  finish, 
and  is  by  shipbuilders  here  considered  superior  to  either  oak, 
teak  or  indeed  any  other  wood."  *  *  *  The  JE  rostraia 
(Schlecht),  the  red  gum  of  Victoria,  is  another  very  valuable  spe- 
cies for  the  "  extraordinary  endurance  of  the'wood  underground, 
and  for  this  reason  highly  valued  for  fence-posts,  piles  and  rail- 
way sleepers ;  for  the  latter  it  will  laft  a  dozen  years,  and  if  well 
selected  much  longer.  It  is'also  extensively  used  by  shipbuilders. 
*  *  *  Next  to  the  jarrah  from  S.  W.  Australia,  this  is  the 
best  wood  for'resisting  the  attacks  of  seaworms  and  white  ants. 
This  species  reaches  a  hundred  feet  in  height" 

In  some  of  ^the  seaports  in  different  parts  of  the  world  there 
are  small  crustaceans  that  assist  the  shipworms  in  cutting  away 
what  wood  the  Teredo  may  leave.  These  little  fellows  resemble 
the  wood-louse  (pill  bug),  and  cut  either  way  of  the  grain  of  the 
wood. 

In  the  inlets  around  Puget  sound  the  destructive  action  of  both 
classes  of  animals  may  be  seen,  especially  about  the  time  of  the 
summer  solstice,  when  the  extraordinary  &I1  of  the  tide  exposes 
the  piles  (of  the  wharves)  for  their  entire  length.  A  space  meas- 
ured up  and  down  on  the  piles  for  a  length  of  four  or  five  feet, 
including  the  portion  exposed  between  ordinary  tide  marks,  may 
be  seen  which  is  so  completely  riddled  that  it  would  seem  as  if 
the  slightest  loading  of  the  deck  of  the  wharf  would  result  in  a 
tumble  down  of  the  whole. 

The  wood-eating  crustaceans  referred  to  belong  to  the  groups 
Limnoria  and  Chelura. 

As  an  offset  to  the  damage  caused  by  these,  from  point  of  size 
insignificant  animals,  it  should  be  borne  in  mind,  to  their  credit, 
that  by  destroying  old  wrecks,  &c.,  in  channel  ways  and  at  the 
entrance  to  harbors,  they  contribute  to  the  safety  of  navigation. 

It  is  stated  also  that  the  operations  of  the  Teredo  suggested  to 
Mr.  Brunei  his  method  of  tunneling  the  Thames. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


1 886.]  The  Flood  Rock  Explosion.  1 37 

THE  FLOOD  ROCK  EXPLOSION. 

BY  WILLIAM  HOSEA  BALLOU. 

THE  greatest  artificial  earthquake  in  history  occurred  on  Sat- 
urday morning,  October  10,  at  11  h.  14  m.,  standard  time. 
The  point  of  disturbance  was  Flood  rock  in  East  river,  on  the 
imaginary  extension  of  Ninety-third  street  of  New  York  city. 
The  earthquake  was  projected  by  means  of  300,000  pounds  of 
dynamite  and  rackarock  powder  arranged  in  twenty-two  miles  of 
metallic  cylinders.  It  was  entirely  submarine  in  character,  and 
surface  damage  was  prevented  by  a  tamp  of  fully  10,000,000 
cubic  yards  of  salt  water.  As  a  spectacle  it  was  simply  an  Ice- 
landic or  Yellowstone  geyser  on  an  extended  scale — ^a  sudden 
rise  of  water  and  gaseous  smoke  to  a  height  of  1 50  feet  for  a 
length  of  400  feet  and  a  maximum  thickness  of  100  feet  at  the 
base  of  the  column.  The  flying  rocks  and  debris  sketched  in 
illustrated  newspapers  are  |he  fickle  inventions  of  inane  minds. 
The  column  of  upheaved  water  was  so  enormous  that  all  solid 
bodies  were  hidden  from  vision.  The  explosion  was  comparable 
to  a  very  good  earthquake. 

Inadequate  observations, — ^Seismological  observations  were  taken 
at  various  points,  but  the  arrangements  for  so  doing  were  inade- 
quate and  quite  primitive.  This  is  a  statement  of  fact,  not  reflect- 
ing in  any  manner  on  the  observers.  In  the  first  place  there 
were  no  seismometers  or  seismographs  in  this  country.  In  the 
second  place  the  engineer  corps  and  scientific  corps  did  not  act  in 
conjunction  with  each  other,  and  the  latter  received  no  telegraphic 
warning  of  the  exact  moment  to  expect  the  shock.  In  the  third 
place  observers  were  not  stationed  at  sufficient  distances  from  the 
center  of  disturbance  to  measure  the  length  of  radii  of  earth 
vibrations.  Had  there  been  seismographs  located  at  Buffalo, 
Montreal,  Philadelphia,  Washington,  Portland,  Me.,  £ir  out  at 
sea,  or  at  intervals  on  a  direct  diameter,  say  1000  miles  long,  the 
exact  length  of  the  radii  might  have  been  determined.  Further- 
more, seismographs  make  an  intelligible  record  with  the  pencil 
which  none  of  the  observers  secured. 

Results  of  scientific  observations, — The  record  obtained  by  the 
scientific  corps,  however,  was  exceedingly  interesting  and  valua- 
ble. There  were  a  number  of  astounding  as  well  as  expected 
results.    The  instruments  used  were  the  seismoscope,  the  tele- 


Digitized  by 


Google 


138  The  Flood  Rock  Explosion.  [February, 

scope  in  connection  with  a  horizontal  plane  of  mercury,  the  sun 
thermometer,  the  thermometer,  the  barometer,  the  pluviometei*,  etc 

The  shock  did  not  create  as  much  noise  as  an  ordinary  field 
piece. 

The  shock  was  felt  by  the  feet  and  indicated  by  the  seismo- 
scope  one-half  a  second  before  the  result  was  visible  to  the  eye. 

The  seismoscope,  which  is  supposed  to  record  the  beginning 
of  the  shock  simply,  traced  an  unintelligible  record  on  the  side- 
real time  cylinder  at  the  Columbia  College  observatory. 

Observers  who  watched  horizontal  planes  of  mercury  through 
telescopes  naturally  report  different  results.  Professor  William 
Halleck,  at  Yonkers,  N.  Y.,  ten  miles  from  the  explosion,  records 
that  the  vibration  of  the  mercury  increased  after  the  first  fifteen 
seconds  up  to  forty  seconds,  then  diminished  for  ten  seconds, 
ceasing  entirely  after  fifty  seconds.  Professor  J.  K.  Rees,  at  the 
Columbia  College  observatory,  two  miles  away,  and  Professor 
Young,  at  Princeton,  record  that  the  duration  of  vibration  of  the 
mercury  was  thirty  seconds.  Professor  W.  A.  Rogers,  at  Har- 
vard College  observatory,  197  miles  away,  records  that  the  vibra- 
tions lasted  there  two  minutes  and  forty-six  seconds.  This  would 
show  that  the  earth  wave  divided  constantly  as  it  traveled  out- 
ward. 

All  of  the  instruments  of  the  Central  Park  observatory  left  a 
record  very  much  to  the  amazement  of  Professor  Daniel  Draper 
and  other  meteorologists.  Why,  for  instance,  should  such  a  dis- 
turbance in  any  way  afTect  the  sun  thermometer  and  rain  gauge  ? 
The  former  recorded  121®  in  the  sun,  when  suddenly  the  pen, 
which  was  tracing  its  record  on  paper,  made  a  straight  mark 
eight  degrees  long  at  right  angles  with  the  regular  tracing  and 
with  four  degrees  on  each  side  of  it  This  would  naturally  show 
a  decrease  or  increase  in  the  sun*s  temperature,  whereas  it  was 
really  an  interruption  of  the  sun's  record  by  an  abnormal  cause. 
Professor  Draper  thinks  that  this  record  must  be  of  great  value 
to  seismologists.  I  think  it  shows  that  the  record  of  a  sun 
thermometer,  as  indicated  by  a  tracing  on  paper,  cannot  be  relied 
upon,  since  any  jar  is  liable  to  affect  it.  The  pluviometer,  or  rain 
gauge,  also  gave  an  uncalled-for  record  of  one-eighth  of  an  inch. 
While  these  records  may  be  of  value  to  some  one  who  can  utilize 
them,  to  my  mind  they  only  demonstrate  the  fallacy  of  placing 
any  value  on  the  record  of  these  instruments  as  traced  on  paper. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


1 886.]  The  Flood  Rock  Explosion.  1 39 

The  atmospheric  wave. — ^The  vibrations  of  the  air  were  exceed- 
ingly slight,  owing  to  the  heavy  tamp  of  water.  The  greatest 
&11  of  the  barometer  was  .02  of  an  inch.  The  wind  being  in  .the 
west  and  blowing  eight  miles  per  hour,  the  slight  atmospheric 
wave  was  naturally  carried  out  to  sea,  so  that  its  duration  and  ex- 
tent are  lost. 

The  earth  wave. — Th^  velocity  of  the  earth  vibrations  was  one 
mile  in  seven-tenths  seconds  at  the  outset,  decreasing  to  one  mile 
ji^ths  seconds,  as  far  as  measured.  The  notated  diameter  of  the 
shock  was  394  miles  long.  It  is  safe  to  approximate  the  diame- 
ters (supposing  that  observers  had  been  on  the  watch  at  sufficient 
distances)  at  800  miles.  For  if  the  shock  was  sufficient  to  reach 
the  Cambridge  observatory,  197  miles  distant,  in  194  seconds,  and 
shake  that  eternal  structure  as  it  had  never  been  shaken  before,  it 
ought  to  have  doubled  the  distance  with  some  perceptible  effect, 
giving  a  radius  instead  of  a  diameter  of  394  miles. 

Scientific  value  of  the  observations. — The  Flood  rock  explosion 
cannot  be  called  a  surface  disturbance  because  it  occurred  at  the 
sea  level.  Volcanic  and  geyser  eruptions  vary  in  altitude  and 
have  a  vibratory  power  downward.  All  of  the  vibratory  power 
at  Flood  rock  was  upward,  which  makes  its  effect  all  the  more 
wonderful,  since  the  farther  the  shock  traveled  the  more  of  the 
earth  surface  it  had  to  lift  on  account  of  the  constant  rise  above 
sea  level.  Enough  explosives  were  used  to  have  obliterated 
Manhattan  island  if  placed  on  the  surface,  or  to  have  leveled 
Mt  Washington.  The  fact  that  300,000  pounds  of  explosives 
will  affect  a  surface  of  300,000  square  miles  does  not  necessarily 
settle  the  question  as  to  the  cause  of  earthquakes.  It  does  not 
verify  the  belief  that  explosions  of  some  kind  cause  earthquakes, 
but  leaves  us  in  the  dark  as  to  the  composition  of  such  explo- 
sives. What  mighty  ingredients  combined  to  lift  the  bowels  of 
Krakatoa  five  and  ten  miles  in  the  air,  and  so  envelope  the  whole 
globe  in  a  nebula  of  dust  that  the  sun  turned  green  and  the  sun- 
sets were  framed  in  gorgeous  hues,  lighting  up  the  night  long 
after  the  orb  had  disappeared  ?  What  mighty  ingredients  com- 
bined to  explode  Java  and  overwhelm  100,000  people  ?  What 
chemicals  combine  beneath  the  Yellowstone  park  and  hurl  the 
boiling  waters  from  Old  Faithful  geyser  every  hour,  from  the 
Minute  Man  once  per  minute,  from  clusters  of  geysers  all  at 
once  every  day  at  4  p.  m.,  from  Hell's  Half  Acre  once  per  year 


Digitized  by 


Google 


140  Editors'  Table.  [Februaiy, 

or  so,  when  this  huge  basin  all  boils  up  at  once  in  one  im- 
mense cauldron  of  seething  waters?  Flood  rode  answers  diese 
questions  in  part.  It  says  that  explosions  of  some  kind  do  the 
work ;  but  this  answer  only  opens  the  door  and  points  to  a  sea 
of  data  yet  to  be  secured  as  to  the  nature,  component  parts  and 
modus  operandi  of  these  explosions,  which  differ  evidently  in  dif- 
ferent cases. 

Note. — ^The  seisraological  observations  to  determine  the  dura- 
tion and  extent  of  the  earth  and  atmospheric  waves  were  taken 
on  two  lines  running  at  right  angles  with  each  other.  General 
Henry  L.  Abbot,  of  the  United  States  Corps  of  Engineers,  had 
charge  of  the  observatories  on  an  east  and  west  line  on  Long 
Island,  with  headquarters  at  Willet's  point  The  north  and  south 
line  was  in  charge  of  Professor  F,  W.  Clarke,  of  the  United 
States  Geolbgical  Survey,  Washington.  He  had  his  southern 
station  on  Staten  island,  in  charge  of  Professor  H.  M.  Paul  of  the 
United  States  Naval  observatory.  At  the  next  station,  on  Ward's 
island.  Professor  T.  C.  Mendenhall,  of  the  United  States  Signal 
Service,  and  himself  observed.  At  Yonkers  Professor  William 
Hallock,  of  the  United  States  Geological  Survey,  and  student 
Thomas  Ewing,  Jr.,  of  Columbia  College,  occupied  a  station. 
The  most  northerly  observatory  of  the  chain  was  at  Vassar  Col- 
lege, in  charge  of  Professor  Maria  Mitchell.  Dr.  Daniel  Draper 
took  bbservations  on  a  number  of  instruments  at  Central  park. 
The  astronomers  at  Princeton,  Harvard  and  Rutgers  colleges  also 
made  observations  in  conjunction  with  the  others. 

EDITORS'  TABLE. 

editors:  a.  s.  Packard  and  e.  d.  cope. 

It  is  safe  to  say  that  the  greatest  necessity  of  scientific 

progress  in  the  United  States  to-day  is  schools  and  academies 
of  original  research.  We  have  colleges  and  universities  enough 
in  most  of  the  States,  but  there  has  not  yet  been  established  a 
single  school  where  knowledge  is  produced,  which  corresponds  in 
scope  with  the  numerous  institutions  where  it  is  taught.  Perhaps 
it  is  a  general  impression  that  there  is  already  more  knowledge 
in  the  world  than  can  be  learned ;  but,  if  this  be  true,  it  can  not 
for  a  moment  obscure  the  greater  truth,  that  most  of  the  laws  of 
nature  remain  still,  more  or  less,  unknown.     It  is,  or  ought  to  be, 


Digitized  by 


Google 


l886«]  EdUonf  Table.  141 

well  known,  that  all  the  knowledge  taiigfat  in  the  schools  is  the 
product  of  original  research,  and  that  all  books  of  any  value  in 
libraries,  excepting  works  of  the  imagination,  are  derived  from  the 
same  source.  Hence,  it  appears  that  the  absence  of  schools  of 
research  is  a  phenomenon  for  which  it  is  difficult  to  account. 
There  are  some  schools  of  this  kind  which  cover  a  limited  part  of 
the  field  of  knowledge,  such  as  the  summer  schools  of  biology  on 
the  coast;  and  there  are  some  museums  where  a  limited  amount  of 
research  is  conducted,  as  much  as  their  financial  and  intellectual 
resources  permit  But  these  institutions  are  either  so  limited  in 
means,  or  so  completely  under  the  control  of  non-investigators, 
that  they  are  inefiective  at  present,  or  offer  no  prospect  of  pro- 
gression in  the  future. 

If  any  public-spirited  citizen  desires  to  erect  for  himself  a  unique 
and  enduring  monument,  such  can  not  be  more  effectively  and 
usefully  done  than  by  the  endowment  of  an  Academy  of  Original 
Research.  Such  an  institution  would  be  a  perpetual  spring  and 
source  of  knowledge  and  truth,  and  a  living  "  nucleus  "  in  the 
great  organic  body  of  society. 

An  institution  which  should  cover  most  of  the  ground  might  be 
organized  on  the  following  basis:  Six  departments  might  be 
established,  namely:  i,  Astronomy;  2,  Physics;  3,  Chemistry; 
4,  Geology;  5,  Vegetable  Biology;  6,  Animal  Biology.  For 
each  of  these  departments  the  annual  expenses  would  be  as 
follows : 

For  talaiy  of  director. ••••• • #3»  500 

For  salary  of  assistant • ....•  1,000 

For  material  (apparatus  and  specimens) « 3tSoo 

For  books 5  00 

18,500 

which  is,  for  the  six  departments,  ^51,000.  Then  there  should 
be  ^7,000  per  annum  for  publications,  leaving  $2,000  for  janitor  and 
other  necessary  expenses.  The  total  income  of  ,^60,000  represents 
an  endowment  of  ^1,000,000.  Of  course,  the  details  might  be 
varied  according  to  probable  necessities,  etc.  And  for  a  smaller 
endowment,  fewer  departments  might  be  created,  but  not  without 
seriously  crippling  the  institution.  Various  details,  such  as  the 
boundaries  of  the  departments,  the  duties  of  assistants,  etc.,  would 
have  to  be  fixed.  A  certain  number  of  lectures  should  be  given 
by  the  directors,  which  should  serve  as  an  index  of  the  charac- 
teristics of  the  workers  and  their  work. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


142  Recent  Literature.  [Februaiy, 

In  the  selection  of  the  men  who  should  act  as  directors  of  the 
departments,  the  principal  difficulty  is  to  be  encountered.  The 
enterprise  of  the  American  is  no  less  marked  in  the  struggle  for 
place  and  reputation,  than  in  the  struggle  for  the  almighty  dollar. 
Qualification  is  little  thought  of  by  too  many  persons,  who  from 
physical  or  mental  weakness,  or  some  other  cause,  desire  to  live 
without  labor.  The  charter  of  an  institution  of  research  should 
embrace  a  provision,  that  the  position  of  director  should  be  for- 
feited by  that  one  who  should  not  produce  some  original  work  of 
merit  every  year  or  two,  or  during  some  other  definite  time.  In 
no  other  way  could  the  institution  be  preserved  from  the  intellec- 
tual decay  into  which  so  many  have  fallen ;  and  in  no  other  way 
could  it  be  protected  from  patrons  whose  kind  intentions  might 
include  personal  favorites  unknown  to  scientific  research.  Men 
of  money  who  desire  to  sustain  original  research  will  be  com- 
pelled to  devote  some  inquiry  as  to  who  are  the  men  who  are 
loyal  to  this  work.  The  best  index  they  can  find  to  this  class  is 
the  record  of  their  work  already  done. 

The  best  mode  of  government  of  such  an  institution  would  be  by 
a  senatus  composed  of  the  six  directors  of  the  departments  and 
an  equal  number  of  trustees  of  the  endowment  In  this  way  the 
greatest  amount  of  wisdom  would  be  brought  to  bear  on  the 
two  questions  of  administration,  viz.:  the  preservation  of  the  fund, 
and  the  manner  of  its  expenditure. — C. 

RECENT  LITERATURE. 

The  Unpaired  Fins  of  Selachians.* — Dr.  Paul  Mayer,  under 
the  above  caption,  discusses  the  median  fins  of  Selachians  and 
throws  new  light  upon  a  number  of  morphological  questions 
which  have  lately  arisen.  He  carries  Dohrn's  conclusions  still 
farther,  and  has  actually  discovered  at  the  end  of  the  tail  and  on 
the  back  of  the  young  embryo  of  Pristiurus  and  of  Scyllium 
homogeneous  structures  (Hautknopfe)  of  subepiblastic  origin,  of 
the  same  substance  as  the  horn-fibers  or  actinotrichia  in  the  fin- 
folds.  These  button-like  structures  are  found  on  the  back  of  the 
embryo,  in  a  single  row,  on  either  side  of  the  median  line  and  in 
advance  of  the  permanent  dorsal.  At  the  end  of  the  tail  they  are 
in  two  rows,  viz.,  a  dorsal  and  a  ventral  series.  In  both  situations 
they  are  metameric  in  position,  and  sections  show  that  temporary 
muscular  buds  are  thrust  outward  towards  these  singular  lateral 
larval  organs  from  the  muscular  segments  or  myotomes  in  the 
same  way  as  to  the  bundles  of  fibers  or  actinotrichia  representing 
rays  in  the  median  and  paired  fins. 

These  remarkable  organs  Mayer  regards  as  the  vestiges  or 
remnants  of  parapodia,  and  therefore  names  them  parapodoids. 

^  Die  ui^aaren  Fiossen  der  Seiackier,  Mitt.  Zool.  Stat,  zu  Neapel.  vi,  pp.  217- 
285,  pi.  15-19.     1885. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


i886.]  *  Riceni  Literature.  143 

At  the  tip  of  the  tail  they  stand  in  the  position  of  the  caudal  neu- 
ropodiaand  notopodia  of  errant  annelids,  but  are  not,  as  in  them, 
constituted  of  palea,  bristles,  etc.  In  the  anterior  dorsal  region 
of  ScylHum,  these  bodies  are  in  the  position  of  neuropodia. 

It  will  thus  be  seen  that  Mayer  supplies  a  most  important  set 
of  data  which  lend  support  to  the  views  of  Dohm  as  to  the  mean- 
ing and  origin  of  the  median  and  paired  fins,  since  that  author  has 
contended  that  the  relations  of  these  peripheral  structures  to  the 
axis  of  the  body  are  to  be  determined  by  the  relations  they  bear 
to  the  myotomes  which  send  out  muscular  buds  into  the  fins,  and 
not  on  the  basis  of  the  relations  to  the  cartilaginous  appendicular 
skeleton  or  spines,  as  held  by  most  other  morphologists. 

The  table  which  Dr.  Mayer  gives  to  illustrate  the  varying  rela- 
tions of  the  same  metameric  elements  of  the  median  fins  to  the 
point  where  the  vertebral  axis  becom>ss  diplospondylic  are  also  of 
great  interest,  not  only  morphologically,  but  also  taxonomically. 
For  the  first  time  in  the  history  of  the  subject,  in  &ct,  we  have 
presented  in  this  paper  a  tabulated  statement  of  what  are  the 
actual  relations  of  the  metameric  elements  of  the  vertical  fins  to 
the  myotomes  of  the  body  and  the  sclerotomes  and  nerve-pairs 
of  the  axis  in  the  principal  families  of  Elasmobranchii.  The 
paper  also  illustrates  the  perfection  and  resources  of  modern  bio- 
logical methods.  It  is  to  be  regretted  that  the  author  does  not 
give  a  brief  summary  of  his  results  at  the  close  of  the  paper. 

These  researches,  it  may  be  remarked  in  conclusion,  also  show 
that  in  Scyllium  there  is  developed  a  posterior  terminal,  vermi- 
form section  of  the  embryo  which  corresponds  to  what  the  writer 
has  called  an  opisthure.  Though  it  is  obvious  that  this  opisthure 
is  rudimentary  and  evanescent,  as  it  soon  becomes  inconspicu- 
ous. Some^of  the  Elasmobranchii,  therefore,  pass  through  what 
the  writer  has  termed  an  archicercal  stage. 

The  results  reached  by  Dr.  Mayer  also  afford  important  evi- 
dence in  support  of  the  archistome  theory,  published  by  the 
writer  in  this  journal  recently.'— -:/^A»  A,  Ryder. 

Bower  and  Vines'  PRAcncAL  Botany.* — One  of  the  significant 
signs  of  the  times,  so  far  as  botany  is  concerned,  is  the  multipli- 
cation of  books  which  are  designed  to  encourage  the  practical 
study  of  plants  in  the  microscopical  and  physiological  labora- 
tories. A  few  years  ago,  such  a  thing  as  a  laboratory  manual  for 
the  guidance  of  the  botanical  student  was  unheard  of;  now  we 

^  American  Naturalist,  November,  1885,  pp.  1 11 5-1 121. 

'  A  Course  of  Practical  Instruction  in  Botany,  By  F.  O.  Bower,  M.A.,  F.L.S., 
Lecturer  on  Botany  at  the  Normal  School  of  Science,  South  Kensington;  and  Sid- 
ney H.  Vines,  M.A.,  D.Sc,  F.L.S.,  Fellow  and  Lecturer  of  Christ's  College,  Cam- 
bridge,  and  Reader  in  Botany  in  the  University.  With  a  preface  by  W.  T.  This- 
TLETON  Dyer,  M.A.,  C.M.G.,  F.R.S.,  F.L.S.,  Assistant  Director  of  the  Royal 
Gardens,  K.ew.  Part  I.,  Phanerogamae-Pteridophyta.  London,  Macmillan  &  Co., 
l88s. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


144  Recent  LUeratun.  [February, 

have  half  a  dozen  or  more,  each  giving  valuable  and  needed  help 
to  the  young  investigator.  The  latest  of  these  manuals  is  the 
one  now  before  us. 

The  book,  we  are  told  in  the  preface,  is  the  outgrowth  of  work 
done  in  the  Normal  School  of  Science  at  South  Kensington,  dur- 
ing several  years  under  Mr.  Dyer,  and  afterwards  to  the  present 
under  Mr.  Bower.  Originating  in  this  way,  the  book  is  not  open 
to  the  objection  of  impracticability  which  so  frequently  may  be 
brought  against  works  of  this  kind,  and  the  beginner  may 
take  it  up  with  confidence  that  he  is  not  asked  to  undertake  that 
which  for  him  is  still  impossible.  A  book  which  has  grown  into 
being  is  always  helpful,  and  this  will  prove  no  exception  to  the 
rule. 

There  are  in  the  beginning  of  the  book  a  couple  of  introduc- 
tory chapters  in  which  are  discussed  briefly,  and  yet  satisfactorily, 
the  making  of  preparations — micro-chemical  reagents,  the  general 
structure  of  the  cell,  the  micro-chemistry  and  the  micro-physics 
of  the  cell.  Altogether,  fifty-three  pages  are  given  to  the  fore- 
going topics. 

In  the  succeeding  pages  are  taken  up  first  the  Phanerogams 
and  afterwards  the  Pteridophytes.  The  sunflower  (Helianthus 
annuus)  is  taken  very  properly  as  the  representative  of  the  herba- 
ceous, dicotyledonous  angiosperms.  This  is  followed  by  a  study 
of  the  arboreal  type  represented  by  the  elm  (Ulmus  campesiris). 
The  monocotyledons  are  principally  represented  by  Indian  com 
{Zea  mats).  In  the  Gymnosperms  the  Scotch  pine  {Pinus  syhes- 
tris)  is  used  for  study.  In  each  case,  stem,  leaf,  root,  flower  and 
embryo  are  successively  taken  up  and  carefully  studied.  The 
same  method  is  followed  in  the  Pteridophytes,  where  Selaginella, 
Lycopodium,  Aspidium  and  Equisetum  represent  Ihe  different 
types  of  structure. 

The  general  plan  of  the  work  is  the  same  as  that  of  Huxley 
and  Martin's  well-known  book,  "  Practical  Instruction  in  Elemen- 
tary Biology,"  and  the  faults  of  the  present  work  are  identical,  as 
appear  to  us,  with  those  of  its  forerunner.  While  such  books 
are  very  useful,  and  while  they  are  doubtless  doing  much  to  stim- 
ulate better  work,  we  have  long  been  of  the  opinion  that  alto- 
gether too  much  help  is  given  in  them  to  the  pupil,  and  that  he 
is  not  thrown  often  enough  upon  his  own  resources.  It  is  true, 
of  course,  that  in  the  laboratories  of  many  teachers,  books  of  this 
kind  will  not  be  used  in  such  a  way  as  to  work  to  the  disadvantage 
of  the  pupil,  but  in  many  other  cases — in  too  many  cases — they 
will  be.  In  making  these  strictures  upon  the  book,  we  would  not 
be  understood  as  criticising  the  method  of  study  of  which  it  is  the 
outgrowth.  As  to  that  there  can  be  but  one  opinion ;  but  unless 
great  care  be  taken  by  the  teacher  and  pupil,  the  results  originally 
obtained  at  South  Kensington  without  the  book  will  not  be 
secured  with  it    The  book  must  be  used  as  di  general  guide ^  and 


Digitized  by 


Google 


i886.  \  Recent  LUerahtre.  145 

must  not  be  blindly  followed  paragraph  by  paragraph  and  page  by 
page.  Its  proper  function  is  suggestive^  and,  if  so  used,  it  will 
prove  of  great  value  in  the  botanical  laboratory. 

We  cannot  omit  coxpmending  the  form  which  the  publishers 
have  given  the  book.  The  type,  printing,  paper  and  binding  are 
excellent,  the  flexible  covers  being  especially  commendable. — 
Charles  E.  Bessey. 

Torrby's  Birds  in  the  Bush.* — ^This  is  a  dangerous  little  book. 
Young  naturalists  who  have  chosen  paths  that  are  not  those  of 
song  and  color  should  avoid  it,  lest  they  also  should,  by  its  win- 
some sweetness,  be  charmed  to  become  ornithologists.  Birds 
appeal  to  other  faculties  beside  those  of  the  intellect.  The  musi- 
cian, the  poet,  the  painter,  all  find  inspiration  in  the  oscines.  Per- 
haps this  is  the  reason  there  is  so  much  twaddle  written  about 
birds.  Since  there  is  an  audience  writers  devoid  of  the  artistic, 
poetical,  or  music&l  faculties  pen  a  series  of  quasi-scientific  me- 
anderings,  and  send  it  forth  as  a  bird-book.  But  Mr.  Torrey 
loves  bird-song  and  bird-beauty  and  tells  his  love  in  language 
remarkable  for  force  and  picturesqueness.  The  eleven  chapters 
teem  with  the  result  of  years  of  life  among  the  birds,  and  the 
author  has  a  quaint  way  of  comparing  bird-life  and  bird-ways 
with  our  own  life  and  ways,  without  allowing  the  reader  to  forget 
that  it  is  only  a  bird  he  is  talking  about.  No  heavier  blow  has 
been  dealt  the  sparrow-hater  than  that  given  in  the  first  chapter  of 
this  book.  Though  by  no  means  a  sparrow-lover,  Mr.  Torrey 
confesses  that,  in  the  space  of  the  last  seven  oreight  years,  he  has 
watched  upon  Boston  Garden  and  Common  some  thousands  of 
specimens,  representing  not  fetr  from  seventy  species.  The  author 
owns  to  the  true  aboriginal  temperament — he  loves  to  be  out  of 
doors,  but  hates  out-of-door  employment ;  this  is  the  stuff  orni- 
thologists should  be  made  of,  plus  tyts. 

Louis  Agassiz;  His  Life  and  Correspondence.' — The  story 
of  Agassiz's  life,  as  here  told,  is  an  exceedingly  attractive  one, 
and  we  wish  that  a  cheap  edition  of  it  could  be  published  for  the 
benefit  of  the  youth  of  our  country.  The  materials  have  been 
put  together  with  much  literary  skill  and  judgment,  the  letters 
forming  the  larger  part  of  the  materials  for  the  biography.  To 
the  American  student  who  knew  Agassiz,  the  first  volume,  re- 
lating to  his  boyhood,  his  youth  at  the  universities,  his  early  man- 
hood as  a  collector  and  investigator,  his  life  as  a  professor  at 
Neuchatel,  his  correspondence  with  Humboldt,  his  nine  summers 
spent  in  Alpine  exploration — this  volume  will  seem  like  a  ro- 
mance. To  those  who  never  saw  this  child  of  genius,  the  second 
volume,  recounting  his  successful  life  in  America,  the  land  of  his 
adoption,  will  be  full  of  interest. 

1  Birds  in  the  Bush.    By  B&ADFORD  Torrey.    Boston,  Houghton,  MiiBin  &  Co. 
*  Ltuis  Arassi^^His  Life  and  Correspondence,      Edited  hj  Elizabeth  Cary 
Agassiz.    Two  ▼olumes.    Boston,  Houghton,  Mifflin  &  Co.,  1885.    i2mo.    ^. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


146  Recent  Literature,  [February, 

As  a  youth,  Agassiz  was  indefatigable  as  a  collector,  personally 
attractive,  full  of  high  impulses,  and  his  whole  mind  pervaded 
with  the  scientific  spirit.  His  early  dreams  were  fully  realized ; 
bis  castles  in  the  air  were  actually  built — he  laid  their  foundations 
and  saw  the  superstructures  materialized  in  richly  illustrated  vol- 
umes and  in  brick  and  iron.  The  vast  collections — the  results  of 
his  journeys,  of  his  passionate  appeals  to  State  and  individuals, 
the  unsGJicited  funds  which  flowed  in  as  the  meed  of  his  success 
in  winning  the  confidence  and  sympathy  of  scientific  and  lay  men 
— these  fill  the  Museum  of  Comparative  Zoology,  that  monument 
of  a  life  of  rare  devotion  to  high  ideals. 

Agassiz  was  a  genius.  Winning  in  manner  to  an  unusual  degree, 
full  of  ardor  and  enthusiasm,  often  reckless,  but  always  success- 
ful, with  a  grain  of  fanaticism  and  one-sidedness  in  his  nature,  like 
a  knight  of  old  he  won  his  proud  position  as  one  of  the  leading 
scientific  men  of  his  age  and  the  most  influential  and  popular 
teacher  in  the  New  World. 

Agassiz  had  great  powers  of  generalization,  side  by  side  with 
those  of  acquisitiveness,  of  facts  and  specimens.  His  investiga- 
tions in  embryology,  palaeontology,  as  well  as  systematic  zoology, 
led  him  to  form  clear  views  as  to  the  geological  succession  of 
animals,  the  parallelism  between  the  development  of  the  individ- 
ual and  the  group  to  which  it  belongs.  His  mode  of  looking  at 
nature,  the  whole  drift  of  his  teachings,  naturally  prepared  the 
mind  for  the  reception  of  evolutionary  ideas,  and  while  his  pupils 
and  his  contemporaries  advanced  naturally  to  these  philosophic 
conceptions  or  generalizations,  Agassiz, — whether  owing  to  early 
prejudice,  the  lack  of  a  judicial  turn  of  mind  and  analytical 
powers,  the  modicum  of  combativeness  and  bigotry  in  his  strong, 
intense  nature,  or  the  multiplicity  of  his  labors  and  cares  in  the 
later  years  of  his  life,  which  gave  him  little  time  for  sustained 
thought, — failed  to  rise  to  the  grand  generalizations  of  modem 
biology.  He  will  be  known  in  the  history  of  science  as  the 
strongest  opponent,  after  Cuvier,  of  the  theory  of  descent. 

Our  Living  World. — This  work,  now  publishing  in  numbers, 
is,  in  the  language  of  the  title-page,  an  artistic  edition  of  the  Rev. 
J.  G.  Wood's  Natural  History  of  the  Animal  Creation.  It  is  pub- 
lished by  Selmar  Hess,  of  New  York,  and  edited  for  distribution 
in  this  country  by  Dr.  J.  B.  Holder.  The  parts  before  us  (27  to  32) 
finish  the  birds,  discuss  the  reptiles  and  batrachians,  and  begin 
the  account  of  the  fishes.  As  will  be  seen  by  the  samples  illus- 
trating this  notice,  the  illustrations,  which  are  mostly  taken  from 
Brehm's  Thierleben,  are  very  superior  to  any  elsewhere  printed, 
and  give  much  value  to  the  work. 

The  oleographs  are  also  copies,  by  Mr.  Prang,  of  those  in 
Brehm's  popular  work.  We  should  like  to  have  had  the  remark- 
able characteristics  of  the  New  Zealand  Sphenodon  given.  As  it  is 


Digitized  by 


Google 


The  Sphenodon  of  New  Zealand. 


PLATE  VIII. 


Digitized  by 


I  "^  ^ "    ^  J 

GoogTe 


Digitized  by 


Google 


PLATE-IX. 


The  Gannet. 


Digitized  by 


Digitized  by 


Google 


1 886.]  Recent  Literature.  147 

it  is  regarded  simply  as  the  type  of  a  family  of  ordinary  lizards, 
whereas,  by  the  best  authorities,  the  group  Rynchocephalia  is 
regarded  as  a  distinct  order  of  reptiles  of  very  primitive  structure. 

Recent  Books  and  Pamphlets. 

Rske,  y. — ^The  idea  of  God.    Houghton,  Mifflin  ft  Co.,  Cambridge,  1866.    From 

the  publishen. 
Thompson^  D.  IV, — K  bibliography  of  Prototoa,  Coelenterata  and  worms,  1 861-1885. 

Cambridge  University  press,  1885.     From  the  publishers. 
Kane,  IV,  F,  de  K— European  butterflies.    Macmillan  &  Co.,  1885.    From  the  pub- 
lishers. 
Omningham^  D,  J, — Inaugural  address  delivered  at  the  opening  of  the  new  Ana- 
tomical Theater,  Trinity  College,  Dublin.     1885.    From  the  author. 
Credner^  /T.— -Die  Stegocephalen,  part  v,  Berlin,  1885.     From  the  author. 
TreUase^  Wm, — Observations  on  several  ZoOgloese  and  related  forms.    Studies  from 

the  Johns  Hopkins  Biological  Laboratory,  1885.     From  the  editors. 
Bonmy,  T.  G. — On  the  so-called  diorite  of  Little  Knot,  Cumberland,  etc.    Ext. 

Quart.  Jour.  Geol.  Soc,  Nov.,  1885.     From  the  author. 
Ruuktnbtrger,  W.  S.  ff^.— A  sketch  of  the  life  of  Robert  £.  Rogers,  M.D.,  LL.D. 

Read  bef.  Amer.  Phil.  Soc,  Nov.  6, 1885.     From  the  author. 
Lamrence^  G,  N, — Characters  of  two  supposed  new  species  of  birds  from  Yucatan. 

Ext.  Annals  New  York  Acad.  Sci.,  Vol.  IV,  1885.  % 

—Descriptions  of  new  species  of  birds  of  the  family  Columbidae.    The  Auk,  Oct. 

4.  1885. 
Description  of  a  new  species  of  bird  of  the  genus  Engyptila,  with  notes  on  two 

YucaUn  birds.     Ext.  Ann.  N.  Y.  Acad.  Sci.,  Vol.  III.    All  from  the  author. 
Becker,  G.  F, — Geometrical  form  of  volcanic  cones  and  the  elastic  limit  of  lava. 

Ext.  Amer.  Jour,  of  Sci.,  Vol.  xxx.     From  the  author. 
Cms,  fV.,  and  Hillehrand,  W,  /".^-Contributions  to  the  mineralogy  of  the  Rocky 

mountains.    Bulletin  20  U.  S.  Geol.  Survey.     From  the  authors. 
?  . — ^A  handbook  to  the  National  Museum  at  the  Smithsonian  Institution,  Washing- 
ton.    From^the  author. 
Mone,  E,  S, — ^Japanese  homes  and  their  surroundings.  Ticknor  &  Co.,  1886.  From 

the  author. 
Meyiuri,  Tlk. — Psychiatry ;  a  clinical  treatise  on  diseases  of  the  fore-brain.     Trans- 
lated by  B.  Sachs,  M.D.     G.  P.  Putnam's  Sons,  New  York,  1885.     From  the 

publishers. 
Bomlenger,  G.  A. — Catalogue  of  the  lizards  in  the  British  Museum,  Vols.  I  and  il  • 

London,  1885.     From  the  trustees  of  the  British  Museum. 
Errera,  Z. — Sur  Pexistence  du  glycog6ne  dans  la  levure  de  bieri.     Ext.  Comptes 

Rendns  des  Seances  de  I'acad.  des- Sciences,  1885.    From  the  author. 
Wilder,  B,  (7.— The  life  of   Agassiz.     Ext.  Cornell  Review,   1885.     From  the 

author. 
Aptstu,  A,,  £t  aL — Twenty-fifth  annual  report  of  the  curator  of  the  Museum   of 

Comparative  Zodlogy  at  Harvard,  1884-85.     From  the  author. 
Meyer,  O. — ^Tbe  genealogy  and  age  of  the  species  in  the  Southern  Old  Tertiary. 

Ext.  Amer.  Jour,  de  Science,  Vol.  xxx,  1885.    From  the  author. 
Hennetsy,  H, — On  the  comparative  temperature  of  'the   Northern  and  Southern 

hemispheres.    Ext.  Philos.  Mag.,  Nov.  1885. 
On  the  winters  of  Great  Britain  and  Ireland  as  influenced  by  the  Gulf  Stream. 

Ext.  idem.     Both  from  the  author. 
Macdonald,  C  C, — A  sermon  on  the  relation  of  evolution  to  Christianity.     Read  at 

the  meeting  of  the  Brit.  Assoc.  Adv.  Sci.,  Aberdeen,  1885.     From  the  author. 
Matter,  F. — ^Vierter  Nachtrag  zum  Catalog  der  herpetologischen  Sammlung  des  Bas 

ler  Museums,  1885.    From  the  author. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


148  Gifural  Nates . 

Lyiekikir,  ^.— Notes  on  the  soAlogical  positioa  of  the  geniu|  Microchoerus  Wood, 

and  iti  apparent  identity  with  Hyopsodus  Leidy.   ExL  Qoart  Joarn.  Ccol.  Soc., 

1885.    From  the  author. 
Sfntipre,  /.—Carte  giologique  gdn^rale  de  la  Rnssie.    Fevillc  93,     Paide  occidwt- 

tale,  Kamychin,  1885.    From  the  author. 
TscAemyscJkew,  Tl— Die  Fauna  dei  Untem  Deron  am  West-Abhange  de»  Urals, 

1885.    From  the  author. 
Charenay^  M,  </^.— Titulo  de  los  Senores  de  Totonicapan,  1885.    From  the  trans- 

.     lator. 
Btddoe^  /.—The  races  of  Britain.    1885.    From  the  author. 
LicJU^  ff^— Bronn's  Thier-reich,  vi  Band,  y  AbtheUung,  1885. 
AdUr^  ^.—Atheism.    A  lecture  before  the  Society  of  Ethical  Culture,  1884.    From 

the  author. 
/>tfMwx.— Description  of  Liriculina  ncatingi.    Siti.  d.  Ge.  Natur.  Freunde  sm  Ber- 
lin, 1885.     From  the  author. 
Bareena^  M,,  and  Petit,  ^.—Estudioc  de   Meteorologia   comparada.    Tomo  I. 

Mexico,  1885.     From  the  author. 
Tnu  F.  fK— Contributions  to  the  history  of  the  Commander  islands.    Description 

of  a  new  Mesoplodon.    Ext.  Proc.  U.  Nat  Mus.,  1885.    From  the  author. 
DugeSf  Alfredo. — Elementos  de  Zoologia.    Mexico,  1885.    From  the  author. 
7>a//,  /.  /. — British  petrography.     i886.     From  the  author. 
Netio,  Z.— Conference  faite  au  Museum  National  en  presence  de  LL.  M.M.  Imp6- 

'riales,  1884.     From  the  authors. 
ToulOf  F.,  and  Kail^  J,  ^4.— Ueber  einen  Krokodil-Schadel  aus  den  Tertiarablage- 

rungen  von  Eggenburg  in  Niedercesterreich,  1885.    From  the  authors. 
Dawson,  G,  Af.— Boulder  clays.  Ext  Bull,  of  the  Chicago  Acad,  of  Sciences,  1885. 

From  the  author. 
Bovallius,  C, — Mimonectes,  a  remarkable  genus  of  Amphipoda  Hyperidea,     Ext. 

Proc.  Roy.  Soc.  Upsala,  1885.    From  the  author. 
JCosehinsfy,  C, — Ein  Beitrag  zur  Kentniss  der  Bryozoenfauna  der  ftUeren  Tertiftr- 

schichten  des  sfldlichen  Bayerns.    Cheilostomata.     1885.     From  the  author. 
Van  Beneden,  P,  ^.^-Description  des  Ossements  fossiles  des  environs  d'Anvers. 

Quatriime  paitie.  CeUcis;  Genre  Plesiocetus.    With  an  atlas.    1885.    From 

the  author. 

GENERAL  NOTES. 

GBOaRAPHT  AND  TBAVBLa^ 

Asia — Tke  Rivers  of  the  Punjab. — An  account  of  the  rivers 
of  the  Punjab,  by  Gen.  R.  Macagan,  occupies  the  first  place  in  the 
November  issue  of  the  Proceedings  of  the  Royal  Greographical 
Society,  Though  Punjab  means  "  five  waters,"  the  more  ancient 
name  was  the  land  of  the  seven  rivers,  the  Indus  on  the  one  side, 
and  the  Saraswati  on  the  other,  being  added  to  the  Jhelum, 
Chenab,  Ravi,  Beas,  and  Sutlej.  The  Saraswati  rises  in  the  low 
outer  hills  of  the  Himalayan  mountains,  and  is  now  an  unimport- 
ant river,  except  in  the  season  of  flood,  yet  it  is  described  in  the 
ancient  writings  of  the  Hindus  as  a  mighty  river  like  the  others. 
But  the  Punjab  was  the  tract  first  occupied  by  the  Aryan  immi- 
grants from  the  north,  and  it  appears  more  probable  that  the  ideas 
of  the  people  concerning  the  river  changed  when  they  knew  it 

1  This  departmeut  is  edited  by  W.  N.  Lockington,  Philadelphia. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


1 886.]  Geography  and  Travels.  149 

better,  and  had  advanced  to  the  Jumna  and  the  Ganges,  than  that 
the  river  should  have  altered  so  greatly.  Yet  the  disappearance 
of  the  forests  marks  some  diminution  in  the  water-supply.  Later 
writings,  about  the  sixth  century  B.  C,  state  that  the  Saraswati 
sinks  into  the  earth,  and  gives  the  Ganges  and  Jumna  at  their 
confluence.  This  is  probably  a  fable  to  save  the  credit  of  a  sacred 
river.  The  Sutlej  and  the  Indus  rise  on  opposite  sides  of  Mount 
Kailas,at  elevations  of  about  15,200  and  18,000  feet  respectively, 
and  both  flow  north-west  for  a  considerable  distance,  and  then 
turn  to  the  south-west,  the  Indus  taking  the  wider  sweep,  and 
enclosing,  between  itself  and  the  Sutlej,  a  broad  tract  containing 
the  other  four  rivers  and  their  drainage  basins.  Much  of  the 
upper  courses  of  all  these  rivers  is  torrential,  but  the  Indus  runs 
with  a  gentle  and  winding  current  through  Ladak  at  a  height  of 
1 1,000  feet,  and  the  lovely  valley  of  Kashmir  is  situated  near  the 
sources  of  the  Jhelum,  which  is  even  there  a  large  river,  since 
several  tributaries  join  at  Islamabad,  forty  miles  above  Srinagar. 
At  Baramula,  the  Jhelum  leaves  Kashmir,  and  falls  thirty-five  feet 
per  mile  for  seventy-five  miles,  and  then  twenty-one  feet  per  mile 
to  the  Punjab  plains.  The  earliest  of  the  metrical  histories  of 
Kashmir  state  that  the  valley  was  once  a  lake,  and  that  a  powerful 
sage  cut  the  gap  at  Baramula.  It  is  not  impossible  that  it  was 
the  work  of  man.  Seventy-five  miles  of  the  upper  course  of  the 
Beas  have  a  fall^of  125  feet  per  mile.  The  courses  of  all  these 
rivers  after  reaching  the  plains  of  the  Punjab  are,  like  those  of  the 
Mississippi  and  other  rivers  which  have  flood  plains,  subject  to 
much  disastrous  change.  The  rainfall  of  the  higher  portions  of 
the  Punjab,  where  the  rivers  leave  the  hills,  varies  from  thirty-four 
to  forty-eight  inches.  At  fifty  miles  from  the  hills  only  sixteen 
to  twenty-four  inches  of  rain  falls,  and  at  100  miles,  but  ten  to 
twelve  inches.  Where  the  rivers  unite,  no  more  than  six  inches 
of  rain  falls  annually,  and  still  less  than  this  visits  the  desert 
plain  of  Sind,  through  which  the  mighty  Indus,  after  receiving 
the  five  rivers,  flows  to  the  ocean.  The  five  rivers  unite 
before  reaching  the  Indus,  and  the  united  stream,  called  the 
PanJ-nad^  or  five  streams,  is  at  the  junction  more  than  twice 
the  width  of  the  Indus,  but  much  shallower.  The  discharge 
of  the  Panjnad  at  the  low  season,  is  estimated  at  69,000  cubic 
feet  per  second,  that  of  the  Indus  at  92,000.  The  flood  discharge 
below  the  junction  is  about  380,000  cubic  feet.  A  very  large 
amount  of  water  borne  down  by  these  rivers  sinks  into  the 
ground,  and  forms  an  underground  reserve  of  water,  which  even 
in  the  rainless  region  round  near  the  meeting  of  the  five  rivers  is 
not  more  than  twenty-four  feet  below  the  surface. 

Some  Himalayan  Peaks. — ^According  to  notes  communicated  by 
Lieut  Col.  H.  C.  B.  Tanner  to  the  British  Association,  there  are 
no  large  glaciers  on  the  north-east  or  shady  side  of  Kinchinjinga, 
nor  does  Mt  Everest  seem  to  have  noteworthy  glaciers.  Kabru  is 


Digitized  by 


Google 


ISO  General  Notes.  [February, 

really  a  snow-clad  table-land  24,0(X)  feet  high.  Observations  of 
Mt  Everest  have  to  be  taken  from  a  distance  of  eighty  miles,  on 
account  of  the  jealousy  of  the  Nepalese  government  As  it  is 
surrounded  by  peaks  not  greatly  inferior  in  height,  its  aspect  is 
not  imposing,  and  the  Tibetans  look  upon  some  other  peak  to  the 
north  or  north-west  as  higher.  The  following  table,  given  by  Col. 
Tanner,  shows  the  height  above  the  sea  of  some  of  the  highest 
Himalayan  peaks,  as  well  as  the  height  of  slope  actually  exposed 
to  view. 

Height.  slope  eap^. 

Everest  (or  Gaarisankar) 29,000  8,000 

K'  (Kashmir  boundary) 28,278 

Makalu  (No.  XIII) 27,800  8-9,000 

Nanga  Parbat 26,600  23,000 

Tirach  Mir  (Hindu  Kush) 25,400  17-18,000 

Rakaposhi  (Gilgit) 25,560  18.000 

Kinchiiijinga 28,160  16,000 

Mont  Blanc,  though  only  15,781  feet  high,  presents  a  face  of 
11,500  feet. 

M.  PotanerTs  youmey. — M.  Potaneri  has  made  interesting  dis- 
coveries in  Northwest  China.  The  broad  valley  of  the  Tchitai,  a 
tributary  of  the  Hoang-ho,  is  thickly  peopled  by  Salars  (Turco- 
mans), its  upper  part  by  Tanguts.  The  right  bank  of  the  Hoang- 
ho  itself,  near  San-chuan,  is  also  peopled  by  Salars.  They  main- 
tain their  Turkish  language,  and  the  Mussulman  religion,  but 
their  mosques  are  Chinese  in  style,  and  the  men  wear  a  Chinese 
dress.  The  women  wear  broad  trousers,  an  overcoat  with 
sleeves,  and  a  pointed  bonnet.  Above  the  gorge  near  San-chuan 
(excavated  in  the  red  sandstone  and  conglomerates  which  under- 
lie the  Loess),  is  a  depression  seven  miles  long,  peopled  exclu- 
sively by  Mongolian  Shirongols,  who  seem  to  belong  to  the  same 
stem  as  the  Dalda  of  Lake  Kuku-nor.  The  Chinese  call  both 
Tu-jen.  They  speak  Mongolian,  with  some  Chinese  words,  and 
dress  like  Chinese,  but  the  women  wear  trousers  like  the  Salar 
women.  Around  He-cheu  they  are  Mussulmans,  but  Buddhism 
and  the  teachings  of  Confucius  are  followed  by  som^. 

Asiatic  News, — M.  IvanofT  has  recently  described  in  the 
Isvestia,  the  remains  of  Akhyr-tash,  at  the  foot  of  the  Alexander 
range  in  Turkestan.  The  area  covered  by  the  remains  is  20,900 
square  yards,  and  the  stones  weigh  each  about  a  ton.  Some  stone 
idols  and  a  burial-ground  on  the  Tssyk-tul  are  also  described. 

The  Kampti  villages  on  a  tributary  of  the  Irawadi,  visited 

by  Wilcox,  sixty  years  ago,  have  again  been  visited  by  Col. 
Woodthorpe.  Only  a  very  ordinary  road  is  required  to  open  up  a 

trade  with  these  people  from  Assam. Mr.  Gardner  considers 

Mukden,  the  capital  of  the  Mongolian  province  of  Feng-Tieng,  as 
one  of  the  finest  and  most  prosperous  cities  of  the  Chinese 
empire.  The  population  of  the  province  is  chiefly  Chinese.  In 
1865  it  was  a  neutral  belt,  which  neither  Chinese  nor  Coreans 


Digitized  by 


Google 


i886.]  Geography  and  Travels.  151 

were  allowed  to  colonize.  Since  1876  hundreds  of  thousands  of 
emigrants  have  arrived  from  Shantung  and  Chihli,  and  have 
broken  up  and  cultivated  land  on  both  sides  of  the  Great  Wall 
or  Palisades.  The  site  of  Newchang,  the  port  of  Feng-Tieng,  was 
in  the  seabed  up  to  the  beginning  of  this  century.     The  province 

of  Korin  contains  a   large  community  of  Coreans. About 

48,ooci  square  miles,  or  $j4  per  cent  of  British  India,  has  been 
reserved  as  forests.  Some  are  upon  the  plains  or  on  the  low  ranges 
of  hills  rising  from  fhem,  some  on  the  lower  or  middle  slopes  of 
the  Himalayas  to' an  elevation  of  8000  to  9000  feet.  A  forest  sur- 
vey is  in  progress,  largely  in  the  lands  of  native  surveyors  trained 
in  the  Forest  Survey  Department.  A  school  of  Indian  forestry 
has  been  established,  in  which  natives  are  trained  to  be  conserva- 
tors and  rangers. 

America. — T^e  Claims  of  France  in  Brazil — M.  Condreau 
calls  attention  in  a  recent  issue  of  the  Revue  Sdentifique  to  the 
undetermined  portion  of  French  Guiana.  Upon  maps  the  river 
Oyapock  is  shown  as  the  south-eastern  boundary  of  French 
Guiana,  separating  it  from  Brazil,  while  the  southern  boundary  is 
formed  by  the  Tumac-Humac  mountains.  It  appears,  however, 
that  France  has  at  various  times  occupied  and  abandoned  the  ter- 
ritories between  the  Oyapock  and  the  Amazons,  and  that  the 
peoples  of  that  region  live  actually  independent  of  either  Brazil  or 
France.  M.  Condreau  states  that  Brazil  once  offered  to  divide  this 
territory,  but  that  France  claimed  two-thirds.  In  any  case, 
the  country  in  dispute  is  worth  having,  since  it  is  not  an  un- 
healthy marsh  like  Guiana  itself,  but  an  elevated  healthy  prairie 
country  tilled  for  colonization.  The  region  offered  to  France  in 
1856,  between  the  Oyapock  and  the  Carsevesme,  is  as  large  as 
three  French  departments ;  while  that  claimed  by  France,  ending 
at  the  Tartarougal,  contains  twice  the  area. 

M.  Condreau  argues  for  the  acceptance  of  the  Brazilian  propo- 
sition. Arguments  about  rights  make  it  clear  to  a  Frenchman 
that  France  ought  to  own  all  the  country  north  of  the  Amazon  as 
far  as  the  Rio  Negro,  and  equally  clear  to  a  Brazilian  that  Brazil 
owns  to  the  Oyapock.  Diplomacy  has  tried  to  settle  the  qnatter 
for  two  hundred  years.  Most  of  this  territory  has  been  settled  by 
Brazilians,  but  the  coast  and  prairies  back  of  it  are  occupied  only 
by  Indians.  He  proposes  a  Franco-Brazilian  commission  to  settle 
the  matter.  The  first  need  is  a  good  map.  The  seaboard  is  sub- 
ject to  continual  change,  especially  between  the  Mapa  and  Cabo 
Rase  de  Norte.  During  the  last  forty  years  much  alluvial  land 
has  been  made  by  the  rivers.  Of  the  interior  country,  and  of  the 
Island  of  Maraca  next  to  nothing  is  really  known. 

American  News. —  Lieutenant  Cantwell  has  explored  the  river 
Futnam  to  its  source,  520  miles  from  the  mouth.  It  rises  ia  four 
larjjc  lakes;  the  largest  is  about  153®  W.  long,  and  67°  N.  lat. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


152  General  Notes.  [February, 

He  found  that  there  was  an  easy  communication  between  Kot- 

zebue  sound  and  the  Yukon. Mr.  B.  McLenegan,  with  one 

sailor,  ascended  in  a  canoe  the  river  Nortauk,  which  enters  the 
Arctic  ocean  at  Hotham  inlet,  for  a  distance  of  400  miles.  Here 
one  of  the  head  streams  of  the  river  issued  from  a  small  lake.  No 
inhabitants  were  met  with.  The  course  of  the  Nortauk  is  entirely 
in  the  Polar  circle,  and  the  lake  in  which  it  rises  is  the  most 

northerly  inland  point  yet  reached  by  white  men  in  Alaska. 

A  rich  deposit  of  coal  of  good  quality  has  been  found  at  Cape 

Lisbume  (69°  37'  N.  lat). From  the  observations  made  by 

the  Alert,  it  appears  that  Hudson's  bay  and  strait  are  navigable 
from  July  to  October,  and  that  the  climate  of  the  Hudson's  bay 

coast  is  less  severe  than  that  of  Northwest  Canada. Lieut. 

Allen  has  returned  to  San  Francisco  from  an  exploration  of  the 
Copper  river,  which  he  ascended  as  far  as  the  mountain  range  of 
Alaska.  He  then  crossed  the  mountains  on  snow-shoes,  and 
reached  the  sources  of  the  Tennah,  which  he  followed  800  miles 
to  its  junction  with  the  Takon.    The  latter  he  descended  to  its 

mouth,  a  distance  of  400  to  500  miles. -M.  Thonar  has  left 

Buenos  Ayres  to  complete  his  explorations  on  the  Pilcomayo. 

•■ Captain  L.  Gray  found,  during  his  visit  to  the  east  coast  of 

Greenland  last  summer,  that  the  land  ice  was  sufficiently  open  in 
August  to  afford  passage  for  a  steamer.  He  sailed  along  the 
coast  from  Shannon  island  to  the  entrance  of  Scoresby  sound. 

J.   Hughes  and   F.   Dunsmuir  have  returned   to  Juneau, 

Alaska,  from  the  headwaters  of  the  Yukon.     Good  placers  were 

found,  mostly  in  British  territory. The  governments  of  the 

Argentine  confederation  and  of  Brazil  have  agreed  to  a  joint 
exploration  of  the  neutral  or  disputed  ground  on  the  western 
limit  of  the  Brazilian  province  of  Sta.  Cateria,  situated  between 
the  Uruguay  and  Iguassu  rivers.  An  old  treaty  between  Spain 
and  Portugal  fixed  upon  two  rivers,  the  Peperi  and  San  Antonio, 
the  first  flowing  into  the  Iguassu,  the  second  southward  to  the 
Uruguay,  as  the  boundary ;  but  the  difficulty  is  to  identify  the 

rivers  so  called  in  the  treaty. Lieut.  Greely,  in  a  recent  lecture 

at  Dundee,  stated  that  the  temperature  observations  taken  during 
his  stay  in  Grinnell  sound  confirmed  the  expectation  that  it  had 
the  lowest  mean  temperature  known,  about  4°  F.  below  zero. 
The  discovery  of  coal  at  various  points  showed  how  climate  had 
changed.  He  doubted  the  existence  of  a  palaeocrystic  sea.  The 
floe  bergs  from  100  to  1000  feet  thick,  are,  in  his  belief,  detach- 
ments of  slowly  moving  ice-caps  from  a  land  near  the  pole.  In 
Kane  sea  he  visited  a  floe  berg  a  third  of  a  mile  wide  and  a  fifth 
to  a  sixth  of  a  mile  thick,  and  found  upon  it  two  valleys  thirty 
feet  deep,  along  which  were  fully  100  large  stones  polished  and 
worn  smooth — proofs  of  the  glacial  and  terrestrial  origin  of  the 
floe. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


1 886.J  Geology  and  Paleontology,  153 

Africa. — Capello  and  Ivens*  youmey, — Messrs.  Capello  and 
Ivens  reached  Lisbon  on  Sept.  17th,  after  traveling  4200  geo- 
graphical miles  in  Africa  during  fifteen  months.  From  the  Portu- 
guese territory  they  proceeded  towards  the  Cubango,  as  far  as  the 
lower  part  of  the  Tucussu,  where  the  barrenness  of  the  region, 
intersected  by  water-courses  and  marshes,  forced  them  to  turn 
northwards  through  a  district  infested  by  the  tsetse.  Sixteen  of 
the  party  died  of  tsetse-bites,  besides  cattle  and  dogs.  Sixty-two 
men  perished  during  the  fifteen  months.  The  principal  results  of 
this  journey  are  the  rectification  of  the  course  of  the  Cunene,  the 
determination  of  the  Quarrai  and  its  union  with  the  Cubango,  as 
well  as  the  interesting  hydrography  of  the  Handa  and  the  Upper 
Ovampe;  the  exploration  of  the  Cubango  between  island  17° 
S.  lat.,  and  of  its  principal  eastern  affluents ;  the  investigation  of 
the  basin  of  the  Upper  Zambezi  to  Libonta,  and  the  upper  and 
middle  course  of  the  Cabompo ;  the  discovery  of  the  Cambai,  an 
eastern  branch  of  the  Upper  Zambezi;  the  exploration  of  the 
sources  of  the  Lualaba  and  Luapula,  and  of  the  northern  tributa- 
ries of  the  Middle  Zambezi;  and  the  identification  of  the  Loengue 
with  the  Kafuke.  The  great  lake  Bangweolo  of  modern  maps  is 
really  composed  of  two  smaller  lakes,  Bangweolo  to  the  north, 
and  Bemba  to  the  south,  separated  by  a  marshy  belt.  This  agrees 
with  M.  Giraud's  account. 

GBOLOG-Y  AND  PArjEONTOLOGY. 

The  Sternum  of  the  Dinosauria.  —  The  discussion  which 
has  been  going  on  between  palaeontologists,  as  to  the  nature  of 
the  sternum  of  the  Dinosauria,  and  the  presence  or  absence  of 
clavicles  in  this  order,  induces  me  to  present  some  evidence  which 
bears  distinctly  on  the  question.  The  first  point  to  be  noticed  is 
the  pair  of  bones  represented  in  Fig.  i,  which  belongs  to  the 
skeleton  of  Dulonius  mirabUis  Leidy.^  It  is  evident  that  these 
resemble  very  nearly  the  parts  discovered  by  Dollo  in  the  Iguan- 
odon  bernissartensis,  in  place,  and  referred  by  him  to  the 
sternum.'  Not  having  been  present  at  the  exhumation  of  the 
Diclonius,  I  cannot  give  their  exact  relations.  The  positions  in 
which  the  bones  were  found  by  Dollo  in  the  Iguanodon  renders 
it  highly  probable  that  they  are  the  separate  pleurosteal  elements 
of  the  sternum.  The  long  processes  will  then  be  posterior,  and 
will  have  given  attachment  to  ribs.  Such  a  type  of  sternum  is, 
however,  unique,  and  requires  good  evidence  before  admission 
into  our  descriptions. 

Important  evidence  on  this  point  is  furnished  by  the  probable 
corresponding  element  in  the  Laramie  dinosaurian,  the  Mono- 
clonius  crassus  Cope.'    This  is  a  quadrupedal  form,  about  as  large 

'  Proceedings  Academy,  Philadelphia,  1883,  p.  97. 

*  Balletin  du  Mns^e  Royal  d'Histoire  Naturelle  de  Belgique,  1882,  p.  208. 

*  Proceedings  Academy,  Philadelphia,  1876,  October;  Pal.  Bulletin,  No.  22,  p.  8. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


154 


General  Notes. 


[February, 


as  a  Rhinocerus  unicornis,  with  teeth  approaching  those  of  Hadro- 
saurus  in  characters.  The  accompanying  figure  2  represents  the 
element  in  question,  one-tenth  the  natural  size.  Here  the  lateral 
elements  are  united  on  the  middle  line,  which  projects  as  an 
obtuse  keel.  The  lateral  processes  are  nearly  tiansverse,  and 
are  impressed  at  their  extremities  by  articular  surfaces.  The 
opposite  extremity  presents  a  facet  on  each  side  for  a  squamosal 
articulation  with  a  flat  bone  (^,  Fig.  2),  in  which  the  inferior 
bounding  ridge  projects  much  further  than  the  superior  one. 
This  articulation  cannot  be  for  any  other  bone  than  the  coracoid, 
and  it  resembles  considerably  the  corresponding  groove  on  the 
sternum  of  the  crocodile.  The  general  surface  of  the  bone  is 
dense,  and  does  not  resemble  the  imperfect  ossification  described 
by  Hulke  in  the  bone  of  similar  character  referred  by  hjm  to 


Fig.  I.  Fig.  2. 

Fig.  I,  Sternum  of  Diclonius  mirabilU  Leidy  ;  Fig.  2,  do.  of  Monodonius  crassus 
Cope ;  both  one-tenth  natural  size ;  r,  coracoid  facet.  From  the  Laramie  beds  of 
Dakota  and  Montana. 

Iguanodon.^*  That  the  element  in  Monodonius^  represented  in 
Fig.  2,  is  the  sternum,  s^^ems  very  probable,  and,  if  so,  the  ele- 
ments in  Diclonius  (Fig.  i)  are  sternum  also. 

The  T-shaped  bone  figured  by  Hulke,  if  inverted,  would  resem- 
ble the  elements  here  referred  to  the  sternum  in  Diclonius  and 
Monodonius.  Mr.  Hulke  describes  a  probable  articular  facet 
along  its  sides  "  posterior "  (anterior)  to  the  divergent  bars,  as 
suggesting  an  articulation  with  an  epicoracoid.  This  may  cor- 
respond with  the  facet  c  in  Diclonius  and  Monodonius,  which,  I 
suppose,  received  the  edge  of  the  coracoid.  This  justifies  the 
proposition  of  Baur,^  that  this  bone  should  be  inverted,  and  that 
the  supposed  clavicles  of  Hulke  and  Marsh  are  posterior  pro- 

'  Quarterly  Journal  Geological  Society.  1885,  pi.  XI v. 
'  Zoologischer  Anzeiger,  No.  205,  1885,  p.  2. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


1 886]  Geology  and  Paleontology .  1 5 5 

cesses  of  the  sternum  and  not  anterior.  The  evidence  for  this 
position  rests  primarily,  I  repeat,  on  the  position  of  the  bones 
observed  by  Dollo,  and  the  character  of  the  corresponding  ele- 
ment in  Monoclonius. 

But  it  may  be  that  the  bone  figured  by  Hulke  is. a  different 
element  from  that  figured  by  Dollo,  as  supposed  by  the  latter.^ 

The  proximal  end  of  the  scapula  of  Diclonius  mirabilis  resem- 
bles very  much  that  which  I  have  figured  and  described  as 
belonging  to  Hadrosaurus  fovlkei}  excepting  that  it  possesses  a 
strong  tuberosity  on  the  anterior  border  {spina  scapula),  which  is 
wanting  in  that  species.  It  is  represented  as  weak  in  the  two 
species  of  Iguanodon  by  DoIIo,  and  as  rather  strong  in  the  same 
genus  by  Hulke. — E.  D.  Cope. 

Corrections  of  Notes  on  Dinocerata. — In  the  Naturalist 
for  June,  1885,  I  gave  a  synopsis  of  the  genera  of  this  suborder, 
which  was  partly  based  on  new  information  derived  from 
Professor  Marsh's  work,  then  recently  published.  Among  them 
was  included  the  supposed  genus  Tetheopsis,  whose  character 
consisted  in  the  absence  of  inferior  canine  and  incisor  teeth.  The 
discovery  of  species  presenting  such  a  peculiarity  would  not 
be  at  all  surprising  in  view  of  the  reduction  which  the  roots  of 
these  teeth  display  in  some  of  the  species,  and  the  absence  of 
superior  incisors  in  all  of  them.  The  character  on  which  the  genus 
was  predicated  is  figured  by  Professor  Marsh  in  the  skull  referred 
to  Tinoceras  stenops  Marsh,  without  comment  in  the  description 
which  follows.  I  now  learn  on  good  authority  that  the  sym- 
physeal  region  in  the  specimen  in  question  is  entirely  constructed 
of  plaster  of  Paris.  I  saw  the  specimen,  and  a  rather  close 
examination  did  not  reveal  the  line  of  separation  between  the 
plaster  and  the  bone,  which  it  is  colored  to  imitate,  and  which  is 
not  indicated  in  either  Professor  Marsh's  figures  or  description. 
The  genus  Tetheopsis  must  then  be  regarded  as  an  artifact! 

I  add  that  the  basal  part  of  a  skull  which  I  described  under  the 
head  of  Uintathenum  lacustre  Marsh  (U.  S.  Geological  Survey, 
Terrs.,  ill,  p.  592)  turns  out  to  belong  to  a  Palaeosyops.  The 
skull  was  found  in  a  broken  condition  mingled  with  loose  frag- 
ments and  teeth  of  the  Uintatherium  in  such  a  way  as  to  lead 
to  the  belief  that  they  belonged  together. — E.  D,  Cope. 

Discovery  of  lamellate  thoracic  Feet  in  the  Phyllo- 
carida. — In  a  genus  of  Phyllocarida,  allied  to  Ceratiocaris,  which 
is  represented  by  a  specimen  from  the  Carboniferous  beds  of 
Mazon  creek,  Illinois,  kindly  loaned  me  by  Mr.  J.  C.  Carr,  of 
Morris,  III.,  there  are  plain  indications  of  broad  lamellate  feet  like 
the  thoracic  feet  of  Nebalia. 

Of  these  limbs  there  are  traces  of  four  pairs.    They  are  broad 

'Revue  des  Questions  Scientifiques,  1885,  P*  ^»  ^^P* 

*  Transactions  American  Philosophical  Society,  1869,  ^'^>  P*  9'* 


Digitized  by 


Google 


156  General  Notes,  [February, 

and  thin,  slightly  contracted  in  width  near  the  base,  and  at  the 
distal  extremity  quite  regularly  rounded,  with  the  free  ends  appar- 
ently slightly  folded  longitudinally,  the  edges  appearing  to  be 
slightly  crenulated,  though  the  folds  were  perhaps  due  to  changes 
after  death.  All  the  feet  are  of  nearly  the  same  size,  and  are 
about  two-thirds  as  long  as  the  carapace  is  high,  being  of  nearly 
the  same  proportionate  length  as  in  Nebalia.  There  are  no  traces 
of  a  division  into  endopodites  and  exopodites,  but  we  should 
be  inclined  to  regard  the  parts  preserved  as  the  homologues  of 
the  exopodites  of  Nebalia. 

This  specimen,  then,  indicates  the  existence  in  extinct  Phyllo- 
carida  of  thin,  broad,  lamellate,  thoracic  limbs,  in  general  appear- 
ance like  those  existing  in  Nebalia,  and  should  this  view  be  sub- 
stantiated by  farther'discoveries  it  will  prove  the  reasonableness 
of  uniting  Cerattocaris  and  its  allies  with  the  modern  Nebalia.  I 
had  a  year  ago  considered  this  form  as  new  and  gave  it  a  MS. 
name  Cryptozoe problematicas,  as  I  was  in  doubt  as  to  its  affinities; 
but  lately  submitting  it  to  Mr.  C.  E.  Beecher,  with  the  opinion  that 
it  was  a  Ceratiocaris,  he  writes  me  that  he  regards  it  as  new  to  sci- 
ence. A  description  of  the  new  genus  and  species,  with  figures, 
will  appear  hereafter. — A,  S,  Packard, 

Geological  Survey  of  Pennsylvania. — Report  of  Progress  x 
contains  a  geological  hand-atlas  of  the  sixty-seven  counties  of 
Pennsylvania,  and  is  the  work  of  J.  P.  Lesley,  the  chief  of  the  sur- 
vey. The  volume  is  one  which  ought  to  be  in  the  hands  of  every 
one  interested  in  field  geology,  embodying  as  it  does,  in  convenient 
form,  the  entire  results  of  the  survey,  so  far  as  they  can  be  carto- 
graphically  represented.  The  maps  are  prefaced  by  an  explanation 
of  the  geological  structure  of  Pennsylvania, and  a  short  account  of 
the  characteristic  features  of  each  county. 

Geological  Survey  of  Minnesota. — Professor  Winchell's 
Twelfth  Annual  Report  commences  with  a  summary  statement  of 
work  done.  From  this  it  appears  that  maps  ot  thirty-two  coun- 
ties are  completed,  and  several  others  in  course  of  preparation. 
A  new  trilobite  of  the  genus  Bathyurus  is  described.  Professor 
Winchell  gives  an  account  of  experiments  with  cubes  of  New 
England  and  Minnesota  granites,  and  seems  to  prove  the  latter  to 
be  the  stronger. 

C.  L.  Herrick  contributes  a  final  report  on  the  Crpstacea  of 
Minnesota  (Cladocera  and  Copepoda).  This  occupies  191  pages, 
includes  an  account  of  the  enemies  of  entomostraea,  and  appears 
to  be  exhaustive.  It  is  illustrated  with  numerous  plates.  The 
volume  concludes  with  a  catalogue  of  the  flora,  by  Warren 
Uphara.  It  includes  1650  species,  comprising  vascular  crypto- 
gams, but  not  fungi  or  algae. 

Geological  News. — General, — A.  S.  Woodward  {Geol,  Mag ^ 
Nov.,  1885)  gives  a  list  of  the  British  fossil  Crocodilia.     One  spe- 


Digitized  by 


Google 


1 886.]  Geology  and  Paleontology.  157 

cies  occurs  in  the  Upper  Trias,  six  in  the  Upper  Lias,  thirty-nine 
from  the  other  Jurassic  beds,  eleven  from  the  Purbeck  and 
Wealden  beds,  three  from  the  green  sand,  and  six  from  the 
Eocene. 

Silurian, — Dr.  O.  Hermann  {GeoL  Mag,  Sept.,  Oct.,  1885) 
gives  an  account  of  the  organization  of  the  Graptolithidse.  The 
entire  polypidom  proceeds  from  a  simple  hollow  cone  called  the 
sicula.  In  the  external  wall  of  this  dagger-shaped  organ  a  single 
or  double  solid  axis  is  developed.  Thus,  until  the  sicula  is  found, 
it  is  impossible  to  tell  whether  any  given  form  belongs  to  the 
monograptidae  or  to  a  two-branched  family.  Sprouting  does  not 
always  commence  at  the  same  spot  of  the  sicula.  It  is  now 
assumed  that  all  graptolites  provided  with  a  sicula  were  not 
attached  bodies,  the  character  of  the  termination,  and  its  disap- 
pearance in  full-grown  individuals,  militating  against  attachment 
In  some  of  the  much-branched  Dichograptids  a  central  chitinous 
disc  unites  the  basal  part  of  the  branches.  It  has  been  ascertained 
by  Hopkinson  that  in  some  graptolites  the  hydrothecae  were 
separated  from  the  ccenosarc  by  a  well-marked  septum,  and  that 
the  ccenosarc  was  divided  by  septa  into  transverse  joints.  The 
oldest  graptolite,  according  to  Brogger  and  Hermann,  is  Dictyo* 
grapius  teneilus ;  and  the  family  Dichograptidae,  which  includes 
complicated  and  elegant  forms  of  graptolites,  is  older  than  the 
universal  groups.  This  family  appears  in  the  Lower  Silurian 
(Waring),  becoming  extinguished  before  the  Upper  Silurian  is 
reached.  The  Phyllograptidae  and  Lasiograptidae  seem  to  be  con- 
fined to  the  lowest  division  of  the  Lower  Silurian,  the  Leptograp- 
tidae  and  Dicranograptidae  to  the  Lower  Silurian,  while  thf 
Diptograptidae  and  Retiohtes  commence  in  the  lowest  Lower 
Silurian,  but  are  most  developed  at  its  upper  boundary,  and 
extend  into  the  Upper  Silurian.  The  simplest  £imily,  the  Mono- 
graptidae, are,  according  to  Lapworth,  strictly  confined  to  the 
Upper  Silurian.  The  genus  Dictyograptus,  of  which  Tullberg 
makes  a  new  family  (though  Hermann  ranges  it  with  the  Dicho- 
graptidae),  maintains  itself  through  the  entire  Silurian,  and  passes 
into  the  Devonian. 

Devonian, — Professor  Williams  has  described  {Geol,  Mag.^St^t., 
1885),  Ptesiwichia  eriensis,  a  new  Limuloid  from  the  Devonian 
of  Le  Bouf,  Erie  county.  Pa. 

Cretaceous, — ^The  new  facts  regarding  the  fossil  flora  of  the 
western  Northwest  Territory  of  the  Dominion  of  Canada  require 
the  intercalations  of  three  distinct  plant  horizons  not  previously 
recognized.  One  of  these,  the  Kontame  series,  probably  belongs 
to  the  Urgonian  or  Neocomian,  or  is  at  least  not  newer  than  the 
Shasta  g^oup.  It  seems  to  correspond  to  the  oldest  Cretaceous 
flora  of  Europe  and  Asia,  ^nd  to  that  of  the  Korne  formations  in 
Greenland.  The  second  or  Mill  creek  series  corresponds  closely 
to  the  Dakota,  and  seems  to  represent  the  flora  of  the  Cenoma- 


Digitized  by 


Google 


158  General  Notes.  [February, 

nian  and  Turonian  divisions  of  Europe.  The  third  sub-flora  is 
that  of  the  Belly  river  at  the  base  of  the  Fort  Pierre  group. 
Though  separated  from  the  Laramie  by  the  Pierre  and  Fox  hill 
groups,  it  introduces  the  Laramie  or  Dominion  flora,  which  con- 
tinues to  the  top  of  the  Cretaceous,  and  probably  into  the  Eocene, 
and  includes  several  species  still  surviving  in  America.  N'ext 
comes  the  Laramie  group  itself,  the  fossils  of  which  are  found  in 
Canada,  chiefly  in  the  lower  and  upper  beds,  the  middle  beds 
being  poor  in  plants.  Sir  W.  Dawson  concludes  that  no  cause 
for  the  mild  temperature  of  the  Cretaceous  other  than  change  of 
elevation  need  be  invoked. 

Tertiary, — ^According  to  Woodward,  fifteen  species  of  fossil 
sirenians  have  been  referred  to  Halitherium,  while  two  consider* 
ably  larger  species,  both  found  in  Italy,  are  placed  in  Felsinothe- 
rium,  and  closely  resemble  Halicore  in  dentition.    Prorastotnus 
sirenoUes  Owen,  from  Jamaica,  differs  widely  from  all  other  sire- 
nians, but  is  nearer  Manatus  than  Halicore.    The  dental  formula 
is  i  88  c. }:}  p.  m.  glj  m.  II  =  48.     Felsinotherium  has  1  \\tn.t%- 
An  interesting  discovery  was  a  cast  of  the  interior  of  the  skull  of 
Eothetium  agyptiacum  at  Mokattam,  near  Cairo,  in   1875.     The 
brain  of  the  huge  Rhytina  is  only  one-sixth  of  the  size  of  that  of 
the  manatee  or  dugong.    The  total  number  of  extinct  sirenians 
enumerated   by  Woodward,  including  Chirotherium  from  Pied- 
mont; Chronozoon  from  New  South  Wales;  Crassitherium  from 
Belgium;  Dioplotherium  and  Hemicaulodon  from  South  Carolina 
and  New  Jersey ;  Pachyacanthus  from   near  Vienna ;  Rhytiodus 
and  Trachytherium   from   France,  and  two  extinct  Manati,  is 
^wenty-eight.    The  recent  species  are  three  of  Manatus  and  three 
of  Halicore.     Dr.  Murie  believes  that  the  large  number  of  fossil 
species  described  will  probably  have  to  be  reduced  into  two  or 
three  genera. 

MINERALOGY  AND  PBTROGRAPHY." 

Etched  Figures.  —  Under  this  general  head  are  included 
etched  figures  proper  (Aetz-Figuren  of  the  Germans)  and  figures 
produced  by  weathering  (Verwitterungs-Figuren).  These  were 
first  studied,  as  early  as  1816,  by  Daniell.^  A  little  later,  Leydolt* 
investigated  the  forms  of  the  depressions  on  rough  surfaces  of 
crystals.  Pape*  next  took  up  the  subject.  He  drove  off  the 
water  contained  in  many  minerals  and  examined  the  shape  of  the 
figures  resulting  (Verstaubungs-Figuren).  In  later  years,  many 
other  investigators  have  attempted  to  discover  the  relations  be- 
tween etched  figures,  those  produced  by  weathering  and  the 
directions  of  cohesion  in  minerals.  Baumhauer  succeeded  in 
proving  that  the  shapes  of  etched  figures  were  independent  of  the 

»  Edited  by  W.  S.  Bayley,  Johns  Hopkins  University,  Baltimore,  Md. 

*  Qaart.  Jour.  Sci.,  I,  1816,  p.  24. 

*  Sitz.-Ber.  der  Akad.,  Wien,  1855,  15,  p^.  59. 

*  Poggendorf's  Annalen,  124,  p.  329,  etc. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


i886.]  MineriUogy  and  Petrography.  159 

cleavage  planes,  but  were  intimately  related  to  the  symmetry  of 
the  crystal,  and  thus  opened  up  a  new  method  of  investigating 
opaque  minerals.  In  order  to  study  more  closely  the  connection 
between  the  figures  produced  by  weathering  and  those  produced 
by  etching,  Blasius,^  of  Strassburg,  subjected  a  number  of  sub- 
stances in  crystal  form  to  the  action  of  alcohol,  and  also  placed 
them  in  desiccators  with  strong  sulphuric  acid.  As  the  result  of 
a  large  number  of  experiments,  he  concludes  that  many  of  the 
figures  produced  by  weathering  (including  etched  figures)  cannot 
be  brought  into  close  relation  with  the  directions  of  cleavage  or 
the  curves  of  hardness  in  the  substances  acted  upon.  Moreover, 
their  shapes  differ  according  to  conditions,  and,  finally,  from 
a  knowledge  of  the  etched  figures  on  a  number  of  faces  the  shape 
of  those  on  others  can  be  deduced.  F.  Becke^  adds  further  to 
our  knowledge  in  an  article  on  the  etched  figures  of  minerals  of 
the  magnetite  group.  Magnetite,  spinel,  franklinite  and  linnaeite 
were  treated  with  sulphuric,  nitric  and  hydrochloric  acids  of  dif- 
ferent concentrations  and  during  periods  of  different  lengths,  and 
besides  with  alkaline  solutions,  i.  On  all  the  crystal  faces,  the 
figures  were  composed  essentially  of  the  same  planes  of  etching, 
the  principal  planes  of  etching.  2.  The  principal  planes  of  etch- 
ing lie  in  a  determinate  zone.  3.  These  planes  of  etching  offer 
the  greatest  opposition  to  the  action  of  solvents.  4.  Depressions 
are  formed  on  such  faces  as  belong  to  the  zone  of  etching,  eleva- 
tions on  those  which  lie  far  without  it.  5.  Cleavage  planes  can- 
not, at  the  same  time,  be  planes  of  etching.  6.  Linnseite,  when 
etched  with  acids,  deports  itself  like  magnetite;  when  treated 
with  alkaline  solutions,  an  entirely  different  plane  becomes  the 
principal  plane  of  etching.  Consequently,  it  may  be  assumed 
that  •*  the  elemental  atoms  in  the  crystal  molecule  maintain  a 
definite  position  with  relation  to  one  another."  In  linnaeite 
^Co,S4),  for  instance,  "the  cobalt  atoms  are  turned  toward 
the  cubic  faces  and  the  sulphur  atoms  toward  the  dode- 
cahedral  faces,"  because  when  treated  with  acid  the  cubic 
&ces  are  dissolved  fastest,  but  when  treated  with  fused  potash, 
the  dodecahedral  faces  offer  the  least  opposition  to  the  solvent 
action  of  this  reagent.  Baumhauer'  makes  practical  use  of  the 
method  of  etched  figures  in  an  investigation  of  the  character  of 
the  massive  bornite  from  Chloride,  N.  M.  When  a  polished  sur- 
fiatce  of  this  mineral  is  treated  with  nitric  acid  it  breaks  up  into 
several  fields,  each  of  which  reflects  the  light  differently,  showing 
that  the  massive  material  is  made  up  of  an  irregular  intergrowth 
of  individual  crystals.  At  the  same  time  the  fact  is  brought  out 
that  twinned  inclusions  of  chalcocite  and  chalcopyrite  are  not 
uncommon. 

>  Zeits.  f&r  Kryst  und  Miner.,  x,  p.  221. 

»  Min.  und  Petrogr.  Mitt.,  vii,  p.  195. 

'  Zcitschrift  fUr  Krystallographie,  X,  p.  447. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


1 60  General  Notes.  [February, 

Andesite. — ^The  question  of  the  best  definition  of  andesite  is 
again  discussed  by  J.  Siemiradzki'  in  an  article  on  the  rocks  of 
l^uador.'  Von  Buch  described  it  as  a  volcanic  rock  consisting 
of  plagioclase  and  hornblende ;  and  Lagorio  as  a  volcanic  rock 
composed  of  plagioclase,  with  the  addition  of  augite,  hornblende 
or  mica.  Rosenbusch'  separates  the  mica  and  amphibole  ande- 
sites  from  the  aug^ite  andesite.  Siemiradski  finds  that  the  same 
lava-stream  varies  in  acidity,  and  that,  though  hornblende  is  more 
abundant  in  the  more  acid  andesites,  on  the  other  hand  augite 
and  even  olivine  occur  in  very  acid  varieties,  containing  free 
silica,  while  hornblende  is  entirely  lacking.^  "  No  indication  of 
the  regular  sequence  of  separation  of  augite,  hornblende  and  mica 
with  increasing  acidity,  as  observed  by  Hague  and  Iddings,*  can 
be  detected."  He  suggests  as  the  best  definition  of  this  class  of 
rocks  the  following :  Neutral  or  acid  plagioclase  rocks,  with  at 
least  fifty-five  per  cent  of  SiOj,  with  trachytic,  basaltic  or  phono- 
litic  habit,  consisting  of  porphyritic  andesine,  with  an  iron-rich 
pyroxene,  hornblende  or  mica  in  a  groundmass,  composed  essen- 
tially of  an  acid  andesine  or  oligoclase,  and  an  add  glass  (mixture 
of  oligoclase  substance  and  amorphous  silica)  containing  micro- 
scopic pyroxene. 

The  porphyritic  hornblende  of  these  Ecuadorjandesites  is  sur- 
rounded by  an  opacitic  rim  and  contains  inclusions  of  the  ground- 
mass,  which,  under  the  microscope,  are  seen  to  consist  of  feldspar 
and  augite  microlites.  Moreover,  it  is  not  confined  to  the  most 
acid  varieties.  Consequently,  the  author  suggests  that  it  may 
have  been  produced,  at  great  depths,  in  a  magma  saturated  with 
superheated  steam  under  great  pressure,  while  the  augite  crystal- 
lized from  a  dry  magma  under  comparatively  little  pressure — a 
theory  very  different  from  the  one  usually  accepted. 

WiLDSCHONAU  Gabbro. — In  a  communication  on  this  subject, 
Cathrein*  calls  attention  to  the  article  of  Hatch,  already  noticed 
in  these  notes.*  He  claims  that  the  latter's  hornblende-gabbro 
and  amphibolite  are  chlorite-gabbro  and  chlorite-schist,  and  that 
there  are  no  proofs  of  the  close  relation  which  that  author  sup- 
poses to  exist  between  normal  p^abbro  and  serpentine  on  the  one 
hand  and  amphibolite  and  epidote  rock  on  the  other. 

Petrographical  News. — F.  Becke^  communicates  a  few  notes 
on  the  rocks  of  the  lower  Austrian  Waldviertel.  At  Marburg 
there  occurs  a  granophyre  in  veins.    It  consists  of  zircon  in  small 

^  Geologische  Reisenotizen  aus  Ecuador,  N.  J.  B.  Beil.,  Bd.  iv,  1885,  p.  195. 

*  Mikros.  Phys.  der  Massigen  Gesteine,  1877. 
'  Lagorio,  Andesite  des  Kaukasus,  p.  27. 

*  Notes  of  Iht;  volcanic  rocks  of  the  Great  Basin.  Amer.  Jour.  Sci.,  XXVIX,  1884, 
No.  162. 

^  Miner,  und  Petrog.  Mitth.,  vii,  p.  189. 

*  Naturalist,  October,  1885,  p.  992. 

*  Min.  und  Peirog.  Mittheilungen,  vil,  p.  250. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


1 886.]  Mineralogy  and  Petrography.  1 6 1 

yellow  grains,  chloritized  biotite,  dark-green  hornblende,  clear 
transparent  orthoclase  and  microcltne  and  opaque  altered  plagio- 
clase  in  a  groundmass  of  small  brown  plates  of  biotite  and  clear 
orthoclase  and  quartz  in  micropegmatitic  growths.  Pilite-kersan- 
tite  from  Spitz  on  the  Donau  and  pyroxene-amphibolite  from 
Aschauer  are  also  described.  In  the  same  article  Becke  reports 
the  result  of  a  reinvestigation  of  SchrauPs  kelyphite/  the  altera- 
tion product  of  pyrope  in  olivine  rocks.  This  substance,  he 
thinks,  is  a  mixture  of  a  chrome-spinel  and  a  silicate,  probably 
hornblende.  The  reaction  of  the  olivine  on  the  garnet  he  rep- 
resents thus : 

Mg,Al,Si30„  +  Mg;5i04=  AljMgO^  +  Mg^Si^Oi, 
pyrope,  olivine,        spinel,        ampnibole. 

In  a  letter  to  the  Neues  Jahrbuch,*  F.  H.  Hatch  describes 

h3rpersthene  andesite  from  Mt.  Chachani,  in  Peru. Inclusions 

of  mica-schist,  marble  and  syenite  are  mentioned^  by  Hussak  as 

occurring  in  the  phonolite  of  OberschafThausen. The  same 

writer^  denies  the  widespread  existence  of  cordierite  in  Hunga- 
rian andesites,  but  finds  it  in  many  trachytes. Kolenko*  men- 
tions hornblende  pseudomorphs  after  olivine  as  characteristic  of  a 
metamorphosed  olivine  diabase  from  the  north  shore  of  Lake 
Onega,  in  the  Caucasus.   The  olivine  substance  is  entirely  changed 

into  aggregates  and  crystals  of  a  non-pleochroic  hornblende. 

Cathrein*  communicates  an  interesting  paper  on  the  altera- 
tion of  garnet  in  the  amphibolites  of  the  Tyrolese  Central 
Alps.  Pseudomorphs  of  epidote,  scapolite,  oligoclase,  horn- 
blende, saussurite  and  chlorite  are  described  in  detail.  The  scap- 
olite substance  is  intimately  mixed  with  epidote  and  plagioclase, 
and  the  whole  is  surrounded  by  a  rim  of  hornblende  crystals.  In 
the  change  to  hornblende,  crystals  of  magnetite  separate  and  the 
excess  of  silica,  magnesia  and  lime  unite  to  form  epidote. 

Miscellaneous. — In  a  discussion  concerning  the  conduct  of  the 
zeolites  with  reference  to  their  water  constituent,  C.Bodewig^  shows 
that  the  loss  of  weight  which  phacolite  suflfers  over  CaCl2  must  be 
due  to  loss  of  water  of  crystallization  and  not  to  loss  of  hygro- 
scopic water.  He  also  contests  the  idea  of  Jannasch*  that  every 
desiccating  agent  abstracts  a  certain  definite  amount  of  water  from 
these  minerals  and  consequently  same  of  the  loss  over  CaCl^  may 
be  due  to  loss  of  water  of  combination. The  twelfth  edition 

1  Ueber  Kelyphite.     Neues  Jahrb.  f.  Miner.,  etc.,  1S84,  II,  p.  21. 

*  Band  11,  p.  73,  1885. 

*  Nenes  Jahrb.  f.  Mineralogie,  1885,  il,  p.  78. 

*  lb.,  p.  8i. 

*  lb.,  p.  90. 

*  Zeitschrift  f.  Krystallographie,  x,  p.  433. 

'  Miner,  and  Petrog.  Miuheilungen,  vii,  p.  250. 

*  Zeitschrift  filr  Krystallographie,  x,  p.  276. 

*  lb.,  VIII,  p.  429. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


1 62  General  Notes.  [February, 

of  Naumann's  *'  Elemente  der  Mineralogie  ''^  has  just  appeared. 
The  work  has  been  newly  revised  and  brought  up  to  date  by  Dr. 
Ferdinand  Zirkel,  who  has  undertaken  this  duty  since  the  death 
of  Naumann  in  1873.  The  new  edition  contains  about  fifty 
pages  and  thirty-three  wood-cuts,  more  than  the  eleventh  (1881). 
The  chemical  formulas  used  have  all  been  recalculated  and  the 
recent  advances  in  the  field  of  optical  and  physical  mineralogy 
have  been  incorporated  in  the  body  of  the  work,  so  that  the  new 
book  is  the  most  complete  and  satisfactory  treatise  on  general 

mineralogy  published  in  any  language. An  abstract  from  the 

forthcoming  "  Mineral  Resources  of  the  United  States,  Calendar 
Years  1883  and  1884,"  has  just  been  received.  It  is  entitled 
"Precious  Stones."*  The  author  is  G.  F.  Kuntz.  The  paper 
treats  of  the  production  of  precious  stones  in  the  United  States 
in  1883  and  1884  and  their  importation.  The  total  value  of  pre- 
cious stones  found  during  1884  was  1182,975,  including  |l8oo 
worth  of  diamonds.  The  gold  quartz  sold  as  specimens  during 
this  year  is  valued  at  ^40,000,  and  that  cut  for  gems  or  orna- 
mental uses  at  |lioo,ooo.  The  value  of  the  importations  is  esti- 
mated at  ^9,253,376.  The  most  important  finds  during  the 
year  were  as  follows:  At  Auburn,  Me.,  colorless,  pink,  blue 
and  golden  tourmalines  to  the  value  of  II1500,  and  at  Mt 
Mica,  in  the  same  State,  tourmalines,  beryls  and  aquamarines  to 
the  amount  of  II4145.  At  Florissant,  Cal.,  about  jiooo  worth  of 
topaz  was  taken  out.  The  reports  in  the  newspapers  of  remark- 
able finds  have  all  been  investigated  and  have  proven  to  be  unre- 
liable. The  great  "  Georgia  Marvel "  or  '*  Blue  Ridge  Sapphire," 
for  instance,  which  was  supposed  to  be  a  sapphire  worth  1150,000, 
turned  out  to  be  nothing  but  a  "piece  of  rolled  blue  bottle- 
glass."  The  paper  is  interesting  as  showing  just  how  far  we  can 
rely  upon  our  own  resources  to  supply  us  with  ornamental  stones. 
The  author  also  mentions  several  uses  to  which  domestic  material 
can  be  applied  with  fine  effect. 

BOTANY,' 

Can  Varieties  of  Apples  be  Distinguished  by  their  Flow- 
ers.— To  a  botanist  this  may  seem  like  a  queer  question,  capable 
only  of  an  answer  in  the  affirmative,  but  pomologists  have  quite 
universally  held  to  the  opposite  view.  Quotations,  like  the  fol- 
lowing, could  be  made  from  our  most  eminent  writers  of  porno- 
logical  books : 

*'  Peaches  are  partially  classified  by  the  size  and  color  of  the 
petals,  but  in  all  the  other  fruits,  as  in  apples,  pears,  plums,  cher- 
ries, etc.,  the  flowers  vary  but  slightly  in  form  and  color." 

Another  says  :  "  Little  difference  exists  in  the  flowers." 

^  Elemente  der  Mineralogie.    951  ills.,  782  pp.,  Leipzig,  Wilhelm  Engelmann. 

'  Washington,  Government  Priming  Office,  1085. 

*  Edited  by  Professor  Cuarl&s  £.  Bessey,  Lincoln,  Nebraska. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


1 886.  J  Botany.  163 

At  a  meeting  of  the  Michigan  State  Pomological  (now  Horti- 
cultural) Society,  held  in  1873,  the  writer  presented  a  paper  on 
this  subject  in  which  he  accurately  described  quite  a  number  of 
kinds  of  apples  by  the  flowers. 

To  the  pomologist  the  term  "  flower  "  means  the  showy  petals ; 
to  the  botanist  it  means  calyx,  corolla,  stamens  and  pistils.  These 
floral  characters  are  as  constant  and  reliable  for  distinguishing 
varieties  as  are  those  characters  of  the  fruit  which  are  usually 
employed. 

In  apples  the  points  of  the  calyx  vary  in  breadth,  size  and  in 
other  particulars.  The  petals  vary  in  size  and  shape  in  different 
varieties,  and  some  in  color.  Not  very  much  was  made  of  the 
stamens,  but  the  styles  and  stipe  furnish  excellent  characters. 

Dr.  Hogg*,  of  England,  pointed, out  the  value  of  the  shape  of 
the  calyx-tube  and  the  position  of  the  stamens  on  the  inside  of 
the  tube,  but  in  our  American  apples,  at  any*rate,  these  points  are 
not  so  reliable  as  are  those  pertaining  to  the  stipe  and  styles. 

In  1879,  at  the  Rochester  meeting  of  the  American  Pomologi- 
cal Society,  I  presented  an  illustrated  paper  on  the  classification 
of  apples,  in  which  the  peculiarities  of  the  flowers  formed  an  im- 
portant part.  Many  flowers  were  examined  from  different  trees 
in  various  localities.  Over  a  hundred  varieties  have  been  ex- 
amined. 

I  have  since  that  time  frequently  called  the  attention  of  my 
students  to  this  subject,  and  last  spring  (in  1885)  suggested  it  to 
one  of  our  graduates,  Mr.  W.  L.  Snyder.  I  have  had  some  of 
his  drawings  carefully  copied  for  your  use. 

Unfortunately  in  these  cases  the  petals  were  not  drawn,  but  a 
glance  at  the  lobes  of  the  calyx,  and  especially  a  close  examina- 
tion and  comparison  of  the  stipes  and  styles  will  show  a  great 
diflference  in  the  length,  breadth,  hairiness  and  other  points  of  the 
styles. 

At  the  Boston  meeting  of  the  American  Pomological  Society, 
in  188 1, 1  showed  that  a  similar  difference  exists  in  the  lobes  of 
the  calyx,  the  shape  and  size  of  the  petals  of  pears,  but  in  these 
flowers  the  stipe  is  very  short  or  wanting.  The  styles  vary  as  do 
those  of  apples. 

Mr.  Snyder  also  made  some  notes  and  drawings  of  the  flowers 
and  inflorescence  of  some  of  our  cultivated  varieties  of  strawber- 
ries. These  arc  quite  as  marked  as  those  here  shown  for  the 
flowers  of  apples. 

In  case  of  apples  probably  3000  or  more  varieties  have  been 
described  by  the  fruit  alone.  It  is  needless  to  say  that  with  a 
variety  of  soils  and  climates  it  is  next  to  impossible  to  define  so 
many  in  a  manner  which  shall  be  at  all  satisfactory. 

A  similar  difficulty  exists  in  our  sorts  of  pears,  peaches,  plums, 
grapes,  strawberries,  raspberries  and  a  myriad  of  cultivated  grains 
and  vegetables ;  exactly  how  many  I  do  not  know. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


164  General  Notes.  [February, 


Fig.  I. 


Fig.  1. 


Fig.  3. 


Fig.  4.  Fig.  5. 

Fig.  I.— Variety  "  Red  Canada."    Flo.  a.—"  Talman  Sweet."    Fig.  3.— '•  Sweet 
Bough."    Fig.  4.— ",Rambo."    Fig.  5.— ••  Wagner."    All  X  3- 


Digitized  by  VjOOQIC 


1 886.]  Botany.  165 

A  friend  has  just  sent  me  160  named  lots  of  cultivated  beans. 
How  are  they  usually  described  ?  Mainly  by  the  time  of  fruiting, 
size  and  color  of  pod  and  the  peculiarities  of  the  seeds. 

We  are  living  in  a  time  when  there  is  much  said  about  the 
difficulty  of  describing  so  many  varieties  of  cultivated  plants.  It 
seems  to  me  the  correct  solution  of  this  problem  is  here  sug- 
gested. Instead  of  describing  lettuce  and  turnips  and  onions  by 
the  shape  of  leaf  and  head,  color  and  shape  of  root,  or  the  color 
and  shape  of  bulb  respectively,  let  the  inflorescence  and  flowers 
be  carefully  examined  and  a  clear  record  made  of  ail  the  charac- 
ters which  prove  to  be  most  reliable.  The  time  has  come  for 
more  careful  work  in  this  direction.  The  skill  of  a  good  botanist 
should  be  joined  to  that  of  a  good  horticulturist. —  W.  %  Beal^ 
Agricultural  College^  Mich. 

Formation  of  Starch  in  the  Leaves  of  the  Vine. — Sig. 
Cuboni  has  made  a  series  of  observations  (Rivista  di  Viticoltura 
ed  Enologia  Italiana,  1885)  on  the  formation  of  starch  in  leaves 
of  the  vine.  In  March  and  April,  when  the  leaves  are  first  formed, 
starch  was  never  found,  even  in  bright  sunshine.  It  first  made  its 
appearance  in  Mav,  and  the  quantity  mcreased  continually  till 
July.  This  is  nor  solely  dependent  on  difference  in  temperature, 
since  starch  is  still  formed  in  the  leaves  at  the  end  of  October  and 
November;  while  even  in  the  height  of  summer  the  young  leaves 
and  shoots  are  not  able  to  form  starch  until  they  are  at  least 
a  month  old.  It  depends,  however,  to  a  certain  extent  on  the 
maturity  of  the  chlorophyll-grains. 

In  a  leaf  containing  no  starch  at  the  outset,  abundance  was 
found  after  an  hour's  exposure  to  the  direct  action  of  the  sun- 
light ;  and  the  maximum  quantity  was  obtained  by  two  hours' 
intense  sunshine.  Four  hours  of  complete  darkness  is  sufficient 
to  cause  the  whole  of  the  starch  to  become  absorbed. 

Although  the  youngest  leaves  are  unable  to  form  starch,  the 
maximum  development  is  not  obtained  by  the  lowest  leaves  on  a 
branch,  but  by  those  on  the  middlemost  nodes ;  on  a  branch  con* 
taining  sixteen  leaves,  by  those  from  the  seventh  to  the  eleventh, 
the  lowest  showing  less  than  half  the  maximum  power  of  pro- 
duction. 

If  an  annular  incision  is  made  above  and  below  a  leaf,  sepa- 
rating the  elements  of  the  soft  bast,  the  starch  in  the  leaf  is  not 
absorbed  and  transformed  in  the  dark  ;  but  if  a  similar  incision  is 
made  only  below,  or  only  above  the  leaf,  the  ordinary  process  is 
not  disturbed ;  and  this  is  also  the  case  if  a  leaf  separated  by  an 
incision  on  both  sides  has  a  panicle  of  fruit  or  flowers  opposite  it 
on  the  same  node.  No  starch  is  formed  if  the  leaves  are  etio- 
lated, or  attacked  by  Peronospora  viticola.  —  your.  Royal  Mic. 
Society. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


1 66  General  Notes.  f  February, 

The  Production  of  Male  and  Female  Plants.  —  Recent 
observations  and  experiments  by  HofTman  (Bot/Zeit,  i^^S)  con- 
firm the  view  hitherto  held  by  some  biologists  that  the  produc- 
tion of  the  male  organism  is  due  to  insufficient  nutrition.  In 
Lychnis  diuma  and  vespertina^  Valeriana  diaica,  Mercurialis  annua^ 
Rumex  acetosella^  Spinada  oleracea  and  Cannabis  sativa  dense 
sowing  increased  the  amount  of  male  plants. 

Pear  Blight  Bacteria  and  the  Horticulturists. — Although 
to  the  mind  trained  in  the  logic  of  investigation  there  can  be  no 
doubt  as  to  the  cause  of  pear  blight,  there  are  yet  some  horticul- 
turists who  do  not  feel  convinced.  With  them  the  facts — plain 
facts — ^brpught  out  by  Mr.  Arthur  at  Ann  Arbor,  and  reproduced 
in  popular  form  in  the  December  Naturalist,  are  spoken  of  as 
the  "  Bacterian  theory  of  pear  blight,"  when  as  a  matter  of  fact 
there  was  no  "  theory "  in  the  presentation.  As  was  remarked 
by  one  of  the  auditors  at  Ann  Arbor,  Mr.  Arthur's  paper 
amounted  to  a  demonstration,  and  as  a  demonstration  it  must  be 
accepted.  One  may  as  well  attempt  to  controvert  a  demonstra- 
tion in  geometry  as  to  attempt  it  in  this  case. 

We  have  observed  two  principal  varieties  of  denials,  and  both 
illustrate  the  fact  that  the  mind  untrained  in  the  methods  of  scien- 
tific reasoning  is  most  incredulous  of  demonstrations,  and  most 
credulous  of  unproved  assertions,  (f )  It  is  held  on  the  one  hand 
that  the  bacteria  observed  are  an  accompaniment  znd  not  the  cause 
of  the  disease,  and  this  in  face  of  the  fact  that  all  of  Mr.  Arthur's 
investigations  were  directed  to  this  very  point,  Professor  Burrill 
having  long  ago  shown  the  presence  of  bacteria  beyond  a  doubt. 
Our  horticultural  friends  must  bear  in  mind  that  Mr.  Arthur's 
work  was  not  to  find  whether  bacteria  are  present  in  pear  blight, ' 
Of  that  almost  any  one  who  has  access  to  a  microscope  can  sat- 
isfy himself  with  but  little  labor.  He  undertook  the  solution  of 
the  very  matter  which  is  now  brought  up  so  calmly,  innocently 
and  confidently.  And  he  made  no  announcement  until  the  dem- 
onstration was  reached.  Let  our  friends  read  the  testimony  can- 
didly and  they  will  be  fully  satisfied  upon  this  point 

(2)  It  is  held  by  another  class  of  disbelievers  that  what  Pro- 
fessor Burrill  and  Mr.  Arthur  have  been  working  upon  is  a  kind 
of  blight  which  is  quite  distinct  from  the  real  Simon-Pure  blight 
which  works  such  havoc  in  the  orchards.  That  is,  we  have  here 
an  attempt  to  diagnose  off-hand,  out  of  sight  and  hundreds  of 
miles  away,  the  disease  to  which  two  trained  men  gave  years  of 
close  personal  study. 

But  science  is  patient,  and  no  doubt  the  next  work  of  Mr. 
Arthur  will  be  the  study  of  cases  of  this  so-called  other  kind  of 
blight.  It  will  then  be  interesting  to  know  what  new  line  of 
defense  will  be  set  up  by  those  who  "  do  not  believe  in  the  bac- 
terian theory  of  blight" 

Botanical  News.  —  Late  numbers  of  the  Botanische  Zeitung 
contain  articles  as  follows :  The  pith  rays  of  the  Conifers,  by  A. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


1 886.]  Botany.  167 

Kleeberg ;  The  formation  and  transportation  of  carbohydrates  in 
foliage  leaves,  by  A.  F.  W.  Schimper ;  Journal  of  the  fifty-eighth 

meeting  of  German  naturalists  and  physicians  in  Strassburg. 

In  Flora  the  more  important  recent  articles  are  lichenological 
contributions,  by^r.  J.  MuUer;  Contributions  to  our  knowledge 
of  the  development  and  the  anatomical  structure  of  the  fruit- 
leaves  (carpophylls)  of  Cupressineae  and  the  placentae  of  Abie- 
tineas,  by  Amo  Kramer;  and  the  continuation  of  H.  G.  Reichen- 
bach's  Comoren  Orchids.  In  Kramer's  paper,  just  referred  to,  the 
conclusion  is  reached  that  the  female  cone  of  the  Abietineae  is  a 
single  iloiver  and  not  an  inflorescence.  The  scale  is  regarded  as 
a  placenta,  and  begins  its  development  as  an  axillary  outgrowth 

from  the  axils  of  a  fruit-leaf In  the  Deutsche  botanische  Monats- 

schrtft  Paul  Richter  and  Dr.  F.  Hauck,  the  well-known  German 
algologist,  announce  the  early  appearance  of  the  first  fascicles  of 
a  distribution  of  algae  under  the  title  of  '*  Phycotheca  Universalis." 
Each  fascicle  is  to  contain  fifty  numbers,  and  will  be  sold'  for  six- 
teen to  eighteen  marks  (I3.81  to  II4.29).  Intending  subscribers 
may  correspond  with  Ed.  Kummer,  the  well-known  Leipzig 
bookseller. In  the  July- August  number  of  Hedwigia  Profes- 
sor Oudemans  describes  a  new  species  of  Puccinia  occurring  on 
Veronica  anagallis  in  Holland,  and  to  which  he  gives  the  name  of 
Puccinia  veronica-anagallidis.  It  is  to  be  looked  for  in  this  coun- 
try.  ^The  September-October  number  of  the  same  journal  con- 
tains a  Contribution  to  the  mycologic  flora  of  Missouri,  by  Dr. 
G.  Winter  and  C  H.  Demetrio.  In  all  350  species  are  enumer- 
ated, many  of  which  are  described  as  new.  Among  the  latter  the 
jmost  interesting  are  jEcidium  cerasti  on  Cerastium  nutans^  Diatrype 
roseola  on  dry  branches  of  Quercus  tinctoria,  Didymosphcma  phyl' 
logena  on  fallen  leaves  of  Lirrodendron  tulipifera,  Sphcerella  desmodu 
on  languishing  leaves  of  Desmodium  canescens,  besides  many 
'•  Fungi  Imperfecti "  of  the  genera  Cercospora,  Phyllosticta,  Sep- 

toria,  etc. M.  C.  Cooke  contributes  to  the  December  GrevUlea 

papers  on  New  British  Fungi,  Fungi  of  the  Malayan  peninsula, 
Valsa  vitis  again,  Synopsis  Pyrenomycetum,  and  British  Sphae- 

ropsideae. The  most  important  paper  in  the  Journal  of  Botany 

for  November  is  F.  N.  Williams'  Enumeration  of  the  species  and 
varieties  of  the  genus  Dianthus.  In  all  235  species  are  cata- 
logued, of  which  nine  are  described  as  new  to  science. L.  H. 

Bailey's  Notes  on  Carex,  in  November  Botanical  Gazette^  are  in- 
teresting and  helpful. ^The  December  Journal  of  Mycology  is 

devoted  to  A  synopsis  of  the  N.  A.  species  of  Dimerosporium 
and  Meliola,  by  Dr.  Geo.  Martin ;  New  fungi,  by  J.  B.  Ellis  and 
B.  M.  Everhart ;  and  Index.  It  is  the  intention  of  the  managers 
of  this  journal  to  increase  its  popular  interest  by  a  series  of 
sketches  of  the  lives  and  works  of  the  more  noted  mycologists. 
The  journal  has,  as  it  appears  to  us,  earned  a  place  in  botanical 
literature,  and  we  hope  to  see  it  increase  its  usefulness. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


i68  General  Notes.  [February, 

ETNTOMOLOGY. 

The  Preparatory  Stages  of  Calocampa  cineritia  (Grote). 
— One  hundred  or  more  eggs  were  found  at  Warwick,  R,  I., 
clustered  together  upon  a  twig  of  white  birch,  May  loth,  1885. 
Diameter  of  egg  i™™*  Shaped  like  a  depressed*cone,  ribbed  ver- 
tically and  dark  gray  in  color.  They  hatched  in  the  same  day 
that  they  were  found. 

Larva  upon  emergence, — Length  3"*";  color,  light  bluish- 
green,  sprinkled  with  black.  Two  pairs  of  pro-legs  only.  Head 
ochreous  yellow,  large  and  prominent ;  two  transverse  rows  of 
blade  tubercles  in  each  segment,  each  giving  rise  to  a  single, 
simple  black  hair  or  bristles.  Head  likewise  provided  with  black 
warts  and  bristles. 

After  first  molt, — Passed  the  first  molt  after  six  days,  after  which 
the  length  of  the  body  was  7""*;  uniformly  cylindrical  and  slen- 
der. Two  front  pairs  of  pro-legs  rudimentary.  Head  less  promi- 
nent, and  green,  concolorous  with  the  rest  of  the  body,  which  is 
slightly  darker  than  before.  Black  tubercles  disappeared.  A 
single  transverse  row  of  minute  black  bristles  in  each  segment, 
hardly  visible  except  by  the  aid  of  the  microscope.  These  longi- 
tudinal dorsal  and  two  lateral  lines  of  very  light  green.  Ventral 
half  of  the  body  of  a  lighter  shade  than  the  dorsal. 

After  second  molt. — Five  days  later,  they  began  to  pass  the  second 
molt,  after  which  they  measured  when  extended  upon  a  leaf 
12™™  in  length.  Markings  same  as  after  the  first  molt,  but  more 
pronounced,  dorsal  portion  of  a  darker  green,  and  the  stripes 
creamy-white. 

After  third  molt, — After  ten  days,  they  passed  the  third  molt/ 
Length  29"°^;  color,  uniform  yellowish-green.  A  pronounced 
white  stripe  running  the  whole  length  of  the  body  on  each  side, 
and  above  this  a  much  narrower  subdorsal  stripe  on  each  side  of 
the  single  dorsal  line.  Five  stripes  in  all.  Dorsal  portion  of  the 
body  sprinkled  with  white  specks.  .AH  the  pro-legs  fully  de- 
veloped. 

After  fourth  molt. — Ten  days  later,  it  passed  the  fourth  molt. 
Length  30™"*.  Body  straight  and  cylindrical.  Head  and  first 
segment  large  and  prominent,  thicker  than  the  rest  of  the  body. 
Head  rather  flat  Color  of  body  below  reddish  ochreous,  head  of 
a  lighter  shade.  A  narrow  longitudinal  white  stripe  running  the 
entire  length  of  the  body,  between  these  stripes  a  rich  yellowish- 
brown.  A  dark  brown  velvety  stripe  running  down  the  center  of 
the  back,  with  a  V-shaped  mark  of  the  same  color  on  each  seg- 
ment, with  the  opening  towards  the  head. 

After  ten  days  more  without  any  indication  of  passing  another 
molt,  the  larvae  underwent  a  very  decided  change.  They  lost 
entirely  their  velvety  look,  and  assumed  the  greasy  appearance  of 
cut-worms,  curling  themselves  up  when  disturbed,  seeking  retire- 


Digitized  by 


Google 


1 886.]  Entomology,  169 

ment  when  not  feeding,  and  in  all  ways  taking  up  the  habits  of 
this  group  of  noctuid  larvae. 

Being  transferred  to  a  cage  provided  with  earth,  they  at  once 
buried  themselves,  but  came  out  at  night  to  feed.  They  continued 
this  life  for  perhaps  a  fortnight,  when  they  gradually  left  off  feed- 
ing. Just  when  pupation  occurred  it  was  impossible  to  tell,  as  the 
larvae  remained  in  the  ground  some  time  in  a  torpid  state  before 
this  change  took  place,  and  at  this  time  many  of  them  died. 

The  pupae,  which  had  been  reserved  for  description,  were 
unfortunately  destroyed  by  mice.  They  were  of  a  dark  shining 
brown  color,  rather  thick  and  blunt  at  the  anal  extremity,  and 
somewhat  flattened  at  the  thorax.  The  molts  emerged  from  the 
20th  to  the  30th  of  September,  some  two  months  or  more  after 
pupation  probably  took  place. — Howard  L.  Clark^  Provi- 
dence^ R,  L 

Morphology  of  Lepidoptera. — In  the  Zeitschrift  fur  Wissen, 
ZooU'gie  for  Oct.  27,  N.  Cholodkovsky  states  that  it  has  been 
found  that  three  species  of  the  Linnxan  genus  Tinea  possess 
only  two  Malpighian  vessels,  a  most  unexpected  phenomenon, 
and  until  the  present  time  an  isolated  fact  in  insect  anatomy, 
unless  we  except  certain  Coccidae,  which  have  been  found  by 
Leydig  and  Mark  to  also  possess  but  two  Malpighian  tubes. 
On  the  other  hand,  Cholodkovsky  has  found  in  Galleria  nteUon- 
ella  Linn,  a  very  peculiar  form  of  Malpighian  vessel,  which  up  to 
now  has  been  described  in  no  other  insects,  and  which  only  finds 
its  parallel  among  the  Arachnida.  This  example  is  an  illustration, 
he  says,  of  the  utter  incompleteness  of  our  present  knowledge  of 
insect  anatomy. 

In  several  female  Nemaiois  metallicus  Pod.  Cholodskovsky 
found  that  each  ovary  consisted  of  not  less  than  twelve,  and  in 
one  case  twenty  egg-tubes.  The  number  of  egg-tubes  in  Lepi- 
doptera generally  is  four.  There  is  only  a  single  known  excep- 
tion to  this  rule.  Dr.  Alexander  Brandt  in  1876  discovered  that 
Psyche  helix  possessed  on  each  side  six  egg-tubes,  while  Profes- 
sor Ed.  Brandt  stated  verbally  that  Sesia  scoliiformis  possesses 
fourteen  egg-tubes. 

Cholodkovsky  then  describes  the  external  and  internal  geni- 
talia of  Nematois,  and,  in  describing  the  ovipositor,  refers  to  the 
much  more  highly  organized  ovipositor  of  the  common  house- 
moth  {Tineola  biselliella). 

All  Lepidoptera  possess  two  compound  testes,  which  in  the 
greater  number  are  united  by  a  complicated  set  of  coverings  into 
an  unpaired  organ.  Since  each  testis  consists  of  four  seminal  fol- 
Ucles  they  are  in  every  respect  homologous  with  the  egg-tubes  of 
the  females  There  is  anatomically  a  complete  and  clear  homology 
between  the  female  and  male  sexual  glands  of*  the  Lepidoptera. 
This  fact  is  not  without  significance  in  the  morphology  of  Lepi- 
doptera, especially  since  jt  becomes  a  link  connecting  the  Phry- 


Digitized  by 


Google 


I/O  General  Notes.  [February, 

ganidx  with  the  Lepidoptera,  though  only  from  forms  alh'ed  to 
the  Phryganidse  is  the  phylogcnetic  derivation  of  the  Lepidoptera 
conceivable. 

He  also  finds  a  small  chitinous  ring  at  the  end  of  the  abdomen 
of  the  male,  which  he  regards  as  the  rudiment  of  a  tenth  abdomi- 
nal segment. 

Cholodkovsky  regards  these  cases  of  the  occurrence  of  primi- 
tive characters  in  Lepidoptera  as  instances  of  a  periodical  atavism, 
or  retrogression  to  the  most  primitive  form  of  anatomical  struc- 
ture. In  conclusion,  the  author  with  good  reason  finds  fault  with 
the  term '' Microlepidoptera,"  thinking  it  artificial  and  absurd  to 
classify^  animals  by  their  size  alone. 

Flights  of  Locusts  at  San  Luis  Potosi,  Mexico,  1885. — ^We 
have  received  the  following  description  of  a  flight  of  locusts 
at  San  Luis  Potosi,  Mexico,  in  a  letter  dated  June  9,  1885,  from 
pr.  G.  Barroeta,  well  known  as  one  of  the  most  cultivated  scien- 
tists in  Mexico : 

"  On  the  31st  May  a  cloud  of  grasshoppers  came  from  the  N.  E. 
and  S.  £.  to  this  city,  and  remained  about  three  hours,  leaving 
only  on  account  of  rockets,  the  ringing  of  bells  and  every  kind  of 
noise.  Never  before  in  this  century  have  locusts  invaded  this 
land.  By  this  ndail  I  send  a  tin  box  with  samples.  Those  in 
white  paper  reached  a  year  ago  certain  places  of  the  state,  150 
miles  east  of  this  city,  and  at  the  altitude  of  3000  feet  above  the 
sea.  They  were  collected-  in  Rioverde,  aud  then  the  cloud  took 
its  way  to  the  southeast.  In  the  aforesaid  box,  those  in  blue 
paper  belong  to  the  invading  swarm  which  visited  the  city  on 
May  31st.  I  found  no  difference  between  them,  and  suppose 
them  to  be  the  progeny  of  the  swarms  noticed  in  1884,  or,  at 
least,  the  same  species." 

Unfortunately  the  specimens  were  never  received,  so  that  we 
dre  unable  to  give  the  name  of  the  species. — A.  S,  Packard. 

Longevity  of  Ants. — Not  the  least  interesting  fact  which  has 
resulted  from  my  observations  has  been  the  unexpected  longevity 
of  these  interesting  insects.  The  general  opinion  used  to  be  that 
they  lived  for  a  single  season,  like  wasps.  Aristotle  long  ago 
stated  that  queen-bees  live  for  six  and  some  even  seven  years. 
Bevan,  however,  observes  that  "  the  notions  of  both  ancients  and 
moderns  upon  the  subject  have  been  purely  conjectural.  Indeed, 
it  appears  to  be  somewhat  doubtful  whether  the  length  of  life 
which  the  former  seem  to  have  attributed  to  individual  bees  was 
not  meant  to  apply  to  the  existence  of  each  bee-community." 

The  nests,  however,  which  I  have  devised  have  enabled  me  to 
throw  considerable  light  on  this  question.  The  queen  ants  are  so 
easily  distinguish^^  from  the  workers  that  they,  can  be  at  once 
identified,  while,  if  a  nest  be  taken  in  which  there  is  no  queen,  we 
can  satisfy  ourselves  as  to  the  workers ;  because,  though  it  is  true 


Digitized  by 


Google 


i886.]  Entomology,  171 

that  workers  do  sometimes  lay  eggs,  those  eggs  invariably  pro- 
duce male  ants.  Hence,  in  such  a  case,  the  duration  of  the  nest 
gives  us  the  age  of  the  workers;  at  least  they  cannot  be  younger, 
diough,  of  course,  they  may  be  older.  In  this  way  I  have  kept 
workers  of  Lasius  niger  and  Formica  fusca  for  more  than  seven 
years.  But,  what  is  more  remarkable  still,  I  have  now  two  queens 
of  the  latter  species  which  I  have  kept  ever  since  1874,  and 
which,  as  they  were  then  full-grown,  must  be  now  nearly  twelve 
years  old.  They  laid  fertile  eggs  again  this  year,  a  fact  the  inter- 
est of  which  physiologists  will  recognize.  Although  a  little  stiff 
in  the  joints,  and  less  active  than  they  once  were,  they  are  still 
strong  and  well,  and  I  hope  I  may  still  keep  them  in  health  for 
some  time  to  come. — Sir  John  Lubbock  in  Cotftemporary  Review 
for  Nov. 

Entomological  News. — In  the  Proceedings  of  the  Entomo- 
logical Society  of  Belgium,  Dec.  5.,  the  venerable  Senator  M. 
de  Selys-Longchamps  gives  the  outlines  of  a  revision  of  the 

Agrionines. The  Zeitschrift  fur  Wissen.  Zoologie,  October  27, 

contains  an  elaborate  article  on  the  anatomy  of  the  Mallophaga, 

by  F.  Grosse ;  it  gives  excellent  figures  of  the  mouth  parts. 

Mr.  L.  Bruner  publishes  in  the  Bulletin  of  the  Washburn  College 
laboratory  of  natural  history  a  "  first  contribution  to  a  knowledge 
of  the  Orthoptera  of  Kansas,"  with  descriptions  of  a  number  of 

new  species. In  the  same  publication,  Mr.   F.  W.  Cragin 

notices  certain   Myriopods  and  Arachnids   of   Kansas. In 

the  Memoirs  of  the  National  Academy  of  Sciences,  Mr.  S.  H. 
Scudder  describes  and  figures  a  Tertiary  Orthopod;  it  has  no  dis- 
tinct head.  It  is  referred  to  the  Thysanurans,  and  regarded  as 
the  type  of  a  suborder  called  Ballostoma.  We  would  add,  that 
the  thysanurous  characters  do  not  seem  to  be  well  marked,  while 
it  is  possible  that  the  specimens,  though  numerous,  had  lost  their 

heads. In  Dr.  Agassiz'  report  as  curator  T)f  the  Museum  of 

Comparative  Zoology,  it  is  stated  that  the  museum  has  received 
from  the  Peabody  Academy  of  Science  at  Salem  the  most  import- 
ant collection  of  insects  ever  added  to  the  museum.  It  con- 
tains a  large  number  of  types  described  by  prominent  American 
and  European  entomologists.  The  collection,  we  may  add,  was 
brought  together  mainly  by  Professor  A.  S.  Packard.  It  contains 
a  large  proportion  of  Packard's  types,  including  those  of  his 
monograph  of  geometrid  moths,  of  which  only  four  species  are 
wanting,  and  nine  described  by  him  from  specimens  belonging  to 
other  entomologists.  It  also  comprises  types  of  Mr.  Grote  and 
the  late  V.  T.  Chambers,  as  well  as  types  of  Zeller,  Staudinger, 
Focrster,  Walker,  etc. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


172  General  Notes.  [Februaiy 

ZOOLOaT. 

Antidote  to  the  Scorpion's  Sting. — Already  an  antidote  has 
been  discovered  to  the  sting  of  scorpions,  which,  although  rarely 
fiELtal,  is  extremely  painful,  while  the  poison  is  closely  allied  to  that 
of  the  venomous  snakes.  Mr.  A.  M.  Markham,  of  the  Indian  Civil 
Service,  has  written  to  one  of  the  Indian  papers  calling  attention 
to  the  fact  that  the  root  of  Achyranthes  aspera^  known  popularly 
as  chirchirra,  affords  almost  instantaneous  relief  from  the  pain 
caused  by  the  sting  of  a  scorpion.  The  plant  is  very  common 
everywhere  in  India,  and  is  one  of  those  whose  clinging  burrs 
are  such  a  nuisance  on  one's  legs  when  out  shooting.  The  root, 
macerated  in  water,  is  applied  to  the  part  stung,  and  a  small  quan- 
tity is  drunk  in  water.  If  this  be  done  quickly,  there  is  absolutely 
no  pain  half  an  hour  or  so  after  the  sting,  instead  of  the  twelve 
to  twenty-four  hours  of  intense  suffering  which  follow  an  untreat- 
ed sting. — London  Standard. 

The  Crustacea  of  the  Black  Sea. — Mr.  Waldemar  Czerniaw- 
sky,  already  known  for  his  works  on  the  fauna  of  the  Black  sea, 
has  now  published  at  Charkof!)  a  work  on  the  "  Crustacea  deca- 
poda  Pontica  littoralia,"  accompanied  by  several  plates,  being  a , 
very  elaborate  description  of  the  Black  Sea  Decapods.  The  num- 
ber of  Pontic  species  of  Decapods  has  been  increased  by  twenty, 
reaching  thus  forty-eight  species,  with  numerous  varieties,  though 
it  will  probably  be  greater  when  the  depths  of  the  Black  sea  have 
been  better  explored.  The  results  of  this  work  are  numerous  and 
interesting.  The  species  offer  altogether  a  very  great  variety  of 
forms.  The  Black  sea  contains  the  local  forms  of  Mediterranean 
varieties,  while  in  the  Celtic  region  are  found  the  local  forms  of 
other  varieties.  The  author  asserts  that  the  metamorphosis  of  the 
superior  crabs,  such  as  Carcinus,  which  presents  nine  different 
stages,  are  a  repetition  of  their  genealogy,  and  arrives  at  a  series  of 
very  interesting  conclusions  as  to  the  genealogy  of  different  spe- 
cies. All  three  ^pecles  of  Astacus  which  are  foqnd  in  the  Ponto- 
Caspian  fauna  are  maritime  forms  which  have  immigrated  into 
sweet  water,  and  even  the  Astacus  pachypus  Rathke,  of  the 
mountain-like  Abran,  is  a  remainder  of  a  maritime  fauna;  so  also 
Thelphuca,  which  has  gigantic  representatives  in  the  South  Cas- 
pian. Certain  crabs  reach  really  gigantic  size  in  the  Ponto-Cas- 
pian  region,  such  as  Eriphia  spinifrons  and  Cardnus  mospias  on  the 
shores  of  Crimea  and  at  Odessa.  While  most  crabs  reach  a  great 
development  only  in  very  salt  and  warm  water,  others  reach  the 
same  size  under  the  influence  of  reverse  conditions.  The  Deca- 
pods of  the  Azof  sea  have  not  yet  been  explored.  The  descrip- 
tions of  the  species  and  their  varieties  being  given  in  Latin,  as 
also  the  explanations  to  the  plates,  the  work  is  rendered  accessi- 
ble to  all  zoologists,  many  of  whom  however,  will  regret  not  to 
be  able  to  understand  the  notes  (mostly  zoo-topographical  and 
sometimes  adding  minor  details  to  the  description),  which  are  in 
Russian. — Nature,  March  5,  i88s. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


1 886.]  Zoology.  17^ 

The  Molting  of  the  Lobster. — During  the  past  season  I 
have  been  able  to  make  some  observations  on  the  mode  of  molt- 
ing of  the  lobster.  In  Casco  bay,  Maine,  the  lobster  molted 
during  the  second  and  third  week  of  July.  According  to  the 
lobster-fishermen,  the  creature  molts  but  once  a  year,  and  as  con- 
firmatory of  this  the  lobsters  we  saw  were  in  several  cases  covered 
with  patches  of  polyzoans,  with  large  barnacles,  mussels,  etc.» 
which  could  not  have  been  of  the  present  year's  growth. 

Shortly  before  the  animal  molts  the  parts  between  the  segments 
are  much  swollen,  and  have  a  livid  color.  Meanwhile  the  inner 
side  of  the  flattened  basal  joints  (3-5)  of  the  large  claws  become 
soft,  the  lime  on  the  crust  partly  disappearing,  leaving  an  irregu- 
lar oval  solid  portion ;  in  this  way  the  contents  of  the  large  hand 
or  claw  can  be  drawn  through  the  basal  portion  of  the  limb.  The 
first  step  in  the  ecdysis  is  the  splitting  or  partial  separation  of 
the  two  halves  of  the  carapace ;  it  may  entirely  separate  poste- 
riorly, or  the  two  halves  remain  together,  and  the  animal 
withdraws  its  body  out  of  the  sutures  between  the  thorax  and 
first  abdominal  segment.  The  integument  of  the  legs  is  molted 
last,  and  when  owing  to  rough  handling,  the  process  is  delayed, 
the  extremities  of  the  legs  slough  off.  The  entire  integument, 
with  all  the  appendages  of  the  head.thorax,  and  the  abdomen  are 
molted  as  a  whole,  but  the  abdominal  legs  are  molted  before 
the  thoracic  ones.  I  have  found  all  the  parts  of  the  crust  con- 
nected, and  floating  in  the  "  lobster  car,"  even  including  the 
lining  of  the  proventricle  or  stomach,  and  the  apodemes  of  the 
head  and  thorax.  After  the  molt  the  soft  and  flabby  lobster  lies 
nearly  motionless,  occasionally,  if  disturbed,  giving  a  flap  with 
its  "tail."  It  remains  inactive  for  nearly  or  quite  a  week,  until 
the  new  crust  becomes  hard. 

I  am  convinced  from  my  observations  that  the  deformities  in 
the  big  claws  as  well  as  other  parts  occur  at  the  time  of  molt- 
ing ;  as  after  disturbing  the  symmetry  of  the  claws  in  our  speci- 
men, the  deformity  persisted. — A.  S.  Packard, 

The  Oldest  Tarsus  (Archegosaurus). — The  Neues  Jahrbuch 
fur  Mineralogie,  Jahrgang  1861,  pp.  294-300,  contains  a  paper  by 
Professor  Quenstedt,  of  Tubingen :  "  Bemerkungen  zum  Arche- 
gosaurus." On  Plate  iii,  connected  with  that  article,  a  nearly 
entire  hind-foot  of  Archegosaurus  is  figured  (fig.  6).  The  tarsals 
of  this  foot  are  preserved  in  their  original  position,  and  it  is  of 
very  high  interest ;  but,  strange  to  say,  this  figure  of  Archegosau- 
rus has  been  entirely  overlooked,  and  is  never  mentioned  in  any 
paper  relating  to  the  tarsus  of  vertebrates. 

Professor  Quenstedt  believes  that  there  are  ten  or  twelve  tarsal 
bones  preserved.  The  question  now  is,  What  are  the  homologies 
of  these  bones  ? 

On  the  whole,  the  hind-foot  recalls  very  much  that  of  Crypto- 
branchus  and  Menopoma.     One  or  perhaps  two  bones  are  con- 


Digitized  by 


Google 


174  Gimral  Notes.  [February, 

nected  with  the  tibia;  if  there  is  only  one,  this  must  be  the 
tibiale.  Two  elements  are  attached  to  the  fibula — the  intermedium 
and  the  fibulare.  Four  metatarsals  are  preserved,  but  it  is  pos- 
sible that  there  were  five.  Each  of  the  four  metatarsals  is  sup- 
ported by  one  tarsal  bone.  Between  the  four  bones  of  the  distal 
series  and  those  of  the  proximal  one  there  are  to  be  seen  four 
additional  bones.  The  inner  one  I  consider  the  tarsale^,  belong^- 
ing  to  the  first  digit  not  preserved.  The  remaining  three  bones 
must  be  considered  as  three  central  bones. 

If  two  bones  are  connected  with  the  tibia,  the  outer  one  repre- 
sents the  tibiale,  the  other  one  a  centrale,  reaching  the  tibia  in  the 
same  way  as  in  Salamandrella  (Wiedersheim).  In  this  case,  we 
have  four  central  bones.  Between  the  fibulare  and  tarsaleg  there 
is  a  large  space  without  any  bones.  There  is  little  doubt,  I  think, 
that  there  existed  a  sixth  tarsal  bone  in  the  distal  series,  as  in 
Cryptobranchus,  remaining  cartilaginous,  and  therefore  not  pre- 
served. 

Wiedersheim*  described  three  central  bones  in  the  tarsus  of  the 
Axolotl ;  fig.  8,  pi.  XXX,  comes  nearest  to  the  condition  in  Arche- 
gosaurus. 

There  are  two  explanations  of  the  morphology  of  the  tarsus  in 
Archegosaurus,  if  there  are  five  digits  : 

1.  Tibiale,  intermedium, fibulare;  centralei,  centrale2,  centrales; 
tars.i,  tars.2,  tars.8,  tar3.4,  tars.5,  tars^. 

2.  Tibiale,  intermedium,  fibulare ;  centralei,  centrales,  centrales^ 
centrale4 ;  tars.i,  tars.^,  tars.8,  tars.4,  tars.5,  tars^. 

Archegosaurus  belongs  to  the  Rhachitomi,  the  oldest  batra- 
chians  known.  The  presence  of  certainty  three,  perhaps  four  central 
bones,  is  a  new  proof  for  the  correctness  oftlu  position  given  to  this 
group  by  Professor  Cope. — Dr,  G.  Baur,  Yale  College  Mus.,  New 
Haven,  Conn.,  Dec.  ij,  1885. 

The  Intercentrum  of  Living  Reptilia. — The  Pelycosauria  of 
the  Permian  formations  possess  intercentra  in  the  dorsal,  lumbar 
and  sacral  regions.  In  no  living  reptile  have  intercentra  been 
described,  so  far  as  I  know,  in  that  part  of  the  column,  excepting 
in  Sphenodon  (Hatteria).^  I  find  them  also  in  Gecko  vertictUatus 
Laur.  {G.  verus  Gray).  In  these  forms  intercentra  are  developed 
between  all  vertebrae. 

It  is  probable  that  the  same  elements  will  be  found  in  the 
other  Geckonidae  and  in  the  amphicoelian  Uroplates,  the  only 
genus  of  the  family  Uroplatidae. 

Lumbar  intercentra  in  the  Mammalia  are  first  mentioned  by 
Owen'  in  the  mole.     Meyer^  finds  these  elements  also  in  the  pos- 

1  Wiedersheim  R.  Ueber  die  Vermehning  des  Os  centrale  im  Carpas  und  Tarsus 
,des  Axolotls.     Morph.  Jahrb.,  Bd.  vi,  1880,  pp.  581-583,  pi.  XXX. 

*See  Albrecht,  Bull.  Mus.  Roy.  Hist.  Nat.  Belgium,  1883,  p.  19a 

'  Owen,  R.  On  the  cervical  and  lumbar  vertebrae  of  the  mole  (  Talpa  europaa  L.). 
Brit.  Assoc.  Rep.,  1861,  pp.  152-154.    London,  1862. 

*  Meyer,  O.  Insectivoren  und  Galeopithecus  geologiich  alte  Formen.  Neues 
Jahrb.  fUr  Min.,  1885,  Bd.  11,  pp.  229-230. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


i886.]  Zoology.  175 

tenor  dorsals  and  the  sacrals,  and  I  can  confirm  his  observations; 
— Dr.  G.  Baur,  YaU  College  Mus.^  New  Haven^  Conn.,  Dec.  ig, 
iS8s. 

The  Intercentrum  in  Sphenodon.* — Researches  into  the  em- 
bryology of  the  Urodela  and  Anura  have  not  yet  brought  to  light 
any  traces  of  the  rhachitomous  structure ;  a  condition  of  things 
which  is  probably  due  to  coenogeny  or  falsification  of  the  embry- 
onic record — a  phenomenon  which  is  not  uncommon.  There  can 
be  no  doubt,  however,  that  the  entire  record  was  presented  in  the 
embryonic  history  of  Permian  land  Vertebrata,  and  for  a  long 
period  subsequently,  but  that  the  rhachitomous  stage  has  been, 
with  the  true  centrum,  lost  from  the  batrachian  line  at  least.  The 
only  existing  reptile  which  could  be  expected  to  show  important 
traces  of  the  ancestral,  or  embolomerous  stage,  is  Sphenodon.  This 
genus,  as  is  well  known,  is  the  living  representative  of  the  order 
Rhynchocephalia.  the  nearest  order  to  the  Theromorpha.  Having 
fortunately  a  specimen  in  alcohol,  presented  to  me  by  Dr.  Hector, 
the  able  director  of  the  Geological  Survey  of  New  Zealand,  I 
examined  the  caudal  vertebrae  to  determine  the  connections  of 
the  chevron  bones.  I  find  these  to  be  attached,  not  principally 
to  the  centra,  but  to  a  cartilaginous  disciform  intercentrum, 
closely  resembling  that  of  Cricotus.^  The  intercentrum  has  so 
much  the  form,  including  the  rounded  superior  surface  and  the 
foramen  chordae  dorsalis,  of  that  of  the  Permian  genus  of  Ba- 
trachia,  as  to  impress  on  me  still  more  strongly  the  probability  of 
the  Embolomeri  being  the  batrachian  type  which  is  ancestral  to 
the  Reptilia.  An  illustrated  memoir  on  this  subject  is  at  present 
in  press. 

The  centra  differ  much  from  those  of  Cricotus  in  their  form, 
resembling  in  outline  those  of  the  Pelycosauria.  They  however 
have  the  vertical  median  partial  suture  seen  also  in  the  Lacertilia, 
as  already  described  by  Giinther.  The  caudal  vertebrae  are  so 
'  gradually  modified  as  we  followed  them  forwards,  however,  as  to 
make  it  probable  that  these  halves  do  not  represent  any  of  the 
elements  of  the  rhachitomous  column  besides  the  true  centrum., 

I  add  that  there  is  probably  a  hypocentrum  pleurale  in  the  cer- 
vical region  of  the  rhachitomous  Eryops.  They  become  ossified 
early  with  the  posterior  side  of  the  intercentrum  in  front  of 
them. — E.  D.  Cope. 

On  the  Tarsus  of  Bats. — In  the  course  of  some  recent  obser- 
vations made  upon  the;  tarsus  of  bats,  I  ascertained  that  the  astrag- 
alus and  calcaneum  were  elongate,  and  exhibited  the  general 
characters  of  these  bones  in  mammals  in  which  little  or  no  weight 

>Oii  the  Batrachian  Intercentrum,  NatitrALIST,  1866,  p.  76. 
'Since  the  above  was  written.  Vol.  11,  pt.  11,  of  Fritsch's  Fauna  der  Giskohle  haa 
\  to  hand.    It  contains  a  note  on  the  intercentra  of  Sphenodon. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


i;6 


General  Notes, 


[February, 


is  borne  upon  the  posterior  extremities.  Both  bones  were  so  dis- 
posed that  the  larger  end  of  each  .is  directed  proximally.  The 
general  form  was  that  of  a  metatarsal  element,  with  the  excep- 
tion of  the   body  or  shaft,  which  was   notably  narrowed.     In 


'cetlctLi^ 


"m:  M^' 


Rkinohphus  capensis  (young). 


Carollia. 


Chilonycteris. 


Vespertilio  subulatus. 


Rhynchonycteris. 


Atalapha  noi/aboracatsis. 


/,  fibula;  /,  tibia;  cm,  calcaneum;  a,  astragalus;  s,  scaphoid;  cb,  cuboid;  en, 
cuneiforms  ;  so,  supernumeraxy  ossicle. 

Rhinolophus  the  calcaneum  entered  into  the  ankle  joint.    In  the 
other  forms  examined  the  calcaneum  was  independent  of  the 


Digitized  by 


Google 


I886.J  Zvology.  177 

joint.  In  the  Phyllostomidae  (as  well  as  in  Natalus  and  Rhyn- 
chonycteris)  the  calcar  of  the  calcancum  was  placed  in  axial  line 
with  that  of  the  bone  last  named.  In  other  families  the  calcar 
was  adjoined  to  the  calcaneum  at  the  outer  side  and  near  the 
proximal  end.  The  astragalus  and  calcaneum  were  nearly  of  the 
same  size  in  most  forms,  the  calcaneum  being  the  larger.  In  the 
aberrant  form  Rhynchonycteris  the  astragalus  was  nearly  twice 
the  length  of  the  calcaneum.  I  have  appended  a  few  diagram- 
matic sketches  of  the  tarsus. 

The  method  employed  in  studying  the  tarsus  consisted  in  re- 
moving all  the  soft  parts  of  the  foot,  immersing  in  absolute  alco- 
hol, transferring  to  oil  of  cloves  and  mounting  on  a  glass  slide.  A 
low  power  of  the  microscope  resolves  all  the  essential  structures. 
-^Harrison  Allen. 

Range  of  the  American  Bison. — Late  issues  of  the  St.  Paul 
Pioneer  Press  report :  "Reliable  cowboys  just  arrived  in  Miles  City, 
Mont.,  report  that  at  the  Lower  Musselshell  round-jup  they  saw  a 
fresh  trail  of  about  100  buffalo  on  the  head  of  the  Big  Porcupine 
last  week,  and  had  seen  twelve  head  a  few  days  before.  They 
killed  one  out  of  the  twelve.  The  number  of  wild  animals  on  the 
North  Yellowstone  ranges  have  proved 'not  only  a  source  of  an- 
noyance to  herd  owners,  but  also  of  great  damage  to  these  newly 
stocked  ranges.  Round-up  parties,  in  scouring  those  districts  this 
spring,  complain  of  the  great  number  of  calves  killed  and  crip- 
pled by  wolves  and  other  wild  animals.  On  Custer  creek  calves 
were  found  that  suffered  from  torn  and  bitten  backs,  which  the 
boys  attributed  to  the  attacks  of  wildcats.  Had  the  calves  been 
hamstrung  the  work  would  have  been  charged  to  wolves  instead 
of  wildcats.  The  loss  from  the  above  source  is  probably  greater 
than  most  people  would  imagine."  "The  Maginnis  boys  met 
on  their  last  trip  probably  the  last  remnant  of  the  mighty  herds  of 
bison  that  once  roamed  over  these  plains.  About  200  wanderers 
were  encountered  in  Flatwillow  Creek  bottoms,  and  for  a  time  the 
round-up  lived  on  succulent,  juicy  buffalo  humps  instead  of  choice 
Montana  beef." — Forest  and  Stream. 

Zoological  News. — Tnvertebrata. — Professor  H.  Carpenter, 
reviewing  the  arguments  of  the  French  naturalists  against,  and 
of  the  German  in  favor  of,  the  separateness  of  the  blood-system 
and  water  vacuum  system  in  echinoderms,  states  his  belief  in  their 
separateness.  Ludwig's  observations  have  as  yet  not  been  dis- 
proved, as  no  one  has  ascertained  that  the  blood-vascular  system 

communicates  with  the  exterior  through  the  madreporite. 

Five  newBulimini  from  the  Levant  have  been  described  by  Dr.  O. 

Boettger  (P.  Z.  S.,  1835,  23). The  ninth  part  of  the  description 

by  the  late  T.  G.  Jeffreys,  of  the  MoUusca  of  the  Lightning 
and  Porcupine  expeditions  contains  the  Yanthinidas,  Naticidae, 
Neritidae,   Solanids,    Xenophoridse,  Velutinidae,  Cancellariadae, 


Digitized  by 


Google 


178  General  Notes.  [February, 

Aporrhaidx,  Cerithiidae,  and  Cerithiopsidae,  seventy-five  species 

in  all, The  worm  Gordius  verrucosus,  ohXzxn^d  by  Mr.  Johnston 

on  Kilimanjaro,  is  found  also  in  South  Africa,  Ceylon  and  Cen- 
tral America. A  river-crab  from  Kilimanjaro  is  by  Mr.  E.  J. 

Miers  referred,  with  some  hesitation,  to  Thelphusa  depressa. 

Batrachia  and  Replilia. — Mr.  W.  B.  Spencer  contributes  (Quart. 
Jour.  Mic.  Soc,  1885)  some  notes  on  the  early  development  of 
Rana  temporaria,  with  especial  reference  to  the  fate  of  the  blasto- 
pore, and  the  development  of  the  cranial  nerves,  which  seems  to 
be  a  more  ancestral  process  than  the  method  of  their  development 

in  Elasmobranchs  and  birds. G.  A.  Boulenger  describes  (P. 

Z.  S.,  1885,  22)  a  new  species  of  frog,  Rana  macronemis,  from 

Asia  Minor.     Its  nearest  ally  is  R.  temporaria. Lepidostemon 

polystegum  is  a  Brazilian  amphisbaenoid  with  a  sharp-edged  cut- 
ting snout  and  singular  scutellation  of  the  top  of  the  head.  By 
means  of  its  snout  it  has  been  known  to  cut  its  way  through  the 
side  of  a  coral  snake  which  had  swallowed  it. 

Birds.— Mr.  T.  H.  Guillemard  (Proc.  Zool.  Soc.  Lon.  1885), 
gives  a  provisional  list  of  the  birds  known  to  inhabit  the  Sulu 
archipelago.  These  are  sixty-five  in  all,  including  sixteen  pre- 
viously listed  by  Mr.  Sharpe.  If  birds  of  wide  distribution  are 
deducted,  thirty-nine  species  are  left,  out  of  which  thirty  are 
formed  in  the  Phillipincs. Professor  W.  Watson  has  con- 
tributed to  the  Proc.  Zool.  Soc.  London  some  interesting  notes 
on  Peruvian  birds.  He  has  rediscovered  the  cliff-swallow,  Peiro^ 
ckelidon  ruficollis  Peale.  -This  bird  was  long  searched  for  in  the 
Andean  valleys,  and  was  ultimately  found  close  to  Lima.  The 
nest  is  always  found  on  human  habitations.  Psittacula  andicola 
is  a  parrot  which  is  peculiar  to  the  higher  parts  of  the  western 
valleys  of  Peru,  and  occurs  in  the  valtey  of  the  Rimac  wherever 
vegetation  is  on  the  mountain  sides.  Cypselus  andicola  inhabits 
the  western  valleys  of  the  Peruvian  Andes  from  6000  to  13,000 
feet.  The  birds  brought  by  Mr.  H.  H.  Johnston  from  Kiliman- 
jaro include  fifty  species,  of  which  six,  Muscicapa  johnsioni,  Pina- 
rochfoa  hypospadia,  Prattncola  axillaris,  Nectarinea  johnstoni  and 
kikimensis  and  Cinniris  nudiocris,  are  new  to  science.  The  second 
of  these  occurs  at  a  height  of  14,000  feet;  the  third  at  10,000; 
the  fourth  at  11,000,  and  the  last  at  12,000.  Few  of  the  remain- 
ing species  reach  these  great  elevations,  but  Palumbus  arqua-- 
trix,  attains  10,300  feet,  and  Corvultur  albicollis  reaches  up  to  the 

snow-line. Mr.  F.  E.  Beddard  divides  the  Cuculidae  into  Cucu- 

linae,  with  the  genera  Cuculus,  Chrysococcyx,  Cacomantis,  and 
Coccystes  ?  from  the  Old  World,  and  Saurothera,  Diplopterus, 
Piaya  and  Coccyzus  from  the  New;  Phenicophainx,  with  the 
Old  World  genera,  Phenicophaes  and  Endynamis;  and  Centropo- 
dinae,  with  Pyrrhocentor,  Centropus  and  Coua  from  the  Old 
World,  and  Geococcyx,  Crotophaga  aud  Guira,  from  the  New- 


Digitized  by 


Google 


1 886.  J  Embryology.  1 79 

Mammals. — Mr.  Sidebotham  (Proc.  Zool.  Soc.  London,  1885) 
gives  a  detailed  account  of  the  myology  of  the  water  opossum, 

Chirontctes  variegatus. The  discovery  of  the  wild  cat  {Feiis 

catus)  in  Ireland,  is  often  reported,  but  investigation  has  always 
shown  that  the  supposed  wild  cat  was  but  a  feral  specimen  of  the 

domestic  cat A  leopard  skin  in  which  most  of  the  rosettes  are 

replaced  by  black  spots,  numerous  and  of  small  size,  has  been 
brought  from  South  Africa,  and  is  the  first  African  species  which 
exhibits  the  tendency  to  melanism  so  strongly  developed  in  some 
Asiatic  individuals. Mr.  O.  Thomas  (P.  Z.  S.  1885,  329),  dis- 
tinguishes three  varieties  of  the  echidna,  viz :  E.  lawesi,  aculeata 
and  sctosa.  The  only  remaining  recent  species  of  the  family  is 
Taglossa  bruijni,  a  larger  aniiAl,  found  in  Northwestern  New 
Guinea. A  new  species  of  paca  {Coslogenys  taczonowski)  is  de- 
scribed by  Sulzmann,  who  obtained  it  in  Western  Ecuador,  where 
it  inhabits  mountains  between  6000  and  10,000  feet  above  the  sea. 
Like  the  well-known  paca,  it  digs  a  burrow  with  two  openings. 
The  native  name  is  Sacha-cui. 

EMBRYOIiOOY.i    .. 

The  Origin  of  the  Amnion. — The  purpose  of  the  present  note 
is  to  point  out  some  of  the  mechanical  conditions  and  causes 
which  have  been  competent,  in  the  course  of  the  development  of 
divelapment,  to  bring  about  the  formation  of  the  amnion.  No 
embryological  writer,  as  far  as  I  am  aware,  has  ever  attempted  to 
trace  the  amnion  to  the  part  in  the  embr>-os  of  anamniated  forms 
which  led  up  to  its  development  in  the  amniated  ones.  Balfour 
said,  that  "  it  does  not  seem  possible  to  derive  it  from  any  pre- 
existing organ"  (Comp.  Embryol,  11,  256).  And  he  says  further 
(op.  cit.,  257):  "The  main  difficulty  is  the  early  development  of 
the  head-fold  of  the  amnion."  Balfour's  view,  that  it  is  developed 
pari  passu  with  the  outgrowth  of  the  allantois,  is  utterly  inade- 
quate to  explain  the  genesis  of  the  amnion  of  insects  or  that  of 
Peripatus  edwardsii  and  P.  torquatus,  for  in  them  no  allantois  is 
formed.  His  hypothesis  also  breaks  down  in  the  light  of  the 
brilliant  researches  of  Selenka  on  the  inversion  of  the  layers  in 
the  Rodentia. 

A  comparison  of  the  longitudinal,  vertical,  diagrammatic  sec- 
tions, figures  A  and  B,  of  an  osseous  fish-egg  and  a  mammalian 
ovum  respectively,  will 
conclusively  show  that 
the  somatopleure  s,  in 
A^  is  the  exact  homo- 
logue  of  the  layer 
giving  rise  to  the 
amniotic  folds  in  B, 
though  in  A  this  layer  ji. 

merely  covers  the  space 

^  Edited  by  John  A.  Ryder,  Smithsonian  Institution,  Washington,  D. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


l8o  General  Notes.  [February, 

between  the  yolk  y  and  the  somatopleure,  leaving  the  coelomic 
space  c^  which  has  been  derived  directly  in  the  osseous  fish 
embryo  from  the  cleavage  cavity  of  the  egg.  We  thus  find  that 
the  preexisting  structure,  from  which  the  amniotic  folds  are 
formed  in  the  higher  types,  is  already  present  in  the  embryos  of 
osseous  fishes.  The  next  important  point  to  demonstrate  is,  at 
what  grade  in  the  phylum  of  the  Chordata  traces  of  amniotic  folds 
first  appear,  and  whether  such  rudiments  of  an  amnion  are  also 
found  in  the  embryos  of  osseous  fishes. 

Glancing  at  A,  it  will  be  seen  that  there  are  rudimentary  amni- 
otic head  and  tail  folds  developed  at  a  and  a',  and  that  we,  there- 
fore, have  traces  of  an  amnion  appearing  for  the  first  time  in 
embryos  of  the  grade  of  osseo9s  fishes.  This. is  not  universal, 
however,  for  it  is  found  that  in  species  in  which  the  zona  radiata 
z  does  not  closely  invest  the  ovum,  the  embryo  E  is  not 
pressed  down  into  the  vitellus,  so  as  to  raise  the  somatopleure  s 
into  a  fold  or  duplicature  around  the  ends  and  along  the  sides  of 
the  embryo.  The  zona  invests  the  ovum  more  or  less  closely  in 
almost  all  Teleosts,  but  in  a  few,  Alosa,  for  example,  it  does  not, 
and  in  this  species  nqgtraces  of  amniotic  folds  are  ever  developed. 

The  embryo  is  differently  conditioned  in  those  eggs  with  the 
zona  fitting  closely  around  the  ovum  from  those  in  which  there 
is  a  great  space  around  the  egg,  and  between  the  latter  and  the 
zona.  The  inference,  therefore,  is  that  in  the  first  case  the  em- 
bryo E  is  pressed  down  mechanically  into  the  yolk  by  the  pres- 
ence externally  of  the  rigid  zona.  As  the  embryo  E  grows,  and 
the  yolk  substance  of  the  ovum  is  converted  into  it,  the  latter  is 
replaced  in  the  space  within  the  zona  by  the  embryo.  It  is  thus 
rendered  evident,  that,  in  those  types  of  teleostean  ova  with  a 
closely  fitting  zona,  the  rudimentary  amniotic  folds  which  are 
formed  around  the  embryo  have  been  mechanically  caused  by  the 
rigid  zona  in  the  presence  pf  the  active  forces  of  growth.  If  we 
examine  the  mechanical  conditions  under  which  the  eggs  of  still 
higher  forms  are  placed,  we  will  find  the  same  reasoning  to  hold. 
We  are  thus,  it  seems,  obliged  to  conclude  that  the  amnion  in  all 
forms  has  arisen  in  consequence  of  the  forces  of  growth  resident 
in  the  embryo,  encountering  peripheral  and  external  resistance 
either  in  the  form  of  a  rigid  outer  eggr-shell,  zona  radiata  z,  or 
decidua  reflexa  dr^  or  even  the  walls  of  the  uterine  cavity 
itself,  supposing,  of  course,  that  a  large  vesicular  blastoderm  con- 
taining yolk  has  been  formed  by  epiboly. 

The  gap  between  the  truly  epicycmate  embryo,  as  seen  in 
Alosa,  and  the  endocyemate  embryo  of  the  Paratheria  and 
Eutheria  is,  therefore,  partly  bridged  by  the  presence  of  a  rudi- 
mentary amnion,  or  amniotic  folds  in  many  teleostean  embryos 
just  prior  to  their  escape  from  the  eggs,  or  where  the  zona  is 
ruptured.  When  this  occurs  the  amniotic  folds  vanish,  as  in  the 
embryos  of  many  of  the  Salmonidx,  for  example,  and  a  closed  amni- 


Digitized  by  VjOOQIC 


1886.}  Embryology.  i8i 

otic  sack  is  never  formed,  because,  in  the  first  place,  the  intra- oval 
period  of  development  does  not  last  long  enough ;  nor.in  the  second 
place,  is  it  possible,  owing  to  the  comparative  small  size  of  the 
yolk,  and  the  rapid  growth  of  the  embryo,  for  the  latter  to 
become  bodily  invaginated  into  the  blastodermic  vesicle,  which  is 
filled  with  yolk.  The  amniotic  folds  can,  therefore,  not  meet 
upon  the  middle  line  of  the  back,  and  coalesce,  as  they  do  in  the 
higher  endocyemate  forms.  The  development  of  a  transient 
amniotic  head-fold  of  greater  width  and  in  advance  of  the  side 
and  tail  folds,  is  also  prevented  by  the  absence  of  a  strongly 
marked  cranial  flexure  in  the  embr>'os  of  Teleosts. 

The  mechanical  effect  of  the  gradual  development  of  the  cranial 
flexure  in  exaggerating  the  development  of  the  amniotic  head- 
fold  in  the  Chordata,  will  be  best  appreciated  by  a  glance  at 
diagrams  i,  ii,  ni,  and  iv,  representing  respectively  the  brain  of  an 
acraniate,  a  marsipobranch,  an  elasmo- 
branch  and  a  mammal.     With  the  increase    ^  — =  1 

in  the  volume  and  area  of  the  cerebral 
cortex,  which  occurs  mainly  on  the  dorsal 
and  lateral  aspects  of  the  anterior  end  of 

the  neurula,  the  acceleration  of  growth  of       r^-— jjj. 

the  brain  substance  also  occurs  on  those  "    " 

aspects,  and  a  downward  flexure  of  the 
floor  of  the  brain  necessarily  takes  place. 
The  rapid  enlargement  of  the  cephalic 
end  of  the  embryo  of  an  endocyemate, 
eutherian  or  paratherian  form,  and  the  rapid 
or  precocious  development  of  the  cranial 
flexure,  would  naturally,  in  such  a  type,  tend  to  cause  the  amni- 
otic head*fold  to  be  developed  earlier  and  to  a  greater  extent 
than  the  tail-fold,  as  is  shown  in  Fig.  B^  at  a. 

In  the  eutherian  types,  with  inverted  germinal  layers,  an  amni- 
otic head-fold  of  the  kind  developed  in  normal  forms  is  never 
formed,  because  the  cavity  of  the  true  amnion  in  the  former  is 
developed  by  the  vacuolization  or  the  formation  of  a  cavity  or 
cavities  in  the  solid  epiblastic  mass,  and  not  by  invagination.  In 
the  Tracheates  possessing  an  amnion  there  is  no  cephalic  flexure, 
and  the  part  of  the  amnion  which  is  first  developed  in  the  most 
pronouneed  manner  is  often  the  tail- fold,  due  apparently  to  the 
ingrowth  of  the  caudal  end  of  the  embryo  into  an  involution  of 
the  blastoderm,  confined  in  a  rigid  egg-envelope,  the  involution 
being  thrust  into  the  yolk.  Later,  with  the  growth  and  encroach- 
ment of  the  head-end  of  the  embryo  upon  the  yolk,  the  abdomen  is 
again  everted  in  some  cases  from  its  amniotic  sack.  In  Petipatus 
edwardsu,  according  to  Von  Kennel,  cleavage  is  total,  the  devel- 
opment is  viviparous  and  intra-uterine,  a  hollow  blastula  is 
formed,  the  embryonic  area  at  one  pole  of  the  blastula  is  invagi- 
Dated  into  the  latter,  so  that  the  ventral  surface  of  tbe  embryo  is 


Digitized  by 


Google 


1 82  General  Notes.  [February, 

directed  towards  the  roof  of  the  amniotic  cavity,  the  reverse  of 
the  eutherian  embryo.  An  umbilical  stalk  is  also  formed,  which 
springs  from  the  dorsal  surface  of  the  embryo  and  passes  to  a 
partially  zonary  placenta,  disposed  in  relation  to  the  uterine  walls 
in  exactly  the  same  way  as  that  seen  in  the  embryo  of  Camivora. 
If  we  now  regard  the  dorsal  surface  of  the  embryo  of  Peripatus 
edwardsfi  as  homologous  with  the  ventral  surface  of  the  embryos 
of  Carnivora,  the  resemblance  between  the  modes  of  development 
of  these  two  types  becomes  still  more  startling.  While  it  is 
^lanifestly  absurd  to  even  attempt  to  suppose,  on  the  strength  of 
these  resemblances,  that  there  could  be  any  genetic  affiliation 
between  the  Carnivora  and  Malacopoda,  the  only  way  out  of  the 
difficulty  seems  to  be  to  suppose  that  the  similar  methods  of 
development  of  the  two  arose  in  response  to  the  similar  conditions 
which  environ  the  ovum  during  its  early  stages  of  growth. 

The  differences  between  Von  Kennel  and  Sedgwick,  as  to  the 
modes  of  development  of  P.  edwardsn  and  P,  capensis,  it  seems  to 
me,  may  be  readily  understood  and  reconciled  when  it  is  consid- 
ered that  the  first  is  holoblastic  and  endocyemate,  while  in  the 
latter  the  egg  is  meroblastic,  and  apparently  undergoes  an  epicy- 
emate  process  of  development 

All  the  data  in  the  foregoing  paragraphs  unequivocally  support 
the  thesis  that  the  amnion  has  been  developed  mainly  by  mechan- 
ical means  and  conditions. 

The  rigid  zona  of  the  epicyemate  teleostean  embryo,  as  shown 
in  Fig.  A,  in  which  the  yolk  j^  is  a  positive  quantity,  is  repre- 
sented by  the  maternal  envelope  dr  in  Fig.  B,  in  which  the  yolk, 
as  such,  is  absent  The  gap  between  the  condition  of  A  and  that 
of  the  types  with  apparently  inverted  germinal  layers,  so  complete- 
ly elucidated  by  Selenka,  is  a  wide  one ;  yet  it  seems  easy  to  pass 
from  the  primitive  condition  oi  A  to  that  of  the  extremest  form, 
viz,  the  guinea-pig;  if  the  rabbit,  mole  (Heape),  the  vole  (Kup- 
ffer),  and  the  mouse  and  rat  (Selenka),  are  considered  as  inter- 
mediary steps.  So  complete  or  extreme  has  been  the  invagination 
of  the  embryonic  mass  or  area  in  these  forms  that,  in  the  extrem- 
est type,  the  embryo  is  finally  developed  at  that  side  or  pole  of 
the  primitive  blastula  which  is  exactly  opposite  the  point  where 
the  blastodisk  was  originally  formed,  as  in  normal  Eutheria.  The 
way  in  which  this  is  accomplished  is  quite  remarkable,  Snd  may 
now  be  described,  as  the  process  is  a  special  modification  of  that 
by  means  of  which  the  usual  endocyemate  condition  is  brought 
about. 

Selenka  finds  that  there  is  an  outer  layer  of  cells,  ol^  Fig.  C, 
split  off  from  the  ectoblast,  as  first  described  by  Rauber,  in  the 
rabbit's  ovum,  and  which  take  no  direct  part  in  the  formation  of  the 
embryo.  He  also  finds  that  upon  the  further  growth  of  the 
ovum,  after  the  blastula  stage  is  reached  and  the  germinal  area  or 
disk  is  develpped,  the  blastula  rapidly  elongates  in  the  direc- 


Digitized  by 


Google 


1 886.]  hmbtyology.  183 

tion  of  the  diameter  extending  from  the  centre  of  the  blastodisk 
to  the  opposite  pole.     By  this  time  the  blastula  has  become 


adherent  to  the  uterine  epithelium  through  the  intermediation  of 
the  transitory  outer  layer  of  cells,  ol  {ReicherCsche  Decksckicht), 
already  mentioned,  but  the  constituent  cells  of  a  certain  portion  of 
this  outer  layer,  just  overlying  the  germinal  disk,  as  indicated  at  J, 
rapidly  proliferate,  so  as  to  form  a  lenticular  or  columnar  thick- 
ening or  mass,  constituting  what  Selenka  calls  the  Trdger,  a  term 
which  may  be  anglicized  by  the  word  suspensor.  This  suspensor 
immediately  overlies  and  pushes  the  germinal  area  or  mass  in- 
wards before  it,  down  into  the  hollow  cavity  of  the  blastula.  •  The 
germinal  area  is  either  pressed  inwards  into  the  hollow  blastula, 
so  that  it  assumes  a  concave  form  above,  with  a  cavity  between  it 
and  the  lower  surface  of  the  suspensor,  as  in  Arvicola,  or  the 
epiblast  forms  a  solid  mass,  before  which  the  hypoblast  is  pushed 
inwards  by  the  ingrowth  of  the  suspensor,  so  that  the  blastula 
assumes  the  form  of  an  elongated  sack,  as  in  the  ovum  of  the  rat 
or  the  guinea-pig. 

The  process  just  described  is  somewhat  similar  to  that  of  gas- 
trulation,  for  the  germinal  pole  of  the  blastula  is  pushed  down- 
ward into  the  sack  formed  by  the  hypoblast  and  outer  layer,  so 
that  the  embryo  is  finally  developed  quite  at  the  opposite  pole  of 
the  elongated  blastula,  as  in  the  guinea-pig.  The  steps  by  which 
the  mode  of  development  of  the  embryo  of  the  latter  came  to  be 
established  will  be  much  better  understood  by  reference  to  dia- 
grams C,  D,  E,  and  F,  representing  four  stages  of  the  develop- 
ment of  the  rat  copied  from  Selenka.^  In  these  figures  it  will  be 
obvious  to  the  reader  that  the  principal  result  of  the  precocious 
invagination  of  the  embryonic  area  is  to  throw  the  embryo  to  the 
opposite  pole  of  the  egg,  and  to  so  encroach  upon  the  cavity  of 
the  mesenteron,  the  umbilical  vesicle,  as  to  almost  obliterate  it,  as 
is  shown  in  Fig./^  The  embryo  E  is  also  bent  into  a  curve,  just 
the  reverse  of  that  shown  in  Fig.  A  The  coelomic  space  c  is  also 
more  restricted,  and  the  sinus  terminalis  i/,  in  Fig.  /%  seems  to 

^  Stttdien  (iber  Entwickelungsgeschichte  der  Thiere.  Drittes  Heft.  Die  Blfttter- 
amkehrung  im  £i  der  Nagethiere,  4to.     Wiesbadtn,  Kreidel,  18S4. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


184  General  Notes.  [February; 

terminate  towards  the  dorsal  pole  of  the  ovum  instead  of  the  ven- 
tral, as  in  Fig.  B. 

In  the  ovum  of  the% guinea-pig  the  obliteration  of  the  umbilical 
vesicle  y  is  carried  still  farther  than  in  Fig.  F^  because  the  hypo- 
blastic  layer  Ay,  next  to  the  layer  ol,  is  absent,  and  the  hypoblast 
lying  just  under  the  embryo  is  brought  into  immediate  contact 
with  the  layer  ol,  thus  giving  rise  to  the  illusion  that  a  complete 
inversion  of  the  primary  embryonic  layers  has  occurred.  I  say 
illusion,  because  there  has  been  no  actual  inversion  of  the  primary 
layers,  for  the  latter  haye  been  merely  shoved  to  the  opposite 
pole  of  the  eggs  into  contact  with  the  layer  oi^  where  embryonic 
development  has  proceeded  in  the  tuormal  way,  being  modified 
only  by  the  displacement  which  the  germinal  area  has  suffered  in 
relation  to  the  other  essential  parts  of  the  ovum.  It  is  as  if  the 
germinal  pole  of  the  blastodermic  vesicle  had  become  concave 
instead  of  convex,  and  collapsed  inwards  against  the  inside  of  its 
lower  pole,  the  walls  of  which  consist  of  the  hypoblast  of  the 
inferior  pole  of  the  umbilical  vesicle — mesenteron,  and  the 
outer  layer. 

The  difficulties  which  Balfour  speaks  of  have,  I  hope,  been 
satisfactorily  cleared  away  by  what  has  been  said  above,  and  a 
rational  and  connected  hypothesis  as  to  the  genesis  of  the  amnion 
firmly  established.  I  am  aware  that  many  objections  may  be 
urged  against  the  views  here  propounded,  but  I  cannot  think  that 
any  other  view  of  the  case  will  so  satisfactorily  reconcile  and 
coordinate  the  facts  involved.  To  those  who  take  a  philosophical 
view  of  such  subjects,  it  will  be  obvious  that  the  deductions  here 
reached  give  but  little  countenance  to  the  idea  that  amniotic  char- 
acters can  be  always  profitably  used  in  taxonomy,  at  least,  not 
until  the  forces  which  have  led  to  their  development  are  better 
understood.  On  the  theory  of  the  development  of  development, 
the  extreme  modification  of  the  amnion  of  some  of  the  Rodentia 
would  cause  the  latter  to  take  higher  rank  than  the  Primates, 
because,  as  shown  in  Fig.  /%  the  primary  amniotic  cavity  becomes 
divided,  and  a  relatively  large  false  amniotic  cavity/ remains  just 
under  the  suspensor  s,  and  shut  off  from  the  true  amniotic  cavity 
ac  by  the  intervening  serous  envelope  se,  the  coelomic  space  r,  and 
the  somatopleural  roof  of  ac.  Such  reasoning,  however,  is  obvi- 
ously not  legitimate  in  the  light  of  the  above  mechanical  hypoth- 
esis of  the  genesis  of  the  amnion. 

To  briefly  summarize,  we  find  that  the  first  traces  of  amniotic 
folds  met  with  in  the  embryos  of  the  lower  types  of  Chordata  are 
caused  by  the  resistance  from  without  offered  to  the  growth  of 
the  embryo  by  a  rigid  zona  radiata.  In  such  types  the  amniotic 
folds  are  transitory,  and  disappear  at  the  time  the  zona  is  ruptured. 
After  a  larger  yolk  has  been  acquired  the  embryo  undergoes  a 
longer  period  of  intra-oval  development,  so  that  the  period  of  the 
persistence  of  the  amniotic  folds,  produced  as  before,  is  prolonged. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


1886.)  Physiology.  iSj 

With  the  increase  in  the  size  of  the  embryo,  in  these  large- yollced 
forms,  it  is  finally  thrust  down  into  a  saccular  involution  of  the 
blastoderm,  the  lips  of  the  opening  of  which  meet  over  the  back 
of  the  embryo  where  they  coalesce,  the  outer  limb  of  the  duplica- 
ture  giving  rise  eventually  to  the  serous  envelope,  and  the  inner 
to  the  roof  of  the  amniotic  cavity.  In  those  types  which  have  the 
primary  layers  apparently  inverted,  the  rapid  ingrowth  of  the  sus- 
pensor  precociously  invaginates  the  germinal  area  inwards  before 
the  embryo  is  distinctly  developed,  so  that  it  is  not  formed  in  its 
usual  or  normal  position.  These  extreme  modifications  were  not 
possible  until  after  the  loss  of  the  food-yolk,  after  which  a  hollow 
blastodermic  vesicle  still  continued  to  develop,  filled  with  a  thin 
albuminous  or  serous  fluid  instead  of  a  dense  yolk  material.  The 
tendency  of  the  eutherian  ovum  to  form  a  large,  hollow  blasto- 
dermic vesicle  or  blastula  is  doubtless  an  inheritance  transmitted 
from  a  paratherian  source.  The  bodily  invagination  of  the  whole 
embryo,  and  the  more  or  less  complete  obliteration  of  the  cavity 
of  the  umbilical  vesicle  by  the  rapid  growth  of  the  enlarging 
amnion,  would  be  readily  accomplished  in  the  course  of  the 
development  of  the  eutherian  ovum. 

Explanations  of  the  Reference  Letters  Used  in  the  Figures. 
a  amniotic  head-fold,  a*  tail-fold,  ac  amniotic  cavity,  al  allantois,  c  coelomic  space 
or  continoation  of  body  cavity,  dr  decidua  reflexa  of  uterus,  E  embryo,  e  epiblast, 
/  cavity  of  false  amnion  {Jalsche  amnionhohU),  hy  hypoblast,  hy'  hypoblastic  outer 
wall  of  umbilical  vesicle,  m  mesoblast,  ol  outer  layer  (ReicherVsche  Deckzellen^  Deck" 
sthuhf)^  s  sospensor  (  TrSger),  se  serous  envelope,  so  muscular  somites,  sp  splanchno- 
pleure  (==the  periblast  in  Fig.  A)^  si  sinus  terminalis,  Y  yo.k,  with  4-  ^nd  —  signs  to 
indicate  its  presence  or  absence. 

—yohn  A,  Ryder. 
December  31, 1885. 

PHYSIOI-OaY.* 

The  Existenxe  of  two  kinds  of  Sensibility  toward  Light. 
— MNT.  Charpentier  and  Parinaud,  working  independently,  have 
concluded  that  visual  sensations  involve  two  distinct  kinds  of 
physiological  processes.  Sensations  of  one  kind  are  "  photesthe- 
tic "  and  involve  luminous  sensations  pure  and  simple,  merely 
discriminating  light  in  distinction  to  darkness.  The  other  sensa- 
tions are  truly  "  visual "  and  are  necessary  to  the  perception  of 
color,  of  form,  and  to  distinctness  of  vision.  The  first  kind  of 
sensation  is  supplied  by  the  excitement  of  the  rods  of  the  retina 
through  the  chemical  disintegration  of  the  "  visual  purple,"  which 
is  found  in  their  outer  segments.  The  power  of  giving  rise  to  the 
second  kind  of  sensations  is  confined  to  the  retinal  cones  which 
wholly  compose  the  bacillary  layer  of  the  fovea  centralis,  but 
which  relatively  decrease  in  number  with  reference  to  the  rods  as 
we  recede  from  this  area.  Parinaud  declares  that  the  increase 
of  sensibility  of  the  retina  to  small  differences  of  luminosity 
when  the  amount  of  objective  light  is  extremely  small  is  confined 

>  This  department  is  edited  by  Professor  Henry  Sew  all,  of  Ann  Arbor,  Michigan. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


i86  Genet  ai  Notes.  [February, 

to  the  area  outside  the  fovea  centralis.  This  increase  of  sensi- 
bility is  proportionately  greater  toward  the  more  refrangible  rays. 
This  fact  affects  the  tone  of  colors,  and  on  account  of  it  the  lumi- 
nosity of  (the  mpre  refrangible  ?)  colors  is  increased  at  the  expense 
of  their  saturation.  The  reader  may  be  reminded,  as  an  interest- 
ing confirmation  of  this  view  that,  when  alternate  circles,  painted 
blue  and  red,  are  looked  at  in  obscurity,  the  former  appear  lumi- 
nous and  the  latter  black.  Visual  purple  is  bleached  by  light  and 
is  regenerated  under  the  influence  of  the  pigmentary  layer  of  the 
retina  in  the  dark.  In  these  facts  we  have  an  explanation  of  the 
varied  sensibility  toward  light  of  different  intensities. — Comptes 
Rendus,  i88s,  p.  821, 

The  Circulation  in  Ganglion  Cells. — A  most  curious  dis- 
covery, if  it  be  confirmed,  is  that  announced  by  Adamkiewicz 
concerning  the  supply  of  blood  to  nerve  ganglion  cells.  In 
his  researches  on  the  blood-vessels  of  the  spinal  cord,  the  author 
found  that  the  richness  in  capillaries  was  directly  proportional  to 
the  number  of  nerve-cells.  His  more  special  investigations  of 
this  relation  were  made  on  the  intervertebral  ganglia  taken  from 
injected  animals.  The  nerve-cells  composing  these  ganglia  are 
each  inclosed  in  a  connective-tissue  capsule,  lined  by  flattened 
cells  and  having  two  tubular  prolongations  from  it.  The  nerve- 
cell  itself  is  inclosed  in  a  special  sac  of  fattened  cells  and  pos- 
sesses two  prolongations  which  reach  out  into  those  of  the 
surrounding  connective-tissue  capsule.  Between  the  latter  cap- 
sule and  the  cell  is  a  rather  roomy  space,  and  there  is  also  a  much 
narrower  one  between  ihe  substance  of  the  cell  and  its  own  epi- 
thelial covering.  The  arterial  blood  enters  by  an  afferent  vessel 
into  the  pericellular  space  and  leaves  it  by  a  much  narrower 
efferent  vessel.  The  blood  thus  surrounds  the  cell  under  pressure 
and  its  liquid  portions  pass  actively  by  osmosis  into  the  substance 
of  the  cell  itself,  in  the  centre  of  which  they  are  received  by  an 
empty  space.  This  empty  space  is  nothing  else  than  what  has  so 
long  been  regarded  as  the  nucleus  of  the  cell.  This  space  belongs 
to  the  venous  system  with  which  it  is  in  connection  by  a  minute 
vessel  having  its  own  proper  wall.  A  solid  body,  hitherto  called 
the  nucleolus,  is  suspended  fixed  in  the  centre  of  the  nuclear 
cavity. — Comptes  Rendus,  1885,  p.  826. 

Pasteur's  Method  for  the  Prevention  of  Hydrophobia. — 
In  the  Comptes  Rendus  for  October,  1885,  is  the  latest  report  of 
Pasteur's  experiments  upon  the  prophylaxis  of  hydrophobia.  The 
following  is  an  outline  of  his  procedure :  When  a  small  particle 
of  the  spinal  cord  of  a  dog  dead  from  rabies  {moelte  rabique)  is 
placed  under  the  dura  mater  of  a  rabbit  the  animal  always  falls 
a  victim  to  hydrophobia  after  a  period  of  incubation  which  lasts 
some  fifteen  days.  When  virus  from  the  first  rabbit  is  transferred 
in  the  same  way  to  a  second  and,  after  the  period  of  incubation  is 


Digitized  by 


Google 


1 886.]  Physiology.  187 

passed,  that  from  the  second  to  a  third  rabbit  and  so  on,  the  dura- 
tion of  the  period  of  incubation  becomes  more  and  more  reduced. 
After  the  successive  inoculation  of  twenty  to  twenty-five  rabbits, 
the  time  of  incubation  is  reduced  to  some  eight  days,  and  the 
incubation  period*  remains  of  this  length  throughout  a  further 
series  of  twenty  to  twenty-five  successive  inoculations ;  then  the 
time  of  incubation  is  shortened  to  seven  days,  which  is  maintained 
with  remarkable  regularity  throughout  a  new  series  of  ninety 
inoculations.  Pieces  of  the  spinal  cords  of  these  rabbits  induce 
hydrophobia  with  constant  virulence.  When  the  diseased  cord  . 
is  detached  from  a  rabbit  under  the  strictest  precautions  against 
contamination  by  impurities,  and  is  suspended  in  a  flask,  the  air 
of  which  is  kept  dry  by  caustic  potash  on  the  bottom,  its  viru- 
lence gradually  disappears  and  may  become  wholly  lost.  The 
virulence  fails  somewhat  more  slowly  the  larger  the  piece  of 
marrow  exposed,  and  is  preserved  longer  the  lower  the  tempera- 
ture. These  facts  being  established,  the  following  procedure 
proved  successful  in  rendering  dogs  resistant  to  the  influence  of 
inoculation  with  the  most  potent  virus.  Pieces  of  spinal  marrow 
from  rabbits  dead  of  hydrophobia  which  had  appeared  after  seven 
days'  incubation,  were  suspended  in  a  series  of  flasks  the  air  in 
which  was  maintained  dry.  As  stated  above,  the  virulence  of 
each  specimen  diminished  progressively  with  its  exposure.  Ster- 
ilized bouillon  was  inoculated  with  a  small  portion  of  cord  which 
had  been  exposed  for  such  a  time  that  the  loss  of  its  virulence  was 
certain,  and  a  small  syringe  full  was  injected  under  the  skin  of  a 
dog.  On  each  day  following  a  similar  operation  was  performed, 
using,  however,  at  each  injection,  spinal  cord  which  had  been 
exposed  for  a  shorter  time  and  which  possessed,  therefore,  pro- 
gressively increasing  virulence.  When  this  procedure  had  been 
repeated  until  the  dog  had  received  an  injection  of  virus  which 
had  been  exposed  to  dry  air  only  one  or  two  days,  the  animal 
was  found  to  be  perfectly  protected  against  hydrophobia,  and 
might  with  impunit>'  be  inoculated  with  the  strongest  virus. 
Fifty  dogs  were  thus  made  resistant  to  the  disease  without  a 
single  failure,  besides  which  a  number  were  successfully  inocu- 
lated after  having  been  bitten  by  rabid  animals.  A  child  which 
had  been  lacerated  by  a  mad  dog  two  days  before  and  whose 
wounds  had  been  cauterized  with  carbolic  acid  two  hours  after 
the  injury,  was  brought  to  Pasteur  for  treatment.  The  method 
pursued  was  similar  to  that  described,  and  the  final  inoculation 
was  with  virus  more  virulent  than  that  of  ordinary  rabies.  Three 
months  and  three  weeks  after  the  accident  the  child  was  still 
well.  Pasteur  explains  his  results  by  supposing  that  the  products 
formed  by  the  vital  activity  of  the  germs  of  the  disease  are  poison- 
ous to  the  germs  themselves.  These  products  are  gradually  set 
free  by  the  action  of  the  ''attenuated"  virus,  and  accumulate  in 
the  body  in  sufficient  quantities  to  render  the  development  of  the 
strongest  virus  impossible. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


1 88  General  Notes.  [February, 

PSYOHOLOGY. 

Sir  J.  Lubbock  on  the  Intelligence  of  the  Dog. — Before  a 
crowded  sitting  of  the  biological  section  of  the  British  Association » 
Sir  John  Lubbock  read  a  paper  in  which  he  gave  some  interesting 
notes  on  the  intelligence  of  the  dog.  The  man  and  the  dog,  he 
said,  have  lived  together  in  more  or  less  intimate  association  for 
many  thousands  of  years,  and  yet  it  must  be  confessed  that  they 
know  comparatively  little  of  one  another.  That  the  dog  is  a  loyal, 
true,  and  affectionate  friend  must  be  gratefully  admitted,  but  when 
we  come  to  consider  the  psychical  nature  of  the  animal,  the  limits 
of  our  knowledge  are  almost  immediately  reached.  I  have  else- 
where suggested  that  this  arises  very  much  from  the  fact  that 
hitherto  we  have  tried  to  teach  animals  rather  than  to  learn  from 
them — to  convey  our  ideas  to  them  rather  than  to  devise  any  lan- 
guage or  code  of  signals  by  means  of  which  they  might  commu- 
nicate theirs  to  us.  The  former  may  be  more  important  from  a 
utilitarian  point  of  view,  though  even  this  is  questionable,  but  psy- 
chologically it  is  far  less  interesting.  Under  these  circumstances, 
it  occured  to  me  whether  some  such  system  as  that  followed  with 
deaf-mutes,  and  especially  by  Dr.  Howe  with  Laura  Bridgman, 
might  not  prove  very  instructive  if  adapted  to  the  case  of  dogs. 
I  have  tried  this  in  a  small  way  with  a  black  poodle  named  Van. 
Ltook  two  pieces  of  card-board,  about  ten  inches  by  three  inches, 
and  on  one  of  them  printed  in  large  letters  the  word  "  food,"  leav- 
ing the  other  blank.  I  then  placed  two  cards  over  two  saucers, 
and  in  the  one  under  the  "  food"  card  put  a  little  bread  and  milk 
which  Van,  after  having  his  attention  called  to  the  card,  was  allowed 
to  eat.  This  was  repeated  over  and  over  again  till  he  had  had 
enough.  In  about  ten  days  he  began  to  distinguish  between  the 
two  cards.  I  then  put  them  on  the  floor  and  made  him  bring 
them  to  me,  which  he  did  readily  enough.  When  he  brought  the 
plain  card  I  simply  threw  it  back,  while  when  he  brought  the 
**  food"  card  I  gave  him  a  piece  of  bread,  and  in  about  a  month 
he  had  pretty  well  learned  to  realize  the  difference.  I  then  had 
some  other  cards  printed  with  the  words  "  out,"  *'  tea,"  '*  bone," 
"  water,"  spelt  phonetically  so  as  not  to  trouble  him  by  our  intri- 
•  cate  spelling,  and  a  certain  number  also  with  words  to  which  I 
did  not  intend  him  to  attach  any  significance,  such  as  "nought," 
"  plain,"  "  ball,"  &c.  Van  soon  learnt  that  bringing  a  card  was 
a  request,  and  soon  learned  to  distinguish  between  the  plain  and 
printed  cards  ;  it  took  him  longer  to  realize  the  difference  between 
words,  but  he  gradually  got  to  recognize  several,  such  as  food, 
out,  bone,  tea,  &c.  If  he  was  asked  whether  he  would  like  to  go 
out  for  a  walk,  he  would  joyfully  fish  up  the  "  out "  card,  choosing 
it  from  several  others  and  bring  it  to  me,  or  run  with  it  in  evident 
triumph  to  the  door.  I  need  hardly  say  that  the  cards  were  not 
always  put  in  the  same  places.  They  were  varied  quite  indis- 
criminately and  in  a  great  variety  of  positions.     Nor  could  the 


Digitized  by 


Google 


I886.]  Psychology.  i80 

dog  recognize  them  by  scent.  They  were  all  alike,  and  all  con- 
tinually handled  by  us.  Still  I  did  not  trust  to  that  alone,  but  had 
a  number  printed  for  each  word.  When  for  instance,  he  brought 
a  card  with  "food  "  on  it,  we  did  not  put  down  the  same  identical 
card,  but  another  bearing  the  same  word  ;  when  he  had  brought 
that  a  third,  then  a  fourth,  and  so  on.  For  a  single  meal,  there- 
fore, eighteen  or  twenty  cards  would  be  used,  so  that  he  evidently 
is  not  guided  by  sceiit.  No  one  who  has  seen  him  look  down  a 
row  of  cards  and  pick  up  the  one  he  wanted  could,  I  think,  doubt 
that  in  bringing  a  card  he  feels  he  is  making  a  request,  and  that 
he  can  not  only  distinguish  one  card  from  another,  but  also  asso- 
ciate the  word  and  the  object.  This  is,  of  course,  only  a  begin- 
ning, but  it  is,  I  venture  to  think,  suggestive,  and  might  be  car- 
ried further,  though  the  limited  wants  and  aspirations  of  the 
animals  constitute  a  great  difficulty.  My  wife  has  a  very  beautiful 
and  charming  collie,  Patience,  to  which  we  are  much  attached. 
This  dog  was  often  in  the  room  when  Van  brought  the  "  food  " 
card,  and  was  rewarded  with  a  piece  of  bread.  She  must  have 
seen  this  thousands  of  times,  and  she  begged  in  the  usual  manner, 
but  never  once  did  it  occur  to  her  to  bring  a  card.  She  did  not 
touch  or  indeed  even  take  the  silghtest  notice  of  them.  I  then 
tried  the  following  experiment :  \  prepared  six  cards  about  ten 
inches  by  three  inches,  and  colored  in  pairs — ^two  yellow,  two 
blue,  two  orange.  I  put  three  of  them  on  the  floor,  and  then 
holding  up  one  pf  the  others,  endeavored  to  teach  Van  to  bring 
me  the  duplicate.  That  is  to  say  that  if  the  blue  was  held  up,  he 
should  fetch  the  corresponding  color  from  the  floor;  if  yellow,  he 
should  fetch  the  yellow,  and  so  on.  When  he  brought  the  wrong 
card  he  was  made  to  drop  it,  and  return  for  another  till  he  brought 
the  right  one,  when  he  was  rewarded  with  a  little  food.  The  les- 
sons were  generally  given  by  my  assistant.  Miss  Wendland,  and 
lasted  half  an  hour,  during  which  time  he  brought  the  right  card 
on  an  average  about  twenty-five  times.  I  certainly  thought  that 
he  would  soon  have  grasped  what  was  expected  of  him.  But  no. 
We  continued  the  lessons  for  nearly  three  months,  butf  as  a  few 
days  were  missed,  we  may  say  ten  weeks,  and  yet  at  the  end  of 
the  time  I  cannot  say  that  Van  appeared  to  have  the  least  idea 
what  was  expected  of  him.  It  seemed  a  matter  of  pure  accident 
which  card  he  brought.  There  is,  I  believe,  no  reason  to  doubt 
that  dogs  can  distinguish  colors ;  but  as  it  was  just  possible  that  Van 
might  be  color  blind,  we  then  repeated  the  same  experiment,  only 
substituting  for  the  colored  cards  others  marked  repectively  I,  II 
and  III.  This  we  continued  for  another  three  months,  or  say,  allow- 
ing for  intermission,  ten  weeks,  but  to  my  surprise  entirely  without 
success.  I  was  rather  disappointed  at  this,  as,  if  it  had  succeeded, 
the  plan  would  have  opened  out  many  interesting  lines  of  inquiry. 
Still,  in  such  a  case,  one  ought  not  to  wish  for  one  result  more 
than  another,  as  of  course  the  object  of  all  such  experiments  is 


Digitized  by 


Google 


igo  Genet  al  Notes.  [  February, 

merely  to  elicit  the  truth,  and  our  result  in  the  present  case, 
though  negative,  is  very  interesting.  I  do  not,  however,  regard 
it  as  by  any  means  conclusive,  and  should  be  glad  to  see  it  re- 
peated. If  the  result  proved  to  be  the  same,  it  would  certainly 
imply  very  little  power  of  combining  even  extremely  simple  ideas. 
I  then  endeavored  to  get  some  insight  into  the  arithmetical  condi- 
tion of  the  dog's  mind.  On  this  subject  I  have  been  able  to  find 
but  little  in  any  of  the  standard  works  on  the*  intelligence  of  ani- 
mals. Considering,  however,  the  very  limited  powers  of  savage 
men  in  this  respect — that  no  Australian  language,  for  instance, 
contains  numerals  even  up  to  four,  no  Australian  being  able  to 
count  his  own  fingers  even  on  one  hand — we  cannot  be  surprised 
if  other  animals  have  made  but  little  progress.  Still,  it  is  surpris- 
ing that  so  little  attention  should  have  been  directed  to  this  sub- 
ject. Leroy,  who,  though  he  expresses  the  opinion  that  "  the  na- 
ture of  the  soul  of  animals  is  unimportant,"  was  an  excellent 
observer,  mentions  a  case  in  which  a  man  was  anxious  to  shoot  a 
crow.  "  To  deceive  this  suspicious  bird,  the  plan  was  hit  upon  of 
sending  two  men  to  the  wash-house,  one  of  whom  passed  on, 
while  the  other  remained ;  but  the  crow  counted  and  kept  her  dis- 
tance. The  next  day  three  went,  and  again  she  perceived  that 
only  two  retired.  In  fine,  it  was  found  necessary  to  send  five  or 
six  men  to  the  watch-house  to  put  her  out  in  her  calculation. 
The  crow,  thinking  that  this  number  of  men  had  passed  by,  lost 
no  time  in  returning."  From  this  he  inferred  that  crows  could 
count  up  to  four.  Lichtenberg  mentioned  a  nightingale  which 
was  said  to  count  up  to  three.  Every  day  he  gave  it  three  meal- 
worms, one  at  a  time ;  when  it  had  finished  one  it  returned  for 
another,  but  after  the  third  it  knew  that  the  feast  was  over.  I  do 
not  find  that  any  of  the  recent  works  on  the  intelligence  of  ani- 
mals, either  Buchner,  or  Peitz  or  Romanes  in  either  of  his  books, 
give  any  additional  evidence  on  this  part  of  the  subject.  There  are 
however  various  scattered  notices.  There  is  an  amusing  and  sug- 
gestive remark  in  Mr.  Galton's  interesting  Narrative  of  an  Explorer 
in  Tropical  South  Africa.  After  describing  the  Damara's  weak- 
ness in  calculations,  he  says :  ''  Once  while  I  watched  a  Damara 
floundering  hopelessly  in  a  calculation  on  one  side  of  me,  I 
observed  Dinah,  my  spaniel,  equally  embarrassed  on  the  other ; 
she  was  overlooking  half  a  dozen  of  her  new-born  puppies, 
which  had  been  removed  two  or  three  times  from  her,  and 
her  anxiety  was  excessive,  as  she  tried  to  find  out  if  they  were 
all  present,  or  if  any  were  still  missing.  She  kept  puzzling 
and  running  her  eyes  over  them  backwards  and  forwards,  but 
could  not  satisfy  herself.  She  evidently  had  a  vague  notion  of 
counting,  but  the  figure  was  too  large  for  her  brain.  Taking  the 
two  as  they  stood,  dog  and  Damara,  the  comparison  reflected  no 
great  honor  on  the  man."  But  even  if  Dinah  had  been  clear  on 
this  subject,  it  might  be  said  that  she  knew  each  puppy  personal- 


Digitized  by 


Google 


i886.]  Psychology.  191 

ly,  as  collies  are  said  to  know  sheep.    The  same  remark  applies 
generally  to  animals  and  their  young.     Swans,  for  instance,  are 
said  to  know  directly  if  one  of  their  cygnets  is  missing,  but  it  is 
probable  that  they  know  each  young  bird  individually.    This  ex- 
planation applies  with  less  force  to  the  case  of  eggs.    According  to 
my  bird-nesting  recollections,  which  I  have  refreshed  by  more 
recent  experience,  if  a  nest  contains  four  eggs,  one  may  safely  be 
taken ;  but  if  two  are  removed,  the  bird  generally  deserts.     Here 
then,  it  would  seem  as  if  we  had  some  reason  for  supposing  that 
there  is  sufficient  intelligence  to  distinguish  three  from  four.     An 
interesting  consideration  rises  with  reference  to  the  number  of  the 
victims  allotted  to  each  cell  by  the  solitary  wasps.    Ammophila 
considers  one  large  caterpillar  of  Noctura  segetum  enough  ;  one 
species  of  Eumenes  supplies  its  young  with  five  victims ;  another 
ten,  fifteen,  and  even  up  to  twenty-four.    The  number  appears  to 
be  constant  in  each  species.     How  does  the  insect  know  when 
her  task  is  fulfilled?     Not  by  the  cell  being  filled,  for  if  some  be 
removed  she  does  not  replace  them.     When  she  has  brought  her 
complement  she  considers  her  task  accomplished,  whether  the 
victims  are  still  there  or  not.     How  then  does  she  know  when 
she  has  made  up  the  number  twenty-four?     Perhaps  it  will  be 
said  that  each  species  feels  some  mysterious  and  innate  tendency 
to  provide  a  certain  number  of  victims.    This  would  under  no 
circumstances  be  any  explanation,  but  it  is  not  in  accordance  with 
the  facts.     In  the  genus  (Eumenes)  the  males  are  much  .smaller 
than  the  females.     Now,  in  the  hive  bees,  humble-bees,  wasps,  and 
other  insects,  where  such  a  difference  occurs,  but  where  the  young 
are  directly  fed,  it  is  of  course  obvious  that  the  quantity  can  be 
proportioned  to  the  appetite  of  the  grub.     But  in  insects  with  the 
habits  of  Eumenes  and  Ammophila  the  case  is  different,  because 
the  food  is  stored  up  once  for  all.    Now,  it  is  evident  that  if  a 
female  grub  was  supplied  with  only  food  enough  for  a  male,  she 
would  starve  to  death ;  while  if  a  male  grub  were  given  enough 
for  a  female  it  would  have  too  much.     No  such  waste,  however, 
occurs.     In  some  mysterious  manner  the  mother  knows  whether 
the  eggs  will  produce  a  male  or  female  grub,  and  apportions  the 
quantity  of  food  accordingly.     She  does  not  change  the  species 
or  size  of  her  prey ;  but  if  the  egg  is  male  she  supplies  five,  if 
female  ten,  victims.     Does  she  count  ?     Certainly  this  seems  very 
like  a  commencement  of  arithmetic.     At  the  same  time  it  would 
be  very  desirable  to  have  additional  evidence  how  far  the  number 
is  really  constant     Considering  how  much  has  been  written  on 
instinct,  it  seems  surprising  that  so  little  attention  has  been  di- 
rected to  this  part  of  the  subject.     One  would  fancy  that  there 
ought  to  be  no  great  difficulty  in  determining  how  far  an  animal 
could  count;  and  whether,  for  instance,  it  could  realize  some  very 
simple  sum,  such  as  that  two  and  two  make  four.     But  when  we 
come  to  consider  how  this  is  to  be  done,  the  problem  ceases  to 


Digitized  by 


Google 


192  General  Notes.  [  February, 

appear  so  simple.  We  tried  our  dogs  by  putting  a  piece  of  bread 
before  them  and  prevented  them  from  touching  it  until  we  had 
counted  seven.  To  prevent  ourselves  from  unintentionally  giving 
any  indication,  we  used  a  metronome  (the  instrument  used  for 
giving  time  when  practicing  the  pianoforte),  and  to  make  the  beats 
more  evident  we  attached  a  slender  rod  to  the  pendulum.  It 
certainly  seemed  as  if  our  dogs  knew  when  the  moment  of  per- 
mission had  arrived ;  but  their  movement  of  taking  the  bread  was 
scarcely  so  definite  as  to  place  the  matter  beyond  a  doubt.  More- 
over, dogs  are  so  very  quick  in  seizing  any  indication  given  them, 
even  unintentionally,  that,  on  the  whole,  the  attempt  was  not  sat- 
isfactory to  my  mind.  I  was  the  more  discouraged  from  continu- 
ing the  experiment  in  this  manner  by  an  account  Mr.  Huggins 
gave  me  of  a  very  intelligent  dog  belonging  to  him.  A  number 
of  cards  were  placed  on  the  ground  numbered  respectively  i,  2, 
3,  and  so  on  up  to  10.  A  question  is  then  asked:  the  square 
root  of  9  or  16,  or  such  a  sum  as  6  X  52-3.  Mr.  Huggins  pointed 
consecutively  to  the  cards,  and  the  dog  barked  when  he  came  to 
the  right  one.  Now  Mr.  Huggins  did  not  consciously  give  the 
dog  any  sign,  yet  so  quick  was  the  dog  in  seizing  the  sh'ghtest 
indication  that  he  was  able  to  give  the  correct  answer.  This  ob- 
servation seems  to  me  of  great  interest  in  connection  with  the  so- 
called  "  thought  reading."  No  one,  I  suppose,  will  imagine  that 
there  was  in  this  case  any  "thought  reading"  in  the  sense  in 
which  this  word  is  used  by  Mr.  Bishop  and  others.  Evidently 
"  Kepler  "  seized  upon  the  slight  indication  unintentionally  given 
by  Mr.  Huggins.  The  observation,  however,  shows  the  great 
difficulty  of  the  subject. 

I  have  ventured  to  bring  this  question  before  the  section, 
partly  because  I  shall  be  so  much  obliged  if  any  lady  or  gentle- 
man present  will  favor  me  with  any  suggestions,  and'partly  in  hope 
of  inducing  others  with  more  leisure  and  opportunity  to  carry 
on  similar  observations,  which  I  cannot  but  think  must  lead  to 
interesting  results. — English  Mechanic, 

ANTHROPOIiOQY.  ^ 

Some  Moot  Points  in  American  Archaeology. — American 
archaeological  science,  though  continuously  gathering  strength, 
is,  nevertheless,  in  a  sense  still  far  from  manly  development  There 
are  celebrated  institutions  guarding  with  jealous  care  objects  of 
inestimable  worth ;  preeminent  among  these,  the  American  Anti- 
quarian Society  (to  commence  with  the  oldest),  the  Smithsonian 
Institution,  the  Peabody  Museum,  the  American  Museum  of 
Natural  History,  the  Davenport  Academy  of  Sciences,  as  well  as 
those  at  Crncinnati  and  St.  Louis;  there  are  smaller  institutions 
whose  collections  are  of  almost  equal  value  to  those  above  men- 
tioned, and  private  museums  filled  with  the  richest  material. 
1  Edited  by  Prof.  Otis  T.  Mason,  National  Museum,  Washington,  D.  C. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


1 886. 1  Anthropology.  193 

In  the  first  place,  though  these  institutions  are  presided  over  by 
men  of  great  abih'ty,  there  is  a  deplorable  lack  of  mutual  under- 
standing and  uniformity  of  method  among  them.  There  should  be 
between  those  who  hold  in  trust  such  vast  treasures  a  better 
scientific  method,  a  more  wholesome  comity  of  intercourse.  In 
short,  before  we  draw  inferences  we  should  know  what  and  what 
kind  of  material  we  have  in  hand. 

In  the  second  place,  investigations  have  been  so  increasingly 
fraught  with  grand  results  that  some  of  the  first  efforts  are  likely 
to  be  ignored  or  forgotten.  There  are  some  points  in  the  history 
of  Squier's  and  Davis'  work  that  have  been  misunderstood,  and  as 
the  venerable  authors  are  yet  living  it  would  seem  a  grateful 
tribute  to  bear  them  in  mind.  The  earliest  explorations  of  any 
great  importance  in  the  tumuli  of  the  Ohio  valley  were  made  by 
Dr.  Davis,  who  commenced  a  series  of  mound  excavations  while 
a  student  in  Kenyon  College  from  i82p  to  1833.  The  result  of 
this  first  effort  was  published  in  some  of  the  college   papers. 

Subsequently,  Dr.  Davis  removed  to  Chilicothe,  in  the  Scioto 
valley,  celebrated  for  its  earthworks.  Here  he  laid  out  his  plans 
for  the  great  work  which  will  forever  be  associated  with  his  name. 

After  ten  years  of  digging,  plotting,  mapping,  and  collecting, 
Dr.  Davis  was  associated  with  Mr.  Squier,  and  the  fruit  of  their 
joint  labors  is  the  first  Smithsonian  contribution  to  knowledge, 
entitled  "  Ancient  Monuments  of  the  Mississippi  Valley."  When 
these  first  discoveries  were  made,  comparatively  little  interest 
was  manifested  in  American  archaeology.  The  objects  recovered 
by  the  explorations  of  Squier  and  Davis,  instead  of  remaining 
at  home,  were  allowed  to  go  abroad  for  want  of  a  purchaser  here. 
No  one  series  of  efforts  since  made  approaches  the  latter  in  its 
detail  and  great  results. 

Recently  the  accuracy  of  the  work  done  by  Squier  and  Davis 
has  been  challenged,  and  this  brings  us  to  another  phase  of  the 
question.  Fully  realizing  the  importance  of  criticism  at  any  and 
all  times,  we  still  hold  that  a  very  important  matter  has  been 
overlooked ;  it  is  this :  The  works  of  the  mound-builders  of  a 
particular  character  or  grade  have  not  been  compared  with  works 
of  the  same  grade  by  their  successors.  If  some  of  the  best  pro- 
ductions of  artistic  handicraft  of  the  present  Indians  be  compared 
with  objects  of  a  similar  nature  taken  from  the  mounds  it  is  more 
than  doubtful  if  the  superiority  of  the  latter-day  Indians  can  be 
substantiated.  Generally  woodcuts  are  published  in  this  con- 
nection to  show  the  low  condition  of  the  mound-builders'  art. 
The  cuts  are  copies  of  casts  taken  from  inferior  examples. 
Not  one  of  the  fine  examples  of  mound- builders*  work  in  hard 
stone  has  been  figured  in  these  comparisons.  A  few  of  the  choicest 
specimens  of  this  art  are  now  in  the  possession  of  the  Museum 
of  Natural  History,  New  York ;  others  may  be  seen  in  almost 
every  good  cabinet  in  the  country. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


194  General  Notes.  [February, 

Now  it  is  not  a  question  of  argument,  but  one  of  things.  It  is 
an  easy  matter  to  place  things  side  by  side,  and  there  would  be 
no  question  whatever  of  the  superiority  of  mound-builders'  work 
over  that  of  every  tribe  known  in  historic  times  any  where  near 
the  area  occupied  by  them. 

The  pipes  and  other  objects  in  hard  stone  should  be  compared 
not  with  pipes  in  catlinite  and  soapstone,  but  with  objects  in  the 
same  material. 

The  same  is  true  of  pottery.  If  we  select  from  any  or  every 
collection  the  best  evidences  of  form  and  finish  and  place  by  the 
side  of  them  the  best  specimens  of  modern  work  by  any  tribe  east 
of  the  Mississippi  river  there  is  a  hopeless  falling  off. 

Now  it  is  but  fair  to  infer  that  the  people  who  so  skilfully 
wrought  in  the  hardest  quartz,  who  made  pottery  in  every  way 
equal  to  that  of  the  Pueblos,  were  not 'in  the  same  grade  as  the 
tented  savages  whom  our  ancestors  found  upon  our  territory. 

But  the  great,  complicated  earthworks  of  the  mound-builders, 
so  faithfully  examined  and  reported  by  the  old  explorers,  furnish 
the  most  important  evidence  of  their  superiority  to  their  successors. 
It  is  true  the  southern  Indians  built  mounds;  but  does  any  one 
seriously  compare  the  works  of  the  Natchez  and  Muskoki  tribes 
with  those  of  the  mound- builders  ?  The  Iroquois  made  stockades 
and  enclosures,  and  Mr.  Morgan  argued  thence  the  works  in  Ohio 
were  precisely  similar  in  function.     But  this  opinion  cannot  stand. 

In  conclusion,  we  desire  to  emphasize  the  importance  of  that 
pioneer  work,  so  extended  and  so  valuable  to  science.  There 
are  not  many  examples  of  such  unselfish  devotion.  More  than 
one  hundred  mounds  were  carefully  opened,  their  contents  gathered 
and  arranged,  over  five  hundred  embankments  and  fortifications 
visited  and  surveyed  in  five  States,  the  expense  being  borne 
by  Dr.  Davis.  The  magnitude  and  completeness  of  all  this  can 
only  be  appreciated  by  examination  of  "Ancient  Monuments,"  and 
of  the  treasures  collected,  now  in  Blackmore  Museum,  London. — 
/.  B,  Holder. 

An  important  Contribution  to  Californian  Folk-lore,  lin- 
guistics and  tribal  topography  is  contained  in  the  Bulletin  of  the 
Essex  Institute  of  Salem,  Mass.  Nos.  1-3  of  Vol.  xvii  (1885), 
PP-  33i  ^"d  one  plate.  The  author,  Hugo  Ried,  wrote  a  series  of 
letters  from  San  Gabriel  Mission  to  Mr.  Coronel  of  Los  Angeles, 
in  1852,  concerning  the  Indians  among  whom  he  lived  at  the 
mission  buildings.  Twelve  of  these  letters  were  published  by 
Dr.  W.  J.  Hoffman  in  the  above  periodical,  together  with  copious 
notes  of  his  own  and  drawings  of  the  implements  described  in 
the  letters.  The  subjects  referred  to  are  births,  burials,  food, 
medicine,  diseases,  sports  and  games,  myths  and  legends,  etc.,  all 
of  which  form  interesting  parallels  to  Father  Boscana's  Chirig- 
chinich  (in  Robinson's  Life  in  California,  1846).  The  first  letter 
gives  the  Indian  equivalents  to  the  names  of  towns,  harbors  and 


Digitized  by 


Google 


1 886.]  Anthropology.  1 95 

rancherias  of  the  surrounding  country ;  in  letters  2,  3  and  4  are 
contained  vocables,  paradigms  and  the  like  of  the  San  Gabriel 
language,  which  belongs  to  the  Shoshondan  family  and  ha5^  been 
variously  termed  Kish  ("houses'*),  Tobikhar  and  San  Gabriel 
dialect. — A,  S.  Gaischet 

KiCHE  Grammar. — A  short  abstract  of  a  Kiche  grammar  in 
Spanish,  dated  Santa  Clara,  Dec.  6,  1842,  and  composed  by  L. 
Aleman  (pp.  26,  8vo),  was  sent  by  A.  Blomme  to  the  Congress 
of  Americanists  at  Copenhagen  (1883).  The  revises  came  in  at 
so  late  a  day  that  this  elementary  grammar  could  not  be  inserted 
in  the  Compte- rendu  of  that  session,  but  the  secretary  ordered  it 
to  be  struck  off  in  a  separate  edition,  a  copy  of  which  is  before 
us.  Mr.  Blomme  has  given  an  historical  account  of  the  manu- 
script in  the  Compte-rendu,  page  365.  The  grammar  is  written 
entirely  in  the  old-fashioned  way  of  the  seventeenth  and  eighteenth 
centuries,  when  every  missionary  was  sure  to  find  the  classifica- 
tions and  grammatic  categories  of  Latin  in  any  Indian  language 
whatsoever.  Aleman's  Kiche  cases  of  the  noun,  dative,  ablative, 
etc.,  are  simply  postpositions  connected  with  a  noun ;  the  verb 
£oh  is  regarded  as  identical  with  the  verb  substantive,  and  a  "  sub- 
junctive "  is  found  to  occur  through  all  the  tense-forms  of  this 
Guatemaltec  language. — A.  S.  GatscheL 

The  Anthropological  Society  of  Washington,  founded  in 
1879  by  Dr.  J.  M.  Toner,  Professor  Otis  T.  Mason  and  Col.  Gar- 
rick  Mallery,  has  just  published  its  third  volume  of  Transactions, 
extending  from  Nov.  6,  1883,  to  May  19,  1885.  Among  the 
papers  included  are  the  following,  reported  in  full : 

The  Smithsonian  anthropological  collections  for  1883.    By  Albeit  Niblack. 

Discontinnities  in  nature's  method.    By  H.  H.  Bates. 

Elements  in  modem  civilization.     By  J.  M.  Gregory. 

Eridences  of  the  antiquity  of  man  on  the  site  of  the  City  of  Mexico.    By  Wm.  H 

Holmes. 
How  the  problems  of  American  anthropology  present  themselves  to  the  English 

mind.    By  E.  B.  Tylor. 
The  Eskimo  of  Baffin  land.    By  Franz  Boas. 
Seal  catching  at  Point  Barrow.    By  John  Murdoch. 

On  the  probable  nationality  of  the  mound.builders.    By  Daniel  G.  Brinton. 
Moral  and  material  progress  contrasted.    By  Lester  F.  Ward. 
The  genesis  of  invention.    By  F.  A.  Scely. 
Sinew.backed  bow  of  the  Eskimo.    By  John  Murdoch. 
From  savagexy  to  barbarism.    Address  by  J.  W.  Powell,  president. 

Papers  by  Messrs.  Kengla,  Dorsey,  Holmes,  Blodgett,  Thomas, 
Ward, Thompson,  C3rallaudet,  Burnett,  Reynolds,  Howitt,  Mindeleff, 
Matthews,  Henshaw,  Stevenson  and  Gatschet  are  given  in  abstract, 
but,  as  they  will  be  published  elsewhere  in  full,  no  mention  of 
their  contents  will  be  made  here. 

Mr.  Bates  draws  attention  to  the  seeming  chasms  in  nature,  such 


Digitized  by 


Google 


igfi  General  Notes.  [February, 

as  the  passage  from  inorganic  to  organic  life,  from  invertebrate  to 
vertebrate,  the  introduction  of  the  Mammalia,  and  followed  the 
question  into  anthropology,  noticing  such  breaks  as  the  advent  of 
man,  and  the  phenomena  of  the  inventive  faculty. 

Dr.  Gregory  discusses  the  phenomena  of  civilization  from  the 
side  of  human  wants. 

Mr.  Holmes,  during  a  visit  to  Mexico,  had  the  good  fortune  to 
witness  the  making  of  a  railroad  cut  and  other  excavations  which 
revealed  three  periods — the  ancient,  the  Aztec  and  the  modern. 

Mr.  Tylor's  delightful  address  has  already  appeared  in  Science. 

Dr.  Boas  spent  more  than  a  year  in  Baffin  land  among  the  Es- 
kimo visited  by  Capt.  Hall  and  gave  a  sketch  of  the  geography 
and  ethnology  of  this  region. 

Mr.  John  Murdoch,  for  three  years  attached  to  the  signal  ser- 
vice at  Point  Barrow,  Alaska,  described  the  varied  uses  of  the 
seal  and  the  methods  of  capture  with  the  retrieving  harpoon,  with 
the  una  harpoon  and  with  the  net,  the  most  ingenious  plan  of 
all. 

Dr.  Brinton's  short  paper  refers  to  the  connection  of  the  mound- 
builders  with  the  Shawnees. 

Professor  Ward  draws  attention  to  the  disharmony  between 
material  progress,  or  the  accumulation  of  the  means  of  happiness, 
and  moral  progress,  or  the  ability  to  adapt  these  means  to  human 
well-being. 

Colonel  Seely  presented  an  elaborate  argument  to  show  the 
application  of  modern  methods  of  examining  inventions  to  the 
early  inventions  of  our  race.  The  term  eurematics  was  intro- 
duced for  the  study  of  the  processes  of  invention  in  all  human 
activities. 

Major  Powell's  address  was  an  elaborate  analysis  of  culture  or 
the  humanities  into  arts,  institutions,  languages,  opinions  and  in* 
tellections,  and  the  discussion  of  the  three  great  culture  stages, 
savagery,  barbarism  and  civilization,  in  relation  to  these  foritis  of 
activities. 

Ethnology  of  Borneo. — Everybody  has  heard  of  Professor 
Ward,  of  Rochester.  Well,  in  1876  he  sent  Mr.  Wm.  T.  Horna- 
day  to  the  East  Indies  equipped  as  a  collector.  This  journey 
accomplished,  after  two  years  of  wandering,  the  explorer  returned 
to  active  work  in  his  profession.  He  has  found  leisure,  however, 
to  write  one  of  the  most  charming  books  of  travels  in  India  and 
Malaysia  it  has  been  our  privilege  to  read.  In  this  volume.  Two 
Years  in  the  Jungle,  will  be  found  excellent  notes  on  the  peoples 
of  India  and  a  thorough  study  of  the  people  of  Borneo. 

The  Dyaks  are  thus  divided  : 

Kyans.    All  of  the  center  and  coming  to  the  coast  along  the  middle  of  the  north- 

east  shore. 
Hill  Dyaks.     Uplands  of  north-west  comer  back  of  Sarawak. 
Sea  Dyaks.     Uplands  and  coast  east  of  Hill  Dyaks. 
Mongol  Dyaks.     Away  from  the  coast  in  the  entire  north-east  region. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


1886.1 


Anthropology. 


197 


The  entire  coast  on  the  south-east  and  south-west  side  is  left 
undescribed. 
The  tribes  are  as  follows  : 


Kyans. 

Hill  Dyaks. 

Mongol  Dyaks. 

I.  Kyans  proper. 

I.  Serambo. 

I.  Ida'an. 

(Baram,  Rejang.) 

2.  Singgei. 

2.  Kadydtt. 

2.  Milanans. 

3.  Sentah. 

3.  Murut. 

3.  Kanowit. 

4.  Selcnkau. 

4.  Bisaya« 

4.  Ukil. 

5.  Lara. 

5.  BakaUn. 

6.  Bttkar. 

6.  Kiniahs. 

7.  Engkroh. 

7.  Skapan. 

8.  Engrat. 

8.  Maloh. 

9.  Milikin. 

9.  Sibaru. 

10.  Sou. 

10.  Jankang. 

II.  Brang. 

II.  Behaa. 

12.  Sabungo. 

12.  l^ng  Wai. 

13.  Sinar. 

13.  Long  Wahoe. 

Sea  Dyaks. 

14.  Modang. 

I.  Seribas. 

15.  Tandjoeng. 

2.  Saukarran. 

16.  Saghai. 

3.  Ballow. 

17.  Eng'  aya. 

4.  Sibuyaa. 

18.  Tring- 

5.  Batang  Ayer. 

19.  Kahajang. 

6.  Lamanak. 

20.  Orang  fiukkit. 

7.  Bugau. 

21.  Panan. 

8.  Kantu. 

The  Eskimo  of  Point  Barrow. — ^The  hyperborean  peoples  of 
America  are  usually  called  Eskimo  without  reference  to  the  lo- 
cality where  they  are  found,  but  there  are  Eskemo  and  Eskimo. 
For  classification  I  find  it  convenient  to  divide  their  habitat  as  fol- 
lows : 


1.  Greenland. 

2.  Labrador  and  Ungava. 

3.  Baffinland. 

4.  Mackenzie  river. 

5.  Point  Barrow. 

6.  Kotzebue  sound. 


7.  Asiatic  Eskimo. 

8.  Cape  Nome. 

9.  Norton  sound* 

10.  Nunivak. 

11.  Bristol  bay. 

12.  Kadiak  and  the  main  land. 


For  each  of  these  regions  the  National  Museum  has  sufficient 
material  to  illustrate  the  arts  of  the  people. 

During  the  years  1881,  1882, 1883,  Lieut  Ray,  U.  S.  A.,  occu- 
pied Point  Barrow  with  a  party  sent  out  by  the  Chief  Signal 
Officer  of  the  Army.  The  report  of  the  International  Polar  Expe- 
dition to  Point  Barrow,  Alaska,  just  issued  by  the  Grovernment 
printing  office  is  the  fruit  of  this  enterprise.  Lieut.  Ray  has  a 
chapter  on  the  inhabitants,  but  the  linguistics  and  ethnology  are 
the  work  of  Mr.  John  Murdoch.  Ten  pages  are  devoted  to  the 
language  of  the  people,  Major  Powell's  alphabet  and  Introduction 
being  followed  closely.    Twenty-six  pages  are  occupied  with  a 


vou  xa^NO.  II. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


198  "  General  Notes.  [February, 

minute  description  of  the  collections,  nearly  2000  specimens  gath- 
ered with  great  care.  In  examining  carefully  this  list  and  the 
accompanying  drawings  he  was  struck  both  with  the  generic  sim- 
ilarities of  hyperborean  art  and  with  the  specific  differences  due 
to  isolation.  Pottery  occurs  in  the  list;  labret  lancets  of  slate  for 
cutting  the  holes  in  the  cheek  for  labrets  ;  amber-beads  made  by 
the  natives,  and  cups  of  fossil  ivory.  Of  the  implements,  whose 
general  form  is  widely  diffused,  Mr.  Murdoch  has  collected  a  great 
variety  of  each  class,  showing  that  among  these  lar-off  people 
differentiation  of  structure  for  functional  ends  has  been  carried 
to  a  high  degree  of  perfection.  The  Natural  History  chapters, 
also  written  by  Mr.  Murdoch  must  not  be  overlooked  by  the 
ethnologist,  inasmuch  as  the  life  history  of  the  people  is  inti- 
mately connected  with  the  restricted  fauna  of  this  region. 

Mr.  Murdoch  will  publish  in  the  near  future  a  minute  descrip- 
tion of  the  Point  Barrow  Eskimo,  including  their  arts  and  their 
customs,  so  far  as  he  was  able  to  gather  facts  concerning  them. 

It  is  certainly  refreshing  to  follow  a  man  who  enters  upon 
the  work  of  exploration  after  a  severe  training  under  the  elder 
Agassiz. — O,  T,  Mason. 

The  Blow  Tube  in  the  United  States. — In  all  tropical  coun- 
tries where  the  cane  grows  the  natives  have  become  expert  in  the 
use  of  the  blowing  tube.  The  Indians  of  the  Muskoki  stock  liv- 
ing in  Southern  Alabama,  Mississippi  and  Louisiana  have  been 
known  since  the  early  explorations  to  have  been  expert  in  the  use 
of  this  weapon.  The  Choctaws  of  our  day  take  the  longest  and 
straightest  cane  they  can  find  in  the  brake  for  their  tube,  and 
short  pieces  of  split  cane  for  their  missile  One  end  is  charred 
and  scraped  to  a  long  slender  point.  The  other  is  wrapped  with 
a  little  strip  of  rabbit  skin  or  a  wad  of  cotton.  With  these  the 
Choctaws  are  still  expert  in  shooting  rabbits,  birds  and  fishes ;  for 
the  latter  using  a  barbed  or  retrieving  arrow.  These  facts  have 
been  known  and  stated  before,  but  what  follows  has  never  before, 
to  our  knowledge,  been  published.  The  Shetimasha  Indians, 
about  a  hundred  in  all,  living  on  a  small  bayou  south  of  New 
Orleans,  use  the  single  barreled  blow-tube  precisely  like  that  of 
the  Choctaws,  but  they  also  have  combinations  of  tubes,  as  we 
would  say,  viz.,  five  barreled,  eight  barreled,  &c.,  blow-tubes.  They 
are  made  as  follows:  A  number  of  tubes,  in  our  collection  rang- 
ing from  five  to  eleven,  of  the  same  length  and  calibre  are  fasten- 
ed securely  together  like  a  long  pan-pipe  by  means  of  splints 
of  split  cane.  The  arrows  are  of  split  cane  arid  vary  at  the  point 
from  the  slender  needle  form  to  a  broad  arrow  form.  The  butt 
end  has  a  wad  of  cotton  yarn  3  inches  long  fastened  on  like  the 
bristles  of  a  cylindrical  brush.  When  the  hunter  wishes  to  use 
this  weapon  he  loads  his  five  or  ten  barrels  and,  stealing  upon  a 
flock  of  birds,  lets  drive  the  whole  set  one  after  another  in  quick 
succession.    The  superiority  of  such  an  arm  over  a  single  tube 


Digitized  by 


Google 


1 886.]  Anthropology.  199 

is  very  great  and  it  is  singular  that  no  other  savages  have  ever 
studied  it  out. 

The  weapons  herein  described  were  presented  to  the  National 
Museum  by  the  Commissioners  of  the  Stale  of  Louisiana  at  the 
New  Orleans  Exposition.  At  the  same  time  many  specimens  of 
basketry  and  other  handiwork  made  with  great  skill  were  forward- 
ed. These  also  bear  witness  to  the  superior  skill  of  the  Sheti- 
mashas. 

Physical  Education  of  Children.  —  Dr.  E.  Pokrovski,  of 
Moscow,  has  published  in  Isvestia  of  the  Society  of  Friends  of 
Natural  Sciences,  Anthropology,  etc.,  xiv,  fascicle  i,  2,  3,  a 
treatise  on  the  physical  education  of  children  among  different 
peoples  and  particularly  in  Russia.  The  contents  of  the  treatise 
are  given,  not  only  to  show  the  line  of  thought,  but  to  present 
the  analysis  of  a  most  interesting  subject : 

Chapter  I.  Attention  paid  to  the  protection  and  development  of  the  embryo,  heredity, 

relations  of  the  sexes,  condition  of  woman,  consanguine  marriages,  polygamy 

and  polyandry,  marriage  in  classical  antiquity,  care  taken  of  pregnant  women 

among  ancient  and  modem  peoples. 
Chapter  ii.  Abortion  and  infanticide ;   motives :   superstitions,  fear  of   monsters, 

misery,  etc.,  l^slation  relative  to  abortion  and  infanticide. 
Chapter  ill.  Parturition  and  the  condition  of  the  new  born. 
Chapter  iv.  Care  relative  to  the  umbilical  cord. 
Chapter  V.  Dwelling  of  the  infant  in  the  family  of  the  parents. 
Chapter  vi.  Care  of  the  skin. 
Chapter  vii.  Bathing  of  infants. 

Chapter  viii.  Cold  baths  and  baptism,  in  Europe,  in  Thibet,  &c. 
Chapter  ix.  Dressing  of  infants  among  ancient  peoples  and  modem  savages. 
Chapter,  x.  Dressing  of  Russian  children. 
Chapter  xi.  Enameling  (emmaillotement). 

Chapter  xit.  Kneading  and  rectification  of  the  body  of  the  infant. 
Chapter  xin.  Artificial  deformation  of  the  skull,  ancient  macrocephals,  deformation 

among  modem  peoples,  especially  in  Russia,  Caucasia,  Poland,  Lapland,  &c. 
Chapter  xiv.  Influence  of  the  infant's  posture  in  its  bed  upon  the  deformation  of 

the  occiput,  custom  of  bedding  children  among  the  Thracians,  Macedonians, 

Germans  and  Belgians  of  the  l6ih  century,  and  among  the  modern  Asiatics. 

The  form  of  the  occiput  in  Russians  of  the  Kourgans,  from  the  craniological 

collections  of  Moscow. 
Chapter  XV.  The  cradle  among  different  peoples. 
Chapter  xvi.  The  cradles  of  the  Russians. 
Chapter  xvii.  Cradles  among  other  peoples  of  Russia,  Tsigani?,  Fins,  Esths,  Li  von. 

ians.  Laps,  Poles,  Jews,  Lithuanians,  Tcheremis,  Bashkiis,  Nogal,  Sarts,  Kir. 

gbiz,  Kalmuks,  Yakuts,  Buriats,  Tunguses,  Solotes,  Woguls,  Samoides,  Goldoi, 

Koriaks,  Kamtchadals,  Caucasians,  etc. 
Chapter  xviii.  Methods  of  putting  children  in  their  beds,  of  carrying  them  and 

transporting  them,  dependence  on  climate,  mode  of  life  ;  bearing  them  on  the 

arm,  back,  neck,  head,  hip ;  in  bag,  paniers,  chests,  skins,  &c. ;  customs  of  the 

Chinese,  Negroes,  Hottentots,  American  Indians,  Kamchadales,  Japanese,  etc., 

in  this  regard. 
Chapter  xix.  Amusement  of  the  child  by  the  mother  in  Russia. 
Chapter  XX.  Accustoming  the  child  to  sit  and  to  go  on  all  fours » 
Chapter  xxi.  The  upright  position  and  walking. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


200  General  Notes.  [February, 

Chapter  xxil.  Importance  of  food. 

Chapter  xxiii.  Suckling  among  rarioos  peoples,  ancient  and  modeni- 

Chapter  xxiv.  Among  the  Russians. 

Chapter  xxv.  Among  other  peoples  of  Russia. 

Chapter  xxvi.  Ethnic  mutilations  of  children,  tattoo,  depilation,  piercing  the  nose, 
the  ears,  the  lips  or  the  cheeks;  filing  and  removing  the  teeth,  castration, cir- 
cumcision and  similar  mutilations ;  corset,  Chinese  feet,  high  heeled  boots,  &c 

Chapter  xxvii.  Games,  sports  and  amusements  of  children. 

Chapter  xxviii.  Treatment  of  the  maladies  of  children  among  different  peoples. 
Popular  child  medicine  in  Russia,  Germany,  England,  Switzerland,  Dalnutia, 
among  the  Kalmucks,  Kirghiz,  Caucasians,  ancient  Hindoos,  Iranians,  etc. 

Chapter  XXIX.  Care  relative  to  the  corporeal  development  of  children  and  the 
means  employed  to  toughen  and  fortify  them ;  seclusion  of  children,  asceticism, 
horsemanship,  physical  and  warlike  training  of  children  among  savages,  etc. 

Chapter  xxx.  Role  played  by  animals  in  the  education  of  man, — cows,  goats,  dogs, 
she  wolves,  apes,  etc. 

Chapter  xxxi.  Physical  education  among  the  children  of  Russian  peasants,  and  the 
results. 

Chapter  xxxii.  Conclusions. 

MIOROSOOPY.* 

OsMic  Acid  and  Merkel's  Fluid  as  a  Means  of  Develop- 
ing Nascent  Histological  Distinctions.' — In  preparing  embiy- 
ological  material  for  the  microtome  and  the  microscope,  our 
choice  of  preservative  fluids  depends  on  the  advantages  offered 
in  three  principal  directions.  We  inquire  first  of  all  what  reagent, 
or  combination  of  reagents,  will  best  preserve  the  natural  farm^ 
relations  and  internal  structure.  We  next  endeavor  to  ascertain 
which  of  the  fluids  appearing  to  satisfy  the  first  point  will  leave  the 
preparation  in  the  most  favorabje  condition  for  sectioning;  and, 
finally,  we  have  to  consider  the  differentiating  capacity  of  the 
fluids,  and  the  conditions  under  which  the  highest  differential 
effects  can  be  obtained.  This  highly  important  quality,  which 
belongs,  in  varying  degree,  to  all  hardening  and  staining  reagents, 
serves  two  general  purposes,  one  of  which  is  purely  histological, 
the  other  strictly  embryological.  In  the  one  case,  the  aim  is  to 
sharpen  the  definition  of  individual  elements,  and  to  strengthen 
histological  distinctions;  in  the  other,  the  object  is  to  demon- 
strate those  subtle  and  imperceptible  differences  in  the  constitu- 
tion of  embryonic  cells,  which  furnish  the  earliest  premonitions  of 
their  histological  destiny.  The  histologist  deals  with  the  first 
class  of  distinctions — the  embryologist  must  deal  with  both.  The 
embryologist  cannot  stop  with  the  study  of  structure  and  topo- 
graphical relations,  as  they  exist  in  any  particular  stage ;  he  is 
compelled  to  follow  the  entire  developmental  history  of  the  cells, 
from  their  most  indifferent  up  to  their  most  highly  specialized 
condition.  Beginning  with  material  more  or  less  homogeneous 
in  aspeci,  he  finds  it  necessary  to  forestall  development,  and  seeks 
to  bring  out  distinctions  that  have  not  yet  ripened  into  morpho- 

>  Edited  by  Dr.  C.  O.  Whitman,  Mus.  Comp.  Zool.,  Cambridge,  Mass'. 
'  Read  before  the  American  Society  of  Naturalists,  December  30,  1885. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


1 886.  ]  Microscopy^  201 

logical  definition.  In  short,  his  task  is  no  less  than  that  of  dis- 
covering, by  chemical  means,  promorphological  conditions,  which 
shall  reveal  the  destination  of  cells  before  nature  has  given  them 
any  definite  histological  stamp.  The  means  that  suffice  to  demon- 
strate fully  formed  tissue  elements  are  not  always  identical  with 
those  required  in  tracing  their  histogenetic  development.  As  yet 
we  know  very  little  about  the  capacity  of  different  preservative  fluids 
in  the  very  important  work  of  developing  nascent  histological 
distinctions.  It  is  often  at  the  expense  of  much  time  and  patience 
that  reagents  are  found  which  combine  the  first  two  qualifications 
we  have  mentioned,  and  the  experimenter  who  has  been  so  far 
successful  too  frequently  flatters  himself  that  he  has  reached  the 
highest  rung  in  the  ladder  of  technical  bliss,  if  his  preparations 
admit  of  being  "  sliced  like  cheese  or  cartilage."  But  one  re- 
quires no  very  large  amount  of  knowledge  of  the  aims,  and  expe- 
rience in  the  ways  and  means,  of  embryological  research,  in  order 
to  understand  that  the  investigator's  art  does  not  culminate  in 
sections  of  cheese-like  homogeneity.  To  be  able,  through  serial 
sections,  to  lay  bare  each  individual  cell  of  a  complicated  organ- 
ism is  certainly  a  great  triumph  in  microtomy ;  but  such  a  feat 
may  be,  as  it  not  infrequently  has  been,  accomplished  without 
'  leading  to  any  important  results,  and  simply  because  the  methods 
of  preparation  have  not  been  selected  with  a  view  to  secure  the 
needed  differential  effects. 

Having  defined  a  special  aim  in  the  use  of  embryological 
methods,  it  remains  only  to  consider  the  practical  side  of  the  sub- 
ject The  differential  efTects  of  most  preservative  fluids,  when  used 
singly,  are  extremely  weak,  and  often  quite  inappreciable.  To  be 
of  service,  they  must  be  strengthened  or  reinforced  by  some  happy 
combination  of  reagents,  discoverable  only  by  experiment.  Dif- 
ferential results  are  generally  sought  for  through  metallic  impreg- 
nations and  through  various  methods  of  staining,  as  double 
staining,  multiple  staining,  overstaining  followed  by  partial  decol- 
oration, etc.  But  I  am  not  aware  that  such  means  alone  are  suf- 
ficient for  the  special  purpose  under  consideration.  In  order  to 
demonstrate  diflTerences,  not  of  form,  but  of  molecular  constitu- 
tion, the  foundation  for  the  desired  effects  must  be  laid  in  the  pro- 
cess of  hardening.  Staining  reagents  may  then  serve  to  complete 
the  work. 

As  an  example  of  what  may  be  accomplished  in  this  way,  I  will 
give  briefly  my  own  experience  with  osmic  acid  and  the  so-called 
Merkel's  fluid,  which  is  a  mixture  in  equal  parts  of  chromic  acid 
(/i  p.  c.)  and  of  platinum  chloride  (J^  p.  c).  I  have  tested  these 
reagents  with  three  different  classes  of  eggs,  and  have  obtained  im- 
portant results,  some  of  which  have  already  been  published.  In 
the  case  of  pelagic  fish-eggs,  with  which  my  first  experiments  were 
made,  the  method  of  procedure  is  as  follows :  The  eggs,  with  a  lit- 
tle sea-water,  are  placed  in  a  watch-glass;  tlien^  by  the  aid  of  a  pi- 


Digitized  by 


Google 


202  General  Notes,  [February, 

pette,  a  quantity  of  osmic  acid  ( J^  p.  c.)  equal  (as  nearly  as  one  can 
judge)  to  that  of  the  sea- water  is  added.  At  the  end  of  from  five  to 
ten  minutes,  the  eggs  are  washed  quickly  in  clean  water,  and  trans- 
ferred to  a  chrome-platinum  solution,  differing  from  Merkel's  mix- 
ture only  in  having  a  higher  per  cent  of  chromic^  acid,  where  they 
may  remain  from  one  to  three  days.  After  this  treatment,  the 
blastoderm  may  be  easily  freed  from  the  yolk,  and,  after  a  thor- 
ough washing  in  clear  water  for  a  number  of  hours,  the  prepara- 
tion may  be  passed  through  the  usual  grades  of  alcohol,  stained 
and  sectioned,  or  mounted  in  toto.  The  osmic  acid  fixes  the 
natural  form  and  structural  features  of  the  egg  perfectly,  and  the 
mixture  of  chromic  acid  and  platinum  chloride  completes  the 
work  of  hardening,  and  at  the  same  time  removes  much  of  the 
brown  or  black  color  imparted  by  the  first  reagent.  I  have  tried 
various  other  reagents  after  the  osmic  acid,  but  with  far  less 
satisfactory  results.  Picro-sulphuric  acid,  instead  of  arresting  the 
blackening  process  of  the  osmic  acid,  increases  it.  Simple 
chromic  acid  arrests  the  blackening,  but  does  not  remove  it  (as 
does  Merkel's  fluid),  and  causes  considerable  contraction.  Mul- 
ler's  fluid,  recommended  by  Henneguy,  is  equally  unsatisfactory. 
By  this  method  a  very  marked  differentiation  is  generally  ob- 
tained as  early  as  the  sixteen-cell  stage,  the  four  central  cells 
showing  a  very  light  brown  shade,  while  the  twelve  peripheral 
cells  have  a  much  deeper  shade.  In  later  stages  of  cleavage,  the 
distinction  between  central  and  marginal  cells  becomes  still 
stronger,  so  that  it  becomes  possible  to  trace  the  entire  history  of 
the  origin  of  the  so-called  parablast,  over  which  there  have  been 
so  many  controversies.  The  very  difficult  question  as  to  the 
precise  origin  of  the  permanent  entoderm  is  not  settled  by  this 
method. 

The  same  reagents  may  be  successfully  applied  to  the  eggs  of 
Clepsine ;  but  here  the  mode  of  procedure  is  somewhat  different, 
as  regards  MerkeFs  fluid.  This  mixture,  employed  at  its  normal 
strength,  is  allowed  to  work  from  one  to  two  hours  only.  The 
differential  effects  are  here  very  marked,  extending  not  only  to  the 
different  germ-layers,  but  even  to  cell-groups  destined  to  form  the 
.  central  nervous  system,  the  nephridial  organs,  larval  glands,  etc. 
None  of  the  methods  hitherto  employed  with  these  eggs  has 
given  results  at  all  comparable  with  those  I  have  mentioned. 

In  the  case  of  the  frog's  eggs,  I  allow  the  osmic  acid  from 
twenty  to  twenty-five  minutes,  then  transfer  directly  to  the 
chrome-platinum  solution  employed  with  fish-eggs  (twenty-four 
hours).  The  eggs  are  next  placed  in  water  and  freed  from  their 
gelatinous  envelopes  by  the  aid  of  sharp  needles  and  a  dissecting 
microscope.  After  washing  in  flowing  water  for  at  least  two 
hours,  the  eggs  may  be  treated  with  alcohol  and  stained  accord- 

'  A  one  per  cent  solution  is  used  in  place  of  the  normal  ^  p.  c.  solution. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


i886.J  Microscopy.  203 

ing  to  desire.  My  experiments  with  these  eggs  have  not  yet 
been  carried  very  far,  and  I  can  only  say  that  the  material,  so  far 
as  examined,  has  turned  out  well.  If  the  sectioning  is  not  delayed 
too  long,  no  disagreeable  effects  of  crumbling  will  be  experienced. 
— C.  O.  Whitman. 

The  Fungi-ion  of  the  Compound  Eye. — It  is  held  by  Exner, 
Carriere,  and  others  that  the  compound  eye  does  not  distinguish 
the  formSy  but  only  the  movements  of  objects.  The  eye  would 
thus  be  merely  an  organ  of  orientation,  capable  of  recognizing 
differences  in  the  intensity  of  light.  Plateau^  has  undertaken  a 
series  of  interesting  experiments  designed  to  test  the  validity  ot 
this  view.    The  method  of  experimentation  was  as  follows : 

A  room  five  meters  square  is  furnished  with  two  windows, 
which  face  the  west.  The  windows  are  provided  with  shutters, 
by  means  of  which  the  room  can  be  made  dark.  In  each  shutter 
a  hole  is  cut  large  enough  to  receive  a  pane  of  ground  glass. 
The  vertical  distance  from  the  floor  to  the  center  of  each  glass  is 
1.75"^  and  the  horizontal  distance  between  the  centers  of  the  two 
panes  is  2.36°^-  The  amount  of  light  admitted  is  regulated  by 
means  of  black  pasteboard  diaphragms,  which  are  fitted  to  slide 
in  front  of  the  glass.  The  diaphragm  covering  the  left  pane 
is  perforated  with  a  single  hole,  which  is  amply  large  to  allow  the 
insect  to  pass  through  in  full  flight.  The  size  of  the  opening  is 
varied  by  using  different  diaphragms.  The  diaphragm  covering 
the  right  pane  is  perforated  with  a  number  of  small  holes, 
through  which  the  insect  could  not  pass.  This  diaphragm  re- 
mains the  same  through  all  the  experiments. 

To  begin  with,  the  single  opening  in  the  left  diaphragm  is 
made  10*^™  square,  and  the  right  diaphragm  is  perforated  with 
100  small  holes,  each  1*^™  square,  and  separated  by  spaces  i*'"*  in 
width.  The  100  holes  thus  represent  the  same  surface  as  the 
large  opening,  but  the  amount  of  light  that  passes  the  former  is 
considerably  less  than  that  which  passes  the  latter.  In  successive 
experiments  with  different  diurnal  insects  (Diptera,  Hymen- 
optera,  Lepidoptera,  Coleoptera,  &c.),  the  size  of  the  hole  in  the 
left  diaphragm  is  varied,  so  that  the  amount  of  light  is  sometimes 
greater,  sometimes  less  than  that  of  the  right  diaphragm. 

If,  under  these  conditions,  an  insect  let  loose  at  the  side  of  the 
room  opposite  the  windows,  invariably  flies  to  the'  large  opening, 
then  we  might  conclude,  according  to  Plateau,  that  it  dis- 
tinguishes the  forms  of  objects ;  but  if  it  often  makes  the  mis- 
take of  flying  against  the  surface  perforated  with  holes  too  small 
to  give  it  passage,  we  may  conclude  that  it  does  not  distinguish 
form,  but  is  guided  by  the  intensity  of  the  light.  The  experiments 
show  that  the  flight  is  directed,  in  the  majority  of  cases,  towards 
the  more  intense  light,  and  hence  Plateau  concludes  that  the 

^BuU.  de  I'Acad.  roy.  de  Belg.,  3"«  s6r.  t.  x.  No.  8,  1885. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


204  General  Notes.  [February, 

view  before  stated  in  regard  to  the  function  of  the  com- 
pound eye  is  correct.  He  further  announces  his  conviction  that 
the  simple  eyes  are  rudimentary  organs  that  serve  no  import- 
ant purpose.  This  view  rests  on  the  fact  that  if  the  ocelli  are 
covered  with  opaque  black  varnish,  the  insect  guides  its  course  in 
the  same  manner  as  before. 

While  these  experiments  may  be  said  to  favor  the  conclusion 
arrived  at  by  Plateau,  they  do  not,  in  my  opinion,  furnish  decisive 
evidence.  It  would  be  quite  within  the  range  of  possibilities,  that 
the  insect  distinguished  perfectly  well  \h^  forms  of  both  the  large 
and  small  holes,  without  taking  in  the  relation  of  its  own  size  to 
that  of  the  hole  through  which  it  sought  to  escape.  The  power 
to  distinguish  forms  is  not  tantamount  to  a  knowledge  of  relations 
that  could  only  be  learned  by  experience  and  reflection. 

A  Method  of  BLEACHiNb  Wings  of  Lepidoptera  to  facili- 
tate THE  Study  of  their  Venation.* — In  the  common  method 
of  destroying  the  scales  on  the  wings  of  Lepidoptera,  for  the  pur- 
pose of  studying  their  venation,  by  means  of  caustic  alkaline  solu- 
tions, there  is  danger  of  not  arresting  the  action  at  the  proper 
moment,  and  consequently  of  destroying  not  only  the  portions 
which  it  is  desirable  to  remove,  but  also  the  scale-supporting 
membrane,  and  even  the  delicate  veins  themselves.  An  applica- 
tion of  a  modification  of  the  chlorine  bleaching  process,  commonly 
used  in  cotton  bleacheries,  obviates  the  necessity  of  removing  the 
scales,  and  leaves  the  wing  perfect. 

The  most  convenient  method  of  applying  the  chlorine  is  as  fol- 
lows :  The  wings  must  first  be  soaked  a  few  moments  in  pure 
alcohol  in  order  to  dissolve  out  the  oily  matter  in  them.  If  this 
is  not  done  the  surface  of  the  wings  acts  as  a  repellent,  and  will 
not  be  moistened  by  an  aqueous  solution.  When  the  wings  have 
become  thoroughly  soaked  by  the  alcohol  they  are  ready  to  be 
removed  to  a  solution  of  common  bleaching  powder.  This  bleach- 
ing powder  is  sold  by  druggists  as  "  chloride  of  lime,"  but  it  is 
really  a  mixture  of  calcic  hypochlorite,  calcic  chloride,  and  calcic 
hydrate.  Ten  parts  of  water  dissolve  the  first  two  compounds, 
leaving  nearly  all  the  third  suspended  in  the  solution.  The  solu- 
tion should  be  made  with  cold  water,  filtered,  and  kept  in  a  tightly 
corked  bottle  until  required  for  use.  When  the  wings  are  trans- 
ferred to  this  solution  the  bleaching  commences,  and  in  an  hour 
or  two  the  wings  are  devoid  of  markings,  although  the  veins  re- 
tain a  light  brown  color.  This  is  due  to  the  fact  that  chlorine 
cannot  quite  decolorize  animal  matter,  or  any  substance  contain- 
ing nitrogen,  as  it  does  vegetable  tissue. 

After  the  color  has  sufficiently  disappeared  from  the  wings 
they  should  be  transferred  to  a  wash  composed  of  one  part  of 

^  G.  Dimmock,  Proceedings  of  the  American  Association  for  the  Advancement 
of  Science,  Detroit  meeting,  August,  1875. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


1 886.]  Scientific  News.  205 

strong  hydrochloric  acid  to  ten  parts  of  water.  And  here  it  may 
be  added  that  in  case  the  bleaching  does  not  readily  commence 
upon  immersion  in  the  bleaching  solution,  the  action  may  be  has- 
tened by  a  previous  dipping  in  the  dilute  hydrochloric  acid.  In 
the  bleaching  solution  a  crust  of  calcic  carbonate,  formed  by  the 
union  of  the  calcic  hydrate  of  the  solution  and  the  carbonic  diox* 
ide  of  the  air,  is  deposited  on  the  wing^,  and  this  calcic  carbonate 
the  final  wash  in  dilute  acid  will  remove.  As  soon  bb  the  calcic 
carbonate  has  disappeared,  and  all  bubbling,  consequent  upon  its 
decomposition  by  the  hydrochloric  acid,  has  ceased,  the  wings 
should  be  well  soaked  in  pure  water.  They  may  then  be  secured 
on  cards  with  a  mucilage  of  gum  tragacanth ;  or  upon  glass  by 
the  proper  transfers,  through  alcohol  and  chloroform,  to  Canada 
balsam. 

A  solution  of  sodic  hypochlorite,  known  as  Eau  de  Labarraque 
or  a  solution  of  potassic  hypochlorite,  known  as  Eau  de  Javelle, 
when  used  in  place  of  the  solution  of  bleaching  powder  does  not 
leave  a  deposit  of  calcic  carbonate  on  the  wings  and  thus  dispense 
with  the  wash  of  dilute  acid.  A  solution  of  zinc  hypochlorite 
acts  more  delicately  than  a  solution  of  sodic  hypochlorite,  and 
may  be  used  in  place  of  the  latter,  as  may  also  solutions  of  alu- 
minic  hypochlorite,  or  magnesic  hypochlorite. 


SCIENTIFIC  NEWS. 

—  The  recent  meeting  of  the  Society  of  Naturalists,  held  at 
Boston,  December  29  and  30,  will  long  be  remembered  with 
pleasure  by  those  who  had  the  good  fortune  to  be  present.  The 
excellent  plan  of  the  founders  of  the  society  of  limiting  the 
range  of  the  papers  to  the  discussion  of  methods  of  teaching  and 
research,  leaves  but  small  foothold  for  bores,  and,  indeed,  the  series 
of  papers  furnished  an  exhilarating  succession  of  suggestive  and 
easily  grasped  ideas.  Most  of  the  sessions  were  held  in  the 
physiological  lecture-room  of  the  new  Harvard  Medical  School 
building  and  just  adjoining  the  laboratory  of  Dr.  Bowditch, 
which  is  probably  unparalleled  for  its  wealth  of  ingenious  and 
effective  apparatus,  designed  and  made  on  the  spot.  The  courte- 
sies of  the  Harvard  members  of  the  society  very  agreeably  occu- 
pied the  hours  not  strictly  devoted  to  business. 

—  Professor  T.  J.  Burrill  deals,  in  the  Botanical  Gazette,  p.  334, 
with  two  mechanical  effects  of  cold  upon  trees — the  radial  split- 
ting of  wood  and  bark,  and  the  separation  of  bark  or  wood  layers 
in  a  concentric  way. 

The  first  is  explained  by  water  freezing  in  plates  parallel  to  the 
surface  of  an  organ,  and  then,  additions  being  made  to  the  base, 


Digitized  by 


Google 


2o6  Scientific  News,  [February, 

crystals  perpendicular  to  the  surface  will  be  formed.  Thus  the 
wood  contracting,  and  the  ice  expanding  tangentially  and  longi- 
tudinally (chiefly  the  former),  radial  bursting  is  the  result  The 
south  side  of  a  tree  is  the  weakest,  as  more  water  exists  there, 
and  ice  is  first  formed.  Direct  observation  shows  that  the  speci- 
fic gravity  of  sap  is  greater  on  the  north  side  of  a  tree. 

Concentric  splitting  is  explained  by  minute  ice-crystals  form- 
ing with  their  axes  perpendicular  to  the  wood-cylinder,  thus 
causing  radial  tension.  Want  of  ripeness  of  tissue,  in  the  sense 
of  the  relation  of  water  to  other  constituents,  is  the  chief  predis- 
posing cause. 

—  Henry  W.  Beyerinck  has,  in  the  Botanische  Zeitung,  exam- 
ined the  structure  of  the  remarkable  galls  produced  on  the  inter- 
nodes  of  the  stem  of  Poa  nemofolis  by  the  attacks  of  Cecidomyia 
poa.  While,  under  normal  conditions,  grasses  are  able  to  pro- 
duce roots  only  from  the  nodes,  these  galls  are  clothed  with  a 
thick  matting  of  roots  produced  from  the  pericambial  layer  of  the 
internodes.  When  first  found  these  roots  differ  in  no  respect 
from  ordinary  underground  roots,  being  provided  with  a  root- 
cap,  and  a  central  vascular  cylinder  with  a  few  pitted  vessels,  but 
with  no  root-hairs.  In  the  course  of  development  they  assume 
more  and  more  the  character  of  aerial  roots,  and  lose  their 
root-cap. 

—  Count  G.  de  Saporta  enters  into  an  elaborate  reply,  in  the 
Bulletin  of  the  Geological  Society  of  France  (xiii,  p.  179),  to  the 
theory  of  Nathorst  that  the  supposed  organic  remains  of  a  very 
early  geological  period  are  in  reality  the  petrified  impressions  of 
the  footprints  of  animals.  He  maintains  that  a  minute  examina- 
tion of  their  structure  entirely  contradicts  this  view,  and  that  even 
those  about  which  Nathorst  expresses  the  greatest  doubt  may  be 
petrifactions  of  algae  in  half-relief. 

—  Dr.  F.  W.  Coding  announces  for  early  publication  Lives 
of  eminent  economic  entomologists  of  North  America,  a  work 
to  consist  of  about  150  parts,  with  plates.  Price,  ;^2.oo,  JS2.50  and 
$3.00.  Subscriptions  to  be  sent  to  the  author  at  Ancona, 
Livingston  county,  Illinois. 

—  Mr.  E.  T.  Cresson,  of  Philadelphia,  the  well-known  h3mien- 
opterist,  after  a  long  interval  of  forced  cessation  from  scientific 
work,  has  returned  to  the  study  of  the  Hymenoptera,  and  is  pre- 
paring a  synopsis  of  the  whole  order  which  he  intends  shortly  to 
publish. 

—  Dr.  P.  R.  Uher  has  prepared  a  catalogue  of  the  Hemiptera 
Heteroptera  of  North  America.  It  is  published  by  the  Brooklyn 
Entomological  Society,  and  can  be  had  at  the  price  of  50  cents 
of  Mr.  John  B.  Smith,  U.  S.  National  Museum,  Washington, 
D.  C. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


1 886.]  Proceedings  of  Scientific  Sociitiis.  207 

—  Professor  C.  E.  Hamlin,  assistant  in  charge  of  the  MoUusca 
of  the  Museum  of  Comparative  Zoology  at  Cambridge,  died 
January  3d.  He  formerly  held  the  chair  of  natural  history  at 
Waterville  College,  Maine. 

—  N.  Joly,  a  well-known  French  zoologist,  died  October  17, 
at  Toulouse. 

—  Mr.  S.  H.  Scudder  has  retired  from  the  editorial  manage- 
ment of  Science,  which  is  now  edited  by  Mr.  N.  D.  C.  Hodges. 


-:o:- 


PROCEEDINGS  OF  SCIENTIFIC  SOCIETIES. 

Society  of  Naturalists  Eastern  U.  S.,  Dec.  29-30. — ^This 
active  society  numbers  130  working  naturalists  and  geologists, 
and  was  organized  for  the  discussion  of  methods  of  investigation 
and  instruction,  laboratory  technique  and  museum  administration, 
and  other  topics  of  interest  to  investigators  and  teachers  of  natu- 
ral science.  Membership  is  restricted  to  those  who  have  done 
original  work.  The  meeting  was  held  at  Boston,  and  was  cer- 
tainly not  inferior  in  interest  to  those  previously  held. 

The  society  chose  as  officers  for  the  following  year :  President, 
G.  K.  Gilbert,  of  Washington ;  vice-presidents.  Professor  E.  D. 
Cope  and  Dr.  Harrison  Allen,  of  Philadelphia,  and  Professor 
George  L.  Goodale,  of  Cambridge ;  secretary,  S.  F.  Clarke,  of 
Willianxs  College ;  treasurer,  Charles  A.  Ashburner,  of  Philadel- 
phia; executive  committee.  Professor  R.  Ramsay  Wright,  of 
Toronto,  Dr.  C.  S.  Minot,  of  Boston. 

Gilbert,  G.  K.    Opening  address. 

Morse,  E.  S.     On  museum  cases. 

Bowditch,  H.  P.     Demonstration  of  vaso-motor  experiments. 

Bowditch,  H.  P.    Exhibition  of  model  of  the  eye. 

Wilder,  B.  G.    On  the  use  of  alinjected  sheep  hearts  in  class  practicums. 

Wilder,  B.  G.    Illustrations  of  the  advantages  of  alinjection,  vascular  and  visceral, 

in  preserving  material  for  dissection  for  class  practicums  and  for  permanent 

preparations. 
Dwight,  Thomas.     Modem  anatomical  methods. 
Mixter,  S.  J.    Exhibition  of  injections. 

Em»t,  H.  C.     Cultivation  of  micro-organisms.  , 

Davis,  W.  M.     Methods  of  observing  thunderstorms  and  discussing  the  results. 
Warren,  J.  W.     Demonstration  of  reaction  time  apparatus. 
Warren,  J.  W.    A  simplified  demonstration  of  the  reaction  of  saliva. 
W*right,  R.  R.     Improvement  on  rocking  microtome. 
Wright,  R.  R.     Photography  as  an  aid  to  natural  history  illustration. 
Gage,  S.  H.     Dunnington*s  method  of  making  cnlored  diagrams,  with  modifications. 
Wilder,  B.  G.    Exhibition  of   preparations  illustrating  certain  branch  and  class 

characters. 
Oliver,  Chas.  A.    Apparatus  for  the  investigation  of  the  color  sense. 
Comstock,  J.  H.     A  new  method  of  arranging  entomological  collections. 
Allen,  Hamson.     Exhibition  of  photographs  in  illustration  of  animal  locomotion. 
Wadswonh,  M.  E.     Laboratory  instruction  in  mineralogy. 
King«tey,  J.  S.    Some  photographic  processes  of  illustration. 
Hyatt,  A.     Museology. 
Crosby,  W.  O.    Arrangement  of  mineralogical  collections  of  B.  S.  N.  H. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


2o8  Proceedings  cf  Scientific  Societies.         [February, 

Davis,  W.  M.    Geological  sections  illustrating  rate  of  deposit  and  thickness  ol 

formations. 
Whitman,  C.  O.    Osmic  acid  and  MerkeVs  fluid  in  embryological  research. 
Farlow,  W.  G.     Teaching  biology  at  college. 
Davis,  W.  M.    On  the  use  of  models  for  instruction  in  geology. 
Minot,  C.  S.     Some  improvements  in  histological  technique. 
Goodaie,  G.  Ln    Exhibition  of  botanical  physiological  apparatus. 

American  Philosophical  Society,  May  i,  1885. — Dr.  H. 
Allen  made  a  communication  on  the  tarsus  of  bats,  etc. 

May  15. — Professor  H.  C.  Lewis  presented  an  account  of  the 
great  trap-dyke  across  S.  E.  Pennsylvania. 

June  19. — Dr.  A.  S.  Gatschet  presented  a  paper  on  the  Boet- 
heek  Indians,  with  a  vocabulary.  Professor  Cope  presented  a 
second  continuation  of  researches  among  the  Batrachia  of  the 
coal  regions  of  Ohio ;  also  a  paper  by  Dr.  A.  C.  Stokes,  of  New- 
ton, N.  Y.,  on  some  new  hypotrichous  Infusoria. 

July  17. — Professor  D.  Kirkwood,  of  Bloomington,  Indiana,  pre- 
sented a  communication  on  the  comet  of  1 866  and  the  meteors  of 
November  14. 

October  2. — Dr.  F.  A.  Genth  presented  contributions  from  the 
laboratory  of  the  University  of  Pennsylvania,  xxiv — contributions 
to  mineralogy.  Dr.  D.  G.  Brinton  presented  Polysynthesis  and 
incorporation  as  characteristics  of  American .  languages.  Dr. 
F.  S.  Kraus  (Vienna)  sent  in  a  paper  entitled  Aus  Bosneen  en 
Herzegovina.  Professor  E.  D.  Cope  presented  a  catalogue  of  the 
species  of  Batrachia  and  reptiles  contained  in  a  collection  made  at 
Pebas,  Upper  Amazon,  by  Mr.  Hawkwell. 

Oct.  16. — Professor  Cope  presented  for  the  Transactions  a  paper 
on  the  species  of  Iguanidae  ;  and  also  for  the  Proceedings  (i)  a 
paper  on  the  structure  and  affinities  of  the  species  of  fishes  from 
the  Eocene  of  Wyoming  Territory ;  (2)  a  report  on  the  coal  de- 
posits near  2^culatipan,  Hidalgo,  Mexico ;  (3)  an  account  of  the 
structure  of  the  brain  and  auditory  apparatus  of  a  theromorphous 
reptile. 

Professor  Houston  made  a  statement  as  to  the  eflfect  of  the  late 
explosion  of  285,000  pounds  of  dynamite  at  Flood  Rock,  Hell 
Gate,  N.  Y.,  stating  that  in  his  opinion  earthquakes  were  pro- 
duced by  the*cooling  of  a  heated  surface. 

November  20. — Dr.  brinton  presented  a  paper  on  the  Mangue 
language. 

Professor  Cope  sent  in  a  13th  contribution  to  the  herpetology 
of  tropical  America. 

Professor  Houston  sent  a  communication  upon  photography  in  a 
lightning  flash  during  the  storm  of  October  29,  1885,  and  ex- 
hibited the  negatives  and  photographs. 

Dr.  Frazer  presented  a  resume  of  the  proceedings  of  the  recent  In- 
ternational Congress  of  Geologists  at  Berlin,  wJiich  he  had  attended 
as  a  delegate  from  the  American  Association  for  the  Advance-- 
ment  of  Science,  with  other  American   scientists.     Dr.   Frazer 


Digitized  by 


Google 


1 886.]  Proceedings  of  Scientific  Societies.  209 

exhibited  a  device  for  printing  boundary  lines  automatically ;  also 
a  track  chart  of  the  North  Atlantic.  Dr.  Frazer  also  drew  atten- 
tion to  the  Geological  and  Geographical  Dictionary  of  Sig.  Villa- 
nova,  of  Pisa. 

December  4. — Dr.  Frazer  presented  a  resume  of  the  geology 
of  York  county,  Pa. 

Professor  Cope  read  a  paper  on  the  physical  conditions  of 
memory. 

Biological  Society  of  Washington,  Nov.  14. — Communica* 
tions :  Mr.  Richard  Rathbun,  Remarks  on  the  Wood's  Holl  sta- 
tion of  the  U.  S.  Fish  Commission ;  Dr.  W.  S.  Barnard,  Specimen- 
mounting  case  and  method ;  Mr.  John  A.  Ryder,  A  new  and 
practical  system  of  raising  oysters  on  a  large  scale;  Mr.  Fred- 
erick True,  On  a  spotted  dolphin  apparently  identical  with  the 
Prodelphinus  doris  of  Gray. 

Nov.  28. — Communications:  Dr.  Theobald  Smith,  A  simple 
device  for  storing  cover- glass  preparations  illustrative  of  bacterial 
disease;  Dr.  W.  S.  Barnard,  i.  Environmental  digestion;  2.  Spe- 
cimen mount:  tube- holders,  labels  and  stoppers;  Dr.  C.  Hart 
Merriam,  The  work  of  the  U.  S.  Department  of  Agriculture  in 
economic  ornithology ;  Mr.  Charles  D.  Walcott,  Evidence  of  the 
loss  of  vital  force  in  certain  trilobites  on  approaching  extinction  ; 
Mr.  Frederick  True,  A  new  study  of  the  American  pocket  rats  ; 
genus  Dipodomys. 

Dec.  26. — Dr.  C.Hart  Merriam,  Contributions  to  North  Ameri- 
can mammalogy.  I.  The  genus  Tamias;  Mr.  F.  H.  Knowlton, 
Multiplication  in  the  Gyncecium  of  Datura  stramonium  L.;  Pro- 
fessor O.  T.  Mason,  Mutilations  of  the  human  body. 

American  Ornithologist  Union. — The  annual  meeting  took 
place  at  the  American  Museum  of  Natural  History,  in  New  York. 
The  session  opened  on  Tuesday,  Nov.  17,  and  lasted  two  days. 
Among  the  members  present  were  Messrs.  J.  A.  Allen,  R.  Ridg- 
way,  W.  Brewster,  W.  W.  Cooke,  O.  Widmann,  Dr.  C.  H.  Mer- 
riam, A.  K.  Fisher,  H.  A.  Purdie,  and  E.  P.  Bicknell.  A  number 
of  papers  of  very  great  interest  were  read,  and  there  was  much 
discussion  of  knotty  points  in  ornithology.  One  of  the  most  in- 
teresting features  of  the  meeting  was  the  account  by  Mr.  Brewster 
of  his  observations  carried  on  at  lighthouses  during  the  season  of 
migration.  By  means  of  these  observations  the  speaker  had 
penetrated  deeper  into  some  of  the  secrets  in  the  life  of  the  small 
night-migrating  birds  than  any  one  else  has  yet  done.  His 
account  of  what  he  saw  was  most  entertaining  and  valuable,  and 
opens  a  new  chapter  in  the  history  of  our  birds.  The  next 
annual  meeting  will  be  held  in  Washington,  D.  C. 

LiKNiEAN  SociETV,  Lancaster,  Pa.,  Nov.  28. — Dr.  S.  S.  Rathvon 
read  a  highly  interesting  paper  on  the  Hessian  fly  and  allied  in- 


Digitized  by 


Google 


2IO  Proceedings  of  Scientific  Societies.        [Feb.,  1886. 

sects.  Dr.  J.  H.  Dubbs  read  a  paper  on  arrows  and  arrow 
makers.  The  paper  was  accompanied  by  a  letter  from  A.  F.  Ber- 
lin, of  Allentown,  Pa.,  and  illustrated  by  specimens  of  darts  and 
arrowheads  in  stone  made  by  Mr.  Berlin  by  the  process  described 
in  the  letter.  Dr.  T.  C.  Porter  stated  that  the  Lancaster  county 
herbarium  of  the  society  needed  arranging,  and  that  the  plants 
should  be  poisoned  in  order  to  preserve  them  from  destruction  by 
the  museum  pest  He  offered  to  defray  the  expense  incident 
thereto,  if  the  members  would  do  the  actual  working  part  of  the 
undertaking.  The  doctor's  generous  offer  was  accepted,  and  Pro- 
fessor J.  S.  Stahr,  C.  A.  Heinitsh,  and  Mrs  Zell,  were  appointed  a 


Appalachian  Mountain  Club,  Dec.  11,  1885. —  Geodetic 
Observations  from  Moosilauke  and  Mansfield,  Prof.  E.  C.  Picker- 
ing; The  tripyramid  slides  of  1885,  written  by  Rev.  Alford 
A.  Butler,  and  Notes  on  the  region  east  of  Wild  river  and  south 
of  the  Androscoggin,  written  by  Mr.  A.  L.  Goodrich. 

Oct.  14. — Professor  Gaetano  Lanza,  An  ascent  of  Mount  Gar- 
field; M.  V.  B.  Knox,  Ph.D.,  Notes  on  the  slide  at  Jefferson; 
Professor  C.  E.  Fay,  Was  Chocorua  the  original  Pigwacket? 

Nov.  II. — Professor  William  M.  Davis  on  mountain  meteor- 
ology. The  following  papers  by  Mr.  E.  B.  Cook,  were  read:  Round 
mountain;  An  excursion  over  Mounts  Nancy,  Anderson  and 
Lowell. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


ERRATUM. 

The  word  of  at  the  middle  of  the  last  line  on  p.  26,  January 
number,  should  be  stricken  out  and  the  phrase  should  read : 

*  *     *     that  in  those  species  which  fly  most,  these  muscles 
would  be  relatively  larger  than  in  those  of  less  power  of  flight. 

Instead  of: 

*  *     *    that  in  those  species  which  fly  most  of  these  muscles 
would  be,  etc. 


233 

JKS  OF  THE  COMMON 

f  Merriam 236 

>  TMttH  n*  YXB  Triassic  Rocks 
,  KTlBUlStrftted.]  L.P.Grat- 

243 

ASntVnSBLT    SBPARATBD.       Otis 
•■••.»••• 246 


!  Alphabet.— The  bestiarians  . 


252 


irMotintain  Botany  .—The  Catalogue  ' 
J  British  Museum.— Hartman's  An- 
lllmatrftted].— Kane's  Hand-book  of 
mies.— >LsuigiUe's  Our  Birds  and  their 
iSving  World.— Thompson's  Bibliog- 
,  etc.— >Recent  Books  and  Pamph- 


254 


.  TV/iw/*.— GcnenU.^Arctic  Re- 
The  'Resources  of  Africa  ;  Lieut, 
edition :  African  News.  —  Asia  : 
;  Asiatic  News  ...  .  .   .   .   a6i 


^ J'.— The  Englbh  Greta- 

IrtfVj^  •fb^rtui  Whiifield.— An  Ex- 


266 


rus  flEc,  Entury  iv.— fiotanlofl  News. 

Entomology.  —  Witlaczil  on  PsyUida:  [lUus- 
tnted].— -Entomological  News 283 

Zoology. ^1\i^  Proatlas,  Atlas  and  Axis  of  the 
CrocodUiarillontritedl.— Three  problematical  Gen- 
era of  Mexican  Bosform  Snakes.— Note  on  the  Prob- 
lem of  Soaring  Birds.— On  the  Types  of  Tooth-struc- 
ture in  Mammalia. — An  extraordinary  Human  Den- 
tition.—Zoological  News 288 

Embryology.— 1\\ft  Development  oi  Anurida  mar- 
ithna  Guerin  [lUostrftted] 299 

Physiology. — Report  of  Committee  on  Disinfect- 
ants of  the  American  Public  Health  Association.— 
Recent  Investigations  on  the  Respiratory  Center  .   .    302 

Psychology. — Intelligence  of  Anthropoid  Apes.— 
Dr.  Preyer  s  Criticism  of  Telepathy.  —  Menault's 
Intelligence  of  Animals 3^ 

Anthropology. -"^iVLViyx^  Report  of  the  Bureau  of 
Ethnolofsy. — The  Crania  of  Negroes. —  Lacustrian 
Antiquities  of  Dr.  Gross. — Recent  Articles  by  Dr. 
Tschudi.— Supplement  to  the  Grammar  of  the  Cak- 
chiquet  language 3^^ 

Microscopy. — Natural  Injection. — Methods  of  In- 
jecting Annelids.  —  An  Injection-mass  to  be  used 
Cold.— Method  of  Killing  Gephyrea  —A  Macerating 
Mixture.— Hallcr's  Macerating  Fluid 313 

SciKNTiFic  Nkws  (A  correction) ,    316 

Procbboings  of  SciKicTiric  SociBTiBS  r>^r\e^0  •   3»* 


90R  SALE— ^  complete  set  of  the  AMERICAN  NATURALIST.  Address,  for  terms, 

BUSTICU8.  this  Offlee. 


ANNOUNCEMENT  EXTRAORDINARY  I 

WE  HAVE  JUST  RECEIVED  AN  INVOICE  OF 

PRANG'S 

THESE  CARDS  have  a  world-wide  reputation  for  their  beauty  and  exceVienceof  6nish, 
approached  by  no  other  maker.  The  Messrs.  PRANG  &  CO.  have  spent  tKjusands  of  dol- 
lars for  designs,  which  have  been  furnished  by  some  of  our  most  celebrated-  artists. 

In  order  to  extend  the  sale  of  these  Cards,  we  have  had  prepared,  expiressly  for  USp 
packets  which  we  sell  for  91*00  per  pack,  viz  : 

Packet  No*  If  Contains  50  cards.     No  two  alike.    Assorted  six  .es. 

Packet  XO»  a^  Contains  20  Cards,  two  of  them  fringed.  No  'two  Cards  in  the 
packet  alike.    The  Cards  in  this  pack  are  laiger  than  in  No.  i.     Assorted  sizes. 

We  will  send  both  packets  for  $  1,7ft. 

All  of  these  are  perfect  Gems.  The  Cards  contained  in  each  of  t  hese  packs  have 
retailed  for  not  less  than  ^^3.00. 

They  are  just  the  thing  for  rewards — a  couple  of  packets  would  supply    a  small  school. 

They  will  also  make  a  handsome  scrap-book. 

These  Cards  are  cheaper  than  common  cards.     Please  order  early  as  th^e  stock  is  limited . 

In  writing  for  these  packets,  please  say  PRANG'S  CARDS.  \ 

HcCALLA  &  STAVEl^.T, 

Box  1153.  237-9  S)oc7c  Street,  PHILADEi  '^^HIA. 


I 
$5  to  $15  per  day  made  selling 

HaSKELL  BROTHERS' 


FOR  YOUNG  PEOPLE. 


I      Tmb  oldest  and  every  way  the  besi-g  young  people's 

IndSUd  MU  of  us  UnitBQ  St&tSS  Ud  WOrldl  l  Boston-^a  weekly  paper  published  in  $  ,arto  form/and 
f  I  finely  illustrated.    It  grows  fresher  as  iul/  years  iocrease^ 

A   -r  •    -,  A     •         ^•i-m  Ti«j  landhasbeenfamiHartousforagcneratioT^n. 

A  Lightning  Quick  Town  Finder,    j   „  ^  ^^^^^  ,^^,  ,„,  ,^„^°]^  ^  ^^^^.^^ 

PRICE,    -    -    -    -    $1.90.  list  to  350,000  by  the  generosity  of  its  pubt     ishen  and  the 

ability  with  which  it  has  been  conductet  ^    .    We  know  a 

SiZB,  54x40.  I  pair  of  bright  eyes  that  snap  every  week  CI  at  sight  of  it, 

LIBERAL    TERMS   TO    AGENTS.     SEND    FOR  T*>«  P"*>"**^<^" '^•^  "^n*!  you  »aM«  cop  >    ^,  or  will  send 

PRICE  LIST  AND  CATALOGUE.  { the  paper  every  week  for  a  year,  if  you  se{^  *      ' 

College  students  will  do  well  to  take  an  Agency.    We  ^       >9      5- 

have  many  who  are  paying  their  tuition  by  selling  the 
above  maps. 


ZDjJLXiTOlT    &    CO., 
280  SOUTH  WATER  STREET,  CHICAGO. 


^    idihesubscHp- 


SICK 


— r-— 

micueRARTFonsmE. 


Melancholy  Be^erallyl  Th«  SubKnber  o(r.»  for  «1,  h«  Scie{  ^fie  Ubrar,-. 
.prlDg  from  a  TorpW  1 """  '^  *«  '^'^•"  ""  ""'  <=»»'''"•.  ••  «  'f'  ^»- 
LlTerTaDl«.rHerea  Stom- 1  ■"'""  of  Geology  .nd  Paleontology,  i„  ,    j«  W»..    I. 

aoh  or  Co8Uyene».  the  OlstresBlnK  effeeU  ot '  ^^V^  fT'  "'°  T'^t.  ""'"'*'  »'  "^."'°  T 
which  Dr.  Jayne-.  Sanative  Pills  will  apeedlly  i '""?  "-"l^d  ■»«P»  »nd  pamphku  not  A  «|ad«l  ".  thr 
remore,  by  their  beneflclal  acUon  on  the  bll- ;  "'•''^"    ^'"'""'  *   "•  ^\''*    THEN 

lary  organs  they  will  also  lessen  the  likelihood  |  ^""t    vf"'  "**• 

of  a  return.  |  ■        Digitized  by  VjOOQ  It 


Digitized  by 


Google 


PLATE  X. 


Map  I. 


Legend. — i,  Winnebago  habit>)t;  2,  Iowa  habitat;  3,  Arkansa  habitat;  4,  Kwapa  habitat 
after  leaving  the  Omahas,  etc. ;  5,  Omaha  habitat  and  route  after  separating  from  the  Kwapas; 
6,  habitat  at  the  mouth  of  the  Missouri  ;*  7,  course  along  the  river;  8,  habitat  at  mouth  of  Osage 
river;  9,  course  of  Osages;  lo,  course  of  Kansas;  11,  do.  of  Ponkas  and  Omahas  (Two  Crows)  ; 
12,  do.  of  do.  (according  to  others);  13,  meeting  of  lowas,  Ponkas  and  Omahas;  14,  course  of  the 
three  tribes;  15,  Pipestone  quarry;  16,  cliffs  about  one  hundred  feet  high  on  each  bank;  17,  fort 
built  by  the  three  tribes;  18,  Lake  Andes;  19,  mouth  of  White  river;  20,  mouth  of  Niobrara 
river;  22,  Bow  creek  (Omaha  village);  23,  Ionia  creek  (Iowa  village);  24,  jLi-jafi-ga-jiiiga ; 
25,  Large  village;  26,  village  at  Bell  creek;  27,  course  of  the  lowas;  28,  Omt^a  habitat  on  Salt 
river;  30,  Ane  nat*ai  dhan ;  31,  j^aonaftguji  (Shell  creek) ;  33,  village  on  Elkhorir creek ;  35,  village 
on  Logan  creek ;  37,  village  at  Bellevue. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


THE 

AMERICAN    NATURALIST. 

Vol.  XX.— march,  1886.— No.  3. 


MIGRATIONS  OF  SIOUAN  TRIBES.^ 

BY  REV.  J.  OWEN  DORSEY. 

"OIOUAN"  is  the  term  adopted  by  the  Bureau  of  Ethnology 
^  instead  of  "  Dakotan/'  as  the  name  of  the  linguistic  fs^mily 
of  which  the  Sioux  or  Dakotas  have  been  regarded  as  the  lead- 
ing nation. 

The  tribes  whose  migrations  are  described  in  this  paper  are  the 
Ponkas,  Omahas,  Osages,  Kansas,  Kwapas,  lowas,  Otos,  Missou- 
ris,  Winnebagos  and  Mandans.  The  other  tribes  of  this  family 
are  the  Sioux,  Assiniboins,  Hidatsas,  Crows  and  Tutelos. 

Some  authors  speak  of  a  series  of  migrations  of  these  tribes 
from  the  west  toward  the  east,  but  the  writer  has  not  been  able 
to  learn  on  what  authority  such  statements  have  been  made,  nor 
has  he  ever  found  any  tradition  of  such  eastward  migrations 
among  the  tribes  that  he  has  visited.  * 

Whatever  may  be  the  value  of  Catlin's  map  of  the  Mandan 
migrations,  there  can  be  no  doubt  that  the  Mandans  belong  to 
the  Siouan  family.  Their  language  shows  unmistakable  resem- 
blances to  the  Winnebago,  as  well  as  to  the  Dakota,  Osage,  Kan- 
sas, etc.  The  Mandan  tradition,  as  given  to  Catlin,  placed  the 
ancestors  of  that  people  east  of  the  Mississippi  river  at  an  early 
day  (Catlin's  N.  A.  Indians,  11,  259)* 

The  Jesuit  Relation  of  1640  speaks  of  the  Dakotas  and  Assini- 
boins, placing  them  in  the  neighborhood  of  the  Winnebagos. 
This  last  nation  was  probably  in  the  region  of  Green  bay  in  1614, 

^Read  before  the  Aothropological  Society,  Washington,  D.  C,  in  1884. 
*  See  map  2. 

VOL.  XX.'-«0.  III.  js 

\ 


Digitized  by 


Google 


212 


Migrations  of  Siouan  Tribes, 


[March, 


when  Champlain  met  eight  of  their  men.  They  are  also  men- 
tioned in  1620.  In  1680  Father  Membre  said  that  they  were 
near  the  Kickapoos.  In  1766  Carver  found  them  about  thirty- 
five  miles  from  Green  bay. 

Map  2. 


Part  of  Catlin's  map,  showing  the  course  of  the  Mandans. 

About  three  years  ago  the  Iowa  chiefs  who  visited  Washing- 
ton at  that  time  told  the  writer  that  their  people,  the  Otos,  Mis- 
souris,  Omahas  and  Ponkas  once  formed  part  of  the  Winnebago 
nation.  In  confirmation  of  this  note  are  the  following  statements : 
{d)  About  the  year  1848  Rev.  Wm.  Hamilton,  n^issions^ry  to  the 


Digitized  by 


Google 


1 886.]  Migfatians  of  Sioiian  Tribes.  2 1 3 

lowas,  learned  that  when  they  sung  their  mystic  songs  they  used 
the  Winnebago  language,  {b)  A  careful  study  of  the  languages 
of  the  lowas,  Otos  and  Winnebagos  shows  that  they  are  very 
closely  related ;  indeed,  time  may  prove  the  necessity  of  including 
them  in  one  group  instead  of  two.  (r)  We  have  the  tradition 
given  by  the  Prince  of  Nieu  Wied  on  p.  645  of  his  first  volume  ^ 
(German  edition),  (rf)  Gallatin  (Trans.  Amer.  Antiq.  Soc,  1836,^*. 
p.  127)  says  that  the  lowas,  Otos,  Missouris,  Omahas  and  Ponkas 
have  a  tradition  that,  at  a  distant  epoch,  they,  together  with  the 
V/innebagos,  came  from  the  north ;  that  the  Winnebagos  stopped 
on  the  banks  of  Lake  Michigan  while  the  rest,  continuing  their 
course  southerly,  crossed  the  Mississippi  river  and  occupied  the 
places  in  which  they  were  found  by  the  Europeans,  (e)  There  is 
a  statement  made  in  Maj.  Long's  account  of  his  expedition  to  the 
Rocky  mountains,  18 19  (ed.  by  James),  of  which  the  substance  is 
now  given :  "  The  parent  nation  originally  resided  somewhere 
north  of  the  great  lakes.  On  moving  southward  a  large  body 
seceded,  staying  on  the  shore  of  a  lake ;  these  became  the  •  Ho- 
chan-ga-ra  or  Winnebagos.  Another  band  separated  from  the 
main  body  on  reaching  the  Mississippi — these  became  the  lowas 
(Pa-kho-che).  At  the  mouth  of  the  Missouri  another  band 
stopped  and  made  a  village,  hence  their  name,  **  Ne-o-ta-che  " 
(Ni-u-t*a-chi),  now  called  Missouris.  The  Otos  (Wa-to-ta,  lovers 
of  sexual  pleasure)  left  the  nation  on  the  Mississippi  (according 
to  another  account  they  seceded  from  the  Missouris  at  the  mouth 
of  the  Missouri  river)  and  went  across  the  country  till  they  struck 
the  Missouri  near  the  mouth  of  the  Great  Nemaha.  Here  they 
remained  a  long  time.  Thence  they  went  up  to  the  Platte,  and  after 
hupting  for  some  time  near  its  mouth  they  moved  further  up  the 
Missouri  and  built  a  village  on  the  right  bank  of  that  river,  about 
fourteen  miles  below.  Council  Bluffs,  la.  While  they  were  there 
a  band  of  lowas  established  themselves  on  the  bank  of  the  river, 
nearly  opposite  to  them  and  within  thirty  miles  of  the  site  of  the 
Omaha  village,  in  1 819.  The  Otos  subsequently  removed  to  the 
Platte,  about  twenty  miles  above  the  village  occupied  by  them  in 
1 8 19,  but  finding  the  latter  situation  a  better  one,  they  established 
themselves  there  (about  A.  D.  1769).'- 

"  The  lowas,  after  remaining  in  a  village  on  the  Lower  Mis- 
souri for  a  long  time,  were  rejoined  by  the  band  above  mentioned, 
when  they  returned  to  the  Mississippi  and  erected  a  village  on 
the  Moyene," 


Digitized  by 


Google 


214  Migrations  of  Siouan  Tribes.  [March, 

This  must  refer  to  a  late  period  in  the  history  of  the  lowas, 
extending  back,  perhaps,  not  further  than  1740  or  1750.  This 
will  appear  the  more  plainly  after  comparing  the  above  statement 
respecting  the  Otos  with  the  map  of  the  migrations  of  the  lowas 
given  as  Plate  xxx  in  Vol.  iii  of  Schoolcraft's  Archives  of  Abo- 
riginal Knowledge.  A  copy  of  the  map  accompanies  this  article. 
The  supposition  of  the  writer  is  also  in  accordance  with  what  fol- 
lows about  the  migrations  of  the  lowas  in  company  with  the 
Omahas  and  Ponkas. 

"  The  Missouris  in  course  of  time  abandoned  their  village  at 
the  mouth  of  the  Missouri,  and  gradually  ascending  the  river  at 
length  built  a  town  on  the  left  bank,  near  the  mouth  of  Grand 
river.  They  were  found  there  by  the  French,  who  built  a  fort  on 
an  island  in  the  Missouri,  very  near  them,  about  the  beginning  of 
the  last  century.  *  *  *  The  Missouris  continued  to  dwell  in 
the  same  locality  until,  about  twenty  years  since  (A.  D.  1798, 
1799  or  1800),  they  were  conquered  and  dispersed  by  a  combina- 
tion of  the  Saks,  Foxes  and  some  other  Indians.  Five  or  six 
lodges  joined  the  Osages,  two  or  three  took  refuge  with  the  Kan- 
sas, ^nd  the  chief  part  of  the  remainder  amalgamated  with  the 
Otos." 

In  1673  the  Otos  were  placed  by  Marquette^  between  40® 
and  41°  N.  lat,  west  of  the  Missouri  and  Mississippi  rivers,  east 
of  the  Maha  (Omahas)  and  south-east  of  the  Pana  (Ponkas  ?). 
The  lowas,  according  to  the  same  authority,  were  between  40° 
and  41°  N.  lat.,  north-west  of  the  Maha  and  west  of  the  Pana. 
In  1680  the  Ainoves  (lowas)  were  east  of  the  Mississippi  and 
near  the  Kickapoos,  according  to  Membre  (see  Shea's  Discov. 
and  Expl.  Miss.  Valley,  p.  150).  The  Otos  were  "one  hundred 
and  thirty  leagues  from  the  Illinois,  almost  opposite  the  mouth  of 
the  Miskoncing."  In  1687  the  Otos  were  on  the  Osage  river. 
In  1700  Iberville  said  that  the  Otos  and  lowas  were  with  the 
Omahas  between  the  Missouri  and  Mississippi  rivers,  about  a 
hundred  leagues  from  the  Illinois.  In  1721  the  lowas  were  east 
of  the  Missouri  river,  above  the  Otos  and  below  the  Pawnees, 
being  allies  and  neighbors  of  the  Dakotas.  The  Otos  were 
below  the  lowas  and  above  the  Kansas,  on  the  west  side  of  the 
Missouri  (Charlevoix,  Histor.  Journal,  p.  294). 

The  Ponkas  told  Rev.  A.  L.  Riggs  that  their  ancestors  used  to 
dwell  east  of  the  Mississippi.    They  subsequently  inhabited  the 

^  See  his  autograph  map  in  Shea's  Discov.  and  Explor.  of  the  Miss.  Valley.  8to, 
p.  268.     N.  Y.,  1852. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


1 886.]  Migrations  of  Siouan  Tribes.  215 

country  on  the  north  side  of  the  Missouri  river,  near  its  mouth. 
The  Kansas  and  the  Osages  were  the  first  to  depart ;  then  the 
Omahas  and  Ponkas  followed  the  course  of  the  Missouri  towards 
its  head.  Mr.  Riggs  also  says  that  the  Ponkas  went  to  the  region 
of  the  Black  hills,  and  were  there  before  the  Crows ;  but  the 
Ponkas  told  the  writer  that  the  Crows  inhabited  that  country  and 
were  owners  of  the  Black  hills  when  their  ancestors  arrived  there, 
at  which  time  there  were  no  Dakotas  in  that  region.  This  last 
statement  is  confirmed  by  the  Dakota  winter-counts  in  Dr.  Cor- 
busier's  collection.  The  writer  was  also  told  that  the  Ponkas 
used  to  dwell  north-east  of  the  old  Ponka  reservation  (which  is  in 
Todd  county,  Neb.),  in  a  land  where  they  wore  snow-shoes. 
Since  1879  the  writer  has  gained  more  definite  information  from 
other  Ponkas,  as  well  as  from  Omahas,  Osages  and  Kansas,  and 
it  is  now  given. 

Ages  ago  the  ancestors  of  the  Omahas,  Ponkas,  Osages,  Kan- 
sas, Kwapas,  Winnebagos,  Pawnee  Loups  (Skidi)  and  Rees, 
dwelt  east  of  the  Mississippi.  They  were  not  all  in  one  region, 
but  they  were  allies,  and  their  general  course  was  westward. 
They  drove  other  tribes  before  them.  Five  of  these  peoples,  the 
Omahas,  Ponkas,  Osages,  Kansas  and  Kwapas,  were  then  to- 
gether as  one  nation.  They  were  called  Arkansa  or  Alkansa  by 
the  Illinois  tribes,  and  they  dwelt  near  the  Ohio  river.  At  the 
mouth  of  the  Ohio  a  separation  occurred.  Some  went  down  the 
Mississippi,  hence  arose  their  name,  "  U-ga'-qpa  (Oo-ga-khpa)" 
or  Kwapa  (Quapaw),  meaning  "  the  down-stream  people."  This 
was  prior  to  1540,  when  De  Soto  met  the  Kwapas,  who  were 
then  a  distinct  tribe. 

The  rest  of  the  Arkansas  ascended  the  river,  taking  the  name 
of  U-ma'^-ha"  (Omaha),  "  those  going  against  the  wind  or 
current." 

These  names — Kwapa  and  Omaha — are  of  more  recent  origin 
than  Kansas,  Osage  and  Ponka.  We  find  proofs  of  the  antiquity 
of  these  three  names  in  the  names  of  gentes  in  these  tribes. 
Thus  among  the  Ponkas  there  is  a  Ponka  gens  (the  Ma-ka""),  and 
an  Osage  gens  (the  Wa-ja-je).  •  The  Omahas  have  a  Kansas  gens 
(the  ^a"-ze).  The  Kansas  have  a  Ponka  gens  (Cedar  people),  an 
Osage  gens  (Deer  people),  and  a  Kansas  gens  (^la^-ze,  asso- 
ciated, as  among  the  Omahas,  with  the  winds).  The  Osages  have 
a  Kansas  gens  (Ka°-se)  and  seven  Osage  (Wa-aa-oe)  gentes,  one 


Digitized  by 


Google 


2i6  Migrations  of  Siauan  Tribes.  [March, 

of  which  is  the  Ponka  (Pa"-Hka).  The  last  is  associated  with 
the  red  cedar.  If  the  true  meanings  of  the  three  names  have  been 
preserved,  they  can  be  gained  only  in  one  way — by  questioning 
members  of  the  secret  societies  in  the  tribes. 

The  writer  has  been  unable  to  find  an  Omaha  gens,  and  the 
only  Kwapa  village  (not  a  gens)  is  among  the  Kwapas. 

Joutel  names  four  Kwapa  villages — Otsote,  Thoriman,  Ton- 
ginga  and  Cappa.  The  first  village  is  called  by  other  French 
writers,  Otsotchave,  or  Otsotchoue,  the  third,  Topinga  (evidently 
a  printer's  error),  and  the  fourth,  Kapaha.  According  to  Shea 
these  divisions  of  the  Arkansas  are  extinct,  but  the  writer  has 
been  able  to  find  members  of  them  still  existing.  When  he  was 
at  the  Osage  agency,  Indian  Terr.,  in  1883,  he  met  three  Kwapas. 
From  two  of  them  he  gained  the  following :  The  first  village  is 
U-ga'-qpa-qti,  real  Kwapas  (Cappa  or  Kapaha).  The  second  is 
U-zu'-ti-u'-hi  (Otsote),  which  may  mean  village  along  an  usu  or 
lowland  level  containing  trees  here  and  there.  The  third  is  Ti'- 
u-a'-d^'^i-ma'*'  (Thoriman).  The  name  of  the  fourth  village  could 
not  be  learned  from  the  KwapaS ;  but  Margry  tells  us  that  it 
meant  "  small  village  "  in  the  Kwapa  dialect.  The  writer  finds 
that  this  would  be  expressed  by  Ta'^'-ma^  ji'-ga,  with  which  com- 
pare Tonginga  and  Topinga.  In  July,  1687,  according  to  Joutel, 
two  of  these  villages  were  on  the  Arkansas  river,  and  the  others 
were  on  the  Mississippi.  A  visit  to  the  Kwapas  might  furnish 
the  writer  with  their  traditions,  etc.  Though  they  must  have 
separated  from  the  Ponkas  more  than  three  hundred  years  ago, 
the  dialects  are  still  so  similar  that  the  Kwapas  met  by  the  writer 
could  understand  him  very  easily  when  he  spoke  to  them  in 
Ponka. 

The  Omahas  and  their  associates  followed  the  course  of  the 
Mississippi  till  they  reached  the  mouth  of  the  Missouri,  remain- 
ing for  some  time  near  the  site  of  the  present  city  of  St  Louis. 
Then  they  ascended  the  Missouri  to  a  place  called  Tce-dQn'-ga 
a'-ja-be  and  Ma°'da-qpa'-y5  by  the  Kansas,  and  Ma°'-;a-qpa'-dhe 
by  the  Osages.  This  was  an  extensive  peninsula  on  the  river, 
having  a  high  mountain  as  a  landmark.^ 

^  The  wiiter  was  told  by  an  Osage  that  Man.^aqpadhe  was  at  Pire  Prairiei  Missoori, 
where  the  first  treaty  with  the  Osages  was  made  by  the  United  States.  But  that  place 
is  on  a  creek  of  the  same  name  which  empties  into  the  Missouri  river  on  the  south, 
in  T.  56  N.,  R.  28  W.,  at  the  town  of  Napoleon,  Jackson  county.  Mo.  This  could 
not  have  been  the  original  Man-)aqpadh&.    Several  local  names  have  been  duplicated 


Digitized  by 


Google 


1886.] 


Migrations  ofSiouan  Tribes. 
Map  3. 


217 


Map  of  th^  country  formerly  occupied  by  the  loway  tribe  of  Indians,  from  a  map 
made  by  Waw-nonqwe-skoon-a,  an  loway  brave.  Drawn  by  Capt.  S.  Eastman, 
U.S. A.  (Plate  xxx,  Vol.  iii,  p.  256,  Archives  of  Aboriginal  Knowledge,  by  H.  R. 
School crah.  No.  3,  according  to  the  Iowa  Indian,  was  near  the  great  Pipestone 
quarry.  The  real  place  of  the  quarry  was  further  east,  at  No.  15,  of  Map  I.  It  is 
very  probable,  that  No.  3  of  Map  3  was  near  the  White  river,  Dakota,  and  if  so,  it 
may  have  been  the  same  as  No.  19  of  Map  i. 

by  the  Kansas  during  their  wanderings,  and  there  are  traces  of  similar  duplications 
among  the  Osages.  Besides  this  the  Omahas  and  Ponkas  never  accompanied  the 
Kansas  and  Osages  beyond  the  mouth  of  the  Osage  river,  and  the  Kansas  did  not 
reach  the  vicinity  of  Napoleon  for  some  time  after  the  separation  at  the  mouth  of 
the  Osage  river. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


2 1 8  Migrations  of  Siouan  Tribes,  [  March, 

Here,  according  to  the  Kansas  and  Osages,  the  ancestors  of  the 
four  tribes  dwelt  together.  In  the  course  of  tinle  they  ascended 
the  Missouri  and  established  themselves  at  the  mouth  of  the 
Osage  river.  The  lowas  were  near  them  ;  but  the  Omahas  say 
that  at  that  period  they  did  not  know  the  Otos  and  Missouris. 
At  the  mouth  of  the  Osage  river  the  final  separation  occurred. 
The  Omahas  and  Ponkas  crossed  the  Missouri,  resuming  their 
wanderings.  The  Osages  ascended  the  stream  bearing  their  name, 
and  at  a  tributary,  called  by  them  "  Tse'-^G^'-Jia'-qa,"  they  divided 
into  the  ja-he'-4si  (those  who  camped  at  the  top  of  the  mountain)* 
incorrectly  styled  Great  Osages,  and  the  U-^sSa'-ta  (those  who 
camped  at  the  base  of  the  mountain),  popularly  called  Little 
Osages.  The  Kansas  ascended  the  Missouri  on  the  south  side 
till  they  reached  the  Kansas  river.  A  brief  halt  was  made,  and 
the  journey  was  resumed.  They  ascended  the  Missouri  on  the 
east  side  till  they  reached  the  present  northern  boundary  of  the 
State  of  Kansas.  There  they  were  attacked  by  the  Cheyennes, 
and  were  compelled  to  retrace  their  steps.  They  settled  again  at 
the  mouth  of  the  Kansas,  till  the  "  Big  Knives ''  came  with  gifts 
and  induced  them  to  go  further  west.  Their  subsequent  history, 
as  given  to  the  writer  by  two  chiefs,  contains  an  account  of  about 
twenty  villages  along  the  Kansas  river,  then  the  settlement  at 
Council  Grove,  Kas.,  and  finally  the  removal  to  their  reservation 
in  Indian  Terr. 

Let  us  return  to  the  Omahas  and  Ponkas.  After  crossing  the 
Missouri  they  were  joined  by  the  lowas,  according  to  Two  Crows 
and  Joseph  La  Fleche,  of  the  Omahas.  They  said  that  this  addi- 
tion to  the  party  was  made  about  the  time  of  the  separation  from 
the  Osages  and  Kansas.  But  the  Iowa  tradition,  as  given  to  Mr. 
Hamilton  (see  map  of  the  Iowa  brave)  places  the  first  village  of 
that  tribe  west  of  the  Mississippi,  on  the  Des  Moines  river.  The 
two  Omahas  just  named  said  that  their  fathers  followed  the  tribu- 
taries of  the  Missouri  till  they  reached  the  great  Pipestone  quarry 
in  Minnesota.  Other  Omahas  have  said  that  the  course  was  up 
the  Des  Moines  river,  which  would  naturally  bring  the  wanderers 
near  the  quarry.  The  writer  is  inclined  to  believe  that  they 
ascended  .the  Chariton  river,  and  when  at  its  source  they  would 
be  near  the  Des  Moines.  As  the  lowas  were  a  cognate  tribe,  it 
was  reasonable  for  them  to  unite  with  the  others.  At  all  events 
the  traditions  agree  in  this :  the  people  built  earth  lodges  (perma- 


Digitized  by 


Google 


1 886.]  Migrations  of  Siouan  Tribes.  219 

nent  villages),  they  farmed  and  hunted  the  buffalo  and  other  ani- 
mals. When  the  game  became  scarce  in  their  neighborhoods 
they  abandoned  their  villages  and  went  north-west.  On  reaching 
a  place  near  the  new  haunts  of  the  game,  other  permanent  villages 
were  built  and  they  were  occupied  for  years.  So  they  lived  till 
they  reached  the  Pipestone  quarry  (which  is  not  given  in  the 
right  place  on  the  Iowa  map).  When  they  arrived  at  the  Big 
Sioux  river  they  built  a  fort.  At  that  time  the  Yankton  Dakotas 
dwelt  in  a  forest  region  of  Minnesota,  near  the  Mississippi,  and 
were  called  "Ja°'-a-;a  ni'-ka-ci°'-ga,  people  (dwelling)  in  the 
woods."  By  and  by  the  Dakotas  made  war  on  the  Omahas  and 
their  allies,  defeating  them  and  killing  about  a  thousand  warriors. 
This  obliged  the  three  tribes  to  abandon  their  habitat.  They  fled 
south-west  till  they  reached  the  lake  where  the  Omahas  and  Pon- 
kas  obtained  their  sacred  pole.  This  is  now  called  Lake  Andes, 
ajid  it  is  at  the  head  of  Choteau  creek,  Dakota.  There  the  sacred 
pipes  were  given,  according  to  the  Omaha  and  Ponka  traditions, 
and  the  present  gentes  were  constituted.  From  this  place  they 
ascended  the  Missouri  river  till  they  reached  White  river  (Ni-u'- 
ga-cu'-de).  There  the  lowas  and  Omahas  remained,  but  the 
Ponkas  crossed  the  Missouri  near  the  mouth  of  the  White  river, 
and  went  on  to  the  Little  Missouri  river  and  the  country  near  the 
Black  hills.  They  subsequently  rejoined  their  allies  and  all  de- 
scended the  Missouri  on  its  right  bank.  When  they  reached  the 
mouth  of  the  Niobrara  river  the  final  separation  was  made.  The 
Ponkas  remained  there.  The  Omahas  settled  on  Bow  creek, 
Neb.,  which  they  called  "  Village  stream."  The  lowas  advanced 
to  the  stream  on  which*  is  situated  the  town  of  Ionia,  Dixon 
county.  Neb.,  hence  its  name,  "  where  the  lowas  farmed."  By 
and  by  the  Omahas  removed  to  a  place  near  Covington,  Neb., 
which  is  opposite  Sioux  City  (see  24  on  Map  i).  The  remains  of 
this  village  are  known  as  ji  4an-ga  jin-ga,  and  the  lake  near  by  is 
called  "  Dhix-u-cpa°-u-gdhe,"  because  of  the  willows  along  its 
banks. 

In  the  course  of  time  the  lowas  passed  the  Omahas  again  and 
made  a  village  near  the  place  where  Florence,  Neb.,  now  stands. 
After  that  they  continued  southward  till  they  reached  their  reser- 
vation at  the  Nebraska  and  Kansas  line.  The  Otos  were  first 
met  by  the  Omahas,  according  to  Mr.  La  Fl^che,  in  compara- 
tively recent  times  on  the  Platte  river. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


220  Migrations  of  Siouan  Tribes.  [March, 

Subsequent  Migrations  of  the  Omahas, — ^After  leaving  jx  ^aflga 
jinga  (No.  24),  where  the  lodges  were  made  of  wood,  they  dwelt 
at  Zande  bu;a.  This  is  south-east  of  j\  ;aiiga  jiiiga,  and  is  the 
name  of  a  stream  as  well  as  of  a  prominent  bluff  near  by.  This 
stream  empties  into  Omaha  creek  near  the  town  of  Homer,  Neb. 
After  a  great  freshet  the  Omahas  crossed  Omaha  creek  and  made 
a  village  at  or  near  Omadi,  which  was  called  Large  village^  near 
Village  stream  (Omaha  creek).  See  No.  25  on  Map  i.  This  was 
a  favorite  resort,  as  we  shall  see.  Thence  they  removed  to  Bell 
creek,  on  the  west  side  of  which  they  made  a  village  (No.  26). 
Thence  they  went  south  to  Salt  creek,  below  Lincoln  (No.  28). 
Thence  they  returned  to  Large  village  (No.  25).  When  they 
were  there,  Half-a-day,  the  aged  historian  of  the  tribe,  was  bom. 
This  was  about  A.  D.  1800.  Thence  they  removed  to  A-ne  na- 
t'ai  dha^,  where  the  people  perished  in  a  prairie  fire^  a  hill  on  the 
Elkhorn  river  (No.  30).  They  stayed  there  five  years.  Then 
they  settled  on  Shell  creek,  which  they  called  Tacnafiguji  (No. 
31).  After  which  they  returned  to  Large  village  (No.  2$).  Leav- 
ing this  again,  they  made  a  village  on  the  Elkhorn,  near  Wisner 
(No.  33),  about  A.  D.  1822-3.  Half-a-day  married  when  he  was 
there.  About  A.  D.  1832-3  they  returned  to  Large  village  (No, 
2$).  Joseph  La  Fleche  remembers  having  been  there  at  that 
time.  About  A.  D.  1841  they  removed  to  Ta'^-wa^  jinga  dha^the 
Small  village  (No.  35),  at  the  mouth  of  Logan  creek,  where  they 
dwelt  for  two  years.  In  1843  they  returned  to  Large  village  (No. 
25),  and  in  1845  they  made  a  village  on  the  curvilinear  top  of  a 
plateau,  near  Bellevue  (No.  37).  In  1855  they  removed  to  their 
present  reservation. 

The  Ponkas  did  not  occupy  their  new  country  unmolested. 
They  had  some  fights  with  the  Cheyennes  and  Comanches.  These 
foes  dwelt  near  a  great  lake  in  a  sandy  region  (ji-za'-ba-he-he') 
near  the  head  of  the  Elkhorn  river.  Neb.  At  this  time  the  com- 
batants used  wooden  darts  instead  of  bows  and  arrows.  The 
writer  was  at  the  old  Ponka  reservation,  Todd  county,  Neb.,  from 
May,  1 87 1,  to  Aug.,  1873.  During  this  period  he  often  visited 
the  remains  of  an  ancient  Ponka  fort  not  more  than  a  quarter  of - 
a  mile  from  his  house.    A  rough  diagram  of  this  fort  is  given. 

After  the  lowas  and  Omahas  went  south  the  Ponkas  claimed 
all  the  northern  part  of  Nebraska,  along  the  Missouri  river,  as  far 
as  what  is  now  Dakota  county,  where  began  the  Omaha  ter- 
ritory. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


i886.] 


Migrations  of  Siauan  Tribes. 


221 


The  Ponkas  say  that  they  had  seven  "  old  men  "  since  they  be- 
came a  separate  tribe.  Under  the  fifth  "  old  man  "  they  first  saw 
the  pale- faces.    They  are  now  under  the  seventh  "old  man." 

Map  4. 


Map  showing  the  Ponka  fort. 

The  Omahas,  according  to  some  men  of  their  tribe,  are  now 
under  their  fifth  "  old  man."  Among  the  Dakotas,  according  to 
some  anthorities,  an  "  old  man  "  denotes  a  cycle  of  seventy  years 


Digitized  by 


Google 


222  Migrations  of  Siouan  Tribes,  [March, 

or  more.  If  the  Ponkas  use  the  term  in  this  sense,  and  are  cor- 
rect in  so  doing,  they  may  have  had  a  tribal  existence  for  about 
490  or  500  years.  This  would  extend  back  as  far  as  A.  D.  1390 
or  1380.  (It  was  told  the  writer  in  1880.)  Let  us  see  how  this 
agrees  with  the  reports  of  early  writers  taken  in  connection  with 
the  period  required  for  the  migrations  which  have  been  described. 
We  must  remember  that  in  those  days  firearms  were  unknown, 
and  that  therefore  the  destruction  of  game  was  not  as  rapid  as  it 
now  is ;  that  horses  could  not  be  had,  rendering  locomotion  very- 
slow  ;  that  removals  from  permanent  villages  (such  removals  de- 
pending on  the  destruction  and  departure  of  game)  need  not  have 
been  at  very  short  intervals,  especially  when  the  construction  of 
of  such  villages  was  a  work  of  great  labor,  owing  to  the  primi- 
tive character  of  the  tools  employed,  and  has  a  religious  signifi- 
cance, being  accompanied  with  sundry  mystic  rites,  some  of 
which  are  still  preserved  among  the  Osages  and  Kansas. 

The  director  of  the  Bureau  of  Ethnology  found  a  tradition 
among  some  of  the  civilized  tribes  in  the  Indian  Territory,  refer- 
ing  to  the  ancestors  of  the  Kwapas,  etc.,  which  agrees  with  what 
has  been  said,  i.  e,,  that  they  dwelt  east  of  the  Mississippi  prior  to 
A.  D.  1700.  In  1673  Marquette  had  heard  of  the  Maha  (Oma- 
has),  Pana  (Ponkas  ?),  Pahoutet  (lowas,  Paqotce)  and  Otontantas 
(Otos),  as  inhabiting  the  country  on  the  right  bank  of  the  Mis- 
souri river.  The  separation  of  the  lowas,  Omahas  and  Ponkas, 
and  therefore  all  previous  migrations,  must  have  occurred  before  • 
1673.  Furthermore,  the  separation  of  the  Kwapas  from  the 
others,  and  the  taking  of  these  correlative  names,  Kwapa  and 
Omaha,  must  have  occurred  prior  to  A.  D.  1540,  as  De  Soto  met 
the  Kwapas  in  that  year. 

Even  at  the  present  day,  when  horses  have  been  available,  the 
Omahas  have  remained  in  a  permanent  village  for  ten  years  at  a 
time,  and  have  returned  repeatedly  to  such  an  old  village.  We 
have  no  recorded  tradition  of  similar  returns  to  favorite  villages 
in  prehistoric  times,  yet  such  returns  may  have  occurred,  and  if 
known  would  tend  to  increase  the  duration  of  the  period  between 
the  meeting  of  the  white  men  and  the  time  when  the  Indians 
in  question  were  east  of  the  Mississippi  river. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


i886.]  The  Torture  of  the  Fish-Hawk.  223 

THE  TORTURE  OF  THE  FISH-HAWK. 

BY   I.   LANCASTER. 

WHILE  engaged  in  the  task  of  explaining  the  mystery  of  the 
flight  of  soaring  birds  on  the  shores  of  the  Gulf  of  Mexico, 
where  many  S[>ecies  abounded,  unusual  and  astonishing  perform- 
ances were  witnessed  on  the  part  of  these  inhabitants  of  the  air. 
The  month  of  March  revealed  more  of  these  out-of-the-way 
feats  than  other  times  of  the  year,  and  as  the  breeding  season 
occurred  in  this  month,  especially  on  those  remote  keys  and  in- 
terminable flats  constituting  the  peninsula  of  Southern  Florida,  it 
was  fair  to  presume  that  feelings  growing  out  of  the  relations  of 
the  sexes  prompted  the  remarkable  behavior. 

Were  it  not  absurd  to  transfer  to  external  nature  those  moral 
emotions  generated  in  the  mind  from  the  primordial  impressions 
of  pleasure  and  pain,  one  would  be  tempted  to  assert  a  radical 
diabolism  in  the  scheme  of  things  on  witnessing  the  seeming 
fiendishness  of  some  of  these  creatures  having  dominion  of  the 
air.  Nothing  but  a  free  application  of  the  doctrine  of  the  trans- 
mission of  qualities  through  inheritance,  coupled  with  variations 
amounting  to  divergence,  as  the  line  descends,  can  dispose  of 
deliberately  evil  intention  somewhere,  or  of  a  natural  process,  the 
outcome  of  which  is  bad.  No  inference  from  the  hooked  beak 
and  grasping  talons  of  the  carnivorous  birds  gives  a  clue  to  the 
origin  and  development  of  a  disposition  on  their  part  to  inflict 
pain  for  the  mere  sake  of  the  torture.  Those  structures  find 
their  function  in  the  legitimate  life  struggle,  but  the  infliction  of 
needless  pain,  in  no  way  connected  with  that  conflict,  seems  to  be 
imposed  from  another  source. 

The  distribution  of  land  and  water  on  the  Gulf  coast  of  Florida 
is  favorable  to  the  existence  of  fish.  The  interminable  flats,  bare, 
or  covered  with  a  thin  sheet  of  water  at  low  tide,  and  traversed 
by  many  winding  channels,  give  the  smaller  kinds  refuge  from 
the  rapacity  of  the  larger,  and  furnish  breeding  grounds  without 
stint.  The  many  tidal  creeks,  often  a  succession  of  deep  holes 
connected  by*  mere  rivulets,  through  which  the  tide  sluggishly 
ebbs  and  flows,  also  give  security  for  the  deposit  of  eggs  and 
growth  of  young.  The  gulf  is  also  a  vast  caldron  of  warm 
water,  prolific  through  its  whole  extent  in  monsters  of  the  deep, 
many  of  which,  such  as  sharks  and  porpoises,  penetrate  the  passes 


Digitized  by 


Google 


224  T^he  Torture  of  the  Fish-Hawk,  [March, 

between  the  keys  and  entering  the  channels  of  the  bays  play  havoc 
with  the  lesser  tribes.  These  are  devoured  in  great  quantities, 
and  the  killed  and  wounded  which  escape  the  maw  of  their  fierce 
enemy  can  be  seen  stranded  on  the  flats  at  low  tide. 

All  this  teeming  life  goes  on  in  a  climate  of  surpassing  loveli- 
ness. Frost  is  a  rarity ;  ice  unknown ;  day  succeeding  day  of 
delightful  blandness.  Extreme  heat  is  not  experienced,  and 
storms  worthy  of  the  name  very  rare.  The  soil  of  the  lower 
peninsula  is  pure  sand  as  sterile  as  Sahara.  The  vegetation  is 
prolific  in  air  plants,  semi-tropical  bushes  and  stunted  growths, 
and  a  perpetual  verdure  is  everywhere.  But  there  is  nothing  in 
it  all  that  a  man  can  live  on,  and  hence  the  population  is  limited 
to  the  sporadic  migrations  of  excursionists  and  invalids,  and  a  few 
"crackers,"  always  hungry,  and  seeking  something  capable  of 
being  devoured. 

This  combination  of  circumstances  forms  a  splendid  environ- 
ment for  such  birds  as  can  in  any  way  subsist  on  a  fish  diet,  and 
what  might  be  expected  is  what  is  found.  Birds  with  legs  long 
enough  to  wade  on  the  flats ;  those  which  have  inherited  the 
expertness  of  a  swimming-school  adept  and  can  dive  with  ability, 
and  those  which  can  subsist  on  the  carcases  of  unfortunates,  have 
here  everything  pretty  much  to  suit  them.  Long  lines  of  pelicans 
can  be  seen  on  every  hand,  with  that  grandmotherly  air  of  supreme 
contentment  arising  from  a  continuously  satisfactory  cuisine. 
Cranes  of  all  lengths  of  legs  and  necks,  stalk  about,  hastily  gob- 
bling their  prey.  The  carrion-eating  vultures  are  always  present 
enjoying  the  incoming  breeze  by  resting  in  it  on  motionless  wings, 
or  wheeling  about  on  the  lookout  for  subsistence. 

But  the  birds  which  particularly  interest  us  are  the  fish-hawks, 
also  dependent,  like  the  others,  on  the  life  found  in  the  tepid  waters. 
These  birds  are  arboreal  in  their  habits,  nesting  in  the  tops  of  the 
pine  trees  and  rarely  resting  on  the  ground.  They  fish  for  the 
most  part  in  the  creeks  and  secluded  inlets,  hovering  over  the 
waters  and  suddenly  capturing  their  victim  by  diving  upon  it. 
But  they  sometimes  come  over  the  open  waters  of  the  bays,  and 
when  the  keys  are  covered  with  trees,  over  the  gulf,  to  find  their 
food.  On  first  acquaintance  their  actions  seemed  inexplicable.  I 
could  not  account  for  their  eccentric  ways.  While  in  the  hidden 
places  of  the  creeks  they  utter  no  cry,  and  seem  to  be  efficient 
masters  of  the  craft,  but  in  the  open  they  vacillate  painfully. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


1 886.]  The  Torture  of  the  Fish-Hawk.  225 

They  are  large,  active-winged  birds,  never  soaring,  are  quite 
strong,  and  weigh  about  six  or  seven  pounds.  On  leaving,  the 
trees  lining  the  shore,  perhaps  allured  by  a  school  of  mullet  in 
the  channel,  they  seem  eager  for  action,  and  all  alive  with  expec- 
tation, but  just  before  stooping  on  the  fish  would  set  up  a  fright- 
ened, discordant  scream,  and  make  for  the  shore  with  a  haste  so 
ill-advised  as  seriously  to  impede  progress.  Before  the  trees  were 
reached,  confidence  would  be  restored,  and  returning,  the  same 
singular  performance  would  be  repeated,  perhaps  for  three  or  four 
times  before  the  game  was  finally  secured.  No  enemy  was  in 
sight.  The  breeze  would  flow  gently.  All  was  serene,  yet  terror 
would  take  possession  of  the  bird  and  almost  paralyze  its  efforts 
by  making  it  frantic.  I  soon  learned  the  reason  for  this  coward- 
ice. Stretched  at  length  on  the  deck  of  a  boat  in  the  early  morn- 
ing in  the  pass  of  Boca  Grande,  one  of  the  entrances  to  Charlottes 
harbor,  I  saw  a  fine  specimen  of  hawk  cross  overhead  and  pro- 
ceed seaward  to  find  a  dinner.  The  excursion  was  successful 
as  the  pass  swarmed  with  fish  coming  in  with  the  tide.  A  fine 
one  soon  left  its  element  and  swung  aloft  into  the  air  in  the  talons 
of  the  bird,  which  at  once  began  its  return.  But  a  new-comer  ap- 
peared upon  the  scene.  A  black  creature  which  seemed  all  wings 
and  shaped  like  a  flattened  letter  M,  dropped  from  above  and  con- 
fironted  the  hawk,  which  at  once  dropped  its  prey  and  uttered  a 
scream  so  brimful  of  mortal  terror  that  it  should  have  excited 
the  sympathy  of  all  living  things  within  the  compass  of  its  sound. 
It  was  not  disturbed  by  actual  contact.  The  two  birds  were  not 
within  fifty  feet  of  each  other,  but  the  hawk  exerted  itself  with  the 
same  wild  energy  to  get  to  cover  which  I  had  before  so  often 
witnessed  when  no  black  monster  was  in  the  vicinage.  The  in- 
truder was  a  frigate-bird,  and  on  looking  upwards  a  score  of  them 
could  be  seen  a  mile  or  more  from  the  earth,  floating  round  and 
round,  on  motionless  wings.  The  dropped  fish  was  seized  in  the 
beak  of  the  bird  long  before  it  reached  the  water,  and  with  a 
sweep  of  exquisite  grace,  on  tense  wings,  fronting  a  mild  breeze, 
the  corsair  was  lifted  half  a  mile  into  the  air,  where  another  aston- 
ishing performance  was  at  once  initiated.  A  bite  was  taken  from 
the  body,  being  torn  away  by  a  wringing  motion  of  the  head 
which  sent  the  carcass  whirling,  while  the  bird  masticated  the 
morsel  in  shape  for  swallowing.  Of  course  the  fish  began  to 
obey  the  law  of  falling  bodies,  and  the  bird,  folding  its  wings 


Digitized  by 


Google 


226  The  Torture  of  the  Fish-Hawk.  [March, 

tightly  upon  its  body,  dropped  swiftly  after  it  The  part  bitten  off 
being  disposed  of,  another  swoop  downwards  was  made,  the  fish 
seized,  and  the  upward  swing  repeated,  and  this  process  continued 
until  the  entire  carcass  was  devoured. 

At  the  time  of  this  visit  these  frigate-birds  were  oblivious  of 
man's  presence  and  I  was  so  fortunate  as  to  secure  this  one  by  a 
well  directed  shot.  It  measured  eleven  feet  in  alar  dimensions 
and  weighed  eight  pounds.  Its  feet  and  legs  were  ridiculously 
small  and  weak,  and  viewed  as  weapons  of  offense  and  defense 
could  not  compare  with  the  talons  of  the  hawk  it  had  robbed 
and  terrified.  Its  head  and  beak  were  strong  and  well  developed, 
but  by  no  means  superior  to  those  of  the  other.  The  terror  which 
inspired  the  hawk  was  still  unaccounted  for.  In  a  contest  for 
superiority  on  the  ground  of  physical  strength  and  effectiveness 
of  weapons  it  would  have  been  victorious.  The  whole  case  was 
still  enveloped  in  mystery. 

Returning  to  this  locality  after  the  absence  of  some  weeks  I 
found  the  black  outlines  of  the  frigate-birds  against  the  sky  as 
usual,  and  soon  saw  the  inevitable  hawk  over  the  waters  of  th^ 
pass  all  excitement  at  the  prospect  of  a  dinner.  It  was  the  begin- 
ning of  March,  and  in  that  month  the  sea-breezes  of  the  vicinity 
are  particularly  delightful.  It  is  also  the  breeding  season  of  the 
birds  when  their  plumage  is  at  its  best,  and  they  show  to  best  ad- 
vantage. Success  always  followed  any  well  directed  effort  of  a 
bird  to  catch  a  fish  in  Boca  Grande  pass,  and  the  hawk  soon  had 
one.  A  black  corsair  at  once  appeared  and  captured  the  booty 
as  on  the  former  occasion,  while  the  frightened  fisher  fled  scream- 
ing towards  the  land.  But  now  a  change  of  programme  took  place. 
Another  long  winged  creature  from  the  group  above  appeared  in 
front  of  and  facing  the  frightened  hawk  which  turned  seaward  at 
once,  mingling  its  note  of  terror  with  one  of  despair.  Every  effort 
to  side  off  towards  home  was  frustrated  by  the  gliding  terror  in- 
terposing its  bulk  in  the  intended  direction,  until  the  victim 
seemed  to  accept  the  inevitable  and  made  an  attempt  to  cross  the 
gulf.  The  tormenting  enemy  then  seemed  content,  and  swung 
aloft  among  its  companions.  The  poor  fisherman,  rid  of  the  dire 
presence,  wheeled  on  its  course  for  home,  and  its  frenzied  flap- 
pings relieved  of  excessive  tension,  made  very  good  time,  when 
on  reaching  the  very  brink  of  safety  the  black  wings  again  ap- 
peared and  the  whole  distressing  business  was  re-enacted  with 


Digitized  by 


Google 


PLATE  XI. 


The  Frigate  Bird. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


Digitized  by 


Google 


i886.]  The  Torture  of  the  FishrHawk.  227 

increasing  despair  in  the  frightened  cry.  This  went  on  for  more 
than  half  an  hour.  Every  effort  at  retreat  was  intercepted.  During 
all  the  time  the  hawk  kept  up  an  incessant  flapping  of  its  wings, 
and  its  physical  endurance  was  giving  way  under  the  protracted 
strain.  This  was  apparent  from  the  changing  tone  of  its  scream, 
which  varied  through  all  the  gamut  of  despair,  from  unreasoning 
terror,  to  supplicating  misery.  It  was  the  Roman  gladiator's 
"  Caesar,  the  dying  salute  thee,"  with  the  ambition  left  out. 

The  frigate-bird  at  length  seemed  impatient.  It  more  promptly 
answered  the  movements  of  the  hawk,  and  urged  compliance  with 
greater  vigor,  and  finally  introduced  a  new  feature  into  the  proceed- 
ings. Swooping  upwards  for  one  hundred  feet  it  turned  head  fore- 
most, and  plunged  beneath  the  hawk,  turning  completely  over  as 
it  did  so,  and  passing  to  the  front  vaulted  upwards,  and  down 
again  in  the  same  path,  thus  describing  an  elliptical  orbit  around 
its  victim.  It  swung  near  the  hawk  round  the  lower  curve,  causing 
upward  flight,  until  at  length  in  an  exhausted  condition  it  was  in- 
troduced into  the  company  of  its  tormenters  which  had  been  de- 
scending from  high  levels  and  were  now  about  four  hundred 
yards  above  the  water.  Its  strengfth  was  now  well  nigh  exhausted. 
Its  cry  was  scarcely  audible,  and  it  barely  had  the  power  of  di- 
recting its  movements.  In  whichever  way  it  went,  excepting  one, 
a  black  terror  confronted  it.  It  could  rise  unimpeded,  but  found 
resistance  to  every  other  course.  It  struggled  upwards  for  some 
four  hundred  yards  further,  until  the  distance  was  so  great  as  to 
make  it  difficult  to  keep  the  movements  in  the  field  of  the  glass, 
when  it  gave  up  the  tcisk,  and  rapidly  floundered  over  and  over 
through  the  air,  its  muscular  power  exhausted,  and  its  mass  sur- 
rendered to  the  gravitating  force.  Down  it  came,  the  whole  half- 
score  of  enemies  circling  about  it,  until  it  struck  the  water  near 
the  beach  in  the  shallows  of  the  offing.  The  tide  was  running 
out  and  the  water  on  the  flat  not  over  a  foot  in  depth. 

Supposing  the  play  to  be  out  I  was  proceeding  to  examine  the 
victim  when  it  was  evident  that  more  was  to  come.  The  hawk 
was  not  dead  and  would  at  intervals  raise  its  head  from  beneath 
the  water  to  breathe.  It  had  not  strength  to  submerge  its  body, 
and  with  the  vital  air  came  a  vision  of  the  hovering  terror.  Down 
went  its  head  with  a  gurgling  murmur,  and  those  black  demons 
would  alight  upon  it  with  their  miserable  puny  feet  and  push  it 
entirely  beneath  the  surface. 

▼OL.  XX.— fro.  III.  ^6 


Digitized  by 


Google 


228  734^  Torture  of  the  Fish-Hawk,  [March, 

The  vitality  of  the  fish-hawk  is  something  wonderful,  for  this 
pastime  went  on  for  an  hour,  until  at  length  it  was  completely 
dead.  The  body  floated  to  shallow  parts  in  the  ebbing  tide  and 
rested  stationary  on  the  bottom,  when  each  bird  in  turn  alighted 
upon  it,  folded  its  wings,  and  rested  in  perfect  quiet  for  five  min- 
utes, when  it  would  rise  in  the  air  and  a  comrade  take  its  turn. 
The  appearance  of  these  creatures,  while  thus  employed,  was  that 
of  quietly  expecting  something  which  did  not  happen.  I  had 
approached  to  within  thirty  feet  of  the  dead  haWk,  but  not  the 
least  attention  was  given  to  my  presence.  The  birds  always 
alighted  with  their  heads  towards  the  head  of  the  carcass,  and 
stood  out  their  time,  without  making  a  movement,  in  a  slightly 
crouching  attitude,  as  if  to  be  prepared  for  what  would  take  place. 
This  curious  performance  lasted  for  an  hour,  when,  moved  by  a 
single  impulse,  they  stretched  their  long  pinions  and  went  aloft, 
where  they  could  be  seen  in  their  interminable  circling  flight, 
round  and  round,  and  the  tragedy  was  ended. 

The  sun  was  low  in  the  west ;  the  tide  had  ceased  to  flow ;  the 
breeze  had  died  away,  and  everything  was  tranquil.  All  nature 
seemed  to  overflow  with  love  and  peace,  and  yet  an  awful  scene 
had  filled  those  quiet  hours.  I  felt  myself  in  the  grasp  of  some- 
thing infernal.  It  was  as  if  the  guest  of  Solomon  had  been  con- 
fronted in  the  garden,  in  every  avenue  of  escape,  by  awful  death, 
until  he  had  surrendered  life  after  exhausting  all  the  forces  of  his 
nature  to  escape  his  doom.  An  examination  of  the  carcass  re- 
vealed no  wounds.  It  was  a  case  of  suicide  entirely.  But  what 
a  dreadful  motive  to  commit  the  deed. 

Through  all  this  tragedy  the  wings  of  the  frigate-birds  were 
motionless,  excepting  when  they  were  engaged  near  the  water. 
To  rise  or  fall  was  indifferent  to  them.  When  confronting  the 
hawks,  the  contrasted  wing-motions  of  the  two  birds  was  con- 
spicuous— one  was  beating  the  air  rapidly,  the  other  not  at  all. 
Though  afterwards  explained,  this  ability  to  counteract  air  resist- 
ance and  weight  without  muscular  exertion  was  then  as  great  a 
riddle  as  any  other  part  of  the  work. 

I  remained  in  that  locality  for  a  month,  but  witnessed  no  repe- 
tition of  this  day's  tragedy.  The  frigate-birds  occupied  the  air  and 
the  hawks  fished  in  the  pass  undisturbed,  or  if  their  prey  was 
stolen,  they  were,  allowed  to  escape ;  but  on  returning  a  year 
afterwards,  I  witnessed  an  analogous  scene,  after  waiting  for  weeks 


Digitized  by 


Google 


1 886.]  The  Torture  of  the  Fish-Hawk.  229 

for  the  event  to  occur.  A  hawk,  quite  differently  marked  and 
much  larger  than  those  usually  seen,  crossed  from  the  opposite 
key  and  struck  a  fish  from  the  passing  school,  which  was  promptly 
seized  by  the  waiting  frigate-bird.  The  hawk  fled  in  terror,  as 
usual,  and  was  confronted  by  another  of  the  band  and,  on  exam- 
ing  the  sky,  still  another,  three  in  all,  was  seen.  After  the  con- 
fronted hawk  had  turned,  it  seemed  to  lose  its  terror,  its  cry 
denoting  submission,  a  sort  of  querulous  surrender  to  the  inevi- 
table. To  my  surprise,  it  resumed  its  fishing,  while  the  rover 
retired.  It  soon  secured  another  from  the  teeming  waters,  for  all 
it  had  to  do  was  to  pick  it  up.  This  was  captured  and  the  scream- 
ing retreat  once  more  arrested.  A  simple  hint  was  quite  enough. 
The  slave  returned  to  its  task  with  many  an  unnoticed  murmur, 
until  each  bandit  had  secured  a  feast.  The  hawk  then  escaped 
hungry,  and  disappeared  from  sight. 

After  witnessing  this  way  of  getting  a  living,  a  black  garment 
seemed  lifted  from  nature.  The  method  was  so  like  that  practiced 
by  man,  as  shown  in  history,  that  it  quite  contented  me.  These 
frigate-birds  are  the  banditti  of  the  air.  During  a  residence  of 
five  years  on  that  coast,  I  never  saw  one  get  an  honest  living. 
They  seem  to  be  the  especial  favorites  of  nature,  as  the  cosmical 
force  of  gravity  is  placed  at  their  disposal,  which  is  a  little  like 
giving  them  the  lamp  of  Aladdin.  Small  use  would  it  be  for  a 
creature  required  to  provide  its  own  motive  power  to  sustain 
itself  in  air,  and  also  that  required  to  fight  a  battle  for  life,  to 
oppose  such  odds.  The  relation  to  success  such  combatants 
would  stand  in  would  be  almost  infinity  to  one. 

A  familiar  sight  along  that  coast,  at  all  seasons  of  the  year,  is 
that  of  gulls  riding  on  the  backs  and  heads  of  pelicans  and  feed- 
ing on  the  fish  from  their  gullets.  There  is  a  good  understanding 
between  these  creatures,  and  I  never  saw  them  quarrel.  Some- 
times when  fish  were  scarce  and  the  small  intruders  wanted  all,  a 
contest  as  to  which  could  swallow  the  most  in  the  shortest  time 
took  place,  to  the  usual  discomfiture  of  the  little  ones,  who 
never  seemed  to  understand  how  nor  why  the  food  disappeared. 
This  scheme  of  subsistence-supply  gave  the  missing  link  needed 
to  acquit  nature  of  deliberately  plotting  the  torture  of  her  crea- 
tures. Away  back  in  the  great  secondary  age,  when  reptiles 
navigated  the  air  on  wings,  the  characteristics  of  a  frigate-bird 
may  have  been  initiate^.     In  the  life-struggle,  habits  of  the  gull 


Digitized  by 


Google 


230  A  Study  of  Garden  Lettuce.  [March, 

were  acquired  which  led  the  creature,  then  neither  frigate-bird  nor 
gull,  to  get  its  food  by  association  with  some  messmate  more  able 
to  procure  it.  Then  these  two  forms  diverged  from  the  common 
ancestor,  acquiring  new  traits  from  new  environments.  As  the 
frigate-birds  gained  dominion  of  the  air,  they  also  gained  domin- 
ion of  species  of  fish-hawks,  which  became  enslaved  by  them. 
But  the  hawks  also  diverged  into  other  species,  one  or  more  of 
which  retained  the  terror,  but  not  the  discipline,  and,  when  com- 
manded, would  not  comply,  through  sheer  ignorance  of  the  nature 
of  the  demand.  When  the  birds  met  with  a  specimen  of  this 
branched  stock,  they  urged  obedience  with  such  vigor  as  to  result 
in  the  death  of  their  unfortunate  victim.  Then  the  old  ancestral 
habit,  which  may  be  had  outlived  a  thousand  generations,  comes 
into  play,  and  they  stand  on  the  dead  body,  in  pure  friendship, 
waiting  to  be  fed  1  What  do  they  know  of  the  mystery  of  death  ? 
The  only  weak  place  is  where  the  branching  hawk  forgot  the  duty 
of  fishing  for  its  master,  but  not  the  terror  of  its  presence.  But 
then  fear  is  what  prompts  it  to  escape  from  an  enemy  and  thereby 
save  its  life,  so  that  this  emotion  would  properly  survive  the 
other. 

A  STUDY  OF  GARDEN  LETTUCE. 

BY  E.  L.  STURTEVANT,  M.D. 

AT  the  New  York  Agricultural  Experiment  station,  in  1885, 
eighty-three  distinct  varieties  of  lettuce  were  grown  under 
nearly  two  hundred  names.  These  lettuces  present  to  the  on- 
looker three  distinct  form-species,  the  lanceolate-leaved,  the  Cos 
and  the  cabbage.  It  is  a  pertinent  inquiry  as  to  whether  these 
form-species  are  of  distinct  origin  or  have  been  produced  by  cul- 
tivation within  recent  times,  and  we  hence  oflTer  a  succinct  ac- 
count of  our  historical  investigations. 

The  lanceolate-leaved  form  is  represented  with  us  by  one  vari- 
ety only,  the  deer's  tongue,  introduced  as  a  seedsman's  novelty  in 
1883.  The  type  of  this  form  is  perhaps  referred  to  by  Pliny,  lib. 
XIX,  c.  38,  "  praeterea  longi  et  angusti  intubi  similis,"  as  this  plant 
of  ours  has  a  chiccory-like  appearance  in  some  stages  of  its 
growth.  It  is  certainly  mentioned  by  Bauhin*  in  1621,  and  cred- 
ited in  his  synonomy  to  Castor,  1585  ;  and  is  figured  by  Bauhin* 

*  Pinax,  ed.  of  1621. 

'  Prodromos,  ed.  of  167 1 » 


Digitized  by 


Google 


1 886.]  A  Study  of  Garden  Lettuce.  23 1 

in  1671.  Vilmorin,^  1883,  refers  to  this  type  of  lettuce  under  the 
name  Romaine  asperge^  Lactuca  angustana  Hort.,  and  a  variety  L. 
cracaviensis  Hort.  Z.  angustana  AUionii,  1785,  seems  to  be  of 
this  form-species,  and  is  recorded  as  found  wild  in  Switzerland, 
and  Martyn's  Millers  Dictionary  deems  the  Chicoreum  constantly 
nopolitanum  of  Parkinson,  1640,  to  have  some  affinity  to  it. 

The  Cos  lettuces  are  distinguished  by  the  upright  growth  of 
the  root  leaves  and  the  elongated  and  spatulate  form  of  the  leaf; 
they  are  also  subject  to  a  flattening  of  the  stalk  through  fascia- 
tion.  They  were  perhaps  known  to  the  ancient  Romans,  as  wit- 
ness Pliny's^  statement:  "  Diligentiores  plura  genera  faciunt :  pur- 
purea crispas,  Cappedocas,  Graecos.  Longioris  has  folii,  caulisque 
lati ;  praeterea  longi  et  angusti,  intubi  similis."  Palladius''  men- 
tion of  the  process  of  blanching  can  be  also  quoted :  "  Candidas 
fieri  putantur,  si  fluminis  arena  vel  litoris  frequentur  spargatur  in 
medias,  and  collectis  ipsae  foliis  alligentur."  The  Cos  lettuce  is 
the  Lactuca  Romana  dulcior,  nigriore  and  Scariole  hortensis 
folio,  semine  nigro  of  Pena  and  Lobel,*  1570.  Bauhin  in  his 
Pinax  considers  this  form  to  be  the  L.  foliio  obscurius  virentibus 
nigra  Plinio  of  Dodaenus,*  the  L.  nigra  of  Caesalpinus,  1583,  and 
the  Z.  romana  of  Castor  Durantes,  1585.  In  the  sixteenth  cent- 
ury the  Cos  form  seems  to  have  been  less  grown  in  Northern 
Europe  than  in  the  south,  for  Pena  and  Lobel®  say  it  is  rarely 
cultivated  in  France  and  Germany,  more  frequently  in  Italy,  espe- 
cially at  Rome.     It  reached  France  in  1537.' 

The  class  of  cabbage  lettuces  are  distinguished  by  the  rounded 
and  s]>atulate  leaf  which  grows  less  upright  than  the  Cos.  Al- 
though the  commentators  of  the  sixteenth  and  seventeenth  cent- 
uries deem  this  class  to  have  been  known  to  the  ancient  Greeks 
and  Romans,  and  identify  it  with  the  Lacon icon  of  Pliny  and  the 
Tartesian  or  Baetica  of  Columella,  yet  I  am  unable  to  find  any 
certain  evidence.  The  only  word  I  find  in  Pliny  which  could 
suggest  this  class  is  "  crispa,"  which  may  be  translated  "  wrin- 
kled," and  as  a  class  the  cabbage  lettuces  are  more  wrinkled  or 

'  Les  Plantes  Potageres. 
>Nat.  Hist.,  lib.  xix,  c.  38. 

*  De  Re  Rustica,  lib.  ii,  c.  14. 

^Stirpium  Adversaria  Nova,  Londini,  1570,  p.  90. 

*  Pemptades,  1621,  p.  644. 
•Loc.  cil. 

'  Ha»ze,  Lesvt,  Alim,  i,p»  v. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


232  A  Study  of  Garden  Lettuce.  [March, 

blistered  than  are  the  Cos.  Columella  was  a  native  of  Gades, 
but  resided  principally  at  Rome.  He^  speaks  of  two  kinds  which 
may  belong  to  this  class,  one  the  Cappadocean  "  Tertia,  quae 
spisso,  sed  puro  vertice  pallet,"  and  "quae  pallido  and  pexo  denso- 
que  folio  viret;"  the  other  the  Tartesian  or  Baetica,  which  he 
says  is  from  his  country : 

*<  £t  mac,  quam  generant  Tartesi  litore  Gades 
Candida  vibrato  discrimine,  Candida  tb3rTSO  est," 

and  "  quae  deinde  Candida  est  and  crispissimi  folii,  ut  in  provincia 
Baetica  and  iinibus  Gaditani  municippii/'  The  words  "  vibrato 
discrimine  "  and  "  crispissimi  folii "  would  imply  a  curled  cutting 
lettuce.  The  heading  lettuces  of  this  class  were,  however,  well 
known  to  the  writers  of  the  sixteenth  and  seventeenth  centuries. 
Anton  Pinaeus,*  1561,  figures  one  which  closely  resembles  the 
stone  tennis  ball  variety  of  our  gardens,  and  Bauhin  in  his  syn- 
onymy identifies  with  varieties  described  by  Tragus,  1553,  Tab- 
ernaemontanus  1588,  Matthiolus  1586,  Gerarde  1597,  etc.,  etc. 

Whether  the  types  of  the  Cos  and  the  cabbage  form-species 
occur  in  nature,  I  have  not  the  material  for  study  to  determine. 
De  Candolle'  says  "  botanists  are  agreed  in  considering  the  culti- 
vated lettuce  as  a  modification  of  the  wild  species  called  Lactuca 
scariola.  The  latter  grows  in  temperate  and  Southern  Europe, 
in  the  Canary  isles,  Madeira,  Algeria,  Abyssinia  and  in  the  tem- 
perate regions  of  Eastern  Asia.  Boissier  speaks  of  specimens 
from  Arabia  Petrea  to  Mesopotamia  and  the  Caucasus.  He  men- 
tions a  variety  with  crinkled**  leaves,  similar,  therefore,  to  some  of 
our  garden  lettuces,  which  the  traveler  Hausknecht  brought  with 
him  from  the  mountains  of  Kurdistan.  I  have  a  specimen  from 
Siberia,  found  near  the  River  Irtysch,  and  it  is  now  known  with 
certainty  that  the  species  grows  in  the  north  of  India,  in  Kash- 
mir and  in  Nepal."  From  this  reference  we  might  infer  that  the 
Kurdistan  form  belonged  to  the  cabbage  type,  as  possessing  dis- 
tinctly wrinkled  or  savoy-like  leaves,  while  the  description  of  the 
ordinary  Z.  scariola  of  Europe  implies  the  Cos  type. 

I  have  not  opportunity  of  access  to  herbariums  whereby  I  can 
hope  to  satisfy  myself  of  the  condition  of  the  wild  forms  from 

1  De  Re  Rustica,  x,  1.  183;  xi,  c.  3 ;  x,  1.  185. 
*Hist.  Plants,  1561. 

'Origin  of  Cultivated  Plants,  1885,  p.  95. 

*  The  word  in  the  original  French  edition,  p.  76,  is  crispee,  which  should  rather 
be  translated  wrinkled  or  bullate. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


1 886.]  Aquatic  Respiration  in  Soft-shelUd  Turtlet.  233 

various  countries,  but  such  evidence  as  I  have  here  outlined 
strongly  supports  the  hypothesis  that  our  three  form-species  of 
lettuce  have  originated  from  wild  forms  which  have  been  brought 
into  culture  in  different  regions,  and  hence  that  our  three  form- 
species  have  different  origin.  The  history  of  lettuce  as  published 
affords  no  clue  towards  settling  this  point.  Lettuces  are  supposed 
to  have  been  grown  by  the  Persians  some  five  hundred  years  be- 
fore Christ,  and  to  have  been  introduced  into  China  between  the 
years  600  and  900  of  our  era ;  they  were  mentioned  by  Chaucer 
in  England  in  the  fourteenth  century,  and  reached  America  with 
Columbus. 

AQUATIC    RESPIRATION    IN    SOFT-SHELLED    TUR- 
TLES :  A  CONTRIBUTION  TO  THE  PHYSIOLOGY 
OF  RESPIRATION  IN  VERTEBRATES.^ 

BY  SIMON  H.  AND  SUSANNA  PHELPS  GAGE. 

IT  was  formerly  supposed  that  in  all  reptiles  the  respiration  was 
exclusively  aerial  at  all  periods  of  their  life,  and  that  the  lungs 
were  the  only  respiratory  organs.  We  have  demonstrated,  how- 
ever, that  in  soft-shelled  turtles  {Amyda  ntuiica  and  Aspidonectes 
spirifer)  there  is  in  addition  a  true  aquatic  respiration.  This  is  in* 
dicated  by  three  facts  :  («)  These  turtles  remain  most  of  the  time 
in  water,  and  voluntarily  remain  entirely  under  from  two  to  ten 
consecutive  hours ;  {b)  while  under  water  they  fill  and  empty  the 
mouth  and  pharnyx,  about  sixteen  times  per  minute,  by  move- 
ments of  the  hyoid  apparatus,  the  general  appearance  being  like 
the  respiratory  movements  of  a  fish ;  (r)  the  mucous  membrane 
of  the  pharynx  is  closely  beset  with  filamentous  processes,  appear- 
ing like  the  villi  of  the  small  intestine  of  a  mammal  or  the  gill 
filaments  of  Necturus.  These  processes  are  especially  numerous 
along  the  hyoid  arches  and  around  the  glottis,  and  are  Copiously 
supplied  with  blood.^ 

'  A  preliminary  paper  upon  the  respiration  of  Aspidonectes  was  presented  to  the 
A.  A.  A.  S.  by  the  senior  author  in  1883,  and  printed  on  p.  316  of  the  Proceedings 
(Vol.  XXXll). 

*  So  far  as  we  know  but  two  original  observations  (besides  that  mentioned  in  the 
preceding  foot-note)  have  been  previously  made  upon  the  Trionychidae  bearing  upon 
the  subject  of  this  paper  :  (a)  In  February,  1856,  Dr.  A.  Sager  called  attention  to 
the  processes  in  the  pharynx  of  Aspidonectes,  and  compared  them,  in  appearance, 
with  the  giU  filaments  of  Necturus  and  the  inner  gills  of  tadpoles.    {Jf)  Professor  L. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


234 


Aquatic  Respiration  in  SofUshelled  Turtles.       [March, 


But  neither  the  time  the  turtles  remain  under  water,  the  filling 
and  emptying  of  the  mouth  and  pharynx  with  water,  nor  even 
the  structure  of  the  parts,  proves  that  aquatic  respiration  occurs. 
Final  proof  of  this  is  only  obtained  by  comparing  the  free  gases 
found  in  water  with  those  found  in  water  from  the  same  source  alter 
a  turtle  had  been  submerged  in  it  without  access  to  air.  Water 
so  tested  showed  in  one  case  that  a  turtle  weighing  one  kilogram 
in  ten  hours  removed  from  the  water  seventy-one  milligrams  of 
free  oxygen  and  added  to  it  318  milligrams  of  carbon  dioxide. 
Several  other  determinations  were  of  the  same  conclusive  char- 
acter.^ 

This  indicates  a  respiration  for  the  same  body  weight  of  about 
one  twentieth  of  that  occurring  in  man. 

As  indicated  by  the  figures  given  above,  the  carbon  dioxide  is 
greatly  in  excess  of  what  could  be  accounted  for  by  the  free 
oxygen  taken  from  the  water.  There  are  two  sources  from  which 
the  extra  oxygen  might  be  derived :  {a)  From  the  so-called  intra- 

Agassiz,  in  Part  ii  of  the  Contribution  to  North  American  Zodlogy,  p.  284,  says : 
'*  Before  reading  this  paper  [Dr.  Sager's]  we  had  noticed  these  organs  [processes  in 
the  pharynx]  ;  but  after  seeing  this  turtle  [Aspidonectes]  remaining  under  water  for 
full  half  an  hour  without  showing  the  least  sign  of  oppression,  it  seems  plausible  to 
assume  that  these  fringes  may  be  similar  to  the  internal  gills  of  tadpoles,  not  only  in 
their  shape  but  also  in  their  function.  There  exists,  moreover,  an  extensive  network 
of  beautiful  vessels  spreading  in  elegant  dendritic  ramifications  upon  the  whole 
lower  surface  of  the  Trionycidae  which  can  hardly  have  another  function  than  that  of 
assisting  in  the  process  of  breathing,  as  they  are  too  numerous  and  too  large  to  be 
considered  simply  as  nutritive  vessels  of  the  skin.  This  is  the  more  probable  as 
these  vessels  are  very  superficial  and  are  only  covered  by  a  very  thin  epidermis. 
They  are  indeed  as  plainly  visible  through  the  horny  layer  which  protects  them  as 
the  vessels  of  any  special  external  breathing  organ."     «    «    « 

^  The  following  table  shows  the  results  of  three  analyses.  In  the  first  column  is 
given  the  total  amount  of  free  oxygen  taken  from  the  water  (ten  liters)  in  ten  hours 
by  a  turtle  weighing  one  kilogram.  The  second  column  contains  the  quantity  of 
carbon  dioxide  that  could  be  formed  from  this  oxygen  ;  and  the  third  column  cchi- 
tains  the  actual  amount  of  carbon  dioxide  added  to  the  water  by  the  turtle,  the  ex- 
cess of  which,  over  the  amount  that  could  be  formed  from  the  oxygen  taken  from  the 
water,  is  given  in  the  fourth  column : 


0, 

6C?,. 

Actual  CO^. 

Excess  CO^ 

July  II 

Aug.  8 

Aug.  9 

71  mg. 
32    " 

39    " 

97  5.8  mg. 

44 

53  5-8    " 

231    mg. 
212.7  « 
168.7  " 

133  3-8    mg. 

168.7 

115  3-40  " 

The  determinations  were  made  with  the  greatest  care  and  accuracy  by  Profes. 
sors  Rich  and  Holton  in  the  chemical  laboratory  of  Cornell  University. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


1 886.}  Aquatic  Respiration  in  Soft-shelled  Tut^Us.  23  5 

molecular  oxygen  stored  up  in  the  tissues,  and  [b)  from  the  air  in 
the  lungs.  Analysis  of  the  air  taken  from  the  lungs  after  the 
turtle  had  been  wholly  submerged  for  ten  hours,  showed  only  a 
slight  trace  of  either  oxygen  or  carbon  dioxide.  So  far  as  this 
single  experiment  goes,  we  conclude  that  if  the  lungs  were 
moderately  filled  with  air  upon  the  immersion  of  the,  turtle,  the 
amount  of  oxygen  that  might  be  taken  from  the  air  in  the  lungs 
would  fully  account  for  the  excess  of  carbon  dioxide  found  in  the 
water.  That  the  aquatic  respiration  is  due  almost  entirely  to  the 
pharynx  and  but  slightly  to  the  skin,  is  shown :  {a)  By  anesthetiza- 
tion, the  turtle  becoming  anaesthetized  four  or  five  times  as  quickly 
when  kept  entirely  submerged  in  aetherized  water  as  when  allowed 
to  come  to  the  surface  as  frequently  as  it  desired.  {U)  When  the 
turtle's  skin  was  completely  covered  with  vaseline  and  the  turtle 
kept  wholly  submerged,  the  amount  of  oxygen  removed  from  the 
water  and  of  carbon  dioxide  added  thereto  was  nearly  as  great  as 
when  the  skin  was  unvaselined. 

In  some  at  least  of  the  hard-shelled  turtles  (Chelydra  and 
Chrysemys)  similar  movements  of  the  hyoid  apparatus  occur 
when  they  are  submerged,  and  water  is  seen  to  enter  the  nos- 
tril and  be  expelled  therefrom  as  in  soft-shelled  turtles. 

The  pharynx  expands  and  contracts  with  considerable  regu- 
larity in  all  of  the  turtles,  so  far  as  we  know,  when  they  are  in 
the  air.  These  movements  appear  like  those  of  the  frog,  but  in 
the  turtles  they  are  unnecessary  f^r  filling  the  lungs.  In  frogs, 
however,  they  are  necessary  for  this  purpose,  although  as  shown 
by  Townson  (1794),  pharyngeal  movements  often  occur  in  the 
frog  without  any  air  being  forced  into  the  lungs. 

As  these  movements  are  of  undoubted  use  in  respiration  for 
the  soft-shelled  turtles  in  water,  it  seems  probable  that  they  may 
be  of  use  in  respiration  for  all  turtles  in  the  air,  that  is,  the  mem- 
brane lining  the  pharynx  probably  acts  as  a  respiratory  organ 
whether  the  medium  bathing  it  and  containing  free  oxygen  be 
air  or  water. 

These  movements  and  their  object,  respiration,  then  seem  to 
connect,  physiologically  at  least,  the  turtles  on  the  one  hand  with 
the  lower  vertebrates — Amphibia  and  fishes — and  on  the  other 
hand  with  the  higher  forms,  viz.,  dog  and  man,  for  Garland  has 
shown  that  in  the  dog,  and  also  in  man,  occur  rhythmical  pha- 
ryngeal movements  which  draw  air  into  the  pharynx  and  expel  it 


Digitized  by 


Google 


236  •    Description  of  a  new  Subspecies  [March, 

whenever  there  is  a  condition  approaching  asphyxiation.  It 
seems  as  though  these  pharyngeal  movements  reappear  in  the 
highest  forms  when  the  want  of  oxygen  becomes  bverwhelm- 
ingly  great,  as  if  there  were  an  organic  memory  of  the  means  by 
which,  in  the  dim  past,  the  want  was  supplied. 

DESCRIPTION    OF    A    NEW    SUBSPECIES   OF    THE 
COMMON  EASTERN  CHIPMUNK. 

BY  C.  HART  MERRIAM,  M.D. 

TPHE  common  chipmunk  or  striped  squirrel  of  Eastern  North 
A  America  was  first  mentioned,  so  far  as  I  have  been  able 
to  ascertain,  by  Sagard-Theodat  in  his  Histoire  du  Canada 
("Vol.  v,  p.  746"),  published  in  16 15.  In  1743  Mark  Catesby 
gave  an  unmistakable  description  of  it,  accompanied  by  a  recog- 
nizable colored  plate.^  He  called  it  Sciurus  striatus,  which  name 
was  adopted  by  Linnxus  in  the  tenth  edition  of  his  Systema  Na- 
turae, published  in  1758.  The  specific  name  siriatus,  after  en- 
during the  vicissitudes  to  which  scientific  nomenclature  is  so  often 
subject,^  was  reestablished  by  Baird  in  1857,  and  has  since  en- 
joyed undisputed  recognition  on  this  side  of  the  Atlantic. 

It  is  a  little  singular  that  thus  far  no  one  seems  to  have  sus- 
pected the  existence  of  two  distinct  subspecies  of  chipmunk  in 
Eastern  North  America,  particularly  when  it  is  remembered  that 
no  less  than  five  geographical  races  of  the  Western  species  have 
long  been  recognized. 

It  is  true  that  Professor  Baird,  nearly  thirty  years  ago,  stated 
that  a  chipmunk  from  Essex  county,  in  Northeastern  New  York, 

^"  Sciurus  striatus.  The  Ground  Squirrel,  This  is  about  half  the  Size  of  an  English 
Squirrel,  and  almost  of  the  same  Colour,  except  that  &  Pair  of  black  Lists,  with  a  yel- 
lowish white  List  between  them,  extend  almost  the  Length  of  the  Body  on  both  Sides ; 
also  a  single  black  List  runs  along  the  Ridge  of  the  Back.  The  Eyes  are  black  and 
large,  the  Ears  rounding,  the  Tail  long,  flat,  and  thick  set  with  Hairs,  which  are  much 
shorter  than  those  of  other  Squirrels.  These  Squirrels  abide  in  the  Woods  of  Carolina ^ 
Virginia f  &c.  Their  Food  is  Nuts,  Acorns,  and  such  like  as  other  Squirrels  feed  on. 
They  being  brought  up  tame,  are  very  familiar  and  active."  (Natural  Hist,  of  Caro- 
lina, etc.,  by  Mark  Catesby,  Vol.  ii,  1743,  p.  75). 

*  For  more  than  half  a  century  our  animal  was  confused  with  the  Asiatic,  but  it 
is  not  the  purpose  of  the  present  paper  to  enter  into  a  discussion  of  the  complicated 
synonymy  of  these  species,  already  very  fully  elaborated  by  Allen.  (Monographs  of 
North  American  Rodentia,  1877.) 


Digitized  by 


Google 


i886.]  of  the  Common  Eastern  Chipmunk.  237 

'*  is  considerably  grayer,  and  the  black  lines  of  the  back  have  no 
brownish  margin.  In  a" specimen  from  Washington  [D.  C],  the 
chestnut  tints  are  darker  than  described  above"  (North  American 
Mammals,  1857,  294).  But  his  material  was  not  sufficiently 
extensive  to  enable  him  to  appreciate  the  constancy  and  signifi- 
cance of  the  differences  noted. 

Allen,  in  his  most  valuable  paper  on  Geographical  variation  in 
color  in  North  American  squirrels,  said :  "  The  increase  in  in- 
tensity of  color  from  the  north  southward "  is  well  illustrated 
in  "  Tamias  striatus,  representatives  of  which  from  the  southern 
parts  of  New  York  and  Pennsylvania  are  much  more  highly 
colored  than  are  those  from  Northern  New  England  and  the 
British  Provinces*'  (Proc.  Bost  Soc.  Nat.  Hist.,xvi,  1874,4).  Later, 
however,  the  views  above  expressed  seem  to  have  undergone 
some  modification,  for  the  same  author  observes :  "  The  very 
large  number  of  specimens  before  me  indicate  that  the  present 
species  preserves  great  constancy  of  coloration^  *  *  *  Speci- 
mens from  Southern  localities  are  considerably  brighter  colored 
than  those  from  more  Northern  sections,  and  average  a  little 
smaller.  The  difference,  however,  in  either  respect,  is  not  very 
great "  (Monographs  of  North  American  Rodentia,  1877,  784- 

The  examination  of  more  than  two  hundred  specimens  has 
led  me  to  differ  with  Mr.  Allen  in  his  last  expressed  views. 
His  remarks  concerning  the  deepening  of  color  southward  might 
have  been  stated  more  strongly,  and  still  fall  within  the  limits  of 
truth.*  In  respect  to  size,  if  the  body  as  a  whole  was  meant,  my 
measurements  of  upwards  of  one  hundred  specimens  in  the  flesh 
do  not  show  the  Southern  animal  to  be  the  smaller,  and  the  largest 
individual  that  has  fallen  under  my  notice  came  from  Monticello, 
Mississippi.  If,  however,  we  turn  to  the  extremities,  the  case  is 
different,  for  the  length  of  both  fore  and  hind  feet  is  greater  in 
northern  than  in  southern  specimens,  as  shown  in  the  accom- 
panying tables : 


^  Mr.  Allen's  views,  as  above  enunciated,  were  based  upon  the  examination  of 
upwards  of  one  hundred  and  fifty  specimens ;  still,  it  is  but  fair  to  state  that  the 
great  majority  of  these  specimens  came  from  Northern  localities,-  and  were  either 
typical  of  the  Northern  form  or  intermediate  between  it  and  the  Southern.  He  had 
but  four  skins  from  so  far  south  as  Washington,  D.  C,  and  had  not  seen  a  single 
individual  from  the  Carolinas. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


238  Description  of  a  new  Subspecies  [March, 

MEASUREMENTS  OF  FEET,  SHOWING  DECREASE  IN  SIZE  FROM  THE  NORTH 
SOUTHWARD.* 

Condition 
Locality*  Manus,         Pes.       when  measured. 

Locust  Grove,  New  York  (average  of  28) 22. ii         36.17         In  the  flesK. 

Sing  Sing,  New  York  (average  of  8) 21.71         34-77  "         " 

Washington,  D.  C.  (one  specimen)    20  34  "         " 

Charleston,  S.  C.  (one  specimen) 34  Skin  • 

It  must  be  remembered  that  the  above  measurements  of -New 
York  specimens  are  averages.  The  largest  manus  from  the 
Adirondack  region  measures  23™"*'  the  largest  pes  38"°^-  The 
smallest  manus  from  the  Lower  Hudson  measures  20™™'  the 
smallest  pes  34. 

In  the  summer  of  1884,  Dr.  A.  K.  Fisher,  at  my  request,  sent 
me  several  chipmunks  from  Sing  Sing,  New  York,  in  the  valley 
of  the  Lower  Hudson.  On  placing  them  alongside  my  own 
series  from  the  Adirondack  region  I  was  at  once  struck  with  the 
marked  differences  between  them,  and  was  convinced  that  they 
were  subspecifically  separable.  This  opinion  was  confirmed  the 
following  year  by  the  acquisition  of  an  adult  female  from  the 
mountains  of  North  Carolina,  kindly  presented  to  me  by  Mr. 
William  Brewster,  who  killed  it  in  the  town  of  Sylva,  Jackson 
county,  North  Carolina,  May  30,  1885.  This  individual,  for  two 
reasons,  may  be  regarded  as  the  type  of  striatus  proper :  First, 
because  it  came  from  the  same  general  region  from  which 
Catesby's  probably  came  (and  it  will  be  remembered  that  Lin- 
nseus's  diagnosis  was  based  on  Catesby's  description  and  figure) ; 
and,  second,  because  it  is  representative  of  a  phase  of  pelage  most 
remote  from  that  of  the  Northern  animal.  This  skin  (No.  1450 
Mus.  C.  H.  M.)  is  very  much  darker  than  the  darkest  Washing- 
ton example  I  have  seen,  and  the  ferruginous  of  the  rump  is 
restricted  in  extent,  and  is  overcast  by  the  liberal  admixture  of 
black-tipped  hairs.  There  is  an  obscure  dark  spot  at  the  end  of 
the  nose  above,  and  another  at  the  posterior  angle  of  each  eye. 
The  eyelids  are  buff,  and  the  color  of  the  lower  lid  can  be  traced 
backward,  though  becoming  very  faint,  to  the  lower  margin  of 

*  The  measurements  here  given,  as  well  as  all  others  which  appear  in  this  paper, 
were  taken  by  myself  with  dividers ;  all  were  made  with  the  utmost  care,  and  a 
large  proportion  were  verified  by  duplicate  measuring. 

*  All  measurements  from  skins  were  taken  in  the  following  manner  :  The  feet 
were  dipped  in  hot  water,  and  then  wrapped  with  wet  cotion-wool  and  left  for 
several  hours  until  the  joints  became  flexible,  so  that  the  toes  could  b^  straightened 
readily. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


1 886.]  of  the  Common  Eastern  Chipmunk,  239 

the  auditory  meatus.  There  is  an  indistinct  dark  line  above  the 
light  h'ne  of  the  upper  eyelid,  and  a  broad,  but  not  well  defined, 
dark  stripe  below  the  light  under  eyelid,  extending  from  a  point 
anterior  to  the  eye  to  a  point  just  below  the  posterior  base  of  the 
ear,  where  it  becomes  lost  in  the  grizzled  rusty-brown  of  the  sides 
of  the  neck.  Below  this  stripe,  the  side  of  the  face  is  fulvous. 
The  crown  is  dark  rust-brown  intermixed  with  a  large  quantity  of 
black  hairs,  and  the  same  color  extends  over  the  anterior  half  of 
the  inner  surfaces  of  the  ears,  the  posterior  half  being  light  ful- 
vous or  buf!!  There  is  a  small,  light  spot  behind  the  base  of  each 
ear.  The  shoulders  and  back  between  the  lateral  stripes  are  very 
dark  grizzled  iron-gray,  with  a  sprinkling  of  buff  or  yellowish. 
The  dark  stripes  are  not  perfectly  clear  black,  and  their  ferru- 
ginous borders  are  not  well  defined.  The  median  stripe  extends 
from  the  occiput  nearly  to  the  root  of  the  tail.  The  light  stripes 
are  dark  buff  intermixed  with  dark-tipped  hairs.^The  sides  arebuffy- 
fulvous  well  sprinkled  with  black-tipped  hairs.  The  rump,  hips,  and 
backs  of  the  hind  legs  are  dark  rusty-brown.  The  upper  surfaces 
of  the  feet  are  ferruginous.  The  upper  side  of  the  tail  is  blackish, 
edged  with  hoary ;  the  under  side,  deep  hazel  (almost  chestnut), 
bordered  with  black  and  edged  with  hoary.  This  rich  hazel  of 
the  under  tail  extends  continuously  forward  over  the  anal  region 
to  the  genitals,  where  it  terminates  abruptly  without  shading,  off 
into  the  surrounding  white.  The  under  parts,  from  the  mouth  to 
the  genitals,  are  clear  buffy-white. 

Through  the  kindness  of  Mr.  William  Brewster,  Curator  of 
Mammals  and  Birds  in  the  Museum  of  Comparative  Zoology  at 
Cambridge,  Mass.,  and  of  Mr.  F.  W.  True,  Curator  of  Mammals 
in  the  United  States  National  Museum,  I  have  been  enabled  to 
examine  the  chipmunks  contained  in  these  collections.  I  am 
indebted  also  to  Mr.  William  E.  Saunders  for  the  loan  of  a  speci- 
men from  London,  Ontario,  Canada.  These  specimens,  together 
with  my  own  (which  in  numbers  exceed  all  the  others  combined), 
constitute  a  very  complete  series  of  the  Eastern  animal  from  the 
region  between  Canada  on  the  north  and  Washington,  D.  C,  on 
the  south. 

Comparison  of  representatives  from  the  extremes  of  this  range 
brings  to  light  the  following  differences :  The  crown  in  typical 
Northern  specimens  varies  from  pale  to  bright  rusty-fulvous,  while 
in  typical  Southern  examples  it  is  dark  rust-brown. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


240  Description  of  a  new  Subspecies  [March, 

The  nape  and  the  back  between  the  median  and  first  lateral 
black  stripes  are  clear  ash-gray  in  the  Northern  animal,  while  in 
the  Southern  these  parts  are  dark  iron- gray,  more  or  less  mixed 
with  grizzly.  In  specimens  from  the  Mississippi  Valley,  the  same 
parts  show  a  sprinkling  of  yellow-tipped  hairs. 

The  light  lateral  stripes  are  white,  or  but  faintly  tinged  with 
buff  in  typical  Northern  specimens,  while  in  typical  striatus  from 
the  South  they  are  strongly  washed  with  buff,  which  color  often 
deepens  to  pale  fulvous  posteriorly,  and  is  further  obscured  by 
the  admixture  of  a  number  of  dark-tipped  hairs.  The  sides  varj- 
from  the  palest  buff  (as  in  specimen*  No.  1200)  or  buffy  fulvous  in 
the  Northern  to  dark  fulvous  in  the  Southern  form.  Northern 
specimens  show  a  slight  sprinkling  of  black-tipped  hairs,  which 
increase  in  number  from  the  north  southward  till  in  typical 
striatus  the  admixture  of  these  hairs  very  materially  darkens  the 
sides  of  the  aninvil.  In  typical  Northern  examples,  the  pale 
buff  of  the  sides  fades  so  gradually  into  the  white  of  the  belly 
that  no  sharp  line  can  be  drawn  between  them ;  while  in  typical 
striatus^  on  the  contrary,  a  very  clear  line  of  demarkation  sepa- 
rates the  two,  the  (comparatively)  dark  sides  contrasting  strongly 
with  the  buffy-white  of  the  under  parts,  even  when  these  parts  are 
suffused  with  fulvous — which  fact  is  due  to  the  absence  of  black- 
tipped  hairs  from  the  belly. 

The  upper  side  of  the  tail  is  much  lighter  in  Northern  speci- 
mens than  in  striatus  proper,  though  the  hoary  edging  is  more 
conspicuous  in  the  Southern.  This  difference  in  appearance  is 
due  to  the  fact  that  the  black  subapical  portion  of  each  hair  is 
much  broader  in  the  latter  than  in  the  former,  and  the  subbasal 
fulvous  portion  proportionately  narrower.  The  result  is  that  in 
the  Northern  animal  the  pale  fulvous  zone  shows  through,  while 
in  the  Southern  the  corresponding  zone  is  mostly  concealed  by 
the  overlying  black.  In  typical  Northern  specimens  the  under 
side  of  the  tail  is  buffy  or  buffy-fulvous,  fading  in  the  anal  region 
into  the  white  of  the  belly ;  while  in  typical  striatus  the  under 
side  of  the  tail  is  deep  hazel,  which  color  extends  forward  around 
the  anus  to  the  genitals,  where  it  ends  abruptly  without  shading 
off  into  the  surrounding  parts. 

The  dark  spot  above  the  tip  of  the  nose  is  usually  indistinct 
and  sometimes  wanting  in  Northern  specimens,  while  as  a  rule  it 
is  well  marked  in  those  from  the  South.   The  facial  markings,  on 


Digitized  by 


Google 


1 886.]  of  the  Common  Eastern  Chipmunk.  241 

the  other  hand,  are  more  distinct  in  the  Northern  than  in  the 
Southern  animal.  These  markings,  however,  vary  so  much  in 
individuals  in  respect  to  clearness  of  definition  that  they  may  be 
dismissed  as  unimportant  in  the  present  connection. 

In  brief,  it  may  be  said  that  the  Northern  animal  differs  from  the 
Southern  in  the  clearness  and  lightness  of  its  colors,  the  black 
stripes  remaining  much  alike  in  both ;  or,  conversely,  that  the 
Southern  is  characterized  by  an  intensification  of  all  the  colors, 
resulting  in  the  darkening  of  the  entire  upper  surface. 

Richardson,  in  1829,  seems  to  have  been  first  to  describe  the 
Northern  form,  though  he  did  not  suspect  it  to  differ  from  the 
Southern.  Believing  that  the  specific  name  striatus  belonged  to 
the  Asiatic  animal,  and  assuming  the  American  to  be  distinct,  he 
called  the  latter  ''Sciurus  (Tamias) Lystetu  (Ray.),"  but  was  wrong 
in  supposing  that  Ray  had  named  it  before  him.  Baird  expressed 
the  matter  in  a  nutshell  when  he  said,  "  This  author  [Richardson] 
quotes  Ray  as  the  authority  of  this  name,  but  it  is,  in  fact,  his 
own — Ray  only  referring  to  the  species  as  Sciurus  a  Clar,  Dom. 
Lysier  observatus''  (North  American  Mammals,  1857,  p.  295). 

Richardson's  account  of  the  animal  he  had  in  view  admits  of 
no  question  as  to  its  exclusive  applicability  to  the  present  form, 
and  his  plate  (plate  xv),  though  uncolored,  is  equally  unmistak- 
able. Furthermore,  he  distinctly  states  that  his  specimen  came 
from  Penetanguishene,  which  is  on  the  north-east  arm  of  Lake 
Huron,  a  region  which,  theoretically  at  least,  ought  to  furnish 
most  typical  examples.  His  description  was  taken  from  "  a 
recent  male  specimen,  killed  in  April  at  Penetanguishene."  The 
portion  of  it  relating  to  color  runs  as  follows : 

"  Colour, — ^The  dorsal  aspect  of  the  head  is  covered  with  yellowish-brown  hairs, 
which  are  mixed  with  a  smaller  number,  of  black  ones.  There  is  a  black  spot  near 
the  tip  of  the  nose.  The  eyelashes  are  black,  the  eyelids  white ;  there  is  a  dark- 
brown  streak  between  the  eye  and  the  ear,  and  a  broad,  yellowish-brown  stripe  ex- 
tends from  the  nose,  under  the  eye,  to  behind  the  ear,  deepening  in  its  middle  to 
chestnut-brown.  The  anterior  part  of  the  back  is  hoary-gray,  from  a  mixture  of 
black  and  white  hairs.  The  rump,  hips  and  exterior  surfaces  of  the  thighs  are  of  a 
bright  orange-brown  color,  mixed  with  a  few  black  hairs.  A  dark  dorsal  line  com- 
mences  at  the  occiput,  and  reaches  to  within  an  inch  of  the  tail.  This  line  is 
brownish  at  its  commencement,  but  deepens  to  black  posteriorly.  There  are  also, 
on  each  flank,  two  black  lines,  which  commence  behind  the  shoulders,  extend  to  the 
hips,  and  are  separated  by  a  moderately  broad  white  stripe.  All  these  stripes  are 
more  or  less  bordered  with  brown.  The  sides,  beneath  the  stripes,  present  a  mixture 
of  gray  and  very  light  brown.  The  fur,  covering  the  throat,  chin,  belly,  and  inner 
surface  of  the  extremities,  is  longer  and  thinner  than  that  on  the  dorsal  aspect,  and 


Digitized  by 


Google 


242  Description^  &c.,  of  the  Common  Eastern  Chipmunk,   [March, 

is  white  throughout  its  whole  length.     The  fur  on  the  upper  parts  of  the  body  forms 
a  smooth  coat,  and  is  blackish-gray  at  its  roots.    There  is  no  defined  line  of  separa- 
tion betwixt  the  colors  of  the  back  and  belly."     (Fauna  Boreali- Americana,  Rich- 
•  ardson,  1829,  pp.  182-183.) 

Hence  it  is  clear  that  Richardson's  name  lysteri  must  be  adopted 
as  the  subspecific  name  of  the  Northern  animal. 

Following  are  diagnoses  of  the  two  races: 

Tamias  striatus  typicus. — Manus,  20  to  21mm  j  pes,  34  to  H^^  ;  crown,  rusty 
brown  or  grizzled  brown;  nape  and  back  nearly  to  rump  iron  gray,  sometimes 
mixed  with  grizzly ;  rump,  dark  ferruginous,  sometimes  almost  chestnut ;  sides,  rus- 
set fulvous,  passing  into  ferruginous  over  the  hips,  and  mixed  with  a  variable  quan- 
tity of  black  tipped  hairs,  the  fulvous  (losing  its  black  hairs  and  becoming  paler) 
sometimes  encroaching  upon  the  buffy  while  of  belly  and  occasionally  meeting  irreg- 
ularly along  the  median  line  below,  but  always  leaving  a  well*defined  line  of  demar- 
kation  between  the  sides  and  belly;  light  lateral  stripes  strongly  suffused  with  buff 
and  sometimes  tinged  with  fulvous  posteriorly ;  under  surface  of  tail,  mesially,  dark 
fulvous  to  hazel,  often  very  deep. 

Habitat. — Valley  of  the  Lower  Hudson  and  Long  Island,  New  York;  New  Jersey ; 
and  southward  in  the  highlands  to  the  Carolinas  and  Georgia. 

Tamias  striatus  lysteri  (subsp.  nov.). — Manus,  21.5  to  22.5mm;  pes,  36  to 
jymm  •  crown,  rusty  fulvous,  sometimes  very  pale ;  nape  and  back  nearly  to  rump 
clear  ash  gray ;  sides,  pale  buff,  fading  into  white  of  belly  without  leaving  any  sharp 
line  of  demarkation  between  them ;  light  lateral  stripe  nearly  white,  at  most  but 
faintly  washed  with  buff;  under  surface  of  tail,  mesially,  pale  buff  to  tawny  buff. 

Habitat. — Mountains  of  Pennsylvania ;  Adirondack  region  of  New  York;  North- 
ern New  England ;  Eastern  Canada  north  to  the  Gulf  of  St.  Lawrence,  and  in  the 
interior  north  to  James's  Bay,  Hudson's  Bay. 

Coupled  with  the  foregoing  external  characters,  which  serve  to 
separate  the  Northern  from  the  Southern  animal,  are  certain  cranial 
peculiarities  which  are  equally  constant  and  distinctive.  Publica- 
tion of  these  differences  is  deferred  until  a  better  series  of  skulls 
of  the  Southern  form  can  be  obtained.  It  may  be  stated  here, 
however,  that  the  brain  case  is  a  little  broader  in  typical  striatus^ 
while  the  length  of  the  molar  series  of  teeth  is  greater  in  lysteri. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


Digitized  by 


Google 


PLATE  XTT. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


l836.]  Fish  Remains  Sr  Tracks  in  Triassic  Rocks  at  Weelunvken.  243 

FISH    REMAINS    AND    TRACKS    IN   THE   TRIASSIC 
ROCKS  AT  WEEHAWKEN,  N.  J. 

BY  L.  P.  GRATACAP. 

"THE  indurated  ^nd  fissile  shales  that  crop  out  beneath  the 
^  superimposed  masses  of  trap  rock  along  the  western  bank 
of  the  Hudson  river  at  Weehawken,  Gottenburg  and  neigh- 
boring localities,  have  been  frequently  explored  for  fish  remains. 
Their  unequivocal  position  as  Triassic  slates,  and  the  interesting 
developments  made  by  I.  C.  Russel  at  Boonton,  N.  J.,  some  years 
ago,  in  beds  of  an  identical  character,  stimulated  collectors  to 
hunt  here  for  similar  fossils.  As  far  as  I  know  there  is  no  pub- 
lished account  of  any  success  met  with  in  the  search,  or  indeed 
an  account  of  any  kind.  Elstheria  in  compressed  and  almost 
obliterated  patches  have  been  taken  out,  but  the  fish  beds  kept 
discouragingly  out  of  sight  Mr.  F.  Braun,  of  this  city,  has 
recently  revealed  a  large  number  of  fish  remains  in  the  slates 
referred  to,  and  has  most  successfully  extracted  specimens  of 
considerable  beauty.  These  specimens  comprise  almost  whole 
fishes  and  numerous  instructive  fragments,  while  a  few  plant 
remains,  tracks  and  ripple-marked  blocks  from  the  underlying 
sandstone  have  given  to  his  discovery  a  more  comprehensive 
interest 

In  general  the  locality  established  by  Mr.  Braun  is  about  800 
feet  south  of  the  mouth  of  the  tunnel  of  the  N.  Y.,  W.  S.  and 
BufTalo  Railroad,  which  pierces  the  trap  ridge  known  as  Palisade 
mountain,  a  long  exposure  of  basalt  limited  by  Professor  Cook  as 
follows :  "  It  may  be  said  to  start  near  the  Highlands  west  of 
Haverstraw,  in  Rockland  county.  The  range  is  continuous  to 
Bergen  point  It  reappears  south  of  the  Kill  von  Kull  on  Staten 
island,  and  finally  disappears  near  the  Fish  Kills.  Its  total  length 
from  Ladentown,  N.  Y.,  to  the  Staten  Island  sound,  is  fifty-three 
miles." 

Mr.  Braun  commenced  his  quarrying  in  a  bed  of  slates  directly 
underlying  the  trap  rock  which  rises  in  perpendicular  walls  far 
above  it,  and  found  his  fish  and  plant  remains  restricted  to  a  nar- 
row layer  of  from  three  to  four  inches  in  thickness,  and  towards 
the  base  of  the  entire  slate  bed.  An  examination  of  the  ledge, 
of  which  this  bed  formed  a  member,  showed  a  succession  of  slate, 

▼OL.  XZ.— MO.  lu.  x; 


Digitized  by  VjOOQIC 


244  P^^  Remains  and  Tracks  in  the  [March, 

sandstone,  slate  and  trap.  At  the  bottom,  forming  a  low  shelf 
whose  base  was  buried  in  the  alluvium,  was  a  slate  group  formed 
of  closely  compacted  laminae  of  slate  in  conformable  contact  with 
a  bed  of  sandstone,  which  at  the  line  of  union  with  the  slate  was 
granular  and  siliceous,  becoming  compact  and  feldspathic  on  its 
upper  side,  where  it  becomes  almost  fused  with  a  second  bed  of 
slate,  the  fossil  layer,  above  which  rose  the  trap  cliff.  The  expo- 
sure of  the  first  slate  bed  had  a  thickness  of  five  to  six  feet,  the 
thickness  of  the  sandstone  was  four  feet,  and  that  of  the  fossil 


Palaoniscus  latus  Redfd.,  Weehawken,  N.  J. 

group,  as  far  as  could  be  determined,  eight  feet,  when  the  base  of 
the  trap  was  reached.  The  average  dip  of  the  series  was  17° 
N.  W.,  and  the  strike  N.  N.  E.  Two  photographs  were  taken, 
one  of  the  ledge  itself  (Plate  xii),  formed  of  the  three  beds,  and 
a  second  at  the  mouth  of  the  great  tunnel,  some  800  feet  north  of 
this  point,  where  the  fossil  layer  of  slate  rock  with  its  lines  of 
bedding  can  be  seen  conspicuously  meeting  the  trap,  fissured  by 
crevices  of  vertical  cleavage  (Plate  xiii).  The  first  photograph 
was  rather  unfortunately  invaded  by  a  local  group  of  sitters  bear- 
ing no  sensible  relation  to  its  particular  object    The  standing 


Digitized  by 


Google 


PtATE  XIII. 


n 

o 


or 


?5- 


Digitized  by 


Google 


Digitized  by 


Google 


1 886.]  Triassic  Rocks  at  Weehawken,  N.J.  245 

figure  at  the  top  marks  the  fossil  layer  of  slate  and  the  location 
of  Mr.  Braun's  find. 

The  fossil  remains  taken  from  the  slate  comprise  casts  and 
impressions  of  plant-roots  or  root-like  fragments,  the  lobate  divis- 
ions of  an  aquatic  plant,  an  enigmatical  nut  displaying  its  coaly 
and  black  nucleus,  and  numerous  fishes  in  various  stages  of  pres- 
ervation, and  in  positions  that  seem  to  throw  a  light  upon  the 
local  circumstances  of  their  entombment.  Mud  cracks  reticulate 
the  slate  slabs  in  ramifying  lines,  the  silent  witnesses  to  processes 
along  the  shores  of  an  ancient  Triassic  estuary,  identical  with 
those  that  produce  to-day  the  same  markings  upon  a  sun-baked 
bar. 

One  of  the  best  examples  of  the  fishes  in  Mr.  Braun's  col- 
lection, now  in  my  possession,  is  shown  in  the  foregoing 
sketch. 

I  think  all  the  fish  remains  I  have  are  identical  with  this  one  as 
to  genus  and  species,  and  it  appears  identical  with  Palaoniscus 
latus  Redfd.  On  a  specimen,  other  than  the  one  figured,  the 
dorsal  fin  shows  the  coarse  raylets  attached  to  the  anterior  spine, 
and  its  position,  although  quite  far  back,  does  not  correspond 
to  the  insertion  given  for  Catopterus.  The  fishes  are  found  lat- 
erally compressed  and  usually  straight,  but  in  some  instances  the 
creature  has  become  doubled  and  turned  over  on  itself  as  if  en- 
trapped while  wriggling  in  its  contortions  to  escape  again  to  the 
water,  which  receding  left  it  exposed  upon  a  muddy  flat 

Many  have  become  macerated,  and  the  surrounding  shale  is 
strewn  with  their  scattered  scales,  whose  disconnected  marks 
gradually  become  closer  in  one  direction,  leading  the  eye  to  a 
formless  cluster  of  scales  and  head-parts.  Most  of  the  specimens 
suggest  that  the  fishes  perished  in  numbers  and  were  buried  be- 
neath later  films  of  detritus  as  they  lay  motionless  upon  their  sides. 
The  locality  so  lately  discovered  may  reveal  more  of  interest 
both  as  regards  these  fish  in  their  zoological  status,  the  character 
of  their  habitat  and  the  manner  of  their  death.  I  have  found  in 
these  slates  lenticular  masses  of  a  pulverulent  and  highly  car- 
bonaceous material  which  yielded  seven  per  cent  of  combustible 
matter,  and  would  doubtless  have  reacted  for  phosphoric  acid. 
They  seem  connected  with  the  organic  occupants  of  the  rocks, 
and  may  have  arisen  through  their  decomposition. 

In  the  sandstone  below  this  slate  Mr.  Braun  has  found  impres- 


Digitized  by 


Google 


246  Resemblances  in  Arts  widely  separated.  [March, 

sions,  the  most  striking  of  which  are  shown  in  the  wood-cut, 
suggesting  tracks. 


% 


Tracks  and  markings  on  Triassic  sandstone  at  Weehawken,  N.  J. 

Ripple  marks  and  rain  fossae  on  other  slabs  help  vividly  to 
recall  a  shore  upon  which  these  ancient  waters  of  the  Triassic 
basin  washed,  laving  the  forms  of  amphibious  reptiles  or  pouring 
over  crawling  Crustacea,  while  showers  beat  upon  the  imprinted 
sands ;  and  on  shelving  and  shallow  bars  the  ripples  sculptured 
their  counterparts  in  gentle  furrows. 

RESEMBLANCES  IN  ARTS  WIDELY  SEPARATED.^ 

BY  OTIS  T.  MASON. 

FRQM  the  times  of  the  earliest  travelers  down  to  the  present 
day,  we  have  narratives  of  the  occurrence  of  the  same  inven- 
tions (implements),  practices,  modes  of  speech,  institutions,  theo- 
ries, and  religious  creeds  and  cults  in  regions  wide  apart. 

The  older  historians  and  ethnologists  were  wont  to  say  that 

^  Read  before  the  Washington  Philosophical  Society,  Jan.  30,  18S6. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


1 886.]  Resemblances  in  Arts  widely  separated.  247 

similarity  of  human  actions  argued  consanguinity  in  those  who 
practiced  them,  that  when  the  same  phenomena  occurred  in  two 
places  they  must  have  had  their  origin  from  the  same  race. 
Those  who  hold  such  theories  are  not  all  dead,  as  any  one  con^- 
versant  with  recent  literature  well  knows.  It  is  quite  possible 
also  that  among  older  thinkers  there  were  other  ways  of  account- 
ing for  such  similarities  as  I  have  mentioned. 

Before  speaking  of  another  explanation  it  is  necessary  first  to 
examine  more  closely  the  old  doctrine.  Admitting  that  all  like 
inventions  had  their  origin  from  the  same  race,  we  have  two  pos- 
sible ways  by  which  each  one  may  have  been  planted  in  difTerent 
parts  of  the  world.  An  art  may  be  so  peculiar  to  a  people  that 
its  presence  argues  their  presence  always,  in  which  case  the  art 
may  be  said  to  have  the  same  inventor  and  executor.  An  art 
may  originate  with  a  race  or  people,  some  of  whom  may  carry 
the  knowledge  of  it  everywhere,  or  foreigners  visiting  that  people 
may  learn  the  art  and  carry  it  home,  or  it  may,  undesignedly  on 
the  part  of  any  one,  be  diffused. 

In  our  day  of  illustrated  books  and  papers  there  is  no  telling 
how  biT  the  tuition  of  culture  may  extend.  In  this  second  case 
the  art  has  the  same  inventor,  but  not  necessarily  the  same  exec- 
utor or  disseminator. 

Which  of  these  two  causes  has  been  active  in  any  case  seems 
to  me  to  be  a  matter  of  counting — of  numbers.  The  same  race 
of  people  would  hardly  move  about  over  the  world,  plant  them- 
selves here  and  there,  and  forget  all  the  occupations  and  customs 
of  fatherland  excepting  one  or  two.  Mr.  Tylor  told  the  Anthropo- 
logical Society  of  Washington  that  he  found  in  the  neighborhood 
of  Philadelphia  so  much  old-fashionedness  belonging  to  England 
that  he  could  almost  imagine  himself  in  the  midst  of  an  English 
village  of  the  last  century.  On  the  other  hand,  the  occurrence 
of  a  fac-simile  of  a  Grecian  temple,  as  Girard  College,  in  Philadel- 
phia, where  other  examples  of  Greek  culture  are  difficult  to  be 
found,  is  an  evidence  in  favor  of  Hellenic  influence,  at  least  upon 
the  architect  and  trustees  of  that  building. 

The  other  motive  to  the  adoption  of  the  same  means  for  the 
gratification  of  human  wants  or  the  exercise  of  human  ingenuity, 
of  which  previous  mention  was  made,  is  the  identity  of  those 
wants  and  the  instrumentalities  of  their  gratification  in  all 
branches  of  the  human  family,  including  both  the  natural  apti- 


Digitized  by 


Google 


248  Resemblances  in  Arts  widely  separated.  [March, 

tudes  of  man  himself  and  the  material  environment  out  of  which 
come  the  resources  of  gratification.  Upon  the  principle  that  like 
causes  produce  like  effects,  it  is  nowadays  argued  that  men  will 
everywhere,  under  the  same  stress  and  with  the  same  resources^ 
make  the  same  invention.  We  must  carefully  note  that  diflferent 
grades  of  civilization  and  diflferent  ages  of  the  world  give  variable 
significance  to  the  words  stress  and  resources.  In  each  age  and  in 
each  grade,  natural,  primeval  aptitudes  are  intensified  and  warped 
by  inheritance  and  tuition.  Material  environment  is  varied  and 
intensified  by  ever  accumulating  historical  information,  refinement 
and  science.  Resemblances,  therefore,  by  independent  invention 
become  rarer,  as  the  circles  of  national  and  racial  influence  enlarge 
and  cross  one  another. 

Before  attemptling  to  lay  down  rules  by  which  like  human 
activities  may  be  referred  to  one  or  another  of  the  causes  just 
named,  the  activities  themselves  ought  to  be  closely  scrutinized, 
in  order  that  we  may  arrive  at  an  intelligent  definition  of  the  word 
resemblance. 

Aristotle  enumerates  four  sorts  of  causes  of  actions :  The 
mdXtvxdX  CBMSQ^  ex  qua  cUiquid  fit ;  the  formal  cause,  per  quam; 
the  eflBcient  cause,  a  qua  ;  the  final  cause,  propter  quam.  With 
this  classification  as  a  basis  we  may  regard  human  activities  and 
the  things  associated  with  them  from  several  points  of  view,  as 
one  example  will  shew.  The  Indian  basket-maker  there  is  plying 
her  crafl.  She  is  the  eflScient  cause  of  her  art.  Under  other 
social  organizations  it  would  be  the  men,  and  in  higher  civiliza- 
tion it  would  be  one  of  a  small  guild  or  trade,  called  the  basket- 
weavers'  union. 

By  her  side  are  strips  of  grass,  splints  of  root  or  osier,  bundles 
of  cane  or  rattan,  either  dyed  or  in  the  natural  color.  These  are 
the  material  cause  of  her  basket. 

She  holds  in  her  hand  a  bone,  or  ivory,  or  wooden  awl  or 
pricker ;  it  may  be  also  that  a  knife,  rubbing  stone  and  paint- 
brushes are  at  her  side.  These  and  whatever  other  tools  she 
uses  constitute  the  instrumental  cause  of  her  work. 

In  her  mind  are  certain  forms  of  baskets  and  of  basket-weaving 
related  to  her  tribal  art  and  to  the  structure  of  the  vessel ;  others 
also  arise  spontaneously,  and  the  resultant  of  them  all  is  the 
formal  cause  of  the  work. 

She  has  her  peculiar  way  of  ^putting  her  work  together,  of  sit- 


Digitized  by 


Google 


1 886.]  Resemblances  in  Arts  rvidely  separated.  249 

ting,  of  framing,  stitching,  plaiting,  weaving,  of  placing  her  mate* 
rial  into  form  for  a  fixed  purpose.  These  constitute  her  manner 
of  action,  which  we  may  call  her  processional  or  methodical 
cause. 

Finally,  the  foregoing  causes  have  been  set  in  motion  with  a 
view  to  function,  to  the  uses  whereunto  this  basket  is  to  be  put — 
in  a  word,  to  the  final  cause.  Moreover,  to  her  art  belong  a  tech- 
nical vocabulary,  all  sorts  of  lore  and  myths,  and  even  social 
organization  and  sometimes  religion  are  influenced  by  it. 

Now,  what  is  true  of  one  occupation  is  true  of  another.  Each 
one  of  them,  from  the  lowest  to  the  highest,  involves  :  i,  agent ; 
2,  material;  3,  implement;  4,  form;  5,  process;  6,  mrotive  or 
function ;  not  to  include  others  unnecessary  to  mention  now. 

Again,  it  must  not  be  forgotten  that  the  materials,  implements, 
forms,  etc.,  of  most  activities,  excepting  the  rudest,  are  the  pro- 
ducts of  other  activities,  and  each  may  have  had  its  six  elementary . 
causes,  giving  rise  to  generations  and  genealogies  of  causes. 

Now,  let  it  be  especially  noted  that  in  each  invention  or  art  the 
resemblance  may  extend  to  only  one  of  the  six  elements,  or  it 
may  include  two  or  more.  Furthermore,  resemblance  may  mani- 
fest itself  only  in  some  one  generation  in  the  genealogy. 

If  we  read  carefully  the  works  of  those  who  are  constantly 
pointing  out  evidences  of  the  migration  of  tribes  or  races,  we 
shall  see  that  their  attention  has  been  Bxed  upon  only  oite  or  two 
elements  of  the  art  under  scrutiny. 

The  complication  of  causes  in  producing  a  result  stancfs  in  the 
same  relation  to  the  result  that  complexity  of  organization  does 
to  plants  and  animals.  Those  arts  that  involve  the  fewest  causes, 
the  shortest  concatenations  of  causes,  have  the  greatest  chance 
of  arising  independently ;  while  those  that  involve  the  greatest 
number  of  complicated  and  connected  causes  give  the  strongest 
evidence  of  absolute  identity  of  origin. 

Another  consideration  which  we  must  not  omit  in  this  study  is 
the  natural  relation  between  things  ^nd  their  uses ;  between  the 
number  of  things  which  may  perform  a  given  function,  between 
the  number  of  functions  which  a  given  thing  mzsy  perform.  In 
human  trades,  languages,  the  organizations  of  society,  the  fine 
arts,  moralities,  the  progress  of  learning,  creeds  and  cults — the 
bonds  of  union  between  the  ends  to  be  attained  and  the  number 
of   possible  ways  of  attaining  each  end    vary   immensely  in 


Digitized  by 


Google 


250  Resemblances  in  Arts  widely  separated.  [March 

strength  and  number.  Admitted  that  all  human  arts  whatever 
start  from  natural  objects,  endowments  and  relations,  it  follows 
that  in  their  pristine  condition  men  took  the  causes  q{  their 
activity  immediately  irom  nature — flint  flakes  for  knives  ;  sharp 
sticks  for  spears  and  spades ;  gourds  and  conchs  for  music ;  ejacu- 
lations for  words;  consanguinity  for  social  bond;  aninriism  for 
theology,  and  dreams  for  revelation.  These  are  so  natural  and 
necessary  that  we  need  not  be  astonished  to  find  men  flying  to 
them  in  emergencies  and  inventing  over  and  over  again  all  the 
devices  and  methods  of  the  primeval  world.  If  a  stone  knife 
has  functions  peculiar  to  itself,  if  cutting  is  dependent  on  stone 
knives,  then  the  stone  knife  will  oflen  be  invented  independently. 
If  almost  any  vocal  combination  will  recall  an  idea ;  if  almost 
any  vocal  combination  may  stand  for  innumerable  objects,  then 
the  possibilities  of  associating  any  object  with  a  particular  vocal 
combination  will  be  feebler,  and  similarities  in  language  in  differ- 
ent localities  will  be  more  likely  to  arise  from  the  same  people, 
either  by  migration  or  by  literary  influence.  But  words  fly  with 
such  ease  and  rapidity  over  the  earth  that  we  are  in  quite  as  great 
a  dilemma  regarding  them,  whether  we  shall  say  that  those  who 
use  them  are  of  the  same  blood,  or  whether  in  one  case  they  are 
evidence  of  tuition. 

Since  we  are  thus  almost  always  the  sport  of  three  rival  theo- 
ries, I  would  prefer  to  adopt  a  new  plan.  Laying  aside  predilec- 
tions I  would  adopt  the  inductive  method.  There  must  be  a 
great  many  resemblances  in  things  from  difTerent  times  and  places 
about  which  there  exists  positive  information. 

Resemblance  by  independent  invention  being  the  least  proba- 
ble, I  would  scrutinize  with  great  care  such  examples  to  ascertain 
the  degree  of  complexity  in  the  things  invented,  which  we  are 
allowed  to  suppose.  It  is  my  pleasure  to  bring  before  the  society 
two  inventions  about  whose  independence  of  origin  there  can  be 
no  question.  One  is  a  type  of  basket-weaving  found  only  at 
Cape  Flattery,  in  Washington  Territory,  and  on  the  Congo.  The 
other  is  the  throwing-stick,  occurring  only  in  Australia,  Brazil 
and  Eskimo  land. 

The  basket  weaving  may  be  called  the  bird-cage  type,  that  is, 
a  series  of  horizontal  rods  is  crossed  either  at  right  angles  or 
diagonally  by  another  series  of  vertical  rods,  just  like  the  wires  in 
a  bird  cage.    These  rods  are  firmly  lashed  in  place  by  a  continu- 


Digitized  by 


Google 


1 886.]  Resemblances  in  Arts  widely  separated.  2$  i 

ous  coil  of  grass  or  splint,  making  a  diagonal  stitch  in  the  front 
and  a  vertical  stitch  in  the  rear.  Now  this  process  is  common 
enough  in  wattling  fences,  fish  traps,  etc.,  but  only  in  these  two 
areas  did  men  and  women  hit  upon  the  notion  that  this  stitch 
would  make  the  most  beautiful  and  effective  close  weaving. 
Wherein  is  the  similarity  in  the  two  areas  ?  The  two  forms  of 
weaving  stand  thus :  Alike  in  niethod  or  technique ;  different  in 
agent  (women  at  Cape  Flattery,  men  on  the  Congo),  in  form,  ma- 
terial and  function. 

The  throwing-stick  is  a  device  for  launching  a  dart  or  harpoon 
too  heavy  for  a  bow  or  in  situations  where  a  bow  would  be  incon- 
venient. The  Australians  have  ho  bows ;  the  Eskimo  uses  his 
throwing-stick  in  the  kyak,  where  a  bow  would  be  inconvenient,' 
furthermore  his  missiles  are  far  too  heavy  for  a  bow.  Wherein 
do  these  inventions  resemble  ?  In  agent,  material,  form  and  func- 
tion; but  not  perfectly.  In  form  they  agree  only  in  the  funda- 
mental invention,  a  handle  and  a  peg  or  hook  to  catch  the  end  of 
the  dart  or  harpoon.  The  Australian  and  the  Puru  Puru  stranded 
on  this,  their  minds  never  conceived  that  it  could  be  altered  or 
improved.  The  Eskimo,  on  the  other  hand,  has  developed  a 
dozen  species  of  throwing  sticks,  so  distinct  that  they  can  be 
separated  by  types,  as  follows : 

The  Greenland  type Hooks  on  the  harpoon  shaft. 

The  Ungava  type ',  Fiddle  head  at  the  hook. 

The  Baffin  type Broad  and  clumsy  for  bird  spear. 

The  Anderson  river  type.  .Exceedingly  primitive,  all  in  one  piece. 

The  Pc.  Barrow  type Amphora-shaped. 

The  Asiatic  type Primeval  in  form. 

The  Kotzebue  type Razor-strap  form,  central  index  cavity. 

The  Cape  Nome  type Pegged  on  the  side,  rude. 

The  Norton  sound  type. .  .Climax  of  detail. 

The  Nunivak  type Finger  pegs  replace  cavities. 

The  Bristol  (variety) A  variety  of  Nunivah,  but  ruder. 

The  Aleut  type Flat  and  wanting  in  detail. 

The  Sitkan  type Elaborately  carved. 

These  types  are  explained  and  illustrated  in  a  paper  about  to 
appear  in  the  first  annual  report  of  the  National  Museum. 

If  any  one,  therefore,  questioned  the  relationship  of  the  peo- 
ples now  using  this  weapon,  he  would  be  allowed  to  compare 
only  that  of  the  Asiatic  Eskimo,  with  that  of  the  Australians.  If 
he  would  regard  the  genealogies  of  causes  which  had  led  up  to 
the  simpler  forms  in  the  two  regions,  there  would  be  no  ground 
left  for  him  to  stand  upon,  and  the  case  of  independent  invention 
would  be  clearly  made  out. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


252  Editor^  Table.  [March, 

EDITORS'  TABLE. 

EDITORS :   A.  S.  PACKARD  AND  E.  D.  COPE. 

The  principles  which  underlie  the  doctrine  of  evolution 

are  the  unity  of  organization  and  the'  derivation  of  modern  types 
of  beings  from  a  primitive  germ.  While  the  theory  of  descent 
has  rehabilitated  philosophy,  the  leading  historians,  such  as 
Greene,  Freeman  and  others,  have  studied  and  are  studying  his- 
tory in  the  inductive  method,  and,  like  the  evolutional  naturalist 
or  philosopher,  or  social  scientist,  go  back  to  the  beginning  of 
things  historical,  detecting,  for  example,  in  the  early  stages  of 
German  culture  the  germs  of  our  democratic  system  of  represent- 
ation and  self-government. 

Another  set  of  workmen,  the  philologists,  have  long  and  inde- 
pendently, perhaps,  of  any  influence  from  naturalists,  adopted  the 
methods  of  the  palaeontologists  and  discovered  a  primitive  Aryan 
prototype  of  certain  of  our  more  modern  as  well  as  so-called 
ancient  dialects ;  and  now  come  the  students  of  the  world's  alpha- 
bets, notably  Dr.  Taylor  and  Professor  A.  H.  Sayce,  who  avow- 
edly confess  their  inability  to  work  out  lasting  results  without 
having  recourse  to  modern  scientific  methods,  particularly  the 
doctrine  of  evolution  from  a  primitive  germ. 

It  appears  that  the  world's  alphabets  are  "  all  but  the  manifest 
developments  of  a  single  germ."  That  germ  was  the  hiero- 
glyphics of  Egypt,  the  running  form  of  which  was  the  selected 
characters  of  the  Egyptian  hieratics.  These  were  adopted  by 
the  Phoenicians,  who  carried  them  to  Greece.  The  Greek  alpha- 
bet took  its  Hellenic  shape  by  the  addition  of  four  new  charac- 
ters {ip^  7,  ip  and  o),  probably,  Mr.  Sayce  claims,  derived  from  the 
Hittites.  Finally  a  great  variety  of  alphabets  belonging  to  dif- 
ferent ages  and  localities  arose,  and  it  was  "  not  until  about  400 
B.  C,  when  the  local  dialects  began  to  yield  to  the  '  common ' 
Greek  of  literary  Athens,  that  the  local  alphabets  also  fell  into 
disuse  and  were  superseded  by  the  common  '  Ionic '  alphabet  of 
twenty-four  letters." 

Mr.  Sayce  farther  tells  us  that  one  of  the  Greek  alphabets,  the 
Euboeic,  "  was  the  source  of  all  those  which  were  employed  in 
Italy,  *  *  *  *  and  modern  research  has  now  demonstrated,  to 
use  the  words  of  Dr.  Taylor,  *  that  all  the  Italic  alphabets  were 
developed  on  Italian  soil  out  of  a  single  primitive  type.'  " 

Using  the  identical  words  of  a  Darwinian  botanist  or  zoologist. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


1 886.]  Editor ^  Table.  253 

Professor  Sayce  goes  on  to  remark :  "  In  the  struggle  for  exist- 
ence, the  Latin  alphabet  alone  survived  among  its  Italian  com- 
peers, and  was  carried,  by  the  extension  of  the  Roman  empire, 
through  the  length  and  breadth  of  western  Europe.  Most  of  our 
modem  European  alphabets  are  its  direct  ofTspring." 

In  Russia  and  other  Slavonic  countries  the  alphabet  was  of 
Greek  origin,  as  were  the  runes  of  our  Norse  forefathers. 

Professor  Sayce  even  claims  that  "  the  immense  majority,  if  not 
the  whole,  of  the  alphabets  used  in  the  East  are  descended,  like 
the  alphabets  of  the  West,  from  the  alphabet  of  Phoenicia.  The 
Hebrew,  Arabic  and  Syriac  are  derived  from  the  Phoenician,  the 
Syriac  being  supposed  to  have  been  '  the  parent  of  the  vertically 
written  Mongolian  and  Mantchu.' " 

*'In  fact,"  concludes  Professor  Sayce  in  his  article  on  the  origin 
of  the  alphabet  in  the  Contemporary  Review  for  December,  1885, 
''  it  is  difficult  to  find  any  alphabet  which  cannot  be  affiliated  to 
the  Phcenician,  widely  different  as  the  two  may  have  become  both 
in  the  forms  of  the  letters  and  in  the  values  they  bear.  Inter- 
mediate forms  are  continually  being  discovered,  which  bridge 
over  the  enormous  distances  and  explain  the  transitions  that  time 
and  space  have  effected.  Even  the  Devanagari  alphabet  of  San- 
skrit, whatever  disputes  there  may  be  as  to  its  exact  pedigree,  is 
generally  allowed  to  be  of  Phoenician  origin. '  With  the  exception 
of  the  cuneiform  alphabet  of  the  ancient  Persians,  and  possibly 
one  or  two  more  which  may  yet  lurk  in  obscure  corners  of  the 
world,  all  the  alphabets  of  which  we  know  are  derived,  ultimately, 
from  a  single  source.  Utterly  diverse  as  they  are  in  their  latest 
forms,  the  zealous  enthusiasm  of  palatograph ists  and  inscription- 
hunters  has  succeeded  in  restoring  them  to  their  earlier  shapes, 
in  filling  up  the  intervals  which  separate  them  from  each  other, 
and  in  showing  that  they  are  all  but  the  manifold  developments 
of  a  single  germ.  The  history  of  the  alphabet,  in  short,  like  the 
history  of  its  origin,  is  but  an  illustration  of  the  doctrine  of  evo- 
lution on  a  large  and  easily  tested  scale.  '  Scientific  palaeography,* 
to  use  again  the  words  of  Dr.  Taylor, '  rests  on  the  assumption 
that  no  alphabetic  changes  are  ever  accidental  or  arbitrary,  as  was 
formerly  assumed,  but  are  the  result  of  evolution  taking  place  in 
accordance  with  fixed  laws.' " 

How  vividly  the  language  and  methods  of  work  employed  by 
these  scholars  recall  the  language  and  methods  of  the  philosophic 
biologists  in  their  attempts  to  seek  the  missing  links  and  ances- 
tral forms  of  life  which  complete  and  unite  the  chain  of  being! 


Digitized  by 


Google 


254  Recent  Literature.  [March, 

The  bestiarians  in  Belgium  have  appropriately  united  with 

the  antivaccinationists  in  the  publication  of  a  journal  entitled 
The  Friend  of  the  People.  In  Paris  and  in  Philadelphia  the  anti- 
vivisection  societies  have  modified  their  titles  so  as  to  state  that 
their  object  is  to  regulate,  and  not  to  abolish  vivisection.  To 
such  a  service  reasonably  executed,  no  one  should  object.  How- 
ever our  hopes  ot  rational  conduct  on  their  part,  are  somewhat 
abated  by  the  addresses  delivered  by  some  of  their  members.  It 
is  still  asserted  in  Philadelphia,  that  no  benefit  to  physiological 
science  has  been  derived  from  vivisection !  In  Paris  a  lady  mem- 
ber denounces  the  experiments  made  by  Pasteur  in  the  search  for 
the  methods  of  attenuating  animal  poison?,  declaring  that  it  were 
better  to  endure  rabies  than  tolerate  the  (?)  crueltie3  inflicted  on 
animals  by  Pasteur. 

:o: 

RECENT  LITERATURE. 

Coulter's  Rocky  Mountain  Botany.^ — ^This  neat  manual,  in 
its  substantial  binding,  good  paper  and  excellent  typography, 
reminds  one  every  way  of  the  well-known  Gray's  Manual,  of 
which  it  is,  in  fact,  designed  to  be  a  companion  volume.  It  is 
intended  for  use  in  the  region  lying  between  the  looth  meridian 
on  the  east  and  the  Great  basin  on  the  west,  and  extending  from 
the  northern  line  of  New  Mexico  northward  to  the  British 
boundary.  Its  range,  therefore,  includes  Colorado,  Wyoming, 
Montana,  Western  Dakota,  Western  Nebraska  and  Western 
Kansas. 

There  are  several  features  of  the  book  which  are  especially 
noteworthy.  In  it  we  have  for  the  first  time,  so  fer  as  we  are 
aware,  an  American  manual  of  botany  with  the  gymnosperms 
standing  in  proper  relation  to  the  angiosperms.  The  outline  of 
the  arrangement  is  as  follows,  viz : 

Scries  I.  PHiENOGAMIA. 
Class  I.  Angiosperms. 
Sub-class  I.  Dicotyledons. 
Sub-class  II.  Monocotyledons. 

QaSS  II.  GYMNOSPERMiC. 

Series  II.  PTERIDOPHYTA. 

Class  I.   LYCOPODINiE. 

Class  II.  FiLiciNiB. 

Class  III.   EQUISETINi^. 

As  indicating  further  the  modern  views  held  by  the  author,  a 

^  Manual  of  the  Botany  {Pha:nogamia  and  Pteridophyta)  of  the  Rocky  Mountain 
Region  from  New  Mexico  to  the  British  boundary.  By  John  M.  CoaLTER,  Ph.D., 
professor  of  botany  in  Wabash  l>)llege  and  editor  of  the  Botanical  Gazette,  IvLson, 
Blakeman,  Taylor  &  Co.,  New  York  and  Chicago.,  1885,  pp.  xvi,  454,  28. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


i886.] 


•  Recent  Liter atute* 


25S 


remark  in  the  preface  is  worth  quoting,  viz  :  "  The  term  •  crypto- 
gam has  been  discarded  as  the  correlatii^e  of  phsnogam,  and . 
•  Pteridophyta '  (vascular  cryptogams)  is  used  as  the  name  of  the 
second  great  series  of  plants."  It  is  gratifying  to  note  these 
signs  of  a  recognition,  in  a  systematic  manual,  of  the  doctrine  of 
evolution,  and  of  the  significance  of  the  structural  homologies 
which  are  now  familiar  to  every  vegetable  anatomist. 

We  wish  the  author  had  been  entirely  consistent  in  his  treat- 
ment of  this  part  of  the  subject  Thus,  if  we  consider  the  gym- 
nosperms  to  occupy  the  position,  given  them  in  this  bock,  we 
must  regard  the  cone  (in  conifers)  as  the  homologue  of  ^^  female 
flower  of  angiosperms,  and  not  as  an  ament  (/.  ^.,  a  spike  of  flow- 
ers). The  so-called  "spikes"  of  Lycopodinae  and  the  similar 
structures  (male  and  female  cones)  of  the  conifers  are  so  clearly 
homologous  as  not  to  require  any  discussion  here ;  and  this  pre- 
cludes the  use  of  the  old  term  ^'  ament."  In  another  case  we 
notice  the  continued  use  of  an  antiquated  term  where  the  leaves 
of  the  Filicinae  are  called  "  fronds."  In  the  characters  given  for 
the  class  (p.  436),  as  well  as  the  ordinal  ones,  the  leaves  are  called 
leaves,  with  the  word  "  frond  "  following  in  parenthesis,  but  in 
the  generic  and  specific  descriptions  the  old  term  alone  is  used, 
except  in  the  Rhizocarpae.  We  have  no  doubt  whatever  as  to  the 
author's  real  views  upon  these  points,  and  rejoice  that  he  has, 
even  in  part,  succeeded  in  securing  a  better  arrangement  and  a 
more  modern  nomenclature,  and  only  regret  that  it  was  not  pos- 
sible to  carry  out  in  full  the  reform  so  well  begun. 

We  find  by  calculations  made  by  us  that  the  area  of  the  region 
included  in  this  book  is  but  little  less  than  that  included  in  Gray's 
Manual.  It  is  interesting  to  notice  that  the  number  of  Rocky 
mountain  plants  is  wonderfully  near  to  that  of  the  Eastern  region. 
Doubtless  when  the  Western  region  has  beert  as  fully  explored, 
it  will  have  a  greater  number  of  species  than  the  Eastern.  We 
give  below  the  comparisons  for  the  different  groups : 


ORDERS. 

GENERA. 

SPECIES. 

Coulter, 

Gray. 

Coulter. 

Gray. 

Comlter. 

Gray. 

Polypetalae 

Gamopetalae 

Apetalae........ 

Dicotyledons 

Monocotyledons .. . 

Angiosperms 

Gymnosperms 

PHiENOGAMIA 

FIERIDOPHYTA... 
Total 

38 
23 
14 
75 

y 

2 
90 

7 
97 

48 
33 
24 

105 
22 

127 
I 

128 
4 

132 

176 
181 
48 
30s 

104 

415 
19 

434 

796 
28 
824 

624 

1473 

1820 

16 

1836 

.8^5 

629 

187 

1567 
670 

2237 

21 

2258 

2348 

Digitized  by 


Google 


256 


Recent  Literature, 


[March, 


Comparing  the  number  of  genera  and  species  for  half  a  dozen 
orders,  the  following  interesting  results  are  obtained : 


LegumiRosse  , 
Rosaceao.  • .  • , 
Compositse. . , 
Ericaceae .  . . , 
Cyperacese . . , 
Graminese. . . , 


GBNSRA. 


SPECIES. 


CouUer, 

Gray. 

Coulter. 

Gray. 

20 

35 

143 

98 

26 

18 

65 

•    72 

83 

85 

357 

288 

10 

28 

19 

67 

8 

15 

108 

247 

48 

66 

129 

168 

As  to  the  number  of  species  common  to  the  two  regions,  we 
have  space  for  but  a  few  comparisons.  Taking  a  few  of  the 
orders  as  they  occur  at  the  beginning  of  the  book,  we  obtain  the 
following  results,  confining  our  comparisons  to  native  species  only, 
as  in  the  previous  cases : 


• 

NUMBER  OF  SPEOSS. 

In  CouUer. 

In  Gray. 

Common  to  both. 

Ranunculacese •• 

57 

2 
2 
2 

«! 

7 
9 
3 

54 

\ 

2 

7 
46 

I 
17 
14 

24 

Berberidacese 

0 

Nymphseacese 

I 

Papaveracese 

0 

Fumariacevp  ••••••.......■...• 

I 

Craciferse 

••? 

Capparidaceae 

Violacea 

c 

Polygalaceae 

I 

No  better  argument  as  to  the  need  of  this  book  can  be  made 
than  that  derived  from  this  comparison,  which  indicates  that  not 
more  than  about  one-third  of  the  Rocky  Mountain  species  are 
described  in  Gray^  Manual. — Charles  E.  Bessey. 

The  Catalogue  of  Lizards  in  the  British  Museum,  new 
edition,  Vols,  i  and  11. — This  important  work,  by.  Dr.  G.  A.  Bou- 
lenger,  fills  a  desideratum  in  zoology  which  is  of  long  standing. 
Previous  to  the  publication  of  these  volumes  Dr.  Boulenger  had 
given  us  in  the  Ann.  and  Mag.  Nat.  Hist.,  1884,  p.  1 17,  a  synop- 
sis of  the  families  of  existing  Lacertilia,  as  understood  by  him. 
The  classifications  of  Dumeril  and  Bibron  and  of  Gray,  still  gen- 
erally in  use,  are  regarded  as  unnatural,  and  the  osteology  and 
structure  of  the  tongue  as  well  as  the  presence  or  absence  and 
structure  of  the  dermal  ossifications  are  put  forward  as  characters 
of  primary  importance.  In  this  respect  Cope  is  largely  but  not 
entirely  followed.  Twenty  families  of  Lacertilia  vera  are  recog- 
nized, separated  into  three  series,  the  first  (Gecconidae,  Euble- 
pharidae)  with  smooth  tongue  and  the  clavicle  dilated  and  loop- 
shaped  proximally ;  the  second  without  the  latter  character,  while 


Digitized  by 


Google 


. 1 886.]  Recent  Literature,  257 

the  third  differs  from  the  others  in  the  scale-covered  structure  of 
the  tongue.  The  Amphisbaenidae  are  regarded  as  a  degraded 
type  of  Teiidx,  and  are  placed  in  the  third  subdivision,  between 
that  femily  and  the  Lacertidae.  The  chameleons  alone  form  the 
suborder  Rhiptoglossa.  The  Uroplatidx  are  discovered  to  differ 
from  the  Gecconidae  in  the  proximally  simple  clavicles  and  other 
important  characters ;  the  Scincoids  of  Dumeril  and  Bibron  are 
scattered  through  several  families,  in  accordance  with  the  views 
of  Cope ;  the  remaining  Scincidae  corresponding  to  Cope's  Scin- 
cidae,  Sepidae  and  Acontiidae ;  the  Zonuridae  comprise  the  genera 
Zonurus,  Platysaurusand  Chamaesaura;  while  the  Anguidae  include 
Cope's  Anguidae  and  Gerrhonotidae.  He  admits  Cope's  family 
Aniellidae,  regarding  it  as  a  deprraded  form  of  Anguidae.  A  fam- 
ily Gerrhosauridae  is  established  for  Gerrhosaurus,  which  is  placed 
near  the  Scincidae ;  the  Anelytropidae  are  regarded  a  degraded 
type  of  the  Scincidae,  and  the  degraded  genus  Dibamus  is,  among 
the  scale-tongued  lizards,  the  equivalent  of  the  Aniellidae  in  the 
smooth-tongued  series. 

Of  this  system  it  may  be  said  that  it  is  a  great  advance  over 
any  that  has  yet  been  adopted  in  any  European  country.  There 
are,  however,  a  good  many  important  characters  of  the  skeleton 
which  have  not  been  used  by  Dr.  Boulenger,  and  which  give 
ground  for  a  further  subdivision  of  the  order  Lacertilia.  The 
affinities  of  the  families  cannot,  in  fact,  be  estimated  without 
them.  The  form  of  the  prootic  bone  is  one  of  these,  and  the 
enclosure  or  non-enclosure  of  the  olfactory  lobes  of  the  brain  by 
the  frontal  bones  is  another.  The  mode  of  articulation  of  the 
occipital  sclerotome  presents  important  differences.  Some  of  these 
characters  divide  his  group  second  into  groups  of  equal  value 
with  his  groups  I  and  in ;  and  others  indicate  a  greater  difference 
between  the  Amphisbaenians  and  the  Teidae  than  Dr.  Boulenger 
admits.  The  composition  of  the  ramus  mandibuli  affords  impor- 
tant characters,  so  as  to  distinguish  readily  the  Anolidae  and 
Acontiidae,  &milies  not  admitted  by  Boulenger. 

This  work  is,  however,  the  best  we  now  have  on  the  subject,  and 
will  give  a  great  impetus  to  its  study. 

A  second  preliminary  paper  is  devoted  to  the  geographical  dis- 
tribution of  the  Lacertilia.  He  notices  the  parallelism,  first 
noticed  by  Wagler,  between  the  Agamidae  and  Lacertidae  of  the 
old  world  and  the  Iguanidae  and  Teiidae  of  the  new.  The  Cen- 
tral American  fauna  presents  a  greater  variety  of  types  than 
South  America,  as  it  has  representatives  of  every  one  of  the 
eleven  Neogean  families.  A  review  of  the  distribution  of  types 
in  the  four  generally  accepted  zoogeographical  regions  of  the  old 
world  leads  to  the  conclusion  that  these  "  regions  "  are  not  sup- 
ported by  the  Lacertilia,  which  range  also  according  to  longitude 
rather  than  latitude. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


25  8  Recent  UUraiure.  [March, 

Hartman's  Anthropoid  Apes. — The  author  is  well  known  as  a 
special  student  of  the  apes,  and  has  'given  us  in  this  book  per- 
haps the  most  authoritative  and  judicious  work  upon  these  crea- 
tures yet  published.  The  illustrations  are  in  nearly  every  case 
of  value,  and  the  facts  are  presented  in  a  clear,  simple  style  which 
adds  weight  to  the  author's  views.  As  we  see  nothing  to  criticise, 
we  will  draw  the  reader's  attention  to  some  of  the  author's  state- 
ments and  conclusions. 

The  discussion  on  the  ape-like  characters  of  the  lowest  human 
tribes  is  of  much  present  interest.  Hartman  shows  that  among 
some  human  races  "  it  is  impossible  not  to  recognize  a  purely 
external  and  physical  approximation  to  the  simian  type."  Yet 
old  specimens  of  apes,  especially  the  gorilla,  differ  more  from 
man  than  the  young,  and  the  author  is  strongly  of  the  opinion 
"  that  man  cannot  have  descended  from  any  of  the  fossil  species 
which  have  hitherto  come  to  our  notice,  nor  yet  from  any  of  the 
species  of  apes  now  extant."  He  adopts  Vogt's  view  "  that  both 
types  have  been  produced  from  a  common  ground-form,  which 
is  still  more  strongly  expressed  in  the  structure  of  young  speci- 
mens, because  the  age  of  childhood  is  less  advanced."  Hartman 
adds :  "  This  supposed  progenitor  of  our  race  is  necessarily  com- 
pletely hypothetical,  and  all  the  attempts  hitherto  made  to  con- 
struct even  a  doubtful  representation  of  its  characteristics  are 
based  upon  the  trifling  play  of  fancy,"  On  page  300  he  remarks  : 
"  Moreover,  the  most  fanatical  advocates  of  the  doctrine  of  de- 
scent are  becoming  ever  more  convinced  that  man  cannot  be  the 
issue  of  any  extant  form  of  anthropoids." 

Hartman  in  his  classification  of  the  Primates  places  man  in 
the  same  family  as  the  apes,  man  forming  the  type  of  the  sub- 
family Erecti,  and  the  apes,  including  the  gibbon,  in  the  sub- 
family Anthropomorpha.  To  place  man  in  the  same  family  as 
the  apes  is,  we  think,  an  extreme  view,  nor  is  the  author  logical  in 
doing  so,  since  he  believes  that  man  has  not  descended  from  any 
known  ape,  a  view  with  which  we  would  agree.  But  throughout 
the  animal  kingdom,  as  a  rule,  it  is  eminently  probable  that  all 
the  members  of  a  family,  zoologically  considered,  have  descended 
from  a  common  ancestor.  On  this  ground  as  well  as  from  ana- 
tomical considerations,  we  should  refer  man  to  a  distinct,  special 
family. 

Kane's  Hand-book  of  European  Butterflies.* — A  handy 
little  book  is  this  for  the  butterfly-catcher.  The  introduction 
gives  the  best  localities  and  the  distribution  of  species,  methods 
of  capture  and  of  preservation  when  captured,  apparatus,  a  full 
glossary  of  terms,  arguments  on  seasonal  dimorphism,  etc.  This 
is  followed  by  fifteen  plates  and  149  pages  of  generic  and  specific 
descriptions.  A  well-chosen  set  of  abbreviations  is  used,  and  the 
work  is  thoroughly  indexed. — L. 

*  A   Hand-book  of  European   BiUterflies.    By  W.  F.  DE  ViSMES  KANE,  M.A., 
M.R.I.A.     London,  Macmillan  &  Co.,  1885. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


Digitized  by 


Google 


PLATE  XIV. 


Fig.  I. — Young  male  Gorilla. 


Fig,  2,^Same  as  Fig.  i,  but  somewhat  older. 


1=^0  =  ?> 


Digitized  by 


Google 


1 886.]  Recent  Literature,  259 

Langille's  Our  Birds  and  their  Haunts.^ — ^This  is  an  out-of- 
door  book  by  an  out-of-door  student  of  birds,  and  bears  witness 
to  much  patient  observation.  The  faults  which  an  evolutionist 
may  find  in  it  will  endear  it  to  all  those  who  instead  of  believing 
that  function  precedes  structure,  put  the  latter  first  and  make  it 
push  its  own  motor.  It  seems  strange  that  a  working  naturalist 
should  suppose  that  birds  are  supernaturally  fed,  and  should  ask 
"  when  are  they  starving  or  wanting  sustenance  ?"  as  though  half- 
starved  birds  are  not  abundant  in  winter,  and  as  though  none  per- 
ished !  The  book  is  wordy,  or  as  its  author  would  probably  say, 
one  of  the  most  remarkable  characteristics  of  the  volume  is  its 
extraordinary  verbosity. 

Everybody  is  quoted ;  Wilson,  Audubon,  Thoreau,  Coues,  Bur- 
rough,  Wallace,  Dall,  Maynard  are  presented  in  long  paragraphs ; 
there  are  bits  of  many  a  lesser  light  of  zoology,  and  several  "dis- 
tinguished taxidermists  "  figure  in  the  pages. 

There  is  a  good  deal  of  information  in  the  book,  and  moral  les- 
sons and  quotations  are  quite  as  prominent  as  ornithology.  The 
book  is  handsomely  printed. 

Our  Living  World.' — ^This  serial  natural  history  has  now 
been  completed,  parts  33-42  having  been  received.  We  have 
already  given  samples  of  the  elegant  wood-cuts  which  adorn  the 
well-printed  pages.  The  oleographs  in  the  last  numbers  are  ex- 
cellent The  excellence  of  the  illustrations  gives  the  chief  value 
to  the  book,  which  is  of  interest  to  the  young  rather  than  to  the 
scientific  student,  since  none  of  Mr.  Wood's  writings  are  above 
criticism.  The  illustrations  of  the  insects  are  entirely  of  exotic 
species.  Such  a  work  as  this,  whatever  may  be  its  scientific  de- 
fects, is  worthy  of  wide  circulation,  as  it  leads  the  young  to  thirst 
for  knowledge  of  a  more  exact  and  detailed  nature. 

Thompson's  Bibliography  of  Protozoa,  etc' — ^A  bibliography 
of  all  works  and  scattered  articles  relating  to  animals  lower  in  the 
scale  than  arthropods,  moUusks  and  echinoderms  fills  a  long-felt 
need.  The  author  modestly  states  that  he  knows  there  are  many 
omissions  to  be  discovered  in  his  list,  and  begs  those  who  use  it 
to  judge  these  leniently  and  to  help  him  to  make  them  good. 
The  specialist  who  finds  fault  with  these  256  pages,  full  of  the 
results  of  hard  and,  to  the  worker,  dry  work,  must  indeed  be  un- 
gracious. 

>  Oar  Birds  and  their  Haunts,  a  popular  treatise  on  the  birds  of  Eastern  North 
America.  By  Rev.  J.  Hibbert  Langillb,  M.A.  Boston,  S.  E.  Cassino  &  Co., 
iS84« 

*  Published  by  Selmar  Hess,  New  York.  Complete  in  forty-two  parts  at  fifty  cents 
each. 

*A  Bibliography  of  FrotoKoa,  Sponges,  CaUnterata  and  Worms,  including  Polyzoa, 
Brachiopoda  and  Tunicata,  for  the  years  1861-1883.  By  D'A^CY  W,  THOMPSON, 
B.A.    Cambridge  University  press,  1885. 

VOL.  XX.— no.  ni.  \% 


Digitized  by 


Google 


26o  Recent  Literature.  [March, 

Recent  Books  and  Pamphlets. 

Mcintosh,  W.  C— Report  of  the  Annelida  PolycheU  collected  by  H.  M.  S.  Ckal- 

lenj^er  duriug  the  years  1873-76.     Challenger  reports,  Vol.  xii,  1885. 
Smiths  E.  A. — Report  on  the  Lamellibranchiata  collected  by  H.  M.  S.  Challenger, 
Selenha^  i?.— Report  on  the  Gephyrea  collected  by  H.  M.  S.  Challenger, 
Sars,  G,  a— Report  on  the  Schisopoda  collected  by  H.  M.  S.  Challenger.    The  last 

three  from  Vols,  xiii  of  the  Challenger  reports,  1885.    All  from  J.  Murray, 

Challenger  office. 
JVilHams,  A.,  Jr. — Mineral  resources  of  the  United   States.    Calendar  years  1883 

and  1884.     U.  S.  Geol.  Survey,  1885.     From  the  author. 
JddingSt  y,  P,<t  and  Crass,  ff^.— Widespread  occurrence  of  Allan! te  as  an  accessory 

constituent  of  many  rocks.     Ext.  Amer.  Jour,  of  Science,  Aug.,  1885.    From 

the  authors. 
KipHjanow,  W, — Les  remarques  pour  la  iiime  partie  *'  Ueber  die  fossilen  reptilien 

Russlands.''    From  the  author. 
Lewis,  T.  H, — ^Effigy  mounds  in  Iowa.    Ext  Science,  No.   146,  1885.    From  the 

author. 
James,  E.  y.— Outline  of  a  proposed  School  of  Political  and  Social  Science.  Read 

before  the  Phila.  Soc.  Sci.  Ass.,  Phila.,  1885.     From  the  author. 
Bocourt,  F, — Note  sur  un  Boidien  nouveau,  provenant  du  Guatemala.    Ext.  Bull.  d. 

1.  Soc.  Phil,  de  Paris,  June,  1885.     From  the  author. 
Newberry,  J,  S. — Notes  on  the  geology  and  botany  of  the  country  bordering  the 

Northern  Pacific  Railroad.     Ext.  Ann.  N.  Y.  Acad.  Sd.,  Vol.  ill,  1884.     From 

the  author. 
Barrows,  W,  B.,  Elliot,  D,  G„  Stefneger,  L,,  and  Kingsley,  J.  5'.—  The  Standard 

Natural  History.    Vol.  iv.  Birds.    Boston,  S.  E.  Cassino  &  Co.,  1885.    From 

the  publishers. 

Cope,  E.  i7.-^Report  on  the  coal  deposits  near  Zacuallipan,  in  the  State  of  Hidalgo, 

Mexico.     Read  bef.  Amer.  Phil.  Soc,  Oct.  16,  1885. 
Origin  of  man  and  the  other  vertebrates,  and  the  Energy  of  life  evolution.  Rep. 

from  Pop.  Sci.  Monthly,  Sept.  and  Oct.,  1885. 
——The  sternum  of  the  Dinosauria.    Amer.  Nat  extra,  Feb.,  1885. 
Structure  of  the  brain  and  auditory  apparatus  of  a  theromorphous  reptile  of  the 

Permian  epoch.     Read  before  the  Amer.  Phil.  Soc.,  Oct  10,  1885.     All  from 

the  author. 
Baur,  G. — Bemerkungen  fiber  d^n  **  Astragalus  "  und  das  *'  Intermedium  tarsi "  der 

Saugethiere.     Sept,  1885.     From  the  author. 
Zur  Morphologic  des  Carpus  und  Tarsus  der  Reptilien.    Sep.-Abd.  a.  d.  Zool. 

Anz.,  No.  208,  1885. 
Bardeleben,  K. — Ueber  neue  Piestandteile  der  Hand-  und  Fuss-wurzel  der  Sauge- 
thiere, etc.     Sonder  abd.  a.  Supplement- Heft  ill  d.  Zeit  f.  Naturw.,  Bd.  xix, 

N.  F.  XII.    From  the  author. 
Davidson,  71 — On  a  living  spinose  Rhynconella  from  Japan.     Ext.  Ann.  and  Mag. 

Nat.  Hist,  Jan.,  1886.     From  the  author. 
Peirce,C,N, — Function ;  its  evolution  and  influence  on  organization.     Read  before 

the  N.  Y.  Odontological  Soc,  Nov.  10,  1885.    From  the  author. 
Lightall,  IV,  D, — An  analysis  of   the  altruistic  act.    Montreal,  1885.     From  the 

author. 
Wilder,  B,  G. — The  names  of  the  encephalic  arteries.     Rep.  N.  Y.  Med.  Journal, 

Nov.  28,  1885.    From  the  author. 
Wood,  T,  /^.—Sketch  of  the  Botanical  work  of  Rev.  Moses  A.  Curtis.     Raleigh, 

1885.    From  the  author. 
Ramsay,  E,  P. — Description  of  the  marsupial  egg  of  Echidna  hystrix,    Ext.  Ann. 

and  Mag.  Nat  Hist.,  Dec,  1885.     From  the  author. 
Btmlenger,  G.  A, — Remarks  on  Mr.  C.  W.  de  Vis's  recent  contributions  to  the  her- 

petology  of  Australia.    Ext.  Ann.  and  Mag.  Nat.  Hist.,  Nov.  1385. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


1 886.]  Geography  and  Travels.  261 

BcuUnger^  G.  A. — A  list  of  reptiles  and  batracbians  from  the  Island  of  Nias,  Ext. 
idem. 

^—Descriptions  of  three  new  species  of  Geckos.    Ext.  idem. 

*— ^Descriptions  of  new  species  of  reptiles  and  batrachians  in  the  British  Museum. 
Ext.  idem.    All  from  the  author.  ' 

AhboiU  H,  C,  D, — A  chemical  study  of  Yucca  angusHfolia.  Ext  Proc.  A.  A.  A.  S., 
Ann  Arbor  meeting,  1885.     From  the  author. 

Cof^rrh  Geoiof^ue, — Liste  des  membres  du  bureau  et  des  membres  presents  k  Ber- 
lin.    1885. 

JTuHM,  G.  F, — Precious  stones.     Dept.  of  the  Intr.,  1885.     From  the  author. 

Mather^  F. — Adirondack  survey.  Zodlogry.  Adirondack  fishes,  with  descriptions 
of  new  species.     Albany,  1886.     From  the  author. 

Aa/f,  A,  C— Mineral  waters.  Abs.  Min.  Res.  U.  S.  1883-84.  Dept.  of  the  Inte- 
rior.    From  the  author. 

IVachsmuth^  C.  and  Springer,  /'.—Revision  of  the  Palaeocrinoidea,  Part  III.   Phila., 

1865.     From  the  authors. 
Fritsch^  ^.^Fauna  der  Gaskohle  und  der  Kalksteine  der  Permformation  BAhmens» 
Bd.  2,  Heft  2.    Schluss  der  Stegocephaleo.     Prag,  1885.    From  the  author. 

GENERAL  NOTES. 

GEOaRAPHT   AND   TRAVELS.* 

General. — Dr.  T.  Fischer,  in  Petermann's  Mittheilungen,  main- 
tains that  when  oceanic  agencies  alone  have  formed  the  coasts, 
it  consists  of  a  succession  of  arcs,  in  the  case  of  steep  coasts  with 
a  short,  and  of  flat  coasts  with  a  long  radius.  Where  the  coasts 
exhibit  other  features,  other  causes,  as  movements  of  the  earth's 
crust,  are  either  more  powerful  or  are  very  recent. 

Arctic  Regions. — ^The  Danish  expedition  to  the  east  coast  of 
Greenland  returned  to  Copenhagen,  Oct.  2d,  after  an  absence  of 
nearly  three  years.  Besides  the  collection  of  valuable  scientific 
material,  Lieut.  Hahn  has  made  some  important  geographical  and 
ethnographical  discoveries.  He  wintered  between  latitudes  65° 
and  66°  and  reached  66.08°  N.,  the  highest  point  yet  visited  by 
Europeans  on  the  coast.  He  has  named  the  stretch  of  coast 
explored  Christian  IX's  land. 

The  area  of  Store  Baergefjeld,  in  Arctic  Norway,  has  been  rep- 
resented as  an  immense  glacier  field.  The  observations  of  Chas. 
Rabot  show  that  there  are  nearly  seven  secondary  glaciers,  hardly 
passing  beyond  the  stage  of  neve,  and  that  their  total  area  does 
not  exceed  six  kilometers.  The  region  is  not  a  plateau,  but  to 
the  north  a  mountain  mass  with  summits  nearly  6000  feet  high, 
and  averaging  3600  feet;  and  to  the  south  a  densely  wooded 
table-land  cut  up  by  canon-like  valleys.  Rabot  has  also  found  that 
three  distinct  chains  of  mountains,  reaching  a  height  of  more  than 
3000  feet,  exist  in  the  Kola  peninsula,  between  the  White  sea  and 
Arctic  ocean.    The  district  is  usually  shown  as  a  plain,  broken 

*  This  department  U  edited  by  W.  N.  Lockington,  Philadelphia, 


Digitized  by 


Google 


262  General  Notes.  [March, 

merely  by  lakes  and  low  hills.     Between  the  ranges  the  land  is 
level,  and  trees  of  good  size  reach  63®  50'  N.  lat, 

Africa. — The  Resources  of  Africa. — ^A  pamphlet  by  Dn  A. 
Fischer,  entitled  "  Mehr  Licht  im  dunkeln  Weltteit^*  is  interesting 
as  giving  the  most  unfavorable  view  possible  of  the  resources  of 
Africa,  and  may  be  useful  to  those  who  have  been  too  much 
carried  away  by  the  enthusiastic  reports  of  travelers. 

Dr.  Fischer  gives  the  total  exports  and  imports  of  Zanzibar  at 
;f  1,750,000,  and  the  total  value  of  the  exports  of  the  west  coast 
at  ;^  2450,000.  The  total  annual  yield  of  ivory  he  estimates  at 
;f  800,000  in  value,  and  1,760,000  lbs.  in  weight.  This  trade, 
which  with  great  truth  Dr.  Fischer  regards  a  curse  to  Africa, 
since  it  diverts  the  energies  of  both  natives  and  traders  from  agri- 
culture, costs  the  lives  of  40,000  elephants  annually.  The  ele- 
phant is  almost  exterminated  along  the  coast  over  a  width  of  130 
to  200  miles,  and  is  no  longer  to  be  found  in  South  Africa. 
Caoutchouc  in  East  Africa  is  being  rapidly  exterminated  by  the 
unskillful  and  improvident  way  in  which  the  juice  is  collected. 
Gum  copal,  since  competition  with  Australia,  has  so  sunk  in  price 
as  not  to  pay  unless  with  slave  labor.  Dr.  Fischer  takes  also  a 
desponding  view  of  the  agricultural  capabilities  of  Africa.  On 
the  whole,  however,  his  statistics  prove  rather  the  need  for  settled 
government  and  economical  exploitation  of  resources  than  any 
unfitness  of  African  soil  for  colonization  or  production.  Statis- 
tics show  that  the  trade  of  Africa  is  growing,  and  coffee,  which  he 
maintains  cannot  be  profitably  cultivated  without  slave  labor,  is  a 
success  in  Liberia. 

Lieut.  Wissman's  Expedition. — Lieut.  Wissman's  expedition  down 
the  Kassai  throws  new  light  on  the  geography  of  the  Congo  basin. 
The  Sankuru,  or  lowef  course  of  the  Lubilash,  unites  with  it  by 
two  arms  830  and  1000  feet  wide;  a  river  which  Lieut.  Wiss- 
man  believes  to  be  the  Loangwe,  though  at  its  mouth  it  is  known 
as  the  Temba,  flows  in  lower  down ;  and  still  lower  the  great 
Cuango  and  the  Mfini  from  Lake  Leopold  unite  their  waters 
with  it  Below  the  Sankuru  the  Kassai  is  3300  yards  wide,  and 
lower  down,  before  receiving  theCuango,  it  spreads  out  to  10,000 
yards  or  more,  and  is  dotted  with  islands  and  sand  banks.  Its 
lower  portion,  known  as  the  Kwa,  is  narrow,  not  more  than  450 
yards,  but  deep  and  rapid.  The  Ruembe,  Chibumbo,  Luachim, 
and  Chikapa  are  affluents  of  the  Kassai.  Luluaburg  is  a  station 
established  by  Wissman  on  the  Lulua,  some  distance  above  its 
confluence  with  the  Kassai.  The  river  voyage  commenced  at 
Lubuku,  the  residence  Of  Mukenge.  Below  the  confluence  of  the 
Lulua  the  native  name  is  Savie.  The  natives  here  are  Barkuba 
on  the  right  bank,  Bashilele  on  the  left.  Lower  down,  below 
he  Sankuru,  reside  the  Badinga  and  Bangodi,  and  still  lower  the 
Btakuta,  who  were  hostile  to  the  explorers,  and  are  reputed  caoni-. 
bals.    Still  nearer  the  junction  of  the  Cuango  are  thp  B^duna. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


1 886]  Geography  and  Travels.  263 

African  News. — ^The  native  population  of  the  Gaboon  region  is, 
according  to  Dr.  Lenz,  being  rapidly  driven  towards  the  interior 
by  the  Fans.  The  Germans  have  annexed  the  country  lying 
behind  the  French  possessions  at  Great  and  Little  Popo,  on  the 

Gold  coast. M.  G.  Angelvy,  a  French  engineer  in  .the  service 

of  the  Sultan  of  2^nzibar,  reports  that  he  has  discovered  coal  of 
excellent  quality  on  the  Lujenda  tributary  of  the  Rovuma.  The 
great  drawback  is  the  distance  from  the  coast,  all  the  more  to  be 
regretted  since  beds  of  siderite  lie  near.  The  Rovuma,  though 
2000  feet  wide,  is  but  a  foot  to  a  foot  and  a  half  deep.  The  sul- 
tan intends  to  work  the  coal-beds,  and  to  construct  a  road  or  rail- 
way to  Lake  Nyassa.  Sir  John  Kirk,  in  a  letter  accompanying 
that  of  M.  Angelvy,  states  that  the  coal  region  lies  sixty  miles 
south  of  the  latitude  of  Delgado  bay,  and  a  question  of  inland 
frontier  is  therefore  likely  to  arise  between  the  Sultan  of  Zanzibar 

and  Portugal. At  Tunis  a  modern  French  town  is  being  built 

between  the  native  city  and  the  lake.  Land  is  being  rapidly 
brought  under  cultivation,  taxes  reduced,  roads  constructed,  and 

the  country  in  every  way  improved. M.  MoUer  has  proved 

that  the  peak  of  St  Thomas  is  the  highest  land  in  the  island  of 

that  name,  and  is  2142  meters  high. ^The  November  Bulletin 

della  Societa  Geograpltica  Italiana  contains  a  letter  from  De  Brazza, 
describing  a  voyage  undertaken  from  Brazzaville  to  the  Licona 
or  Ncunda.  The  name  Congo  is  not  known  by  the  ApfuruS  and 
Bateke,  who  speak  of  it  as  the  Great  river.  The  village  of 
Bonga  at  the  mouth  of  the  Alima  is  large  and  picturesque,  it  is 
intersected  in  all  directions  by  canals,  and  the  houses,  some  fifty 
meters  long,  form  streets.  Down  the  wilderness  of  canals  is 
brought  the  large  quantity  of  manioc  grown  upon  the  Alima,  for 
the  supply  .of  the  natives  of  the  Congo  banks,  which  in  this  part 
are  unfitted  for  the  growth  of  manioc.  De  Brazza  says  that  it 
will  be  half  a  century  before  the  labyrinth  formed  by  the  various 
channels  of  the  Congo  above  Stanley  pool  is  correctly  mapped. 
For  eight  days,  he  says,  "  we  believed  we  were  on  another  river, 
and  found  after  all  that  we  were  on  the  Congo."  The  Apfurus  and 

Bayansi  are  the  same  people. H.  Entz  and  A.  Mer  have,  after 

a  careful  study  of  the  voyage  of  Hanno,  the  Carthaginian,  come 
to  the  conclusion  that  it  terminated  at  Fernando  Po.  Thymate- 
rion  is  identified  with  the  town  of  Mazaghan,  and  the  promontory 
of  Soloe  with  Cape  Cantin.  The  Lixus  is  by  Mer  identified  with 
the  Senegal,  by  Entz  and  others  with  the  Draa.  The  island  of 
Cerne  is  probably  Goree  and  the  Western  Horn  answers  to  the 

Bight  of  Benin. ^Sister  Cipriani,  one  of  the  prisoners  taken  by 

the  Mahdi,  now  freed  through  the  endeavors  of  M.  Sagaro,  states 
that  Khartoum  is  almost  deserted,  but  that  Omdurman  is  now  pop- 
ulous and  has  become  a  second  Mecca,  the  Arabs  coming  from  all 
parts  to  the.Mahdi's  tomb,  which  is  a  day's  journey  from  the 
place.  Lupton  Bey,  Slatin,  the  commercial  traveler  Cuzzi,  and  two 


Digitized  by 


Google 


264  Gineral  Notes.  [March, 

Frenchmen,  one  a  journalist,  are  prisoners  with  the  Cah'ph  Abdul- 
lah at  Omdurman. ^The  German  government  has  published  the 

annexation  of  the  territory  called  Usaramo  in  west  equatorial 
Africa ;  and  has  occupied  Dar-es-Salam,  a  port  opposite  to  2^n- 

zibar. ^The  King  of  Dahomey  has  abolished  human  sacrifices 

in  virtue  of  a  treaty  entered  into  between  him  and  the  Portuguese 
governor  of  San  Principe,  and  a  Portuguese  protectorate  is  by  the 
same  treaty  established  over  the  sea-coast  of  Dahomey. 

Asia. — Southern  India, — From  some  notes  by  Col.  B.  R. 
Branfill,  it  appears  that  Ghat  means  a  pass  and  that  monsoon  is 
derived  from  the  Arabic  mausim,  which  means  season.  The 
south-west  monsoon,  which  blows  from  May  to  September,  is 
supposed  to  be  the  great  sea-breeze  produced  by  the  rarefaction 
of  the  air  in  the  drier  parts  of  Asia,  while  the  north-east  mon- 
soon is  the  ordinary  trade-wind.  March,  April  and  May  are  the 
hot  season  of  Southern  India,  the  north-east  monsoon  succeed- 
ing it.  The  south-west  monsoon  parts  with  its  moisture  on  the 
Malabar  coast,  and  gets  warmer  and  drier  as  it  blows  over  the 
table-land  of  Mysore.  The  north-east  monsoon  fills  the  rivers 
and  tanks  of  the  drier  Carnatic  plain  to  the  east  of  the  ghats. 
The  ghats  are  not  very  high,  and  when  viewed  from  the  table- 
land enclosed  by  them,  seem  rather  a  battlemented  parapet  than  a 
range.  A  leading  feature  of  the  western  ghats  is  a  long  easy 
slope,  crested  with  forest,  leading  up  to  a  cliff  overlooking  the 
coast-plain.  Such  a  cliff-summit  is  called  a  Kadure-Mukh  or 
horse-head.  The  eastern  ghats  have  no  such  well-marked  line  of 
precipices  as  the  western.  Most  of  the  drainage  of  Mysore,  which 
undulates  from  two  to  three  thousand  feet  above  the  sea,  is  to  the 
eastward.  The  larger  rivers  have  deep  and  rocky  channels,  but 
the  smaller  are  converted  into  series  of  reservoirs  until  there  is  no 
room  for  more  dams.  There  are  nearly  40,000  such  tanks  in 
Mysore,  the  largest  some  twenty  miles  around.  The  River  Cau- 
very  is  thus  utilized  throughout  the  province.  On  it  are  situated 
fhe  former  capital,  Seringapatam  or  Srirangapatnam,  which  is  now 
deserted,  and  is  a  pestilential  wilderness,  and  the  ruins  of  the 
more  ancient  capital  of  Talkad,  now  buried  in  sand  save  only  the 
pinnacles  of  the  temples.  In  the  Wainad  or  open  country  of  the 
western  highlands,  south  of  Coorg,  gold-mining  has  been  com- 
menced, and  there  are  many  traces  of  ancient  workings.  S.  S.  E. 
of  the  Wainad  lies  the  nearly  isolated  plateau  of  the  Nilgiri  hills 
or  Blue  mountains,  rising  on  the  western  edge  to  8000  feet  or 
more,  while  Dodabetta,  a  conoidal  mass  with  steep  slopes  covered 
with  grass  and  woods,  rises  from  its  center  to  a  height  of  8640  feet. 
These  hills  are  the  home  of  the  Todas.  The  Nilgiri  hills,  though 
separated  from  the  main  table-land  of  Central  India  by  the  Moyar 
ravine,  form  really  its  southern  termination.  South  of  them  is  the 
Palghat  gap,  leading  from  Malabar  to  the  south-central  lowlands 
of  Coimbatore  and  Salem.    South  of  the  gap  the  mountains  rise 


Digitized  by 


Google 


1 886.]  Geography  and  Travels.  265 

again  as  the  Anamalai  or  Elephant  hills,  and  farther  south,  the  Tra- 
vancore  hills.  These  are  a  true  mountain  range,  rising  directly  on 
all  sides  from  the  lowlands,  and  are  steepest  on  their  eastern - 
slopes.  The  highest  measured  point,  Anamudi  or  Elephant's  brow, 
is  8840  feet  above  the  sea,  and  the  loftiest  known  peak  in  South- 
em  India.  This  range,  called  also  the  Southern  ghats,  ends  at 
Cape  Comorin.  To  the  east  of  the  Anamalai  hills  lies  the  lofty 
plateau  of  the  Palani  hills,  in  two  steps,  the  upper  7000  feet  high. 
Groups  of  similar  but  minor  masses  of  hills  are  met  with  at  inter- 
vals  eastwards  and  northwards,  surrounding  the  lowlands  of 
Coimbatore  and  Sialem,  perhaps  once  the  seat  of  a  former  inland 
sea.  South  of  the  Palanis  is  a  large  tract  of  mountainous  wilder- 
ness, dbcupied  only  by  wild  animals  and  wild  men  of  the  lowest 
tjrpes,  who  go  unclothed,  and  feed  on  such  fruits  and  roots  as  they 
can  scratch  up  with  their  fingers.  They  can  make  a  fire,  but  sel- 
dom do  so,  and  gather  cardamoms,  honey  and  other  wild  produce 
to  exchange  with  their  more  civilized  neighbors  for  salt,  grain, 
and  a  little  cloth  to  adorn  their  women.  There  are  no  harbors 
worthy  of  the  name  on  the  usually  low  Malabar  coast,  but  a  chain 
of  lagoons  affords  inland  communication  for  several  hundred 
miles.  Cape  Comorin  is  a  low  rocky  promontory.  Once  there 
was  a  harbor,  town,  and  pearl  market,  but  now  nothing  is  left  but 
the  temple  of  Kanya  Kumari,  the  "  Virgin  Maid."  still  a  resort 
for  devout  Hindus,  Korkai,  the  Kolchoi  of  Greek  geographers, 
an  emporium  2000  years  ago,  is  now  three  miles  inland,  its  suc- 
cessor Kayal  (the  lagoon),  mentioned  by  Marco  Polo,  is  now 
deserted  by  the  sea,  and  the  present  port  of  Tuticorin  promises  to 
be  in  turn  silted  up.  All  the  rivers  of  Southern  India  tend  to 
shift  their  mouths  northwards  from  the  action  of  the  ocean  rollers. 
The  Coromandel  coast  is  marked  by  a  line  of  sand-hills  with 
lagoons  here  and  there  on  the  landward  side,  and  there  seems  to 
be  an  advanced  line  of  coast  in  course  of  formatioa  several  miles 
out  to  sea.  There  is  much  coral  in  the  Gulf  of  Manar.  Besides 
the  changes  occurring  on  this  coast  from  constant  causes,  storm 
waves  have  destroyed  many  ancient  cities  and  ports. 

Asiatic  News. — A  ruined  city,  hitherto  unknown,  has  been 
found  in  Adana,  Asia  Minor,  not  far  from  Tarsus,  near  the  route 
from  Selef-Ke  to  Karaman.  Sarcophagi  like  those  of  Lycia  exist 
almost  intact. Residents  of  Siberia  are  organizing  an  explor- 
ation to  investigate  for  five  years  the  ethnology  and  social  economy 
of  that  vast  region.  Young  men  will  be  distributed  over  the 
country  for  that  purpose.  A  railway  from  Ekaterinburg  to  Kam- 
ishoif  is  completed ;  and  the  canal  between  the  Obi  and  Yenisei 
will  probably  be  ready  for  navigation  at  the  latest  in  the  spring 
of  1887.     Sibiriakoff  has  established  a  line  of  steamers  on  the 

Angara,  between  Lake  Baikal  and  the.  Yenisei. M.  Daniloff 

believes  that  he  has  found  the  point  of  bifurcation  of  the  Oxus 
into  the  Amu  Daria  and  the  Uzboi  or  Unguz. ^A  recent  French 


Digitized  by 


Google 


266  General  Nates.  [March, 

writer  describes  the  route  from  Lao-Kai  on  the  Red  river  of  Ton- 
quin,  to  Mengtsze  in  Yunnan.  He  is  not  enthusiastic  about  any 
of  the  routes  from  Tonquin,  though  he  thinks  France  has  as  much 
chance  of  getting  the  China  trade  as  any  of  her  rivals.  The 
route  from  Lao-Kai  to  Manhao  is  by  river,  but  from  the  head  of 
navigation  to  the  plateau  of  Yunnan  the  coast  is  extremely  diffi- 
cult and  mountainous. Commander  Reveilliere  has  succeeded 

in  passing  the  rapids  of  the  Meikong,  beyond  Samboc,  the  chief 
Cambodian  town  on  the  river,  in  a  steamer.  These  rapids  are  at 
present  a  bar  to  navigation,  but  M.  Reveilliere  is  convinced 
that  it  is  formed  of  nothing  more  than  a  mass  of  trees  perma- 
nently freed  and  added  to  every  year.  The  town  of  Strung-Treng 
where  most  of  the  commerce  of  the  Laos  reaches  the  river,  is 
above  the  rapids. 

QtBOLOOtT  AND    PAIiAONTOLOaiT. 

Thb  English  Crbtacbous. — With  the  Cretaceous,  or  rather 
with  that  indefinite  age  which  intervened  between  the  close  of  the 
Cretaceous  and  the  dawn  of  the  Eocene,  unrepresented  by  any 
stratified  rock  in  England,  we  close  the  book  on  the  evolution 
of  Gymnosperms  for  nearly  all  the  archaic  anomalous  genera 
which  held  the  place  of  our  larches,  pines  and  spruces,  cypresses 
and  junipers,  had  given  way  to  living  genera  and  even  species. 

It  is  a  remarkable  fact  that  the  extermination  of  so  much  that 
was  preexisting  of  both  the  marine  and  terrestrial  fauna,  embrac- 
ing nearly  all  the  armoured  cephalopods  and  the  gigantic  saurians 
which  had  till  then  occupied  the  foremost  place,  should  have 
been  accompanied  by  a  similar  wholesale  disappearance  among 
plants.  To  suppose  that  this  period  was  an  exceptionally  fatal  one, 
annihilating  entire  orders  of  the  animal  kingdom,  is  to  admit,  in 
the  complete  absence  of  evidence,  a  break  or  jerk  in  the  majestic 
progress  of  life  upon  the  earth  which  is  repugnant  to  common 
sense ;  and  it  is  more  consonant  with  our  present  views  to  sup- 
pose that  we  are  in  presence  of  one  of  those  vast  gaps  in  the 
geological  record  which  we  know  must  have  occurred  over  and 
over  again  in  every  area  upheaved  upon  which  sedimentary  rocks 
had  been  deposited.  In  turning  from  the  last  Cretaceous  deposit 
in  Europe,  we  seem,  so  far  as  the  plant  world  is  concerned,  to 
finally  break  with  the  past,  while  the  first  deposit  of  the  Eocene 
appears  like  turning  over  the  first  page  of  the  history  of  things  as 
we  see  them  now.  It  is  thus,  perhaps,  worth  our  while  to  turn 
aside  for  a  moment  to  take  stock  as  it  were  of  the  closing  events 
of  the  Cretaceous,  so  far  as  we  know  them  at  present,  in  order 
to  estimate  the  true  nature  of  the  apparently  sudden  bound  in  the 
usually  stately  unarmed  progress  of  evolution. 

It  appears  that  during  the  chalk  formation  a  great  wave  of 
depression  passed  across  Europe,  traveling  from  the  West  to  the 
East,  permitting  the  ingress  of  the  Atlantic,  and  forming  a  gulf 


Digitized  by 


Google 


1 886.]  Geology  and  Palaontoiogy.  267 

over  what  is  now  Central  Europe,  which  constantly  increased  in 
magnitude.  We  need  not  believe  that  this  gulf  was  formed  by 
any  sudden  catastrophe,  for  there  is  no  reason  to  doubt  that  the 
sea  conquered  the  land  by  the  same  methods  and  at  somewhere 
about  the  same  rate  that  it  encroaches  now,  and  that  therefore  its 
advance  over  many  thousands  of  square  miles  o{  terra  firma  would 
be  an  exceedingly  lengthened  process.  We  cannot  gauge  the  time 
this  occupied,  but  we  know  that  since  the  appearance  of  man 
Southampton  water  has  been  formed,  and  a  tract  between  Alum 
bay  and  Studland,  some  fifteen  miles  long  and  five  or  six  miles 
broad,  has  been  swept  into  the  sea,  and  several  species  like  the 
mammoth  have  become  extinct.  The  rate  of  the  encroachment 
depends  mainly  on  that  of  the  subsidence  and  the  original  height 
of  the  land,  but  what  has  here  been  effected  in  a  subsidiary  area 
serves  to  show  roughly  how  vast  a  time  must  have  been  needed 
for  the  chatk  sea  to  have  crept  from  Kent  to  the  Crimea,  and 
covered  the  enormous  area  of  Europe  over  which  its  traces  still 
remain.  As  the  land  subsided  and  became  sea,  blue  and  green 
muds  were  thrown  dowi\,  to  be  succeeded  in  due  course  by  the 
deeper  deposits  of  chalk  ooze.  It  would  be  physically  impossible 
for  chalk,  supposing  it. to  represent   globigerina  ooze/  to  be 

^  True  chalk  is  a  pure  white  limestone,  composed  of  the  remains  of  Foraminifera, 
Talres  of  Cytherina,  excessively  minute  infusoria,  cell  prisms  of  Inocerami,  sponge 
spicules,  and  other  debris  of  organic  life.  It  was,  until  recently,  universally  ad- 
mitted to  be  a  truly  oceanic  deposit,  of  similar  nature  to  globigerina  ooze,  but  Mr. 
Wallace,  supported  by  the  late  Dr.  George  Jeffreys,  has  lately  put  forward  the  view 
that  it  was  formed  in  shallow  water.  Its  vaSt  extent,  homogeneous  nature,  and 
freedom  from  terrestrial  impurity  show  that  it  must  have  been  formed  remote  from  land, 
while  its  larger  organisms,  mainly  Echinodermata  or  snonges,  are  with  some  excep- 
tions, such  as  are  now  met  with  in  abyssal  depths.  Mr.  Wallace  laid  some  stress  on  the 
difference  in  composition  of  fresh  globigerina  ooze  and  chalk,  as  shown  by  analysis ; 
bat  Mr.  Murray  has  recently  stated  that  the  percentage  of  carbonate  of  lime  varies  from 
40  to  95  in  the  ooze.  The  comparison  took  no  account  of  the  fact  that  the  chalk  had 
been  elevated  for  ages,  during  which  it  has  been  ceaselessly  removing  some  of  its  orig. 
Inal  constituents.  Silica  has  been  dissolved  and  re  precipitated  as  flint,  its  iron  has 
been  segregated  into  crystalline  masses,  its  manganese  into  dendritic  markings,  silice- 
CHS  sponge  skeletons  have  been  dissolved  and  replaced  by  calcite,  calcite  shells  by 
silica,  and  aragonite  shells  removed  entirely.  Layers  of  chalk  a  foot  in  thickness 
have  been  reduced  to  an  inch  by  the  removal  of  lime  in  solution.  The  late  Dr. 
George  Jeffreys  had  not  studied  the  chalk,  and  based  his  conclusion  upon  the  mol- 
Ittsca  only,  and  these  chiefly  of  the  chalk- marl,  and  seemed  unaware  that  only  the 
calcite  shells  remained  in  true  chalk.  Of  these  Terebratula,  Pecten,  Amussium, 
Lima,  and  Spondylus  are  the  chief  genera  still  existing,  and  all  but  the  last  are  al. 
ready  known  to  inhabit  water  1400  fathoms  in  depth.  Moreover,  if  the  chalk  sea 
did  not  communicate  with  the  Arctic  ocean,  as  Prof.  Prestwich  and  others  believe, 
and  was  shut  off  from  the  Antarctic  by  land  between  Africa  and  South  America,  as 
there  is  also  much  evidence  to  support,  its  abyssal  depths  would  have  been  warm 
instead  of  icy  cold,  and  its  former  abyssal  inhabitants,  accustomed  to  warmth,  would 
have  sought  shallower  water  now  in  order  to  find  an  equal  temperature,  and  become, 
as  George  Jeffreys  states  them  to  be,  a  tropical  assemblage.  The  blue  and  green 
muds  of  the  Challenger  pass  into  globigerina  ooze  with  an  increased  depth,  and 
their  equivalents  of  Gault  and  greensand  pass  into  chalk  in  exactly  the  same  way. 
The  alternative  theory  of  Wallace,  that  chalk  is  decomposed  coral  mud,  could  not 
have  been  advanced  by  a  geologist,  as,  while  the  chalk  contains  some  well-preserved 
solitary  corals,  not  a  reef-building  coral  has  ever  been  met  with  either  in  or  surround- 
ing it,  nor  even  in  any  contemporaneous  deposit. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


268  General  Notes,  [March, 

directly  formed  on  a  former  land  surface,  and  we  consequently 
find  that  it  is  invariably  preceded  by  some  more  littoral  quality 
of  sediment  The  nearer  the  original  centre  of  depression  or 
focus  of  subsidence,  the  older  the  green  sands  and  Gaults  must 
necessarily  be;  and  the  farther  we  recede  from  it  in  any  landward 
direction  the  newer  they  will  be.  Now,  apart  from  physical  evi* 
dence,  a  comparison  of  the  faunas  of  our  chalk  with  those  of  any 
European  bed  correlated  with  it  to  the  eastward  would  at  once 
show  that  if  one  was  older  than  another,  it  would  be  that  of  our 
area.  Forms  like  Mosasaurus,  which  only  appear  in  our  very  latest 
chalk  deposits,  abound  in  Cretaceous  deposits  of  more  central 
Europe;  whilst  others,  such  as  Ichthyosaurus,  found  abundantly 
in  our  chalk  marl,  are,  on  the  contrary,  absent.  The  rapid  in- 
crease in  the  development  and  proportion  of  long  canaled  and 
other  Eocene-looking  gastropods,  culminating  in  the  Danish  Up- 
per Chalk,  indicates  most  conclusively  a  more  and  more  recent 
period  of  deposition  for  the  beds  in  which  they  occur.  The  lit- 
toral zone  must  in  fact  have  been  constantly  traveling  outward 
and  forward,  and  accumulating  only  until  the  ever-increasing^ 
depth  led  to  a  change  in  the  sediment  Thus,  though  beds  of 
green  sand  or  chalk  may  be  perfectly  continuous,  with  precisely 
the  same  lithological  characters,  it  is  absurd  to  assert  that  portions 
df  it,  when  separated  from  each  other  by  degrees  of  latitude  and 
longitude,  must  be  synchronous.  So  far  from  this,  the  chalk  with 
flints  of  one  locality  must  most  certainly  have  been  deposited 
synchronously  with  the  chalk  of  another,  and  this  in  turn 
with  the  chloritic  marl  of  another,  and  the  greensand  of  another. 
The  shallower  water  zones,  such  as  the  greensand,  would  travel 
forward  so  long  as  the  sea  continued  to  encroach,  and  along 
the  farthest  confines  of  the  gulf  would  recede  again  when  eleva- 
tion set  in  without  any  chalk  being  deposited  over  them,  so 
that  some  upper  greensands  might  be  newer  than  any  chalk. 
It  is  probable  that  each  minor  zone  was  a  zone  of  depth,  char- 
acterised by  the  same  quality  of  sediment,  and  a  fauna  to  some 
extent  peculiar  to  it,  and  which  kept  up  with  it  as  it  traveled 
farther  and  farther  landwards.  There  would  thus  be  great  similar- 
ity in  the  fauna  of  each  zone  at  any  interval  of  distance,  and  it 
might  maintain  its  distinct  charcteristics  over  the  most  extensive 
areas,  without,  for  all  that,  its  contents  having  lived  synchronous- 
ly over  the  whole  area. 

We  have  noticed  that  the  Neocomian  and  Gault  of  England  and 
Western  France  contain  a  varied  and  considerable  flora,  represen- 
ted mainly  by  foliage  and  fruits  of  Coniferae,  without  affording  the 
slightest  trace  of  the  presence  of  angiospermous  dicotyledons. 
Even  the  Gray  Chalk  and  the  Blackdown  beds  have  only  yielded 
conifers  and  a  Williamsonia  of  Jurassic  type.  We  cannot  account 
for  their  absence  by  supposing  our  area  to  have  been  isolated, 
for  in  the  preceding  Wealden  period  neither  its  fauna  or  flora 


Digitized  by 


Google 


i886,J  Geology  and  Paleontology.  269 

differed  from  that  of  Europe.  But  when  we  reach  Aix-la-Chap- 
elle,  we  find  the  chalk  and  greensand  resting  upon  beds  contain-^ 
ing  a  flora  largely  made  up  of  dicotyledons,  and  still  farther  off,  in 
the  Cenomania  of  Bohemia,  living  genera  such  as  Magnolia,  and 
farther  on  still,  equally  developed  dicotyledons  in  the  supposed  yet 
older  Turanian.  Such  facts  were  hitherto  completely  inexplicable, 
but  it  now  appears  even  probable  that  the  interval  required  for  the 
chalk  to  progress  only  300  or  400  miles  endured  long  enough  to 
have  permitted  an  enormous  progress  in  the  evolution  of  phanero- 
gams. Nor  does  the  1200  or  1400  feet  of  vertical  chalk  remaining 
in  our  area  at  all  represent  the  completed  formation;  for,  as  the 
prolonged  subsidence  finally  ceased  and  gave  place  to  an  equally 
slow  elevation,  all  the  lessening  zones  of  depth  would  travel  back 
with  the  receding  ocean,  and  leave  a  series  of  zones  inversely  arrang- 
ed to  that  preserved  to  us.  The  planing  action  of  the  sea  has  re- 
moved all  this  newer  series,  just  as  it  has  planed  away  a  further 
mass  of  the  width  of  the  English  channel,  and  is  slowly  but  in- 
exorably cutting  down  to  its  own  kvel  all  the  zones  that  form  its 
shore  lines.  The  Elocene  seas  from  beginning  to  end  of  the  period 
were  ceaselessly  engaged  in  this  work,  and  their  enormous  deposits 
of  flint  shingle  mark  how  much  of  the  chalk  had  fallen  a  prey  to 
them.  Nor  has  the  chalk  enjoyed  any  respite  from  the  work  of 
destruction  down  to  the  present  day,  so  that  what  now  remains 
is  a  mere  fragment  of  what  once  existed.  It  was  during  the  in- 
terval that  elapsed  between  the  formation  of  the  newest  chalk  now 
left  in  England  and  the  oldest  Eocene  that  dicotyledons  were 
introduced,  and  our  existing  flora  practically  came  into  existence. 
All  the  Upper  Cretaceous  floras  of  Europe  also  flourished  during 
this  interval,  but  we  cannot  say,  with  our  imperfect  record,  exactly 
the  order  in  which  they  came  in,  and  must  be  content  to  regard 
them  in  a  general  way  as  far  newer  than  they  appear  to  be  strati- 
graphically.  The  entire  American  Cretaceous  series  should,  per- 
haps, also  be  placed  somewhere  in  this  interval,  though  those  well 
qualified  to  judge  regard  its  commencement  as  dating  from  an 
older  period.  Without  this  digression  we  could  not  have  formed 
an  adequate  idea  of  the  meaning  of  the  ''  Cretaceous  period*'  and 
so  realized  that  the  so-called  Cenomanian  and  Turanian  floras 
of  Europe  may  belong  to  a  completely  different  epoch  to  that 
represented  by  the  same  horizons  in  Kent  and  Sussex. — J.  S. 
Gardner, 

On  Proscorpius  osbornei  Whitfield. — In  an  article  with  the 
title :  "  On  a  fossil  scorpion  from  the  Silurian  rocks  of  America."^ 
Mr.  Whitfield  has  recently  published  a  description  and  figures  of 
a  highly  interesting  animal,  the  Proscorpius  osbomi  Whitf ,  which 
he  had  some  time  before  made  known  to  zoologists,  in  a  prelimi- 

1  In  Bulletin  of  the  American  Museum  of  Natural  History,  Vol.  I,  No.  6,  p.  181 
(October  10,  1885). 


Digitized  by 


Google 


270  General  Notes,  [March, 

nary  notice :  "  An  American  Silurian  Scorpion,"^  under  the  name 
of  Palaophonus  osborni.  The  animal  is  no  doubt  a  real  scorpion, 
and  not  an  Eurypterid  ;  but  as  a  few  of  the  characteristics  ascribed 
to  it  by  the  author  would  seem  to  remove  it  very  far  from  other 
scorpions  and  especially  from  the  Palaeophonoidae,  to  which  it 
appears  to  me  to  be  closely  related,  I  venture  to  offer  a  few  obser- 
vations on  this  arachnid,  or  rather,  on  Mr.Whitfield's  interpretation 
of  certain  points  in  its  organization.  Of  course  I  give  no  other 
weight  than  that  of  mere  suppositions  to  the  opinions  I  am  going 
to  express,  being  fully  aware  of  the  difficulty  and  perhaps 
rashness  of  offering  criticisms  on  the  description  of  a  rather 
badly  preserved  fossil,  without  knowing  the  "  corpus  delicti "  from 
actual  inspection. 

According  to  Mr.  Whitfield,  the  abdomen  (preabdomen)  of  his 
scorpion  is  provided  with  six  long  and  broad  ventral  plates,  and  if 
this  were  true,  this  animal  would  of  course  be  so  different  from 
the  rest  of  the  order,  that  it  ought  perhaps  to  be  considered  as  the 
type  of  a  group  equivalent  to  all  the  other  known  scorpions  taken 
together ;  for  in  all  other  scorpions  there  are  onXyfitfe  such  plates, 
the  sixth  (reckoned  from  behind)  being  reduced  to  a  small  ster- 
nite,  situated  between  the  bases  of  the  pectinal  combs.  Such  a 
form  of  the  said  ventral  plate  as  described  by  Mr.  Whitfield,  would 
no  doubt,  as  he  himself  aptly  remarks,  imply  great  modifications 
in  the  position  and  shape  of  the  pectoral  combs  of  the  animal, 
and  probably  also  in  the  structure  of  the  whole  inferior  part  of 
the  body  in  front  of  the  plate  in  question.  But  to  me  it  does  not 
seem  necessary  to  admit  that  Proscorpius  differs  in  so  high  a 
degree  from  other  known  scorpions.  I  strongly  suspect,  that  (xU 
that  is  seen  of  the  abdomen  in  Mr.  Whitfield's  specimen  (with  the 
exception  only  of  the  narrow  border  to  the  left,  and,  perhaps  the 
posterior  part  of  the  equally  narrow  right-hand  border)  is  formed 
exclusively  of  the  dorsal  plates.  The  whole  upper  side  of  the 
abdomen  is  broken  or  cracked  longitudinally;  the  narrower, 
right-hand  part,  considered  by  Mr.  Whitfield  to  be  formed  of  the 
inside  of  the  ventral  plates,  has  perhaps  an  appearance  different 
from  that  of  the  rest  of  the  upper  surface,  only  from  having  been 
more  strongly  depressed  and  crushed,  and  the  apparently  slightly 
greater  lengths  (in  the  antero-posterior  direction)  of  the  right- 
hand  parts  of  the  plates  would  seem  to  depend  on  the  same  cause. 
This  interpretation  easily  accounts  for  the  circumstance  that  in 
Mr.  Whitfield's  specimen  the  articulations  between  ad  the  "ven- 
tral "  plates  (not  only  between  the  posterior  ones)  are  difect  con- 
tinuations  of  the  articulations  between  the  "  dorsal  "  plates,  which 
is  not  the  case  in  other,  at  least  not  in  recent,  scorpions.  In  these, 
in  fact,  the  articulations  between  the  first  two  or  three  dorsal 
plates  do  not  correspond  to  or  are  continued  by  articulations  on 

1  In  Science,  Vol.  vii,  p.  87  (July  31,  1885). 


Digitized  by 


Google 


lt86.]  Geology  and  Palaontology.  27 1 

the  ventral  side  of  the  body;  for  in  these  and  perhaps  in  all  scor- 
pions, the  dorsal  plates  increase  in  length,  counting  from  front 
backward,  so  that  the  first  plate  is  the  shortest  of  all ;  whereas  (at 
least  in  recent  scorpions)  the  first  ventral  plate  is  longer  than  the 
following  ones,  corresponding  in  length  and  position  to  two  or 
even  three  (2d  and  3d,  or  ist-3d)  dorsal  plates  taken  together.^ 
If  the  above  given  interpretation  is,  as  I  believe,  the  right  one, 
the  want  of  spiracula  on  the  plates  needs  no  further  explanation.' 
Mr.  Whitfield  thinks  that,  whereas  modem  scorpions  carry  the 
tail  (postabdomen)  arched  upward  over  the  back,  Proscorpius,  and 
also  Palaeophonus,  carried  it  in  the  opposite  way,  or  curved  dazvn^ 
tuard.  This  would  indeed  be  a  character  of  fundamental  impor- 
tance in  distinguishing  the  Silurian  scorpions  from  all  other 
members  of  the  group ;  but  to  me  it  is  impossible  to  find  any 
stringent  reason  for  adopting  this  strange  hypothesis.  In  the  first 
place,  it  would  seem  that  the  animal's  gait  would  become  exceed- 
ingly difficult  and  awkward,  if  it  were  to  walk  with  its  tail  curved 
under  the  body ;  and  when  it  wished  to  kill,  with  the  sting,  the 
prey  which  it  had  caught  with  the  hands  of  the  palpi,  it  would 
probably  be  obliged  to  thrust  the  palpus  with  the  prey  between  its 
legs,  under  the  body,  in  order  to  bring  it  within  the  reach  of  the 
sting — no  doubt  a  difficult  performance  for  the  animal.  That  in 
the  embryo  of  scorpions  the  tail  is  bent  under  the  body,  is  of 
course  no  reason  for  believing  that  the  tail  retains  that  position 
after  birth,  in  the  earliest  or  Silurian  species,  rather  than  in  Car- 
boniferous and  recent  ones.  As  to  Palacophonus,  I  do  not  enter^ 
tain  the  least  doubt  of  its  having  carried  its  tail  in  the  same 
direction  as  living  scorpions.  It  must  be  borne  in  mind  that, 
when  a  scorpion  is  strongly  depressed  or  flattened,  the  tail, 
on  account  of  its  being  arched  upwards  and  not  allowing  of 
being  stretched  out  in  a  straight  line  backwards,  cannot  well  turn 
the  dorsal  part  of  more  than  its  basal  joints  upwards  ;  the  follow-* 
ing  joints  become  gradually  more  and  more  turned  to  one  side  or 
the  other,  so  that  the  last  joint  or  joints  will  be  seen  in  profile,  or 
even  obliquely  from  below.  Such  is  the  case  in  the  specimen  of 
Palaophonus  nuncius  described  and  figured  by  Professor  Lind* 
Strom  and  myself.'  The  basal  joints  of  the  tail  of  this  animal  are 
destroyed  but  must  have  turned  their  upper  or  dorsal  surface 
upwards,  as  they  have  left  the  impression  of  their  ventral  part  on 

1  In  a  specimen  of  Buthus  ^'Siriatus  Hempr.  et  Ehr.,  for  instance,  whose  abdo- 
men (preabdomen)  is  24 ^"»«  long,  the  length  of  the  first  ventral  plate  is  6"",  that 
of  the  vast  three  dorsal  plates  taken  together  5>4"™. 

'  Even  if  the  plates  in  question  really  were  ventral  plates,  the  first  (or  sixth,  when 
counted  from  behind  forward)  would  froofi  its  position  seem  to  correspond  to  the 
anterior  half  of  the  first  ventral  plate  in  ordinary  scorpions,  and  not  to  the  small  plate 
situated  between  the  pectoral  combs.  The  genital  plate  is,  I  believe,  the  stemite  of 
the  first  segment  of  the  abdomen,  quite  as  the  plate  between  the  combs  b  the  stemite 
of  its  second  segment. 

'Thorell  and  Lindstr5m,  on  a  Silurian  scorpion  from  Scotland  (K.  Svenska 
Vetenskaps-Akademien  Handlingar,  Bd.  21,  No.  9). 


Digitized  by 


Google 


272  General  Notes.  fMarch, 

the  stone ;  the  next  following  joints  are  seen  from  the  left  side,  the 
two  last  obliquely  from  that  side  and  from  below.  In  the  Scotch 
Palaeophonus  described  by  Mr.  Peach,  ^  which  is  turned  upside 
down,  we  consequently  see  that  the  basal  joints  of  the  tail  turn 
their  ventral  part  upward  and  that  the  last  joints  are  viewed 
obliquely  from  above.  As  to  Proscorpius  the  impression  one 
receives  from  the  figures  is,  that  the  tail  shows  the  dorsal  surface 
of  at  least  three  of  the  four  joints  still  preserved,  just  as  would  be 
expected,  Mr.  Whitfield  says,  however,  that  it  shows,  not  the 
upper  or  dorsal  surface,  but  "  the  inside  of  the  ventral  or  lower 
plates  of  the  four  anterior  segments ;"  and  as  these  plates  have 
the  same  form  and  sculpture  as  the  dorsal  plates  or  parts  of  these 
segments  or  joints  in  ordinary  scorpions,  he  concludes  that  in 
Proscorpius  "  the  bending  of  the  tail  would  be  downward,  and 
not  over  the  back,  as  in  more  recent  and  living  scorpions."  Now 
it  seems  utterly  improbable  to  me  that  Palceophoniis  nuncius  and 
Proscorpius  osbornei^  which  both  belong  to  the  Silurian  age  and 
which  are  in  many  respects  closely  related,  should  differ  from 
each  other  in  so  important  a  particular  as  the  direction  of  the 
tail.  Perhaps  it  is  not  impossible  that  Mr.  Whitfield  is  mistaken 
in  referring  what  remains  of  the  tail  in  his  Proscorpius  to  the  ven- 
tral  part  of  the  joints.  But  even  if  he  is  right  in  this,  the  fact 
can  easily  be  explained,  if  we  admit  that  the  tail  which,  according 
to  Mr.  Whitfield  himself,  is  detached  from  the  body,  or  to  use  his 
own  expression,  "  slightly  displaced  in  relation  to  the  last  seg- 
ment of  the  preabdomen,"  has  also  become  turned  upside  down  ; 
in  that  case  the  joints  of  the  tail  would,  when  their  ventral  up- 
turned surface  had  been  destroyed,  show  the  inside  of  their  dorsal 
surface  in  precisely  that  position  which  Mr.  Whitfield  attributes 
to  the  ventral  surface  of  the  joint  That  Proscorpius  had  its  tail 
curved  downward  is,  therefore,  by  no  means  proved  by  Mr.  Whit- 
field's specimen. 

•  As  the  walking  limbs  of  Proscorpius  osbomei  are  in  a  very  bad 
state  of  preservation,  it  is  no  doubt  difficult  to  decide  with  certainty 
whether  this  animal  belongs  to  the  ordinary  two-clawed  scorpions 
(Dionychopodes)  or  to  the  Apoxypodes,  or  those  Silurian  forms 
which  have  the  tarsi  pointed  and  clawless,  or  possibly  armed  with 
a  single  claw.  Only  one  of  the  legs,  the  left  one  of  the  first  pair, 
is,  according  to  Mr.  Whitfield,  undamaged,  and  provided  at  the 
tip  with  two  claws.  This  assertion,  if  right,  would  of  course  set- 
tle the  question  at  once ;  but  a  close  inspection  of  the  figures  of 
the  animal  makes  me  believe  that  that  leg  also  is  incomplete,  being 
broken  near  the  base  of  one — probably  the  last — of  the  joints.' 
The  "bifid  "  ending  of  the  leg  on  the  figures  does,  in  fact,  not  at 
all  give  me  the  impression  of  two  claws,  but  resembles  closely  the 
also  broken  end  of  the  right  leg  of  the  last  pair  in  the  figure  of 

'  Ancient  air-breathers,  in  Nature^  Vol.  xxi.  No.  796,  p.  297.    Jan.  29, 1885, 
'  So  it  appears  at  least  on  pi.  20,  fig.  i,  in  Mr.  Whitfield's  paper. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


^886.]  Geology  and  Falaoniology.  273 

PalcBophanus  nuncius  Thor.  &  Lindstr.^  The  joint  was  perhaps 
armed  with  a  strong  spine  near  the  base  (as  is  the  case  with  the 
fifth  joint  in  Palceophonus  nuncius);  at  all  events,  the  two  joints 
have  no  resemblance  to  the  claws  of  ordinary  scorpions.  But 
besides  this,  there  are  several  other  reasons  for  doubting  that  Pro- 
scorpius  belongs  to  the  Dionychopodes.  In  Palaeophonus  all  the 
joints  with  the  exception  of  the  last,  are  cylindrical  or  nearly  so ;  in 
other  scorpions  the  tUna  is  compressed  and  convex  longitudinally 
on  the  under  side ;  and  in  this  respect  Proscorpius  appears  to 
have  resembled  Palaeophonus  and  not  the  Dionychopodes.  The 
tolerably  well-preserved  leg  of  the  first  pair  of  Proscorpius  seems 
to  show  that  most  of  the  joints  of  the  legs  have  been  compara- 
tively short  in  this  animal,  and  in  this  particular  also  it  resembles 
Falseophonus  and  differs. from  the  Dionychopodes.  The  "  crowd- 
ing forward  of  the  limbs  and  appendages"  depends  on  the  shortness 
of  the  posterior  coxce,  and  is  a  characteristic  that  distinguishes  Pro- 
scorpius from  the  Dionychopodes,  but  not  from  Palaeophonus. 
(It  is  not  probable  that  Proscorpius  differed  from  other  scorpions 
in  the  number  of  the  joints  of  the  legs ;  if  we  assume  that  in  the 
best  preserved  leg  of  Mr.  Whitfield's  specimen  the  first  joint  or 
coxa  is  concealed  by  the  margin  of  the  cephalothorax,  and  that  the 
leg  is  broken  at  the  base  of  the  last  joint,  it  would  seem  to  con- 
sist of  seven  joints,  quite  as  in  all  other  scorpions.) 

Another  character,  by  which  Proscorpius  appears  to  be  more 
nearly  related  to  Palaeophonus  than  to  other,  at  least  recent,  scor- 
pions, consists  in  the  transverse  furrow,  which  extends  across  the 
cephalothorax,  so  that  its  posterior  part  forms  "  a  broad  band, 
resembling  a  segment  of  the  preabdomen."  The  small  size  of  the 
dorsal  eyes  would  seem  to  be  a  character,  in  which  Proscorpius 
differs  from  the  Eoscorpioidae,  to  which  it  is  referred  by  Mr. 
Whitfield ;  in  this  particular  it  resembles  rather  Dr.  Hunter's  and 
Mr.  Peach's  Scotch  Palaeophonus,  being,  as  Mr.  Whitfield  justly 
remarks,  also  in  its  general  aspect  more  like  this  scorpion  than 
the  probably  eyeless  Swedish  species  (P,  nuncius).  But  though 
I  believe  that  Proscorpius  is  nearly  related  to  Palaeophonus,  it 
forms  no  doubt  a  good  peculiar  genus,  characterized  by  the  some- 
what trilobed  anterior  margin  of  the  cephalothorax,  and  more 
especially  by  the  shape  of  the  fingers  of  the.  mandibles,  which,  if 
they  really  had  such  a  form  in  the  living  animal,  as  from  Mr.  Whit- 
field's figures  they  appear  to  have,  differ  materially  from  those  of 
Palaeophonus  and  all  other  known  scorpions. 

It  will  be  seen  from  the  foregoing  lines,  that  I  cannot  find  that 
Proscorpius  differs  essentially  from  the  hitherto  known  scorpions 
in  other  respects  than  in  the  somewhat  shorter  cephalothorax,  and 
perhaps,  in  the  form  of  the  mandibles.  Its  systematical  position 
appears  to  me  to  be  in  the  close  vicinity  of  Palaeophonus,  and 

*  Thorell  and  Lindstrfim,  loc.  cit.,  fig.  i. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


274  General  Notes.  [March, 

especially  of  the  Scotch  scorpion  referred  to  that  genus  by  Mr. 
Peach.  An  additional  reason  to  those  given  above  for  removing 
Proscorpius  from  the  Carboniferous  Eoscorpioidae,  and  for  refer- 
ring this  genus  to  the  Apoxypodes,  fam.  Palaeophonoidae,  may  be 
found  in  its  being,  geologically  speaking,  almost  contemporary 
with  the  Palaeophoni,  belonging,  like  these,  to  the  Upper  Silurian 
formation.  As  the  Palaeophoni,  and  all  other  more  recent  scor- 
pions, are  undoubted  land-animals  and  air-breathers,  and,  as  no 
traces  of  branchiae  have  been  shown  to  exist  in  Proscorpius,  there 
is,  I  believe,  no  serious  reason  for  considering  that  this  scorpion  is 
an  aquatic  animal,  or  that ''  we  have  here  a  link  between  the  true 
aquatic  forms,  the  Eurypterus  and  Pterygotus,  and  the  true  air- 
breathing  scorpions  of  subsequent  periods,"  as  Mr.  Whitfield  sup- 
poses. Very  strange,  also,  would  it  be,  if  the  connecting  link 
between  the  gigantic  Eurypterids  and  the  scorpions  should  be 
formed  of  such  a  little  creature  as  Proscorpius  osbomei,  one  of  the 
smallest  scorpions  hitherto  known — especially  as  this  diminutive 
scorpion  lived  contemporaneously  with  the  Eurypterids. — T,  Tho^ 
rell,  Son,  Italy. 

An  Extinct  Dog. — The  remains  of  an  extinct  type  of  dog,  dif- 
fering widely  from  any  of  the  ordinary  wild  or  domestic  dogs,  have 
been  recently  described  by  Mr.  J.  A.  Allen  in  the  memoirs  of  the 
museum  of  zoology  at  Harvard  college.  The  bones  were  found  in 
Ely  cave,  Lee  county,  Virginia,  one  of  the  oldest  of  a  group  of  cav- 
erns in  limestone  of  Cambro-Silurian  age  described  by  Professor 
Shaler,  of  the  geological  survey  of  Kentucky.  In  general  form  the 
new  dog  was  a  short-limbed,  heavy-bodied  animal,  resembling  in  its 
proportions  a  badger  rather  than  a  dog.  The  skull  has  not  been 
found.  Mr.  Allen  refers  the  remains  to  a  new  genus,  under  the 
name  of  Pachycyon  robustus, 

MINBRAIiOaT  AND  PBTROaRAPHY.^ 

Tin. — In  the  "  Mineral  Resources  of  the  United  States,  calendar 
years  1883  and  1884,*'*  W.  P.  Blake  describes  the  occurrence  of 
"  tin-stone,''  two  miles  from  Harney  city,  in  the  Black  hills,  Dakota. 
This  locality  was  discovered  in  June,  1883.  During  the  follow- 
ing year  a  company  was  formed  to  mine  the  ore,  and  enough 
progress  was  made  to  show  that  the  find  was  commercially  of 
much  importance.  The  ore  is  found  in  two  distinct  forms,  viz : 
massive,  in  bunches  with  spodumene,  feldspar  and  quartz ;  and 
granular,  disseminated  in  greisen.'  The  principal  vein,  known  as 
the  Etta,  is  described  as  having  a  rudely  concentric  structure. 
The  outer  portion  consists  of  a  mixture  of  dark  and  light  colored 

^Edited  by  W.  S.  Bayley,  Johns  Hopkins  University,  Baltimore,  Md. 
'Washington,  Government  Printing  Office,  1885. 

'  A  rock  with  the  microscopic  characterbtics  of  ordinary  greisen,  but  containing 
albite  instead  of  quartz. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


1 886.]  Mineralogy  and  Petrography.  275 

micas,  within  which  is  a  second  belt  of  quartz  and  spodumene. 
Associated  with  the  latter  is  the  cassiterite  in  bunches,  some  weigh- 
ing as  much  as  fifty  or  sixty  pounds.  Inside  of  this  second  belt 
is  a  third  made  up  of  greisen,  in  which  occurs  the  granular  va- 
riety of  the  ore.  The  central  portion  within  the  third  belt  is 
principally  a  coarse  mixture  of  quartz  and  feldspar.  The  spodu- 
mene  crystals  in  the  second  belt  are  of  enormous  size.  One  of 
the  largest,  measuring  thirty-six  feet  in  length,  is  without  a  single 
flaw.  The  area  of  the  tin-producing  region  is  being  constantly 
extended  by  new  explorations,  so  that  its  limits  cannot  yet  b^ 
definitely  fixed.  In  addition  to  its  occurrence  in  the  rocks  thQ 
mineral  is  also  known  to  exist  as  "  stream  tin  "  in  the  water 
courses  leading  down  from  the  hills  into  the  surrounding  plains* 

Petrographical  News. — Peridotites, — ^The  rocks  of  this  class 
belonging  to  the  "Cortlandt  series"  on  the  Hudson  river  near  Peeks- 
kill,  N.  Y.,  are  divided  by  Dr.  G.  H.  Williams*  into  hornblende 
peridotites  (Hudsonites  of  Cohen),  and  augite  peridotites  (picrites 
of  Tschermak).  The  former  are  characterized  by  the  structure  so 
well  seen  in  the  case  of  "  Bastite"  or  "Schillerspath,"  and  called  by 
Pumpelly  and  Irving,  "  luster-mottling."  In  the  present  instance 
this  structure  (for  which  the  author  proposes  the  word  poicilitic) 
is  due  to  the  inclusion  of  olivine,  or  its  alteration  product  ser- 
pentine, in  hornblende.  This  hornblende  is  without  crystal  form 
and  is  filled  with  sharp  little  transparent  crystals  and  opaque  black 
needles.  These  latter  occur  also  in  the  olivine  and  are  identical 
with  those  which  Judd^  considers  as  of  secondary  origin.  This 
view  the  author  of  the  present  paper  combats.  He  thinks  they 
are  substances  extruded  during  crystallization  as  incapable  of 
forming  a  part  of  their  host,  like  the  silicates  in  metamorphosed 
limestones.  The  hornblende  peridotites  pass,  by  the  assumption 
of  diallage,  into  the  augite  variety.  Occasionally  these  become 
schistose  as  the  result  of  the  action  of  great  pressure.  Color- 
less augite  with  diallage-parting,  h3^rsthene,  brown  horn- 
blende and  well  defined  crystals  of  olivine  are  the  most  important 

constituents  of  this  rock. Variolitic  granite. — ^The  first  notice 

of  variolitic  granite  from  Craflsbury,  Vermont,  appeared  in  Hitch- 
cock's report  on  the  geology  of  Vermont.*  The  author  there  de- 
scribed it  as  a  fine-grained,  white  and  highly  feldspathic  granite, 
with  considerable  black  mica.  Scattered  through  this  base  occur 
numerous  spheroidal  nodules  of  black  mica,  more  or  less  flat- 
tened. This  peculiar  variety  is  only  locally  developed,  the  granite 
between  Stanstead  and  Craftsbury,  exhibiting  no  unusual  ap- 
pearance. It  occurs  most  abundantly  just  south  of  the  latter 
town*    Recently  it  has  been  subjected  to  microscopical  examina- 

>  American  Jour.  Science,  t.  xxxi,  Jan.,  1886,  p.  26. 

*Qt.  Jour.  Geol.  Soc.,  v.  XLi,  Aug.,  1885,  p.  354.    American  Natubaust,  Dec.» 
1885. 
•Vol.  II, p.  564,1861. 

vou  zx.— HO.  ni.  19 


Digitized  by 


Google 


2/6  General  Notes.  [March, 

tion  by  Kroustschoff.'  The  body  of  the  rock  is  found  to  consist 
of  orthoclase,  completely  filled  with  acicular  colorless  mica ;  pla- 
gioclase  with  its  twinning  lamellae  crumpled  and  broken ;  quartz, 
with  liquid  inclusions  containing  double  bubbles,  and  occasion- 
ally flattened  disks  or  rounded  prisms  of  a  light  green,  highly  re- 
fractive mineral;  calcite  in  small  rhombohedrons ;  yellow- 
brown  biotite  intimately  associated  throughout  with  muscovite 
and  calcite;  and  bipyramidal  prismatic  crystals  of  a  colorless  min- 
eral, with  an  extinction  of  9-10°  against  the  long  axis.  The 
varioles  are  composed  of  a  central  kernel  of  about  the  same  com- 
position as  the  rock.  Surrounding  this  is  a  zone  sometimes  of 
calcite,  sometimes  of  quartz,  in  which  the  mica  occurs.  Towards 
its  inner  side  the  mica  is  arranged  in  concentric  layers,  with  con- 
siderable calcite  or  quartz  between.  The  central  portion  contains 
only  calcite  and  mica.  Toward  the  outer  side  the  calcite  dimin- 
ishes in  quantity  and  the  granitic  materials  take  its  place.  The 
exterior  portion  of  the  variole  is  composed  almost  entirely  of 
feldspar  and  quartz,  in  which  the  biotite  is  concentrically  arranged, 
while  the  calcite  occurs  only  in  isolated  grains  and  rhombohcdra« 
The  calcite  is  regarded  as  an  original  constituent,  since  it  is  found 
included  in  the  other  minerals,  and  the  varioles  afe  supposed  to 

be   concretions. Porphyritic    hyperite,  a   rock   of   granitic 

structure,  composed  of  plagioclase,  hypersthene  and  diallage, 
with,  hornblende,  apatite,  titanic  iron  and  a  little  biotite  as  acces- 
sory constituents,  is  found  at  San  Diego,  Cal.  Kroustschoff  de- 
scribes^ the  plagioclase  as  occurring  both  in  the  ground-mass  and 
also  in  porphyritic  crystals.  The  latter  are  developed  most 
prominently  in  the  plane  of  the  brachypinacoid.    Analysis  shows 

them  to  have  the  composition  Abs  Aui Herman  and  Rutley' 

have  been  studying  the  devitrification  products  of  glass,  heated 
to  a  high  temperature  and  allowed  to  cool  suddenly.  They 
find  that  "  in  solids  free  from  flaws  the  devitrification  appears  to 
consist  in  the  development  of  divergent  groups  of  crystals,  the 
divergence  being  usually  limited  by  a  net-work  of  minute  joints, 
which  give  rise  to  small  polygonal  prisms.  The  crystalline  groups 
in  their  respective  prisms  are  banded  by  arcs  of  circles."  The 
prismatic  structure  is  approximately  normal  to  the  cooling  sur- 
faces and  the  divergent  sheaves  of  the  devitrification  crystals 
advance  from  this  surface  inward  by  successive  growths  within 
the  prism.  If  the  substance  however  be  not  homogeneous, 
crystallization  will  take  place  around  independent  centres  irregu- 
larly distributed,  without  reference  to  the  cooling  surfaces.  In  the 
absence  of  jointing  the  whole  mass  may  become  spherulitic. 
These  spherulites  in  a  few  instances  occur  within  sharply  de- 
fined circular   or    approximately  circular  boundaries,  and   are 

^Bulletin  de la  Soci^t^  Min^ralogique  de  France,  viii,p.  132. 

'  Bulletin  de  la  Soci^t6  Min^ralogique. 

•  Proceedings  of  the  Royal  Society,    v.  xxxix.    No,  239,  p.  87. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


1 886.]  Mtnercdogy  and  Petrography.  ^  277 

made  up  of  little  globulites,  giving  rise  to  a  structure  very  like 
that  of  many  of  the  obsidians  from  California  and  other  parts  of 

the  West. ^The  natural  glasses  in  the  neighborhood  of  the 

nepheline  basalt  of  Rossberg,  near  Darmstadt,  are  thought  by 
Kroustschoff^  to  owe  their  origin  to  the  solution  in  the  basalt  of 
foreign  quartziferous  rocks. 

MiNERALOGiCAL  News. — ^Thc  asterism  of  Canadian  phlogopite 
was  noticed  by  G.  Rose,^  as  early  as  1862.  He  attributed  it  to* 
the  intergrowth  of  foreign  crystals,  but  did  not  suggest  what 
might  be  their  nature.  Lacroix*  treated  some  of  the  Templeton 
mineral  with  hydrochloric  acid  and  examined  the.  residue.  It  was 
found  to  consist  of  little  hemimorphic  crystals  of  rutile  elongated 
in  the  direction  of  the  vertical  axis. ^In  his  examination  of  ba- 
saltic glass  from  Rossberg,  Kroustschoff  ^  discovered  a  pyroxene 
of  a  slightly  different  type  from  any  heretofore  described.  The 
new  type  is  transparent  and  of  a  very  light  green  color.  The 
crystals  are  prismatically  developed,  and  show  the  forms  ^  P  ^; 
<»  Poo »  ooP  ^"^^  O  P-  Very  frequently  several  individuals  are 
united  by  their  clino-pinacoids,  sometimes  by  their  prismatic 
iiaices.    An  analysis  of  the  isolated  crystals  gave : 

SiO.         A1,0,        Fe,Og        FeO        CaO        MgO        Na«0        K«0 
49.18  2.15  4.96         9.04        20.30       13.07  1.89         0.30 

Harringtonite  from  Ireland  has  been  examined  microscopi- 
cally.^ In  polarized  light  it  is  resolved  into  an  isotropic  mass,  in 
which  crystals  belonging  to  two  distinct  species  of  minerals  can 
be  detected.  One  occurs  in  little  fibrous  needles,  with  longitudi- 
nal extinction  and  negative  refraction ;  the  other  is  in  little  frag- 
ments with  broken  outlines.  The  former  have  the  optical  prop- 
erties of  mesotype,  but  are  negative.  The  latter  are  probably 
mesotype.  Since  zeolites  are  known  to  have  been  produced  by 
the  action  of  warm  waters,  Lacroix  thinks  that  Harringtonite 
might  be  looked  upon  as  a  gelatinous  mass,  which  has  caught  up 
little  fragments  of  the  minerals  that  were  floating  about  in  the 
water  in  which  it  was  formed.  At  any  rate  it  can  no  longer  be 
considered  a  distinct  mineral. 

New  Books. — The  second  edition  of  Rosenbusch's  "Mikroskop- 
ische  Physiographie  der  petrographisch  wichtigen  Mineralien/** 
has  recently  appeared.  This  standard  work  is  so  very  well 
known  that  the  mere  mention  of  the  fact  of  its  revision  is  sufli- 
cient  for  the  purposes  of  these  notes.  The  advances  in  the 
methods  of  microscopical  petrography,  the  improvements  in  ap- 

*  Bulletin  dc  la  Soci6t6  Min^ralogique  de,  France,    viii,  p.  62. 
'Monatsb.  der  Berliner  Akad.  der  Wissens.,  1862,  p.  614;  and  1869,  p.  344. 
'  Bulletin  de  la  Soci^t^  Mm^ralogique  de  France,  viii,  p.  99. 

*Ib.,vm,  p.  85. 

^  Lacroix,  ib.,  vui,  p.  96. 

*  £.  Schweizerbart'sche  Verlag8handli;ng  (£.  Koch),    Stuttgart/ 1885, 


Digitized  by 


Google 


278  .  General  NoUs.  [March, 

paratus  and  the  very  large  increase  in  the  amount  of  literature  om 
the  subject  within  the  last  twelve  years  made  a  second  edition  of 
this  indispensable  book  almost  imperative.  The  new  edition 
contains,  in  addition  to  a  large  amount  of  new  matter  in  the  gen- 
eral and  special  parts,  a  Newton's  scale  of  prismatic  colors  (to  which 
reference  is  made  in  describing  the  polarization  colors  of  the 
different  minerals),  a  practically  complete  table  of  petrographical 
.literature  and  twenty-six  photographic  plates  of  mineral  and  rock 

sections. Kalkowsky's  "  Elemente  der  Lithologie  "*  is  a  little 

treatise  of  three  hundred  and  sixteen  pages,  in  which  the  study 
of  rocks  is  treated  as  a  branch  of  general  geology  and  not  as  an 
appendix  to  mineralogy.  It  is  intended  primarily  as  an  introduc- 
tion to  inorganic  geology.  In  the  general  part  considerable  atten- 
tion is  given  to  the  structure,  origin  and  metamorphism  of 
rock  masses.  In  the  special  part  a  classification  of  rocks  is 
attempted,  based  on  the  origin  of  the  material  of  which  they 
are  composed.  Those  whose  material  was  obtained  from  below 
are  classed  as  anogenous,  those  which  obtained  it  from  above 
are  called  katogenous.  Among  the  latter  class  belong  the 
sedimentary  rocks  and  the  crystalline  schists,  among  which  the 
author  places  the  gabbros  and  peridotites.  Despite  the  some- 
what peculiar  views  expressed  on  certain  subjects,  the  book  will 
prove  a  valuable  addition  to  the  library  of  the  lithologist,  and  a 
great  aid  to  the  student  who  wishes  to  study  rocks  from  a 
geological  standpoint. 

BOTANY.* 

The  Adventitious  Inflorescence  of  Cuscuta  glomerata 
KNOWN  TO  THE  GERMANS. — ^At  the  Philadelphia  meeting  of  the 
American  Association  for  the  Advancement  of  Science,  the 
writer  presented  a  short  paper,  calling  attention  to  the  adventi- 
tious inflorescence  of  Cuscuta  glomerata.  The  fact  was  supposed 
to  be  new  to  science,  as  it  certainly  was  to  the  writer,  and,  more- 
over, appeared  to  be  to  the  botanists  of  the  meeting.  Additional 
feicts  were  presented  to  the  Ann  Arbor  meeting  of  the  Association, 
and  in  the  discussion  the  originality  of  the  discovery  was  not 
questioned  and  apparently  not  doubted  by  any  one. 

Imagine  my  chagrin  a  few  days  ago  (Dec.  30,  1885),  when  in 
running  over  the  text  of  Dodel-Port's  Anatomisch-physiologischen 
Atlas  der  Botanik,  I  found  the  whole  matter  fully  and  accurately 
described.  This  atlas  was  published  from  1878  to  1883,  in  Es- 
slingen.  The  study  of  Cuscuta  glomerata  was  made  in  the  Bo- 
tanic Gardens  of  Zurich,  where  for  ten  years  or  more  it  has  be- 
come acclimatized. 

On  page  4  of  part  xxx,  of  the  text  to  the  atlas,  Dr.  Dodel-Port, 
after  describing  the  normal  branching,  remarks  in  substance  as 

*  Carl  Winter,  Heidelberg,  1886. 

*  Edited  by  Professor  Charlbs  E.  Bcssey,  Lincoln,  Nebraska. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


1 886.  J  Botany.  279 

follows,  vie:  "  Besides  this  normal  branching ;there  is  a  copious 
formation  of  adventitious  shoots.  These  are  formed  endogen- 
ously  upon  the  best  nourished  parts  of  the  Ciiscuta  stem,  and  also 
upon  the  parts  which  bear  the  haustoria,  where  the  host-plant  and 
parasite  are  in  immediate  contact.  The  rudimentary  shoot-buds 
are  formed  beneath  the  cortex  of  the  Cuscuta  stem,  and  break 
through  in  a  manner  similar  to  the  lateral  roots  of  vascular  plants. 
They  develop  either  into  inflorescences,  or  upon  injury  to  the  rest 
of  the  plant,  into  vegetation  shoots." 

These  adventitious  branches  were  also  noticed,  very  briefly  and 
somewhat  vaguely,  by  Solms-Laubach  in  a  pa(>er  on  Parasitic 
Phanerogams  in  Pringsheim's  Jahrbuch  fur  wissenchaftliche 
Botanik,  vol.  vi,  1868. — Charles  E,  Bessey. 

SVMBIOSIS  BETWEEN   A  FUNGUS  AND   THE  RoOTS  OF  FLOWERING 

Plants. — In  investigating  the  structure  of  the  vegetative  organs 
of  Monotropa  hypopitys,  M.  F.  Kamienski  (Mem.  de  la  Soc.  Na- 
tionale  des  Sciences  Naturelles  de  Cherbourg)  came  to  the  con- 
clusion that  it  is  not  a  parasite,  the  most  careful  observation  fail- 
ing to  detect  any  haustoria  or  other  parasitic  union  with  the  root 
of  any  host  On  the  other  hand  he  found  the  root  of  the  Mono- 
tropa to  be  completely  covered  by  the  mycelium  of  fungus  which 
branches  abundantly  and  forms  a  pseudo-parenchymatous  envel- 
ope, often  two  or  three  times  the  thickness  of  the  epidermis,  and 
especially  well-developed  at  the  apex  of  the  root.  This  fungus, 
the  species  of  which  M.  Kamienski  was  unable  to  determine, 
is  entirely  superficial,  not  penetrating  into  the  living  cells,  though 
occasionally  forcing  its  way  between  those  of  the  epidermis.  He 
contends  that  the  Monotropa  derives  its  nutriment  from  the  soil 
entirely  through  the  medium  of  this  fungus-mycelium.  The  only 
parts  of  the  root  which  are  in  actual  contact  with  the  soil  are 
composed  of  lifeless  cells  with  no  power  of  deriving  nutriment 
from  it.  The  connection  of  the  fungus  with  the  roots  of  the 
Monotropa  is  not  one  of  parasitism,  but  of  true  symbiosis^ each 
of  the  two  organisms  deriving  support  and  nutriment  from  the 
other. 

More  recently  Dr.  B.  Frank  and  M.  Woronin  (Bericht  Deutsch. 
Bot  Gesellschaft)  have  made  similar  observations  of  the  mode  of 
nutrition  of  Cupuliferae  and  Coniferae.  Dr.  Frank  finds  the  roots 
of  our  native  oaks,  beeches,  hornbeams,  chestnuts  and  hazels  to  be 
coveredby  a  dense  cortex,  to  which  he  gives  the  name  Mycorhiza, 
organically  associated  with  them  in  growth,  and  composed  entirely 
of  fungus-hyphae,  completely  enveloping  the  whole  of  the  root, 
even  the  growing  point.  The  structure  of  this  cortex  is  that  of  a 
sclerotium ;  it  is  composed  of  a  dense  mass  of  hyphae,  varying 
in  diameter  from  2  to  lo""*  usually  in  several  layers,  from  which 
other  endophytic  hyphae  penetrate  into  the  root  between  the  epi- 
dermal cells,  which  are  still  slenderer  than  those  of  the  envelope. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


28o  General  Notes.  [March, 

By  this  structure  the  formation  of  root-hairs  by  the  tree  is  entirely 
prevented,  and  it  is. through  it  alone  that  it  is  able  to  absorb  nu- 
triment out  of  the  soil.  It  makes  its  appearance  first  on  the  lat- 
eral roots  of  the  young  seedling,  and  is  constantly  being  replaced 
by  fresh  formations  on  older  roots.  Dr.  Frank  found  this  struc- 
ture invariably  on  every  root  examined  of  trees  belonging  to  the 
Cupuliferse,  also  occasionally  on  Salicaceae  and  Coniferse,  but 
never  on  woody  plants  belonging  to  other  natural  orders,  nor  on 
any  herbaceous  plant  It  is  quite  independent  of  the  nature  of 
the  soil.  He  also  regards  the  phenomenon  as  an  example  of 
symbiosis,  comg^rable  in  all  essential  points  to  that  of  lichens, 
the  Mycorhiza  corresponding  to  the  fungal  element  in  the  lichen, 
the  tree  itself  to  the  algal  gonidia. 

Dr.  Woronin  confirms  these  statements  in  relation  to  Coniferae, 
Salicaceae,  and  some  other  trees,  and  thinks  it  probable  that  the 
fungus,  which  he  regards  rather  as  truly  parasitic,  is  a  Boletus. — 
A.  IV.  Bennett 

Internal  Spore-Formation  in  Diatoms. — Count  Abbe  F. 
Castracane  describes  (Accad.  Pontif.  de'  Nuovt  Lincei)  a  remark- 
able appearance  in  a  deposit  of  marine  diatoms  of  Pliocene  date 
from  the  Apennines.  In  a  specimen  of  Coscinodisctfs  punctulatus 
he  observed  that  the  lower  part  of  the  valve,  minutely  punctuated 
in  radial  disposition,  showed  small  uniform  round  stalked  bodies ; 
drawings  under  the  camera  lucida  showed  clearly  their  circular 
figure.  No  other  interpretation  of  these  minute  round  bodies, 
always  found  in  the  interior  of  the  frustule,  seems  possible,  except 
that  they  constitute  a  nest  of  embryonal  diatoms  on  the  point  of 
escaping  from  the  mother-cell.  This  is  in  accord  with  previous 
observations  of  the  author  on  similar  round  bodies  seen  on  the 
point  of  escaping  from  a  Podosphenia,  and  with  observations  of 
Rabenhorst  and  O'Meara.  The  fact  that  the  diatoms  in  which  these 
bodies  were  observed  had  previously  been  treated  with  boiling 
sulphuric  acid  with  addition  of  potassium  chloride,  shows  conclu- 
sively that  the  round  bodies  seen  to  escape  from  living  diatoms 
are  not  Infusoria  or  other  organisms  fortuitously  collected  round 
them,  and  demonstrates  at  the  same  time  that,  from  the  first  mo- 
ment of  their  existence,  diatoms  must  be  provided  with  a  sili- 
ceous coating,  though  it  may  be  of  extreme  tenuity.  It  would  seem 
from  these  observations  that  diatom  may  assume  the  function 
of  a  sporangium,  producing  in  its  interior  embryonal  forms  by 
which  the  species  is  reproduced,  and  which  ultimately  acquire  the 
form  and  approximately  the  size  of  the  mother-frustule. 

In  connection  with  this  subject,  Mr.  F.  Kitton  states  (Jour. 
Quekett  Micros.  Club)  that  he  found  on  carafes  of  water  a  film 
composed  entirely  of  frustules  oi  Achnanthes  linearis  ;  but  on  filt- 
ering the  water,  these  were  never  found  on  the  filter-paper,  and 
when  the  filter-paper  was  boiled  in  decarbonized   sulphuric  acid, 


Digitized  by 


Google 


1 886.]  Botany.         •  281 

the  residue  showed  no  indication  of  carbonaceous  remains.  In  the 
course  of  a  few  days  a  film  again  began  to  appear  on  the  filtered 
water,  which  was  found  to  consist  entirely  of  the  same  diatoms. 
A  control  experiment  showed  that  none  of  these  diatoms,  though 
exceedingly  minute,  would  pass  through  the  filter-paper  em- 
ployed, and  the  conclusion  seems  inevitable  that  the  diatoms 
must  have  passed  through  in  the  form  of  microspores. — A.  W 
Bennett. 

Botanical  Laboratories  in  the  United  States. — In  a  most 
instructive  paper  in  the  December  number  of  the  Botanical  Gazette^ 
Mr.  Arthur  gives  descriptions  of  some  of  the  more  important  bo- 
tanical laboratories  in  this  country.  Those  noticed  are  the  fol- 
lowing : 

X.  Harvard  University,  {a)  The  laboratory  in  connection  with  the  Botanic  Gardens. 
(d)  The  laboratory  of  Cryptogamic  Botany  in  the  Agassiz  museum,  {c)  The 
laboratory  of  phanerogamic  lx>tany  in  Harvard  Hall.  Twenty-one  compound 
microscopes  are  supplied  to  these. 

2.  Cornell  University,     {a)  The  laboratory  for  analytical  and  general  phanerogamic 

work  with  eleven  dissecting  microscopes.   (J?)  The  microscopical  laboratory  and 
conservatory,  supplied  with  twelve  compound  microscopes. 

3.  University  of  Pennsylvania,     {a)  Laboratory  for  junior  work,  containing  an  out- 

fit of  dissecting  microscopes.      (Jb)  Laboratory  for  senior  work.    These  contain 
twenty.four  compound  microscopes. 

4.  Illinois  University,    Laboratory  and  green-houses,  supplied  with  twenty-one  com- 

pound microscopes. 

5.  Michigan  Agricultural  College,     Laboratory   and   conservatory,  supplied  with 

twenty-seven  compound  microscopes. 

6.  University  of  Michigan,  {a)  Microscopical  laboratory,  with  forty-three  microscopes; 

(h)  The  botanical  laboratory  proper,  >with  six  microscopes. 

7.  Iowa  Agricultural  College,    Laboratory  supplied  with  twenty-one  compound  mi- 

croscopes. 

8.  Wabash  College,     (a)  Laboratory  for  elementary  botany,  with  an  outfit  of  dis- 

secting microscopes,  {b)  Laboratory  for  advanced  botany,  supplied  with  twenty 
compound  microscopes. 

9.  Perdue  University,     Laboratory  supplied  with  twenty-five  compound  microscopes 

and  an  equal  number  of  dissecting  microscopes. 

10.  University  of  fVisconsin.  (a)  Laboratory  for  elementary  work,  supplied  with 
eleven  dissecting  microscopes,  (b)  Laboratory  for,  advanced  work,  supplied 
with  twenty-five  compound  microscopes. 

11.  University  of  Nebrcuka,  Laboratory  supplied  with  twenty-five  dissecting  micro- 
scopes, and  thirty-six  Coddington  hand-lenses,  for  elementary  work;  and 
twenty-two  compound  microscopes  for  advanced  work. 

12.  The  Shaw  School  of  Botany,  Laboratory  supplied  with  sixteen  dissecting  micro- 
scopes for  elementary  work,  and  four  compound  microscopes  for  advanced  work. 

Linhart's  Ungarns  PiLZE,  Century  iv. — This  important  dis- 
tribution of  Fungi  deserves  mention  again,  both  on  account  of 
the  beauty  of  the  specimens  and  the  low  price  at  which  they  are 
furnished.  The  century  before  us  contains  thirty-six  species  of 
Uredineae,  three  of  the  Ustilagineae,  six  of  Peronosporeae,  three 
of  Eiysipheae,  etc.,  etc.  Good  plates  are  given  of  fifteen 
species,  and  in  these  the  microscopical  details  of  structure  are 
quite  satisfactorily  worked  out.  When  these  plates  are  mounted 
upon  the  same  herbarium  sheets  as  the  specimens  which  they 
illustrate,  they  will  prove  very  useful  and  instructive,  especially  to 
the  beginner  in  Fungology. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


282  General  Notes.  [March, 

Botanical  News. — ^The  "  Laboratory  number  "  (Dec.)  of  the 
Botanical  Gazette  is  one  of  the  most  valuable  issued  during  the 

f)ast  year.  The  special  laboratory  topics  are,  Some  botanical 
aboratories  of  the  United  States;  Laboratory  appliances ;  The 
laboratory  at  Strasburg  ;  Laboratory  courses  of  instruction ;  Sec- 
tion cutting,  besides  a  dozen  or  so  general  notes  devoted  to  some 

phase  of  the  subject. A  late  number  of  Flora  contains  a  paper 

on  the  infloresence  of  Typha,  by  Celakoosky. No.  141  of  the 

Journal  of  the  Linnean  Society  contains :  (i)  Contributions  to  the 
Flora  of  the  Peruvian  Andes,  with  remarks  on  the  history  and  origin 
of  the  Andean  Flora,  by  John  Ball;  (2)  Contributions  to  South-Afri- 
can botany,  by  H.  Bolus  and.  N.  E.  Brown ;  (3)  A  contribution  to 
the  study  of  the  relative  effects  of  different  parts  of  the  solar  spec- 
trum on  the  transpiration  of  plants,  by  George  Henslow. The 

December  Torrey  Bulletin  contains  the  summary  of  another  year's 
work  upon  the  fresh-water  Algae  of  the  United  States,  by  Francis 
Wolle.  Several  new  species  are  described,  viz :  Ectocarpus  rivu^ 
laris  (Florida),  CEdogonium  cataractum  (Florida).  Dictyosphcer- 
ium  hitchcockH  (N.  J.),  Zygnema  purpurea  (N.  J.  and  Fla.),  Mesa- 
carpus  crassus  (Fla.),  Staurastrum  tokopekaligense  (F'la,),  besides  a 
number  of  varieties.  A  plate  of  Desmids  accompanies  the 'paper. 
The  Gardeners^  Mont/ily^vihWe  not  professing  to  be  a  botani- 
cal journal,  contains  much  of  value  and  interest  to  the  botanist. 
Thus  in  the  January  number  we  find  papers  on  the  following  sub- 
jects, viz :  A  new  pitcher-plant  {Sarracenia  courtii).  The  socalled 
hardy  Catalpa,  Large  sassafras  trees,  Amaryllis  treatce.  The  mis- 
tletoe in  different  localities,  besides  many  notes  and  notelets. 

Gerald  McCarthy,  of  Kendall  Green,  Washington,  D.C.,  announces 
a  distribution  of  plants  of  Eastern  North  Carolina,  including  340 

species  at  |(2 1. For  those  intending  to  buy  botanical  works 

we  are  doing  a  good  service  when  we  call  attention  to  John 
Wheldon's  botanical  catalogues  (58  Great  Queen  street,  London, 

W.  C,  Eng.). The  .Index  to  the  twenty-third  volume  of  the 

Journal  of  Botany^  just  closed,  enumerates  an  unusually  great 
amount  of  valuable  matter.  Among  the  contributors  are  the 
well  known  names  of  J.  G.  Baker,  A.  W.  Bennett,  M.  C.  Cooke, 
J.  M.  Crombie,  W.  B.  and  H.  Groves,  W.  B.  Hensley,  M.  T.  Mas- 
ters, F.  von  Mueller,  Henry  Trimen,  etc. One  of  the  pleasant 

features  of  the  past  few  months  has  been  the  attention  given  in  so 
many  journals  to  notices  of  Dr.  Gray.  The  latest  of  these  which 
we  have  is  a  neat  paper  reprinted  from  the  Sun  newspaper  of 
Jan.  3,  and  entitled  "Asa  Gray."  It  is  from  the  hand  of  Professor 
C.  S.  Sargent,  and  gives  a  summary  of  the  life  and  labors  of  the 
eminent  botanist  Very  like  the  foregoing  is  the  paper  in  the 
January  Botanical  Gazette^  by  Professor  C.  R.  Barnes.  In  this 
paper,  however,  we  have  more  of  the  personal  history.  It  is  ac- 
companied by  a  fine  heliotype. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


1 886.]  Entomology.  283 

BNTOMOIiOGT. 

WiTLACziL  ON  Psylud;e.^ — In  1883  Dr.  Witlaczil  published  his 
researches  on  the  anatomy  of  the  Aphides,  and  in  1884  on  their 
embryology  (of  which  paper  we  gave  an  abstract  in  American 
Naturaust,  Feb.,  1885).  He  now  furnishes  an  additional  con- 
tribution to  the  anatomy  of  the  Phytophthira,  or  plant-lice,  mak- 
ing the  small  group  of  Psyllidae  the  subject  of  important  re- 
searches ;  his  exposition  of  the  structure  of  the  insect  brain  being 
of  exceptional  value.  The  species  examined  by  him  represented 
the  genera  Psyllopsis,  Rhinocola,  Psylla,  Homotoma,  Trioza. 
His  methods  were  teasing  in  saline  solutions,  treating  with  dilute 
acetic  acid  the  fresh  and  stained  animals  entire  and  making  sec- 
tions in  the  Naples  way  with  Jung's  microtome. 

In  external  appearance  the  Psyllidae  are  small  (about  a  milli- 
meter in  length)  differing  from  other  families  of  Homoptera  by 
the  similarity  of  both  sexes,  which  are  winged  and  are  provided 
with  a  pair  of  compound  eyes  and  three  simple  ocelli,  and  have 
ten  jointed  antennae,  the  two  joints  next  the  base  short  and  thick, 
and  the  terminal  joint  bearing  a  pair  of  bristles.  During  life  the 
antennae  are  constantly  vibrating.     Figs,   i,  2  show  the  male, 


Fig.  I.  Fig.  2. 

Fig.  I.' — Psyllopsis,  ^,  dorsal  view,  right  wings  removed.  FlG.  2. — The  satne, 
lateral  view,  wings  removed. 

>  Die  Anatomie  der  Psylliden,  von  Dr.  Emanuel  Witlaczil  in  Wicn.  Zeitscbrift 
filr  Wissenschaftliche  Zoologie,  Vol.  XLII  (1885),  pp.  560-658,  and  pi.  XX-xxii. 

*  Explanation  of  reference^Uttets  in  the  figures. — a,  anus;  tf/,  antennal  lobe ;  ««, 
abdominal  nerve;  a/,  antenna;  ats^  antennal  swelling;  cb^  central  body  of  brain  ; 
cpy  crop;  esy  eye  swelling;  /<r,  ganglion,  g%^  genital  hooks;  hAn^  hind-intestine; 
idt  inner  decussation  ;  /»,  limb  nerve ;  mb,  mushroom  body ;  Mg.v.  malpighian  ves- 
sels;  M./i»,  mid-intestine ;  iM/,  mid-lobe  of  brain;  oc^  compound  eye;  i>r/,  ocellus ; 
a/,  outer  decussation ;  o€s^  cesopha^us ;  om^  outer  medullary  layer ;  pe^  penis ;  rr, 
rectum;  s.oe,  sub-cesophageal  ganglion;  //,  stomach;  vn^  ventral  nerve- cord.  Ro- 
man numerals  indicate  thoracic  somites  and  Arabic  numerals  abdominal  somites. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


284  General  Notes.  [March, 

whose  abdomen  is  slightly  compressed.  The  abdomen  of  the 
female  is  rounded.  The  wings  of  these  insects  and  of  the  winged 
forms  of  Aphides  are  used  chiefly  as  parachutes.  The  coxae  of 
the  limbs  coalesce  with  the  thorax,  and  the  tarsi  are  two-jointed, 
bearing  a  pair  of  terminal  claws.  The  hind- limbs  are  specialized 
for  springing.  The  first  abdominal  somite  of  both  sexes  is  added 
to  the  metathorax  to  enlarge  the  springing-gear ;  the  second 
abdominal  somite  forms  a  short  stalk  for  the  abdomen,  and  the 
terminal  abdominal  somites  are  so  modified  as  to  have  misled 
the  systematists.  In  the  male  the  tenth  somite  seems  to  be  in- 
serted on  the  eighth,  as  the  ninth  has  only  its  ventral  part  devel- 
oped and  ends  the  abdomen,  whilst  the  tenth,  bearing  the  anus 
and  penis,  is  reverted  dorsad.  In  the  female  the  ninth  somite  is 
discernible  only  by  its  appendages,  and  the  tenth  is  a  roofing 
dorsal  plate  (the  upper  genital  dorsal  plate  of  Low)  bearing  in  its 
center  the  anus  fringed  by  wax-glands.  Thus  in  both  sexes  the 
typical  number  of  ten  somites  can  be  found. 

The  circum-anal  wax-glands  are  in  the  larvae  of  both  sexes; 
and  wax-glands  producing  wax-fibrils  are  present  on  other  parts. 
Wax-particles  sometimes  cover  the  larvae,  protecting  the  back 
from  excrementitious  matter.  Some  larvae  (Psyllopsis)  have 
spear-shaped  wax-hairs ;  the  larva  of  Trioza  has  a  marginal  row 
of  leaf'like  wax-plates.  All  the  wax-hairs  arise  like  chitinous 
hairs  from  large  hypodermal  cells,  which  have  vacuoles  presuma- 
bly filled  with  the  secretion-fluid. 

The  stigmas  of  the  tracheal  system  are  denticulated  on  each 
side,  and  have  a  self-acting  closing  apparatus  (not  as  described 
by  Landois).  They  have  a  short  muscle  on  the  ventral  side, 
so  connected  with  the  dorso-ventral  muscles  of  the  body  that  on 
the  contraction  of  these  muscles  the  stigmatic  muscle  contracts 
and  opens  the  valve.  This  is  probably  for  expiration.  Inspira- 
tion is  effected  by  the  mere  eljtsticity  of  the  tracheae,  and  the 
stigmatic  valve  closes  by  its  own  elasticity.  The  will  of  the  in- 
sect does  not  control  these  movements. 

The  nervous-system  and  sense-organs  are  here  treated  relatively 
to  insects  in  general,  and  much  new  light  is  cast  on  the  subject 
of  the  insect's  psychology.  The  brain  of  the  Psyllidae  is  rather 
large,  having  a  middle  lobe  and  two  lateral  lobes,  the  latter  send- 
ing off*  the  optic  nerves  (Figs.  3,  4). 

The.  median  lobe  is  prolonged  downwards  into  the  procepha- 
lon.^  Its  posterior  part  becomes  the  two  commissures  leading  to 
the  suboesophageal  ganglion,  from  which -the  mouth-organs  are 
innervated.  The  ventral  nerve-cord  has  four  ganglia,  three  for  the 
limbs  and  a  fourth  for  the  abdomen  whose  ganglia  are  fused  into 
a  single  mass.  The  brain-mass  is  much  as  in  other  insects,  hav- 
ing a  central  medullary  system  and  a  peripheral  layer  of  a  cortex 

*  Thus  I  render  Vorderkopf ;  "  proccphalic-lobcs"  is  inaccurate,  as  the  part  is  not 
paired;  the  term  "  forehead  *'  is  preoccupied.— (7.  Af, 


Digitized  by 


Google 


.1886.]  Entomology,  285 

of  ganglion-cells  which  fails  only  at  its  posterior  part.  The  gan- 
glion-cells are  polygonal  or  roundish,  varying  in  size  ;  they  have 
a  horny  nucleus,  and  become  stained  whilst  the  medullary  part 
remains  clear. 

The  compound  eyes  are  well  described  by  Viallanes  (Ann.  des 
Sci.  Naturelles,  1882)  for  Musca.  In  Psyllidae  they  are  somewhat 
simpler,  having  (i)  at  the  surface  numerous  separate  lenses  of  the 
cornea,  slightly  biconvex,  (2)  below  them  a  layer  of  crystalline 
cones,  often  brownish,  (3)  next  comes  a  dark  layer  of  rhabdites 
forming  the  retina ;  each  rhabdite  being  a  slender  truncated  cone„ 

narrowing  inwards.  The  whole  sys- 
tem of  rhabdites  converges  towards 
the  center  of  the  eye,  whence  nerves 
run  towards  the  brain.  The  sub- 
sequent layers  of  Viallanes  (post- 
retinal  fibers,  ganglion  cell-layer, 
palisade-layer  and  chaplet-cells)  can- 
not be  clearly  recognized  in  Psylli- 
dae.    The  retinal  fibers  pass  by  the 


Fig.  3.  Fig.  4. 

Fig.  3. — Nervous  S3rstem  of   Psylla.     Fig.  4. — Transverse  section  of   brain  of 
Psylla,  along  line  X  X  of  Fig.  3. 

ganglion  cell-layer  into  the  "  eye-swelling "  (es  of  Fig.  4)  (the 
optic  ganglion ^of  Viallanes),  an  enlargement  of  the  medullary 
substance.  The  fibers  passing  this  way  toward  the  median  brain- 
mass  form  an  "  outer  decussation  "  {od).  Some  fibers  from  this 
decussation  go  to  the  adjoining  cortex,  some  to  the  outer  part  of 
the  medullary  layer,  some  pierce  this  so  as  to  reach  the  inner 
decussation  (id),  and  some  proceed  thence  across  the  brain  so  as 
to  form  a  chiasma  with  fibers  from  the  opposite  eye.  Some  fibers 
from  the  eyes  and  some  from  the  other  outer  lobes  of  the  brain 
find  their  way  to  the  central  body  (Fig.  4,  cb)  in  the  mid-lobe,  and 
nerves  may  be  traced  from  all  these  lobes  and  from  the  central 


Digitized  by 


Google 


28rt  General  Notes.  [Mardi, 

body  to  the  anterior  cortex  of  the  brain  with  its  abundant  gan- 
glion-cells.* 

The  simple  eyes  have  biconvex  lenses  and  rhabdites  joined  to 
nerve  fibers,  which  run  back  to  the  infero-posterior  region  of  the 
brain,  and  thence  advance  so  as  to  enter  the  central  body.  The 
antennal  nerves  run  straight  back  to  the  antennal  lobes  {al\ 
whence' some  fibers  run  forwards  to  the  central  region  of  the 
brain. 

The  "  central  body  "  has  been  described  by  investigators  as  a 
fan-shaped  organ.  Packard,*  after  Newton,  described  it  as  a  half- 
moon-shaped  body,  concave  backwards  and  separated  by  a  net- 
work of  fibers  from  the  brain,  and  supposed  it  to  consist  of  modi- 
fied cells.  In  Psyllidae  it  is  bean-shaped,  consisting  of  granulated 
matter  not  at  all  isolated  from  the  surrounding  parts  of  the  brain, 
but  receiving  fibers  from  and  sending  fibers  to  the  other  lobes, 
and  is  nothing  more  than  a  central  commissural  system,  its  cell- 
like elements  being  the  cross-sections  of  fibrous  masses. 

The  mushroom-bodies,  described  by  authors,  are  found  in  Psyl- 
lidae  only  in  a  rudimentary  form,  being  some  thick  masses  of 

ganglion-cells  in  the  upper  anterior  bor- 
der near  the  median  line,  whence  bundles 
of  fibers  run  backwards. 

Taken  as  a  whole  the  brain,  with  its 
connections  with  procephalic  ganglion- 
masses,  suboesophageal  comnfissures 
and  ventral  nerve-cord,  and  various  lobes 
in  its  own  mass,  is  complex ;  and  it  is 
h  scarcely  possible  to  join  sections  made 

in  different  directions  into  a  unity,  so  as 
to  get  its  real  structure.  As  a  whole 
its  inner  part  is  a  central  nerve  system 
consisting  of  fibrous  masses,  which  on 
the  one  side  end  in  a  sense-organ  or  in 
a  peripheric  nerve,  and  on  the  other  in  a 
cortical  layer  of  the  brain,  entering  its 
ganglion-cells.  The  insect-brain  is,  there- 
fore, a  projection-centrum,  the  mush- 
„     ^     ^.     ^  ^   room-body  being  special.  The  most  im- 

Psfiopst  '"*''       P<>rtant  nerves  entering  the  brain  (as 

from  the  eyes,  antennae,  limbs)  cause 
a  swelling  in  its  medulla,  where  the  fibers  are  deflected  so  as  to 
change  their  course. 

Digestive  tract, — ^The  mandibles  and  first  maxillae  are  developed 

^  S.  J.  Hickson  (in  Quarterly  Joamal  of  Microscopical  Science,  April,  1885)  uses 
the  terms  opticon^  epiopticon  zXiA  periopticon  for  three  medullary  masses  belonging  to 
the  eye  of  Musca;  representing  respectively  cm,  es,  and  a  tract  near  ac  of  our  Fig. 
4.— C7.  Af. 

'Second  report  U,  S.  Entomol,  Commission,  1878-9.    The  literature  of  the  sub 
ject  is  there  given. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


1 886.]  Entomology.  287 

into  "  retort-shaped  organs/'  and  the  second  maxillae  form  a  short 
under  h'p  which  is  inserted  on  the  short  prothorax.  The  piercing 
stylets  are  very  long,  lying  in  a  groove  of  the  under  lip,  and  at 
their  base  forming  loops  which  are  enclosed  in  a  dermal  sac.  This 
is  the  structure  also  in  Coccidse,  as  Dujardin  and  Mark  shew 
[and  is  well  seen  in  the  larval  seventeen-year  Cicada. — G.M,\. 
The  oesophagus  is  narrow,  extending  as  far  as  the  abdomen, 
where  the  stomach  and  beg^'nning  of  the  mid-intestine  coalesce 
with  the  hind-intestine  (Fig.  5),  the  two  parts  winding  round  each 
other  in  several  turns.  This  coalescence  is  caused  by  the  contrac- 
tion of  the  mid-intestine.  Mark  shews  that  in  Coccidae  the  ar- 
rangement is  different,  the  end  of  the  cesophagus  and  beginning 
of  the  stomach  having  a  small  winding  loop  which  is  received 
into  a  sac  formed  by  the  hind-intestine.  This  latter  is  also  the 
way  in  Cicadidae.  The  malpighian  vessels  are  four,  short  and  dis- 
tinct, their  ends  running  into  a  suspensory  ligament.  They  are 
wanting  in  Aphides  and  Chermetidae. — G.  Macloskie. 

Entomological  News. —  A  paper  by  Dr.  E.  Witlaczil,  on  the 
morphology  and  anatomy  of  the  bark  lice  (Coccidae)  appears  in 

Zeitschrift  tur  Wissens.,  Zoologie,  issued  Dec.  3 1,  1885. Dr> 

R.  von  Limbeck  has  investigated  (Litzungsber,  K.  Akad.  Wissen- 
schaften,  Wien,  91,  1 885,  p.  322)  the  histology  of  the  yellowish- 
brown  and  white  muscles  of  insects  ;  the  former  are  thoracic  and 
belong  to  the  wings,  the  latter  are  abdominal  muscles,  and  largely 

form  those  moving  the  hind  limbs. hccordxng  to  Science  iot 

Jan.  15;  the  city  of  Mexico  has  for  a  number  of  months  past 
been  aiFHicted  with  a  scourge  of  mosquitoes,  which  have  abounded 
so  as  to  cause  sickness,  and,  it  is  said  death,  by  their  poi5onou9 

bites. The  grand  prize  in  anatomy  and  zoology  of  the  French 

Academy  has  been  given  to- Dr.  J.  Chatin  for  a  work,  as  yet  un- 
published, on  the  tactile  organs  of  insects  and  Crustacea. The 

Transactions  of  the  Entomological  Society  of  London,  Dec.  2, 
1885,  contain  an  interesting  life-history  of  a  trap-door  spider 
{Atypus  piceus\  by  F.  Enock ;  also  an  essay  on  the  classification 
of  the  Australian  Pyralidina,  by  E.  Meyrick.  He  divides  the 
group  into  thirteen  families,  and  estimates  the  number  of  de- 
scribed species  throughout  the  worid  at  2500.  He  thinks  that 
the  Phycidae  may  be  regarded  as  a  development  of  the  Galleriadae, 
the  Botydidae  of  the  Scopariadae,  and  the  Hydrocampidae  and 
Musotimidae  of  the  Pyralididae,  *  *  ♦  The  Tineodidae  (formed 
for  the  reception  of  the  genus  Tineodes),  Ox^chirotidaB,  Ptero- 
phoridac,  and  Alucitidae  on  relics  of  a  once  more  extensive  sec- 
tion of  the  group,  now  reduced  to  a  fragmentary  condition,  and 
approaching  most  nearly  to  the  Crambidae  and  Scopariadae.'' 


Digitized  by 


Google 


288  General  NoUs.  [March, 

ZOOLOGY. 

The  Proatlas,  Atlas  and  Axis  of  the  Crocodilia. — I.  Pro- 
atlas. — In  all  Crocodilia  there  is  developed  an  osseous  piece  be* 
tween  the  skull  and  the  neurapophysis  of  the  atlas.  This  piece 
is  called  "kleines  niedriges  Bogenstiick"  (Meckel^) ;  "  lame  trans- 
verse" (Cuvier*);  "  oberes  Schluss-Stiick  "  (Stannius');  "oberer 
Bogen  "  (Bruch*);  "  Spinal  -  oder  Dachstiick  "  (Briihl*) ;  "  neu- 
ral spine  of  the  atlas  "  (Owen«) ;  "  proatlas  "  (Albrecht'^) ;  "  post- 
occipital  bones  "  (Marsh*). 

Bruch  (1.  c,  1861)  was  the  first  to  give  the  correct  explanation 
of  this  piece,  he  considers  it  as  the  neurapophysis  of  a  vertebra^ 
between  the  skull  and  the  atlas. 

In  1880  Albrecht*  reached  the  same  result  (1.  c). 

Briihl  and  Marsh  consider  the  elements  in  question  as  belong- 
ing to  the  skull:  Dollo*^  has  shown  in  extenso  that  this  view  is 
wrong,  and  that  the  "  postoccipital  bones  "  really  represent  the 
"  proatlas "  of  Albrecht,  and  therefore  parts  of  the  vertebral 
column. 

Eudes-Deslongchamps^^says  that  it  "  represente  Tare  posterieur 
de  Tatlas  chez  Thomme." 

DoUo  (1.  c.)  has  given  a  list  of  vertebrates  in  which  the  "  pro- 
atlas '*  has  been  observed ;  it  is  not  necessary  to  repeat  it. 
.  I  have  to  add  only  some  few  points  : 

1.  The  proatlas  is  developed  from  two  different  cartilages  ex- 
actly in  the  same  way  as  all  neurapophyses. 

2.  The  two  parts  may  be  distinct  in  the  young  animals,  and 
even  in  adult  ones."  In  a  nearly  ripe  embryo  of  Jacare  vcdlifrons 
I  find  two  elongated  osseous  elements.     In  a  young  Alligator 

'  Meckel,  J.  F.  System  der  Ycrgleichenden  Anatomie,  2  tcr  Theil.  Abth.  i, 
Halle,  1824,  p.  430. 

'Cuvier,  G.  Recherches  sur  les  ossemens  fossiles,  Quatr.  ^d.,  Tome  IX,  pp. 
«92-i93»  Paris,  1836. 

'  Stannius,  H.  Lehrbuch  der  vergleichenden  Anatomie  der  Wirbelthiere,  Berlin, 
1846,  p.  134. 

^  Bruch,  C.    Vergleichende  Osteologie  des  Rheinlachses,  Mainz,  1861,  p.  134. 

^  Briihl,  C.  B.  Icones  ad  zootomiam  illustrandam,  Das  Skelet  der  Krooodilinen, 
Wien,  1862,  pp.  2-3, 

•Owen,  R.    On  the  anatomy  of  Vertebrates,  Vol.  I,  p.  65,  London,  1866. 

T  Albrecht,  P.  Ueber  den  Proatlas,  einen  zwichen  dem  Occipitale  und  dem  Atlas 
der  amnioten  Wirbelthiere  gelegenen  Wirbel,  Zool.  Anzeiger,  1880,  p.  475. 

*  Marsh,  O.  C.  Principal  characters  of  American  Jurassic  Dinosaurs,  Part  vi. 
Restoration  of  Brontosaurus,  Am.  J.  Sc,  Vol.  xxvi,  Aug.,  1883,  pp.  82-83. 

*  It  is  generally  believed  that  Albrecht  first  showed  the  true  nature  of  these  bones, 
but,  as  I  have  said,  Bruch  already  had  the  same  idea  nearly  twenty  years  before 
Albrecht. 

^^  Dollo,  L.  Cinquieme  note  sur  les  Dinosauriens  de  Bemissart,  Bull.  Mus^e  Roy. 
Hist.  Nat.  Belg.,  Tome  in,  1884,  pp.  12^135.   . 

"  Eudes-Deslongchamps.  Mimoires  sur  les  T^liosauricus  de  T^poque  jurassique 
da  dipartement  du  Calvados.     M6m.  Soc.  Linn.  Normandie,  Vol.  xii,  Caen,  1863, 

P-  43. 

"  Huxley,  T.  H.  A  manual  of  the  anatomy  of  vertebrated  animals.  London, 
1871,  p.  251. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


1886.1  Zoology.  289 

mississippiensis  the  bones  are  separate  but  not  elongated  as  in 
Jacare.     Usually  the  two  elements  unite  early  in  the  embryo. 

3.  It  is  possible  that  a  proatlas  existed  in  Rhynchosaurus 
Owen,  a  reptile  very  nearly  allied  to  Sphenodon  (Hatteria). 
Sphenodon  has  rudiments  of  the  proatlas,  as  shown  by  Albrecht;* 
therefore  the  same  bones  ought  to  be  present  in  Rhynchosau- 
rus; this  seems  to  be  confirmed  by  a  note  by  Owen', on  this 
reptile. 

"  A  small  flattened  triangular  plate,  which  adhered  to  the  pos- 
terior part  of  the  skull,  was  suspected  by  Dr.  Ward  to  be  a  tooth;, 
it  appeared  to  me,  from  the  character  of  the  exposed  surface,  to 
have  at  least  equal  claims  to  be  regarded  a  dermal  scute.  In  pre- 
paring the  mold  of  the  cranium  this  part  was  detached  and  lost,  a 
circumstance  which  I  have  much  regretted,  since  it  prevented  my 
applying  to  it  the  test  of  a  microscopical  examination." 

In  his  detailed  description  of  Rhynchosaurus,  Owen'  does  not 
mention  this  point. 

I  believe  it  possible  that  the  small  flattened  triangular  plate, 
"  which  adhered  to  the  posterior  part  of  the  skull,"  represents  a 
piece  of  the  proatlas. 

It  is  probable  that  the  proatlas  is  present  also  in  the  Proto- 
rosauria,  which  have  many  characters, common  with  Sphenodon. 

II.  Atlas  and  Axis, — ^The  centrum  of  the  atlas  is  always  repre- 
sented by  the  odontoid  process  of  the  axis,  and  can  be  separated 
easily  in  the  Crocodilia.  The  piece  below  the  centrum  of  the 
atlas,  supporting  the  neural  arch  of  that  vertebra,  is  the  kypa- 
pophysis,  between  the  proatlas  and  the  atlas. 

The  hypwpophysis  between  the  atlas  and  axis  is  probably  co- 
ossified  with  the  anterior  and  lower  part  of  the  axis-centrum,  as  in 
birds  and  some  dinosaurs.  There  seems  to  be  a  great  confusion 
in  the  determination  of  the  ribs  belonging  to  the  first  vertebrae 
in  the  Crocodilia,  and  even  about  the  true  nature  of  these  verte- 
brae. Koken^  says,  1882:  "Es  ist  erstaunlich  und  befremdend, 
wie  sehr  bei  diesen  sonst  so  conservativen  Thieren  die  Ausbildung 
der  ersten  Halswirbel,  und  zwar  in  wesentlichen  Punkten,  diflerirt. 
Vorlaufig  erscheint  es  unmoglich,  in  Art  und  Reihenfolge  der 
Veraenderungen  eine  Gesetzmassigkeit  zu  bringen." 

This  is  very  strange  indeed.  We  find  it  very  much  more 
"  befremdend,"  that  Koken  says  (p.  808),  that  an  alHgator  {A, 

1  Albrecht,  P.  Note  sur  la  presence  d*an  rudiment  de  proatlas  stnr  ti»  exefsplaire 
dc  HaiUria  punctata  Gray.     Bull.  Mus.  Roy.  Hist.  Nat.  Belg.,  T.  ii,  1S83,  p.  190. 

'Owen,  R.     Report  Brit.  Fossils,  Rept.  il;  Brit.  Assoc.  Rep.,  1841,  p.  15CX 

'Owen,  R.  Description  of  an  extinct  lacertilian  reptile  {Rhynckosimruf  arfiteps 
Owen)  of  which  the  bones  and  footprints  characterize  the  upper  new  Red  sandstone 
at  Griiisill,  near  Shrewsbury.    Cambr.  Philos.  Soc.  Trans.,  vn,  1S42,  pp.  354-369. 

*  Koken,  £.  Die  Reptilien  der  norddeutschen  unteren  Kreide..  Zeksckriffc 
Dctttsch.  Geol.  Ges&ellsch.  Jahrg,  1883,  p.  808. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


290  General  Notes.  [March, 

darwim\  and  a  crocodile  {C.  ebertsi)  have  no  hypafophysis,  follow- 
ing Lud  wig  V  wrong  description.  ' 

All  reptiles  possess  the  hypapophysis  (unteres  Schluss-stiick) 
of  the  atlas,  and  it  is  quite  injudicious  that  Ludwig  and  Koken 
could  deny  the  existence  of  such  an  element  in  an  alligator  and  a 
crocodile  from  the  Tertiary, 

The  matter  is  very  simple.  Ludwig  described  the  true  hypa- 
pophysis of  A,  danvini^s  the  centrum  of  the  atlas ;  the  axis  centrum 
+  the  odontoid  process  as  the  centrum  of  the  axis.  Ludwig  says 
that  the  odontoid  process  of  the  axis  is  wanting  in  C.  ebertsi^  but 
he  describes  it.  He  makes  something  very  remarkable  out  of  its 
separation  from  the  axis.  He  did  not  find  the  hypophysis,  and 
therefore  he  says  this  element  is  wanting. 

There  is  no  doubt  whatever  that  the  atlas  and  axis  of  Alligator 
darwini  and  Crocodilus  ebertsi  possessed  the  same  structure  as  thi 
living  alligators  and  crocodiles. 

Koken  finds  similar  difBcuIties  in  the  articulation  of  the  ribs 
(p.  809).  "  Die  zum  Epistropheus  gehorige  Rippe  ist  bei  den 
lebenden  Crocodilinen  gegabelt  und  gelenkt  (nur  mit  dem  Capi- 
tulum)  zwischen  Epistropheus  und  Dens  Epistrophei,  mehr  am 
lezteren. 

"Bei  Crocodilus  ebertsi  ist  sie  ganzaufden  Atlas-Korper  uber- 
gegangen,  bei  Alligator  darwini  tragt  degegen  der  Epistropheus 
die  Rippe,  bei  beiden  ist  sie  einfach. 

"Bei  Enaliosuchus  setzt  sich  die  einfache  Rippe  an  die  Dia- 
pophyse  des  Epistropheus,  wahrend  die  Parapophysen  keine 
Rippen  stiitzen. 

"  Bei  Teleosaurus  ist  sie  gegabelt  und  sowohl  an  Diapophyse 
wie  Parapophyse  inserirt. 

"Bei  Teleosaurus  findet  sich  ferner  ein  drittes  Rippenpaar, 
welches  intervertebral  zwischen  Ajtlas-Korper  und  Epistropheus 
articulirt." 

If  these  characters  are  true,  we  have  to  abandon  the  value  of 
morphology.  But  we  hope  to  show  that  the  above  statements 
are  wrong  or  incorrect. 

I.  In  the  living  crocodiles  the  rib  of  the  axis  shows  the  follow- 
ing conditions : 

In  Gavialis  gangeticus  the  capitulum  of  the  axis-rib  articulates 
only  with  the  centrum  of  the  atlas.  There  is  developed  a  rudiment- 
ary diapophysis  in  the  neural  arch  of  both  sides.  The  tuberculum 
of  the  axis  rib  does  not  reach  that  diapophysis,  but  is  probably 
connected  with  it  by  ligament. 

In  an  adult  Alligator  mississippiensis  the  capitulum  articulate^ 

'  Ludwig,  R.  Fossile  Crocodiliden  aus  der  Tertiaerformation  des  Mainzer  Becken* 
Palaeuntographica.  Suppl.  Ill,  Lief.  4  u.  5,  Cassel,  1877,  pp.  13-14,  p.  37. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


1886.J 


Zoology. 


2gi 


with  the  atlas-center  and  by  a  very  small  face  with  the  axis- center 
also.  There  is  no  trace  of  a  diapophysis.  The  tuberculum  does 
not  reach  either  the  axis  or  the  atias^  but  is  connected  with  the 
a/las  by  ligament. 

Schematic  Figures,  showing  the  Relation  of  the  Axis- rib  to  Atlas 

AND  Axis. 


Teleosaur. 


Enaliosuchus. 


Gavial. 


Alligator,  youog. 


Crocodilns. 


a, atlas-centrum;  ax,  axis-centrum;  </,  diapophysis ;/,  parapophysis ;  r,  capita* 
lum ;  /,  tuberculum. 

In  a  very  young  A.  misstssippUnsis  the  tuberculum  is  complete^ 
and  articulates  with  the  atlas-center;  the  capitulum  articulates 
with  the  same  bone. 

In  Crocodilus  americanus  Schneid.,  the  capitulum  articulates 
with  the  atlas-center,  the  tuberculum  touches  the  neurapophysis 
of  the  axis,  but  there  is  no  face  on  that  bone. 

VOL.  XX.— MO.  UI.  90 


Digifized  by 


Google 


292  Genet  cd  Notes.  (March, 

V  2.  CrocodUus  ebertsi  shows  the  same  conditions  as  A.  missis- 
sippiensis. 

In  Alligator  darwim  the  iixis-rib  is  connected  with  the  atlas- 
center.  Ludwig,  considering  the  atlas  +  axis  as  the  axis,  says 
that  it  articulates  with  the  axis. 

3.  In  the  Enaliosuch US-axis  a  diapophysis  is  present.  Koken 
believes  thkt  Enaliosuchus  has  a  simple  rib  connected  with  this  dia- 
pophysis. This  can  not  be  correct;  if  the  diapophysis  is  present 
there  must  be  an  articulation  for  the  tuberculum  of  the  rib.  The 
tuberculum  never  disappears  before  the  capitulum.  I  believe  that 
in  Enaliosuchus  (if  it  really  belongs  to  the  Crocodilia)a  complete 
rib  was  developed  in  the  axis,  the  capitulum  articulating  with  the 
well-developed  diapophysis,  the  tuberculum  with  the  axis-centrum 
or  with  both  the  axis  and  atlas,  or  with  the  atlas  alone.  This  iace 
will  probably  be  found  if  the  atlas-rib  is  removed. 

4.  In  the  Teleosaurus-axis  the  diapophysis  and  the  parapophy- 
sis  are  developed  and  the  ribs  two-headed. 

Deslongchamps  describes  an  additional  rib  connected  with  the 
atlas-center,  but  he  figures  no  articular  surface  for  this  rib  on 
the  atlas.  It  is  a  morphological  impossibility  that  a  rib  should 
exist  between  the  ribs  of  the  atlas,  connected  with  the  hypa- 
pophysis,  and  that  of  the  axis. 

At  first  when  I  saw  Deslongchamps's  figures  I  reached  the 
conclusion  that  the  axis-rib  had  entirely  disappeared  in  the  living 
Crocodilia,  and  that  the  rib  in  question  represents  the  rib  con- 
nected with  the  atlas-center  (the  true  atlas-rib),  but  since  I  have 
shown  that  the  axis-rib  has  not  disappeared  in  the  living  Crocodilia, 
but  is  shifted  in  front  of  the  axis  successively,  I  must  abandon 
this  view. 

Koken  believes  that  the  additional  "  rib  "  in  Teleosaurus  rep- 
resents the  tubercular  part  of  the  atlas-rib.  This  may  be,  but  it 
is  not  probable.  If  the  atlas  and  axis  of  the  Parasuchia  (Belo- 
don,  Stagonolepis)  are  known,  we  probably  will  get  more  light  on 
this  point. 

I  give  the  following  results : 

All  crocodiles  possess  a  hypapophysis  (unteres  Schluss-stdck) 
of  the  atlas. 

*  All  crocodiles  possess  ribs  of  the  atlas  and  ribs  of  the  axis. 

In  the  older  crocodiles  {Teleosaurus)  the  axis-rib  has  a  well  devel- 
oped capitulum  and  tuberculum^  the  latter  articulating  with  a  well- 
aevloped  diapophysis.  A  similar  condition  is  shown  in  Enalio- 
suchus from  the  Lower  Cretaceous, 

Later  the  diapophysis,  and  with  it  the  capitulum,  get  rudimentary^ 
the  axis-rib  loses  its  articulcUion  with  tlu  axis  and  is  shifted  to  ike 
4itlas. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


1886.] 


Zodlogy, 


293 


This  process  is  shown  by  the  following  diagram  (relation  of  the 
axis-rib  to  the  atlas  and  axis) : 


CapUulum. 

Tuberculum. 

Diapophysis, 

*'Parapophys:* 

Tehosaurus^ 

azticuUting  with 
"parapoph."  of 

axis, 
(hypapophysis) 

articulating  with 
diapophysis 

well  developed 

present   on   the 

anterior  and 

lower  part  of 

axis 

(hypapophysis) 

Enaliomckm, 

M 

M 

•• 

on    the  axis  or 

atlas,  or  between 

them 

Gov.  gang. 

articulating  with 
"parapophysis" 

rudimenttiiry, 

connected  by 

ligament  with 

the  rudim.  diap. 

rudimentary 

present  on  the 
atlas-center 

Allig.  mississ, 
and  othtr  aroc. 

articulating  with 
«•  parapophysis  " 

rudimentary, 
connected  by 
ligament  with 
the  atlas  or  axis, 
if  present  con- 
nected with  atlas 

wanting 

present  on  the 

atlas-center, 

partially  on  the 

axis 

— Dr.  G.  Baur,  Yale  College  Museum^  New  Haven^  Conn^  Jan.  7, 
1886. 

Three  problematical  Genera  op  Mexican  BOiCPORM  Snakes. 
•! — ^Besides  genera  of  typical  Boidse  known  to  inhabit  Mexico  and 
Central  America,  three  genera  have  been  found  whose  position 
has  been  more  or  less  uncertain.  These  are  Charina  Gray,  Lich- 
anura  Cope,  and  Loxocemus  Cope.  All  of  them  have  been  re* 
ferred  by  one  or  another  author  to  a  supposed  family  Erycidse, 
the  type  of  which  is  the  genus  Eryx  of  India  and  Africa.  This 
£3imily  has,  however,  no  further  definition  than  the  non-prehen- 
sile character  of  its  tail ;  in  all  other  respects  its  members  agree 
with  the  Boidae.  This  prehensile  character  is,  however,  well 
known  to  be  extremely  evanescent  in  snakes,  and  to  have  no 
greater  t)ian  generic  value,  and  sometimes  not  even  that  The 
tail  of  Lichanura  can  hardly  be  assigned  to  the  one  category 
more  than  to  the  other. 

Some  years  ago  I  referred  Loxocemus  to  the  Pythonidae,  a 
course  which  has  generally  been  adopted  by  authors;  while  the 
two  .others  have  been  kept  in  the  Erycidae,  Mr.  Garman  having 
gone  so  far  as  to  unite  thenu    An  examination  of  the  skeleton^ 


Digitized  by 


Google 


294  General  Notes.  [March ' 

however,  shows  that  they  all  differ  materially  from  each  other, 
and  must  be  referred  to  three  separate  families,  viz.,  the  Python- 
idae,  the  Boidae  and  to  the  new  family  of  the  Charinidae.  The 
definitions  of  these  families  are  as  follows: 

Supraorbital,  postfrontal  and  coronoid  bones  present Pythonida. 

Postorbital  and  coronoid  bones  present ;  no  supraorbital Boidm. 

Neither  postfrontal,  supraorbital  nor  coronoid  bones  present. Charinida, 

—E.  D.  Cope. 

Note  on  the  Problem  of  Soaring  Birds. — In  the  interest-J 
ing  paper  on  soaring  birds,  by  I.  Lancaster,  published  in  Nos. 
II  and  12  of  the  Naturalist  for  1885,  the  writer  attributes  the 
power  which  is  utilized  by  the  bird,  no  doubt  correctly,  to  the 
condensation  and  expansion  of  the  atmosphere,  produced  by  the 
relative  motion  of  the  bird  with  respect  to  the  atmosphere. 

An  evaluation,  if  it  were  practicable,  of  the  excess  of  the 
upward,  above  the  downward,  atmospheric  pressure  upon  the  bird, 
when  it  soars  horizontally  or  remains  stationary  on  fixed  wings, 
would  show,  no  doubt,  that  such  excess  is  exactly  equal  to  the 
weight  of  the  bird ;  and  the  rear  expansion  on  a  vertical  section 
of  a  bird  that  remains  stationary  on  fixed  wing  in  a  current  of  air, 
would  be  found  to  be  exactly  equal  to  the  force  exerted  by  the 
breeze.  No  other  explanation  of  the  phenomenon  is  conceivable, 
and  this  is  substantially  the  explanation  suggested  by  Mr.  Lan- 
caster. But  he  errs  in  his  attempt  to  show  that  a  bird  can  "soar" 
as  a  result  of  the  action  of  gravity  alone,  without  descending 
toward  the  earth,  that  is,  without  sacrificing  its  energy  of  position 
(potential  energy).  He  has  apparently  been  led  into  this  error 
by  a  misconception  of  the  phenomena  of  resultant  motion,  or  by 
confounding  force  and  motion ;  for  he  assumes  that  when  a  body 
is  descending  uniformly  through  the  atmosphere  and  is  therefore 
meeting  with  atmospheric  resistance  equal  to  its  weight,  it  may, 
at  the  same  time,  by  the  action  of  an  upward  lateral  force  result- 
ing from  the  condensation  produced  by  its  descent,  have  an 
upward  lateral  motion,  so  that  its  vertical  ascent  shall  equal  its 
vertical  descent. 

This  is  obviously  a  misinterpretation  of  the  phenomena ;  for 
it  is  well  known  that  the  upward  lateral  force  would  arrest  the 
downward  motion,  so  that  the  cause  of  the  upward  motion  would 
be  immediately  withdrawn ;  and  besides,  it  leads  to  the  absurd  con- 
clusion that  the  secondary  effect  of  gravitation,  through  the  con- 
densation and  expansion*  of  air,  may  exceed  that  of  its  direct 
action. 

Obviously  the  best  the  bird  can  do  to  sustain  his  elevation  in 
still  air,  will  be,  by  suitable  position  of  his  wings,  to  effect  a  suc- 
cession of  descents  and  ascents,  thus  utilizing,  not  only  the  con- 
densation produced  by  his  descent,  but  a}so  the  momentum 
acquired  by  his  velocity. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


1 886.]  Zoology.  295 

It  follows,  therefore,  that  soaring  birds  utilize  two  forces,  viz.; 
gravity  and  the  motion  of  the  atmosphere,  and  that  without  atmos- 
.pheric  motion  other  than  that  produced  by  his  descent,  a  soaring 
bird  cannot  for  an  instant  maintain^  undiminished,  his  energy  of 
position.—/.  E,  Hendricks,  Des  Moines,  Iowa,  Jan,  14.,  1886.    • 

On  the  Types  of  Tooth-structure  in  Mammalia. — The  trifid 
form  of  the  lower  molar  of  the  genus  Monachus  and  of  Meso- 
nyx  is  in  reality  repeated  in  the  cusps  of  the  molars  of  Ungu- 
lata  generally.  In  Sus  the  second  upper  molar  cusp^  sends  a  long 
basal  process  forward  and  outward  toward  the  canine  cusp  and 
may  be  said  to  represent  the  anterior  cuspule  of  the  trifid  figure 
of  the  plan  of  cusp  itself,  while  the  posterior  cuspule  is  aborted. 
The  bicuspid  cusp  exhibits  a  small  anterior  cuspule  which  ex- 
tends directly  outward  to  reach  the  base  of  the  canine  cusp.  Both 
the  ridges  formed  by  these  cuspules  are  the  first  to  become  worn 
in  mastication.  This  plan  of  arrangement  is  repeated  in  several 
extinct  genera,  among  which  may  be  mentioned  Phenacodus  and 
Hyracotherium. 

In  Hyracotherium  cuspidatun^  the  cuspule  is  placed  obliquely 
to  the  true  molar  cusp,  precisely  as  in  Gymnura,  instead  of  being 
continuous  with  the  cusp.  The  differences  between  the  cusp  and 
the  oblique  prolongation  of  the  first  molar  cusp  forward  and  in- 
ward being  one  of  degree  only. 

In  Ftiolophus  vintanu^  the  arrangement  of  the  cusps  appears 
to  be  exactly  that  of  Sus.  The  only  features  which  are  lacking 
are  those  of  the  heel  of  the  tooth  and  the  shapes  of  the  cusps 
themselves. 

It  may  be  said  that  the  presence  of  ridges,  especially  of 
the  oblique  ridges,  entering  into  the  triturating  surfaces  of  the 
tooth,  relate  to  the  survival  of  the  small  basal  cuspules  of  the 
trifid  figure.  As  may  be  easily  supposed  the  direction  of  the 
ridges  is  subject  to  much  variation.  In  man  such  direction  is 
along  a  line  which  connects  the  first  molar  and  the  bicuspid 
cusps,  and  this  arrangement  appears  again  in  Hippopotamus.  In 
Mastodon  americanus  and  Achaenodon  the  cusps  are  without  cus- 
pules, which  are  seen  only  in  aberrant  examples  of  the  last 
molars.     In  the  former  genus  they  have  been  figured  by  Leidy.* 

The  ridges  representing  the  cuspules  are  unnamed  in  any  reg- 
ular manner  by  authors.  They  are  said  by  Owen'  to  exist  in  the 
human  tooth  only.  Leidy  calls  them  the  '*  accessory  eminences," 
Cop^  the  "  lesser  tubercles,"  "  crests,"  etc.    They  enter  into  the 

^  The  nomenclature  of  the  cusps  proposed  by  me  in  1874  {Denial  Cosmos,  XVT,  p. 
617)  is  here  followed. 
•Cope.    Wheeler's  Survey,  iv,  p.  267,  pi.  LXV,  fig.  18. 
■Ibid,  pi.  LXV,  fig.  I. 

*  Extinct  Mammalia  of  Dakota  and  Nebraska,  p.  345,  pi.  XXVIT,  f«  13,  15. 

*  Odontography,  p.  453. 

^Journ.  of  Acad,  of  Nat.  Sci.,  1874. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


^g6  Genera/  Notes.  [Mardi, 

*'  interstitial "  type  of  tooth  of  Ryder*  They  constitute  in  part  the 
intermediate  (median  denticules)  cusps  of  Gaudry.'  The  object  of 
the  cuspule  is  to  support  the  cusp,  to  the  base  of  which  it  is  attached. 
Indeed,  it  presents  the  first  attempt  to  modify  the  bunodont  type  of 
dentition  toiyard  the  lophodont  type.  It  is  consistently  main-^ 
tained  only  when  the  strain  of  impact  is  of  moderate  amount. 
Should  the  strain  become  excessive  the  lateral  border  of  the  tooth 
is  arched  inward,  as  first  pointed  out  by  Ryder.'  In  the  presence 
of  these  strong  arches  or  fiutings  the  main  surfaces  of  attrition 
no  longer  need  the  basal  cusp  supports  and  they  disappear.  This 
change  is  illustrated  in  Paleosyops  and  Limnohyus. 

When  a  tooth  becomes  worn  and  an  island  of  dentine  appears 
at  the  summit  of  the  cuspule  it  is  often  seen  to  be  obliquely 
placed  to  the  main  cusp.  This  is  occasionally  seen  in  Achxno- 
don  and  Mastodon  and  constantly  in  Hippopotamus.  A  key  is  in 
this  way  aflforded  to  interpret  the  islands  of  the  complex  tooth  of 
Phacochaerus.  Care  should  be  taken,  not  to  be  misled  in  applying 
this  method  of  interpretation  to  intricate  types  of  tooth-structure, 
such  as  Polymastodon  and  its  allies,  for  in  these  genera  there  ex- 
ist true  cusps  only  (cuspules  being  entirely  absent),  and  the  third 
row  of  islands  (when  such  exists)  being  simply  a  linear  row  of 
well-defined  characters  placed  along  the  border  of  the  tooth. 

A  tooth  that  has  been  for  a  long  time  subjected  to  the  action  of  a 
dilute  acid  is  entirely  deprived  of  its  enamel,  and  permits  the  super- 
ficies df  the  dentine  to  be  clearly  seen.  It  is  of  interest  to  note 
that  the  cusps  upon  the  dentine  of  a  tooth  thus  prepared,  while 
corresponding  in  a  general  way  to  those  on  the  free  enamel  surface, 
are  sufficiently  distinct  therefrom  to  aflford  material  for  comparisons, 
and  to  suggest  relationships  of  a  different  character  from  those 
determined  by  the  study  of  the  entire  tooth.  Thus  the  dentine 
cusps  of  the  premolars  of  Sus  suggest  the  form  of  the  correspond- 
ing teeth  in  Monachus  and  of  Mesonyx.  The  cusps  of  the  third 
molar  of  Sus  are  strikingly  like  the  molars  of  the  Insectivora  and 
of  lower  molars  of  the  genus  Bathyopsis.  In  like  manner  the 
dentinal  surface  of  an  aberrant  molar  tooth  of  man  presents  the 
essential  features  of  teeth  so  remote  as  to  recall  the  type  seen  in 
Centetes,  Gymnura,*  Chrysochloris,  as  well  as  in  the  numerous 
ancestral  types  described  by  Cope  from  the  North  American 
Eocene.* 

A  practical  method  of  studying  teeth  with  the  object  in  view  of 

>  Proc.  of  Acad,  of  Natural  Sciences,  1878,  45. 

'  Les  Enchainements  du  Monde  Animal,  Paris,  1878,  70. 

•Loc  cit. 

^The  arrangement  seen  in  Sus  is  the  same  essentially  as  in  Gymnura.  The  minut« 
cuspule  on  the  crown  of  the  first  upper  molar  is  in  precisely  the  same  position  as  in 
Sus  and,  indeed,  answers  to  it  in  every  respect  in  the  description  of  Mr.  D^bson  ex- 
cept that  it  is  not  connected  to  the  anterior  inner  cusp  as  named  by  that  author.  It  is 
a  little  curious  that  the  dental  formula  of  Gymnura  is  the  same  as  in  Sus. 

•Report  U.  S.  Geo.  Sur.  of  Territory,  in,  1884. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


i886.]  Zoology.  297 

determining  lines  of  descent  is  thus  presented.  The  enamel 
organ  of  generalized  types  it  would  seem  furnishes  groups  of 
characters  which  are  probably  secondary  in  value  (since  the  sev- 
eral parts  of  the  orgaii  indicate  wide  ranges  of  variation  and  of 
great  adaptivity)  to^  those  yielded  by  the  modulations  of  the 
surfaces  of  the  dentine. — Harrison  Allen, 

An  Extraordinary  Human  Dentition. — A  gentleman  living 
in  Charles  City,  Iowa,  recently  exhibited  to  me  the  following  re- 
markable dentition.  To  name  the  teeth  from  their  forms,  the 
formula  would  be  as  follows :  I.  { ;  C.  J ;  Pm.  f ;  M.  f|.  By  po- 
sition the  formula  would  read  thus :  1. 1 ;  C.  | ;  Pm.  right  side 
f ;  left  side,  ^^l^^^\  M.  f.  The  first  true  molars  in  both  jaws 
have  a  small  accessory  lobe  on  th^  inner  side  of  the  anterior 
inner  tubercle.  A  brother  of  this  gentleman  has  the  following 
dental  formula:  I.  J;  Q.\\  Pm.  \ ;  M.  f.  A  sister  presents  the 
following :  1. 1 ;  C.  | ;  Pm.  1 7 »  ^*  I*  A  grandmother  has  the 
incisors  |. — E.  D.  Cope. 

Zoological  News. — Echinodermata. — H.  Ayers,  who  has  studied 
the  sphsridia  of  Echinoids  both  at  Cambridge  and  Banyuls, 
asserts  (Quart  Jour.  Mic.  Sci.,  Nov.,  1885)  that  these  organs  have 
great  specialization  of  parts,  especially  of  the  nerve-cells,  and 
that,  as  before  considered  probable  by  Loven,  the  evidence  at 
present  is  in  favor  of  the  view  that  they  have  the  combined  func- 
tions of  taste  and  sihell.  Sounds  do  not  appear  to  affect  the 
sphaeridia  in  the  least,  while  the  spines  and  pedicellaris  are  at 
once  affected,  and  the  adjacent  spines  direct  themselves  toward 

the  source  of  sound. During  the  Talisman  expedition  fifty-four 

species  of  starfish  were  found,  some  from  more  than  4000  meters. 
Thirty-five  of  these  species  are  new,  and  afford  instructive  com- 
binations of  characters. 

MMusca. — Paul  Pelseneer  (Quart.  Jour.  Mic.  Sci.,  Oct.,  1885) 
describes  the  cephalic  appendages  of  Clione,  Clionopsis  and 
Pneumodermon.  From  this  it  appears  that  all  these  genera  have 
two  pairs  of  tentacles,  the  posterior  with  eyes ;  and  that  Clione 
and  Pneumodermon  are  also  possessed  of  buccal  appendages^ 
which  in  the  latter  genus  are  provided  with  suckers.  The  tenta- 
cles are  probably  homologous  with  those  of  ordinary  gastropods. 
Professor  Ray  Lankester  calls  attention  to  the  fact  that  sixty- 

*  The  more  simple  forms  of  teeth,  sach  as  those  of  the  molar  series  of  the  peccary, 
^how  scarcely  any  diflferences  between  the  enamel  and  the  dentine  surfaces,  and  it 
may  be  reasonably  expected  that  the  greatest  contrasts  will  be  seen  in  the  teeth  which 
present  on  the  enamel  the  largest  number  of  cuspules  and  cinguta  which  bear  rows 
of  mammilations.  The  position  of  all  small  cusps  between  the  four  principal  cusps 
of  the  bunodont  molar,  is  either  directly  between  the  cusps  or  placed  obliquely  to 
them.  When  in  the  position  first  named  they  represent  the  highest  degree  of  special- 
ization attained  by  the  molars  of  the  carnivores,  or  they  exhibit  a  tendency  toward 
the  development  of  the  transverse  ridge  of  the  tapirodont  type  of  tooth.  When  in 
the  position  last  named  the  cuspule  dcFcribed  above  leads  to  the  oblique  crest  seen  in 
Pilieotheriuic  and  its  allies. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


298  General  Notes.  [March, 

five  years  ago  Mr.  Benj.  Gaillou  made  known  Jl^e  fact  that  the 
green  coloring  of  the  European  oyster  (<?.  edulis\  is  due  to  the 
fact  that  it  feeds  upon  a  diatom,  the  Navicuia  ostrearia  Gaillou. 
This  has  been  persistently  ignored  by  the  advocates  of  the  copper 
theory,  possibly  because  of  the  peculiar  blue-green  of  the  gill 
lamellx,  etc.,  of  the  oyster.  The  Navicula  in  question  contains  a 
blue-green  pigment  diffused  through  its  protoplasm.  This  pig- 
ment is  absorbed  by  the  blood  of  the  oyster  from  the  contents 
of  its  alimentary  canal,  and  collected  by  certain  secretive  cells 
which  are  limited  to  the  surEace  of  the  branchiae  and  the  adoral 
face  of  the  labial  tentacles. 

Arthropoda. — ].  S.  Kingsley  contributes  to  the  Quart.  Jour.  Mic. 
Science  (Oct.  1885),  some  notes  on  the  embryology  of  Limulus. 
He  regards  Limulus  as  an  arachnid,  but  states  that  it  takes  us 
back  to  a  time  when  the  distinctions  between  the  Crustacea  and 
Arachnida  were  far  less  marked  than  now.     He  also  describes  the 

outlet  in  the  embryo  of  the  brick-red  glands. From  an  article 

in  the  Quart.  Jour,  Mic.  Science,  by  Professor  A.  Sedgwick,  it 
appears  that  there  are  two  species  of  Peripatus,  P.  capensis  dLtid  bal- 
fouri.  The  latter  has  eighteen  pairs  of  fully  developed  legs,  and  is 
of  smaller  size  than  the  better  known  species.  The  male  organs 
of  Peripatus  are  a  couple  of  blind  tubes,  united  near  their  ter- 
mination. It  does  not  appear  that  any  portion  can  be  extruded, 
and  the  spermatophores  seem  to  be  deposited  upon  any  part,  even 
on  the  head,  of  the  female.  Yet  the  uterus  of  the  female,  con- 
sisting of  two  tubes  closely  applied,  is  always  full  ot  embryos. 

Fishes. — Dr.  J.  Beard  gives,  as  the  result  of  a  continued  study 
of  the  branchial  sense  organs  in  the  Ichthyopsida  (Quart  Jour. 
Mic.  Sci.,  Nov.  1885),  the  conclusion  that  at  present  we  are 
acquainted  with  no  invettebrate  nervous  system  which  is  built  upon 
the  same  plan  as  that  of  vertebrates. 

Birds, — Dr.  Hans  Gadow  has  examined  the  three  species  of 
Rhea.  The  loner-billed  appearance  of  R.  macrorhyncha  is  due  less 
to  a  larger,  stronger  bill  than  to  a  narrower  and  more  slender 
skull.  The  three  species  have  each  thirty-three  vertebrae  from 
the  atlas  to  and  including  the  first  primitive  sacral  vertebra,  but 
R.  macrorhyncha  has  one  cervical  vertebra  more  and  one  lumbar 
less  than  the  other  species.  R,  darwini  is  restricted  to  Eastern 
Patagonia  and  Southeastern  Argentina;  R.  macrorhyncha  to  the 
provinces  of  Pernambuco  and  Bahia ;  while  R.  americana  ranges 
from  Bolivia  and  Matto  Grosso  to  Uruguay,  but  does  not  seem  to 
occur  in  the  south-eastern  provinces  of  Brazil.  In  R,  darwini 
the  neck  is  shortest,  the  forelimb  longest,  the  toes  longest,  the 
bill  shortest,  the  scutes  on  the  metatarsus  fewest.  This  is  thus 
the  most  distinct  species,  yet  the  long  neck  and  slender  head  of 

R.  macrorhyncha  are  sufficient  to  distinguish  it. Mr.  Sclater 

has  described  a  new  Phasianus  from  Northern  Afghanistan.  The 
wings  have  a  patch  of  white,  and  the  feathers  of  the  belly  are 


Digitized  by  VjOOQlf. 


1 886  ]  Embryology,  259 

broadly  tipped  with  bright  purplish-black. ^The  third  list  of 

birds  collected  in  Ecuador  by  M.  Stolzmann  contains  twelve  new 
species.  L.  Taczanowski  and  Count  Berlepsch  contribute  the 
article  (P.  Z.  S.,  1885),  and  the  latter  appends  some  general  con- 
siderations on  the  ornithology  of  Western  Ecuador.  This  fauna 
now  includes  46S  species,  besides  eighty-five  from  Pichincha,  Nan- 
egal  and  Quito.  Eastern  Ecuador  must  be  richer  in  birds,  since 
Messrs.  Sclater  and  Salvin  state  that  Mr.  Buckley  collected  nearly 
800  species  there.     It  also  appears  that  there  are  but  few  species 

peculiar  to  Elcuador  as  a  whole. It  appears  from  a  note  of 

Professor  Owen,  that  the  heart  of  the  Apteryx  has  characters 
resembling  those  of  Ornithorhynchus.  This  is  especially  the 
case  with  the  auriculo-ventricular  valve. 

BMBRYOLOaY.* 

The  Development  of  Anurida  m/vritima  Guerin. — During 
the  latter  part  of  the  summer  of  1883  I  had  good  opportunities 
to  study  the  development  of  this  interesting  insect  at  Wood's 
HoU,  Mass.,  where  I  found  its  ova,  together  with  the  parent 
insects,  in  great  numbers  under  stones  along  the  beach  just  below 
high-water  mark.  This  appears  to  be  the  same  species  as  is 
mentioned  by  Dr.  Packard  in  the  U.  S.  Fish  Commission  report 
for  1 87 1  and  '72.  p.  544-  The  observations  which  I  have  been 
able  to  make  relate  entirely  to  such  changes  in  the  egg  as  may 
be  noted  with  reflected  and  transmitted  light,  as  I  did  not  prepare 
sections  of  the  eggs  at  the  time.  The  accompanying  plate  rep- 
resents several  stages  of  the  development  •of  this  type,  and  I  have 
also  figured  the  adult  so  that  it  may  be  compared  with  the  gen- 
era Achorutes,  Lipura,  Anura,  etc.,  to  which  it  is  obviously  very 
nearly  allied. 

The  adults  are  bluish-gray,  and  measure  about  2.25"*"*  in 
length ;  ocelli  ten,  five  on  each  side;  no  spring  or  elater  devel- 
oped in  the  full-grown  inject. 

The  eggs  are  quite  opaque,  or  practically  so  when  observed 
with  transmitted  light,  and  measure  .36  of  a  millimeter  in  diame- 
ter. They  are  dirty  yellow  in  color  and  not  white  as  are  the  eggs 
of  Isotoma  described  by  Dr.  Packard  in  his  memoir'  on  the  de- 
velopment of  that  genus. 

When  the  young  Anurida  first  leaves  the  egg  it  strongly  resem- 
bles Achorutes  in  the  form  of  its  body,  as  may  be  gathered  from 
Figs.  3  and  4,  and  like  the  adults  of  that  genus  is  whitish  in 
color.  The  bluish,  velvety  appearance  of  the  integument  or 
cuticula  which  characterizes  the  adult  does  not  appear  to  be 
developed  until  some  days  after  hatching,  or  until  one  or  more 
ecdyses  have  been  accomplished.    The  eggs  of  this  species  are 

^  Edited  by  John  A.  Ryder,  Smithsonian  Institution,  Washington,  D.  C. 
*  Embryological  studies  on  Diplax,  Perithemis  and  the  thysanurous  genus  Iso- 
toma.   Mem.  Peabody  Acad.  3ciences,  Vol.  i,  No.  il,  187 1,  pp.  15-21,  plate  3. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


300  General  Notes,  [March, 

also  over  twice  the  diameter  of  those  of  Isotoma,  which  measure 
only  about  .15  of  a  millimeter  in  diameter,  so  that  there  is  more 
yolk  present  and  development  is  much  more  extremely  mero- 
blastic  or  decidedly  epicyemate  in  character.  This .  will  be  evi- 
dent if  Figs.  9,  10,  II  and  12  are  compared  with  the  earliest 
stages  of  Isotoma  figured  by  Packard  in  the  memoir  just  cited. 

One  feature  in  the  development  of  Anurida  which  has  inter- 
ested me  greatly  is  the  presence  of  a  very  rudimentary  spring  or 
elater,  el^  shown  from  below  in  Fig.  4  and  from  the  side  in  Fig.  3. 
This  appendage,  which  probably  represents  a  pair  of  degenerate 
limbs,  is  produced  from  the  anterior,  inferior  part  of  the  fourth 
abdominal  segment,  but  on  the  ventral  side  of  the  adult  no  sign 
of  its  presence  is  visible,  as  may  be  gathered  from  an  examination 
of  Fig.  I.  This  organ  in  Anurida  does  not  arise  from  the  penul- 
timate segment,  as  in  Isotoma,  as  stated  by  Packard,  but  from  the 
antepenultimate  or  fourth  abdominal  segment  which  is  in  reality 
the  one  from  which  the  elater  arises  in  such  genera  of  CoUem- 
bola,  as  Lepidocyrtus,  Triaena,  Tomocerus,  etc.  In  the  just- 
hatched  larval  Anurida,  the  elater  is  developed  to  exactly  the 
same  degree  as  in  Triana  fnirabilis  TuUb.,  according  to  Brook.^ 
The  inference,  therefore,  is  that  the  springless  genera  of  CoUem- 
bola  are  degenerated  forms  which  have  descended  from  others 
which  were  provided  with  well-developed  elaters.  In  fact  it  is 
now  possible  to  trace  the  gradual  degeneration  of  the  elater 
through  the  genera  Achorutes,  Xenylla,  Triaena  and  the  young 
of  the  species  under  consideration  here.  Linking  this  series  with 
those  having  a  more  developed  elater  and  tenaculum,  and  these 
again  with  such  forms  as  Campodea  and  Machilis,  we  realize  what 
a  remarkable  series  of  differential  changes  the  abdominal  appen- 
dages of  the  Thysanura  and  Collembola  have  undergone,  starting 
probably  from  the  still  less  modified  Symphyla,  in  which  there  is 
no  differentiation  even  between  the  appendages  of  the  thorax  and 
abdomen. 

The  earliest  stages  were  not  considered,  as  the  ova  were  too 
opaque  to  be  studied  by  transmitted  light,  and  the  earliest  intima- 
tion of  the  formation  of  the  germ  is  shown  in  Fig.  8  at  ^^,  the  germ- 
band  being  viewed  in  profile  transversely  or  from  one  end.  The 
germ-band  or  ventral  plate  forms  a  pronounced  thickening  which 
lies  on  one  side  of  the  vitellus,  with  its  longest  diameter  coin- 
ciding with  the  longer  diameter  of  the  egg.  This  germinal  band 
soon  becomes  widest  anteriorly,  as  shown  by  the  transverse  pro- 
file views  of  it  represented  by  Figs.  11  and  12.  From  these  and 
a  lateral  profile  view  (Fig.  lo)  oi  the  same  stage,  I  have  con- 
structed the  diagrammatic  representation  (Fig.  9)  of  the  germ- 
band  as  it  would  be  seen  by  reflected  light,  or  as  an  opaque 
object,  extending  over  very  nearly  a  semicircumference  of  the 

'  Journ.  Linn.  Soc.  London,  xvii»  1882,  pp.  21-22,  pi,  7,  figs.  11  and  12. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


PLATE  XV. 


Development  of  Anurida. 


Digitized  by 


Go 


Digitized  by 


Google 


1 886. 1  Embryology.  30 1 

vitellus.  In  the  later  profile  (Fig.  10)  the  germ-band  shows  the 
appendages  of  the  embryo  developed  as  follows :  the  antennae  at^ 
the  mandibles  md,  the  maxillae  mx^  the  three  pairs  of  legs.  /,  2 
and  J,  the  collophoral  segment,  i,  and  the  following  abdominal 
segments  up  to  vi.  In  the  next  stage,  when  it  may  be  said  that 
the  embryo  is  already  beginning  to  lengthen,  as  shown  in  Fig.  7, 
the  ventral  plate,  with  its  appendages,  is  no  longer  convex  when 
viewed  laterally  in  profile,  but  becomes  strongly  concave  or  bent 
upon  itself,  and  it  then  appears  as  if  it  had  been  shortened,  the 
embryonic  appendages  being  also  much  crowded  together  at  their 
distal  ends,  as  shown  in  Figs.  6  and  7,  which  represent  the  same 
stage  viewed  from  in  front  and  in  profile.  In  the  course  of  fur- 
ther development  the  embryo  increases  still  more  in  length,  as 
shown  in  Fig.  5 ,  when  it  may  be  said  that  the  definitive  form  of 
the  parent  animal  begins  to  be  obvious.  By  this  time  the  limbs 
and  antennae  have  become  definitely  segmented.  During  the 
earlier  stages  the  limbs,  antennae,  coUophore,  etc.,  had  the  form 
of  mere  blunt,  paired  papillae,  or  of  blunt,  clavate,  tentacle-like 
paired  outgrowths  from  the  lateral  surfaces  of  the  ventral  plate  or 
elongated  germinal  area. 

The  changes  which  determine  the  appropriation  of  the  yolk,  or 
whether  a  dorsal  organ  is  developed  which  takes  part  in  this  or 
not,  as  held  by  Korotnefif  in  the  case  of  Gryllotalpa,  are  points 
which  have  not  been  made  out.  This,  as  well  as  the  manner  in 
ivhich  the  blastoderm  is  formed,  can  only  be  made  out  by  means 
of  sections. 

The  eggs,  as  well  as  the  adult  animals,  are  not  readily  wetted 
with  water  or  even  in  dilute  alcohol.  I  have  succeeded  in  har- 
dening them  by  treating  them  first  with  weak  alcohol  and  after- 
wards placing  them  in  dilute  chromic  acid  or  Miiller's  fluid. 

The  egg  of  this  species,  after  the  formation  of  the  germinal 
plate,  is  invested  by  an  inner  covering,  1,  and  an  outer  one,  ii  as 
shown  in  Figs.  8  and  10.  By  very  careful  manipulation  under  a 
compressor  the  outer  one  may  be  ruptured,  when  it  will  be  dis- 
covered that  the  inner  one  is  wrinkled  in  the  most  singularly 
symmetrical  fashion,  as  represented  in  Fig.  8.  Whether  this  sec- 
ond wrinkled  covering  is  the  serous  envelope  or  amnion  I  am  not 
certain.  It  may  be  that  it  is  a  cuticular  chitinous  secretion  from 
the  cells  of  the  blastoderm,  such  as  has  been  found  by  Kingsley^ 
to  invest  the  embryo  of  Limulus  while  yet  in  the  egg.  Inside 
the  second  egg-envelope,  and  between  it  and  the  ovum  proper, 
there  is  a  very  considerable  perivitelline  space,  /r,  developed. 

Imperfect  as  these  notes  are,  I  publish  them,  first,  because  the 
development  of  this  form  differs  greatly  in  its  external  features 
from  that  of  Isotoma.  described  by  Packard ;  secondly,  because 
the  development  of  this  type  recapitulates  very  briefly  the  devel- 

^  Notes  on  the  embiyology  of  Limulus.    Quart.  Journ.  Mic.  Sd.,  Oct.,  1885. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


302  General  Notes.  [March, 

opment  of  the  elater,  so  characteristic  of  the  Colletnbola,  indi- 
cating, as  it  seems  to  me,  that  that  organ,  in  the  genera  in  which 
it  is  absent  or  rudimentary,  has  been  lost  through  degeneration  ; 
and  thirdly,  because  the  egg  is  more  decidedly  meroblastic  or 
teleplasmic  than  that  of  Isotoma. — 3^okn  A.  Ryder. 

PHYSIOIiOOY.* 

Report  of  Committee  on  Disinfeciants  of  the  American 
Public  Health  Association. — A  little  more  than  a  year  ago  the 
Public  Health  Association,  stirred  up  by  the  prospective  speedy- 
advent  of  cholera  in  this  country,  took  steps  to  arm  both  practition- 
ers of  medicine  and  the  public  at  large  against  not  only  that  dis- 
ease but  all  ailments  supposed  to  ewe  their  existence  to  "  germs." 
A  committee  was  appointed  consisting  of  Drs.  Sternberg  and 
Smart,  of  the  Army,  Raymond,  of  Brooklyn,  Vaughan,  of  Ann 
Arbor,  Leeds,  of  New  Jersey,  Watkins,  of  New  Orleans,  and 
Rohe,  of  Baltimore,  to  -investigate  the  efficiency  of  the  various 
obtainable  germicides  and  antiseptics  in  respect  to  sanitation  and 
preventive  medicine.  Probably  no  more  competent  and  conscien- 
tious workers  than  are  some,  if  not  all  of  the  members  of  this 
committee,  could  have  been  chosen  to  carry  out  this  difficult 
undertaking.  The  report  opens  by  clearing  away  a  common  con- 
fusion of  terms.  An  antiseptic  is  a  substance  which  simply  pre- 
vents or  arrests  the  development  of  bacterial  organisms ;  a  disifp- 
fectant  or  germicide  is  a  substance  which  kills  them.  All  disin- 
fectants are  antiseptics,  but  not  all  antiseptics  are  disinfectants. 
The  work  of  the  committee  was  limited  to  the  study  of  the  dis- 
infecting properties  of  the  substances  investigated. 

The  report  consists  partly  of  the  descriptions  of  original  experi- 
ments, and  partly  of  historical  essays,  embodying  the  results  of 
the  most  trustworthy  investigators  in  this  field.  The  general 
reader  would  search  in  vain  the  mass  of  bacteria  literature  to  find 
some  definite  idea  of  the  comparative  value  of  different  disinfec- 
tants ;  but  in  the  work  before  us  the  confusion  is  reduced  to  a 
minimum,  because  the  many  different  substances  investigated  are 
considered  from  the  same  standpoint  and  after  the  same  methods. 
It  means  very  little  when  one  experimenter  declares  that  chromic 
acid,  for  example,  is  an  antiseptic  in  the  proportion  i  :  looo,  and 
another  that  carbolic  acid  has  the  same  power  when  of  the  strength 
I  :  500;  for  the  more  concentrated  the  strength  of  the  germ-food 
solution  the  greater  must  be  the  concentration  of  the  antiseptic  to 
be  efficient,  and  a  percentage  of  antiseptic,  that  would  prevent  the 
development  of  germs  for  the  space  of  three  days,  might  be  lived 
down  by  bacteria  in  the  course  of  six. 

Mercuric  chloride  as  a  disinfectant  easily  stands  at  the  head  of 
substances   readily  obtainable.     As  this  substance  is  a  violent 

1  This  department  is  edited  by  Professor  Hsnry  S£WALL,of  Ana  Arbor,  Michigan. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


i8«6.|  Physiology.  303 

poison  objection  has  been  made  to  its  use  that  when  thrown  into 
vaults  it  might  soak  through  the  earth  and  contaminate  the  drinks 
ing  water  in  wells  or  cisterns ;  Dr.  Vaughan,  however,  has  shown 
that  when  solutions  of  mercuric  chloride  are  filtered  through 
various  kinds  of  soil,  the  filtrate  contains  no  trace  of  mercury ; 
the  bichloride  having  probably  been  decoipposed  in  the  earth, 
the  mercury  forming  insoluble  salts  with  carbonates  and  phos* 
phates  with  which  it  has  come  into  contact.  Its  destructive  action 
on  lead  pipes  presents  one  important  objection  to  the  domestic 
use  of  the  mercury  salt  Some  bacterial  organisms  reproduce 
themselves  by  means  of  spores,  and  these  latter  are  very  much 
more  resistant  toward  germicidal  influence  than  are  the  active 
organisms.  The  conclusions  arrived  at  by  the  committee  are  of 
so  great  practical  importance  and  are  so  concisely  stated  that 
they  will  be  stated  here  nearly  in  extenso. 

The  most  useful  agents  for  the  destruction  of  spore-containing 
infectious  material  are :  i.  Fire.  Complete  destruction  by  burn- 
ing. 2.  Steam  under  pressure.  1 10°  C.  (230*^  Fahr.)  for  ten  min- 
utes. ^.  Boi/ing  in  water  {or  one  hour.  4.  Chloride  if  lime.  I  to  4 
per  cent  solution.     5.  Mercuric  chloride.     A  solution  of  I  :  500. 

For  the  destruction  of  infectious  material  which  owes  its  infecting 
power  to  micro-organisms  not  containing  spores^  the  committee 
recommends:  i.  Fire.  Complete  destruction  by  burning.  2. 
Boiling  in  water  half  an  hour.  3.  Dry  heat.  1 10°  C.  (230°  Fahr.) 
for  two  hours.  4.  Chloride  if  lime,  i  to  4  per  cent  solution.  5. 
Solution  of  chlorifuited  soda.  5  to  20  per  cent  solution.  6.  Mer- 
turic'cltloride.  A  solution  of  i  :  looo  to  i  :4000.  7.  Sulphur 
dioxide.  Expose  for  twelve  hours  to  an  atmosphere  containing  at 
least  4  volumes  per  cent  of  this  gas,  preferably  in  presence  of  mois- 
ture (this  requires  the  combustion  of  3  to  4  lbs.  sulphur  for  every 
icxx)  cubic  feet  of  air  space).  8.  Carbolic  acid,  2  to  5  per  cent 
solution.  9.  Sulphate  of  copper,  2  to  5  per  cent  solution.  10. 
Chloride  of  zinc,  4  to  10  percent  solution. 

The  committee  would  make  the  following  recommendations 
with  reference  to  the  practical  application  of  these  agents  for  dis- 
infecting purposes : 

For  excreta. — (a)  In  the  sick  room :  For  spore-containing 
material,  i.  Chloride  of  lime  in  solution,  4  per  cent.  2.  Mer- 
curic chloride  in  solution,  i  :  500  (the  addition  of  an  equal  quan- 
tity of  potassium  permanganate  as  a  deodorant  and  to  give  color  to 
the  solution  is  recommended).  In  the  absence  of  spores;  carbolic 
acid  in  solution,  5  per  cent.  4.  Sulphate  of  copper  in  solution, 
5  per  cent  5.  Chloride  of  zinc  in  solution,  10  per  cent  (*)  In 
privy  vaults ;  mercuric  chloride  in  solution,  i  :  500.  Chloride  of 
lime  in  powder  (it  is  well  to  dilute  by  mixing  with  plaster  of  paris 
or  clean  sand). 

For  clothing,  bedding,  etc. — {a)  Soiled  underclothing,  bed  linen, 
etc.  I.  Destruction  by  fire,  if  of  little  value.  2.  Boiling  for  at 
least  half  an  hour.     3.  Immersion  in  solution  of  mercuric  chloride 


Digitized  by 


Google 


304  General  Notes,  [March, 

of  strength  i  12000  for  four  hours.  4.  Immersion  in  a  2  per 
cent  solution  of  carbolic  acid  for  four  hours,  (d)  Garments  which 
would  be  injured  by  the  above  treatment :  i.  Exposure  to  dry 
heat  at  a  temperature  of  1 10**  C.  (230°  Fahr.)  for  two  hours.  2. 
Fumigation  with  sulphurous  acid  gas  for  at  least  twelve  hours, 
the  clothing  being  freely  exposed  and  the  gas  present  in  the  dis- 
infection chamber  in  the  proportion  of  4  volumes  per  cent,  {c) 
Mattresses  and  blankets  soiled  by  the  discharges  of  the  sick  :  i. 
Destruction  by  fire.  2.  Exposure  to  super-heated  steam — 25 
lbs.  pressure — ^for  one  hour  (mattresses  to  be  freely  opened).  3, 
Immersion  in  boiling  water  for  one  hour.  4.  Immersion  in  solu- 
tion of  mercuric  chloride  and  sulphate  of  copper. 

Furniture  and  articles  of  wood,  leather  and  porcelain,  washing, 
several  times  repeated,  with  :  i.  Solution  of  mercuric  chloride  i : 
1000.  2.  Solution  of  chloride  of  lime,  i  per  cent.  3.  Solution 
of  carbolic  acid,  2  per  cent. 

Far  the  person. — The  hands  and  general  surface  of  the  body  of 
attendants,  of  the  sick  ancl  of  convalescents  at  the  time  of  their 
discharge  from  the  hospital :  i.  Solution  of  chlorinated  soda  i  to 
9  of  water.  2.  Carbolic  acid,  2  per  cent  solution.  3.  Mercuric 
chloride  i  :  1000 ;  the  latter  recommended  only  for  the  hands 
or  for  washing  away  infectious  material  from  a  limited  area,  not 
as  a  bath  for  the  entire  surface  of  the  body. 

For  the  dead. — Envelope  the  body  in  a  sheet  thoroughly  satu- 
rated with  :  i.  Chloride  of  lime  in  solution,  4  per  cent.  2.  Mer- 
curic chloride  in  solution,  i  :  500.  3.  Carbolic  acid  in  solution, 
5  per  cent 

•  Recent  Investigations  on  the  Respiratory  Center. — Our 
knowledge  of  the  respiratory  center  dates  from  the  work  of  Le 
Gallois,  in  the  early  part  of  this  century.  He  located  this  center 
in  the  medulla  oblong^ata,  confining  it  indeed  to  a  very  limited  por- 
tion of  the  medulla  in  the  region  of  the  origin  of  the  vagus  nerve. 
Flourens  repeated  Le  Gallois's  experiments  and  localized  the  cen- 
ter to  a  small  spot  in  the  gray  matter  at  the  level  of  the  calamus 
scriptorius  which  he  named  the  "  noend  vital."  Later  workers 
demonstrated  that  the  respiratory  center  of  the  medulla  is  bilat- 
eral. Longitudinal  sections  along  the  middle  line  of  the  medulla 
do  not  prevent  the  respiratory  movements  from  taking  place.  No 
part  of  physiology  seems  to  have  been  more  generally  accepted 
than  the  existence  of  this  center  in  the  medulla,  though  its  exact 
position  has  always  been  and  is  still  a  matter  of  controversy.  In 
1873  Gierke  made  a  thorough  investigation  of  the  subject,  his 
method  being  to  make  lessons  of  different  portions  of  the  medulla, 
as  narrowly  localized  as  possible ;  and  after  observing  the  effects 
of  his  section  to  harden  the  medulla  and  study  the  lesion  by 
means  of  microscopic  sections.  He  found  that  destruction  of  a 
small  area  in  the  region  of  the  end  of  the  calamus  scriptorius  on 
both  sides  was  followed  by  a  complete  cessation  of  the  respira- 


Digitized  by 


Google 


1886.]  Physiology.  305 

toiy  movements.  Microscopic  study  of  this  region  convinced 
him  that  the  spot  whose  destruction  had  this  effect  was  a  bundle 
of  nerve^  fibers  lying  outside  of  the  nucleus  of  the  spinal  accessory 
nerve  and  below  the  nucleus  of  the  posterior  pyramid.  This 
result  was  of  course  very  unsatisfactory.  According  to  the  pres- 
ent conceptions  of  physiologists  nerve  centers  must  always  con- 
sist of  nerve  cells,  and  it  is  not  conceivable  that  automatic  stimuli 
can  arise  in  nerve  fibers.  If  investigations  had  rested  here  this 
collection  of  fibers  could  only  be  looked  upon  as  the  efferent 
fibers  from  a  center  whose  location  had  not  yet  been  determined. 

Other  physiologists  have  denied  the  existence  of  a  respiratory 
center  in  the  medulla,  altogether  holding  that  the  centers  govern- 
ing the  respiratory  movements  are  situated  in  the  spinal  cord. 
While  others  have  described  respiratory  centers  in  the  floor  of  the 
third  ventricle,  or  in  the  corpora  quadrigemina  in  the  gray  matter 
surrounding  the  aqueduct  of  Sylvius.  Two  interesting  commu- 
nications on  this  subject  have  appeared  recently  in  the  Central- 
blatt  f.  Med.  Wiss.,  Nos.  27  and  34,  1885.  Unfortunately  these 
investigations  have  given  different  results,  so  that  we  are  still  left 
in  doubt  as  to  the  location  of  the  medullary  center,  though  it  looks 
as  if  the  problem  was  very  near  its  final  solution.  The  first  com- 
munication. No.  27,  is  by  Mislawsky,  He  states  that  Gierke's 
bundles  have  nothing  to  do  with  the  respiratory  movements. 
Injur)'  to  them  in  any  part  of  their  course  does  not  prevent  respi- 
ration. He  localizes  the  respiratory  centre  in  a  number  of  nerve 
cells  forming  an  irregular  group  on  either  side  of  the  raphe,  lying 
between  it  and  the  root  of  the  hypoglossal  nerve.  The  bounda- 
ries of  this  center  lie  between  the  base  and  point  of  the  calamus 
scriptorius,  from  before  back,  and  in  a  dorso-ventral  direction 
between  the  olives  and  the  gray  substance  of  the  floor  of  the 
fourth  ventricle.  Destruction  of  this  centre  on  both  sides  com- 
pletely stops  the  respiratory  movements,  while  injury  to  one  side 
affects  the  respiratory  movements  of  that  side  alone.  The  efferent 
fibers  from  this  center  to  the  spinal  origin  of  the  nerves  of  the 
respiratory  muscles  lie  outside  of  Gierke's  bundle.  In  No.  347 
of  the  Centralblatt,  Gierke  replies  to  Mislawsky's  criticism.  He 
states  positively  that  the  group  of  cells  described  by  Mislaw- 
sky as  the  respiratory  center  does  not  exist ;  that  the  locality 
assigned  to  it  is  occupied  entirely  by  the  reticular  formation^ 
and  it  is  the  scattered  cells  of  this  formation  which  Mislaw- 
sky has  mistaken  for  a  definite  nerve  center.  The  disposition 
of  the  nerve  cells  in  the  reticular  formation  he  finds  to  be  very 
irregular  in  different  mammalia,  and  in  no  case  was  there  any 
collection  of  these  cells  that  could  be  differentiated  from  the 
remaining  cells  of  the  formation. 

Gierke  states  that  his  latest  investigations  have  convinced  him 
that  the  bundle  of  fibers  previously  described  by  him  as  the  res- 
piratory center  contains  in  its  whole  extent  a  number  of  nerve 


Digitized  by 


Google 


3o6  General  Notes.  [March, 

cells/ and  thesre  cells  are  in  connection  with  the  fibers  of  the  bun- 
dles. This  discovery  takes  away  the  theoretical  objections  to 
Gierke's  previous  results,  and  if  his  work  can  be  corroborated  will 
place  the  existence  of  a  medullary  respiratory  center  upon  a  satis- 
factory experimental  basis. 

Both  communications  are  preliminary  to  more  extensive  papers, 
shortly  to  be  published. —  W.  H.  Howell,  Johns  Hopkins  University. 

PSYOHOLOaY. 

• 

Intelligence  op  Anthropoid  Apes. — In  his  excellent  work  on 
anthropoid  apes,  Professor  Hartman,  the  Berlin  zoologist  main- 
tains that  anthropoid  apes  in  nature  *'  develop  an  intelligence  which 
sets  them  high  above  the  other  mammals.  They  do  not,  how- 
ever, display  the  keenness  of  scent  and  quickness  of  sight  which 
distinguish  some  animals  of  a  lower  order,  such  as  canine  beasts  of 
prey  and  ruminants  manifest  in  many  different  ways.  The  struc- 
ture of  their  nests  is  rude  in  comparison  with  that  of  some  other 
mammals — as  for  example,  of  rodents.  But  we  must  not  forget 
that  several  of  the  lower  races  of  men,  such  as  the  degraded 
Bedja,  the  Obongo,  the  Fuegians,  many  aborigines  of  the  Bra- 
zilian forests  and  the  Australian  black,  scarcely  rise  above  the  in- 
artificial structure  of  an  anthropoid's  nest  in  the  construction  of 
their  huts." 

The  author  quotes  Falkenstein's  description  of  a  gorilla:  "  His 
good-humor  and  shyness,  or  rather  roguishness,  deserves  special 
mention  as  his  strongest  characteristic.  When  he  was  chastized, 
as  it  was  necessary  to  do  at  first,  he  never  resented  the  punish- 
ment, but  came  up  with  a  beseeching  air,  clinging  to  my  feet,  and 
looking  with  an  expressive  air  which  disarmed  all  displeasure. 
When  he  was  anxious  to  obtain  anything,  no  child  could  have 
expressed  its  wishes  in  a  m6re  urgent  and  caressing  manner.  If 
in  spite  of  this  he  did  not  obtain  what  he  wanted,  he  had  re- 
course to  cunning,  and  looked  anxiously  about  to  see  if  he  was 
watched.  It  was  just  in  these  cases  when  he  obstinately  pursued 
a  fixed  idea,  that  it  was  impossible  not  to  recognize  a  deliberate 
plan  and  careful  calculation.  If,  for  example,  he  was  not  allowed  to 
leave  the  room,  or,  again,  was  not  allowed  tocome  in,hewould,after 
several  attempts  to  get  his  own  way  had  been  baffled,  apparently 
submit  to  his  fate,  and  lie  down  near  the  door  in  question,  with 
assumed  indifference.  But  he  soon  raised  his  head  in  order  .to 
ascertain  whether  fortune  was  on  his  side,  edging  himself  gradu« 
ally  nearer  and  nearer,  and  then,  looking  carefully  round,  he 
twisted  himself  about  until  he  reached  the  threshold ;  then  he 
got  up,  peered  cautiously  round,  and  with  one  bound  galloped 
off  so  quickly  that  it  was  difficult  to  follow  him. 

*'  He  pursued  his  object  with  equal  pertinacity  when  he  felt  a 
desire  for  the  sugar  or  fruit  which  was  kept  in  a  cupboard  in  the 
eating- room ;  he  would  suddenly  leave  off  playing  and  go  in  an 


Digitized  by 


Google 


J  886.]  Psychology,  yyj 

opposite  direction,  only  altering  his  course  when  he  believed  that 
he  was  no  longer  observed.  He  then  went  straight  to  the  room 
^d  cupboard,  opened  it,  and  made  a  quick  and  dexterous  snatch 
at  the  sugar- box  or  fruit-basket,  sometimes  closing  the  cupboard 
doors  behind  him  before  beginning  to  enjoy  his  plunder,  or,  if  he 
was  discovered,  he  would  escape  with  it,  and  his  whole  behavior 
made  it  clear  that  he  was  conscious  of  transgressing  into  forbid* 
den  paths.  He  took  a  special,  and  what  might  be  called  a  child- 
ish pleasure  in  making  a  noise  by  beating  on  hollow  articles,  and 
he  seldom  omitted  an  opportunity  of  drumming  on  casks,  dishes 
or  tin  trays,  whenever  he  passed  by  them — a  noisy  amusement  to 
which  he  was  much  addicted  during  our  homeward  voyage  on 
board  the  steam-vessel,  in  which  he  was  at  liberty  to  roam  about. 

'*  Mafuca,  for  a  while,  was  pleased  with  the  companionship  of  a 
pretty  sea-cat  monkey,  but  she  teased  the  creature  so  much  that 
a  special  refuge  was  set  apart  for  it,  into  which  she  could  not  en- 
ter. She  was  so  scared  and  terrified  by  a  heavy  thunder-storm 
that  she  seized  her  sleeping  playfellow  by  the  tail  and  dashed  it  to 
the  ground.  She  chased  the  mice  which  ran  about  the  cage  with 
deadly  fury.  She  was  much  afraid  of  snakes,  whichls  not  usually 
the  case  with  chimpanzees.  If  she  was  left  alone  any  time  she  tried 
to  open  the  lock  of  her  cage  without  having  the  key,  and  she 
once  succeeded  in  doing  so.  On  that  occasion  she  stole  the 
key  which  was  hanging  on  the  wall,  hid  it  in  her  axilla  and  crept 
quietly  back  to  the  cage.  With  the  key  she  easily  opened  the 
lock,  and  she  also  knew  how  to  use  a  gimlet  She  would  draw 
ofT  her  keeper's  boots,  scramble  up  to  some  place  out  of  reach 
with  them,  and  throw  them  at  his  head  when  he  asked  for  them. 
She  could  wring  out  wet  clothes  and  blow  her  nose  with  a  hand- 
kerchief. When  her  illness  began,  she  became  apathetic,  and 
looked  about  with  a  vacant,  unobservant  stare.  Just  before  her 
death,  from  consumption,  she  put  her  arms  round  Schopfs  neck 
when  he  came  to  visit  her,  looked  at  him  placidly,  kissed  him 
three  times,  stretched  out  her  hand  to  him,  and  died.  The  last 
moments  of  anthropoids  have  tlieir  tragicf  side." 

Dr.  Prbyer's  Criticism  of  Telepathy. — Professor  Preyer,  of 
Jena,  well  known  through  his  researches  into  hypnotism,  the  de- 
velopment of  the  infant  mind,  etc.,  does  not  believe  in  telepathy, 
and  attempts  in  a  twenty-page  article  to  give  the  readers  of  the 
January  Rundschau  the  reasons  for  his  skepticism.  His  criticisms 
are  confined  to  the  Proceedings  of  the  Society  for  Psychical  Re- 
search in  London,  which  in  September,  1882,  numbered  100,  and 
a  year  ago  520  members,  including  140  women.  With  truly  Ger- 
man contempt  for  the  feminine  intellect.  Dr.  Preyer  remarks  that 
"  the  large  number  of  female  members  and  participators  shows  at 
the  very  outset  that  a  strictly  scientific  spirit  cannot  be  regarded 
as  underlying  the  society's  proceedings."  But  since  the  society 
has  assumed  such  large  dimensions  as  to  have  its  special  head- 

TOL.  XX.— MO.  III.  ?t 


Digitized  by 


Google 


3o8  General  Notes.  [March, 

quarters  and  a  library,  and  since  it  includes  among  its  active  or 
honorary  members  such  names  as  Balfour  Stewart,  Lord  Ray- 
leigh,  Professor  Bowditch,  Mr.  Crookes,  and  Mr.  A.  R.  Wallace, 
Preyer  thinks  it  worth  while  to  examine  their  proceedings  criti- 
cally, so  as  to  caution  his  countrymen  against  these  useless  pro- 
ceedings, and  prevent,  if  possible,  the  formation  of  a  similar 
society  in  Germany.  Preyer's  analyses  of  a  number  of  the  600 
reported  cases  of  telepathy  are  exceedingly  ingenious  and  subtle. 
Though  he  concedes  that  the  possibility  of  thought  transference 
cannot  be  disproved,  he  makes  out  a  good  case  that  the  experi- 
menters ignored  sources  of  error  which  vitiate  their  conclusions. 
Especially  ingenious  is  his  explanation  of  the  countless  ways  in 
which  the  two  persons  to  be  examined  can  communicate  with 
each  other,  if  in  the  same  or  adjoining  rooms — as  by  means  of 
different  noises  made  in  breathing  through  the  mouth  or  nose, 
movements  with  the  foot,  gnashing  of  the  teeth,  etc.;  remember- 
ing at  the  same  time  that  individuals,  owing  to  great  nervous  sus- 
ceptibility or  to  training,  are  endowed  with  as  abnormal  acuteness 
of  the  senses  as  are  hypnotized  persons.  In  Liverpool,  for  exam- 
ple, two  girls  were  examined  who  claimed  that  one  could  tell 
what  the  other  ate,  if  the  latter  was  allowed  to  put  her  hand  on 
the  former's  shoulder.  Aside  from  the  fact  that  there  might  have 
been  a  prearranged  alphabet  of  signs  through  pressure  on  the 
shoulder,  there  was  the  probability  that  one  of  the  girls  had  a 
very  acute  sense  of  smell.  The  result  showed  that  in  thirty-two 
trials  only  six  answers  came  out  correct,  and  in  five  of  these  cases 
the  substance  used  had  a  strong  odor.  In  other  instances,  where 
one  of  the  persons  under  examination  puts  the  question  himself  to 
the  other,  Preyer  points  out  that  the  whole  secret  may  be  betrayed 
by  special  accents  placed  on  certain  words,  in  the  same  way  that 
dogs  can  be  taught  to  pick  out  certain  cards,  to  add  and  subtract, 
by  emphasizing  certain  words.  The  cases  of  alleged  action  of  one 
mind  on  another,  at  greater  distances,  Preyer  regards  as  either 
due  to  coincidence,  to  fraud,  to  hallucinations,  to  incorrect  report- 
ing, or  to  lack  of  accurate  observation,  which,  always  difficult,  is 
more  especially  so  in  the  region  of  psychic  phenomena.  In  con- 
clusion, he  points  out  that  savages  ascribe  nothing  to  chance, 
.while  with  progressive  civilization  we  see  more  and  more  how 
many  that  appear  to  be  related  as  cause  and  effect  are  mere  coin- 
cidences.— The  Nation. 

Menault's  Intelligence  of  Animals.^ — This  is  a  very  readable 
and  pleasantly  illustrated,  book,  filled  with  anecdotes  of  animals 
of  all  grades,  from  ants  to  apes.  When  the  original  book  ap- 
peared we  do  not  know,  but  in  his  accounts  of  ants,  Menault  does 
not  mention  the  recent  writings  of  Forel,  Lubbock  or  McCook  ; 

*  Wonders  of  Man  and  Nature.  The  Intelligence  of  Animals,  with  illustrative 
anecdotes.  From  the  French  of  Ernest  Menault.  Illustrated.  ^e«K  York,  Charles 
Scribner's  Sons,  i335»  umo. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


l886.|  Anthropology.  309 

and  in  other  portions  Morgan's  work  on  the  beaver,  or  Romanes* 
excellent  book  do  not  seem  to  have  been  known  to  the  author 
or  his  translator.  Indeed  the  authors  quoted  are  largely  French, 
though  the  recent  remarkable  papers  and  books  of  Favre  are  not 
referred  to.  The  book  is  not  therefore  to  be  classed  with  the 
more  critical  and  authoritative  works  of  the  authors  which  we 
have  named,  though  it  is  a  very  interesting  collection  of  anec- 
dotes which  throw  more  or  less  light  on  the  mental  powers  of 
animals,  particularly  of  those  domesticated  by  man.  The  cuts 
are  attractive,  but  that  of  the  "  chimpanzee  at  table,"  carving  with 
a  knife  and  fork,  and  filling  his  glass  from  a  bottle  held  in  a  tight 
coil  of  his  tail,  represents  a  creation  of  the  studio  rather  than  a 
result  of  the  processes  of  evolution  in  re  tails. 

ANTHROPOLOaY.* 

Annual  Report  of  the  Bureau  of  Ethnology. — ^The  third 
annual  report  of  the  Bureau  of  Ethnology,  covering  the  fiscal 
year  1881-82,  and  bearing  the  imprint  of  1884,  has  just  appeared. 
The  volume  consists  of  the  report  of  the  director.  Major  J  W. 
Powell,  and  scientific  papers  by  Thomas,  Dall,  Matthews,  Dorsey, 
Holmes  and  Stevenson. 

Major  Powell's  report  reviews  the  work  of  the  Bureau  in  the 
field  and  in  the  office,  epitomizes  the  scientific  papers  in  the  vol- 
ume, and  closes  with  a  very  suggestive  chapter  on  activital  simi- 
larities. The  resemblances  which  have  been  noticed  in  human 
arts  and  inventions  throughout  the  world  arise,  according  to  the 
essay,  in  the  four  following  ways  : 

Autogenous  stoUari.ies  {  ^nurr"""" 

sy-i---"-^- {Eu:;o°Su™u. 

That  is,  things  may  arise  independently  from  similar  causes ;  they 
may  be  similar  merely  by  accident ;  they  may  have  come  about 
through  the  same  face  or  their  descendants;  or  one  people  may 
have  learned  them  from  another. 

The  chapter  concludes  with  nine  rules,  for  the  discovery  of 
-which  one  of  the  causes  has  been  active  in  any  case. 

Mr.  Thomas*  paper,  .entitled  Notes  on  certain  Maya  and  Mexi- 
can Manuscripts,  is  a  comparison  of  two  plates  in  the  Codex  Cor« 
tesianus  with  the  Mexican  calendar  systems  to  show  the  connec- 
tion between  the  two.  The  author  says  :  "  That  all  the  Central 
American  nations  had  calendars  substantially  the  same  in  princi- . 
pie  as  the  Mexican,  is  well  known.  This  of  itself  would  indicate 
a  common  origin  not  so  very  remote ;  but  when  we  see  two  con- 
tiguous or  neighboring  peoples  making  use  of  the  san^e  conven- 
tional signs  of  a  complicated  nature,  down  even  to  the  most 
minute  details,  and  those  of  a  character  not  comprehensible  by 

1  Edited  b^  Prof,  Ot^s  T.  Mason,  National  Museum,  Was^ington^  P.  C» 


Digitized  by 


Google 


3  lo  General  Notes.  [March, 

the  commonalty,  we  have  proof  at  least  of  a  very  intimate  rela- 
tion. One  thing  is  apparent,  viz.,  that  the  Mexican  symbols 
could  never  have  grown  out  of  the  Maya  hieroglyphics.  That 
the  latter  might  have  grown  out  of  the  former  is  not  impossible." 
Mr.  Dairs  paper  treats  of  masks,  labrets  and  certain  aboriginal 
customs,  with  an  inquiry  into  the  bearing  of  their  geographical 
distribution.     His  classification  of  masks  is  as  follows : 

1.  The  mask,  having  breathing  and  peep  holes. 

2.  The  maskette,  without  perforations. 

3.  An  object  resembling  a  mask,  but  Hot  to  be  worn. 

In  an  evolutionary  series  masks  would  be  arranged  thus : 

A.  For  defense. 

a.  Passive,  culminating  in  the  helmet. 

b.  Active,  awe  inspiring,  culminating  in  shaman  masks. 

B.  Symbolical. 

a.  Illustrative.  ' 

6,  Ritual. 

The  author,  after  a  very  elaborate  treatment  of  the  subject, 
illustrated  by  numerous  figures,  closes  with  some  observations 
upon  the  origin  of  labretifery  and  mask-wearing  in  America, 
which  apparently  called  forth  Major  Powell's  essay  on  activital 
similarities.  Rejecting  Northern  Asia  and  the  Atlantis  theory, 
holding  as  extremely  improbable  the  theory  of  similar  causes 
acting  to  produce  similar  effects,  Mr.  Dall  concludes  that  the 
great  congeries  of  islands,  known  as  Polynesia  and  Melanesia, 
ofTer  the  most  plausible  solution  of  the  problem. 

Dr.  Matthews  has  a  short  paper  beautifully  illustrated  and  per- 
fect of  its  kind.  That  is  to  say,  the  author  has  described  the 
Navajo  weaver  so  accurately  and  minutely  that  any  hand-loom 
weaver  could  read  the  description  and  produce  a  Navajo  blanket 
or  belt.  It  is  so  refreshing  to  read  a  description  of  aboriginal  art 
by  one  who  knows  aught  about  it  that,  even  af  the  risk  of  flattery, 
we  cannot  refrain  from  the  foregoing  just  encomium. 

There  are  three  kinds  of  Navajo  blankets  in  the  National  Mu- 
seum. The  first,  or  oldest,  is  aboriginal  work,  from  the  raw,  dirty, 
native  wool  to  the  finished  robe.  This  the  author  describes.  The 
second  is  partly  native  and  partly  of  raveled  strouding  or  traders* 
blankets.  The  third  is  a  modern  invention.  Germantown  wools, 
not  always  well  dyed,  are  furnished  to  the  weaver,  and  he  exe- 
cutes patterns  to  order.  These,  though  held  at  high  price,  are 
inferior  in  every  way;  the  colors  fade,  and  run  if  wet  in  the 
least. 

Mr.  Dorsey's  paper  on  Omaha  sociology,  the  longest  in  the  vol- 
ume, is  also  the  most  elaborate  and  the  most  learned.  The  author 
discusses  the  social  system  of  the  Omaha  tribe  of  the  great  Sioux 
stock  in  the  following  order : 

1.  The  state,  its  classes  and  corporations. 

2.  The  Gtntile  system,  including  tribal  circles,  sacred  tents,  sacred  pipes,  the  several 

genles  minutely  described. 

3.  The  kinship  system  and  marriage  laws,  giving  classes  of  consaqgujnes,  the  laws 

of  marriage  and  remarriage. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


1 886.]  Anthropology.  3  \  i 

4.  Domestic  life,  coulrtship,  marriage  customs,  etiquette,  bashfulness,  pregnancy, 

children,  positioi)  of  women,  catamenia,  widows  and  widowers,  rights  of  parents, 
personal  habits,  politeness,  meals,  etc. 

5.  Visiting  customs. 

6.  Industrial  occupations,  hunting,  fishing,  agriculture,  food,  clothing,  etc. 

7.  Defensive  and  offensive  warfare. 
%.  Games,  societies,  corporations,  etc« 

9.  The  government  and  religion. 

10.  Law. 

Mr.  Holmes'  article  treats  of  prehistoric  textile  fabrics  in  the 
United  States,  derived  from  impressions  on  pottery.  The  pro- 
cess of  Mr.  Holmes  is  most  ingenious.  He  takes  a  cast  of  the 
fragments  of  pottery  and  that  brings  out  the  texture  of  the  cloth 
or  basket  by  which  the  soft  paste  was  impressed.  It  is  marvel- 
ous that  no  other  archaeologist  ever  thought  of  this  eflfective 
scheme.  In  the  application  of  his  casts  to  modern  weaving  Mr. 
Holmes  will  allow  a  suggestion.  His  first  group  and  his  fourth 
group  are  the  same,  the  one  being  plain,  checker  weaving,  the 
other,  weaving  iA  diagonal  or  diaper.  His  second  group  and  his 
third  group  are  absolutely  identical,  appearing  on  the  same  piece 
in  many  modern  examples.  His  elaborate  schemes  of  weaving 
this  pattern  are  also  unnecessary,  the  warp  being  mistaken  for  the 
weft,  and  very  complicated  machinery  substituted  for  a  stick  set 
up  in  the  ground,  as  any  one  may  see  who  will  visit  the  basket 
makers  in  Queen  Charlotte  archipelago. 

Group  five  may  represent  four-ply  braiding,  but  it  is  just  as 
likely  to  belong  to  group  two,  although  the  Tlinkits  understand 
four-ply  braiding. 

We  may  be  allowed  a  word  as  to  the  spread  of  textile  industry 
at  present  among  the  North  Americans  in  its  relation  to  Mr. 
Holmes'  paper.  Types  one  and  four  are  practiced  by  all  Indians 
east  of  the  Rocky  mountains,  north  and  south.  If  Mr.  Holmes' 
figs.  65,  107,  108  and  109  are  coiled  basketry  (and  they  look  very 
much  like  the  Pai  Ute  pitched  water  jars)  this  style  is  still  prac- 
ticed by  the  North  Carolina  Cherokees,  and  by  the  Eskimo, 
Athapascan,  Californian,  Pueblo,  Apache,  Navajo,  Yuma  and 
Pima  tribes.  Mr.  Homes*  twined  ware,  groups  two  and  three,  is 
made  now  by  the  Winnebagos  east  of  the  Rockies,  and  by  the 
Eskimo,  Tlinkit,  Haida  and  Cbimsyan  tribes  as  well  as  by  those 
of  Washington  Territory,  Oregon,  Northern  California,  and  by 
the  Shoshonis  and  Pueblo  tribes.  It  is  not  now  known  amoag 
any  of  the  tribes  who  have  of  late  been  identified  with  the 
mound-builders. 

The  illustrated  catalogues  at  the  end  of  the  volume  are  ex- 
tremely useful  to  the  student.  The  practice  of  printing  a  great 
mass  of  numbers,  conveying  no  information,  which  very  much 
marred  Vol.  11  of  these  reports,  has  been  less  followed  here.  The 
illustrations  of  the  volume,  especially  those  last  executed,  are 
excellent,  and  the  appearance  of  the  whole  work  does  credit  to 
the  editor  in  charge. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


312 


General  Notes. 


[March, 


The  Crania  of  Negroes. — Although  pubh'shed  in  1884.  C. 
Passavant's  CraniologiscKe  Untersuchung  has  just  come  to  hand. 

riis  results  are  given  both  in  tables  and  in  graphic  charts,  the 
former  are  here  combined  : 


.2 

>* 

»5 

II 

§« 

p 

1 

1 

1 

5? 

• 

64 

3 

_« 

I 



2 

6s 

I 

— 

I 

— 

— 

66 

4 

— 

I 

2 

I 

67 

3 

2 

i-. 

I 



68 

5 

I 

2 

I 

I 

69 

3 

— 

I 

I 

I 

Dolicocephah. 

70 

13 

I 

4 

4 

4 

71 

iS 

2 

6 

3 

4 

0 

72 

19 

2 

4 

7 

6 

73 

21 

4 

7 

5 

5 

74 

21 

2 

3 

10 

6      , 

75 

27 

5 

« 

8 

6      " 

76 

24 

4 

2 

10 

8 

77 
78 

20 
6 

8 

I 

I 

10 

5 

I 

Mesocq)hals. 

79 

6 

— 

— 

5 

I 

80 

6 

— 

— 

4 

2 

81 

2 

-1. 

_ 

2 

_ 

82 

I 

— 

— 

I 

— 

L^ 

2 

— • 

— 

2 

— 

Brachycephals. 

84 

2 

— 

— • 

2 

..^ 

85 

I 

— 

— 

I 

1 

205 

32 

4t 

83 

49 

From  this  table  it  will  be  seen  that  all  indices  may  be  found  in 
Africa,  that  the  Congoese  are  the  shortest  headed,  and  that  the 
mass  of  the  whole  or  of  any  class  will  be  found  between  70  and 
80.  The  same  would  probably  be  true  on  any  other  continent, 
showing  that  Dr.  Topinard's  application  of  the  results  of  cranial 
index  as  an  evolutionary  characteristic  is  probably  correct. 

Lacustrian  Antiquities  of  Dr.  Gross. — Archaeologists  and 
antiquarians  traveling  on  the  European  continent  will  be  pleased 
to  hear  that  the  celebrated  collection  of  lacustrian  antiquities  of 
Dr:  Gross  of  Neuveville,  on  the  Lake  of  Brenne,  was  presented  by 
the  proprietor  to  the  Swiss  confederacy,  and  is  now  on  exhibition 
in  the  federal  palace  at  Berne,  the  capital.  All  the  different 
periods  are  well  represented,  and  there  are  over  5000  pieces  mak- 
ing up  the  collection,  many  of  them  being  unique.  There  are 
one  hundred  objects  of  nephrite  and  jadeite,  one  hundred  and 
fifty  bracelets  and  anklets,  one  hundred  knives,  sixty  hatchets, 
a  large  array  of  objects  in  silex  and  bronze,  pottery  molds, 
vases,  and  skulls  from  several  Swiss  lakes.     In  the  same  hall  are 


Digitized  by 


Google 


i886.J  Microscopy.  313 

suspended  the  two  paintings  of  Bachelon,  "  Domestic  Life  of  the 
Lake  Dwellers."  Berne  also  possesses  a  civic  museum  for  antiqui- 
ties, and  other  well-assorted  collections  of  this  kind  may  be  found 
in  Brenne,  Zurich,  Neufchatel,  Geneva  and  Freiburg. — A,  5.  Gat- 
scheU 

Recent  Articles  bv  Dr.  Tschudi — ^We  have  before  us  a 
series  of  recent  articles  composed  by  the  Peruvian  traveler,  Dr. 
J.  J.  von  Tschudi, 'who  at  present  employs  himself  in  making 
digests  of  ethnologic  material  previously  collected.  These  papers 
are  partly  of  an  anthropologic,  partly  of  a  topographic  or  linguis- 
tic import.  Among  the  latter  we  mention :  "  Die  geographischen 
Namen  in  Peru,"  eight  pages,  in  Kettier^s  Geographic  Magazine; 
*'  Remarks  on  Lopez's  communication  on  the  tribe  of  the  Calcha- 
qui  Indians,"  in  the  Argentine  Republic  (Zeitsch.  f.  Ethnologie, 
1885).  in  which  v.  Tschudi  lays  stress  upon  the  total  disparity  of 
the  tribe  spoken  of  with  the  Kechuas  in  their  language ;  "  Das 
Lama  in  seinen  Beziehungen  zum  altperuanischen  Volksleben  " 
.(Zeitschr.  f.  Ethnologie,  1885,  pp.  93-109),  a  very  instructive  trea- 
tise, based  alike  on  history  and  on  the  author's  own  ethnographic 
and  local  investigation.  The  extensive  terminology  of  the  Indians 
to  designate  all  kinds  of  young,  old,  spotted,  etc.,  lamas  is  of 
peculiar  interest  to  the  linguist. — A.  5.  GascheL 

Supplement  to  the  Grammar  of  the  Cakchfquel  language. 
— Dr.  Otto  StoU,  a  physician  of  Zurich,  Switzerland,  who  has 
lived  five  years  among  the  Indians  of  Guatemala,  has  written 
some  important  '*  Supplementary  remarks  to  the  grammar  of  the 
Cakchiquel  language,  editeS  by  Dr.  D.  G.  Brinton."  This  article 
was  read  before  the  American  Philosophical  Society  of  Philadel- 
phia, February  6,  1885,  and  printed  in  its  Proceedings.  StoU's 
remarks  form  a  series  of  rectifications  and  criticisms  upon  the 
antiquated  method  followed  by  the  ancient  ecclesiastics  in  writing 
up  grammars  of  the  American  languages,  and  the  frequent  misappli- 
cations in  their  terminology.  As  to  the  name  Cozumelguapan, 
Stoll  thinks  it  is  of  Nahuatl  origin,  and  quotes  the  etymology  of 
Buschmann,  "  Near  the  rainbow  water."  He  may  rest  assured, 
that  only  the  local  ending  -pa,  -pan  is  Nahuatl,  and  that  cozumel 
is  a  Maya  word,  signifying  swallow. — A.  S,  Gatschet. 

mi6rosoopy.» 

Natural  Injection  (Leeches). — I  have  often  noticed  that 
leeches  hardened  in  weak  chromic  acid,  or  in  any  chromic  solu- 
tion, are  beautifully  and  naturally  injected  with  their  own  blood. 
Where  the  circulatory  system  is  to  be  studied  by  means  of  sec- 
tions, this  method  seems  to  be  the  simplest  and  most  reliable 
one.     Not  only  the  larger  sinuses,  but  the  intra-epithelial  capil- 

'  Edited  by  Dr.  C.  O.  Whitman,  Mus.  Comparative  Zoology,  Cambridge,  Mass. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


314  General  Notes.  [Mardi, 

lanes,  may  be  easily  traced  by  this  method,  as  wias  first  pointed 
out  by  E.  Ray  Lankesten* 

Methods  of  Injecting  Annelids  (Maurice  Jaquet).^ — For  an- 
nelids with  dark  tissues  like  Hirudo,  a  light-colored  (white  or 
yellow)  injection-mass  should  be  employed,  while  for  transparent 
animals  dark  colors  are  preferable.  Chrome  yellow  serves  as  a 
good  coloring  substance.  It  is  easily  obtained  by  mixing  solu- 
tions of  bichromate  of  potassium  and  acetate  of  lead.  A  copious 
yellow  precipitate  is  formed,  which  should  be  washed  on  the  filter, 
and  then  exposed  to  the  air  until  nearly  dry.  The  pigment,  after 
being  reduced  to  a  pulp-like  state,  is  added  to  an  ordinary  aque- 
ous solution  of  gelatine ;  and  the  mass  is  then  filtered  warm 
through  linen.  If  the  injection-mass  is  to  be  blue,  then  the  gela<* 
tine  may  be  dissolved  directly  in  liquid  Prussian  blue,  and  the 
mass  filtered  through  the  paper. 

As  a  rule,  annelids  must  be  killed  before  they  can  be  injected. 
Chloroform  and  alcohol*  are  the  means  commonly  employed  in 
killing  for  thfe  purpose  of  injection ;  fresh  water  may  also  be  used 
for  some  marine  species.  A  leech,  for  example,  is  placed  in 
water  containing  a  small  quantity  of  chloroform ;  after  a  few 
moments  it  sinks  to  the  bottom  and  remains  motionless.  It 
should  be  allowed. to  remain  in  the  water  from  one  to  two  days 
before  attempting  to  inject  it. 

The  simplest  and  most  convenient  form  of  syringe  consists  of 
a  glass  tube  drawn  to  a  fine  point  at  one  extremity,  and  fiirnished 
at  the  other  with  a  rubber  tube.  Preparatory  to  injecting,  the 
glass  should  be  plunged  in  warm  watgr  for  a  few  moments ;  then, 
after  expelling  the  water,  it  may  be  filled  with  the  injection-mass 
by  sucking  the  air  from  the  rubber  tube.  If  the  injection-mass  is 
turnecl  into  the  large  end  of  the  glass,  it  may  happen  that  gran- 
ules are  introduced  which  are  large  enough  to  obstruct  the  nar- 
row passage  of  the  small  end.  After  inserting  the  cannular  end 
in  the  vessel,  clasp  both  with  the  forceps,  and  then  force  the  in- 

{'ecting  fluid,  by  aspiration  through  the   rubber  tube,  which  is 
leld  in  the  mouth.    When  the  operation  is  completed,  place  the 
animal  in  cold  water,  in  order  to  stiffen  the  injected  mass. 

An  Injection-mass  to  be  used  Cold. — ^ 

Borax  (saturated  solution) i  part. 

Gum  arable 2  parts. 

The  solutions  are  best  made  in  hot  water.  The  mixture  of  the 
solutions  gives  a  gelatinous  mass  that  is  nearly  insoluble  in  water. 
The  mass  is  broken  up  into  small  pieces  and  a  little  water  added, 
and  then  pressed  through  linen.  A  thick  fluid  is  thus  obtained, 
which,  with  the  addition  of  a  little  more  water,  miist  again  be 

*  Quart.  Jour.  Mic.  Sc,  XX,  July,  1880,  p.  306. 

«  Miith.  a,  d.  ZoSl.,  Station  z,  Neapel,  vi,  H.  3,  p.  298,  Dec.  1885. 

■A.  K.  Bjelousson,  Arch.  f.  Anat.  u.  Phys.  (Anat.  Abth.),  1885.  H.  5  and  6,  p.  379. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


i886.)  Micfouopy.  315 

passed  Aroug^h  linen.  This  fluid  may  be  kept  for  months,  and  is 
readily  thinned  to  any  desired  consistency  by  the  addition  of 
water.  Before  using,  it  should  be  tested  with  alcohol.  A  small 
quantity  is  placed  in  a  test-tube,  and  then  a  little  alcohol  added. 
The  fluid  is  at  once  changed  to  a  solid  mass  of  double  the  origi- 
nal volume,  and  this  mass  is  insoluble  in  water. 

Thus  the  whole  process  consists  in  this :  that  borax  and  gum 
arabic  fornfi  together  an  insoluble  colloid  mass;  by  pressure 
through  linen,  with  water  added,  the  mass  passes  into  a  fluid  con- 
dition which  can  be  diluted  to  any  extent  with  water ;  after  injec- 
tion and  immersion  of  the  preparation  in  alcohol,  it  again  assumes 
a  colloid  condition  in  which  it  is  insoluble  in  water. 

The  mass  thus  prepared  may  be  colored  with  finely  powdered 
carmine,  or  with  other  coloring  substances ;  only  cobalt  and  cad- 
mium are  to  be  avoided. 

This  mass  is  especially  recommended  for  macroscopic  injec- 
tions, and  for  the  injection  of  lymphatic  spaces.  The  injected 
vessels  do  not  become  hard,  and  the  mass  does  not  escape  from 
ruptured  points.  During  dissection  the  preparation  should  be 
covered  with  alcohol. 

In  case  it  becomes  desirable  to  dissolve  the  injected  mass  from 
any  part  of  the  vessels,  this  can  be  accomplished  by  dropping  di- 
lute acetic  acid  upon  it. 

The  preparation  can  be  rendered  transparent  by  first  washing 
with  water,  and  then  soaking  in  glycerine.  Treatment  with  alco- 
hol again  restores  the  opacity  of  the  preparation. 

Method  of  Killing  Gephyrea. — According  to  ApeP  the 
only  method  of  killing  these  animals,  in  an  extended  condition,  is 
by  the  use  of  hot  water.  The  animal  may  be  placed  in  a  vessel  of 
sea  water,  and  the  temperature  gradually  raised  to  about  40^  C  ;  or 
it  may  be  seized  by  a  pair  of  forceps  while  in  a  condition  of  ex- 
tension, and  plunged  for  a  moment  into  boiling  water.  This  lat- 
ter treatment  does  not  kill  the  animal,  but  renders  it  completely 
limp,  in  which  condition  it  should  be  cut  open  and  then  placed  in 
some  hardening  fluid. 

A  Macerating  Mixture  (central  nervous  system  of  verte- 
brates).— ^The  following  mixture,  discovered  by  Landois,  is  recom- 
mended by  Hans  Gierke*  as  an  excellent  macerating  agent, 
especially  for  the  central  nervous  system  of  vertebrates : 

Chromate  of  ammonium 5  g. 

Phosphate  of  potassium 5  g. 

Sulphate  of  sodium 5g. 

Distilled  water 100  g. 

Pieces  of  fresh-tissues  are  left  in  this  fluid  from  one  to  three, 
or  even  four  to  five  days,  then  transferred  to  a  mixture  (in  equal 
parts)  of  this  fluid  with  ordinary  ammonia-carmine  (24  hs.). 

^Zeitschr.  f.  wiss.  Zool.,  XLii,  H.  3,  p.  461,  1885. 
'Arch.  f.  Mik.  Anat.,  xxv,  H.  4,  p.  445,  Oct.,  1885. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


3 1 6  Scientific  News.  [  March, 

Haller's  Macerating  Fluid^  (central  nervous  systeni  of  ma- 
rine Rhipidoglossa). — 

Glycerine 5  parts. 

Glacial  acetic  acid 5     '* 

Distilled  water 20    " 

This  fluid  causes  no  shrinkage,  and  accomplishes  its  work  in 
one-half  to  three-quarters  of  an  hour. 

SCIENTIFIC  NEWS. 

Princeton,  Feb.  16,  1886. 
Professor  E.  D.  Cope,  Editor  American  Naturalist. 

Dear  Sir: — In  the  February  number  of  the  Naturalist  you 
say  with  regard  to  Professor  Marsh's  Tinoceras  stenops^  formerly 
referred  by  you  to  a  new  genus  Tetheopsis :  "  I  now  learn  on 
good  authority  that  the  symphyseal  region  in  the  specimen  in 
question  is  entirely  constructed  of  plaster  of  Paris."  As  I  am 
the  one  from  whom  you  derived  this  information,  I  feel  bound,  as 
a  matter  of  simple  justice,  to  correct  the  above  statement,  for 
having  just  reexamined  the  specimen  with  great  care,  I  find  that 
I  was  in  error  in  a  very  important  respect.  It  is  true  that  the  left 
half  of  the  symphyseal  region  (the  only  part  visible  when  I  first 
saw  the  specimen)  is  restored  in  plaster,  but  the  right  half  is  in- 
tact, and  the  restoration  and  drawing  were  made  from  that,  a  per- 
fectly legitimate  proceeding.  So  much  I  can  positively  state  of  my 
own  knowledge,  and  I  am  also  informed  that  the  restoration  was 
made  after  the  time  when  you  saw  the  specimen  and  after  Profes- 
sor Marsh's  figure  was  published.  Hoping  that  you  will  give 
this  correction  a  conspicuous  place,  I  remain, 

Very  respectfully  yours,  W.  B.  Scott, 

I  Note  on  the  above. — I  gladly  give  place  to  the  above  correc- 
tion, but  must  append  a  little  additional  information.  I  saw  the 
type  specimen  of  T.  stenops  before  1885,  probably  in  1883.  It 
was  then  half  imbedded  in  a  mass  of  what  I  supposed  to  be 
matrix,  and  the  left  side  of  the  skull  was  exposed.  The  mandi- 
ble of  that  side  was  at  that  time  entire,  as  represented  in  Profes- 
sor Marsh's  plate.  It  exhibited  a  narrow  entire  alveolar  edge 
without  trace  of  alveoli  or  of  weathering.  What  has  become  of 
this  left  half  of  the  symphysis  we  are  not  informed.  If  it  was 
the  osseous  jaw,  the  genus  Tetheopsis  is  well  founded. — E.  D, 
Cope?), 

-^  Among  the  scientific  names  included  in  the  death-roll  of 
the  past  year,  is  that  of  Thomas  Bland,  the  author  of  numer- 
ous papers,  principally  on  the  "Land  shells  of  the  Antillean 
islands  and  the  North  American  continent."  Mr.  Bland's  labors 
and  investigations  included  not  only  the  descriptive  and  systema- 
tic,  but   also   the   geographical,   structural    and   developmental 

*  Morph.  Jahrbuch.,  xi,  H.  3,  p.  323,  1885. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


1 886.]  Scientific  News.  3 1 7 

aspects  of  Molluscan  life,  and  his  discussion  of  phenomena,  in 
which  these  subjects  were  involved,  is  marked  by  judicious  and 
philosophic  treatment  He  was  the  coadjutor  of  Mr.  W.  G.  Bin- 
ney  in  various  ways,  and  their  names  appear  side  by  side  in  sev- 
eral instances,  particularly  in  the  volume  on  the  "  Land  and  fresh 
water  shells  of  North  America,"  published  by  the  Smith- 
sonian Institution,  In  1884,  Mr.  A.  F.  Gray  compiled  and  printed 
a  bibliography  of  Mr.  Bland's  papers  and  contributions  to  this  de- 
partment of  natural  history.  Mr.  Bland  was  born  in  Notting- 
hamshire, England,  October  4, 1809,  ^^^  ^^^^  ^"  Brooklyn,  N.  Y., 
August  20th,  1885.  His  father  was  a  physician  and  his  mother 
was  related  to  Shepard,  the  naturalist.  He  received  his  educa- 
tion at  the  Charter  House  school,  London,  and  had  Thackeray 
for  a  classmate.  Subsequently  he  studied  and  practiced  law.  In 
1842,  he  went  to  Barbadoes  and  afterward  to  Jamaica,  where  he 
became  acquainted  with  Professor  C.  B.  Adams,  which  led  to 
those  investigations  which  gave  to  Mr.  31and  honorable  rank  as 
a  scientific  thinker  and  worker.  In  1862,  he  came  to  New  York, 
and  this  country  became  his  permanent  home.  He  was  a  most 
estimable  gentleman,  courteous  and  genial,  and  greatly  beloved 
by  all  who  knew  him. — R.  E.  C,  S, 

—  The  annual  meeting  of  the  Board  of  Regents  of  the  Smith- 
sonian Institution  was  held  at  Washington,  Jan  13.  The  secretary 
announced  that  Congress  had  reelected  Doctors  MacLean,  Gray 
and  Coppe  as  regents  for  six  years,  and  General  Meigs  in  place 
of  General  Sherman,  resigned.  Professor  Baird  submitted  his 
report  for  the  six  months  ending  June  30,  1885.  He  also  pre- 
sented a  financial  statement  showing  that  the  receipts  of  the  insti- 
tution for  1885  amounted  to  ^^67,500,  and  the  expenditures  to 
^4S,I07,  leaving  a  balance  of  ^33,453.  Professor  Baird  presented 
a  statement  showing  the  necessity  for  a  storage  building  for  alco- 
holic specimens,  also  for  a  new  building  for  the  museum,  as  there 
are  enough  valuable  specimens  to  fill  a  second  building  the  size 
of  the  present  one. 

— A  telegram  from  Colima  has  been  received  by  the  Govern- 
ment, stating  that  on  the  morning  of  Friday,  the  15th  January, 
another  eruption  of  the  volcano  occurred,  preceded  as  before  by 
loud  detonations.  Enormous  stones  were  thrown  to  a  great 
height,  and  were  plainly  visible  from  the  city  of  Colima,  which  is 
twenty-five  miles  distant.  Photographs  depicting  the  volcano  at 
the  moment  of  its  greatest  activity  were  taken  by  the  instantane- 
ous process. 

—  Professor  W.  W.  Bailey  writes  us  that  a  few  years  ago  there 
was  an  interesting  discussion  in  the  Naturalist  upon  abnormal 
or  unusual  food  of  cats,  "  Now  I  have  two  kittens,  both  female, 
one  bf  whom  is  especially  fond  of  peanuts,  cracking  and  eating 
them  ;  and  both  of  dates.  Certainly  this  is  diet  unusual  enough 
to  be  worthy  of  record." 


Digitized  by 


Google 


3 1 8  Proceedings  of  Scientific  Societies.  [March, 

—  A  monograph  on  the  recent  Brachiopbda  by  the  late  Thomas 
Davidson,  LL.D.,  F.R.S.,  edited  by  Agnes  Crane,  will  be  issued 
in  three  parts,  with  thirty  quarto  plates,  during  1886,  and  will  form 
a  separate  volume  of  the  Transactions  of  the  Linnaean  Society  of 
London. 

^ —  The  Academy  of  Natural  Science  in  Philadelphia  has,  by  the 
death  of  the  widow  of  the  late  Mr.  H.  N.  Johnson,  come  into  [>os- 
session  of  the  entire  estate  as  residuary  legatee.  It  is  valued  at 
over  ;^50,ooo,  and  the  available  annual  income  is  nearly  ^1500. 

—  Dr.  Daniel  G.  Brinton,  of  Philadelphia,  has  been  announced 
as  the  Laureate  of  the  Societe  Americaine  de  France  for  1886,  and 
awarded  the  medal  of  the  society  for  his  work  on  the  native 
tongues  of  America. 

—  Dr.  Walter  Flight,  chemist  and  mineralogist,  and  assistant 
in  the  mineralogical  department  of  the  British  Museum,  died 
Nov.  6,  aged  forty-four. 

—  J.  J.  de  Tschudi,  a  Swiss  naturalist  and  traveler,  author  of  a 
work  on  Peru  translated  into  English,  died  in  January,  at  the  age 
of  sixty-eight. 

—  Professor  John  Morris,  who  held  the  chair  of  geology  in  Uni- 
versity college,  London,  di^d  in  January,  aged  seventy-five. 

—  P.  Harting,  the  distinguished  professor  of  zoology  in  the 
University  of  Utrecht,  died  Dec.  7. 

—  JErratum.-^On  p.  171,  line  27,  for  Orthopod  read  Arthropod. 

PROCEEDINGS  OF  SCIENTIFIC  SOCIETIES. 

Indiana  Academy  of  Sciences. — In  accordance  with  the  call 
issued  by  the  Brookville  Society  of  Natural  History,  a  number  of 
Indiana  scientists  met  at  the  court-house  at  Indianapolis,  on  Tues- 
day, Dec.  29,  1885,  at  2  o'clock  p.m.  J.  P.  D.  John,  D.D.,  of  De- 
Pauw  University,  was  made  temporary  chairman  and  Amos  W. 
Butler,  temporary  secretary.  O.  P.  Jenkins,  J.  C.  Branner  and  S. 
P.  Stoddard,  M.D.,  were  appointed  a  committee  on  organization. 
They  reported  a  constitution  and  by-laws  which  were  adopted. 
The  name  selected  is  Indiana  Academy  of  Science.  The  objects 
of  the  academy  are  "scientific  research  and  the  diffusion  of  knowl- 
edge concerning  the  various  departments  of  science."  The  mem- 
bership is  to  be  confined  to  persons  "engaged  in  scientific  work  or 
in  original  research."  No  provision  has  yet  been  made  for  fellow- 
ships. The  committee  on  organization  reported  the  following  list  . 
of  officers  :  president,  David  S.  Jordan,  Indiana  university,  Bloom- 
ington;  vice-presidents,  J.  M.  Coulter,  Wabash  college,  Craw- 
fordsville,  J.  P.  D.  John,  DePauw  university,  Greencastle,  Rev. 
D.  R.  Moore,  Brookville  ;  secretary.  Amos  W.  Butler,  Brookville; 
treasurer,  O.  P.  Jenkins,  State  Normal  School,  Terre  Haute ; 
librarian,  J.  N.  Hurty,  Indianapolis,  all  of  whom  were  elected. 
Papers  were  read  giving,  as  far  as  possible,  a  statement  of  the 


Digitized  by 


Google 


1 886.]  Proceedings  of  Scientific  Societies.  319 

present  condition  of  knowlede^e  in  the  various  branches  of  science, 
as  follows :  meteorology,  by  W.  H.  Ragan ;  mammalogy,  E.'  R. 
Quick ;  the  work  accomplished  for  natural  and  physical  science, 
Richard  Owen,  M.D.;  papers  on  C.  S.  Rafinesque  and  ichthyology, 
by  D.  S.  Jordan,  M.D. ;  botany,  J.  M.  Coulter,  Ph.D.;  physics. 
Professor  J,  P.  Naylor ;  lower  invertebrates,  Professor  O.  P.  Jen- 
kins ;  entomology,  P.  S.  Baker,  M.D. ;  herpetology,  Professor  O. 
P.  Hay;  mineralogy,  Maurice  Thompson  ;  geology,  R. T.  Brown, 
M.D. ;  chemistry,  Professor-  R.  B.  Warder ;  conchology.  Rev.  D. 
R.  Moore;  statistics,  J.  B.  Conner;  ornithology,  A.  W.  Butler ; 
geography,  J.  T.  Scovell ;  astronomy,  Daniel  Kirkwood,  LL.D. 

A  committee  was  appointed  to  incorporate  the  academy.  The 
prospects  for  the  future  of  the  academy  are  very  bright;  the 
ablest  investigators  and  best  instructors  of  the  State  have  united 
without  exception  to  put  this  new  institution  on  its  feet.  There 
will  be  two  meetings  each  year,  one  between  Christmas  and  New 
Year,  the  other  early  in  the  summer ;  the  former  will  be  held  at 
Indianapolis,  the  latter  will  be  held  at  different  places  throughout 
the  State.  The  next  meeting  will  be  held  at  Brookville,  begin- 
ning May  20,  1886. 

The  American  Committee  of  the  International  Congress 
OF  Geologists. — This  committee  met  in  the  Windsor  hotel,  New 
York  city,  on  Friday,  January  8th,  with  the  president.  Professor 
James  Hall,  in  the  chair.  There  were  present  Dr.T.  Sterry  Hunt, 
Professor  J.  S.  Newberry,  Professor  C.  H.  Hitchcock,  Professor 
J.  J.  Stevenson,  Professor  Geo.  H.  Cook,  Mr.  McGee  (representing 
Major  Powell),  and  Dr.  Frazer,  the  secretary *of  the  Berlin  dele- 
gates, who  was  elected  the  secretary  of  the  meeting,  and  read  his 
report  of  the  proceedings  of  the  Berlin  congress.  His  action  in 
ordering  300  extras  to  be  struck  off  by  the  printer  of  the  journal, 
and  also  300  copies  of  the  color  scale  to  be  printed  in  Berlin 
to  accompany  the  report,  was  approved. 

It  was  decided  that  translations  of  the  reports  of  the  committee 
on  the  map  of  Europe  and  on  the  uniformity  of  nomenclature, 
together  with  an  abstract  of  tbe  English  committee's  report,  should 
with  the  American  committee's  report,  and  under  the  direc- 
tion of  Dr.  Frazer,  be  distributed  among  American  geologists 
under  conditions  which  seemed  best. 

A  committee  of  five  was  to  be  appointed  to  take  measures  in 
advance  of  the  London  congress  tq  have  American  views  prop- 
erly represented ;  to  be  prepared  for  discussion  of  certain  subjects, 
and  to  ask  the  congress  to  meet  in  America  at  its  next  (after 
the  London)  session. 

After  some  other  minor  matters  were  decided,  Professor  Hitch- 
cock was  selected  to  apply  the  international  scheme  of  colorar 
tton  to  an  area  which  has  been  selected  by  Major  Powell  to  test 
various  systems  on. 

The  meeting  adjourned  to  meet  at  the  call  of  the  president. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


320  Proceedings  of  Scientific  Societies.        [March,  1886. 

New  York  Academy  of  Sciences,  Jan.  18. — The  following 
paper  was  read  :  The  San  Juan  mountains  of  Colorado,  by  Dr.  R. 
P.  Stevens. 

Jan.  25. — The  Cretaceous  flora  of  North  America-  (with  lan- 
tern illustrations),  by  Dr.  John  S.  Newberry. 

Boston  Society  of  Natural  History,  Jan.  20. — Professor 
William  M.  Davis  spoke  about  the  "  Chinook  wind"  of  the  North- 
west ;  and  Mr.  S.  H.  Scudder  discussed  the  relationships  of  the 
Mesozoic  cockroaches.  • 

Feb  3. — The  bow  and  arrow  unknown  to  Paleolithic  man.  by 
Professor  H.  W.  Haynes  ;  On  the  Santhals,  an  existing  aboriginal 
tribe  of  Northeastern  Bengal,  by  Dr.  S.  Kneeland.  Photographs 
of  the  people  and  specimens  of  their  singular  native  ornaments 
were  shown. 

Appalachian  Mountain  Club,  Jan.  13. — The  officers  for  the 
ensuing  year  were  elected,  and  the  reports  of  the  corresponding 
secretary  and  treasurer  presented.  The  following  papers  were 
read :  The  ascent  of  Popocatepetl,  by  Professor  A.  S.  Packard ; 
The  Carter-Moriah  path  and  camp,  by  Mr.  William  G.  Nowell ; 
Notes  on  the  region  east  of  Wild  river,  and  south  of  the  Andros- 
coggin, by  Mr.  A.  L.  Goodrich. 

The  Cincinnati  Society  of  Natural  History  presents  a  pro- 
gramme of  the  fifth  course  of  free  popular  science  lectures,  as  fol- 
lows :  Friday,  Jan.  8,  1886,  Hudson's  bay  and  its  territories,  Mr. 
Wm.  Hubbell  Fisher;  Friday,  Jan.  15,  Ants  and  their  habits.  Pro- 
fessor A.  p.  Mornll ;  Friday,  Jan.  22,  Science  in  schools.  Rev. 
Geo.  M.  Maxwell;  Friday,  Jan.  29,  Clarification  of  water,  Profes- 
sor C.  R.  Stuntz;  Friday,  Feb.  5,  Gas  wells  of  Ohio,  Professor 
Edward  Orton ;  Friday,  Feb.  12,  Glacial  theories,  Professor  J.  W. 
Hall,  Jr. ;  Friday,  Feb.  19,  Our  world  a  type  of' other  planets. 
Professor  Geo.  W.  Harper;  Friday,  Feb.  26,  Astronomical  review. 
Professor  R.  W.  McFarland ;  Friday,  March  5,  An  Australian 
fern-tree  forest.  Rev.  Raphael  Benjamin;  Friday,  March  12, 
Nebulae  and  star  clusters,  Mr.  Wm.  H.  Knight;  Friday,  March 
19,  Experiments  in  electricity  and  magnetism,  Mr.  Geo,  F.  Card. 

Crawfordsville  Scientific  Society. — This  society  is  estab- 
h'shed  in  connection  with  Wabash  college,  but  includes  citizens  of 
Crawfordsville  interested  in  scientific  subjects.  At  the  December 
meeting  Professor  John  M.  Coulter  spoke  of  some  puzzling  forms 
of  parasitic  fungi  recently  found  growing  in  a  solution  of  sodium 
acetate ;  Professor  Dunn  brought  out  a  number  of  valuable  points 
which  had  come  under  his  observation  in  studying  the  habits  of 
the  salamander ;  E.  H.  Marshall  gave  the  results  of  a  chemical 
analysis  of  a  valuable  clay  recently  discovered  in  this  county ;  H, 
Thomson  traced  the  development  of  the  cerebellum  from  the  lowest 
vertebrates  to  the  highest ;  J.  N.  Rose  gave  the  details  of  an  ex- 
periment for  showing  the  transpiration  of  plants. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


^^^'^w^w^m^^'^^^- 


■^ " 


iwT  ^T/>^J^ 


t>/l\T/ 


tt 


X 


^^  YEARLY  SUBSCRIPTION.  14.00  ^ 


The  Ancvstky  OP  Nasua.    Samutl  Lockwood. 


^^l 


The  Mkhanics  of  Soasimg.  [Illutrtled.]  /.  Lan- 
ceuter    ....•••••.. 3a6 

Tmb  Stows  Ax  in  Vbiimoict.  [Illnstrited.]  C«o. 
H.  Perkma 333 

G»(0SSK\    CLAaSirtCATlON   AND    STRUCTURE    or    THB 

BfRo-LicK   ojt   Mallopmaca.    [lUaitrAted.]     G. 
AfacUikie  ...•• •• 340 

Track  of  a  Cyclone  which  passed  over  Western 
Indiana  mors  than  thrsh  hundred  years  ago. 
Jho.  T.  Campbtll 348 

Ox  THB  Mounting  of  Fossils.  [Illottrtted.l  Frank- 
lin C  Hill 353 

Reccnt  LmUIATURS. 

CroH's  Cimale  and  Cosmoloffy.— Leunis'  Synopsis 
der  Thl«rkunde.— Beddoe's  Races  of  Britain.— Zit- 
icr»  Handbuch  dcr  PslxontoloKie. —Faxon's  Revis- 
ion ol  the  Crawfifth.— Graber's  Animal  Mechanics  — 
French's  Butterflies  of  the  Eastern  United  States. — 
Govenunent  PabUcations 359 

Gkmb&al  Notbs. 

Geography  and  Travfls.-^AmexicA:  The  Goajira 
Penin»ula :  American  News. — Asia  :  Col.  PrejevaU 
sWy's  Journey  :  Asiatic  News.— Africa  :  British  and 
German  Protectorates ;  African  News.— Europe :  Eu- 
ropean News 365 


G€0l^y  and  -  Palaontolotty.  —  The  VTtehratc 
Fauna  of  the  TIcholeptus  Beds.— Scud^  r's  Fossil 
Inlets.— O^car  Schmidt  on  the  Origin  cf  the  Domes- 
tic Dog. — Geological  News 


367 


PAGK. 

Mintralegy  and  Ptirogyaphy.—  Hussak's  "  De- 
tenninatinn  of  Rock-forming  Minerals." —  Petro- 
graphical  News.— Mineralogical  News.— Miscellane- 
ous   374 

^tf/if Nj'.— Branching  of  Osmunda  elavtoniana  [II- 
lostratcd].— Movements  of  Dcftmids.— Fleoroorphi&m 
of  Algx.— Tree  Growth  on  the  Plains.- Bounical 
News 379 

Entomology. —  On  the  Cinurous  Thysanura  and 
Symphyla  of  Mexico.— The  Loctist  in  Southeastern 
Russia.— Entomological  News  . 382 

Zfw/ic({7.— Phosphorescence  of  Marine  Anim.-tls. — 
llie  Fauna  of  the  A ralo  Caspian  Basin.— An.csba  in- 
festing Sheep.— Desiccation  of  Rotifers.— Parasite  of 
the  Rock  Ovster.— Sense-organs  of  Copepod  Crusta- 
cea.—Birds  breeding  in  Anu*  Nests.— The  Soaring 
of  Birds.— Zoological  News 385 

Embryology, — On  an  unusiul  Rel.itionof  the  Noto-  ! 

chord  10  the  Intestine  in  fheChick[I|laMrat«'(l]  -   "^ 
frssor  Selenka  on  the  Development  of  the  Op 


J  possum 


I 


( Didelphys  vir^niana)  . 

Physiology. — The  action  of  Sulphate  of  Sparteine 
on  ihe  Heart.— The  Microbe  of  Hydrophobia.— Th- 
Transformation  of  Peptones  by  the  Liver,  and  the 
relation  of  the  Sugar  in  the  Blood  to  the  Nature  of 
the  Food  Supply.— Plethysmographic  and  vaso-moior 
Experiments  with  Frogs  . 396 

Psychology.  —  Anthropology  and  Psychology.  — 
Philadelphia  Branch  American  Society  (or  Psychical 
Research 3S4 

Anthrofoiogv, — Maori  Pharmacopeia. — The  Lap- 
landers.— Relationships  between  Eskimo  Tribes. — 
Arch.Tcological  Map. — The  Rcvuc  d'Anthropologfe. — 
The  Races  of  Men. — Anthropological  News 401 

Aficrosco/'y.—The    Dioptrograph    [llloitrsted]  — 

Opalina 409 

SciK.NTiFic  News  (A  question) 410 

PkOCBBDINGS  OF  SCIBNTIFIC   SOCIETIES 411   \ 


M6GAL.L1A  Be  STAVBLY. 


1 


'OR  SALE— A  complete  set  of  the  AMERICAN  NATURALIST.  Address  for  tenns. 

BVSTICUS.  this  Office. 


ANNOUNCEMENT  EXTBAORDINARII 


WE  HAVE  JUST  RECEIVED  AN  INVOICE  OF 

PRANG'S 

famous  ^  ^astei;^  m  G^K^s- 

THESE  CARDS  have  a  world-wide  reputation  for  their  beauty  and  excellence  of  finish, 
approached  by  no  other  maker.  The  Messrs.  PRANG  &  CO.  have  spent  thousands  of  dol- 
lars for  designs,  which  have  been  furnished  by  some  of  our  most  celebrated  artists. 

In  order  to  extend  the  sale  of  these  Cards,  we  have  had  prepared,  expressly  for  as> 
packets  which  we  sell  for  91«00  per  pack,  viz  : 

Packet  ]Ko«  I9  Contains  50  cards.     No  two  alike.    Assorted  sizes. 

Packet  IKo*  a^  Contains  20  Cards,  two  of  them  fringed.  No  two  Cards  in  the 
packet  alike.    The  Cards  in  this  pack  are  laiger  than  in  No.  i.     Assorted  sizes. 

We  will  send  both  packets  for  $1.7£». 

All  of  these  are  perfect  Gems.  The  Cards  contained  in  each  of  these  packs  have 
retailed  for  not  less  than  ;^3.oo. 

They  are  just  the  thing  for  rewards — a  couple  of  packets  would  supply  a  small  school. 

Tbey  will  also  make  a  handsome  scrap-book. 

These  Cards  are  cheaper  than  common  cards.     Please  order  early,  as  the  stock  is  limited. 

In  writing  for  these  packets,  please  say,  PRANG'S  CARDS. 

McCALLA  &  STAVELT, 

Box  1153.  S37-9  S)oc7c  Street,  PHILADELPHIA. 


$5  to  $15  per  day  made  selling 

HfiSKELL  BROTHERS* 

Indeied  Map  of  tlie  United  States  and  World. 

A  Lightning  Quick  Town  Finder. 


PRICE, 


-    -    -    $1.90. 


Size,  54x40. 

LIBERAL    TERMS   TO    AGENTS.     SEND    FOR 
PRICE  LlaT  AND  CATALOGUE. 

College  students  will  do  well  to  take  an  Agency.  We 
have  many  who  arc  paying  their  tuition  by  selling  the 
above  maps. 

ZDJLIiTOIT    (Sc   CO., 
280  SOUTH  WATER  STREET,  CHICAGO. 


McCALLA  &  STAVELY, 


i^K  f^\  I  ^  cold  is  Bomelimea  con- 
I  I  l\l  |H  ^"^<^^®^  o^  ^OP  of  another, 
1  ff  I  N  I  •  the  aooompanying  cough 
^^  -*-  ^  ■  ■  becoming  settled  and 
confirmed,  and  the  Lungs  so  strained 
and  racked,  that  the  production  of  tubercles 
frequently  follows.  Jdany  existing  cases  of  Pul- 
monary Disease  may  be  thus  accounted  for, 
and  yet  how  many  othei's  are  now  carelessly 
allowing  themselves  to  drift  through  the  pre- 
liminary symptoms,  controlled  by  the  fatal 
policy  of  allowing  a  Cold  to  take  care  ot  Itself. 
On  the  first  Intimation  of  a  Cough  or  Cold,  or 
any  Tbroat  or  Lung  trouble,  resort  promptly 
to  Dr.  Jayne's  Expectorant,  a  safe  curative  of 
long  established  reputation,  and  you  may 
avoid  the  consequences  ot  such  dangerous 
trifling. 


SCIEHTIRC  lim  FOR  SAIL 


The  Subscriber  offers  for  sale  his  Scientific  Library, 


Printers    and    Fu6ii8hersrZ^:^ll^\:T.^^^^^ 


237-9  DOCK  STREET, 


PHILADELPHIA, 


embraces  about  1250  catalogued  numbers,  and  two  or 
three  hundred  maps  and  pamphlets  not  included  in  the 
catalogue.    Address,  A.  H.  WORTHEN, 

Springfield,  liU. 

Digitized  by  VjOG 


THE 

AMERICAN    NATURALIST. 

Vol.  XX.— APRIL,  1886,— No.  4. 


THE  ANCESTRY  OF  NASUA.^ 

BY  SAMUEL  LOCKWOOD,  PH.D. 

AFTER  a  chronicle  of  such  achievements  of  Coati-Mondi  and 
her  Cousin  "  Coon,"  shall  we  not  institute  a  serious  search 
into  the  origin  of  the  heroine,  and  so  establish  or  set  aside  our 
suspicion?  "  So  I  should  think,"  says  an  interested  reader, "  after 
such  a  tidbit  of  revelry  in  the  romance  of  science-dom  or  dream- 
land." So,  ho !  a  challenge  to  the  array  !  Then  let  the  contest 
come  I  But  pray,  good  sir,  is  there  not  in  this  realm  of  science 
an  imagination  which  conducts  to  light  and  truth,  as  against  that 
romance  which  leads  surely  to  error  and  darkness  ?  But  what  is 
scientific  romancing  ?  Is  it  not  that  unscientific  conduct  which, 
as  if  contributing  to  knowledge,  asserts  the  untenable  and  un- 
truthful ?  Sometimes  the  conceit  is  so  unwarranted  as  to  appear 
on  its  very  face  a  vagary,  extravagant  and  impossible. 

Science  thinking  is  reverend  and  reserved — for  here  dash  is 
impudence,  nor  is  cheek  courage.  The  habitual  theorist  finds  a 
fascination  in  sheer  novelty — of  such  the  cautious  thinker  is 
chary.  But  if  the  giddy  and  reckless  are  proscribed  the  use  of 
edge  tools,  the  sober-minded  is  allowed  the  tentative  hypothesis. 
The  one  would  cut  the  knot,  the  other  would  untie  it.  The  hon- 
est theorist  is  simply  feeling  his  way.  He  may  have  a  priori 
methods  despite  of  Mr.  Gradgrind's  much  mouthing  for  "facts!" 
Such  modest  ventures,  "  assumptions,"  may  prove  real  forecasts 
of  wide  significance.  But  such  is  not  romancing.  Nature  has 
her  seers,  who  have  happily  uttered  esoteric  truth  which  has 
afterwards  crystallized  into  accepted  theory  in  the  formulation 

^  From  a  forthcoming  work  by  Dr.  Lockwood. 

VOL.  XX.— >NO.   IV.  33 


Digitized  by 


Google 


322  Tlie  Ancestry  ofNasua.  [April, 

given  it  by  the  setting  of  the  factors  denominated  "  facts."  So  it 
was  with  Germany's  great  poet.  But  here  comes  a  nice  distinc- 
tion between  the  condemnable  and  the  commeiidable,  between 
romancing  in  science  and  the  scientific  imagination.'  Goethe's 
guesses  were  neither  blunders  nor  vagaries.  His  theory  of  the 
genesis  of  the  flower,  of  the  vertebrate  origin  of  the  skull,  and 
his  forecast  of  the  doctrine  of  descent,  were  all  marvelous  births, 
but  legitimately  begotten,  the  offspring  of  pure  scientific  imagina- 
tion. As  in  advance  of  the  thought  then  in  vogue,  they  seemed 
prematurely  brought  into  the  light,  and  for  a  time  were  nurslings 
of  unpromising  vitality. 

But  a  truth  thus  evolved  finds  no  similitude  in  the  spark  struck 
out  by  flint  and  steel.  Nor  is  such  truth  premature,  as  to  its 
ratiocination,  as  would  appear  could  we  but  time  its  gestation.  I 
think  it  is  always  the  outcome  of  '*  unconscious  cerebration." 
The  mind  of  the  seer  has  been  deeply  thinking  on  generic  lines. 
As  first  expressed  such  a  truth  may  be  ore-like — rich,  but  crude — 
and  it  may  have  to  wait  for  the  facts  which  shall  serve  as  faggots 
for  the  crucible. 

Having  in  the  article  "  Coati-Mondi  and  its  Cousins,"  with  per- 
haps seeming^  insufficient  warrant,  asserted  for  Nasua  a  quadru- 
manous  kinship,  now  that  the  faggots  have  been  got  in  plenty, 
why  not  smelt  the  ore  ?  Or,  dropping  metaphors,  let  us  go  in 
direct  quest  of  Nasua's  ancestry,  even  its  biogenesis,  upon  rea- 
soning lines. 

In  tracing  the  pedigree  of  some  regal  line,  perhaps  we  should 
reach  a  very  ancient  Norman  stirp.  But  however  ancient,  it 
would  be  the  Norman  of  civilization,  not  his  savage  progenitor  of 
the  Pala:olithic  age.  This  would  be  as  far  up  the  stream  of  the 
past  as  we  could  sail.  So  with  our  Nasua,  we  must  stop  at  the 
origin  of  the  Educabilia,  the  quasi  intelligent  animals,  those 
f^amely  which  have  the  cerebrum  or  frontal  brain  relatively  large 
and  roofing,  or  overlapping  the  cerebellum  or  small  hinder  brain. 

I.  First  (hen,  as  to  that  quadrumanous  alliance  of  Coati ;  on 
what  line  of  reasoning  may  the  genealogy  be  traced  ?  My  first 
impression  of  this  fact  came  to  me  as  a  conviction  of  the  imagi- 
nation. I  dijd  not  then,  it  is  so  long  ago,  know  anything  of  the 
modern  doctrine  of  "  unconscious  cerebration."  I  had  so  studied 
the  living  animal  as  to  fairly  know  its  ways,  and  I  came  to  sus- 
pect, ^s  aif  inheritance,  the  monkey  strain,  ^s  ti^e  breeders  would 


Digitized  by 


Google 


1 886.]  The  Ancestry  of  Nasua.  .  323 

say.     I  could  see  the  traits  but  could  not  demonstrate  them.    At 
best  I  could  but  quote  the  great  poet : 

**  Such  seething  brains. 
Such  shaping  fantasies,  that  apprehend 
More  than  cool  reason  ever  comprehends/' 

2.  That  which  backed  up  the  imagination  was  the  psychologi- 
cal or  mental  manifestation.  Here  were  data  for  comparison,  in 
such  well-marked  lines  ran  the  parallels  of  expression  of  the 
Nasuan  and  the  monkey  mind.  The  hints  afforded  in  the  com- 
plex use  made  of  the  hands  and  the  tail — the  many  unmistakable 
monkey  didos,  or  antics,  which  came  not  of  training  nor  of  aping^ 
but  of  real  generic  aptitudes.  These  all  pointed  to  a  physical 
correspondence,  and  looked  directly  to  ancestral  inheritance. 

3.  I  think  it  was  in  1873,  the  year  after  the  appearance  of  my 
article,  that  an  interesting  anatomical  discovery  was  announced 
by  the  great  academician,  the  successor  of  Cuvier,  Henri  Milne- 
Edwards.  He  had  dissected  a  Nasua  and  had  discovered  in  the 
limb  bones  of  this  animal  structural  alliances  to  the  lemurs,  or 
lowest  monkeys.  Here  was,  indeed,  a  pleasant  and  important 
confirmatory  fact 

4.  But  to  rouiid  up  the  proof,  one  more  class  of  evidence  is 
needed,  the  testimony  of  palaeontology.  In  behalf  of  the  extinct 
animals  will  the  fossils  bear  witness  in  this  matter  ?  The  writer 
was  instructor  in  the  natural  sciences  in  the  grammar  school  or 
preparatory  department  of  Rutgers  College,  when  he  received 
from  its  author  a  pamphlet  "  On  the  principal  types  of  the  orders 
of  Mammalia  Educabilia,"  by  Professor  E.  D.  Cope;  read  before 
the  American  Philosophical  Society,  April  18,  1873.  My  eyes 
caught  a  foot-note  to  one  of  the  pages,  thus ;  "  Dr.  Lockwood,  of 
Rutgers  College,  in  a  recent  number  of  the  Popular  Science 
Monthly,  expressed  serious  suspicions  of  the  quadrumanous  rela- 
tionships of  the  Coati,  little  thinking  at  the  time  that  the  speci- 
mens to  confirm  his  view  were  at  that  moment  in  the  bands  of 
palaeontologists." 

Let  us  now  take  down  this  testimony  from  nature's  own  mouth. 
Certain  fossil  bones  had  been  found  in  the  Eocene  formation  of 
Wyoming.  Previous  to  the  Eocene  period  of  time  the  fauna  of 
this  world's  life-history  had  consisted  of  animals  of  a  very  low 
grade  on  the  mammalian  lines.  Technically  they  are  classed  as 
the  Ineducabilia.  In  the  Eocene  days  the  creative  force  was  ex- 
ercised on  higher  lines  of  life.    Then  ^ere  produced  the  real 


Digitized  by 


Google 


324  •  The  Ancestry  of  Nasua.  [April, 

ancestors  of  those  animals  which  are  included  in  the  zoological 
term  Educabilia,  whose  cerebral  physiology  has  been  already 
explained.  As  notable  genera  of  those  days  I  may  mention  the 
pseudo-bear — Notharctus  of  Leidy,  and  the  cut-tooth  beast — 
Tomitherium  of  Cope.  Others  there  were  by  Marsh,  but  their 
descriptions  are  not  in  my  reach.  Leidy's  species,  Notharctus 
tenebrosus^  described  from  very  limited  material,  was  a  little  ani- 
mal about  two-thirds  the  size  of  a  raccoon.  Cope's  species, 
Tomitherium  rostratum,  founded  on  a  much  larger  amount  of 
material,  was  an  animal  probably  about  the  size  of  Cebus  cafm- 
cinus,  the  prehensile-tailed  monkey  so  common  in  shows.  Upon 
technical  considerations  both  these  animals,  albeit  their  strange 
and  high-sounding  scientific  names,  were  low-grade  monkeys. 
They  were  quadrumanous  animals  but  of  a  synthetic,  that  is, 
comprehensive  type.  The  femur  of  Tomitherium  was  so  long  as 
to  indicate  that  the  knee  was  entirely  free  from  the  body,  as  it  is 
in  the  whole  monkey  tribe  of  to-day,  but  never  in  any  of  the 
carnivores.  The  round  head  of  the  radius  indicates  a  complete 
power  of  supination  of  the  fore  feet;  that  is,  the  ability  to  lift  the 
hand,  so  to  speak,  forward  and  to  turn  the  palm  upward,  a  faculty 
of  limb  peculiar  to  monkeys  and  man,  while  the  distal  or  lower 
end  of  the  same  bone  resembles  closely  that  of  Semnopithecus,  a 
high-grade  old-world  monkey.  "  We  have  then,"  continues 
Cope,  whom  we  are  epitomizing,  "  an  animal  with  a  long  thigh 
free  from  the  body,  a  foot  capable  of  complete  pronation  and 
supination,  and  a  form  of  lower  jaw  and  teeth  quite  similar  to 
that  of  the  lower  monkeys." 

And  in  this  connection  what  about  our  Coati  ?  Says  the  profes- 
sor :  "  A  comparison  with  Nasua  reveals  no  distant  affinity.  The 
fore  hmb  presented  in  Tomitherium  a  great  similarity  to  that  of 
Nasua."  And  in  both  genera  are  some  striking  similarities  in  the 
cutting  teeth.  "  The  first  impression  derived  from  the  appearance 
of  the  lower  jaw,  and  the  dentition,  and  from  the  humerus,  is  that 
Tomitherium  is  an  ally  of  Coati,  the  humerus  being  almost  Si/ac- 
simi/e."  And  is  it  pot  a  striking  coincidence  that  Professor 
Leidy's  first  impression  of  Notharctus  was  of  a  resemblance  to 
Procyon,  tl)e  raccoon,  which,  as  we  have  shown,  is  generic  with 
Nasua. 

It  is  evident  then  that  Tomitherium  and  Nasua  show  some 
alliances  in  structure  which  look  to  a  common  origin  or  biogene- 
;^is,  but  i(  is  a  descent  on  different  line$.     p'rom  his  sit^dy  of  an 


Digitized  by 


Google 


i886.]  The  Ancestry  of  Nasua.  325 

immense  amount  of  fossil  relics  from  the  same  geological  forma^ 
tion  which  yielded  Tomitherium,  Professor  Cope  has  erected  the 
order  Taxeopoda,  which  includes  these  fossil  lemurine  forms. 
This  order  occupies  the  earliest  section  of  the  line  of  the  Pri- 
mates. First  in  these  fossil  forms  come  the  Lemuroids  at  the 
base  of  the  Primate  lineage.  After  these  extinct  forms  appear 
the  true  Lemuroidea,  that  is,  the  present  or  living  Lemurs,  fol- 
lowed by  the  monkey  proper,  and  these  by  the  anthropoid  apes. 
Now,  among  the  lemurine  forms,  and  fairly  started  on  the  quadru- 
manal  line  of  descent  from  the  typical  lemurine  order  Taxeopoda, 
occurs  Phenacodus,  after  which  Tomitherium  appears  somewhat 
farther  advanced  on  this  Primate  line. 

Now,  on  an  off-line  or  branch  from  the  lemurine  Taxeopoda, 
starts  the  flesh-eating  line ;  first  the  Creodonta,  the  "  slaughter- 
teeth,"  then  the  Carnivora  proper,  with  the  present  living  forms. 
Cercoleptes  connects  Nasua  to  the  extinct  Creodonta,  and 
through  these  back  to  the  lemurine  order  Taxeopoda,  their 
ancestral  stock. 

So  we  have  at  last  found  the  Nasuan  lineage  and  ancestry  in 
the  Eocene  times.  Phenacodus  was  an  animal  of  a  synthetic  struc- 
ture, a  comprehensive  type,  from  which  flowed  several  ordinal 
streams  of  life.  In  such  a  composite  form,  or  structural  make-up, 
can  we  not  surmise  the  creative  possibilities  and  purposes  of  the 
Divine  Mind  ? 

It  is  an  interesting  feet  that  in  a  direct  line  one  of  Nasua's  ances- 
tors still  exists  in  the  same  forests  of  South  America.  The  kin- 
kajou,  Cercoleptes  caudivolvulus^  reduced  to  one  species.  When 
tamed  it  is  an  interesting  little  animal  with  amiable  ways  and 
monkey  traits.  The  tail  is  prehensile  in  that  it  curls  around  an 
object,  which  with  plantigrade  feet  give  it  in  Germany  the  name 
curling-bear.  Like  the  monkeys  it  will  hold  its  food  in  one  hand 
and  break  it  and  feed  it  to  the  mouth  with  the  other.  So  then, 
kinkajou  and  Coati-Mondi  come  honestly  by  their  monkey  tricks, 
having  a  clear  title  by  heritage. 

Without  turning  homilist  let  me  close  by  citing  Ruskin  and 
one  of  the  great  ancients :  "  The  greatest  thing  a  human  soul 
ever  does  in  this  world  is  to  see  something."  The  Hebrew  bard 
both  sang  and  prayed :  "  Open  thou  mine  eyes,  that  I  may  behold 
glorious  things  out  of  thy  law !"  And  this  biogenesis  of  Coati- 
Mondi,  is  it  not  one  of  the  wonderful  things — ^an  outcome  of 
Divine  law  ? 


Digitized  by 


Google 


326  The  Mechanics  of  Soaring.  [April, 

THE  MECHANICS  OF  SOARING. 

BY  I.  LANCASTER, 

IT  was  foreseen  that  the  paper  on  the  soaring  birds  in  the 
November  and  December  numbers  of  the  Naturalist  of  last 
year  would  provoke  adverse  criticism  where  it  dealt  with  expla- 
nations of  the  movements  of  those  creatures.  The  recognized 
laws  of  the  mechanical  forces  being  formulated  from  data  derived 
from  systems  of  which  the  earth  is  a  part,  makes  it  extremely 
difficult  to  deal  with  phenomena  which  are  independent  of  that 
body,  while  still  existing  in  its  atmosphere. 

There  arises  at  every  step  taken  to  elucidate  the  matter,  a 
seeming  conflict  with  accepted  laws,  and  however  faultless  the 
reasoning,  it  is  discredited  because  of  that  apparent  antagonism. 

The  word  **  soaring  "  is  also  a  bad  one  to  name  the  mechanical 
actions  involved,  as  it  implies  a  bird.  No  better,  however,  is  at 
hand,  and  it  denotes  the  method  employed  by  the  bird  and  not 
necessarily  the  creature  itself,  as  it  is  here  used. 

While  prosecuting  the  subject  experiments  of  various  kinds 
were  conducted  to  dispel  the  obscurity  which  enveloped  it,  as 
careful  observations  had  shown  that  it  was  completely  different 
from  any  other  kind  of  bird  flight  Of  almost  half  a  hundred 
theories  framed  on  postulates  of  bird  or  air,  which  were  not  true, 
one  at  length  was  found  to  be  consistent  with  the  facts.  I  sud- 
denly found  myself  in  the  ludicrous  predicament  of  industriously 
attempting  to  prove  an  axiom.  My  experiments  became  value- 
less. Time  and  means  had  been  wasted.  There  already  existed 
recognized  data  to  make  the  whole  case  self-evident. 

It  is  now  more  than  five  years  since  the  discovery  of  the 
mechanical  activities  herewith  detailed.  During  that  time  the 
matter  has  been  made  a  study  in  all  its  bearings,  so  that  mistaken 
conceptions  might  be  avoided,  and  it  is  herewith  presented  to  the 
mechanical  world  as  worthy  of  serious  attention. 

Technically,  the  material  system  of  soaring  is  a  flat  surface,  air, 
and  a  force.  The  gravitating  force  is  not  essential  to  it  Any 
force,  a  push  with  the  hand,  horse-power,  steam-power  or  any 
other  will  fill  the  conditions.  Neither  is  atmospheric  air  essential. 
The  air  must  have  the  quality  of  great  elasticity  and  offer  con- 
siderable resistance  to  a  moving  body  which  compresses  or  drives 
it  out  of  the  way,  and  very  little  to  the  passage  of  a  smooth, 
flat  surface  like  a  sheet  of  tin,  edgeways  in  it    The  force  is  then 


Digitized  by 


Google 


i886.] 


The  Mechanics  of  Soaring. 


327 


applied  to  the  body  in  such  a  way  as  to  move  it  at  right  angles 
to  the  direction  in  which  the  force  acts.  This  translation  of  the 
body  is  "  soaring/*  It  rests  on  two  universally  recognized  laws. 
The  most  important  is  the  conservation  of  energy,  of  which  it  is 
the  most  beautiful  illustration  to  be  found  in  mechanics.  The 
other  is  the  reaction  in  all  directions  of  fluids  under  the  action  of 
mechanical  forces. 

The  body  must  be  so  constructed  as  to  have  at  least  two  direc- 
tions of  motion  which  are  unequally  resisted  by  the  air. 

The  case  will  be  first  presented  as  operating  in  space  devoid 
of  gravitation,  where  the  body  will  have  no  weight,  and 
afterwards  the  system  will  be  introduced  into  the  earth's  atmos- 
phere. Implications  arising  from  the  action  of  gravity,  and  the 
constant  tendency  to  introduce  the  earth  into  the  soaring  system, 
will  be  avoided. 

Suppose  the  body  to  be  an  oblong  flat  surface,  such  as  a  sheet 
of  tin  12  X  72  inches,  and  that  .^7  b  is  its  transverse  section,  and 
that  the  force  moves  from  c  towards  d^  at  right  angles  to  the  sides 
of  the  surface. 


Surface  at  right  angles  to  the  direc- 
tion of  the  force. 


Surface  inclined  to  the  direction  of 
the  force. 


/ 


/ 


d  d 

Latenl  motion  of  surface  at  right  an-  Lateral  motion  of  surface  inclined  to 

gles  to  the  force.  the  force. 


Digitized  by  VjOOQIC 


32S^  The  Mechanics  of  Soaring.  [April, 

That  the  value  of  the  force  is  twelve  pounds  moving  the  surface 
on  the  air  with  uniform  velocity,  which  we  will  suppose  to  be  five 
feet  per  second.  Under  these  conditions  it  is  obvious  that  all  the 
force  is  employed  in  condensing  and  otherwise  disturbing  air,  so 
that  it  is  doing  work  on  the  air  at  the  rate  of  twelve  pounds  each 
second.  It  is  also  obvious  that  while  uniform  velocity  occurs 
there  is  a  moving  equilibrium  between  the  surface  acted  on  by  the 
force  and  the  reacting  air,  and  that  any  additional  force,  however 
small,  applied  to  the  surface  at  any  angle  to  its  own  plane  would 
disturb  this  balance,  and  either  accelerate  or  retard  its  velocity. 
If,  however,  the  additional  force  be  applied  in  its  plane,  lateral 
motion  would  occur  without  changing  the  equilibrium.  In  the 
lateral  motion  no  air  is  disturbed,  nor  driven  out  of  the  way,  nor 
condensed,  excepting  what  is  caused  by  smooth  skin,  or  surface 
friction,  and  this  is  so  very  small  as  to  elude  all  my  attempts  to  find 
its  value.  One  pound  applied  in  the  plane  of  the  surface  would 
doiabtless  drive  it  at  the  rate  of  looo  feet  per  second.  We  will 
suppose,  however,  that  one  pound  will  drive  it  from  b  towards  a 
at  the  rate  of  thirty  feet  per  second.  As  it  is  moving  towards  d 
at  the  rate  of  five  feet  per  second,  it  will  pass  neither  towards  d 
nor  a^  but  on  the  diagonal  b  e^  the  resulting  path,  the  parallelo- 
gram being  thirty  feet  long  and  five  feet  wide. 

Note  the  character  of  the  equilibrium  between  the  surface  and 
air.  The  total  force  is  flowing  around  the  edges  of  the  surface  in 
the  shape  of  condensed  and  otherwise  disturbed  air.  If  the  hand 
were  placed  under  the  surface  with  an  upward  push,  precisely  as 
much  resistance  as  would  be  given  to  the  hand  would  be  taken 
from  the  air,  and  the  velocity  retarded.  If  scales  were  applied  to 
the  surface  and  a  pull  towards  c  given,  part  of  the  force  would  be 
moving  the  index  and  precisely  that  much  less  would  be  working 
on  air,  and  the  velocity  of  the  surface  would  be  again  retarded. 
If  the  surface  met  with  sufficient  impediment  to  stop  its  motion, 
ali  the  force  would  be  resisting  the  impediment  and  none  doing 
work  on  air,  and  velocity  would  cease. 

It  is  evident  that  at  uniform  velocity  the  force  has  been  trans- 
ferred. It  is  in  the  air  tension,  and  not  in  the  surface,  for  to  be  also 
there,  would  necessitate  its  creation  out  of  nothing.  There  being 
then,  no  force  in  the  surface,  it  could  not  antagonize  any  resist- 
ance ofTered  to  it,  and  this  is  in  fact  its  condition  as  we  have  seen. 
While  its  velocity  remained  uniform  it  would  obey  any  impulse 


Digitized  by 


Google 


i886.]  The  Mechanics  of  Soaring.  329 

derived  from  incident  forces  directed  upon  it,  being  powerless  to 
resist  them. 

So  far  all  is  evident,  but  the  surface  would  not  fill  the  condi- 
tions of  soaring.  Its  motion  is  not  at  right  angles  to  the  force, 
but  inclined  thereto,  and  to  accomplish  the  desired  result  its  path 
must  be  perpendicular  to  the  force. 

If  we  now  tilt  the  surface  on  one  of  its  long  edges,  b^  say  for 
two  inches,  or  one  in  six,  it  would  no  longer  follow  the  direction 
of  the  force,  but  slant  sideways  towards  this  edge.  Following 
the  law  of  the  composition  of  forces,  one-sixth  of  the  force,  or 
two  pounds,  will  now  drive  the  surface  sideways,  and  there  being 
nothing  but  trifling  skin  friction  to  oppose  it,  it  will  obey  the  im- 
pulse. But  if  we  apply  a  force  of  two  pounds  to  the  edge  to 
balance  this  thrust,  equilibrium  will  once  more  occur  and  the  sur- 
face will  move  in  the  path  of  the  force.  Experimentally,  far  less 
than  two  pounds  is  required  for  this  rest,  as  a  considerable  incline 
is  reached  before  the  sideways  thrust  is  developed,  the  confused 
air  currents  under  the  surface  obscuring  the  movement. 

Note  that  this  abutting  force  is  of  the  nature  of  pressure.  It 
is  a  static  feature  devoid  of  motion.  It  is  a  rest  for  the  tilted  sur- 
face to  lean  against. 

It  cannot  be  denied  that  we  now  have  a  case  of  equilibrium  once 
more.  With  the  two-pound  rest  a  perfect  balance  results  and  the 
surface  moves  in  the  path  of  the  force.  All  the  force  is  disturbing 
air,  while  the  surface  moves  with  uniform  velocity.  At  that  speed 
it  IS  unable  to  offer  the  least  resistance  to  any  further  force  which 
may  be  opposed  to  it.  At  this  point  the  answer  to  a  single  ques- 
tion will  be  decisive.  If  it  be  in  the  affirmative  the  position  is 
secure;  if  in  the  negative,  my  explanation  of  soaring  is  wrong, 
the  birds  are  still  in  the  air  waiting  solution. 

The  question  is  this  :  Will  the  tilted  surface,  supplied  with  the 
rest  of  two  pounds  and  moving  with  uniform  velocity,  obey  the 
impulse  of  an  external  force,  applied  in  its  own  plane,  with  equal 
facility  in  any  direction  ? 

It  certainly  is  evident  that  the  only  resistance  ta  such  a  force 
arises  from  skin  friction  in  whatever  way  the  motion  is  made.  If 
there  be  any  other  from  whence  comes  it  ?  It  cannot  come  from 
the  original  force,  for  this  is  fully  employed.  It  cannot  come 
from  the  two-pound  rest,  as  this  is  already  balanced  by  the  side- 
ways thrust  of  the   reacting  air.    This  does  not  vary  with  the 


Digitized  by 


Google 


330  The  Mechanics  of  Soaring.  [April, 

velocity  in  the  plane  of  the  surface.  It  is  two  pounds  at  all 
velocities ;  motion  in  the  plane  of  the  surface  does  not  change  the 
value  of  the  condensations,  but  only  their  character.  It  makes 
them  thinner  but  wider,  the  total  of  twelve  pounds  being  constant 
at  all  velocities ;  so  that  the  two-pound  abutment  can  only  vary 
with  the  inclination  of  the  surface  to  the  direction  of  the  force. 
It  is  obvious  that  a  force  applied  to  the  surface  in  the  direction  of 
its  length,  will  move  it  either  way  indifferently.  It  can  be  seen 
at  once  that  the  two-pound  rest  will  not  resist  such  a  force  at  any 
velocity  whatever  in  these  directions.  Leaving  unnoticed  any 
oblique  motion  neither  longitudinal  nor  transverse,  the  important 
point  is,  will  a  given  force,  say  of  one  pound,  move  the  surface 
towards  a,  with  the  same  velocity  as  towards  b  t 

It  is  possible  that  when  the  lateral  motion  is  set  up  there  might 
be  developed  in  the  air  disturbances,  differences  which  would 
require  an  increase  or  diminution  of  velocity  towards  rf,  to  bal- 
ance the  twelve  pounds,  and  that  these  differences  would  be 
greater  or  less  towards  b  than  a.  But  this  would  in  no  way  affect 
the  lateral  motion.  Acceleration  or  retardation  would  go  on 
until  equilibrium  again  occurred,  so  that  it  would  be  a  balanced 
surface  which  is  moved.  The  vital  point  is :  Does  or  can  the 
twelve  pounds  in  any  way  resist  the  lateral  motion  either  towards 
a  or  bf  It  seems  evident  that  there  is  no  conceivable  way  in 
which  the  lateral  motion  in  either  of  these  directions  can  be 
resisted  by  the  twelve-pound  force,  under  these  conditions,  with- 
out at  once  traversing  the  law  of  the  conservation  of  energy. 
The  only  resistance  to  be  found  is  the  skin  friction  on  six  square 
feet  of  smooth  surface  under  a  pressure  of  two  pounds  to  the 
foot. 

If  this  be  a  fact  the  case  is  proven.  There  is  no  other  feature 
of  it  which  would  be  denied. 

Note  the  implications  of  the  case.  The  lateral  motion  caused 
by  the  one  pound  would  now  carry  the  surface  to  b,  while  it  is 
going  to  d,  and  it  would  pass  to  c,  at  right  angles  to  the  twelve- 
pound  force.  In  going  thirty  feet  laterally  it  moves  sixty  inches 
contrary  to  the  direction  of  the  force  of  twelve  pounds  and  sixty 
inches  with  that  direction,  so  that  its  path  is  at  right  angles  to  it. 
The  motion  of  sixty  inches  contrary  to  the  force  is  a  function  of 
the  lateral  motion  and  does  not  resist  the  force  in  the  remotest 
manner;  while  motion  of  sixty  inches  with  the  force,  towards  rf, 


Digitized  by  VjOOQIC 


1 886.]  The  Mechanics  of  Soaring.  331 

is  the  direct  result  of  this  force.  While  the  lateral  motion  is 
going  on  at  the  rate  of  thirty  feet  per  second,  twelve  pounds  per 
second  of  air  disturbance  is  flowing  past  the  edge  b^  while  but 
three  pounds  is  required  to  give  the  lateral  thrust  and  furnish  the 
two-pound  rest.  If  this  edge  be  rounded  upwards  along  its  sev- 
enty-two inches  of  length  to  serve  as  a  base  for  the  expanding  air 
to  act  against,  it  will  give  the  needed  three  pounds  and  still  leave 
nine  pounds  to  go  to  waste  by  falling  to  the  tension  of  the  sur- 
rounding air.  With  this  substitution  the  soaring  action  is  com- 
plete. The  force  is  now.  translating  the  body  at  right  angles  to 
Its  own  direction.  It  will  be  noted  that  a  velocity  towards  a 
greater  than  thirty  feet  per  second  will  cause  the  surface  to  move 
contrary  to  the  direction  of  the  force  faster  than  with  it.  Also,  if 
a  greater  inclination  be  supposed,  the  abutting  force  would  be 
greater,  and  the  above  contrary  motion  augmented.  A  limit 
womM  soon  be  reached  in  this  direction,  however.  At  an  incliae 
of  one  to  four  the  rest  would  be  three  pounds,  at  one  to  three, 
four  pounds,  which  latter  would  pass  the  limit  of  soaring,  as  it 
would  require  a  rear  expansion  of  five  pounds  to  effect  lateral 
motion,  a  utilization  of  five-twelfths  of  the  entire  force,  which 
would  surpass  the  ability  of  the  system. 

A  single  further  peculiarity  is  to  be  noted.  Suppose  the  indefi- 
nite body  of  air  belonging  to  this  system  to  be  in  motion,  either 
with^  or  against,  or  at  any  angle  whatever  to  the  direction  of  the 
force.  The  action  of  the  parts  of  the  system  would  remain 
unaffected  by  such  motion.  It  is  universally  recognized  that  the 
translation  of  a  system  as  a  whole  has  no  effect  on  the  interac- 
tion of  its  parts. 

Let  us  now  suppose  the  motion  of  the  body  of  air  containing 
the  system  be  towards  the  earth's  atmosphere  in  a  direction  tan- 
gential to  its  surface,  at  the  rate  of  one  hundred  miles  per  hour, 
until  the  air  of  the  system  and  the  atmosphere  became  identical, 
we  would  have  a  bird  soaring  in  wind  of  that  velocity,  and  this 
wind,  or  any  other  wind,  or  a  dead  calm,  or  wind  vertically  down- 
wards, or  upwards,  or  at  any  other  angle,  are  identical  states  of 
air  so  far  as  the  soaring  system  is  concerned. 

In  the  earth's  atmosphere,  surface  and  air  will  remain  the  same, 
while  the  force  will  be  that  of  gravity.  The  surface  now  has 
weight  It  is  a  body  plus  a  force,  and  the  entire  matter  is  the 
same  that  we  have  been  considering.    The  surface  is  a  soaring 


Digitized  by 


Google 


332  734^  Mechanics  of  Soaring.  [April, 

bird.  It  is  an  inert  body  translated  at  right  angles  to  the  gravi* 
tating  force,  or  horizontally,  and  solely  by  the  action  of  that  force. 
It  has  constant  motion  in  the  direction  of  gravity  but  does  not 
lose  its  energy  of  position  by  getting  nearer  the  earth.  It  resem- 
bles in  this  respect  a  clock  moved  by  a  weight,  and  placed  on  the 
platform  of  an  elevator  which  slowly  ascends.  While  the  clock 
weight  is  a  falling  body  having  motion  in  the  direction  of  gravity, 
it  still  does  not  lose  its  energy  of  position  by  getting  nearer  the 
earth,  because  of  another  motion  in  which  it  is  elevated. 

The  surface,  under  the  action  of  this  force  as  above  condi- 
tioned, is  a  splendid  atmospheric  highway  maker.  It  lays  down 
an  endless  cushion  of  air  on  which  it  travels  with  incredible 
speed.  It  is  paralleled  by  nothing  in  nature.  It  is  gravity  in  the 
role  of  a  continuous  motive  power.  It  obeys  implicitly  the  laws 
of  mechanics  in  every  particular,  and  gives  man  complete  domin- 
ion of  the  air. 

When  the  attention  is  directed  to  soaring  in  the  earth's  atmos- 
phere, as  exhibited  by  the  birds,  two  delusion*  must  be  industri- 
ously guarded  against.  One  is  that  wind  is  concerned  in  the 
phenomenon.  The  other  is  that  the  horizontal  motion  of  .flight 
is  the  result  of  a  single  impulse  acting  in  one  direction. 

When  it  is  seen  that  motion  is  derived  from  gravitating  force 
exhibited  by  the  quiescent  bird  in  all  cases,  and  that  its  level 
flight  is  a  compound  result  of  two  motions,  one  vertically  down- 
wards, and  one  slanting  upwards  in  the  plane  of  the  wing  sur* 
faces,  both  simultaneously  occurring,  the  subject  assumes  a  more 
explicable  form. 

Then  when  it  is  seen  that  no  weight  is  lifted  in  the  upward 
slant,  this  action  bearing  no  resemblance  to  a  ball  rolled  up  an 
inclined  plane,  the  case  will  be  fn  a  fair  way  to  be  completely 
comprehended. 

In  conclusion,  I  may  be  pardoned  for  indicating  the  direction 
in  which  criticism  of  this  paper  may  be  fruitful. 

It  is  easy  to  lose  oneself  in  the  limbo  of  a  vicious  terminology. 
To  show  that  expressions  in  regard  to  the  gravitating  force  being 
**  a  continuous  motive  power,"  and  conferring  on  it  other  unusual 
abilities  not  hitherto  recognized,  are  unwarranted,  is  not  to 
weaken  the  case.     It  will  merely  show  an  improper  use  of  words. 

Statements  of  fact  regarding  the  plane  inclined  to  the  force, 
and  culminating  in  the  possibility  of  equal  ease  of  motion  iii 


Digitized  by 


Google 


1 886.]  The  Stone  Ax  in  Vermont.  333 

any   direction   under  the    conditions    given,  contain  the  vital 
elements. 

As  an  explanation  of  soaring  birds  the  facts  of  the  transforma- 
tion of  gravity  into  air  disturbance,  and  the  results  flowing  there- 
from as  stated,  are  pertinent.  To  invalidate  that  explanation  it 
must  be  shown : 

I.  That  such  transformation  does  not  take  place. 
.   2.  That  no  such  results  as  those  given  are  possible. 

:o: 

THE  STONE  AX  IN  VERMONT.^ 

BY  Professor  geo.  h.  perkins. 

II. — Notched  and  Grooved  Axes. 

IN  all  our  collections  we  find  a  few  axes  which  are  notched  or 
grooved  across  the  narrow  sides.  They  are  not  common  in 
any  portion  of  Vermont,  nor,  if  we  may  judge  from  what  has 
been  published  by  various  writers,  do  they  appear  to  be  abundant 
anywhere  in  tKe  United  States. 

As  was  noticed  in  the  preceding  article  we  are  able  to  arrange 
our  specimens  in  such  a  manner  that  there  is  a  very  complete 
scries  from  the  sintplest  celt,  through  the  notched  ax,  to  the  fully 
grooved  ax,  and  it  seems  quite  probable  that  the  notched  ax  was 
the  second  step  in  the  development  of  the  ax  from  the  simply 
edged  pebble.     The  form  of  the  notched  ax  is  more  like  that  of 
the  common  celt  than  is  that  of  the  grooved 
ax.    In  &ct  some  of  the  notched  axes  are 
nothing  else  than  celts  notched  at  the  sides, 
and  they  are  never  so  large  and  heavy  as  are 
many  of  the  grooved  axes. 

A  type  of  these  axes  is  shown  in  Fig.  i, 
which  represents  a  common  form,  about  one- 
half  the  natural  size. 

As  a  rule  these  axes  are  not  more  than 
four  or  five  inches  long  and  two  or  three 
wide.  They  are  usually  well  shaped,  neither 
rude  nor  clumsy,  and  the  surface  is  smooth 
or  perhaps  polished.  The  form  of  some  is 
such  as  to  suggest  the  adze,  and  it  seems  fig.  i. 

quite  likely  that  an  implement  so  useful  in  hollowing  canoes  and 

^  Continued  from  p.  1149,  December  number,  1885. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


334  ^^  Stone  Ax  in  Vermont.  [April, 

performing  many  of  the  labors  which  we  know  to  have  been  un- 
dertaken, was  in  common  use  among  the  prehistoric  tribes  as  it 
has  been  for  a  long  time  among  modern  savages,  and  yet  I  do 
not  remember  that  the  early  writers  to  whom  we  always  turn  for 
information  respecting  the  customs  of  our  predecessors,  say  very 
much  of  the  use  of  such  a  tool  in  their  accounts  of  these  people. 
It  is  not  impossible  that  some  of  the  implements  which  we  call 
celts  may  have  done  duty  as  spades,  and  that  some  of  the  ruder 
"  notched  axes "    may   have   been,  not   axes,  but    hoes.     The 
notches  or  grooves  are  always  much  wider  than  deep,  although 
the  depth  varies  very  greatly  in  different  specimens,  but  I  have 
never  seen  it  as  great  as  in  the  grooves  of  some  of  the  larger 
grooved  axes.    The  notches  are  usually  about  a  third  of  the 
length  below  the  blunt  end  of  the  ax,  though  in  a  few  cases  they 
are  near  the  middle,  as  in  Fig.  2.     These  axes  group  themselves 
naturally  into  two  classes — those  in  which  the 
width  greatly  exceeds  the  thickness  and  in 
which  the  surfaces  are  nearly  qt  quite  flat,  and 
those  in  which  the  breadth  and  thickness  are 
more  nearly  equal  and  in  which  the  surfaces 
are  often  convex.     Some  specimens  have  one 
surface  quite  flat  and  the  opposite  convex,  just 
as  is  often  the  case  in  the  celts,  and  it  is  pos- 
sible that  these  were  used  as  skin-dressers  or 
Fig  2  fleshers,  and  without  a  handle,  the  notches 

serving  as  convenient  places  for  the  fingers  as 
the  hand  grasped  the  tool.  The  specimen  shown  in  Fig.  i  is  of 
dark  porphyry  and  is  polished  over  the  whole  surface,  and  is,  as 
indeed  are  most  of  these  implements,  made  with  care  and  skill. 
It  is  four  and  a  quarter  inches  long  and  two  inches  in  greatest 
width.  In  Fig.  2  we  have  quite  another  form  of  ax,  and  one  which 
is  not  common.  It  is  about  four  inches  long  and  two  and  a  half 
inches  wide.  It  is  made  of  trap,  and  it  is  noticeable  that  most  of 
these  small  axes  are  made  of  hard,  compact  material  I  have  seen 
no  specimen  of  the  notched  ax  which,  like  some  of  the  celts,  was 
sharpened  at  both  ends,  but  one  or  two  of  the  latter  are  drawn  in 
near  the  middle  as  if  the  maker  had  thought  of  notching  them 
that  a  handle  might  be  more  firmly  attached,  and  these  are  almost 
notched  axes,  although  the  notch  is  so  very  slight  that  I  have 
not  thought  best  to  include  these  specimens  in  the  present  article. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


l886.]  The  Stone  Ax  in  Vermont.  335 

With  very  few  exceptions  the  grooved  axes  found  in  Vermont 
are  larger  than  those  we  have  called  notched  axes.  They  are  not  at 
all  abundant  in  any  part  of  the  State,  and  in  the  northern  counties 
they  are  very  rare.  It  is  quite  remarkable  that  in  some  localities 
where  celts  and  other  implements  are  especially  common,  grooved 
axes  have  been  very  seldom  found,  if  at  all.  As  compared  with 
the  Southern  or  Western  grooved  axes,  our  Vermont  specimens 
present  differences  which  are  sufficiently  noticeable  when  one 
looks  over  series  of  each,  but  which  can  not  readily  be  made 
apparent  in  words.  Our  axes  are,  in  size,  intermediate,  none  of 
them  being  so  small  as  the  little  "  toy  "  axes  found  in  other  local- 
ities, nor  are  any  so  large  as  many  that  have  been  found.  Neither 
do  we  find  axes  grooved  only  on  three  sides,  but  in  all*  our  speci- 
mens the  groove  extends  entirely  around  the  ax.  In  the  collec- 
tion of  the  University  of  Vermont  there  is  one  specimen,  which 
is  doubtfully  of  Vermont  origin,  in  which  the  groove  is  found  only 
on  three  sides,  but  in  all  the  rest  the  groove  is  completed  around 
the  specimen.  This  is  somewhat  remarkable,  because,  according 
to  Dr.  Abbott  (Primitive  Industry,  p.  8) :  "  Possibly  two-thirds 
of  the  stone  axes  found  in  New  Jersey  have  the.  groove  extend- 
ing along  the  sides  and  across  one  margin ;"  and  the  same  author 
speaks  of  "  one-half  probably  of  the  axes  found  in  Connecticut 
and  northward  having  the  groove  entirely  encircling  the  stone," 
and  by  inference  the  other  half  were  not  so.  Our  axes  usually 
have  the  groove  a  little  above  the  middle  and  parallel  with  the 
edge.  It  is  never  very  near  the  blunt  end,  as  in  some  of  the 
Western  specimens,  nor  is  it  ever  bordered  by  a  raised  lip.  Our 
average  specimens  are  from  five  to  seven  inches  long  and  about 
two-thirds  as  wide,  and  weigh  two  or  three  pounds,  but  occa- 
sionally they  are  larger,  as  is  the  specimen  shown  in  Fig.  5,  which 
is  one  of  the  largest  axes  I  have  seen  from  this  region.  Some  of 
our  grooved  axes  were  evidently'made  from  cobble  stones,  and  in 
some  of  these  the  upper  end  is  left  very  much  in  its  original  con- 
dition with  its  water-worn  surface  unwrought.  The  same  form 
seems  to  have  been  copied  in  specimens  the  entire  surface  of  which 
is  wrought,  for  although  these  may  show  everywhere  tool-marks, 
the  form  of  the  head  is  precisely  that  of  those  in  which  it  is  the 
natural  water-worn  pebble.  In  general  form  the  Vermont  axes 
are  noticeably  wider,  shorter  and  thinner  than  the  typical  West- 
em  specimens,  and  therefore  less  clumsy  and  heavy,  even  when 


Digitized  by 


Google 


336  The  Stone  Ax  in  Vermont.  [April, 

of  the  same  length.  The  long,  slender  axes  found  in  some  of 
the  Western  localities  do  hot  occur  in  the  Champlain  valley. 

Our  grooved  axes  arc  not  often  very  rude  but,  though  seldom 
polished,  the  surface  is  generally  well  picked  and  smoothed.  The 
edge  is,  naturally,  always  polished,  but  the  groove  is  not  in  any 
specimen  so  completely  smoothed  that  the  pits  and  striae 
made  by  the  instruments  used  in  excavating  it  are  obliterated, 
and  in  most  cases  there  is  little  attempt  at  polishing  it  Even 
when  the  rest  of  the  surface  is  smoothed,  the  groove  is  not.  This 
is  unlike  what  is  common  among  stone  axes  from  other  places, 
for  in  these  we  very  often  find  the  groove  finely  polished. 

In  Fig.  3  we  have  represented  a  specimen  of  singular  form,  and 
in  some  respects  unique. 

As  the  figure  shows,  the  notches  are  very  deep,  though  the 

(groove  is  quite  shallow,  and  the  form  of 
the  head  above  the  groove  is  unusual. 
The  material  of  which  this  ax  is  made, 
instead  of  being  of  trap  or  quartzite,  or 
some  such  hard,  compact  stone,  is  quite 
peculiar  in  that  it  is  of  a  red  sandrock 
common  along    Lake    Champlain,  and 
which  is  not  a  very  suitable  material  for 
an   ax.     As  shown  in    tl^e  figure  this 
specimen  appears  more  rude  and  ill-fin- 
ished than  it  was  originally,  for,  either 
from  the  effects  of  weathering  or  hard 
usage,  the   smooth   surface  which   evi- 
dently existed  at  first,  has  been  flaked 
off  in  many  places,  giving  a  rude  appear- 
ance. 
This  is  one  of  the  larger  of  our  axes,  the  length  being  eight 
inches,  width  across  the  head  four  and  a  half  inches,  while  the  gen- 
eral width  below  the  groove  is  four  inches.  The  special  peculiarity 
of  this  ax  is  found  in  the  obliquity  of  the  edge,  which  is  not  very 
well  shown  in  the  figure.  That  portion  of  the  ax  below  the  groove 
is  not  worked  to  the  same  plane  as  that  above,  but  is  as  if  twisted 
spirally  so  that  a  line  drawn  parallel  to  the  edge  would  cross  at  a 
large  angle  a  similar  line  drawn  across  the  head  or  parallel  with 
the  groove.     Nor  is  this  an  isolated  example.     In  a  fine  large  ax 
in  our  collection,  from  Springfield,  Mass.,  the  same  obliquity  in 


Digitized  by  VjOOQIC 


i886.]  TIte  Stone  Ax  in  Vermont  337 

the  lower  part  is  seen,  and  in  several  celts  I  have  seen  the  same 
form.  So  marked  is  this  twist  that  it  would  seem  impossible  to 
strike  a  fair  blow  with  such  an  ax  if  it  was  attached  to  a  long 
handle,  and  this  difficulty  raises  the  question  whether  some  of 
these  large  grooved  axes  may  not  have  been  hand  axes,  not  many 
of  them,  perhaps,  but  a  few.  The  head  of  the  Springfield  ax  is 
rounded  carefully,  and  indeed  the  whole  ax  is  very  well  made, 
and  when  held  in  the  hand  with  the  ends  of  the  fingers  in  the 
groove,  it  seems  most  admirably  adapted  for  use  in  this  way.  I 
am  aware  that  the  groove  in  itself  suggests  a  handle  of  some 


Fig.  4.  Fig.  5. 

sort,  but,  as  has  been  noticed,  in  the  case  of  these  oblique  axes 
at  least,  the  hand  and  arm  of  the  user  would  surely  make  a  much 
better  handle  than  any  other.  The  form  cannot  be  regarded  as 
accidental,  I  think;  the  specimens  are  too  carefully  and  thoroughly 
made  to  allow  place  for  such  a  supposition. 

The  general  character  of  our  Vermont  grooved  axes  is  very 
well  shown  by  Figs.  4  and  5,  which  represent  the  two  classes 
most  often  found.  Both  of  them  are  comparatively  quite  flat  or 
thin,  and  our  grooved  axes  never  approach  a  cylindrical  form, 
but  are  always  narrowly  elliptical  in  cross-section.    Scarcely  any 

TOL.  XX.«~HO.  XV.  83 


! 


Digitized  by 


Google 


338  The  Stone  Ax  in  Vermont  [April, 

two  specimens  are  alike,  but  most  of  them  resemble  more  or  less 
closely  one  or  the  other  of  the  forms  here  figured.  The  specimen 
shown  (very  much  reduced  in  size)  in  Fig.  4  is  a  very  well  made 
and  finished  ax,  worked  out  of  a  syenite  cobble-stone,  and  the 
upper  end  apparently  still  retains  the  general  form  of  the  pebble. 
It  is  of  average  size,  being  five  inches  long  and  three  and  a  half 
inches  wide  just  below  the  groove.  This  specimen  illustrates  the 
short  and  wide  form,  while  the  less  common  and  longer  form  is 
seen  in  Fig.  5.  This  ax  is  one  of  the  largest  specimens,  and 
most,  ff  not  all,  of  this  form  are  large.  Some  of  them  are  less 
rude  than  that  figured,  which  shows  the  effects  of  hard  usage, 
though  it  probably  was  very  well  finished  at  first.  It  is  made  of  a 
dark  gray  grit  or  hard  sandrock,  much  like  that  used  for  making 
the  harder  varieties  of  grindstones.  The  flat- surfaces  are  rubbed 
quite  smooth,  although  somewhat  pitted.  The  groove  is  only  mod- 
erately deep,  but  is  unusually  wide,  and  is  smooth  as  if  worn  by 
long  usage,  and  as  the  figure  shows,  it  runs  obliquely.  Both  sides 
are  flat,  one  somewhat  more  so  than  the  other,  and  the  edge  is 
formed  by  beveling  the  surface,  mainly  from  one  side.  This  ax, 
and  the  same  is  true  of  all  of  this  form,  was  evidently  worked  out 
of  a  mass  taken  from  a  ledge.  Not  only  does  the  smoothness  of 
the  groove  show  that  this  implement  has  been  much  used,  but  the 
edge  is  chipped  and  broken  somewhat,  and  the  head  very  consid- 
erably battered  as  if  it  had  done  hard  duty  as  a  maul.  It  has 
been  thought  by  some  that  these  large  axes  were,  some  of  them 
at  least,  used  to  break  holes  in  the  ice  in  winter  for  fishing  or  to 
get  water,  and  this  specimen  may  have  served  for  some  such 
work.  Very  few  axes  so  large  as  this  have  been  found  in  this 
State.  The  figure  is  somewhat  more  than  one-third  natural  size. 
The  length  is  a  little  over  nine  inches,  and  the  width  above  the 
groove  nearly  five  and  a  half  inches,  while  just  below  the  groove 
it  is  five  inches.  The  specimen  weighs  four  pounds,  which  is  much 
less  than  that  of  some  of  the  Southern  specimens.  The  inequality 
of  the  two  flat  sides,  which  is  sufficient  to  be  quite  noticeable  in 
this  specimen,  is  still  more  marked  in  some  others,  and,  as  in  the 
celts  and  other  forms  of  the  ax,  this  flattest  side  is  always 
smoother,  sometimes  very  much  so,  than  the  opposite  side,  a  fact 
for  which  it  does  not  seem  easy  to  account.  In  a  skin-dresser  or 
hand  ax  it  is  quite  natural  that  the  side  which,  from  accident 
or  intention,  was  most  nearly  flat  should  be  held  down  upon  the 


%igitized  by 


Google 


1 886.]  The  Stone  Ax  in  Vermont.  339 

skin  or  whatever  the  surface  that  was  being  worked,  and  thus  be- 
come smooth  and  flat  even  if  not  made  so  at  first,  but  how  any- 
thing of  this  sort  could  take  place  in  a  large,  hailed  ax  we  are 
unable  to  guess,  unless  it  was  used  as  an  adze,  and  this  is  possi- 
ble. The  oblique  direction  of  the  groove  seen  in  this  specimen 
is  worthy  of  notice,  since  it  does  not  appear  to  be  common  in 
New  England  specimens.  Dr.  Abbott  (Primitive  Industry,  p.  8) 
says  that  in  the  valley  of  the  Susquehanna  river  in  Pennsylvania 
the  majority  of  grooved  axes  have  the  groove  oblique  with  refer- 
ence to  the  edge,  but  that  this  feature  is  rarely  me^  with  in  New 
Jersey  and  "  probably  does  not  occur  in  New  England.  There  is 
no  example  in  the  large  series  of  New  England  axes  in  the  mu- 
seum at  Gimbridge."  Several  of  our  Vermont  axes,  all  I  believe 
from  the  northern  part  of  the  State,  have  oblique  grooves. 

I  do  not  think  that  archaeologists  have  given  the  grooved  ax 
sufficient  credit  for  utility  as  a  cutting  implement.  They  seem 
for  the  most  part  to  be  of  the  opinion  that  at  best  these  axes 
could  be  used  only  to  cut  into  the  bark  and  bruise  the  wood  so 
that  a  fire  kindled  about  a  tree  so  prepared  should  have  greater 
effect  This  may^  very  probably  have  been  a  common,  perhaps 
the  common,  method,  and  yet  the  accounts  given  us  by  the  early 
explorers  of  America  seem  to  me  to  prove  that  trees  were  cut, 
and  cut  so  that  they  came  down,  with  stone  axes.  We  must 
always  be  on  our  guard  against  rendering  judgment  as  to  the 
usefulness  of  a  stone  implement  if  we  have  no  other  basis  for  our 
decision  than  the  results  accomplished  by  it  in  our  unskilled 
hands.  We  all  know  that  stone  implements  that  would  be  wholly 
useless  in  civilized  hands  are  yet  of  very  great  efficiency  in  the 
hands  of  savages  who  have  learned  how  to  use  them.  Many  of 
our  stone  axes  do  indeed  seem  quite  unfitted  for  use  as  cutting 
tools,  and  they  may  be  so,  but  all  are  not ;  some  are  made  from 
w^ry  hard  stone  and  have  a  smooth,  regular  edge  which,  although 
it  may  not  be  comparable  to  that  of  a  modern  steel  ax,  is  yet  able 
to  cut  soft  green  wood  if  not  that  which  is  harder.  To  cite  in 
proof  of  this  only  a  single  writer,  let  me  call  attention  to  one  or 
two  statements  made  by  Champlain.  The  earliest  edition  of  the 
writings  of  this  explorer,  which  is  now  at  hand,  was  published  in 
Paris,  1830,  a  reprint  of  course  of  earlier  volumes,  but  sufficient 
for  our  purpose.  In  his  account  of  a  journey  which  he  took  with 
a  party  of  Algonkins  in  1609,  Champlain  speaks  several  times  of 


Digitized  by 


Google 


340      Grosse*s  Classification  and  Structure  of  the  Bird-hce.  [April, 

the  stone  axes  as  used  to  fell  trees,  and  some  of  these  were  "  gros 
arbres/'  and  the  account  shows  that  the  cutting  must  have  been 
done  with  somewhat  of  expedition.  His  party  had  iron  axes  as 
well  as  stone,  but  our  author  does  not  compare  the  two,  but  calls 
them  all  "  meschantes."  In  describing  the  customary  method  of 
camping  when  enemies  were  supposed  to  be  near,  he  tells  us  that 
as  soon  as  the  Indians  had  chosen  the  place  for  a  camp,  they  im- 
mediately began  to  cut  down  trees  to  make  a  barricade,  and  he 
says  that  they  know  so  well  how  to  do  this  that  in  less  than  two 
hours  they  have  so  strong  a  defence  that  five  hundred  of  their 
enemies  would  not  be  able  to  break  into  it  without  great  diffi- 
culty and  loss  of  life.  Then  in  another  passage  he  speaks  of  the 
Iroquois  cutting  down  trees  for  a  similar  purpose.  Nowhere  does 
he  speak  of  fire  as  an  aid  in  the  process.  Indeed  in  the  first  case 
where  he  tells  us  of  so  strong  a  barricade,  he  says  that  they  make 
no  fire  lest  the  smoke  reveal  their  presence  to  their  enemies. 

From  these  and  similar  accounts  it  seems  quite  probable,  to  say 
the  least,  that  stone  axes  were  used  as  axes  for  cutting  timber, 
and  with  not  altogether  unsatisfactory  results. 


-:o> 


GROSSE'S  CLASSIFICATION  AND  STRUCTURE  OF 
THE  BIRD-LICE  OR  MALLOPHAGA.^ 

ABSTRACT  BY  PROFESSOR  G.  MACLOSKIE. 

THE  Mallophaga,  or  bird-lice,  are  wingless  insects  with  incom- 
plete metamorphosis,  m.andibulate  mouth-parts,  two  or  three- 
segmented  thorax,  eight  to  ten  abdominal  somites.  They  live  on 
mammals  and  birds,  feeding  on  their  scales,  hairs  and  feathers. 
The  genera  which  are  found  on  mammals  never  occur  on  birds, 
^ViA  vice  versa.  Redi  first  observed  (1688)  that  there 'are  some 
lice  with  haustellate  and  others  with  mandibulate  mouth-parts. 
Nitsch  (1842)  carefully  examined  them,  and  Von  Giebel  (1874) 
improved  on  his  work. 

Nitsch  divides  them  into  two  chief  groups,  Philopteridae  and 
Liotheidae ;  the  Philopteridse  have  filamentous  antennae  and  no 
palps ;  the  Liotheidse  have  clavate  four-jointed  antennae  and  palps. 
The  Philopteridae  comprise  two  families:  (i)  Trichodectes,  the 

^  Beitrilge  zur  Kenntniss  der  Mallophaga,  von  Dr.  Franz  Grosse  in  Strassburg. 
Zeitschrift  fiir  wissenschaftliche  Zoologie,  Bd.  XLII,  pp.  530-558,  mit  Taf.  xviu 
(18S5). 


Digitized  by 


Google 


1 8  86.]  Crosse's  Classification  and  Structure  of  the  Bird-lice.      341 

only  genus,  characterized  by  three-jointed  antennae  and  one- 
clawed  feet ;  (2)  Philopteridae,  stricte^  with  five-jointed  antennae 
and  two-clawed  feet. 

The  Liotheidae  have  likewise  two  families:  (i)  Gyropus,  the 
only  genus,  having  one-clawed  feet;  and  (2)  Liotheidae,  stricti^ 
with  two-clawed  feet 

Trichodectes  and  Gyropus  occur  only  on  mammals,  the  other 
genera  only  on  birds,  and  are  classified  according  to  the  presence 
or  absence  of  appendages  on  the  head  (trabeculae)  and  their  mo- 
tility, to  the  sexual  differentiation  of  antennae,  their  attitude,  the 
form  of  the  head,  the  consistency  of  the  thoracal  somites  and  the 
form  of  the  last  abdothinal  somites. 

PHILOPTERIDi«,  strieti. 

1.  Trabecuke  motile,  antennse  nearly  alike  in  both  sexes Doeophorus. 

2.  Trabeculae  not  motile. 

a.  Antennae  filiform,  no  sexual  differentiation. 

(a)  Hind-head  rounded  off,  terminal  somite  of  male  rounded  ofif. .  Nirmtu, 
(^)    Hind-head  abruptly  angled,  abdominal  somites  fused  in  the  middle 

Goniocotes, 

b.  Antennae  of  male  forcipate  by  a  process  from  the  third  segment. 

(«)  Hind-head  angled,  terminal  somite  of  female  tubercle -like,  of  male 

rounded  off. Goniodes, 

{j})  Hind-head  rounded  off,  terminal  somite  of  male  notched  . .  ,Lipeurus, 
LlOTHEIDiC,  stricti, 

1,  Mesothorax  wanting,  antennae  generally  concealed. 

a.  Head  very  broad,  no  orbital  sinus Eureum. 

b.  Head  elongated,  with  lateral  angles  directed  backwards. 

(«)  With  sharply  marked-off  clypeus  and  shallow  orbital  sinus 

Lamobothrium . 
{by  With  only  wavy  head-margins,  and  long  lateral  lobes  on  the  labrum 

Physosiomum. 

2.  Mesothorax  piesent. 

a.  Mesothorax  large,  sharply  marked-off,  head  three^ided,  antennae  concealed 

Trinotum, 

b,  Mesothorax  small,  only  indicated. 

[a)  Orbital  hay  deep,  antennae  mostly  elongated  and  visible.  Colpocephalum, 
{b)  Orbital  bay  very  shallow  or  obsolete, antennae  concealed. ...Menopon, 

Grosse's  researches  have  been  largely  on  a  Liotheid  found  on 
a  pelican  from  Chili,  closely  related  to  Menopon  and  forming  the 
type  of  a  new  genus  and  species,  TetrophthcUmus  chilensis.  The 
male  is  4-4 j4™"*  long,  the  female  slightly  less.  He  also  con- 
tributes important  emendations  of  our  knowledge  of  the  other 
species. 

Head, — ^In  Tetrophthalmus  the  head  is  somewhat  constricted,. 
is  broader  than  long,  slightly  convex  above,  concave  below,  and 


Digitized  by 


Google 


lie  concealed 
cavity  of  the 


342     Crosse's  Classification  and  Sttuciure  of  the  Bird-lice.    [April, 

somewhat  uniform,  the  occipital  angles  being  rounded  off.    The 

hinder  limit  of  the  clypeus 
shows  on  each  side  a 
notch,  about  a  third  from 
the  front  of  the  head ;  two 
dark  spots  are  seen  on 
each  side  of  the  head,  the 
larger  one  near  the  notch, 
the  other  behind  it  and 
outwards.  The  antennae 
in  a  lateral 
under  side 
of  the  head  (as  in  Laemo- 
bothrium.  Fig.  i  at).  Two 
eyes,  whose    pigment    is 

Fig.  I. »— Ventral  view  of  head  of  Ljemo.  seen  from  above,  lie  on 
bothrium  from  Gypogeranus  serpmtaHus,  X  30.  each  side  beloW  and  be- 
hind the  antennal  cavity.  Hairs  are  distributed  over  the  head, 
along  the  borders  and  on  its  ventral  and  dorsal  surfaces.  On  the 
under  side  of  the  head  is  the  funnel-shaped 
mouth-opening,  surrounded  by  the  mandib- 
ulate  mouth-parts.  Grosse  describes  the 
11""^^  \  mouth-parts  of  Mallophaga  in  detail,  as 
previous  writers  err  greatly  regarding  them. 
Labrum  (oberlippe). — This  is  not,  as  in 
other  insects,  inserted  on  the  anterior  bor- 
der of  the  head,  but  in  all  Mallophaga  it  is 


Fig.  2.  Fig.  3. 

Fig.  2. — Median  section  through  head  of  Goniodti  dissimiHa.  X  ^*  Fl<^  3* — 
Labrum  of  Goniodes  dissimilis,  X  60. 

^  Explanation  of  reference  letters  in  the  figures. — ai^  antennae ;  ch^  chitinous  bar; 
ds^  vs,  dorsal  and  ventral  parts  of  cesopbageal  sclerites ;  g^  glossa  (ligula) ;  gs, 
glassy  body  ;  h,  hypodermis ;  hy,  h3rpopharynx ;  tr,  os^  inner  and  outer  side  of  max- 
illa ;  /,  lens^haped  chitinous  thickening ;  Ib^  labrum  (upper  lip) ;  Lmd^  r.md^  left  and 
right  mandible ;  ^,  labial  palp ;  m,  muscle;  md^  mandible;  m/,  mentum;  nu^^  ist 
maxilla;  nvx*,  2d  maxilla  (labium  or  under  lip] ;  oc^  eyes ;  oes^  oesophagus;  on,  optic 
nerve ;  /,  paraglossa  ;  r,  retinal  cells. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


1 886. 1     Crosse's  Classification  and  Structure  of  the  Bird-lice.     343 

on  the  under  side  of  the  head.  In  all  Liotheidae  it  is  similarly 
formed  (Fig.  i  lb\  being  a  thin  transverse  arched  swelling,  with 
chitinous  margins  bearing  small  bristles.  The  labrum  of  the 
Philc^teridae  has  a  broad  disk- like  basis  fixed  on  the  under  side 
of  the  head,  and  is  divided  by  some  transverse  furrows  (Figs.  2, 
3,  5  lb).  There  is  a  broad  furrow,  separated  from  the  mouth  by  a 
plate  of  chitin,  and  farther  forward  a  deep  narrow  furrow,  next 
the  anterior  boundary  of  the  labrum.  In  the  living  animal  the 
labrum  is  constantly  moving ;  and  in  Philopteridse  it  can  adhere 
to  glass  like  a  suctorial  disk.  The  labrum  can  thus  hold  on  to 
hairs  or  feathers. 

Mandibles. — As  a  type  we  take  the  mandibles  of  Tetrophthaf- 
mus  (Fig.  4).    They  have 
each    two    strong,    long 
teeth,  somewhat  different  ^fM<i' 
in  their  structure. 

The  under  tooth  of  the 
left  mandible  has  a  pro- 
tuberance    with     curved 
point  and  an  arched  sur- 
face; its  upper  tooth  has 
two    points.      The    right 
mandible  has    two  stout 
teeth  which  fit    the    left^i 
mandible  on  closing.  This 
serves   for  cutting    parti- 
cles held  between  the  lab^   ' 
rum  and  the  first  maxillae. 
The  large  pointed    teeth    >/^         ^^  g 
serve  for  removing  dermal 

1  'TL  j'1.1         r     Fig.  4. — Right  and  left  mandibles  of  Tetroph- 

scales.      Ihe  mandibles  Ofthalmus.  x  60.    Fig.  5.— Head  of  Lipeurus  M- 
the  Philopteridae  are  lone,  ^of^raphus,  seen  from  below.  X  60.     Fig.  6,— 
^  ^  ,  First  maxillae  of  Tetrophthalmus.  X  75- 

triangular  and    two- 
toothed,  the  teeth  short  and  thick  (especially  in  genus  Doco- 
phorus). 

First  maxilla. — These  are  conical,  and  have  a  basal  and  a  ter- 
minal segment  or  blade,  distinguishable  in  young  specimens. 
The  inner  side  of  the  blade  has  booklets  (not  in  Docophorus) 
(Figs.  5,  6).  The  maxillae  seem  to  take  no  part  in  comminu- 
ting the  food  beyond  aiding  in  its  prehension.     With  all  care 


Digitized  by 


Google 


344     Crosse's  Classification  and  Structure  of  the  Bird-lice.    [April, 


Grosse  has  never  been  able  to  find  the  palps  of  the  first  maxillae 
which  Nitsch  ascribes  to  Liotheidae.  Nitsch  figures  them  in 
Trinotum  conspurcatum^  but  this  can  scarcely  be  correct,  for  he 
places  the  four-jointed  papillae  on  the  blade  near  its  anterior  bor- 
der. In  Tetrophthalmus  the  palps  belong  not  to  the  first  but  to 
the  second  maxillae.  The  same  is  true  o{  Menofon  pallidum^  Col- 
pocepfialum  zebra,  a^Laemobothrium  from  Gypogeranus  serpenta-- 
rius,  and  a  Trinotum  from  the  swift,  and  probably  is  the  case  with 
all  the  genera  and  species. 

Second  maxilla  (unterlippe). — ^These  are  flat,  fused,  bounding 
Uie  mouth  posteriorly.    They  consist,  in  Liotheidae,  of  two  parts 

which  are  united  by  a 
transverse  fold  (Fig.  8). 
The  basal  part  (mentum, 
m/)  represents  the  coalesc- 
ing stipites  and  squamae 
of  normal  first  maxillae, 
and  bears  the  four-jointed 
labial  palps.  The  upper 
part  is  the  ligula  or  glossa 
(g)  corresponding  to  the 
inner  blade  [lacinia].  Lat- 
erally on  the  ligula  are  the 
paraglossae  (/),  corre- 
sponding to  the  outer 
blade  [galea].  A  chitin- 
ous  band  limits  the  glossa 
where  it  bears  the  para- 
glossa,  as  if  the  parts  of 
,    both  had  coalesced. 

Fio.  7 — Second  maxillse  of  Nirmus.  X    oo.       _.     ,  - 

FiG.8.— Second  maxilla!  of  7>/r^/>l/Aa/iM«jf>lf7/»-       KudOW  seems   tO   have 

S^;u^  ^-  J2:  9-Second  maxUte  of  Lamo-  mistaken  the  antennae  for 

oothrium.  X  do. 

the  labial  palps.  Melni- 
kow  overlooked  the  labium,  and  erroneously  compared  the  pro- 
ducts of  the  oesophageal  intima  with  the  proboscis  of  Pediculina, 
in  consequence  of  this  false  comparison  referring  the  Mallophaga 
to  Rhynchota. 

The  labium  of  the  Philopteridae  has  no  palps  (Fig.  7).  It  is 
usually  triangular,  with  rounded  angles,  and  is  sometimes  very 
small,  as  in  the  genus  Lipeurus,  the  mentum  being  smaller  than 


Digitized  by 


Google 


1 886.]     Grosse's  Classification  and  Structure  of  the  Bird-lice.    345 

the  ligule.  The  ligule  is  emarginated  in  Docophorus  and  Lipeu- 
rus.  The  paraglossae  of  Philopteridaey  as  in  the  Liotheidae,  are 
like  tactile-organs,  remarkably  long  in  species  of  Goniodes. 

In  all  Liotheidae  the  intima  of  the  ventral  end  of  the  oral  cav- 
ity forms  a  fold-like  duplicature  as  in  Philopteridae  (hypopharynx, 
Fig.  2  hy).  In  L^mobothrium  and  Tetrophthalmus  this  extends 
forward  over  the  labium,  and  its  lateral  borders  are  strongly  bent 
upwards  (Figs,  i,  8-  hy). 

For  the  study  of  the  head  Grosse  made  transverse  and  sagittal 
sections  of  specimens  fresh  from  molting  and  hardened  in  chro- 
mic or  picric  acid.  From  absolute  alcohol  they  were  placed  in 
chloroform  and  after  two  hours  embedded  in  paraffine,  being  kept 
for  a  time  in  melted  paraffine  under  the  air-pump.  The  sections 
were  attached  to  the  slide  by  means  of  albumen  or  oil  of  cloves, 
stained  by  alcoholic  carmine-solution,  treated  with  acidulated 
alcohol  so  as  to  show  the  nuclei,  and  then  enclosed  in  Ginada 
balsam. 

Thorax. — In  the  genera  Trinotum,  Colpocephalum  and  Tetroph- 
thalmus the  three  thoracic  somites  are  present,  especially  mani- 
fest in  the  young.  The  prothorax  of  Tetrophthalmus  has  above 
a  rounded  swelling,  and  ends  forwards  in  a  bristly  point  on  each 
side.  Within  the  prothorax,  but  visible  through  the  transparent 
dorsum,  is  a  cross-band  of  chitin,  as  in  Menopon,  for  the  attach- 
ment of  muscles.  The  mesothorax  is  much  narrower  than  the 
other  thoracic  somites.  The  metathorax  is  of  trapezoidal  form, 
and  much  broader  and  shorter  than  the  prothorax.  The  borders 
of  these  somites  are  strongly  chitihized.  There  are  no  wings  or 
rudiments  of  wings.  The  foremost  of  the  three  pairs  of  limbs 
are  the  shortest,  and  they  act  as  foot-jaws,  drawing  fragnnents  of 
food  to  the  mouth.  In  the  male  Tetrophthalmus  they  are  large 
and  also  serve  for  holding  the  female.  The  tibia  of  all  the  limbs 
of  the  male  have  their  inferior  end  extending  into  a  knob  with 
sharp  processes  hke  a  "  morning  star.''  There  are  only  two  tar- 
sal joints,  the  distal  one  being  the  longer  and  bearing  two  in- 
curved claws,  inclosing  between  them  a  soft  lobe  [pulvillus].  The 
bristles  on  the  tibia  and  the  "  morning-star "  processes  of  the 
male  serve  for  holding  the  female,  which  indeed  often  clambers 
among  the  feathers  of  the  host 

Abdomen. — ^The  female  of  Tetrophthalmus  has  ten  abdominal 
somites,  the  terminal  one  soft  and  rounded.    The  male  has  nine. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


34^    Grosses  Classification  and  Structure  of  the  Bird4ice.   [April, 

as  the  last  is  invaginated  so  as  to  serve  as  a  sheath  for  the  penis ; 
the  bind  end  of  the  male  is  pointed  and  more  chitinized,  and 
more  darkly  colored  than  in  the  female. 

Digestive  track. — ^Two  types  of  crop  are  found  ih  the  Mallo- 
phaga.  In  Philopterida  the  crop  is  a  lateral  diverticulum  of  the 
oesophagus ;  in  Liotheidae  it  is  a  club-shaped  symmetrical  enlarge^ 
ment  of  the  oesophagus.  Kramer  divides  the  intestine  of  Lipeu- 
rus  into  an  oral-cavity,  an  oesophagus,  crop,  chylus-stomach  and 
hind-intestine.  The  oesophagus  reaches  back  to  the  abdomen, 
and  has  a  homogeneous  chitinous  intima.  The  intima  of  the 
crop  has  spines,  and  its  cells  appear  to  secrete  a  fluid.  The  chy- 
lus-stomach extends  to  the  entrance  of  the  malpighian  tubules. 
Grosse  finds  in  the  oesophagus  of  Tetrophthalmus,  behind  the 
hypopharynx,  a  chitin-bar  produced  by  thickening  of  the  intima, 
consisting  of  a  groove-like  mid-piece,  and  running  forward  and 
backward  into  two  diverging  branches.  The  hind  branches  have 
muscles  from  the  occipital  border  of  the  cranium.  These  chitin- 
ous bars  are  not  haustellate,  but  support  the  oral  intima,  and  in 
their  groove  are  sent  along  comminuted  fragments  of  feathers, 
retained  by  the  retrorse  spines  and  denticulations  of  the  dorsal 
part  of  the  intima. 

Goniodes  has  two  squatnous  oesophageal  pieces,  a  dorsal  and  a 
ventral  (Fig.  2,  ds,  vs\  The  ventral  piece  has  posterior  processes 
joined  by  muscles  with  the  occipital  border.  The  dorsal  piece 
sends  forward  a  muscular  bundle,  which  bifurcates  and  its  divi- 
sions are  inserted  on  the  anterior  cranial  border.  Two  ducts 
(probably  salrvary)  run  forwards  through  these  scale-like  pieces, 
uniting  into  one.  The  chylus-stomach  is  cordate  at  its  beginning, 
and  has  no  chitinous  intima.  The  hind-intestine  has  six  longitu- 
dinal grooves,  and  rectal  glands  with  richly  branching  traches 
and  a  chitinous  intima. 

The  mode  of  nutrition  of  Mallophaga  is  not  fully  ascertained. 
Nitsch  stated  that  they  eat  the  epidermal  products  of  birds  and 
mammals,  and  sometimes  blood.  Grosse  finds  that  blood  is 
rarely  taken,  and  only  in  cases  where  the  bearers  (birds)  are  so 
injured  or  diseased  as  to  have  blood  among  their  plumage;  and 
Leuckart  gives  the  same  result  as  to  Trichodectes  canis  of  the 
dog.  In  Lsemobothrium,  Grosse  found  the  intestine  filled  with 
the  limbs  of  its  own  kind,  as  if  it  ate  the  product  of  its  own 
molting. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


1 886.]     Crosse's  Classification  and  Structure  cfthe  Bird-lice.     347 

McUpigkian  vessels.-^These  are  four,  not  branched;  have  a 
lumen  and  ganglion-cells  (not  separated  from  the  lumen  by  any 
membrane). 

Salivary  glands. — ^There  are  two  pairs ;  and  exceptionally  the 
Philopteridse  have  one*celled  glands  as  on  the  crop.  Grosse 
found  one  of  these  cells  undergoing  division.  The  salivary  or- 
gans include  salivary  glands  and  salivary  reservoirs.  The  glands 
usually  adjoin  the  crop  or  stomach,  and  have  a  cell-layer  with 
nuclei,  covered  externally  and  internally  by  a  fine  homogeneous 
epithelium.  Before  the  entrance  of  thin  ducts  into  the  oesopha- 
gus, a  gland  and  a  salivary  vessel  unite  into  a  common  duct. 

Sexual  organs. — ^The  male  sexual  organs  are  of  the  usual  type 
of  insects,  paired  testes,  spermatic  ducts,  a  seminal  vesicle,  ejac- 
ulatory  duct  and  penis.  Nerves  supply  the  seminal  vesicle  and 
ejaculatory  duct;  and  in  Tetrc^hthalmus  the  terminal  somite  of 
the  abdomen  is  withdrawn  so  as  to  be  concealed,  serving  as  a 
sheath  for  the  penis.  The  female  organs  consist  of  paired  ovaries 
(three  pairs  of  ovarian  tubes  in  Liotheidae,  five  pairs  in  Philop* 
teridae),  two  oviducts  uniting  into  one  and  a  seminal  receptacle. 
The  egg-case  has  a  lid  which  springs  open  at  the  exit  of  the 
young  insect 

Respiratory  apparatus. — There  are  seven  pairs  of  stigmas,  one 
in  the  prothorax  and  six  abdominal.  Each  stigma  has  internally 
a  crown  of  fine  hairs  to  protect  from  impurities.  A  pair  of  strong 
longitudinal  tracheae  send  branches  to  the  stigmata  and  are  united 
to  each  other  by  a  strong  cross  branch  in  the  abdomen,  and 
smaller  ones  in  the  head  and  thorax. 

Dorsad  vessel. — Grosse  could  not  succeed  in  making  a  prepara- 
tion of  this,  l^ut  in  the  recently  molted  living  animal  it  can  be 
seen  pulsating  through  the  back. 

Nervous  system. — ^This  consists  (in  Philopteridae)  of  two  cephalic 
ganglia  and  three  thoracic  ganglia.  The  preoesophageal  ganglion 
is  much  larger  than  the  suboesophageal,  and  they  are  united  by 
strong  commisures.  The  last  thoracal  ganglion  is  large,  and 
sends  back  nerves  to  supply  the  abdomen. 

Antenna. — In  Liotheidae  these  are  four-segmented,  club-shaped 
or  knobbed,  the  terminal  segment  spherical,  lying  in  a  hollow  of 
the  sub-terminal  one  (Fig.  i  af).  In  a  cross-section  of  the  ter- 
minal segment  of  Laemobothrium  are  seen  round  nucleated  cells, 
apparently  ganglionic-  enlargement  of  nerves.    The  Liotheidae 


Digitized  by 


Google 


348  Track  of  a  Cyclone  which  passed  over  [April, 

have  the  antennae  alike  in  both  sexes,  but  in  Philopteridae  the 
third  segment  of  the  antennse  of  the  male  has  a  lateral  process, 
sometimes  so  large  as  to  make  the  antenna  resemble  a  lobster's 
claw.     Nitsch  states  that  it  is  for  holding  flie  female. 

Eyes. — ^These  lie  on  the  margin  of  the  under  surface  of  the 
head  behind  the  antennse.  Authors  have  hitherto  ascribed  a  sin- 
gle pair  oi  eyes  to  all  Mallophaga.    But  in  all  Philopterid  genera 

examined  (Goniodes,  Docophorus,  Lipeu- 
rus,  Nirmus)  the  author  found  a  single 
pair,  and  in  all  Liotheid  genera  (Tetroph- 
thalmus,      Laemobothrium,      Menopon, 
i  Trinotum  and  Colpocephalum)  he  found 
I  two  pairs  of  stemmata.     If  this  charac- 
ter holds  good  for  the  remaining  genera 
Fig.  io.— Eyeof  Laemoboth-  it  Will  Still  further  separate  the  two  chief 

rium  seen   on  cross-secUon  of  divisions  of  the  Mallophaga. 

head.  X  190.  ^,  .    ^,  ,,  ^/^  .        , 

The  eyes  of  Mallophaga  are  simple, 
provided  with  a  lens-shaped  thickening  of  the  cuticle.  In  young 
specimens  the  eye  has  no  pigment,  but  in  older  specimens  it  has 
pigmented  retinal  cells.  The  eye  of  Laemobothrium,  examined 
by  means  of  sections,  has,  under  the  chitin-thickening  (Fig.  10/), 
twenty-four  pigmented  retinal-cells  (r),  clavate  and  nucleated  with 
nucleoli,  merging  gradually  into  the  pigmented  optic  nerve  {on). 
Each  eye  is  directly  innervated  from  the  preoesophageal  ganglion. 
The  hypodermal  cells  are  interposed  between  the  lens  and  the 
retinal-cells,  as  cubic  cells  in  old  specimens,  but  as  a  hyaline 
body  consisting  of  cylindrical  cells  in  young  or  recently  molted 
specimens.  There  are  no  rhabdites  in  the  eyes.  The  eyes  of 
Mallophaga  resembles  those  of  Phryganea  grandis^  as  described 
by  Grenachen 

TRACK   OF  A   CYCLONE   WHICH    PASSED    OVER 

WESTERN  INDIANA  MORE  THAN  THREE 

HUNDRED  YEARS  AGO. 

BY  JNO.  T.  CAMPBELL. 

LAST  April  (1885)  I  was  surveying  in  the  west-central  part  of 
Parke  county,  Indiana.  On  the  south  side  of  Section  16, 
Township  15  north,  of  Range  8  west,  I  noticed  that  the  tree 
graves  were  very  numerous,  there  being  one  to  every  square  rod 


Digitized  by 


Google 


1 886. 1  Western  Indiana  more  than  joo  years  ago.  349 

of  ground.  I  noticed  that  they  all  indicated  that  the  storm  which 
caused  them  was  going  to  the  north-east.  When  a  tree  is  blown 
down  the  roots  hold  two  to  five  cubic  yards  of  earth  in  their 
grasp,  which  makes  a  corresponding  pit  where  the  tree  stood ; 
after  the  fallen  tree  has  entirely  rotted,  the  earth  held  by  the  roots 
leaves  a  mound  resembling  an  old  grave,  and  have  been  very 
commonly  called  by  people  here,  "  Indian  graves."  The  mound 
is  always  on  the  side  of  the  pit  toward  which  the  tree  fell. 

This  storm  track  was  about  one  thousand  feet  wide.  I  at  that 
time  followed  it  nearly  one  mile.  Just  before  I  ceased  tracing  it 
I  found  the  stump  of  a  white  oak,  cut  down  during  the  year  1884, 
standing  on  top  of  one  of  the  tree  graves  or  mounds.  I  counted 
the  rings  of  growth  and  found  it  to  have  been  two  hundred  and 
ninety-seven  (297)  years  old.  That  settled  the  fact  that  the  storm 
had  passed  over  the  ground  at  least  three  hundred  and  ten  years 
before ;  for  the  acorn  could  not  sprout  on  the  mound  until  the 
tree  had  first  been  blown  down ;  and  second,  it  could  not  sprout 
till  the  fallen  tree  had  also  rotted  away,  and  left  the  mound  suffi- 
ciently flattened  for  moisture  to  rise  to  its  top  surface. 

On  the  1 8th  of  May  following  I  was  surveying  in  Section  29 
and  30,  Township  15  north,  of  Range  8  west  (which  surveyors  in 
the  West  will  understand  is  about  three  miles  to  the  south-west  of 
the  first  place  mentioned).  Here  I  also  found  the  tree  graves  as 
thick  as  the  grown  trees  now  are,  and  they  also  indicated  that  the 
storm  which  blew  down  the  trees  which  made  these  tree  graves, 
was  going  to  the  north-east.  A  moment's  reflection  also  showed 
me  that  this  was  on  the  same  line  or  track  of  the  one  first  ob- 
served. 

After  I  returned  home  I  placed  a  string  on  my  county  map  so 
as  to  cover  these  two  locations,  and  noted  carefully  what  points 
across  the  county  the  string  touched.  I  noticed  that  by  extend- 
ing the  string  south-westward  it  passed  about  one-half  to  three- 
quarters  of  a  mile  to  the  right  of  Clinton,  in  the  south  end  of 
Vermilion  county,  which  adjoins  this  county  on  the  west,  the 
Wabash  river  lying  between  them.  Clinton  stands  on  the  west 
bank  of  this  river.  I  at  once  remembered  that  when  a  boy  in  my 
early  "  teens  "  I  had  lived  with  a  Tir,  Kile,  two  and  a  half  miles 
south-west  of  Clinton,  and  in  my  frequent  trips  to  town  I  often 
noticed  the  tree  graves,  which  in  my  simplicity  then  I  supposed 
to  be  in  fact  real  "  Injun  graves."    They  were  very  numerous, 


Digitized  by 


Google 


350  Track  of  a  Cyclone  which  passed  over  LApril, 

and  I  supposed  there  had  been  a  great  battle  between  two  hostile 
tribes  of  Indians,  and  that  these  mounds  were  the  graves  of  the 
unknown  braves.  There  were  not  the  very  faintest  trace  of  fiillen 
trees  in  connection  with  these  graves,  so  thoroughly  had  they 
rotted  away.  I  found  by  applying  the  string  to  the  map  that 
these  graves  were  in  a  line  with  those  I  had  recently  found  in 
this  (Parke)  county. 

On  the  8th  of  July  following  (1885)  I  was  making  a  survey  in 
the  north-east  part  of  the  county,  in  Section  29,  Township  17 
north,  of  Range  6  west.  While  at  the  dinner  table  I  told  one  of 
the  land  proprietors  that  I  had  recently  got  upon  the  track  of  an 
ancient  storm  which,  if  it  had  kept  on  the  course  I  had  observed 
should  pass  over  the  ground  we  were  then  eating  our  dinner  on. 
2  asked  him  if  he  had  ever  noticed  any  trace  of  it  He  said, 
•*  Yes.  When  I  was  a  boy  and  young  man  the  *  Indian  graves  ' 
out  in  that  field  [pointing  south-eastward]  were  so  thick  that  I 
could  jump  from  one  to  another  all  over  that  part  6f  the  farm." 
I  asked  what  course  the  storm  was  going,  and  explained  how  he 
would  know  by  the  position  of  the  mound  *in  relation  to  the  pit. 
He  said  north-east,  and  told  me  what  farms  it  crossed,  and  about 
wh6re  it  crossed  the  county  boundary  into  Montgomery  county, 
which  was  close  by.  This  was  over  fifteen  miles  from  where  I 
had  first  discovered  the  track,  and  I  had  not  missed  its  location 
where  I  am  now  speaking  about  more  than  seven  hundred  feet 

The  next  day  I  was  going  to  another  part  of  the  county,  and 
had  to  travel  south-westward  several  miles,  and  crossed  the  storm 
track.  I  saw  a  man  in  the  edge  of  a  field  harvesting.  I  told  him 
what  I  had  discovered,  and  asked  him  if  he  had  ever  noticed  it 
He  answered,  "  Yes.  When  I  was  a  boy  the  Indian  ('Injun  ') 
graves  just  below  that  sugar  camp  [grove  of  sugar  maples]  were 
as  thick  as  stumps  in  a  new  clearing.  We  boys  used  to  count 
them  to  see  how  many  Indians  had  been  killed  in  battle."  It  was 
the  general  belief  of  the  children  of  the  early  settlers  that  these 
were  Indian  graves,  and  that  where  they  were  numerous,  as  in 
a  storm  track,  that  there  had  been  a  battle  between  tribes.  The 
place  he  pointed  out  was  in  the  track  I  was  looking  after. 

I  may  here  remark  that  a^er  the  land  is  cleared  and  cultivated, 
the  plow  in  a  very  few  years  destroys  all  trace  of  these  graves. 
Hence  my  inquiries  of  persons  who  had  known  the  country  from 
the  days  when  it  was  an  unbroken  forest. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


1 886.]  Western  Indiana  more  than  300  years  ago.  351 

This  storm  would  pass,  in  going  north-east,  about  two  miles  to 
the  left  of  the  city  of  Crawfordsville,  Indiana,  the  county-seat  of 
Montgomery  county.  Though  it  might  change  its  course  far- 
ther on. 

At,  or  very  near  the  spot  where  I  counted  the  age  of  the  oak 
which  had  grown  on  one  of  these  tree  graves,  there  still  stands  on 
another  mound 'a  white  oak  considerably  larger  than  the  one  I 
counted,  though  it  may  not  be  an  older  one.  I  have  delayed 
writing  this  account  over  six  months,  expecting  a  miller  to  cut 
this  larger  tree  so  I  could  count  its  age,  but  it  has  been  neglected 
so  long  that  I  have  decided  to  write  from  what  information  I 
now  have. 

These  tree  graves  are,  in  the  wild  forest,  as  well  preserved  and 
as  distinct  in  outline,  although  more  than  three  hundred  years 
old,  as  many  that  have  been  made  by  trees  that  have  fallen  within 
my  own  recollection.  If  the  same  conditions  that  have  so  well 
preserved  them  for  that  time  should  continue  in  the  long  future,  I 
see  no  reason  why  these  mounds  might  not  be  preserved  five 
thousand,  yea,  ten  thousand  years. 

What  does  the  reader  guess  has  so  well  preserved  these  little 
mounds  for  so  long  a  time  ?  It  is  nothing  more  nor  less  than  a 
thin  coating  of  forest  leaves.  The  leaves  act  as  shingles  in  shed- 
ding the  rains,  so  that  they  ar^not  washed  or  worn  down  by  the 
falling  rain  or  melting  snow.  The  frost  does  not  penetrate 
through  a  good  coating  of  leaves,  and  therefore  they  are  not  ex- 
panded and  spread  out  by  freezing  and  thawing.  I  can  see  a 
great  difference  between  the  mounds  in  the  wild  forest  and  those 
on  land  that  has  been  set  to  grass  and  pastured  a  few  years.  The 
tramping  of  stock  and  the  frequent  expansions  from  freezing, 
which  the  grass  does  not  prevent,  flattens  them  perceptibly.  The 
grass,  however,  does  preserve  them  against  rain-washings.  When 
a  belt  of  forest  is  blown  down  there  are  no  trees  to  produce  leaf 
shingling  till  a  new  set  are  produced ;  but  these  come  in  l^reat 
abundance  in  ten  years.  It  requires  about  fifteen  to  twenty  years 
to  rot  a  sound  white  oak.  The  time  will  depend  on  the  lay  of 
the  log,  whether  it  falls  across  another  log  and  lies  above  ground, 
or  lies  on  or  is  partly  bedded  in  the  ground. 

I  now  offer  a  conundrum  in  connnection  with  this  subject  for 
whomsoever  may  feel  an  interest  in  it  to  solve.  I  have  partly 
solved  it  myself,  but  not  entirely  to  my  satisfaction.    I  have,  after 


Digitized  by 


Google 


352  Track  of  a  Cyclone  whuh  passed  over  West.  Indiana^  etc.  [April,         [ 

much  observation,  noticed  that  not  morfe  than  one-tenth  of  the 
surface  of  the  present  forests  show  any  trace  whatever  of  any 
storms,  recent  or  ancient.  If  storms  have  been  as  frequent  and 
as  destructive  in  the  past  as  in  my  day  (of  fifty-three  years),  and 
the  elements  of  preservation  of  the  mounds  have  existed  in  the 
past  as  now,  why  do  I  find  so  few  storm  tracks  as  I  have  men- 
tioned? It  would  seem  that  in  three  hundred 'years,  if  storms 
had  always  been  as  frequent  as  in  our  time,  and  in  the  same  hap- 
hazard manner,  there  would  not  be  a  square  rod  of  ground  that 
would  not  show  some  trace  of  a  storm. 

I  give  my  explanation  for  what  it  may  be  worth,  but  is  short  of 
all  the  facts  of  explanation.  I  am  able  to  say  of  the  storm  I  have 
described,  with  as  much  confidence  as  if  I  had  been  present  and 
seen  it :  First,  that  it  occurred  when  the  trees  were  in  full  leaf; 
second,  that  there  had  been  a  protracted  rain';  third,  that  many  of 
the  trees  blown  down  were  white  oak ;  fourth,  that  one  was  a 
large  poplar;  and  fifth,  that  very  few,  if  any  at  all  were  black 
walnut  And  for  the  following  reasons :  The  great  storms  do  not 
now  occur  before  the  leaves  are  on.  Without  the  resistance 
against  the  wind  offered  by  the  leaves,  it  is  very  hard  for  any 
storm  to  uproot  a  green  tree.  If  the  ground  is  dry  and  hard,  or 
frozen,  the  trees  will  break  off  at  or  above  ground.  And  in  such 
case  they  would  leave  no  tree  graves,  which  may  account  for  the 
few  tracks  I  find.  An  oak  leaves  a  deep,  round  pit  and  a  plump, 
round  mound.  A  poplar  leaves  a  broad,  shallow  pit  and  a  long, 
slender  mound.  The  black  walnut  is  very  rarely  "  blown  up  by 
the  root."  I  have  seen  this  country  from  an  unbroken  forest  to 
the  present  time,  when  four-fifths  of  the  land  is  cleared  for  the 
plow  or  pasture,  and  I  don't  remember  that  I  ever  saw  a  black 
walnut  blown  up  by  the  root.  I  have  seen  many  broken  off. 
They  have  a  very  firm  root,  and  are,  when  pature,  a  little 
doughty  at  the  stump,  but  very  sound  from  ten  feet  above  ground 
upward. 

I  have  seen  and  still  know  of  other  large  trees  which  stand  on 
the  graves  of  former  fallen  trees.  Some  of  these  trees  are  very 
large,  but  the  size  of  a  tree  is  such  an  uncertain  indication  of  its 
age,  that  I  can't  say  with  much  certainty  how  long  the  mounds, 
on  which  they  stand,  have  existed.  One  thing  is  certain,  the 
mounds  are  older  than  the  trees.  At  the  Fair  ground,  a  mile 
west  of  where  I  am  writing  (Rockville,  Indiana)  are  several  such 


Digitized  by  VjOOQIC 


1 886.]  On  the  Mounting  of  Fossils,  353 

cases,  and  on  the  grounds  of  the  now  growing  famous  resort  in 
our  county,  "  Turkey  run,"  or  as  it  is  called  by  people  away  from 
here,  "  Bloomingdale  glens,"  are  several  such  cases. 

In  a  future  article  I  shall  show  how  the  forest  leaves  have  pre- 
served the  sides  of  hills  and  thus  allowed  the  small  streams  to 
cut  out  the  bottoms  of  the  hollows  deep,  steep  and  sharp,  which 
are  rapidly  changing  since  the  country  has  been  cleared  and 
farmed.  '  Also  how  they  have  preserved  the  ancient  beds  of 
streams  along  the  terrace  bottoms  of  the  Wabash  river  and  its 
principal  tributaries  till  they  are  as  sharply  defined  after  the  lapse 
of  no  one  can  venture  to  guess  how  many  thousands  of  years,  as 
they  were  when  the  last  great  final  flood  that  cut  out  the  beds 
swept  over  these  plains. 

I  have  said  the  storm  here  described  was  a  cyclone.  This  I 
infer  from  the  way  the  trees  had  fallen.  In  some  pc^ts  of  the 
track  the  trees  were  thrown  in  every  direction,  and  the  course  of 
the  storm  could  only  be  determined  by  the  general  course  of  the 
track,  and  not  by  the  fall  of  individual  trees. 

The  course  of  this  storm  is  N.  44°  30'  E.  in  this  county.  In 
all  my  recollection  of  storms  I  never  saw  but  one  (in  1883)  which 
bore  so  much  to  the  north,  and  that  one  was  the  most  threatening 
and  awful  in  its  appearance  I  ever  saw,  and  did  in  localities  much 
damage.  Its  course  was  about  N.  37°  E.,  or  about  7°  30'  more 
north  than  the  ancient  one.  The  great  majority  of  the  storms  I 
have  seen,  and  of  those  which  have  left  plain  tracks,  are  from  a 
few  degrees  north  to  a  few  degrees  south  of  west. 

ON  THE  MOUNTING  OF  FOSSILS. 

BY  FRANKLIN  C.  HILL. 

THE  five  expeditions  which  have  gone  to  the  far  West  from 
Princeton  have  brought  in  many  valuable  fossils — invaluable 
is  perhaps  the  better  word — chiefly  remains  of  vertebrates. 

For  the  double  purpose  of  utilizing  and  of  preserving  these 
treasures  they  have  been  mounted  in  a  manner  new  in  this  coun- 
try, and  it  is  believed  not  common  abroad,  though  somewhat 
practiced  there. 

The  leading  idea  of  the  system  is  that  each  piece  shall  be  set 
*up  in  its  natural  position. 

Our  museum  now  contains  nearly  400  such  specimens,  which 

▼OL.  XX.— MO.  IV.  24 


Digitized  by 


Google 


354  0^  ^^^  Mounting  of  Fossils.  [April, 

have  attracted  much  attention  and  admiration  from  visitors,  both 
scientific  and  lay,  and  I  have  been  often  urged  to  publish  some 
account  of  my  methods  and  results. 

Although  many  fossil  bones  are  whole  and  clean  when  found, 
many  more  of  them  are  broken  and  more  or  less  clogged  with 
matrix.  The  freeing  of  this  last  and  the  mending  of  the  broken 
are  troublesome  and  delicate  tasks.  Mallet  and  chisel  come  into 
play,  their  sizes  depending  on  the  nature  of  the  case.  For  the 
heavier  work  ordinary  stone-cutter's  tools  can  be  used,  yet  it  is 
commonly  better  to  make  haste  slowly  and  use  needles,  and  no 
needle  is  more  useful  than  a  No.  i  sharp.  By  wrapping  the  eye 
end  of  the  needle  with  a  narrow  strip  of  paper  it  can  be  made  lo 
fit  in  the  clamp  of  a  patent  sewing  had,  and  a  chisel  made,  which 
with  a  dogwood  stick  of  from  one  to  one  and  a-half  inches  diam- 
eter and  Qine  inches  long  for  a  mallet,  is  capable  of  doing  very 
delicate  work,  and  also  much  which  at  first  sight  would  seem  to 
be  entirely  too  heavy  for  so  light  a  tool. 

For  reaching  into  the  deeper  cavities  a  No.  12  knitting  needle, 
well  set  into  an  awl  handle,  is  needed,  while  for  cleaning  out  the 
carapaces  of  turtles  it  is  well  to  have  special  long  handles  made. 
Darning  needles  are  of  convenient  size  but  of  too  poor  a  quality 
of  steel. 

But  whatever  needle  is  used,  a  good  oil-stone  should  always  be 
at  hand  to  renew  the  point  as  oflen  as  it  is  blunted.  By  a  little 
practice  a  point  can  be  put  to  a  needle  much  better  for  this  work 
than  the  original  one. 

A  good  stiff  tooth-brush  is  needed,  a  good  lens,  say  ToUes'  one 
inch  triplet,  and  a  hand  mirror  to  throw  light  into  cavities  of 
heavy  specimens  that  cannot  be  easily  turned. 

A  high  workbench  with  vise,  plyers,  anvil  and  hammers,  drills, 
a  flat  cushion  to  lay  specimens  on  while  being  worked,  and  an 
assortment  of  wire  complete  the  "  kit "  of  tools,  but  a  pot  of 
mucilage  and  a  box  of  calcined  plaster  are  also  needed  for  mend* 
ing  the  broken.  It  is  best  to  have  always  a  number  of  specimens 
on  hand  so  that  the  mended  can  be  allowed  to  dry  without  delay 
to  the  work. 

Of  the  cements  that  we  have  tried  at  Princeton,  we  have  given 
up  all  but  the  one  which  we  began  with,  recommended  to  us 
years  ago  by  Professor  R.  P.  Whitfield,  and  published  by  me  in 
the  Am,  your.  Pliarinacy^  May,   1875.    It  is:  Starch  one  part 


Digitized  by 


Google 


1 886.]  On  the  Mounting  of  Fossils.  355 

white  sugar  four  parts,  gum  arable  eight  parts  and  water  q.  s., 
boiled  together  after  the  manner  of  an  apothecary.  Latterly  we 
have  added  a  small  quantity  of  salicylic  acid  to  prevent  fermenta- 
tion. It  should  be  about  as  thick  as  honey,  and  for  joints  that 
do  not  fit  neatly  it  is  well  to  thicken  it  at  the  moment  of  using 
with  plaster  of  Paris.  For  filling  large  voids  plaster  enough 
should  be  kneaded  in  to  make  a  stifT  putty,  and  it  is  well  to  work 
in  with  it  as  many  pieces  of  stone  or  brick  as  possible,  both  to 
save  material  and  to  lessen  the  shrinkage  of  the  mass.  • 

Although  I  sometimes  paint  the  masses  of  plaster  which  show 
themselves,  to  destroy  the  unpleasant  violent  contrasts  of  color,  I 
always  use  some  neutral  tint  entirety  different  from  the  color  of 
the  fossil,  in  order  that  the  false  parts  can  be  easily  distin- 
guished. 

With  the  outfit  described,  a  smooth-grained  and  moderately 
hard  matrix  and  good  hard  bones  the  work  is  pleasant  and  easy. 
But  when  the  matrix  is  of  cemented  gravel,  here  hard  as  flint,  there 
loose  sand,  with  soft  and  crumbly  bones,  a  large  stock  of  patience 
and  good  temper  must  be  laid  in  also. 

When  the  bone  is  freed  from  the  matrix  and  mended,  the  ques- 
tion comes  up  as  to  how  to  keep  it  safely  and  show  it  to  advan- 
tage. If  economy  of  space  be  important,  a  drawer  just  deep 
enough  to  receive  it  is  perhaps  the  best^receptacle ;  but  if  we  wish 
to  exhibit  it  to  the  public  a  glass  case  is  needed. 

To  ordinary  observers,  and  even  to  pretty  fair  anatomists,  bones 
on  a  tray  or  shelf  say  little.  In  a  museum  the  inexpert  visitor 
must,  for  obvious  reasons,  be  considered  as  well  as  the  student 
and  professor,  and  experience  shows  that  a  bone  in  its  natural 
position,  even  if  alone,  is  easier  to  understand  than  when  reversed, 
while  if  several  bones  are  combined  so  as  to  form  a  foot,  or  leg, 
a  spinal  column  or  a  skull,  the  value  of  each  is  greatly  increased. 
Following  out  this  idea  I  have  been  led  to  mount  every  skull,  or 
limb,  or  bone,  or  even  fragment  of  a  bone  which  has  character 
enough  to  be  worth  preserving,  and  have  obtained  results  better 
than  my  hopes. 

A  single  ramus  of  a  lower  jaw  lying  on  its  side  in  a  tray  shows 
but  badly,  and  is  liable  to  be  thrust  aside  and  jostled,  to  the  great 
danger  of  its  teeth  and  coronoid.  But  hold  it  in  its  natural  posi- 
tion, and  note  its  length  and  width.  Then  have  a  neat  block  of 
some  hard  wood,  say  cherry  or  black  walnut,  cut  and  polished 


Digitized  by 


Google 


3S6 


On  the  Mounting  of  Fossils. 


[April, 


with  shellac,  not  varnish,  and  selecting  a  wire  of  suitable  size, 

make  two  hooks,  like  Fig.  i,  to  fit  the  jaw  near  its 

I  /l        ends,  set  them  up  in  the  block,  slip  the  jaw  into 

^        them  and  it  speaks  for  itself,  and  is  safe.    Of  course 

I  the  block  must  always  be  just  so  large  that  no  part 

■  of  the  bone  will  overhang  the  edge,  and  then  the 

specimen  will  not  be  injured  by  crowding  it  against 

the  wall  or  another  specimen.  If  larger  than  needed 

it  wastes  shelf-room.     If  the  specimen  be  large  and 

heavy,  or  at  all  crumbly,  the  supports  need  to  be 

wrapped  with  cloth  or  felt  to  protect  it. 

Suppose  we  have  both  rami,  or  the  greater  part 
of  them.  Mend  the  breaks  with  the  cement,  and  when  dry  bend 
two  stout  wires  as  in  Fig.  2,  one  to  bind  the  jaws  together  at  each 
end,  cement  them  in  place  and  let  them  dry.  Then  set  up  three 
wire  hooks  to  receive  these  braces,  as  at  b  and  c.  Fig.  3,  one  in 
front  and  two  behind,  as  far  apart  as  the  jaw  will  allow.  The  use 
of  these  hooks  is  so  obvious  that  the  most  careless  or  dull  stu- 
dent can  hardly  fail  to  see  it,  which  is  a  good  thing,  because  if  a 


Skull  and  atlas,  eight  and  a  half  inches  long. 

blunder  be  possible  some  persons  can  always  be  depended  on  to 
make  it,  and  hence  come  many  breakages.  If  beside  the  jaw  we 
have  the  skull,  we  need  two  more  wires,  one  to  catch  the  back  of 
the  skull  at  the  glenoids  (Fig.  3  d\  and  the  other  to  support  the 
nose  {a\ 

In  this  specimen  the  sixth  wire  {e)  carries  the  atlas,  as  shown 
in  Fig.  4.  When  it  came  from  Dakota  it  was  a  solid  block  of 
stone  with  corners  of  the  bone  sticking  out,  and  it  was  worked 
apart  entirely  with  needle  and  mallet 


Digitized  by 


Google 


1886.] 


On  the  Mounting  of  Fossils. 


357 


Take  another  case  (Fig.  $).  Here  are  almost  all  the  parts 
of  Hyaenodon's  hind  leg 
and  foot,  with  part  of  the 
pelvis,  a  chaos  as  they  lay 
in  a  tray.  But  by  first 
glueing  the  tarsals  together 
in  position  and  making 
them  a  bed  on  a  plaster 
base,  and  then  bedding  each 
metatarsal  and  phalanx  in 
turn,  I  was  able  to  display 
the  foot.  The  tarsals  were 
then  set  free  by  soaking  in 
water.  Fastening  this  plas- 
ter base  to  the  black  walnut 
pedestal  by  a  screw-bolt,  I 
set  up  behind  it  a  post, 
eighteen  inches  high,  into 
which  wires  were  set,  as 
shown  in  the  figure.  The 
small  figures  behind  show 
the  wires  as  seen  from 
above  "  in  plan."  The  main  *^'  ^' 

curves  in  a  and  b  hold  the  tibia  and  their  ends  catch  the  fibula. 
Patella  sits  in  the  loop  of  r,  d  and  e  steady  the  head  of  femur, 
while/ and  another  wire  behind  the  post  hold  the  pelvic  frag- 
ment Each  bone  is  marked  with  the  museum  number  of  the 
specimen  somewhere  on  its  surface. 

The  adjustment  of  these  wires  is  a  nice  matter.  Each  bone 
must  have  its  natural  position,  but  must  be  under  no  strain ;  must 
be  held  in  its  place  securely,  and  yet  be  so  free  as  to  be  easily 
lifted  out     It  must  stay  by  gravity  only. 

For  small  specimens  all  that  is  needed  to  secure  the  wires  in 
the  pedestal  or  post,  is  to  bore  a  clean  hole  a  trifle  smaller  than 
the  wire  and  force  the  wire  into  it,  taking  care  not  to  turn  it  in 
the  hole  afterwards.  For  heavier  bones,  where  wire  of  one- 
eighth  inch  and  over  is  used,  it  is  better  to  cut  a  thread  on  the 
wire  and  screw  it  in. 

Some  practice  is  needed  to  bring  the  wires  to  their  proper 
shape.     No  two  bones  are  ever  quite  alike,  and  hence  each  wire 


Digitized  by 


Google 


358 


On  the  Mounting  of  Fossils, 


[April, 


must  be  fitted  to  its  own  place  by  experiment  When  a  new 
curve  is  put  into  one  end  of  a  crooked  wire  the  path  of  the  other 
end  through  space  defies  mathematics. 

With  heavy  bones  it  is  sometimes  hard  to  make  them  rest  in 
their  supports  without  strain,  though  it  can  be  done.  We  have 
an  enormous  femur  of  a  mastodon  which  seem^  to  be  held  up  by 
a  post  behind  it,  while  really  the  whole  weight  is  borne  by  a  plas- 
ter base  in  which  the  condyles  rest,  and  the  upper  end  does  not 
even  touch  the  post  or  the  guard  wires.  The  hind  leg  of  Lox- 
olophodon  is  mounted  on  a  plaster  base  of  the  computed  height 


Fig.  6. — Skull,  thirty^ne  inches  long. 

of  the  foot,  which  takes  so  much  of  the  weight  that  there  is  no 
strain  on  the  rod  which  guards  the  head  of  the  tibia. 

We  have  now  five  mounted  skulls  of  the  Uintatherium  family, 
and  their  mountings  give  a  fine  example  of  evolution.  The  first 
one  is  sustained  by  five  distinct  iron  rods  whose  flat  feet  are 
secured  by  sixteen  screws  to  a  painted  pedestal  of  white  pine,  the 
irons  weighing  over  eight  pounds. 

The  last  one,  a  much  larger  and  finer  specimen,  is  carried  by 
two  rods  screwed  into  the  black  walnut  pedestal.  The  rearward 
rod  (Fig.  7)  sends  oflT  a  branch  from  each  side  just  below  the 


Digitized  by 


Google 


1886.] 


Recent  LiteraUire. 


359 


felted  saddle  in  which  the  basioccipital 
rests,  which  branches  curve  upwards  and 
press  against  the  bases  of  the  rear  horn- 
cores,  so-called,  and  hold  all  firmly  in 
place.  The  front  iron  has  a  small  square 
button  on  top,  felted,  on  which  the  roof 
of  the  mouth  rests.  These  irons  weigh 
four  pounds. 

While  it  is  of  course  impossible  to  fix 
a  maximum  for  the  size  of  pedestals,  a 
minimum  is  a  good  thing  to  have,  and  I 
have  fixed  on  3  in.  x  i  >^  in.  x  i  in.  high. 
This  gives  room  for  a  good  sized  label 
on  the  side,  giving  genus  and  species, 
geological  formation,  locality  and  cata- 
logue number. 

For  very  small  jaws,  single  small  teeth,  &c.,  I  set  up  a  small 
cylinder  of  plaster  on  one  of  the  smallest  pedestals, 
and  cement  the  specimen  to  the  top  of  it.  In  other 
cases,  as  in  Didelphys  pygtncea  Scott,  and  the  Acip- 
rion  jaws  shown  in  Fig.  8,  the  slab  of  matrix  is 
cemented  to  the  surface  of  a  board  hung  on  two 
pivots,  so  that  it  can  be  tilted  to  either  side  for  ex- 
examination.  And  when  a  new  specimen  shows 
new  features  I  devise  a  new  mounting  to  suit  them. 

RECENT  LITERATURE. 

Croll's  Climate  and  Cosmology.^ — In  this  volume  of  essays, 
Mr.  Croll  reaffirms  his  physical  theory  to  account  for  the  glacial 
climate  in  a  way  to  command  the  attention  of  every  geologist  and 
in  a  manner  which  will  attract  the  interest  of  the  lay  reader.  The 
discussions  relate  to  questions  of  the  deepest  interest,  and  the 
arguments  used  are  certainly  strong  ones.  Mr.  Croll's  peculiar 
views  as  to  the  existence  of  glacial  climates  before  the  Quater- 
nary period  are  restated  with  much  fullness,  though  he  candidly 
admits  that  most  geologists  are  opposed  to  them. 

The  author's  theory  is  usually  called  the  "  eccentricity  theory," 
but  he  prefers  tacall  it  the  " physical  theor>'.*'  He  states  that  a 
high  state  of  eccentricity  of  the  earth's  orbits  will  not  necessarily 

'  Discussions  on  Climate  and  Cosmology.  By  James  Croll,  LL.D.,  F.R.S.  New 
York,  D.  Appleton  &  Co.,  1886.     i2mo,  pp.  327.    ^2. 


Fig- 8 

3  tft     LOtO 


Digitized  by 


Google 


360  Recent  Literature.  [April, 

alone  produce  a  glacial  epoch,  but  that  from  the  first  he  has 
"maintained  that  no  amount  of  eccentricity,  however  great, could 
alone  produce  a  glacial  condition  of  things,"  but  that  "  the  glacial 
epoch  was  the  result,  not  of  a  high  state  of  eccentricity,  but  of  a 
combination  of  physical  agencies,  brought  into  operation  by  this 
high  state"  of  eccentricity.  One  of  the  most  important  of  these 
agencies  is,  he  thinks,  the  enormous  amount  of  heat  conveyed 
from  equatorial  to  temperate  and  polar  regions  by  means  oi 
ocean  currents,  and  the  deflection  of  this  heat,  during  a  high 
state  of  eccentricity,  from  the  one  hemisphere  to  the  other.  But 
all  this  depends  on  ocean-currents  flowing  from  equatorial  to 
polar  regions,  and  the  existence  of  these  currents,  in  turn,  de- 
pends, to  a  large  extent,  on  the  contour  of  the  continents  and  the 
particular  distribution  of  sea  and  land.  Take,  as  one  example, 
the  Gulf  stream,  a  current  which  played  so  important  a  part  in 
the  phenomena  of  the  glacial  epoch.  A  very  slight  change  in 
geographical  conditions,  such  as  the  opening  of  communication 
between  the  Gulf  of  Mexico  and  the  Pacific,  would  have  greatly 
diminished,  if  not  entirely  destroyed,  that  stream ;  or,  as  I  showed 
on  a  former  occasion,  a  change  in  the  form  or  contour  of  the 
Northeast  corner  of  the  South  American  continent  would  have 
deflected  the  great  equatorial  current,  the  feeder  of  the  Gult 
stream,  into  the  Southern  ocean  and  away  from  the  Caribbean  sea. 
One  of  the  main  causes  of  the  extreme  condition  of  things  in 
Northwestern  Europe,  as  well  as  in  eastern  parts  of  America  dur- 
ing the  glacial  epoch,  was  a  large  withdrawal  of  the  warm  waters 
of  the  Gulf  stream,  and  this  was  to  a  great  extent  due,  as  I  stated 
in  my  first  paper  on  the  subject,*  to  the  position  of  Cape  St. 
Rogue,  which  deflected  the  equatorial  current  into  the  Southern 
ocean.  That  a  geographical  distribution  of  land  and  water,  per- 
mitting of  the  existence  and  deflection  of  those  heat-bearing  cur- 
rents, is  one  of  the  main  factors  in  my  theory,  is  what  must  be 
obvious  to  every  reader  of  Climate  and  Time." 

Dr.  Croll  maintains  that,  with  the  exception  of  those  resulting 
from  oscillations  of  sea  level,  the  general  distribution  of  sea  and 
land  and  other  geographical  conditions  were  the  same  during  the 
glacial  epoch  as  they  are  at  present  Thus  he  does  not  accept 
Lyell's  theory  of  an  elevation  of  northern  lands ;  yet  we  do  not 
see  but  that  this  was  a  matter  of  fact.  Indeed,  Mr.  Croll's  specu- 
lations produce  the  impression  that  he  is  somewhat  one-sided  in 
his  treatment  of  these  theories.  His  knowledge  of  general  geol- 
og/i  and  especially  of  palaeontology,  is  apparently  slight.  For  as 
regards  his  theory  of  interglacial  climates  in  times  preceding  the 
Quaternary,  the  view  is  opposed  to  the  whole  mass  of  facts  in 
palaeontology.  The  more  we  have  read  of  Dr.  Croll's  eccentricity 
theory,  the  less  necessary  does  it  seem ;  the  geologist  had  better 

^  Philos.  Mag.  for  August,  1864. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


l886.]  Recent  Literature.  361 

rely  on  purely  geological  causes ;  they  may  yet  be  proved  to  have 
been  sufficient.  Dr.  Croll  nowhere  explains  why  so  large  a  por- 
tion of  the  subpolar  regions  were  unglaciated. 

In  his  discussions  in  cosmology,  Dr.  Croll  contends  that  Sir 
William  Thomson  and  others  are  wrong  in  maintaining  the 
"  gravitation  theory,"  /.  e,,  that  the  sun  cannot  have  supplied  the 
earth  with  heat,  even  at  the  present  rate,  for  more  than  about 
15  to  20.000,000  years.  He  discards  this  theory,  and  freely  gives 
the  evolutionists  and  geologists  all  the  heat  they  want,  by  claim- 
ing that  the  sun's  heat  was  originally  derived  from  motion  in 
space ;  this  being  "  more  in  harmony  with  the  principles  of  evolu- 
tion than  the  gravitation  theory,  because  it  explains  how  the 
enormous  amount  of  energy  which  is  being  dissipated  into  stellar 
space  may  have  existed  in  the  matter  composing  the  sun  untrans- 
formed  during  bygone  ages,  or,  in  fact,  for  as  far  back  as  the 
matter  itself  existed." 

On  page  65,  Dr.  Croll,  it  seems  to  us,  too  hastily  assumes  that 
the  ice  in  the  interior  of  Greenland  is  of  great  thickness,  while 
the  land  itself  is  low,  "probably  not  much  above  sea-level."  On 
the  contrary,  as  the  result  of  recent  Danish  exploration,  Dr.  Rink 
tells  us,  the  surface  of  the  ice  in  the  interior  is  6000  feet  above 
the  sea,  while  we  infer  from  his  statements  that  the  thickness  of 
the  ice  is  not  much  over  2000  feet.  In  fact,  the  theoretical  gla- 
cialists  go  to  extremes ;  closet  speculations  and  field-work  do  not 
always  harmonize. 

The  only  typographical  errors  we  have  noticed  are  the  mention* 
of  "  Heyes  "  for  Hayes  on  one  occasion,  while  Torell  is  wrongly 
spelt  "Torrell,"  in  the  only  instance  in  which  it  is  used. 

Leunis'  Synopsis  der  Thierkunde.^ — This  is  a  n^w  edition  of 
Leunis'  Zoology,  which  for  so  many  years  has  been  in  almost 
universal  use  in  the  German  gymnasia  and  many  of  the  universi- 
ties. The  present  work  contains  two  large  volumes  of  more  than 
1200  closely  printed  pages  and  1000  cuts  each.  Perhaps  the 
greatest  advantage  of  Leunis'  system  was  that  by  the  use  of 
series  of  analytical  keys  animals  could  be  determined  much  as 
the  student  analyzes  flowers  with  Gray's  Botany.  This  alone 
would  render  the  book  invaluable  to  any  one  who  wishes  to 
begin  the  study  of  a  new  group  or  to  determine  quickly  an  ani- 
mal belonging  to  an  unfamiliar  class.  The  book  is,  of  course, 
intended  for  German  students,  but  is  also  quite  complete  for 
the  marine  invertebrates  of  the  North,  Baltic  and  Mediterranean 
seas.  But  it  contains  representative  species  of  most  of  our  Ameri- 
can genera.  Professor  Ludwig,  whose  work  on  Echinoderms  is 
known  \  by  all  zoologists,  has  revised  the  edition  and  has  com- 
pletely rewritten  the  second  volume,  which  treats  of  the  inverte- 

*  Third  edition,  revised  by  Professor  Ludwig,  of  Giessen. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


362  Recent  IdtertUure.  [April, 

brates.  This  is  itself  a  sufficient  guarantee  of  the  scientific  accu- 
racy and  value  of  the  work.  The  analytical  tables  are  brief  and 
concise,  yet  not  more  technical  in  language  than  is  absolutely 
necessary  and  can  be  readily  understood  and  followed  by  the 
average  student.  But  the  book  is  no  mere  analytical  key  to  the 
animal  kingdom.  The  anatomical  character  of  each  type,  class 
and  order  are  briefly  but  clearly  presented.  It  is  a  hand-book 
which  every  teacher  will  find  useful  in  his  class-room  and  labora- 
tory and  which  is  worthy  of  a  place  by  the  side  of  Claus  or  Carus 
and  Gerstaecher  in  every  zoological  library.  The  style  is  clear 
enough,  so  that  the  book  could  easily  be  translated  by  any  one 
tolerably  familiar  with  German.  The  cuts  are  clear,  good  and 
well  selected.  The  type  is  rather  small  and  the  paper  thin,  but  if 
large  type  and  thick  paper  had  been  used,  we  should  have  four  or 
five  volumes  to  contain  what  is  now  by  a  marvel  of  compression 
crowded  into  two.  Even  more  marvelous  than  the  condensation 
is  the  price,  only  thirty  marks  for  the  two  volumes. — %  M,  Tyler. 

Beddoe's  Races  of  Britain.^ — ^This  work  gives  the  fruits  of  a 
continued  examination  of  the  complexions  of  large  numbers'  ot 
the  natives  of  Britain,  with  a  view  to  ascertain  the  proportion  in 
which  the  various  races,  aboriginal  and  immigrant,  are  repre- 
sented in  the  present  population.  The  volume  is  to  a  great 
extent  an  expansion  of  a  manuscript  essay  which  in  1868  carried 
off  the  great  prize  of  the  Welsh  National  Eisteddfod,  and  is  the 
outcome  of  a  great  part  of  the  leisure  of  fifteen  years.  The 
'  method  adopted  was  to  take  notes  of  the  colors  of  the  hair  and 
eyes  of  persons  met  or  passed  at  a  sufficiently  small  distance  to 
permit  of  observation.  Those  under  age,  those  whose  hair  had 
began  to  grizzle,  and  those  who  seemed  to  belong  to  the  upper  or 
migratory  (;|asses  were  neglected.  Eyes  are  distinguished  as 
light,  neutral  and  dark ;  hair  as  red,  fair,  brown,  dark  and  black ; 
and  an  index  of  nigrescence  is  adopted,  forming  a  basis  on  which 
the  results  of  the  observations  are  mapped  so*  as  to  speak  to  the 
eye.  A  considerable  number  of  head-measurements  were  also 
made. 

The  book  is  a  mine  of  information,  bristling  with  statistics, 
facts  and  arguments,  but  unfortunately  is  scarcely  comprehensible 
save  by  those  who  know  nearly  as  much  of  the  history  and  phil- 
ology of  the  ancient  races  as  does  the  author. 

Zittel's  Handbuch  der  PALffiONTOLOGiE. — ^We  have  from  time 
to  time  drawn  attention  to  this  valuable  work,  which  is  being  pub- 
lished in  parts.  It  covers  the  plant  and  animal  kingdoms,  and  is  the 
most  authoriteitive  and  recent  work  on  the  subject  Due  credit  is 
given  to  American  work  and  illustrations.  The  number  last 
received  (Bd.  i,  Abth.  ii.  Lief.  4)  is  devoted  to  the  fossil  Crustacea, 

*  The  Races  of  Britain,    A  contribution  to  the  anthropology  of  Western  Europe. 
By  John  Beddoe,  M.D.,  F.R.S.     London,  Trubner  &  Co.,  Ludgate  Hill,  1885 • 


Digitized  by 


Google 


1 886.]  Rectnt  Uterature.  363 

including  the  trilobites  and  Merostomata.  The  illustrations  are 
abundant  and  in  most  every  case  well  engraved.  The  pages  given 
to  the  Merostomata,  the  Phyllocarida  and  the  lower  Macrura  are 
full  and  fresh  in  treatment.  Each  order  is  defined ;  a  brief  gen- 
eral account  of  the  external  anatomy  follows,  with  remarks  on  the 
opinions  of  different  authors  as  to  their  classification.  The  fami* 
lies  and  genera  are  defined,  the  leading  types  are  figured,  and  then 
follow  tables  showing  the  geological  distribution  of  the  species. 
The  author  is  usually  critical  in  his  mode  of  treatment,  as  seen  in 
his  doubtful  recognition  of  Brachypyge  as  a  Carboniferous  crab, 
which,  since  the  publication  of  this  part,  has  been  shown  to  be  a 
pedipalp  arachnidan.  We  do  not  see  why,  even  in  the  light  of 
Meek  and  Worthen's  excellent  treatment,  Anthrapalaemon  should 
be  placed  in  the  Penaeidae.  Still  the  author's  thoroughness  and 
command  of  the  literature  is  evident  throughout  the  work. 

Faxon's  Revision  of  the  Crawfish.' — This  is  a  systematic 
treatise  on  the  crawfish  of  the  Northern  hemisphere,  based  chiefly 
on  the  material  in  the  museum  at  Cambridge,  which  now  pos- 
sesses all  the  known  species  from  Europe  and  Asia,  and  all  the 
American  species,  with  three  exceptions.  The  richness  of  the 
material  may  be  realized  by  the  fact  that  twenty  new  species  of 
Cambarus  are  described,  whereas  Dr.  Hagen,  in  his  well-known 
memoir  on  the  North  American  crawfisji,  described  but  ten  un- 
known to  previous  authors. 

The  treatment  of  the  material  by  the  author,  as  may  have  been 
expected,  is  thorough,  and  the  illustrations,  drawn  by  Mr.  Paul 
Roetter,  are  excellent.  It  is  a  matter  of  great  interest  to  be  able 
to  stud/  such  a  group  as  this,  scattered  as  it  is  through  the 
northern  portions  of  the  New  and  Old  World.  It  is  to  be  hoped 
that  our  naturalists  will  endeavor  hereafler,  in  making  out  our 
American  fauna,  to  compare  it  with  that  of  Europe  and  particu- 
larly Eastern  Asia. 

Graber's  Animal  Mechanics. — ^This  forms  a  double  volume 
in  a  German  series,  entitled,  Das  Wissen  der  Gegenwart,  devoted 
to  popular  knowledge  relating  to  science,  history  and  literature ; 
each  volume  costing  but  a  single  mark  or  twenty-five  cents. 

The  present  volume  is  devoted  to  the  mechanics  of  the  ex- 
ternal organs  of  vertebrates  and  invertebrates.  The  author 
is  well  known  as  an  authority  on  the  mechanics  of  motion, 
etc.,  of  the  Arthropoda  and  has  .given  us  what  we  have  found 
to  be  a  most  useful  and  interesting  volume,  quite  out  of  the 
ordinary  line  of  works  on  natural  history.  It  is  abundantly 
illustrated  with  novel  and  graphic  sketches,  usually  well  drawn. 
The  topics  treated  under  Vertebrates  are  the  mechanics  of  the 

*  Memoirs  of  the  Museum  of  Comparative  Zodiogy^  x.  No,  4,  A  revision  of  the 
Asticidae.  By  Walter  Faxon.  Part  i.  The  genera  Cambarus  and  Astacus.  With 
ten  plates.    Cambridge,  August,  1885.    4to,  pp.  186. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


364  Recent  Literature.  [April, 

external  organs  in  general;  the  construction  of  the  vertebrate 
machine  and  the  chief  levers ;  the  mechanism  of  the  jaws ;  the 
equipment  of  the  jaws  (teeth  and  beak) ;  mechanism  of  the  other 
mouth  parts  (tongue,  lips,  trunk  and  muzzle,  muscles  of  the 
ear);  the  limbs,  especially  the  human  hand;  and  the  limbs  as 
organs  of  locomotion.  In  treating  of  the  invertebrates,  the  modes 
of  locomotion,  of  mastication,  stinging,  etc.,  are  discussed. 

French's  Butterflies  of  the  Eastern  United  States. — At 
length  we  have  a  handy  book  giving  descriptions  of  all  our  Eastern 
and  Southern  butterflies.  The  work  appears  to  have  been  faith- 
fully done,  the  information  given  is  elementary,  and  the  clear 
type,  simple  language  and  excellent  illustrations,  with  the  pre- 
liminary account  of  the  transformations  of  butterflies  in  general, 
the  best  mode  of  collecting,  killing,  preparing  for  the  cabinet  and 
of  rearing  them,  render  the  book  an  excellent  manual  for  the 
beginner.  An  analytical  key  and  glossary  also  add  to  its  useful- 
ness. 

The  author  is  indebted  to  Mr.  W.  H.  Edward's  great  work  for 
nearly  all  the  descriptions  of  the  early  stages,  and  follows  the 
classification  and  nomenclature  of  that  author. 

The  criticisms  we  have  to  make  are  slight.  We  would  have 
preferred  to  have  the  specific  names,  at  least  those  not  derived 
from  proper  names,  begin  with  a  small  capital,  or,  when  lower 
case  is  used,  in  lower  case  type.  The  original  engravings  are 
excellent.  We  should  like  to  have  had  a  larger  number  of  spe- 
cies figured.  We  trust  this  may  be  done  in  a  second  edition, 
which  we  feel  sure  will  be  soon  needed. 

Government  Publications. — Major  Ben.  Perley  Poore  is  the 
author  of  a  ponderous  quarto  of  1392  pages,  bearing  the  follow- 
ing title:  A  descriptive  catalogue  of  the  Government  publica- 
tions of  the  United  States,  September  5,  I7;4,  to  March  4,  1881 ; 
compiled  by  order  of  Congress ;  Washington :  Government 
print,  1885.  Inasmuch  as  the  aborigines  of  our  country  have 
been  the  object  of  concern  to  the  Government  from  its  beginning, 
there  has  never  been  a  year  in  which  valuable  ethnological  publi- 
catiqps  have  not  been  issued.  The  titles  of  these  may  be  followed 
up  in  the  volume  itself  chronologically,  or  in  the  index  under  the 
word  Indian  the  reader  may  find  at  once  what  he  wishes.  Other 
anthropological  publications  of  equal  importance  to  those  named, 
treating  of  slavery,  immigration,  treaties,  tariff,  are  here  pointed 
out  by  title.  Indeed,  the  whole  work  is  an  index  of  anthropology. 
Fortunate  will  the  student  be  who  can  secure  through  his  senator 
or  representative  a  copy  of  the  descriptive  catalogue. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


1 886.]  Geography  and  Ttavelu  365 

GENERAL  NOTES. 
GEOGRAPH7   AND   TRAVELS.* 

America. — The  Goajira  Peninsula, — F.  A.  A.  Simons  contrib- 
utes to  the  Proceedings  of  the  Royal  Geographical  Society  an 
account  of  the  Goajira  peninsula,  to  the  west  of  the  Gulf  of  Mara- 
caybo,  in  the  United  States  of  Colombia.  This  larg):  peninsula 
appears  to  be  tenanted  only  by  less  than  25,000  Indians,  who  are 
divided  into  several  castes,  and  have  some  peculiar  laws.  Every 
Indian  belongs  to  the  tribe  of  his  mother,  and,  if  he  injures  him- 
self in  any  way,  he  has  to  pay  blood-money  to  his  mother's  rela- 
tions for  shedding  the  blood  of  his  family,  and  tear-money  to  his 
father's  relatives  for  the  sorrow  he  has  caused  them.  The  south- 
ern part  of  the  peninsula  is  a  level,  grassy  plain ;  the  northern,  a 
country  of  volcanic  hills,  with  three  ranges,  the  highest  about 
2800  feet  high.  There  are  no  perennial  rivers  on  the  peninsula, 
so  that  in  summer — the  greater  half  of  the  year — the  only  water 
is  from  wells  and  a  few  water-holes,  natural  or  artificial.  The 
weapons  of  the  Goajiras  are  the  bow  and  arrow,  as  well  as  the 
flint-lock  and  the  rifle.  Poisoned  arrows  are  used  to  some  ex- 
tent. The  poison  is  putrefied  animal  matter,  and  the  arrow-head 
the  barbed  weapon  of  a  sting-ray,  so  attached  to  the  shaft  that  it 
will  remain  buried  in  the  wound  it  has  made. 

American  News, — Lieutenant  H.  F.  Allen  and  Sergeants  Rob- 
ertson and  Picket  crossed  last  year  from  the  head-waters  of  the 
Atnah  to  those  of  the  Sarranah,  descended  this  river  to  the 
Yukon  and  the  latter  to  the  sea.  The  Corwin  brought  these 
travelers  ta  San  Francisco,  and  also  took  up  Messrs.  Garland  and 
Beatty,  two  Englishmen  who  had  crossed  from  the  Mackenzie  to 
the  Yukon  and  descended  the  latter. 

Asia. — Col,  Prejevalskys  journey. — A  letter  from  Col.  Preje- 
valsky  relates  to  his  journey  from  Lob-nor  to  Khotan.  The  few 
people  of  Lob-nor  are  the  last  remnant  of  the  natives  of  Lob,  a 
city  which  was  destroyed  at  the  end  of  the  fourteenth  century. 
The  Cherchen-daria  is  a  shallow  river,  margined  with  a  belt  of 
bushes  and  herbs,  all  thickly  covered  with  loess  dust.  The  only 
tree  is  a  poplar,  thirty  to  forty  feet  high.  Cherchen  is  an  oasis 
upon  this  river,  containing  about  3000  people,  who  carefully  cul- 
tivate some  three  to  four  thousand  acres.  Near  by  are  the  ruins 
of  two  ancient  cities.  Remains  of  buildings,  clay  cups,  glass, 
burnt  bricks,  slag,  beads,  copper  utensils,  even  gold  and  copper 
coins,  ingots  of  silver  and  precious  stones  are  found,  as  also  cof- 
fins, the  bodies  in  which  are  often  well  preserved  through  the 
excessive  dryness  of  the  climate.  Nia  and  Kiria  are  the  first  in  a 
series  of  oases  which  extends  through  Khotan  and  Yarkand  to 
Kashgar,  and  then  along  the  southern  foot  of  the  Tian-Shan. 

*  This  department  is  edited  by  W.  N.  LOCKINGTON,  Philadelpbta.  f 


Digitized  by 


Google 


366  General  Notes.  [April, 

Prejevalsky  reports  discontent  at  Chinese  rule  among  the  Moham- 
medan natives,  and  asserts  that  they  long  for  a  change  of  masters. 

Asiatic  News. — The  Russians  have  commenced  the  Trans- 
Caspian  railroad.  It  is  opened  nearly,  if  not  quite,  as  far  as  As- 
kabad,  and  is  graded  to  Dushak,  150  kilometers  farther.  From 
this  point,  one  branch  will  lead  to  Sarakhs,  where  it  will  connect 
with  the  English  road  from  Quetta,  through  Afghanistan.  The 
other  branch  will  run  north-east,  crossing  the  Amu  Daria  and 
running  through  Bokhara  to  Samarcand.  Merv,  Samarcand  and 
Bokhara  are  already  connected  by  telegraph  with  St.  Petersburg. 

The  population  of  British  Burmah  in  1883  was  3,736,771. 

Mr.  Needham  and  Capt.  Molesworth  have  recently  followed 

the  Brahmaputra  the  whole  way  from  Sadiya  to  Rima  and  state 
authoritatively  that  a  river  corresponding  in  size  to  the  Sanpo  falls 
into  it,  and  that  therefore  the  identity  of  the  Sanpo  with  the 

Dijong  may  be  considered  as  finally  settled. ^The  Marshall 

archipelago,  now  under  German  protection,  includes  thirty  lagoon 
islands,  none  of  which  rise  ten  feet  above  the  sea.  Coco-palms, 
pandanus  and  breadfruit  form  the  vegetation,  and  a  small  lizard  is 
the  only  native  quadruped.  The  group  consists  of  two  chains, 
the  eastern,  or  Ratack,  and  the  western,  or  Ralick.  In  the  latter 
series  is  situated  the  largest  island  of  the  group,  Jaluit,  which 
has  an  area  of  about  thirty- five  square  miles,  and  contains  a  good 

harbor. A  recent  eruption  in  the  neighborhood  of  Tonga  has 

upheaved  an  island  of  nine  square  miles  in  extent  in  the  space  of 
four  days.  A  party  who  visited  the  island  in  a  schooner  on  Oc- 
tober 17th,  report  that  a  submarine  volcano  upon  the  shore  of  the 
new  island  was  throwing  up  an  enormous  quantity  of  steam  and 
water.  The  island  has  already  been  named  Takaogo,  is  sixteen 
to  twenty  miles  north-west  of  Henga-Hapai,  and  rises  200  to  300 
feet  above  the  ocean  surface. 

Africa. — British  and  German  Protectorates,  —  The  Kalahari 
desert  and  the  whole  of  Berlmana  land  were,  on  March  23,  1885, 
proclaimed  to  be  under  British  protectorate.  This  protectorate 
includes  all  the  territory  lying  east  of  20°  E.  long.,  west  of  the 
Transvaal  and  Orange  river  republics,  and  south  of  22^  S.  lat. 
The  Boer  republics  of  Goshon  and  Stellaland  are  embraced  with- 
in this  area. 

The  British  protectorate  of  the  Niger  districts  comprises  the 
territories  between  Lagos  and  the  right  or  western  river-bank  of 
the  mouth  of  the  Rio  del  Rey.  It  also  includes  the  territories  on 
both  banks  of  the  Niger  as  far  as  its  Confluence  with  the  Benue  at 
Lokoja,  as  well  as  the  territories  on  both  banks  of  the  Benue,  up 
to  and  including  Ibi.  Ibi  is  about  230  miles  above  the  confluence 
of  the  Niger  and  Benue.  Great  Britain  has  agreed  not  to  acquire 
territory,  accept  protectorates,  or  interfere  with  the  extension  of 
German  influence  to  the  eastward  of  a  line  following  the  right 


Digitized  by 


Google 


1 886.J  Geology  and  Paleontology.  367 

river  bank  of  the  Rio  del  Rey  to  its  source,  then  striking  direct 
to  the  left  river  bank  of  the  Old  Calabar  or  Cross  river,  and  ter- 
minating after  crossing  that  river  at  the  Rapids  in  about  9°  8'  E. 
long.  Germany  has  agreed  not  to  interfere  to  the  west  of  the 
above  line.  Both  powers  relinquish  any  existing  protectorates 
within  the  limits  of  the  territories  assigned  to  each,  except  that 
Victoria,  Ambas  bay,  will  still  continue  a  British  colony.  Ger- 
many also  engages  to  refrain  from  making  acquisitions  of  territory 
or  establishing  protectorates  on  the  coast  between  Natal  and  De- 
lagoa  bay. 

African  News. — M.  de  Brazza  reached  Paris  November  12, 
1885.  He  states  that  the  whites  and  natives  of  the  territories 
belonging  to  France  are  on  the  best  of  terms.    Natives  are  being 

recruited  to  form  an  army. The  government  of  the  Congo 

State  has  commissioned  several  geographers  to  execute  nlaps  of 
the  entire  State,     Lieut.  Massari  is  surveying  the  right  bank  of 

the  Congo  between  the  Alenia  and  Mobangi. M.  L.  de  Guiral 

is  engaged  in  exploring  the  San  Benito,  about  seventy  miles  north 
of  the  Gabon.  The  river  is  navigable  only  for  twenty-two  miles. 
There  is  a  small  lake  eighty-seven  miles  from  the  coast,  and  three 
tributaries  enter  the  San  Benito  above  the  first  falls. 

Europe. — European  News.-rA  search  for  the  true  source  of  the 
Danube  seems  strange  at  this  late  date ;  yet  M.  de  Wogan  has 
found  that  it  does  not  rise,  as  has  been  stated,  in  tHe  gardens  of 
the  Prince  of  Fiirstenburg,  at  Donaueschingen.  It  is  formed  by 
the  union  of  two  small  streams,  the  Brig  or  Brigach  and  the 
Breg  or  Bregach.  The  first  rises  at  Saint  Georges,  north  of  the 
Tryberg  mountain  and  about  a  mile  from  the  source  of  the 
Neckar,  while  the  second  rises  at  St.  Martin,  west  of  Tryberg 
and  twenty  miles  from  Donaueschingen,  where  the  two  streams 

unite. ^The  range  called  Umb-dek,  in  the  Kolu  peninsula, 

about  a  thousand  meters  high,  is  the  highest  land  in  European 

Russia  north  of  the  Caucasus. Bosnia  and  Herzegovina  have 

increased  fifteen  per  cent  in  population  between  1879  and  1885. 
The  population  at  the  latter  date  was  1,336,101. 

aBOLOGY  AND  PAT.^iONTOLOGY. 

The  Vertebrate  Fauna  of  the  Ticholeptus  Beds. — In  the 
Report  of  the  U.  S.  Geological  Survey  of  the  Terrs.,  Vol.  in,  p.  18 
(1885),  I  have  given  some  of  the  characters  of  this  horizon  and 
its  fauna.  It  is  intermediate  in  all  respects  between  the  Middle 
and  Upper  Miocene  formations  of  the  West,  as  represented  by 
the  John  Day  and  Loup  Fork  beds.  It  was  first  explored  in  the 
valley  of  Deep  river,  Montana,  by  my  assistant,  J.  C.  Isaac,  and 
afterwards  by  J.  L.  Wortman  on  the  Cottonwood  creek,  Ore- 
gon. At  the  latter  locality  it  is  seen  to  rest  on  the  John  Day 
beds,  as  stated  by  Mr.  Wortman,  and  as  indicated  by  the  coUec- 


Digitized  by 


Google 


368  General  Notes.  [April, 

tions  made  by  him.    The  following  species  were  found  at  the  lat- 
ter locality : 

Frotohippus,  ?  sp.  Dicotyles  eondoni  Marsh. 

Hippotkerium  seversum  Cope.  Protolabis  transmantanus  Cope. 

•*  sinrlairi  Wortman.  Merycockatrus  obliquidens  Cope. 

**  occidentale  Leidy.  Blastometyx  borealis  Cope. 

AnckUherium  ulHmum  Cope. 

Considerable  interest  attaches  to  the  discovery  of  an  Anchi- 
therium  and  of  a  Merycochoerus  at  this  locality,  as  these  genera 
ally  the  epoch  to  the  John  Day  period,  while  Hippotherium, 
Dicotyles  and  Protolabis  are  Loup  Fork  genera. 

The  Anchitherium  ultimum  is  represented  in  my  collection  by  a 
nearly  complete  superior  dentition,  with  palate  and  sides  of  skull 
to  the  middle  of  the  orbits,  and  top  of  skull  to  above  the  infra- 
orbital foramen.  The  size  is  less  than  that  of  the  A.  prcestans 
Cope  and  A.  equiceps  Cope  {f  A.  anceps  Marsh)  of  the  John  Day 
bed,  and  the  dental  series  has  the  same  length  as  that  of  the  A. 
longicrisie  Cope,  also  of  the  John  Day. 

It  is  in  the  cranial  characters  that  this  species  displays  the 
greatest  differences  from  the  John  Day  species.  In  the  first  place 
there  is  a  profound  and  large  preorbital  fossa,  separated  from  the 
orbit  by  a  vertical  bar.  The  preorbital  fossa  in  the  John  Day 
species  is  shaUow,  and  not  abruptly  defined.  In  the  next  place 
the  anterior  border  of  the  orbit  is  above  the  anterior  border  of 
the  last  molar  tooth.  In  this  it  agrees  only  with  the  large  A. 
prcestans  ;  in  the  A.  iquiceps  and  A.  longicriste  the  anterior  border 
of  the  orbit  is  above  the  anterior  part  of  the  second  superior 
molar.  Thirdly,  the  infraorbital  foramen  is  above  the  middle  of 
the  fourth  premolar ;  it  is  over  the  posterior  part  of  the  third  in 
the  three  John  Day  species.  Finally,  the  nareal  notch  marks  the 
anterior  two-fifths  of  the  diastema ;  it  extends  much  further  back 
in  the  John  Day  species,  marking  either  the  front  or  middle  of  the 
first  premolar.  The  palate  extends  about  as  far  anteriorly  as  in 
A.  prcestans^  viz.,  to  opposite  the  posterior  border  of  the  first  true 
premolar. 

The  Merycochoerus  obliquidens  is  smaller  than  any  known  spe- 
cies of  Merycochoerus,  about  equaling  the  larger  individuals  of 
Oreodon  cuibertsoni.  The  molar  teeth  are,  however,  relatively 
larger  than  in  that  animal,  and  in  the  species  of  Eucrotaphus,  and 
the  anterior  premolars  and  incisors  smaller  and  more  crowded. 
The  last  two  premolars  are  in  line,  but  the  second  premolar  is  set 
obliquely  in  the  jaw  so  as  to  overlap  the  first  premolar  by  the 
whole  of  its  anterior  root,  and  the  third  premolar  by  half  of  its 
posterior  root.  The  anterior  root  is  interior,  the  posterior  exte- 
rior. The  first  premolar  has  a  robust  root  with  round  section. 
The  crown  is  but  little  expanded  at  the  posterior  base ;  anterior 
part  and  apex  lost    The  alveolus  of  the  canine  diverges  some- 


Digitized  by 


Google 


1 886,]  Geology  and  Palaontohgy.  369 

iwhat  outward.  The  symphyseal  suture  is  short  and  rather  deep. 
Its  posterior  edge  is  below  the  posterior  quarter  of  the  third 
premolar. 

In  the  Merychyus  pariogonus  Cope  of  the  Deep  River  Ticholep- 
tus  bed,  the  posterior  part  of  the  ramus  is  more  expanded,  and 
is  perfectly  rounded,  while  the  other  dimensions  are  considerably 
smaller. 

Full  descriptions  of  these  species  are  given  in  a  paper  read 
before  the  American  Philosophical  Society,  Feb.  19,  1886. 

The  species  of  the  Ticholeptus  beds  of  Montana  are  the  fol- 
lowing : 

Mastodon  froavut  Cope.  Cyclopidius  emydinut  Cope. 

Protohippus  seJuHcius  Cope.  Pithecistes  brevifacie^  Cope. 
Merycocharui  monianui  Cope.  "        decedent  Cope. 

Merychyus  tygomaticus  Cope.  "        heterodon  Cope. 

*'         pariogonus  Cope.  Frocamehu  vel  Protolabis,  sp. 

Cyclopidius  simus  Cope.  Blctstomeryx  borealis  Cope. 

The  only  species  common  to  the  two  lists  is  the  Blastomeryx 
borealis,  a  fact  which  indicates  'some  important  difference  in  the 
horizons,  either  topographical  or  epochal.  The  Oregon  speci- 
mens consist  of  teeth  only,  from  both  jaws,  which  are  identical 
with  those  of  the  three  crania  known  from  Deep  river.  This 
animal  is  one  of  the  deer-antelope,  with  persistent  horns  and 
deer-like  dentition.  Its  horns  are  long  and  stout,  and  have  a 
wide  basal  expansion  above  the  posterior  part  of  each  orbit.  It 
is  about  as  large  as  the  black- tailed  deer. 

The  Ticholeptus  horizon  is  interesting  as  that  in  which  the 
genus  Mastodon  makes  its  6rst  appearance  in  America.  It  is 
now  shown  to  be  the  last  which  contains  the  genus  Anchither- 
ium. — E,  D,  Cope. 

Scudder's  Fossil  Insects. — Mr.  S.  H.  Scudder  has  contributed 
to  Zittel's  Handbuch  der  Pala:ontologie,  now  being  issued  in 
parts  at  Munich  and  Leipzig,  a  very  valuable  resume  of  our 
knowledge  of  fossil  tracheate  Arthropoda,  with  abundant  and 
excellent  illustrations  in  the  text.  In  accordance  with  the  treat- 
ment in  other  parts  of  the  work,  the  classes  are  first  defined,  also 
the  orders  and  families,  while  the  genera  are  less  briefly  diag- 
nosed and  the  leading  species  mentioned,  or  where  the  species 
are  numerous  the  number  of  known  fossil  ones  given.  In  the 
myriopods  American  forms  predominate,  while  among  the  Arach- 
nida  more  European  species  are  known.    The  tables  of  geologi- 

*  The  absence  of  caries  in  the  teeth  of  extinct  Mammalia  is  well  known.  The 
type  specimen  of  the  Pithecistes  brevi fades,  however,  displays  a  carious  excavation 
on  the  external  side  of  one  of  its  inferior  molars.  Th\%  feature  adds  to  those  which 
indicate  the  degeneracy  and  appioaching  extinction  of  this  type,  as  I  have  remarked 
in  my  synopsis  of  Ihe  Oreodontidae,  Proceedings  American  Philosophical  Society, 
l««4»  557. 

VOL.  ZZ.—* NO.  lY.  %% 


Digitized  by 


Google 


370  General  Notes.  [April, 

cal  distribution  of  both  myriopods,  Arachnrda  and  insects  are  of 
much  value. 

The  class  of  insects  begin  with  the  Palaeodictyoptera,  which 
embrace  all  the  Palaeozoic  insects,  and  is  regarded  as  equal  in  rank 
with  the  Heterometabola  (Orthoptera,  Neuroptera,  Hemiptera  and 
Coleoptera). 

The  principal  forms  are  well  illustrated.  As  a  provisional 
arrangement  the  Palaeodictyoptera,  as  thus  limited,  may  serve  a 
temporary  purpose,  but  the  wonderful  discoveries  of  Brongniart 
at  Commentry,  in  France,  seems  to  us  to  forbid  the  adoption  of 
such  a  division,  and  to  favor  Brongniart's  view  that  many  of  them, 
except  Eugereon  and  possibly  others,  are  simply  Palaeozoic  gen- 
era of  existing  orders  of  insects,  /.  ^.,  representatives  of  distinct 
and  extinct  families,  rather  than  of  lost  orders.  But  Brongniart's 
discoveries  were  not  placed  in  the  hands  of  the  scientific  public 
until  after  the  work  before  us  was  mostly  in  print  Some  of  the 
divisions,  as  the  Coleopteroidea,  for  the  unknown  manufacturer  of 
the  holes  attributed  to  Hylesinus  by  Brongniart,  seems  unneces- 
sary. Why  the  Thysanura  shoulji  be  placed  as  a  "  family  "  of 
the  suborder  Pseudoneuroptera  is  inexplicable  to  us,  now  that 
their  structure  is  so  well  known. 

But  however  one  may  differ  from  the  author  in  matters  of  classi- 
fication, he  can  not  fail  to  note  the  care,  labor  and  learning  which 
has  been  bestowed  upon  this  excellent  and  most  useful  summary. 

Oscar  Schmidt  on  the  Origin  of  thk  Domestic  Dog.' — We 
must  now  refer  to  the  question  of  the  origin  of  the  domestic  dog. 
That  the  whole  line  of  foxes  has  nothing  to  do  with  the  dog  has 
long  been  an  established  fact  On  the  other  hand  Darwin  en- 
deavored to  prove  that  various  wild  tribes  of  men  in  different 
parts  of  the  globe  tamed  native  wolf-like  animals,  and  that  the 
crossings  of  these  species  and  breeding  of  various  kinds  produced 
the  domestic  dog  of  our  day.  This  opinion  of  Darwin  has  been 
somewhat  modified  by  L.  H.  Jeitteles,  a  careful  authority  on  the 
domestic  animals.  According  to  him  the  wolf  (Ca^tf  lupus)  has 
no  connection  with  the  European  and  west-oriental  races  of  dogs, 
the  connection  being  mainly  through  the  jackal  and  the  Indian 
wolf  (  Canis  pailipes).  The  races  partly  lead  back  into  prehistoric 
times.  Closest  to  the  jackals  we  have  the  so-called  turf-dog^ 
known  from  the  turf  deposits  of  the  lake-dwellings,  and  which  is 
probably  the  ancestor  of  our  Pomeranian  dogs.  Allied  to  it  we 
have  the  terriers  and  turnspits.  From  Cants  pallipes  is  descended 
the  so-called  bronze-dog,  which  most  probably  came  to  Europe 
with  human  immigrants  from  Asia,  and  with  it  the  sheep  dog  of 
Central  Europe,  the  larger  sporting  dog,  the  poodle,  cur-dog  and 
bull-dog.  The  ancestor  of  a  third  group  may  perhaps  be  found 
in  the  large  jackal  {Cams  lupaster)  of  North  Africa,  to  which  we 

^  The  Mammalia  in  their  relation  to  primeval  times.    New  York,  D.  Appleton  & 
Co.,  1886. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


1 886.]  Geology  and  Palaoniology,  37 1 

should  also  have  to  refer  the  ancient  Egvptian-dog,  the  Oriental 
street-dog  and  the  tvUd  dog  of  Africa. 

This  does  not  as  yet  settle  the  question  as  to  which  fossil  forms 
may  be  concealed  among  the  numerous  races  of  the  domestic 
dog.  Various  conjectures  have  been  made,  none  of  which,  how- 
ever, are  based  upon  any  special  reasons.  According  to  Blain- 
ville*s  opinion,  a  diluvial  species  of  a  gentle  and  sociable  nature — 
no  longer  existing  in  a  wild  state — must  have  been  the  primeval 
form  of  the  domestic  dog ;  but  after  what  has  been  said  above, 
this  general  way  of  settling  the  question  must  be  regarded  as  one 
that  no  longer  holds  good.  Woldrich's  views  show  a  greater 
amount  of  probability,  and  have  lately  been  taken  up  again ;  he 
maintains  that  our  domestic  races  are  descended  from  several 
wild  forms  of  the  Canidae  of  the  Diluvium,  and  herein  he  agrees 
with  what  Darwin  and  Huxley  have  stated  regarding  the 
relation  between  the  domestic  dog  and  the  living  jackals  and 
wolves. 

It  may  >yith  certainty  be  maintained  that  the  direct  ancestors 
of  the  European  wolf  are  to  be  found  in  the  Diluvial  deposits. 
Formerly  a  huge  animal  of  the  wolf  species  was  distinguished  as 
the  cave-wolf  without  there  being  any  distinct  character  to  sepa- 
rate the  two  forms.  A  third  form  of  vfo\(  {Cants  suessii,  from  the 
loss  near  Vienna)  is  described  as  a  slim  but  powerful  animal, 
strong  enough  even  to  pursue  and  overpower  the  larger  specfcs 
of  plant-eaters.  It  is,  in  fact,  one  of  the  eight  species  of  wolves 
which  can  be  distinguished  during  the  Diluvial  early  ages 
of  man.  And  in  addition  to  these  there  are  about  five  kinds  of 
foxes. 

In  now  returning  to  the  living  Canidse,  several  species  demand 
our  attention,  one  of  which  is  described  as  Icticyon  venaticus,  a 
native  of  Brazil,  the  other  under  the  generic  name  Cyon,  inhabit- 
ing the  countries  to  the  north  and  north-east  of  the  Altain  moun- 
tains. These  dogs  do  not  possess  the  third  molar  in  the  lower 
jaw,  and  the  molar  tooth  in  the  upper  jaw  is  so  small  that  a  reduc- 
tion appears  to  be  imminent  there  as  well.  It  is  in  the  natural 
course  of  things  that  one  or  both  of  the  first  premolars,  or  the 
last  molar,  should  become  useless  and  forced  to  disappear  by  the 
neighboring  teeth  being  specially  taken  into  requisition,  although 
in  most  cases  we  do  not  kngw  the  immediate  reason  of  this.*  The 
other  circumstances  of  the  structure  of  this  group  do  not  lead  us 
to  expect  anything  special  from  this  concentration  of  the  dentition. 
In  former  times,  however,  as  we  shall  soon  see,  a  most  varied  de- 

*  Any  of  oar  readen  who  can  examine  the  head  of  a  dachshund  may  convince 
themselves  of  the  fact  that  the  firat  premolar  above  and  below  can  scarcely  be  of  any 
use  to  the  animal  ;'it  is  a  little  stump  which  does  not  come  in  contact  with  the  oppo* 
site  row  ot  teeth,  and  is  frequently  wanting  altogether.  If  the  dachshund  is  not  lor- 
cibly  suppressed  as  a  species,  its  dentition  will  one  day  inevitably  be  reduced  by  one 
premolar. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


372  General  Notes.  [April, 

velopment  of  new  genera  of  beasts  of  prey  began  with  dog-like 
animals. 

Much  more  interesting  for  the  purpose  of  our  investigation 
here  is  the  Oiocyon  lalaftdu\  the  spoon*dog  of  South  Africa,  so 
called  from  the  peculiar  formation  of  the  skull.  Its  habits  show 
an  approximation  to  the  foxes,  yet  as  regards  dentition  it  does 
not  show  this  affinity,  inasmuch  as  it  possesses  | :  \  molars,  and 
also  shows  the  most  remarkable  differences  in  the  relative  size  of 
the  single  teeth.  As  already  said,  the  spoon-dog  is,  in  many 
ways  and  as  regards  dentition,  shaped  after  the  fashion  of  the  dog 
type,  and  can  thus  scarcely  be  dragged  out  of  this  connection, 
and  we  are  compelled  to  look  upon  it  as  a  still  existing  primary 
form  of  dog.  The  whole  palaeontology  of  the  vertebrates  shows 
that  the  many-toothedness  of  mammals  is  an  inheritance  from 
their  lower  ancestors,  and  that  any  increase  of  the  teeth  within  a 
class  has  probably  never  taken  place. 

As  our  dogs,  with  their  | :  -J  molars,  have  no  doubt  been  de- 
scended from  fuller-toothed  animals,  Otocyon  must  bp  regarded 
as  the  still-living  representative  of  the  early  type  of  dog,  which 
in  other  characteristics  shows  more  affinity  to  the  fox  genus. 
But  as  there  also  exist  species  of  the  group  Canis  azarce  with 
very  small  frontal  depressions,  it  is,  as  Huxley  says,  very  diffi- 
cult not  to  imagine  that  these  too  must  be  traced  to  ancestors  of 
tl^  Otocyon  type.  From  this  species,  therefore,  we  should  have 
to  derive  the  two  lines  which  diverge  into  the  fox  on  the  one 
hand,  and  the  wolf  on  the  other.  We  are  supported  in  this  view 
by  the  observation  that  the  South  American  Canis  cancrivorus 
often  possesses  the  fourth  molar,  and  thus  shows  itself  to  be 
another  remnant  of  the  primary  form.  A  fourth  supernumerary 
molar  of  this  kind  is  not  a  monstrosity  or  pathological  phenome- 
non, but  an  atavism  or  reversion  of  the  same  sort  as  the  so- 
called  wolfs  tooth  in  horses,  which  was  explained  as  a  premolar 
.  which  existed  in  the  primary  genus  Anchitherium. 

Hence  the  key  to  the  derivation  of  all  the  dog  tribe  is  to  be 
found  in  their  relation  to  the  spoon-dog. 

Geological  News. — Silurian, — S.  G.  Williams,  in  a  communi- 
cation to  the  February  number  of  the  American  youmal  of  Sci- 
ence, states  that  rocks  of  the  Lower  Helderberg  period,  including 
all  above  the  water-lime  group,  are  represented  in  New  York,  as 
far  west  as  Cayuga  lake,  by  limestones  not  less  than  sixty-five  feet 
thick,  containing  an  unmistakable  Lower  Helderberg  fauna. 
Though  fossils  are  rare  in  Cayuga  county,  fifteen  species  have 
been  found,  two  or  three  of  which  are  as  yet  undescribed,  while 
the  others  all  belong  to  Lower  Helderberg  species.  Among 
them  are  two  species  of  Strophodonta,  Rhynchonella  semipticata^ 
Stromatopora  (most  abundant  of  all),  a  Favosites  and  a  Zaph- 
rentis. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


1 886.]  Geology  anif  Palaontology,  373 

Triassk, — The  geological  age  of  the  yellow  sandstones  lying 
north  of  the  city  of  Elgin  (Scotland)  has  been  much  debated,  strat- 
igraphists  having  maintained  that  they  belonged  to  the  Devonian 
(or  rather  Old  Red  sandstone),  while  palseontological  evidence 
is  in  favor  of  their  Triassic  age.  The  Lacertilia  are  represented  by 
Telerpeton,  Hyperod^pedon  and  an  undescribed  form,  Crocodilia 
by  Stagonolepis,  and  Dicynodontia  by  the  type  genus.  Dr.  Judd 
and  Dr.  Gordon  have  now  procured  good  evidence  that  this  rep- 
tiliferous  sandstone  passes  down  into  a  bed  of  conglomerate 
which  rests  unconformably  upon  the  strata  of  the  Upper  Old  Red 
sandstone.  The  conclusion  is  that  during  the  vast  periods  of  the 
Carboniferous  and  Permian,  the  Upper  Old  Red  sandstone  of  the 
Elgin  area  was  upheaved  and  denuded,  and  the  Upper  Trias  beds 
deposited  unconformably  upon  their  eroded  surface. 

Jurassic  and  Cretaceous, — MM.  Bertrand  and  Kilian,  who  have 
studied  the  Jurassic  and  Cretaceous  strata  of  Andalusia,  report 
that  their  composition  is  very  like  that  of  the  same  beds  in  the 
Alps.  There  are  also  many  analogies  between  them  and  the  cor- 
responding beds  of  Sicily  and  of  the  Apennines,  while  the  upper 
beds  resemble  those  met  with  in  the  Balearic  islands.  The  brach- 
iopod  beds  of  the  Middle  Lias  and  the  ammonite  beds  of  the 
Toarciari  are  met  with  alike  in  Sicily,  the  Apennines  and  parts  of 

the  Alps. 

t 
Quaternary  and  Recent. — M.  Choper  reports  the  existence  of 
glacial  beds  in  the  French  colony  of  Assinie,  upon  the  coast  of 

Guinea. A  letter  from  J.  W.  Dawson  to  Nature  contains  some 

interesting  notes  upon  the  causes  of  the  purity  of  Nile  mud. 
This  mud,  brought  down  chiefly  by  the  Atbara  and  the  Blue  Nile 
from  a  country  of  siliceous  and  crystalline  rocks,  is,  like  that  of 
the  St.  Lawrence,  almost  free  from  salt.  It  is  also  deficient  in 
kaolin,  (i)  because  the  current  of  the  river  is  sufficiently  strong 
to  wash  into  the  sea  all  the  more  finely  comminuted  argillaceous 
matter;  (2)  because  the  older  gneisses  and  schists  do  not  kaolinize 
like  Cornish  granites,  but  crumble  into  ^and,  much  of  the  feldspar 

remaining  in"  a  perfect  state. Professor  Heim.  known  as  one 

of  the  best  authorities  on  glaciers,  states  that  the  motion  of  a 
glacier  is,  to  a  preponderating  extent,  the  result  of  gravity.  He 
enumerates  partial  internal  liquefaction,  caused  by  pressure ;  plas- 
ticity of  the  ice  as  it  approaches  the  melting-point ;  ruptures  and 
slight  displacements,  alternating  with  partial  regelation  and  sliding 
on  its  bed,  as  sources  of  glacier  motion.  Glaciers  merely  smooth 
and  very  slightly  wear  away  the  previously  existing  rough  sur- 
faces, while  streams  and  ^ub-aerial  weathering  have  given  valleys 
their  form.  The  glacier  is  more  of  a  carrier  and  rubbish-remover 
than  of  a  delver  and  ploughman. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


374  General  Notes.  [April, 

MmERALOGY  AND  PETROGRAPHY.^ 

Hussak's  "Determination  of  Rock-forming  Minerals." — 
The  appearance  in  English  of  any  book  which  treats  of  the 
methods  of  the  new  geology,  is  a  subject  for  congratulation  on 
the  part  oi  those  who  believe  that  the  use  of  the  microscope  will 
reveal  much  of  interest  in  the  development  of  the  earliest  history 
of  the  earth's  life.  The  importance  of  microscopical  petrography 
is  shown  in  the  bsX  that  the  leading  geologists  all  over  the  world 
are  devoting  much  of  their  time  to  the  study  of  the  mineralogical 
characteristics  of  the  rocks  which  form  the  solid  crust  of  our 
globe  and  to  the  changes  which  these  rocks  undergo  under  vari- 
ous conditions.  It  is  a  lamentable  fact  that,  though  so  much  is 
now  being  done  in  this  field,  but  few  good  English  text-books 
exist.  The  only  works  relating  to  this  subject  which  have 
appeared  in  English  are  Zirkel's  Microscopical  Petrography' 
and  Rutley's  Study  of  Rocks.'  Both  of  these  treat  more  par- 
ticularly of  the  classification  of  rocks  and  presuppose  a  know- 
ledge of  the  elementary  principles,  by  means  of  which  their 
mineral  constituents  are  recognized.  It  is  with  pleasure  that  we 
now  welcome  a  third  volume,  which  treats  of  the  optical  proi>er- 
ties  of  minerals  and  the  methods  which  are  made  use  of  in  their 
detection.  Dr.  E.  G,  Smith,  of  Beloit,  Wisconsin,  has  very  re- 
cently translated^  Dr.  Hussak's  little  book,  noticed  in  the  April 
number  of  the  Naturalist.  Unfortunately,  the  first  part  of  the 
translation,  which  treats  of  the  methods  of  investigation,  the  opti- 
cal properties,  etc.,  of  minerals,  is  marred  by  clumsy  construc- 
tions, due  to  the  literalness  with  which  the  original  text  has  been 
followed.  Most  of  the  errors  which  the  German  petrographers 
have  pointed  out  have  been  allowed  to  remain  uncorrected.  In 
many  cases  the  choice  of  expressions  for  words  and  phrases 
occurring  in  the  original  are  misleading.  "  The  entering  face 
of  the  light"  is  used  for  " Eintrittsflache *'  (p.  i8),  "shell- 
formed"  for  "  Schalenformig"  (p.  90),  and  "springlings"  for 
"  Einsprenglinge"  (p.  85).  A  few  words  are  mistranslated, 
and  one  (Kolben)  is  not  translated  at  all.  Certain  sections  of 
orthorhombic  minerals  are  spoken  of  as  not  extinguishing  '*  for 
the  most  part  according  to  their  axial  figures  "  (Figurenaxen)  (p. 
23).  More  serious  than  these  are  the  errors  which  arise  from  the 
confusion  of  the  optical  axes  with  the  axes  of  elasticity;  of 
biaxial  minerals  with  those  which  are  doubly  refracting;  and 
finally  of  isotropic  substances  with  those  exhibiting  parallel  ex- 
tinction. The  second  part  is  taken  up  with  a  tabular  arrangement 
of  the  principal  minerals  which  enter  into  the  composition  of 

^  Edited  by  W.  S.  Bayley,  Johns  Hopkins  University,  Baltimore,  Md. 

>  Washington,  1876. 

*  London,  1879. 

«  New  York :  John  Wiley  &  Sons,  1886. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


1 886.]  Mineralogy  and  Petrography.  375 

rocks.  These  are  placed  vertically  in  groups,  according  as  their 
cross-sections  arc  isotropic,  or  show  parallel  or  inclined  extinc- 
tion. These  groups  are  again  subdivided  in  accordance  with  the 
crystallograpnic  systems.  Opposite  the  name  of  each  mineral  are 
placed  its  chemical  composition,  specific  gravity,  characteristic 
cleavages,  the  ordinary  forms  of  its  cross-sections,  its  twinning 
laws,  the  character  and  strength  of  its  double  refraction,  its  colors 
under  crossed  nicols,  its  natural  color  and  pleochroism,  its  struc- 
ture, the  minerals  with  which  it  is  generally  associated,  its  char- 
acteristic inclusions  and  decomposition  products,  and  those  pecu- 
liarities which  distinguish  it  from  other  minerals  of  the  same 
general  appearance.  In  this  part  an  imgiense  amount  of  material 
is  so  arranged  that  with  very  little  trouble  the  student  can  turn  to 
the  mineral  whose  properties  he  wishes  to  study,  and  find  in  a  few 
brief  sentences  the  characteristics  by  which  it  can  be  distinguished 
from  all  others.  This  part  will  prove  of  considerable  use  to  all 
who  are  beginning  the  study  of  petrography,  and  whom  such 
manuals  as  that  of  Rosenbusch  would  tend  only  to  confuse  and 
discourage.  A  great  service  has  been  rendered  to  all  those  to 
whom  the  material  in  Dr.  Hussak's  book  is  inaccessible  on 
account  of  the  language  in  which  it  is  written,  and  the  translator 
deserves  the  thanks  of  all  those  interested  in  petrography  for 
having  placed  within  the  reach  of  American  students  the  elements 
of  a  branch  of  geology  which  is  just  beginning  to  be  appreciated 
on  this  side  of  the  Atlantic,  as  affording  a  key  for  the  solution  o^ 
many  questions  which  have  heretofore  been  considered  as  beyond 
the  power  of  penetration. 

Petrographical  News. — The  relations  of  thebastite  serpentine 
to  the  troktblite  in  the  Belhelvie  parish,  in  Aberdeenshire,  are 
studied  by  Bonney,  and  the  results  of  his  investigations  pub- 
lished in  the  Geological  Maf^azine}  The  serpentine  is  derived 
from  an  olivine-enstatite  rock.  The  troktolite  is  a  moderately 
coarse-grained  mixture  of  purplish-gray  or  whitish  feldspar  and 
dull  dark  green  serpentine.  At  the  junction  of  these  two  rocks, 
it  was  found  that  every  grain  of  olivine  was  surrounded  by  a 
reactionary  rim.  The  sequence  of  the  two  rocks  in  respect  to 
age  is  not  satisfactorily  decided.  In  the  same  paper,  the  "  Black 
Dog  "  rock,  first  mentioned  by  Heddle,^  as  a  mass  of  rock  about 
four  yards  long  and  broad,  which  projects  from  the  sand  on  the 
shore,  is  described  as  containing  fibrolite,  iolite,  quartz  and  mica. 
It  bears  a  very  close  resemblance  to  some  of  the  cordierite  gneisses 

of  Bavaria. Kuch  describes'  a  quartz-pyroxcne-andesite  from 

the  Cumbal  in  the  Andes,  in  which  the  pyroxene  constituent  is 
principally  hypersthene,  and  remarks  that  this  mineral  is  a  much 

>  October,  1885,  p.  439. 

'  Mineralogical  Magazine,  v,  p.  i. 

*  Neaes  Jahrb.  fOr  Mia.,  etc.,  18S6,  i,  p.  35. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


3/6  General  Notes.  [April, 

more  frequent  constituent  of  the  andesites  of  this  region  than  has 

hitherto  been  supposed. Quite  an  addition  to  our  knowledge 

of  the  metamorphoric  rocks  has  recently  been  made  in  the 
Articles  of  Von  Miklucho-Maclay^  and  Joseph  Gotz.*  The  former 
treats  of  the  schists  found  on  the  River  Witim,  in  East  Siberia. 
These  consist  of  altered  gneisses,  brown-spar  phyllite,  in  which 
rhombohedra  of  brown  spar  are  found  enclosing  all  the  other 
minerals,  and  even  in  some  cases  forming  complete  pseudo- 
morphs  of  quartz,  and  brown-spar  phyllite  gneiss,  which  differs 
from  the  brown-spar  phyllite  in  containing  complete  pseudo- 
morphs  of  plagioclase  after  brown  spar,  and  also  in  the  enlarge- 
ment of  its  quartz  by  ttie  deposition  of  new  quartz  substance. 
Gotz  reports  the  results  of  his  investigations  on  the  rocks  occur- 
ring in  the  neighborhood  of  the  gold  fields  of  Marabastad  in 
Northern  Transvaal.  These  he  divides  into  gneiss,  amphibole 
rocks,  chlorite  schists,  phyllites,  ottrelite  and  andalusite  schists, 
quartzites,  serpentine  and  proterobase.  After  a  very  careful  study 
of  the  structure  and  mineralogical  composition  of  all  these  rocks, 
he  concludes  that  pressure  is  the  cause  of  the  schistosity  of  the 
schistose  kinds,  and  that  to  this  agency  is  due  also  the  formation 
of  the  ottrelite  and  andalusite,  which  took  place  contemporane- 
ously with  the  assumption  of  the  schistosity.  Thus  much  addi- 
tional information  is  added  to  our  knowledge  of  that  sort  of 
regional  metamorphism,  called  by  Lossen'  dislocation  metamorph- 
ism,  to  which  so  much  attention  is  now  being  directed  by  the 
leading  German  petrographers. 

Mineralogical  News. — In  a  late  number  of  the  Neues  Jahr- 
buch,*  Max  Bauer  publishes  the  continuation  of  his  studies  in 
mineralogy.  In  this  paper  he  describes  pseudomorphs  of  calcite 
after  aragonite  from  Klein-Sachsenheim,  in  Wiirttemberg.  In  all 
instances  of  this  kind  heretofore  described  the  rhombic  substance 
of  the  aragonite  was  supposed  to  have  undergone  a  molecular 
rearrangement  and  thus  to  have  passed  over  into  rhombohedral 
calcite.  A  study  of  the  Klein-Sachsenheimer  crystals  and  the 
mode  of  their  occurrence  shows,  however,  that  in  some  cases  at 
least,  a  solution  cknd  deposition  takes  place.  These  crystals  are 
found  in  a  drusy  dolomite,  which  originally  contained  in  it  lens- 
shaped  masses  of  gypsum.  This  gypsum  has  been  removed  by 
water,  and  it  was  from  this  solution  that  the  aragonite  was  de- 
posited on  the  sides  of  the  hollows  left.*  At  the  same  time, 
there    was  a  deposition    of   brown   spar,   which    covered    the 

»  lb.,  1885,  II,  p.  145. 

•lb.,  Beil.,  Bd.  iv,  p.  no. 

*  Zeits.  d.  deutsch.  geol.  Gesellschaft,  xxi,  p.  324. 

«  Band  i,  1886,  p.  62. 

B  From  very  dilute  solutions  or  from  those  containing  small  amounts  of  gypsum, 
calcium  carbonate  is  deposited  as  aragonite,  while  from  concentrated  solutions  or 
those  containing  no  foreign  matter  it  is  deposited  as  calcite. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


1 886.]  Mineralogy  and  Petrography,  377 

little  crystals  of  aragonite  and  protected  them  from  the  dis- 
solving action  of  fresh  supplies  of  water.  Wherever  an  imper- 
fection in  the  covering  allowed  water  to  gain  access  to  the 
aragonite  substance,  a  concentrated  solution  of  this  was  formed 
and  the  salt  was  redeposited  as  calcite.  Its  external  form, 
of  course,  was  occasioned  by  the  shell  of  brown  spar,  which 
remained  undissolved.  In  nearly  every  case  studied,  an  internal 
kernel  of  aragonite  was  surrounded  by  an  external  covering  of 
calcite,  showing  that  the  change  took  place  from  without.  The 
author  thinks  that  many  other  cases  of  paramorphism  may  be  ex* 
plained  by  supposing  a  solution  and  redeposition  of  the  material 

in  the  same  way  as  that  described. Davreuxite,  hydrous  antho- 

phyllite  and  hydrotephroite  have  recently  been  investigated  by  La- 
croix.^  The  fe-st  he  describes  as  having  all  the  optical  properties 
of  a  mica.  It  is  biaxial,  with  a  negative  bisectrix.  It  occurs  in 
little  plates,  mixed  with  quartz  grains  in  the  quartziferous  veins  in 
the  schists  at  Ottre.  Hydrous  anthophyllite  (from  Glen  Urqu- 
hart.  Scotland)  is  not  a  homogeneous  substance,  but  is  composed 
of  fibers  of  actinolite,  cemented  together  by  a  substance  belong- 
ing to  the  chlorite  group.  Hydrotephroite  is  a  mixture  in  various 
proportions  of  at  least  three  different  substances.  That  which 
occurs  in  greatest  quantity  is  colorless  and  biaxial  and  is  probably 
tephroite.  The  other  substances  are  serpentine,  chlorite  and 
various  manganese  minerals.    The  hydrotephroite  is  probably  an 

altered  tephroite  or  some  other  manganese  silicate. Beautiful 

rhombohedral  crystals  of  calcite  are  described  by  R.  H,  Solly,* 
from  the  Tankerville  mine,  Shropshire,  Eng.  They  contain  only 
the  rhombohedral  and  scalenohedral  faces,  with  the  former  pre- 
dominating. The  scalenohedral  faces  are  bright  and  are  cov- 
ered with  little  quartz  crystals,  while  the   rhombohedral   faces 

contain   no  quartzes,  but  are  dull  and  corroded. Until  ver)*" 

recently  our  knowledge  regarding  the  blue  "  sulphato-chloride 
of  copper,"  to  which  Dana  in  1850  gave  the  name  connel- 
lite,  has  been  confined  to  the  results  of  the  investigations  of 
Maskelyne'  and  Bertrand.*  Lately,  however,  in  consequence  of 
the  discovery  of  new  material,  the  crystallography  of  the  mineral 
has  been  thoroughly  worked  up.  Connellite  occurs  in  copper 
veins  traversing  clay  slate  and  granite  in  the  Camborne  district, 
situated  at  the  west  end  of  the  granite  boss  in  which  most  of  the 
productive  tin  mines  in  England  occur.  The  mineral  is  not  found 
massive,  but  only  in  aggregates  of  minute  crystals,  the  largest 
measuring  from  two  to  four  millimeters  in  length.  In  crystalliza- 
tion they  are  hexagonal,  containing  only  the  simple  forms  P, 
00  p2  and  00  P,  in  addition  to  those  observed  by  Maskelyne. 

>  Comptes  Rendus,  en,  1886,  p.  273. 

'  Mineralogical  Magazine,  vi,  May,  1885,  p.  120. 

'  Philosophical  Magazine,  January,  1863. 

^  Bulletin  de  la  Soc.  Min.  de  France,  1881,  iv. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


378  General  Notes.  [April, 

Guejarite,  hitherto  known  only  from  Spain,  is  mentioned  by  F. 
Sandberger^  as  occurring  at  Machacamara,  in  Bolivia,  in  radial 

aggregates  in  white  quartz,  associated  with    barite. G.  F. 

Kunz  announces  in  a  pappr  in  the  American  faumal  of  Science 
that  the  meteorite  described  by  him  at  the  last  meeting  of 
the  American  Association  as  the  Charleston,  W.  Va.,  meteor- 
ite, fell  on  Jenney's  creek,  Wayne  county,  W.  Va.,  and  not, 
as  before  stated,  at  Charleston.  It  is  described  as  a  me- 
teoric iron,  made  up  of  crystalline  blocks  of  plessite  and  kama- 
cite,  and  belongs  to  the  "grobe  Lamellen"  of  Brezina.  An 
analysis  yielded:  Fe  =  91.56,  P  =  0.13,  Ni  and  Co  (by  differ- 
ence) =  8.31. The  minerals  of  the  region  around  Stempel, 

near  Marbui^,  and  those  of  the  Erzgebirge  have  been  pretty 
thoroughly  investigated  by  Stadtlander,'  of  Lfineberg,  and 
SchalcV  of  Leipzig.  The  former  thinks  that  the  optical  anom- 
alies of  analcite  must  be  the  result  of  secondary  conditions  which 
acted  after  the  crystal  had  been  formed.'  He  finds  also  twins  of 
Natrolite  in  which  the  twinning  axis  is  normal  to  ooP  and  the 

composition  face  is  the  base. In  a  little  book  entitled  Die 

Chemische  Natur  der  Mineralien,*  Rammelsberg  attempts  a  sys- 
tematic arrangement  of  all  the  minerals,  the  analyses  of  which 
show  them  to  have  a  constant  composition. 

Miscellaneous. — Improved  methods  for  the  detection  of  small 
quantities  of  silver,  chlorine,  selenium,  sulphur,  arsenic,  anti- 
mony, barium,  strontium,  lithium  and  sodium  under  the  micro- 
scope, are  described  by  Strang  in  the  last  number  of  the  Neues 
Jahrbuch.^  The  antimony  is  transformed  into  antimony  chloride ; 
a  little  of  this  is  evaporated  to  dryness  in  an  object  glass,  and  the 
residue  moistened  with  a  drop  of  water  holding  barium  tartrate  in 
suspension  and  a  little  barium  chloride  in  solution.  On  evapora- 
tion, little  rhombic  tables  of  barium  antimony  tartrate  are  found 
around  the  edges  of  the  drop.  A  closer  examination  of  these 
shows  them  to  possess  a  monoclinic  symmetry,  with  the  forms 
oP,  P  and  ^  P  00  best  developed.  A  practical  use  of  these 
nxethods  is  made  in  an  examination  of  the  composition  of  rittin- 
gerite  and  pyrostilpnite.  The  latter  is  found  to  be  Ag3  Sb  S3,  the 
former  Aga  As  S3  or  Ag,  As  (S.  Se),. 

*  Neues  Jahrb.  filr  Min.,  etc.,  1886,  i,  p.  89. 
"  February,  1886,  p.  145. 

•  Neues  Jahrb.  fiir  Min.,  etc.,  1885,  l^»  P-  97* 
*Ib.,  Beil.,  Bd.  iv,  p.  178. 

*  Cf.  American  Naturaust,  1885.     March,  p.  296;  September,  p.  886. 

•  Carl  Habel,  Berlin,  1886. 
»  1886, 1,  p.  49. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


i886.] 


Botany. 
BOTAKYJ 


379 


Branching  op  Osmunda  clavtoniana. — In  those  feras  in  which 
the  vascular  system  of  the  stem  consists  of  a  ring  of  separate 
bundles,  branches  and  leaves  usually  arise  by  an  increase  by  divi- 
sion of  the  bundles,  until  a  portion  is  deflected  with  surrounding 
tissue  to  the  lateral  member.  The  method  in  >he  Osmundas  is 
not  so  simple.  In  Fig.  i,  A  shows  a  cauline  bundle,  b  b\  in  which 
an  outer  portion  is  being  separated  to  form  the  bundle  of  a  stipe, 
as  at  C.  Two  lateral  portions,  between  this  and  what  remains, 
are  deflected  to  roots  at  each  side  of  the  base  of  the  stipe  which 
originate  at  the  same  time,  as  at  r  r'.  The  divisions  which  re- 
main in  the  stem  unite  with  similarly  divided  parts  of  adjoining 


Fig.  I. — A^  segment  of  cross-section  of  stem;  by,  a  bundle  dividing  into  a  cen- 
tral outer  portion,  which  enters  a  stipe,  two  lateral  portions  which  enter  the  begin- 
nings  of  roots  rr,  and  two  larger  portions  which  remain  in  the  stem;  /,  pit; 
r,  cortex ;  B,  section  of  stem  below  a  fork,  showing  preparatory  constriction ;  C, 
section  of  stipe,  about  an  inch  from  the  base,  showing  single  large  bundle.  A^  re- 
duced from  camera  sketch,  magnified  ten,  B  and  C  al:^ut  two  diameters. 

bundles,  so  that  the  number  in  the  stem  remains  the  same.  From 
the  condensed  character  of  the  stem,  the  vascular  system  at  any 
section  appears  as  a  series  of  incomplete  and  variously  united 
bundles. — A.  A,  Crozier,  Grand  Rapids,  Mich.,  Jan.  ^7, 1886. 

Movements  of  Desmids. — Herr  G.  Klebs  describes  {Bioio- 
gisckes  CentralblAti)  four  different  kinds  of  movements  in  the 
Desmidiex,  viz:  i.  A  forward  motion  on  the  surface,  one  end  of 
the  cell  touching  the  bottom,  while  the  other  end  is  more  or  less 
elevated,  and  oscillates  backwards  and  forwards  during  the  move- 
ment This  is  especially  well  seen  in  Closterium  acerosum.  2.  An 
elevation  in  a  vertical  direction  from  the  substratum ;  the  free  end 
making  wide  circular  movements  {C.didymotocum),  3.  A  similar 
motion,  followed  by  a  sinking  of  the  free  end  and  an  elevation  of 
the  end  previously  depressed,  and  so  on  alternately  [C.  monilt'^ 
forme),  4.  An  oblique  elevation,  so  that  both  ends  touch  the 
bottom ;  lateral  movements  in  this  position ;  then  an  elevation  and 
circular  motion  of  one  end  and  a  sinking  again  to  an  oblique  or 
horizontal  position  (C  dian(E  and  archetianuni).     These  move- 

>Edited  by  Professor  Charles  E.  Bessby,  Lincoln,  Nebraska. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


380  Genetai  Notes.  [April, 

ments  are  none  of  theq[i  peculiar  to  particular  species ;  several  of 
them  are  often  combined  in  one.  A  free  swimming  on  the  surface, 
like  that  of  diatoms,  was  never  observed. 

The  first  two  of  these  movements  depend  on  the  formation, 
during  the  motion,  of  a  filament  of  mucilage,  by  which  the  des- 
mid  is  attached  to  the  bottom  ;  the  gradual  lengthening  of  this 
filament,  by  the  formation  of  fresh  mucilage,  causes  the  desmid  to 
rise.  The  filament  is  best  detected  by  a  weak  solution  of  methyl- 
violet  or  fuchsin,  which  does  not  kill  the  desmid.  Cyanin  also 
answers,  but  not  so  well.  Other  pigments  do  not  stain  it  Many 
species  of  Euastrum,  Cosmarium,  Staurastrum  and  Pleurotaenium 
exhibit  the  same  phenomenon.  The  greatest  length  of  filament 
observed  was  3™™* ;  the  most  rapid  motion,  in  Closterium  acero- 
sum,  112^1  in  30  sec;  many  species  are  quite  motionless.  Light 
exercises  an  influence  on  the  direction  of  the  movement  similar 
to  that  of  zoospores,  but  not  on  its  rapidity.  The  elevation  and 
depression  appear  to  be  independent  of  the  direction  oi  gravita- 
tion. 

The  author  considers  the  cause  of  the  motion  to  be  the  exuda- 
tion of  mucilage,  which  does  not  take  place  simultaneously  and 
uniformly  over  the  whole  surface  of  the  desmid.  This  formation 
of  mucilage  is  not  the  result  of  disintegrati6n  of  the  cell-wall 
itself;  it  proceeds  directly  from  the  cytoplasm  and  passes  through 
the  cell-wall  without  the  latter  undergoing  any  change.  Many 
species  are  completely  surrounded  by  a  gelatinous  envelope, 
while  others  are  comparatively  free. — A.  W,  Bennett^  London. 

Pleomorphism  of  ALGiE. — Dr.  A.  Hanszig  publishes  in  the 
Boianisches  Centralblatt^n  elaborate  paper  which  has  for  its  object 
to  prove  that  a  large  number  of  algae  hitherto  referred  to  the 
families  Schizophyceae  or  Cyanophyceae,  Chroococcaceae,  Oscil- 
lariaceae,  Nostocaceae,  Scytonemaceae,  Confervaceae,  Chaetophora- 
ceae,  Siphonocladaceae  and  Ulvaceae  are  but  stages  in  the  evolu- 
tion of  single  forms.  He  describes  the  mode  in  which  these 
various  forms  of  algae  may  develop  one  out  of  another,  and  he 
regards  also  the  Schizophyceae  and  Schizomycetes  as  connected 
together  by  insensible  gradations.  Thus  we  may  have  one  and 
the  same  alga  occurring  in  its  mature  form,  and  in  its  Stigonema, 
Leptothrix,  unicellular,  Nostoc,  Ulothrix,  and  a  variety  of  other 
forms.  Euglena  he  regards  also  as  genetically  connected  with 
the  Phycochromaceae  and  Oscillariaceae.  Dr.  Hanszig  refers  to  a 
new  analogy  between  the  Schizomycetes  and  Schizophyceae  by 
the  discovery  of  a  motile  organism  which  he  names  Chroomonas 
nordstediii,  and  which  he  regards  as  the  swarm-cell  condition  of 
a  phycochromaceous  alga,  probably  an  Oscillaria. — A,  IV,  BennetU 

Tree  Growth  om  the  Plains. — From  a  recent  paper  on  "  Tree 
Planting  on  the  Plains,"  by  Robert  W.  Furnas,  we  extract  the 
following  statistics  of  the  growth  of  trees,  as  shown  by  actual 


Digit^ed  by 


Google 


I886.J 


Botany. 


381 


measurement  of  trees  of  known  ages.    The  measurements  were 
made  at  the  uniform  height  of  two  feet  above  the  ground. 


Common  Name. 


Scientific  Name, 


Years  V/d. 


Circum* 
Jerence. 
(Inches.) 


White  Elm 

Red  Elm 

Osage  Orange 

Soft  Maple 

<«  c« 

Box  Elder..! 

Honey  locust 

Black  Locust 

Kentucky  Coffee  tree 

Sycamore 

Black  Walnut , 

White  Walnut !!!'.!! 
Shagbark  Hickoty  . . 

Chestnut 

Burr  Oak 

White  Oak 

White  Ash 

Green  Ash 

Cottonwood 

White  Pine 

Scotch  Pine 

Austrian  Pine 


Ulmus  americana 

Ulmus  fulva '. . , 

Madura  aurantiaca 

Acer  dasycarpum •  • .  • , 

Negundo  aceroides  . .  1 

Gleditschia  triacanthos 

<f  ««  ^  ^  ^  

Robinia  pseud-acacia 

Gymnocladus  canadensis 

Platanus  occidentalis 

Juglans  nigra 

«<  «•    ,,,, 

Juglans  cinerea 

Carya  alba 

Castanea  vesca,  var,  americana 

Quercus  roacrocarpa 

Quercus  alba 

Fraxinus  .americana 

Fraxinus  viridis 

Populus  monilifera 

«  «« 

Pinus  strobus 

Pinus  sylvestris  .  '. 

Pinus  laricis,  var 


15 

W 

18 
14 
14 
22 
22 
24 
14 
16 
22 
22 
22 
24 
14 
22 
22 
22 
22 
23 
23 
20 

IS 

15 


243< 

36 

26X 

25X 
3«>< 
40X 

43)i 

48 

50X 

49X 

30 

24^ 

3(>}i 

^9  . 
32H 

30 

78X 

93 

36X 

^^  , 

22>i 


Botanical  News. — Late  numbers  of  Annales  des  Sciences 
Naturelles  cgntain  papers  on  the  following  subjects,  viz:  The 
actual  state  of  our  knowledge  of  the  function  of  chlorophyl- 
line,  Researches  upon  the  development  of  the  sporogone  of  the 
Hepaticse,  Observations  upon  the  Santalaceae,  Researches  upon 
the  comparative  anatomy  of  the  stem  of  the  Dicotyledons,  Re- 
searches upon  the  variation  of  the  respiration  with  the  develop- 
ment of  plants,  The  respiratory  function  of  vegetation. The 

more  important  papers  in  the  sixteenth  volume,  just  closed,  of 
Pringsheim's  Jahrbucher  fiir  Wissenschaftliche  Botanik  are 
Schimper's  Investigations  upon  chlorophyll  bodies,  Tschirch's 
Contributions  to  a  knowledge  of  the  mechanical  tissue  systems  of 
plants,  De  Vries'  Plasmolytic  studies  on  the  vacuole  wall, 
Reiche's  Upon  the  anatomical  changes  in  the  perianth-whorl 
which  precede  the  development  of  the  fruit.  This  volume  con- 
tains twenty-eight  plates. An  interesting  paper  on  intra- 
molecular respiration,  by  W.  Pfeffer,  is  just  received.  It  is  in 
continuation  of  work  done  by  Dr.  W.  P.  Wilson,  of  Cambridge, 
Mass. A  white-seeded  variety  of  the  honey  locust  is  described 


Digitized  by 


Google 


382  General  Notes.  [April, 

by  Thomas  Meehan  in  Proceedings  of  the  Academy  of  Natural 
Sciences,  Philadelphia,  December  i.  The  tree  bearing  these 
anomalous  seeds  is  of  considerable  age,  and  stands  near  German- 
town,  Pa, ^A  neatly  printed  Catalogue  of  the  Phaenogamous 

and  vascular  cryptogamous  plants  of  Fitchburg  [Mass.]  and 
vicinity  is  worthy  of  note  as  being  "  the  work  of  students  of  the 
Fitchburg  high  school."  It  is  said  to  represent  "  about  seven 
years  of  diligent  research."     It  is  a  very  creditable  production, 

and  indicates  good  work  in  the  school. The  Fourth  Annual 

Report  of  the  Board  of  Control  of  the  New  York  Agricultural 
Experiment  Station,  for  the  year  1885,  appears  with  a  most 
satisfactory  promptness.  Its  contents  show  the  continuation  of 
the  high  class  of  work  for  which  this  station  has  been  distin* 

guished. E.  W.  D.  Holway,  of  Decorah,  Iowa,  has  made  out 

a  set  of  genus  labels  of  the  fungi  for  use  in  herbaria.  There  are 
about  720  names,  which  represent,  after  deducting  duplicates, 
from  500  to  600  different  genera.  The  printing  is  done  by  H.  N. 
Patterson,  of  Oquawka,  Ills.,  which  is  a  sufficient  guarantee  of  the 
neatness  of  the  typography. 

BlTTOMOLOaY. 

On  the  CiNUROUS  Thysanura  and  Symphyla  of  Mexico. — 
It  was  my  good  fortune  during  a  short  visit  to  Mexico  in 
the  spring  of  1885,  to  discover  the  one  insect  which  I 
scarcely  hoped  to  find,  so  rare  are  the  species  and  individuals 
in  other  parts  of  the  world.  This  was  ^apyx  saussurii^  described 
and  figured  by  Humbert  in  Revue  et  Mag,  de  Zoblogie,  xx, 
345,  1868.  His  descriptions  and  excellent  figures  were  made 
from  three  specimens  collected  by  M.  Sumichrast  at  Santa  Cruz, 
Moyoapam,  near  Orizaba.  It  was  evidently  hopeless  to  look 
for  Japyx  on  the  Mexican  plateau  in  the  dry  season,  if  it  lives 
there  at  all ;  though  near  Vienna  Japyx  solifugus  occurs  in  dry, 
sandy  places,  where,  in  1872, 1  had  the  rare  pleasure  of  observing 
it  under  the  kind  guidance  of  Dr.  Brauer.  The  Cinuran  charac- 
teristic of  the  tierra  iemplada  is  a  species  of  Machilis,  which  was 
common  under  stones  at  Saltillo. 

At  Cordova,  however,  owing  to  the  kindness  of  a  Spanish  gen- 
tleman, the  owner  of  a  coffee  plantation,  who  allowed  me  the  use 
of  one  of  his  laborers,  an  intelligent  Indian,  I  found  about  a  dozen 
specimens  of  Japyx  saussurii^  in  the  shaded  damp  coffee  growth, 
which  my  Indian  turned  up  with  his  hoe  from  the  rich,  black  soil 
under  fallen  banana  trunks  and  loose  stones.  They  seemed  to  be 
comparatively  common,  and  very  active  in  their  movements. 

On  comparing  with  it  our  northern  %  subterraneus  Pack.,  from 
Kentucky,  our  species  is  seen  to  differ  decidedly  from  the  Mexi- 
can in  the  much  squarer  head,  which  is  broader  in  front ;  in  the 
broader  prothorax,  and  especially  in  the  longer  and  narrower 
tenth  abdominal  segment.     It  also  differs  in  the  denticulations  of 


Digitized  by 


Google 


I886.J  Entomology.  383 

the  blades  of  the  forceps  (cercopoda),  the  largest  tooth  on  the 
inside  of  the  left  blade  being  situated  nearer  the  middle.  Our  spe- 
cies is  also  smaller.  The  number  of  joints  to  the  antennae  in  J. 
subterraneus  are  32  ;  in  the  Mexican  species  40. 

Associated  with  the  Japyx  and  in  equal  abundance  was  a  Sco- 
lopendrella,  which  I  at  first  supposed  to  be  a  different  and  larger 
species,  but  which,  after  a  careful  microscopical  examination,  I 
cannot  separate  from  51  immaculata  Newport.  It  has  the  same 
general  appearance ;  and  the  form  of  the  antennae  and  number  of 
antennal  joints  are  nearly  the  same;  there  being  40-42  joints  in 
the  Mexican,  and  35-36  in  a  Kentucky  individual.  The  number 
of  scutes  behind  the  head  is  the  same  (16),  and  their  shape  exactly 
the  same.  The  anal  cerci  are  slightly  longer  than  in  United 
States  specimens,  but  the  fine  setae  are  the  same  in  size  and 
arrangement.  The  specimens  are  pure  white  and  larger  (S"*") 
than  any  I  have  yet  seen  from  the  United  States. 

Campodea  fnexicanUy  n.  sp. — While  Scolopendrella  immaeu- 
lata  seems  to  be  common  to  Europe,  the  United  States,  and 
Mexico,  and  Campodea  staphylinus  Westw.,  likewise  common  to 
Europe  and  the  northern  United  States,  we  discovered  at  Cor- 
dova, in  company  with  the  foregoing  Synaptera,  a  very  distinct 
species  of  Campodea,  which  is  apparently  characteristic  of  the 
lurra  caliente  or  warm  zone  of  Mexico. 

It  is  a  large  species,  the  body  4"*°**  or  7"™'  including  the  caudal 
stylets,  being  but  little  smaller  than  C  cookei  Pack.,  of  Mammoth 
and  adjoining  caves,  but  with  much  shorter  caudal  appendages. 
The  body  is  shorter,  the  three  thoracic  segments  being  shorter 
than  in  C.  cookei.  The  antennae  are  of  the  length  of  the  body  and 
28-jointed ;  the  terminal  joint  is  intermediate  in  shape  between  C 
staphylinus  and  C.  cookei^  being  slenderer  than  in  C.  staphylinus. 
Dr.  J.  S/  Kingsley  has  discovered  a  sense-organ  at  the  end  of  the 
last  antennal  joint  of  C.  staphylinus ;  that  of  C.  mexicana  is 
slightly  smaller,  rounded  oval,  but  situated  near  the  middle  of  the 
joint ;  while  that  of  C.  cookei  is  larger  than  in  C.  staphylinus^  but 
as  in  that  species  situated  at  the  end  of  the  joint;  the  joint  in  all 
three  species  is  rich  in  nerve-cells.  The  caudal  appendages  are 
rather  short,  and  composed  of  7-8  long  joints.  There  are  other 
interesting  differences  from  C.  staphylinus^  which,  however,  could 
not  be  understood  without  figures,  which  we  have  prepared,  but 
reserve  for  a  future  occasion. — A.  S.  Packard. 

The  Locust  in  Southeastern  Russia. — The  Agricultural 
Academy  in  Moscow,  has  each  summer  for  two  years  sent  Profes- 
sor K.  Lindeman  to  Southeastern  Russia  to  study  the  locusts 
ravaging  that  region,  and  the  results  of  his  travels  have  been 
published  in  two  large  works,  one  (1883)  on  the  locust  in  the 
Danubian  Cossack  region,  and  the  other  (1886)  on  the  locust  in 


Digitized  by 


Google 


384  General  Notes.  [April, 

the  Kouban  region.  He  writes  to  the  editor  of  the  Entomologische 
Nachrichten  {or  Jan.,  1886,  that  he  has  satisfied  himself  that  the 
locust  {Acrydium  migratarium)  is  not  pecuh'arly  an  inhabitant  of 
the  plains  or  steppes,  but  that  preferably  and  originally  the  lower 
regions  of  the  banks  of  rivers,  where  grow  Arundo  donax^  Scirpus, 
etc.,  are  its  birthplace,  from  whence  it  flies  out  and  visits  the 
steppes.  Acrydium  migratorium  is  in  his  opinion  purely  a  swamp 
insect  Its  eggs  retain  their  vitality  even  if  the  region  in  which 
they  are  laid  has  remained  covered  for  months  in  the  spring  by 
the  water  of  the  river.  The  larvae  in  their  third  stage  are  marked 
with  red,  because  this  color  protects  them  in  the  swamp  surround- 
ings in  which  they  live.  A  group  of  red  locust  larvae,  sitting  on 
spears  of  grass^  give  the  appearance  of  a  group  of  rushes  bearing 
red  ears.  The  similarity  is  so  great  "  that  I  myself  sometimes  at 
a  distance  could  not  distinguish  whether  the  red  spots  in  a  swamp 
were  a  colony  of  locusts  or  a  group  of  rushes." 

Entomological  News. — In  a  paper  on  Parnassius,  a  genus  of 
butterflies,  read  by  Mr.  H.  J.  Elwes  at  the  meeting  of  the  Zoo- 
logical Society  of  London,  held  Jan.  10,  the  author  paid  special 
attention  to  the  development,  functions,  and  structure  of  the  horny 
pouch  found  in  the  females  of  this  genus.  He  also  described  the 
habits,  distribution  and  variations  of  twenty-three  species  which  he 
recognized  in  the  genus.  The  paper  was  supplemented  by  Pro- 
fessor Howe's  remarks  on  his  examination  of  the  anatomy  ol  Paf- 
nassius  apollo,  and  by  Mr.  Thomson's  notes  on  the  habits  of  the 

insects  as  bred  in  the  society's  gardens  in  1885. Dr.  Witlaczil 

in  Zoblogischer  Anzeiger^  Jan.  18,  reaffirms  a^inst  H.  Wedde  that 
the  Aphides  and  Coccidae  suck  their  food  in  the  same  manner  as 

Lepidoptera  and  other  insects. In  the  same  number  O.  Poleta- 

jewa  gives  the  result  of  his  studies  in  the  structure  and  function 
of  the  heart  of  insects,  to  which  we  shall  call  attention  more  fully 

hereafter. Mr.  A.  D.  Michael  has  described  before  the  Linnean 

Society  of  London  (Nov.  19),  the  remarkable  nymphal  stage  of 
an  Oribatid  (legeocranus  cepheiforntis\  during  which  the  mite 
carries  on  its  back  as  concentric  shields  the  dorsal  portions  of  all 

its  cast-skins. -In   the  European  myriopod,  Sphaerotherium, 

there  is  a  well  defined  stridulating  apparatus  on  the  male  claspers, 
which  produces  a  shrill  note  like  that  of  the  house-cricket.  A 
true  auditory  organ  exists  in  the  antennary  fossa  beneath  the  eye. 
The  tracheal  system  is  unlike  the  majority  of  that  of  the  Diplo- 
poda,  rather  resembling  that  of  Chilopods  and  insects,  though 
differing  in  the  branched  spiral  filament  not  taking  origin  directly 

from  the  stigmata  themselves. A  number  of  new  species  of 

American  myriopods  are  described  by  F.  Meinert  in  the  Proceed- 
ings of  the  American  Philosophical  Society. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


1 886.]  Zoology.  385 

zcx>iiOa7. 

Phosphorescence  OF  Marine  Animals. — The  address  in  Section 
D,  biology ,  of  the  British  Association,  was  delivered  by  Professor 
W.  C.  Mcintosh,  M.D.,  of  St.  Andrews,  who  selected  for  his  subject, 
the  "  Phosphorescence  of  marine  animals."  A  phenomenon  so 
striking  as  the  emission  of  light  by  marine  organisms  could  not 
fail  to  have  attracted  notice  from  very  early  times,  both  in  the  case 
of  navigators  and  those  who  gave  their  attention  in  a  more  syste- 
matic manner  to  the  study  of  nature.  Accordingly,  we  find  that 
the  literature  of  the  subject  is  both  varied  and  extensive — so  much 
so,  indeed,  that  it  is  impossible  on  the  present  occasion  to  give 
more  than  a  very  brief  outline  of  its  leading  features.  Though  it 
is  in  the  warmer  seas  of  the  globe  that  phosphorescence  is 
observed  in  its  most  remarkable  forms — as,  for  instance,  the  sheets 
of  white  light  caused  by  Noctiluca  and  the  vividly  luminous  bars 
of  Pyrosoma — ^yet  it  is  a  feature  which  the  British  zoologist  need 
not  leave  his  native  waters  to  see  both  in  beauty  and  perfection. 
Many  luminous  animals  occur  between  tide-marks,  and  even  the 
stunted  seaweeds  near  the  line  of  high-water  everywhere  sparkle 
with  a  multitude  of  brilliant  points.  As  a  ship  or  boat  passes 
through  the  calm  surface  of  the  sea  in  summer  and  autumn,  the 
wavdets  gleam  with  phosphorescent  points,  or  are  crested  with 
phosphorescent  points,  or  are  crested  with  light;  while  the 
observer,  leaning  over  the  stern,  can  watch  the  long  trail  of 
luminous  water  behind  the  ship  from  the  brightly  sparkling  and 
seething  mass  at  the  screw  to  the  faint  glow  in  the  distance. 
On  the  southern  and  western  shores,  again,  every  stroke  of 
the  oar  causes  a  luminous  eddy,  and  some  of  the  smaller  forms 
are  lifted  by  the  blade  and  scintillate  brightly  as  they  roll  into  the 
water.  The  dredge  and  trawl  likewise  produce,  both  in  the  shal- 
lower and  deeper  parts  of  our  seas,  many  luminous  types  of  great 
interest  and  beauty.  He  glanced,  in  the  first  instance,  at  the  various 
groups  of  marine  animals  which  possess  the  property  of  phosphor- 
escence, and  continued;  It  is  found  that  this  feature  is  possessed  by 
certain  members  of  the  Protozoa,  and  by  the  following  groups  of 
the  Metazoa,  viz.,  coelenterates,  echinoderms,  worms,  rotifers, 
crustaceans,  molluscoids,  moUusks  and  fishes.  In  foreign  seas 
many  brightly  luminous  specimens  are  met  with.  Thus  Professor 
A.  Agassiz  describes  Mnemiopsis  leidyi  as  "  exceedingly  phosphor- 
escent, and  when  passing  through  shoals  of  these  Medusae,  vary- 
ing in  size  from  a  pin's  head  to  several  inches  in  length,  the  whole 
water  becomes  so  brilliantly  luminous  that  an  oar  dipped  in  the 
water  up  to  the  handle  can  plainly  be  seen  on  dark  nights  by  the 
light  so  produced ;  the  seat  of  the  phosphorence  is  confined  to 
the  locomotive  rows  ;  and  so  exceedingly  sensitive  are  they  that 
the  slightest  shock  is  sufficient  to  make  them  plainly  visible  by 
the  light  emitted  from  the  eight  phosphorescent  ambulacra."  The 

vot.  XX.--1IO.  IV.  a6 


Digitized  by 


Google 


3*^)  General  Notes.  [April, 

same  author  mentions  that  Lesueuria  has  a  very  peculiar  bluish 
light  of  an  exceedingly  pale  steel  color,  but  very  intense.  Giglioli, 
again,  found  that  the  beautiful  riband-like  Cestus  shone  with  a 
reddish-yellow  light,  but  in  Eucharis  the  latter  was  intensely 
blue.  In  the  Chaetopteridae  the  phosphorescence  is  remarkably 
beautiful,  bright  flashes  being  emitted  from  the  posterior  feet. 
Marine  phosphorescence  has  some  of  its  most  striking  examples 
among  the  Tunicates.  One  of  the  best  known  instances  is  that  of 
Pyrosoma,the  light  from  which  has  been  so  graphically  described 
by  M.  Peron,  Professor  Huxley,^ and  other  naturalists  who  have 
had  an  opportunity  of  observing  it.  It  proceeds  in  each  member 
of  the  compound  organism  from  two  small  patches  of  cells  at  the 
base  of  each  inhalent  tube.  Phosphorescence  in  living  fishes 
appears  to  have  been  accurately  observed  within  a  comparatively 
recent  date,  though  the  luminosity  of  dead  fishes  has  been  known 
from  very  early  times,  and  has  been  the  subject  of  many  interest- 
ing experiments,  such,  as  those  of  Robert  Boyle  on  dead 
whitings,  and  Dr.  Hulme  on  herrings.  I  do  not  mean  to  say 
that  the  literature  of  the  so-called  phosphorescent  fishes  is  scanty, 
for  it  extends  from  the  days  of  Aristotle  and  Pliny  to  modern 
times,  but  that  the  writers  have  had  little  reliable  evidence  in 
regard  to  living  fishes  to  bring  forward.  Thus,  of  upwards  of  fifty 
fishes  entered  by  Ehrenberg  in  his  list  it  is  hard  to  say  thaf  one 
IS  really  luminous  during  life.  In  many  cases  it  is  probable  that 
the  supposed  phosphorescence  of  large  forms,  such  as  swordfishes 
and  sharks,  has  arisen  from  the  presence  of  multitudes  of  minute 
phosphorescent  animals  in  the  water,  just  as  the  herring  causes  a 
gleam  when  it  darts  from  the  side  of  a  ship.  Professor  Moseley, 
for  instance,  observed  in  the  Challenger  that  when  large  fishes, 
porpoises,  and  penguins  dashed  through  phosphorescent  water  it 
was  brilliantly  lit  up,  and  their  track  marked  by  a  trail  of  light. 
The  same  feature  is  observed  in  hooked  fishes,  and  it  is  known 
that  fishermen  are  doubtful  of  success  when  the  sea  is  very  phos- 
phorescent, for  the  presence  of  the  net  in  the  water  excites  the 
luminosity  and  scares  the  herring.  One  of  the  most  striking 
instances  of  phosphorescence  in  living  fishes  is  that  of  the  lumi- 
nous shark  {Squalus  fulgens),  found  by  Dr.  Bennett.  This  is  a 
small,  dark-colored  shark,  which  was  captured  on  two  or  three 
occasions  at  the  surface  of  the  sea.  It  emitted  without  irritation 
a  vivid  greenish  luminosity  as  it  swam  about  at  night,  and  it  shone 
for  some  hours  after  dea'h.  The  phosphorescence  appears  to  be 
due  to  a  peculiar  secretion  of  the  skin.  The  eyes  of  the  shark 
were  more  prominent  than  usual  in  such  forms.  A  survey  of 
the  life-histories  of  the  several  phosphorescent  groups  affords 
at  present  no  reliable  data  for  the  foundation  of  a  theory  as  to 
the  functions  of  luminosity,  especially  in  relation  to  food.  No 
phosphorescent  form  is  more  generally  devoured  by  fishes  or 
other  animals  than  that  which  is  not ;  and,  on  the  other  hand,  the 


Digitized  by 


Google 


1 886.  J  Zoology.  387 

possessor  of  luminosity,  if  otherwise  palatable,  does  not  seem  to 
escape  capture.  An  examination  of  the  stomachs  of  fishes  makes 
this  clear,  except,  perhaps,  in  the  case  of  the  herring,  which, 
however,  js  chiefly  a  surface  fish.  Further,  it  is  not  evident  that 
such  animals  are  luminous  at  all  times,  for  it  is  only  under  stimu- 
lation that  many  exhibit  the  phenomenon. 

The  Fauna  of  the  Aralo-caspian  Basin. — ^There  is  ample 
evidence  that  the  waters  here  had  formerly  a  much  wider  exten- 
sion, but  the  exact  time,  or  times,  when  this  occurred — although 
geologically  recent — has  yet  to  be  determined.  Dr.  S.  P.  Wood- 
ward, in  his  Manual  of  the  MoUusca,  says  the  Aralo-caspian 
limestone  indicates  the  former  presence  of  a  great  inland  sea— f 
larger  than  the  Mediterranean — ^at  a  time  previous  to  that  of  the 
Mammoth  and  the  Siberian  rhinoceros.  This  steppe-limestone 
rises  to  a  level  of  200  or  300  feet  above  the  present  level  of  the 
Caspian. 

The  fact  of  the  waters  of  the  Caspian  and  Aral  being  only 
brackish,  and  by  no  means  very  salt,  leads  me  to  think  that 
the  basin  has  not  been  a  close  one  for  a  very  long  period. 
General  von  Helmersen  found  well-preserved  specimens  of  two 
kinds  of  shells,  viz.,  Cardium  edule  ancl  DrHssena  polymarpha,  in 
the  sands  of  the  desert  of  Harakum.  Both  these  species  still  live 
in  the  Caspian*  And  Helmersen  expresses  his  belief  that  the 
entire  country  from  the  Aral  on  to  the  sandy  desei"ts  of  Akkum 
is  an  old  sea-bottom  (Quart.  Journ.  Geol.  Soc,  1869,  Vol.  xxv, 
Memoirs,  p.  8). 

The  present  surface  of  the  Caspian  is  eighty-four  feet  below 
that  of  the  Black  sea,  and  according  to  Major  Wood,  a  rise 
of  220  feet  would  cause  the  waters  of  the  Caspian  to  overflow  the 
watershed  of  the  Tobolsk,  a  tributary  of  the  Obi. 

According  to  the  same  authority,  a  rise  of  twenty-three  feet  in 
the  waters  of  the  Black  sea  would  cause  it  to  overflow  into  the 
Caspian  by  the  line  of  the  Manytseh. 

From  these  figures  it  appears  that  if  the  level  of  the  Caspian 
were  to  rise  (84  X  23)  107  feet,  its  waters  would  find  their  way 
westward  into  the  Black  sea,  and  if  the  outlet  in  that  direction 
-were  blocked  so  as  to  permit  the  surface  of  the  Caspian  to  rise 
220  feet,  the  waters  would  escape  northward  into  the  Tobolsk  and 
down  the  valley  of  the  Obi  into  the  Arctic  ocean.  Now  the  Cas- 
pian at  present  contains  seals,  fishes,  Crustacea  and  MoUusca, 
some  of  which  are  either  identical  with,  or  very  closely  resemble 
those  of  the  Arctic  sea.  The  seal  which  inhabits  its  waters 
(PAoca  caspicd)  is  so  like  the  common  P,  vitulina  that  some 
fiaturalists  consider  it  to  be  a  mere  variety  of  that  species.  There 
are  also  the  beluga,  the  sturgeon,  the  herring,  the  sterlet,  and  the 
salmon,  some  of  which  are  species  that  go  up  rivers  from  the  sea. 
Among  the  Crustacea  is  Idothea  entamon,  found  in  the  Kara  sea, 


Digitized  by 


Google 


388  Genet  al  Notes.  [April, 

near  the  mouth  of  the  Obi,  and  My  sis  relicta,  another  northern 
species.  So  that  there  are  grounds  for  supposing  that  some  com- 
munication may  have  formerly  existed  by  way  of  the  Obi  with  the 
Arctic  ocean.  No  doubt  the  waters  of  the  Aralo-caspian  basin 
have  undergone  many  changes -of  level.  Some  of  the  moUusca 
which  still  live  there,  such  as  the  Cardium  and  Dreissena,  appear 
to  be  descendants  of  species  found  in  the  Congerian  beds  of  that 
region,  which  go  back  to  Miocene  times. — T,  F,  yamieson  in  the 
Geological  Magaziue^  May^  i88^. 

Amceba  infesting  Sheep. — Sheep  in  New  South  Wales  are 
affected  by  a  disease  which  appears  to  be  wtry  similar  to  epithe- 
lial cancer,  and  is  met  with  on  the  feet  behind  the  hoofs,  and  also 
on  the  lips  and  nostrils  and  the  gums  of  lambs.  The  epithelium 
in  these  places  grows  with  pathological  rapidity,  the  horny  layer 
produced  soon  attains  a  thickness  of  3-5°*°^  the  wool  drops  out 
in  the  diseased  parts,  and  below  the  thick  outer  layer  a  festering 
process  sets  in.  After  some  time  a  new  epithelium  makes  its 
appearance  below  the  festering  layer.  Then,  provided  the  lan^b 
does  not  die,  the  thick  horny  layer  is  thrown  off  like  scurf,  and 
the  epithelium  below  attains  new  wool,  and  replaces  the  old  skin. 

In  studying  the  circumstances  in  which  these  sheep  live,  Dr.  R. 
V.  Lendenfeld  found  that  they  were  invariably  exposed  to  being 
wounded  in  those  places,  which  eventually  developed  the  disease, 
blistered  by  standing  on  rocks  heated  by  the  sun  after  they  had 
b^en  standing  in  water  for  several  hours,  or  pricked  by  the  spines 
of  the  variegated  thistle,  and  it  was  found  by  a  process  of  arti- 
ficial breeding  in  an  aquarium  that  the  disease  is  produced  by  an 
Amoeba  {A,  parasitica,  n.  sp.),  which  enters  the  .wounds  and  mul- 
tiplies rapidly  in  the  epithelium,  causing  very  strong  irritation. 
The  organism  is  found  between  the  layers  of  horny  substance.  It 
does  not  difTer  morphologically  from  the  well-known  A,  princeps 
of  Ehrenberg. 

Dr.  Lendenfeld  adds,  "  It  is  well  known  that  several  fungi  in 
certain  stages  of  their  life  appear  very  similar  to  Amoebae,  and  so 
it  is  not  impossible  that  my  Amoeba  is  in  some  connection  with 
them.  I  do  not  consider  this  probable,  however,  as  I  made  no 
observation  which  might  lead  one  to  suppose  that  the  Amoeba 
ever  divided  into  a  multitude  of  swarming  spores." — Joutn,  Ray. 
Micr.  Soc,^  December,  1885. 

Desiccation  of  Rotifers. — Mr.  H.  Davis,  at  a  recent  meeting 
of  the  Quekett  Microscopical  Club,  exhibited  some  strips  of 
note-paper  on  which  were  several  groups  of  dried  Philodines  (/I 
roseola),  looking  like  clear  red  spots.  These  had  been  sent  to 
Mr.  Davis  by  the  Rev.  E.  T.  Holloway,  of  Clehanger,  who  had 
thus  'succeeded  in  obtaining  specimens  of  these  dried  rotifers 
quite  free  from  sand  or  dirt  of  any  kind,  which  has  been  consid- 
ered by  some  to  be  the  only  protective. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


1886.]  Zoology.  389 

Dr.  C.  T.  Hudson  writes  us  that  "nothing  could  be  more  in- 
structive than  these  curious  clusters.  In  the  great  majority  of 
cases,  each  rotifer  was  seen  imbedded  in  a  patch  of  glutinous 
secretion,  which  was  divided  from  the  similar  patches  of  the  sur- 
rounding rotifers  by  sharp  straight  lines,  so  as  to  give  the  whole 
group  the  appearance  of  a  tesselated  pavement  Here  and  there 
the  Philodines  were  glued  together  by  long  tongiles  of  the  same 
secretion ;  especially  were  the  fibers  of  the  paper  projected  above 
the  general  surface,  and,  by  spoiling  the  level,  presented  the  for* 
ination  of  a  sharp  bounding  line.  In  one  case,  a  rotifer  had  bored 
its  way  into  the  fibers  of  the  paper,  and,  unable  to  withdraw  or 
contract  itself,  had  formed  the  center  of  a  whole  group  of  others 
attached  to  it  by  radiating  bands  of  glue.  In  fact,  these  beauti- 
fully clean  groups  gave  ocular  demonstration  of  the  truth  of  Mr. 
Davis*  theory  that  the  Philodines  resist  drought  by  encasing 
themselves  in  a  glutinous  case  of  their  own  secreting,  and  the 
efficiency  of  the  protective  was  at  once  shown  by  putting  the 
strips  in  water,  when  the  buried  rotifers  soon  struggled  into  life." 
— yourn,  Roy.  Micr.  Soc,^  February^  1886. 

Parasite  of  the  Rock  Oyster. — Mr.  W.  A.  Haskell,  on 
examining  some  samples  of  oysters  which  were  dying  in  large 
numbers,  found  that  most  of  them,  when  opened,  presented  on  the 
inner  surface  of  the  shell  one  or  more  discolored  blisters.  In 
some  these  were  of  small  extent  with  a  narrow  sinuous  form, 
while  in  many  instances  a  large  part  of  the  valve  was  affected. 
In  some  cases,  where  the  extent  of  the  shell  invaded  was  not 
large,  the  oysters  did  not  seem  at  all  affected  by  it ;  in  other  cases 
the  animal  was  found  to*  be  dead,  and  in  a  few  cases  the  shell  was 
completely  empty.  In  the  interior  of  the  blisters  were  found  one 
or  more  specimens  of  a  very  small  annelid,  by  which  the  mischief 
had  been  effected — Polydora  dluxta.  One  specimen  of  a  second 
species  was  also  obtained,  P.  polybranckia,  n.  sp.,  which  the  author 
describes. — your.  Roy,  Micr,  Soc,  December ^  188^, 

Sense-organs  of  Copepod  Crustacea. — Dr.  O.  E.  Imhof  has 
some  notes  upon  the  antennary  olfactory  organs  of  the  genera 
Heterocope  and  Diaptomus. 

These  appear  to  have  been  discovered  in  Heterocope  by 
Gruber;  in  Diaptomus  they  exist  in  all  the  species  examined,  and 
have  a  characteristic  distribution,  which  is  the  same  in  all  the  spe- 
cies, and  may,  perhaps,  serve  as  an  additional  definition  of  the 
genus.  The  form  of  the  organs  in  Diaptomus  is  a  little  less  com- 
plicated than  in  Heterocope ;  they  resemble  very  closely  the  cor- 
responding organs  of  Pontella  described  by  Claus. — youm,  Roy. 
Micr.  Soc.,  December,  188^. 

Birds  breeding  in  Ants'  Nests. — The  Southern  chestnut 
woodpecker  {Micropternus  gularts\  always,  as  far  as  I  have 
observed,  uses  an  ants'  nest  to  nest  in,  and  Mr.  Gammie,  the 


Digitized  by 


Google 


igo  General  Notes.  [April, 

superintendent  of  the  Government  cinchona  estates  at  Mong- 
phoo,  near  Darjeeling,  has  noticed  the  same  thing  with  regard  to 
the  alh'cd  Northern  species,  Microptemus  phaloeeps,  and  the  pecu- 
liarity probably  extends  also  to  the  allied  species  found  in  Bur* 
mah,  Siam,  &c. 

Mr.  Gammie  thinks  that  when  an  ant's  nest  has  been  taken  pos- 
session of  by  tlie  bird  that  the  ants  desert  the  nest.  This  is  a 
point  on  which  I  cannot  speak  with  certainty.  Mr.  Gammie  has 
taken  nests  of  the  Northern  species  in  which,  although  the  bird 
had  laid,  the  ants  remained,  and  he  has  taken  other  nests  where 
not  a  single  ant  remained,  but  there  is  nothing  to  show  thajt  these 
nests  were  not  deserted  before  the  bird  took  possession.  I,  my- 
self, have  taken  nests  of  the  Southern  form,  in  which,  though  the 
eggs  were  partially  incubated,  the  ants  remained,  showing  that 
some  considerable  time  must  have  elapsed  since  the  bird  took 
possession.  This  is  a  point  that  I  hope  to  be  able  to  elucidate 
within  the  next  few  months,  when  the  birds  will  be  breeding. 

When  Microptemus  is  breeding,  the  feathers  of  the  head,  tail 

.  and  primaries  of  the  wings  are  yet  covered  with  a  viscid  matter, 

having  a  strong  resinous  smell,  and  this  substance  is  usually  rather 

thickly  studded  with  dead  ants  {vide  "  Stray  Feathers,"  Vol.  vi,  p. 

HS). 

Two  specimens  of  kingfishers  also  to  my  knowledge  nidificate 
in  ants'  nests,  viz.,  Halycon  occipitalis^  confined  to  the  Nicobar 
islands,  and  H.  chloris,  which  ranges  from  India  as  far  south  as 
Sumatra. 

At  Mergni,  in  South  Tenasserim,  I  found  a  nest  of  H.  chloris 
in  a  hornet's  nest,  and  although  I  saw  the  birds  repeatedly  enter 
the  hole  they  had  made  in  the  hornet's  nest,  the  hornets  did  not 
seem  to  mind  it ;  but  they  resented  in  a  very  decided  manner  any 
attempt  to  interfere  with  the  nest. —  Wm.  Davison^  Nature^  March 
12, 1885. 

The  Soaring  of  Birds. — Mr.  Hendricks,  in  the  Naturalist 
for  March,  intimates  that  I  misinterpret  the  phenomenon  of  soar- 
ing, "  for  it  is  well  known  that  the  upward  lateral  force  would 
arrest  the  downward  motion,  so  that  the  cause  of  the  upward 
motion  would  be  immediately  withdrawn." 

It  would  seem  that  the  "downward  motion*' could  only  be  arrested 
by  resisting  the  lateral  force.  On  his  own  showing  the  gravity 
of  the  body  cannot  do  it,  as  this  "  is  descending  uniformly  through 
the  atmosphere  and  is  therefore  meeting  with  atmospheric  resis- 
tance equal  to  its  weight "  There  is  no  air  condensed  nor  driven 
out  of  the  way  in  the  lateral  motion,  so  that  the  only  resistance 
to  the  lateral  force  is  that  of  atmospheric  friction  on  the  smooth 
surfaces  of  the  plane,  and  this  is  very  little. 

To  enable  the  weight  to  resist  the  lateral  force  it  would  have 
to  be  created,  as  the  original  amount  is  fully  occupied. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


1 886.]  Zoology.  391 

As  action  and  reaction  are  equal  and  opposite,  and  normal  to 
the  falling  sur&ce«  the  inclination  in  which  that  Surface  lies  is  a 
neutral  plane^  ^nd  no  amount  of  force  acting  in  that  plane  can 
increase  or  diminish  its  downward  motion. 

It  is  obvious  that  an  incident  force  at  any  angle  whatever  from 
any  ()irection  above  the  plane  would  increase  the* fall,  and  at  any 
angle  or  direction  from  below  would  diminish  it,  while  in  the 
plane,  from  any  direction,  its  motion  would  neither  be  increased 
nor  diminished  but  remain  unchanged. 

There  would  simply  be  a  motion  added  to  the  body,  in  its  own 
plane,  in  the  direction  of  the  impressed  force  and  proportional 
to  it 

I  can  detect  no  "  error  "  arising  from  "  a  misconception  of  the 
phenomena  of  resulting  motion."  The  body  falls  with  uniform 
speed,  constituting  one  of  the  factors  of  soaring.  It  is  then 
moved  laterally  on  an  upward  incline,  which  is  the  other  factor. 
These  result  in  the  level  motion  of  flight  in  obedience  to  the  law 
of  all  resultant  motions. 

It  seems  like  a  covert  attempt  on  the  part  of  Mr.  Hendricks  to 
lodge  a  perpetual  motion  scheme  with  the  soaring  problem.  I 
am  confident  that  no  such  fallacy  can  be  domiciled  within  its 
precincts. — /.  Lancaster^  jjj  Wabash  avenue^  Chicago, 

Zoological  News. — General. — ^The  deep-water  &una  of  Lake 
Leman,  if  the  line  between  it  and  the  littoral  fauna  be  drawn  at 
thirty  metres,  at  which  depth  chlorophyll-forming  vegetation 
ceases,  consists  of  about  100  species:  Fishes,  14;  insects,  3; 
Arachnida,  19;  Crustacea,  16;  Hydroidea,  1;  Rhizopoda,  13; 
Cilioflagellata,  i ;  Gasteropoda,  4 ;  Lamellibranchiata,  2 ;  Anne- 
lida, 4;  Nematoidea,  3  ;  Cestoidea,  i ;  Turbellaria,  18;  Bryozoa,  i ; 
Rotifera,  2.  Most  of  these  are  evidently  the  descendants  of  the 
inhabitants  of  the  shallow  waters,  and  differ  chiefly  in  their 
smaller  size  and  duller  tint ;  but  M.  Porel  maintains  that  Niphar- 
gus  puteanus,  van  forelii,  and  Asellus  forelii  are  descended  from 
Niphargus  puteanus  and  A,  cavaticus  of  the  wells  of  Europe,  the 
resemblance  being  too  close  to  have  been  arrived  at  independ- 
ently.  The   Limneas  and  Chironomus  larvse  which  inhabit 

the  deep  waters  of  Lake  Leman,  breathe  water  instead  of  air,  1.  ^., 
the  tracheae  of  the  one  and  the  pulmonary  sacs  of  the  other  are 
filled  with  water.  Larvae  of  the  dipterous  insects  abound,  but 
pupae  are  rare  or  absent,  and  perfect  insects  are  never  seen  to  rise 
from  the  surface  of  the  deeper  parts  of  the  lake ;  moreover,  larvae 
of  all  sizes  and  ages  are  found  at  the  bottom  at  the  same  season. 
This  makes  it  probable  that  these  larvx  never  attain  the  perfect 
stage,  but  are  capable  of  reproduction  by  paedogenesis. 

Mammalia. — Carnivora  are  still  common  in  the  north  of 
Europe.  The  "  Statistical  Year  Book  "  for  Finland  states  that  in 
1882  not  less  than  85  bears,  128  wolves,  407  lynxes,  4005  foxes, 


Digitized  by 


Google 


392  General  Notes.  [April, 

76  gluttons,  240  otters,  143  martens,  1583  ermines  and  3947  car- 
nivorous birds  were  killed  and  paid  for  by  the  Government  The 
losses  during  the  same  year  from  Carnivora  were  estimated  at  274 
horses,  846  cattle,  5246  sheep,  168  pigs,  119  goats,  168 1  reindeers 
and  2366  chickens. 

Crustacea, — The  Crustacea  of  the  Norwegian  North  Atlantic 
Expeditions,  excluding  forms  previously  established  as  belonging 
to  the  Norwegian  littoral  fauna,  have  been  described  by  G.  O. 
Sars.  They  comprise  :  Brachyura,  i  sp. ;  Anomoura,  i ;  Caridea, 
4;  Mysidae,  5;  Cumaceae,  i;  Isopoda,  18;  Amphipoda,  45;  a 
copepod,  Eucheta  norvegica,  always  found  at  considerable  depths, 
six  cirripeds  and  Stylon  hymenodare^  a  rhizocephalon  attached 
parasitically  to  the  abdomen  of  Hymenadara  glacialts,  and  dredged 

in  1 86 1  fathoms. Bythocaris  leucopis  and  payeti,  true  deep-sea 

carideans  of  the  North  Atlantic  (11 10  fathoms),  do  not  pass 
through  the  usual  larval  stages,  but  on  quitting,  the  remark- 
ably large  embryos  have  the  full  number  of  appendages  found  in 
the  parent.  Hymenodora  glacialis  has  an  exopodite  attached  to 
the  outer  side  of  the  second  joint  of  the  legs,  as  in  the  schizopods. 

Boreomysis  scyphops,  a  schizopod  taken  by  the  Norwegian 

North  Atlantic  expedition  has  very  singular  eyes.  The  outer 
surface  of  these   organs  is  concave,  they  are  attached  close 

together,  and  are  destitute  of  any  specific  ocular  pigment. 

Sphyrapus  serratus  Sars,  is  a  singular  sightless  isopod  which 
occurs  in  the  open  sea  between  Norway  and  Iceland,  at  depths  of 
from  1 163  to  1333  fathoms.  It  has  nineteen  paired  appendages. 
The  first  pair  of  legs  springing  from  the  posterior  part  of  the 
cephalic  segment,  are  powerful  prehensile  organs.  The  second 
pair  of  legs  are  as  long  as  the  body,  flattened,  and  armed  with 
powerful  spines.  Five  pairs  of  slender  walking  feet  follow,  and 
are  followed  by  five  of  biramous  swimming  feet  and  a  pair  of  long 
branched  and  many-jointed  caudal  appendages. 

EMBRTOLOGY.i 

On  an  Unusual  Relation  of  the  Notochord  to  the  Intes- 
tine IN  the  Chick. — ^Throu€:h  the  great  kindness  of  Dr.  G.  Baur, 
of  the  Peabody  Museum,  New  Haven,  Conn.,  I  am  enabled  to 
figure  an  apparently  rare  mode  of  development  of  the  notochord 
in  the  embryo  chick.  In  order  to  enable  the  reader  to  more 
readily  understand  the  peculiar  morphological  relations  to  each 
other  of  the  posterior  ends  of  the  nervous  cord,  chorda  and  intes- 
tine in  the  series  of  sections  prepared  by  Dr.  Baur,  I  have 
endeavored  to  combine  in  one  figure  what  seemed  to  me  to  be  a 
correct  interpretation  of  the  relations  of  the  parts  involved. 

The  series  of  sections  loaned  me  and  from  which  I  am  kindly 
•permitted  to  figure  such  portions  as  are  of  interest  in  this  connec- 
tion, were  prepared  from  an  embryo  of  the  seventh  day.     The 

^  Edited  by  John  A.  Ryder,  Smithsonian  Institution,  Washington,  D.  C. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


1 886. 1  Embryology.  393 

sections  consist  of  a  vertical  longitudinal  series,  which  show  the 
structural  details  represented  in  the  accompanying  figure,  drawn 
with  the  aid  of  the  camera  lucida. 

The  most  striking  feature  is  the  condition  of  development  pre- 
sented by  the  notochord 
Cft,  which  bifurcates  pos- 
teriorly into  two  branches, 
namely,  a  ventral  one,  Ch\ 
and  a  posterior  or  dorsal 
one,  C"A".  The  ventral 
branch  Ch'  is  in  close  re- 
lation to  the  hindermost 
portion  of  the  mesenteron 
y,  while  the  posterior  or 
dorsal  branch  Ch'\  which 
really  seems  to  be  the 
posterior  continuation  of 

the  chorda  proper,  is  Explanation  of  Figure.^CK  eaox^,.  ^or^Y^^^ 
Closely  connected  with  Ch',  portion  of  chorda  developed  about  ihe  ven- 
the  under  side  of  the  tral  end  of  the  neurenteric  canal;  C4",  hinder 
hinder  portion  of  the  ner-  portionofchordajoined  posteriorly  10  the  medulla 
A  fJ  T  f  #■  sp*"*"s  ^ !  ^^t  vesicular  cavity  just  above  the 
VOUS  cord  iV.  ^  in  tact,  point  of  union  between  the  medulla  spinalis  and 
there  is  a  readily  trace-  chorda,  and  representing  a  dilatation  of  the  neur- 
able  bridge  of  tissue  be-  «"^«"<^  ^"^^'J  ^^'*  medullary  canal;  /and  y, 
tween  the  end  of  CA^'and  ^'^^;''  P"*  ^^  mesenteron;  i>r,  proctodeum. 
the  under  side  of  N^  which 

conclusively  demonstrates  that  these  two  structures  were  at  an 
earlier  stage  continuous.  Just  above  this  bridge  of  tissue  there 
is  a  cavity,  Nc,  which  must  in  all  probability  be  regarded  as  a 
persistent  portion  of  the  neurenteric  canal,  which  has  been  dilated 
into  a  vesicle  at  this  point  Certain  sections  of  this  series,  from 
a  slightly  different  plane,  show  that  the  nervous  cord  N  extended 
back  somewhat  beyond  the  point  where  the  notochord  joined  it, 
as  shown  by  the  dotted  outline  in  the  figure.  The  notochord 
itself,  however,  I  cannot  trace  farther  back  than  is  shown  in  the 
figure,  though  there  are  somites  developed  beyond  its  termination. 
Judging  from  what  has  preceded,  it  is  evident  that  a  connection 
between  the  central  neural  canal  Nc'  and  the  developing  chorda 
and  intestine  once  existed  in  this  embryo.  The  central  canal  Nc' 
is,  I  believe,  traceable  to  the  cavity  Nc  farther  back,  just  below 
which  the  neural  tube  is  continuous  with  the  chorda.  It  seems, 
in  fact,  not  improbable  that  the  single  point  of  connection  between 
the  chorda  and  nervous  cord  represents  the  atrophied  neurenteric 
canal,  and  that  the  portion  of  it  which  joined  the  intestine  passed 
down  through  Ch"  and  Ch'.  Even  supposing  that  the  condition 
of  things  observed  in  this  particular  embryo  is  not  normal,  it  is 
easy  to  conceive  that  this  specimen  may  represent  a  palingenetic 
type  of  avian  development,  comparable  with  such  an  one  as  has 


Digitized  by 


Google 


394  General  Notes.  [April, 

been  described  by  Hoflfmann^  in  Anas  basckus,  in  which  the  can- 
alis  neurentericus  is  shown  (pi.  in,  Bg.  5)  to  open  into  the  intes- 
tine while  a  canal  also  extends  from  it  anteriorly  into  the  chorda 
itself.  Such  is  essentially  the  arrangement  in  the  specimen  here 
described,  except  that  the  chorda  has  been  differentiated  along 
the  entire  extent  of  the  neurenteric  canaL 

The  arrangement  of  parts  in  the  more  advanced  duck  embryo 
figured  by  Balfour  (Conip.  Embryol.,  11,  p.  136),  is  likewise  recon- 
cilable with  that  observed  in  the  preparations  made  by  Dr.  Baur. 
In  Balfour's  account  of  the  development  of  this  region  in  the 
duck,  the  condition  which  has  persisted  in  the  specimen  here 
under  consideration  has  been  described.  He  says :  "  The  [neur- 
enteric] passage  leads  obliquely  backwards  and  ventralwards  from 
the  hind  end  of  the  neural  tube  into  the  notochord,  where  the 
latter  joins  the  primitive  streak.  A  narrow  diverticulum  from 
this  passage  is  continued  forwards  for  a  short  distance  along  the 
axis  of  the  notochord.  After  traversing  the  notochord,  the  pass- 
age is  continued  into  a  hypoblastic  diverticulum,  which  opens 
ventrally  into  the  future  lumen  of  the  alimentary  tract."  It  is 
clear  from  the  figure  that  this  must  have  been  the  case  in  the 
specimen  here  under  consideration ;  that  is,  the  neurenteric  pass* 
age  about  which  notochordal  tissue  was  differentiated  was  con- 
tinued forward  into  the  chorda,  as  the  latter  was  folded  off  from 
the  hypoblast,  and  that  from  this  passage  in  the  chorda  one  pass- 
ing downward  to  the  intestine  was  given  off  about  which  noto- 
chordal tissue  was  also  differentiated. 

While  it  is  highly  probable  that  this  embryo  chick  displays 
an  archaic  development  of  the  chorda,  yet  the  &cts  are  significant, 
especially  when  viewed  in  the  light  of  the  interpretations  of 
Ehlers  as  to  the  significance  of  the  "  Nebendarm  "  in  the  inverte- 
brates. This  specimen  shows  that  what  must  have  been  a  part  of 
the  neurenteric  canal  during  an  earlier  stage,  1.  ^.,  CU^  has  been 
actually  differentiated  into  a  structure  histologically  identical  with 
the  true  axial  notochord  Ch. 

This  specimen  is  therefore  of  great  interest,  since  it  demon- 
trates,  if  we  may  regard  it  as  representing  a  palingenetic  condition 
of  development,  that  the  chorda  dorsalis  was  primitively  in  abso- 
lute continuity  with  the  intestine  (mesenteron)  posteriorly,  and 
that  there  may  therefore  have  been  primitive  Chordata  in  which 
the  chorda  was  usually  developed  as  such,  in  almost  absolute 
continuity  with  the  alimentary  tract. — John  A,  Ryder. 

Professor  Selenka  on  the  Development  of  the  Ofossuii 
(DiDELPHYS  virginiana).  —  The  following  short  notice  of  the 
recent  investigations  of  Professor  Emil  Selenka,  of  Erlangen,  on 
the  development  of  the  common  opossum,  although  it  has  ap- 

^  Die  Bildung  des  Mesoderms,  die  Aniage  der  Chorda  dorsalis  and  die  Entwicke- 
lung  des  Canalis  neurentericus  bei  Vogelembryonen.  Naturk.  Verh.  der  Koninkl. 
Akad.  Wetensch.  xxiii,  Amsterdam,  1&3. 


Digitized  by  VjOOQIC 


1 886.}  Embryology.  3^5 

peared  some  time  since  in  a  foreign  journal/  seems  to  us  of  such 
unusual  interest  that  we  render  in  English  the  author's  text  in 
full  as  follows : 

"  For  a  number  of  years  I  have  been  intending  to  trace  more 
accurately  the  development  of  some  marsupial.  The  study  of 
this  archaic  group  promises  to  clear  up  a  number  of  problems 
which  the  study  of  the  embryology  of  placental  mammalia  has 
given  rise  to,  but  which  that  study  has  hitherto  not  been  in  a 
position  to  solve,  such,  for  example,  as  the  significance  of  the 
peculiar  mode  of  development  of  the  germinal  layers  in  the 
Placentalia,  the  conversion  of  the  transitory  respiratory  organs 
into  an  apparatus  for  the  nutrition  of  the  embryo,  and  further,  the 
higher  differentiation  of  certain  organs  (the  brain,  auditory  appa- 
ratus, diaphragm,  etc.) — questions,  the  solution  of  which  may  at 
the  same  time  explain  the  origin  of  the  Mammalia. 

''  During  my  stay  in  Brazil  (there  at  that  time  winter),  I  found 
that  no  sexually  mature  marsupials  were  to  be  had,  and  since  I 
could  obtain  but  little  material,  and  only  such  as  was  unsuit- 
able at  that,  from  the  zoological  gardens  of  Holland  and  Germany 
in  the  course  of  years,  I  resolved  to  attempt  to  rear  these  animals 
at  Erlangen. 

"  More  than  two  years  since,  I  obtained  eight  young  Brazilian 
opossums,  which  promised  to  do  well,  but  all  of  which  died,  one 
after  the  other,  before  they  were  full  grown.  Last  autumn,  how- 
ever, I  obtained,  through  the  kind  efforts  of  Mr.  Karl  Hagenbeck, 
of  Hamburg,  a  large  number  of  the  hardy  North  American  opos- 
sum ;  in  a  warmed  and  well-ventilated  stable,  these  animals, 
which  were  well  fi^,  survived  the  winter  remarkably  well,  and  all 
of  them,  except  a  few  individuals  which  were  suffering  from  an 
affection  of  the  liver  and  spleen,  began  rutting  during  the  past 
spring.  Seven  females  furnished  within  a  few  weeks  about  one 
hundred  embryos,  representing  the  greatest  range  of  stages  of 
development.  To  obtain  such  favorable  results,  various  methods 
of  artificial  interference  had  to  be  resorted  to,  a  description  of 
which  is  not  in  place  here.  Nor  would  I  anticipate  the  complete 
account  which  will  appear  in  the  course  of  the  present  year,  so 
that  I  shall  now  only  record  some  observations  on  the  rutting  of 
these  animals  and  the  development  of  the  blastodermic  vesicle. 

"1.  In  each  spermatoblast  of  the  male,  two  spermatozoa  are 
developed,  which,  however,  remain  united  for  a  remarkably  long 
period.  The  mature  spermatozoa,  which  are  taken  from  the 
vagina  of  the  female  immediately  after  copulation,  are  almost  all 
such  twin-cells  with  double  flagella ;  only  afler  some  time  do  they 
separate  as  a  consequence  of  the  remarkably  strong  and  rapid 
vibrations  of  the  flagella — ^they  are  literally  thus  torn  apart. 

**  2.  The  rutting  period  of  the  female  occurs  at  night  and  dur- 

^  Ueber  die  Entwickelung  des  Opossums  {Didelphys  virginiana),  Biolog.  Cen- 
tnlbUtt,  y.  No.  10,  1885,  pp.  294-295. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


396  General  Notes.  [April, 

ing  the  morning  hours  and  lasts  only  half  a  day.  If  copulation 
does  not  take  place  during  this  period,  the  female  may  rut  again 
in  the  course  of  several  weeks.  Such  females  also  from  which 
the  young  are  prematurely  removed  from  the  pouch  or  marsu- 
pium,  allow  themselves  to  soon  again  become  pregnant.  During 
the  rutting  period  the  walls  of  the  uterus  thicken  very  percep- 
tibly, and  principally  because  of  the  enlargement  of  the  uterine 
lymph-spaces,  in  which  the  uterine  glands  then  appear  to  be  sus- 
pended and  to  float. 

"  3.  The  fertilization  of  the  eggs  always  occurs  five  days  after 
copulation  and  at  the  lower  end  of  the  oviduct,  where  the  latter 
widens  into  the  uterus.  In  the  vermicularly  bent  oviducts  no 
spermotozoa  are  encountered. 

"  4.  Gestation  lasts  for  exactly  eight  days ;  then  thirteen  days 
after  copulation  the  young  are  transferred  to  the  marsupium. 
Development  accordingly  proceeds  with  extraordinary  rapidity. 
Only  three  days  before  birth  do  the  amniotic  folds  close  over  the 
back  of  the  embryo. 

"  5.  The  egg  is  intermediate  in  character  between  the  mero- 
blastic  and  holoblastic  type.  During  segmentation,  there  is 
aggregated  at  the  aplastic  pole  of  the  egg  a  nutritive  yolk,  which 
at  first  lies  quite  outside  of  the  ectoderm,  though  three  days  later 
the  neighboring  ecto-  and  mesodermal  cells  grow  over  the  yolk, 
which  thus  becomes  surrounded  or  imbedded  by  them,  but  the 
yolk  is  never  included  by  the  umbilical  vesicle  (intestinal  or  ento- 
dermal  cavity)  I  Remnants  of  the  yolk  persist  up  to  the  third 
day  before  birth. 

"  6.  The  fertilized  but  unsegmented  egg  measures  almost  .5"™ 
in  diameter ;  in  the  course  of  twenty-four  hours  the  blastodermic 
vesicle  measures  i™";  in  thirty-six  hours  1.5"™;  in  sixty  hours 
4°'°' ;  in  seventy-two  hours  S"""* ;  in  ninety-six  hours  14°"™,  and 
on  the  sixth  day  after  the  commencement  of  segmentation  as 
much  as  20°*"  in  diameter. 

"  7.  The  blastodermic  vesicles  at  first  lie  quite  free  and  scattered 
in  the  uterus ;  on  the  fourth  day  (after  the  beginning  of  segmen- 
tation), the  blastodermic  vesicle  over  the  germinal  area  becomes 
yery  loosely  adherent  to  the  uterine  epithelium. 

"  8.  In  the  marsupium  of  the  mother  there  were  never  more 
than  six  young  observed.  But  the  number  of  embryos  [found  in 
the  uterusj  is  invariably  much  greater  and  varies,  according  to 
the  size  and  strength  of  the  female,  from  nine  to  twenty-seven." 

PHYSIOLOGY.* 

The  action  of  Sulphate  of  Sparteine  on  the  Heart, — The 
alkaloid  sparteine  was  discovered  by  Stenhouse  in  Spartium  sco^ 
parium,  a  species  of  Genista,  in  1850.  It  is  a  bitter  liquid,  insolu- 
ble in  water.    Treated  with  an  excess  of  sulphuric  acid,  it  forms  a 

*  This  department  is  edited  by  Professor  Henry  Sewall,  of  Ann  Arbor,  Michigan. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


1 886.]  Physiology.  397 

salt  which  crystalh'zes,  and  dissolves  readily  in  water.  M.  See  has 
made  clinical  observations  with  the  use  of  this  drug  and,  accord- 
ing to  his  results,  it  is  df  most  extraordinary  value  in  the  treat- 
ment of  various  forms  of  cardiac  trouble.  Doses  of  o.i  gramme 
of  the  sulphate  of  sparteine  when  given  to  a  patient  produced  no 
disturbance  of  the  digestive  or  nervous  system ;  its  effects  seemed 
to  be  limited  to  the  heart.  In  fibrous  cardiac  degeneration  a 
single  dose  rendered  the  pulse-tracing  normal  for  the  period  of 
three  or  four  days.  In  irregular  rhythm  of  the  heart-beat  due  to 
insufficiency  of  the  auriculo- ventricular  valves  or  to  contraction  of 
their  orifices,  the  drug  brmgs  back  the  normAl  rhythm.  Three 
results  follow  the  exhibition  of  sulphate  of  sparteine:  i.  Its 
restorative  effects  upon  heart  and  pulse ;  in  this  respect  it  equals 
digitalis,  and  its  tonic  action  is  very  much  more  prompt,  pro- 
nounced and  lasting.  2.  As  a  regulator  of  the  rhythm  of  heart- 
beat, it  stands  unrivaled.  3.  It  causes  acceleration  of  the  pulse, 
and  approaches  belladonna  in  usefulness  where  need  of  the  latter 
drug  is  indicated. — Comptes  Rendus^  T,  ci^p,  1046. 

The  Microbe  of  Hydrophobia. — M.  Fol  has  found  in  sections 
of  the  spinal  cord  and  brain  of  animals  dead  from  rabies,  a  micro- 
coccus which  he  thinks  is  peculiar  to  that  disease,  and  probably 
its  etiological  factor.  The  fresh  tissue  is  hardened  in  a  solution  of 
2.5  per  cent  bichromate  of  potash,  and  i  per  cent  sulphate  of  cop- 
per, and  the  sections  are  stained  with  haematoxylin.  The  micro- 
cocci are  lodged  usually  in  the  neuroglia,  but  more  rarely  in  the 
nerve-fibers  themselves.  An  artificial  culture  of  the  micrococci  in 
healthy  cerebro-spinal  fluid  produced  characteristic  hydrophobic 
symptoms  in  animals  which  received  injections  of  it  in  the  brain. 
— Cofnptes  RenduSy  T.  ci,  p.  1276. 

The  Transformation  of  Peptones  by  the  Liver,  and  the 

RELATION  OF  THE  SUGAR  IN  THE  BlOOD  TO  THE  NATURE  OF  THE 

Food  Supply. — As  previously  reported  in  these  pages,  Professor 
J.  Seegen,  of  Vienna,  undertakes  to  prove  that  the  peptones 
absorbed  from  the  alimentary  canal  are  destroyed  in  the  liver, 
giving  rise  to  sugar  as  one  of  the  products  of  decomposition.  If 
this  hypothesis  be  correct,  we  must  expect  that  some  other  body 
containing  the  nitrogen  of  the  peptones  must  be  formed  at  equal 
rate  with  the  sugar.  It  was  to  establish  this  fact  that  Seegen's 
later  work  was  undertaken.  The  following  method  was  finally 
adopted  as  likely  to  give  results  most  free  from  error :  Two  pieces 
were  cut  from  the  liver  of  a  dog  just  killed,  weighed  and  finely 
minced.  The  portions  were  placed  in  two  glass  vessels  containing 
from  50  to  100**  of  defibrinated  blood  from  the  same  dog.  To 
the  blood  in  one  of  the  vessels  a  peptone  solution  was  added,  and 
to  the  other  a  like  volume  of  pure  water.  By  means  of  aspirators 
a  stream  of  air  was  passed  through  each  vessel  for  the  period  of 
three  to  five  hours.    At  the  end  of  that  time  a  given  quantity  of 


Digitized  by 


Google 


J98  General  Notes.  [April, 

blood  was  drawn  from  «ach  vessel,  all  albuminous  matters  were 
precipitated  with  great  care,  and  the  fluid  remaining  was  tested, 
after  concentration,  as  to  its  content  of  nitrogen.  The  author  dis- 
cusses fully  various  methods  employed  in  the  separation  of 
minute  quantities  of  albuminous  substances  from  complex  mix* 
tures.  The  results  of  these  experiments  indicate  a  very  consider- 
able destruction  of  peptone  by  the  liver  with  the  formation  of  a 
corresponding  amount  of  a  nitrogenous  product  of  the  decompo- 
sition. 

Seegen  was  led  to  the  choice  of  peptone  in  his  study  from  the 
fact  that  Sdimidt-Mulheim  had  found  that  most  of  the  albumi- 
nous bodies  digested  in  the  stomach  were  changed  to  peptones, 
and  because  the  researches  of  Plosz  and  Gyergyai  had  showed 
that  the  blood  of  the  hepatic  vein  contained  but  traces  of  pep- 
tones, while  that  of  the  mesenteric  veins  was  rich  in  them,  the 
conclusion  being  that  the  liver  was  the  principal  seat  of  the 
destruction  of  peptones.  In  respect  to  the  formation  from  pep- 
tones of  carbohydrates  by  the  liver,  the  author  found  that,  in 
experiments  performed  in  the  manner  described  above,  not  only 
was  the  sugar  content  of  the  peptone-liver-blood  increased  20-70 
per  cent  above  the  liver  blood  without  peptone,  but  the  total 
amount  of  carbohydrates  was  increased  as  well.  The  conclusion 
is  reached  that  the  function  of  the  peptones,  at  least  in  carnivor- 
ous animals  which  are  not  changing  in  weight,  is,  for  the  most 
part,  to  give  rise  to  the  formation  of  sugar  in  the  liver. 

In  another  article  the  same  author  discusses  the  influence  of 
variation  and  nature  of  the  food  supply  on  the  presence  of  sugar 
in  the  blood.  In  the  hungering  animal  (dog),  the  blood  of  the 
hepatic  vein  is  constantly  richer  in  sugar  than  that  of  the  portal 
vein,  the  relative  amounts  being  nearly  two  to  one.  The  forma- 
'  tion  of  sugar  is,  then,  a  continuous  function  of  the  liver.  Calcula- 
tion shows  that  it  is  hardly  possible  that  this  sugar  formed  during 
hunger  could  have  come  from  previously  stored  carbohydrates. 
When  an  animal  is  fed  on  food  rich  in  starch,  the  sugar  content 
of  the  portal-vein  blood  is  only  very  rarely  increased ;  the  large 
amount  of  sugar  in  the  hepatic  vein  cannot  therefore  owe  its 
existence  directly  to  sugar  entering  the  liver. 

The  percentage  of  sugar  in  arterial  blood  is  nearly  constant  in 
the  various  conditions  of  hunger,  or  when  the  animal  is  fed  upon 
starch,  dextrine  or  sugar ;  the  blood  from  the  carotid  artery,  how- 
ever, holds  a  slightly  greater  amount  of  sugar  during  the  hours 
when  sugar  is  being  most  rapidly  absorbed  from  the  alimentary 
canal. 

The  blood  of  the  portal  vein  contains  the  same  percentage  of 
sugar  on  a  starch  diet  as  in  hunger,  but  the  sugar  content 
increases  when  sugar  is  taken  in  the  food,  and  to  a  still  greater 
extent  when  a  mixture  of  sugar  and  dextrine  is  eaten.  The  blood 
of  the  hepatic  vein  always  contains  a  larger  percentage  of  sugar 


Digitized  by 


Google 


1886.1  Physiology.  399 

than  that  of  the  portal  vein,  not  only  during  hunger,  but  after  all 
manner  of  carbohydrate  diet.  The  formation  of  sugar  in  the  liver 
has  nothing  to  do  with  the  sugar  ingested  with  the  food.  The  for- 
mation of  sugar  by  the  liver  persists  throughout  a  prolonged 
period  of  inanition,  and  is  not  increased  when  a  large  amount  of 
carbohydrate  is  fed  to  the  animal.  Seegen  does  not  believe  that 
the  glycogen  found  normally  in  the  liver  is  the  source  of  the 
sugar  of  the  hepatic  vein ;  it  probably  has  some  special  destiny, 
perhaps  the  formation  of  fat.  The  amount  of  glycogen  found  in 
the  liver  stands  in  very  close  relation  to  the  amount  of  carbohy- 
drate in  the  food. — Pfiuget^s  Archiv.,  i88s,pp>  325  and  348. 

PLETHySMOGRAPHIC  AND  VASO- MOTOR  EXPERIMENTS  WITH  FrOGS. 

— Dr.  Ellis  has  followed  Drs.Bowditch  and  Warren  in  a  series  ol 
investigations  which  bids  fair  to  open  the  way  to  much  that  is 
new  and  valuable  concerning  the  vaso-motor  mechanism.  The 
latter  observers  studied  by  the  graphic  method  the  variations  of 
volume  produced  in  the  hind  leg  of  a  curarised  cat  by  electrical 
stimulation  of  the  sciatic  nerve.  The  volume  of  the  limb  was 
measured  by  the  plethysmography  and  any  fluctuations  in  it  could 
only  be  due  to  variation  in  the  amount  of  blood  supply.  The 
authors  found  when  the  peripheral  end  of  the  nerve  was  excited 
by  rapidly  repeated  induction  shocks  (16-64  P^r  sec),  there  was 
usually  contraction  of  the  vessels.  When  a  slower  rate  was 
employed  (4-0.2  per  sec),  there  was  dilatation.  With  a  medium 
rate  of  stimulation  there  followed  first  a  narrowing  and  afterward 
a  dilatation.  A  latent  period  of  1.5  sec  preceded  the  constriction, 
and  one  of  3.5  sec.  the  dilatation.  The  latter  effect  sometimes  per- 
sisted for  several  minutes  afler  cessation  of  the  stimulation,  but 
the  former  usually  ceased  with  it. 

By  an  exceedingly  ingenious  application  of  a  test-tube  ple- 
thysmograph  connected  with  very  delicate  registering  tam- 
bours. Dr.  Ellis  has  been  able  to  study  the  vaso-motor  changes 
produced  in  the  leg  of  curarised  frogs  by  stimulation  of  the 
sciatic  nerve.  The  general' results  agree  very  well  with  those 
already  obtained  on  the  cat.  In  general,  slow  interruptions  (i 
or  2  per  sec)  caused  dilatation,  while  rapid  stimulation  (15 
per  sec.)  caused  contraction.  The  author  remarks :  "  In  study- 
ing the  varying  efTects  of  electrical  stimulation  upon  the 
blood-vessels,  several  factors  must  be  considered,  i.  The  intemity 
cfthe  induction  shocks.  The  greater  the  intensity  of  the  shocks, 
other  conditions  remaining  the  same,  the  greater  the  tendency  to 
immediate  contraction  on  the  part  of  the  blood-vessels.  The  con- 
verse of  this  is  in  a  measure  true,  namely,  the  weaker  the  stimu- 
lus, the  greater  the  tendency  to  immediate  dilatation.  2.  Ihe 
number  of  induction  shocks  per  second.  The  greater  the  number  of 
shocks  per  second,  the  greater  the  liability  to  contraction,  and 
conversely.     3.  Duration  of  the  stimulation.    The  longer  a  series 


Digitized  by 


Google 


400  General  Notes.  [April, 

of  weak  shocks  rapidly  following  one  arjother  is  applied,  the  more 
likely  is  it  to  cause  contraction." 

The  intensity  of  the  slowly  repeated  shocks  which  produced 
dilatation,  was  usually  much  greater  than  that  of  the  rapid  stimu- 
lation which  caused  constriction;  but  when  the  total  stimulations 
to  which  the  nerve  is  subjected,  obtained  by  multiplying  the  inten- 
sity of  each  shock  by  the  number  of  shocks  applied,  are  compared 
in  the  two  cases,  it  is  found  that  when  dilatation  is  obtained,  the 
total  stimulation  is  much  less  than  when  constriction  is  caused. 
These  experiments  indicate  the  txistence  of  two  separate  per- 
ipheral vaso-motor  mechanisms,  one  having  the  function  of  vaso- 
constriction, and  the  other  of  vaso-dilation. — The  Journal  of 
Physiology^  Vol.  vi,  p.  4.^7. 

PSYOHOLOGY. 

Anthropology  and  Psychology. — At  the  Aberdeen  meeting  of 
the  British  Association  for  the  Advancement  of  Science,  Dr. 
Alexander  Bain,  lord  rector  of  Aberdeen  University,  read  a  paper 
"  On  the  scope  of  anthropology,  and  its  relation  to  the  science 
of  mind."  He  endeavored  to  point  out  that  the  bringing  together 
of  the  six  departments — named,  respectively  man's  place  in  nature, 
the  origin  of  man,  the  classification  of  races,  the  antiquity  of  man, 
language  and  the  development  of  civilization — did  not  contribute 
to  the  mutual  elucidation  of  the  several  topics,  but  merely  concen- 
trated into  A  whole  the  subjects  connected  with  the  higher  mys- 
teries of  man's  origin  and  destination.  He  next  doalt  at  length 
with  a  survey  of  the  researches  having  in  view  precise  measure- 
ments of  the  bodily  and  mental  characteristics  of  human  beings, 
and  indicated  lines  on  which  research  might  be  made  so  as  to 
reflect  new  light  on  our  intellectual  constitution.  The  author 
also  reverted  to  the  research  into  the  conditions  and  the  measure 
of  memory  as  wholly  within  the  means  of  actual  experimental 
determination ;  also  the  important  intellectual  function  of  seeing 
similarity  in  the  midst  of  diversity,  which  can  be  reduced  to  more 
or  less  precision  of  estimate  by  suitable  means.  Taking  along 
with  these  results  the  inquiries  into  the  faculties  of  the  lower 
animals,  the  author  put  special  stress  on  the  number  and  delicacy 
of  their  senses  as  the  foundation  of  every  attempt  to  explain  the 
higher  aptitudes.  Intelligence  commenced  with  the  power  of  dis- 
crimination, and  increased  as  that  power  increased.  The  record 
of  marvelous  feats  of  exceptional  ingenuity  was  of  very  little  aid 
in  revealing  the  secrets  of  the  animal  mind.  In  conclusion,  he 
urged  the  admission  of  psychology  in  a  more  avowed  and  syste- 
matic form  into  the  anthropological  section.  He  would  exclude 
the  topics  of  metaphysical  and  ethical  controversy,  and  welcome 
all  the  researches  into  the  intellectual  and  emotional  regions  of 
the  mind.  Dr.  Burdon  Sanderson  said  any  one  teaching  physi- 
ology would  not  be  expected  to  include  anthropology,  and  Dr. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


1 886.]  Anthropology.  401 

Bain  had  shown  why  it  was  not  done.  That  was  because  when 
we  came  to  the  higher  functions  of  man,  called  mental  functions, 
we  had  to  do  with  perceptions  which  were  founded  upon  sensa- 
tion, which  meant  interpretations  by  the  mind  of  those  percep- 
tions. He  considered  that  the  line  at  which  physiologists 
stopped  was  the  line  at  which  Dr.  Bain  begins — namely, 
measure.  He  heartily  agreed  with  Dr.  Bain  in  thinking  that 
psychology  is  the  subject  that  lies  at  the  basis  of  anthropology, 
and  should  be  accepted  as  its  foundation. 

Philadelphia  Branch  American  Society  for  Psychical 
Research. — ^The  Philadelphia  Branch  of  the  American  Society 
for  Psychical  Research  holds  meetings  monthly.  It  has  organ- 
ized with  committees  on  thought  transference,  hypnotism  and 
spiritualistic  phenomena,  and  entered  upon  the  lines  of  collective 
investigation,  followed  by  both  the  American  and  British  socie- 
ties. The  committee  on  thought  transference  has  collected  the  re- 
sults of  some  twelve  thousand  experiments  conducted  by  a  num- 
ber of  observers,  and  a  statistical  study  of  these  seems  to  show  a 
slight  preponderance  of  right  guesses  when  the  conditions  are 
such  as  render  thought  transference  possible. 

A  special  committee  has  been  inquiring  into  the  subject  of 
faith-cure  ;  but  without  attaining  anything  in  the  way  of  positive 
results.  Some  of  the  most  frequently  described  cases  of  marvel- 
ous cures  were,  on  investigation,  found  to  be  without  any  suffi- 
cient basis  in  fact.  In  general,  the  "  faith-curists "  seemed  to 
dread  and  abhor  anything  like  a  scientific  investigations  of  their 
claims ;  so  that  any  careful  study  of  the  psychic  phenomena  which 
attend  the  cure  of  even  those  nervous  and  illusive  maladies  that 
are  known  to  be  amenable  to  mental  impressions,  was  out  of  the 
question.  Other  standing  and  special  committees  will  report  at 
the  regular  meetings  of  the  branch. 

ANTHROPOLOGY.* 

Maori  Pharmacopceia. — Mr.  Kerry  Nichols  has  preserved  for 
us  in  the  Journal  of  the  Anthrop.  Inst,  (xv,  206)  the  native  medi- 
cines of  the  Maoris  of  New  Zealand : 

Harakehe  (Pkormium  tenax),  New  Zealand  flax,  decoction  of  leaves  and  root 
used  loxpaipait  a  cutaneous  disease. 

HoropUo^  a  shrub,  decoction  of  leaves  used  for  paipai, 

Iluhuy  a  grub  found  in  the  rimu  [Dacrydium  cupressinum),  matai  [^Podocarpus  spi- 
cata)  and  kahikatea  {Podocarpus  dacrydioides)^  eaten  as  medicine. 

Kahikatea  {Podoearpus  dacrydioides),  decoction  of  leaves  used  for  internal  com- 
plaints. 

Kareas  (^Phipogonum  scandens)  decoction  of  roots  used  as  sarsaparilla,  young  shoots 
eaten  for  itch. 

Kawakavfa  {Piper  excelsum)^  leaf  used  for  \hepaipaiy  and  to  heal  cuts  and  wounds. 


1  Edited  by  Prof.  Otis  T.  Mason,  National  Museum,  Washington,  D.  C. 
voi«  XX.— wo.  IV.  27 


Digitized  by 


Google 


402  General  Notes.  FApril, 

Kohekoke^  a  powerful  tonic ;  a  weak  infusion  of  the  leaves  stops  the  secretion  of 
milk. 

Kohukohu^  a  lichen^  when  dried  and  reduced  to  powder  is  applied  to  cutaneous  erup- 
tions. 

Kokakapa  (Trichomanes),  the  leaf  is  used  to  heal  ulcers. 

Koromiko  (  Veronica  suldfolia),  an  infusion  of  the  leav^  is  a  powerful  astringent ; 
a  weak  infusion  a  tonic ;  the  leaves  are  applied  as  a  poultice  for  ulcers  ;  a  de- 
coction of  the  leaves  is  valuable  in  dysentery ;  a  small  .portion  of  the  leaf,  if 
chewed,  soon  produces  a  keen  sense  of  hunger. 

Mamahu  {Cyanthea  meduilaris),  the  bruised  piih  is  used  as  a  poultice  for  sore  eyes. 

Miro  (^Podocarpus  ftrryginea),  a  weak  infusion  of  the  bark  is  taken  for  stomach 
ache. 

MouJkut  an  edible  fern ;  a  wash  obtained  from  the  root  is  good  for  sore  eyes. 

Ngarekut  charcoal  powdered  fine,  is  used  for  cutaneous  diseases. 

Papanuga^  the  infused  bark  is  drunk  for  the  hakikaki, 

Papa-auma^  or  mistletoe,  the  bruised  bark  is  applied  for  the  itch  by  rubbing  it  over 
the  skin. 

Paretau  {AspUnium  obUquunC)^  a  large-leaved  fern,  the  root  is  used  for  paipau 

Patete,  the  sap  is  used  for  scrofulous  sores  and  ringworm. 

Bohutakawa  (Metrosideros  foamen/asa),  an  infusion  of  the  inner  bark  is  used  for 
diarrhoea. 

Pukatea  {^Aiherosperma  nova  zeiandia)^  the  bark  is  used  for  scrofulous  sores. 

Raorao  (Pteris  escuienta),  tender  shoots  used  for  dysentery. 

Rata  (  Metroiideros  robusta),  infusion  of  bark  used  for  dysentery. 

Rauriki,  or  sow-thistle,  an  infusion  is  used  for  stomach  complaints. 

Rimu  {Dacrydium  cHpressinum),  an  infusion  used  to  heal  running  ulcers. 

Tawa  {^Nesodaphne  tawa),  bark  used  for  stomach  aches  and  colds. 

TV  {Cordylint  austraiis),  an  infusion  of  the  leaves  used  for  dysentery. 

Taotao  {Phyliocladus  trichomanoides),  leaves  used  for  scrofulous  diseases. 
TuUi  (Coriaria  rusci/o/ia),  tender  shoots,  when  plucked  at  certain  seasons,  are  taken 
for  dysentery. 

The  Laplanders. — In  Journal  of  Anthrop.  Inst,  xv,  will  be 
be  found  communications  from  Prince  Roland  Bonaparte,  Dr.  J. 
G.  Garson  and  Professor  A.  H.  Keane  respectively,  upon  the 
Lapps,  that  of  the  latter  being  very  full.  There  are,  at  present, 
25,367  Lapps,  although  at  least  70CX)  are  of  mixed  Finnish  blood. 
They  are  divided  into  upland  or  nomadic,  and  lowland  or  fishing 
and  agricultural  divisions.  Their  name  is  involved  in  obscurity, 
the  people  call  themselves  Same,  "  Fenmen,"  Finlanders.  They 
would  appear  to  be  an  offshoot  of  the  great  Finno-Tartaric  (Malo- 
Altaic)  family.  They  are  brachycephalic  (80°  to  83°  50').  short 
in  stature  (five  feet  and  less),  with  brown  hair,  flushed  complexion, 
brown  eyes,  straight  and  regular  nose. 

The  upland  Lapp's  life  is  dependent  on  the  reindeer,  whose 
*'  flesh  being  mostly  dried  is  converted  into  jerked  meat,  whose 
offal  is  boiled  and  eaten  fresh,  whose  blood  is  congealed,  pulver- 
ized and  kneaded  into  cakes  or  used  as  soup;  the  milk  taken  fresh 
or  frozen  in  a  slightly  fermented  state,  or  made  into  cheese  for 
winter  store.  The  skin  covers  the  tent  floor,  the  bed  and  the 
body ;  the  sinews  make  excellent  cordage,  and  the  bones,  after 
extraction  of  the  marrow,  are  carved  into  many  useful  and  &nci- 


Digitized  by 


Google 


1 886.]  Anthropology.  403 

ful  articles."    The  herds  range  in  number  from  100  to  2000  and 
upwards. 

There  are  two  classes  of  these  nomads,  those  who  remain  with 
their  herds  during  the  year,  and  those  who  from  May  to  August 
leave  their  flocks  and  take  to  fishing.  The  Lapp  is  assisted  in 
the  care  of  his  herd  by  a  very  intelligent  race  of  dogs.  The 
sledges  are  of  three  kinds : 

JCtrres,  in  which  the  traveler  sits  as  in  a  boat. 

LaJkkekf  for  freight,  decked  over. 

Pulkan,  sledge  proper,  half  covered,  used  on  important  occasions. 

The  snow  shoes  are  six  to  seven  feet  long  and  three  and  a  half 
to  four  inches  wide,  used  either  in  walking  or  when  the  owner  is 
drawn  by  reindeer. 

Mr.  Keane  closes  his  deeply  interesting  paper  with  references 
to  the  social  life,  the  religion  and  the  language  of  the  Lapps. 

Dr.  Garson  gives  a  close  anthropometric  description  of  a  family 
of  Lapps  exhibiting  in  London. 

Relationships  between  Eskimo  Tribes. — Dr.  Rink  gives  a 
short  paper  in  Journal  of  the  Anthrop.  Inst,  on  the  relationship 
of  the  Elskimo  tribes  as  determined  by  dialects.  The  following 
table  illustrates  the  order  of  thought : 

Aboriginal  Inland  Eskimo. 


Principal  stem.  Side  branch. 

Eskimo  proper.  Aleutians. 

Eastern.  V.  Western. 


III.  Middle  regions.        IV,  Mackenzie.  Northern.  Southern. 

Iglulik,  Repulse  i.  Pt  Barrow.  6.  Tschugazzes. 

bay,  Churchill.  2.  Kaviagmut.  7.  Kadjagians. 

t        « ^  3.  Malemnt.  8.  Kangengdlit. 


I.  Greenlanders.     II.  Labradorians.  4.  Unaligmut. 

5.  Ekogmut. 
9.  Asiatics. 

ARCHyEOLOGiCAL^AP. — ^The  Numismatic  and  Antiquarian  So- 
ciety of  Philadelphia  has  undertaken  the  preparation  of  an  archae- 
ological map  to  embrace  the  valleys  of  the  Delaware  and  Susque- 
hanna rivers.  This  map  is  intended  to  show  the  location  of  all 
the  principal  remains  attributed  to  the  Indian  tribes  who  formerly 
occupied  these  regions,  including  the  contiguous  portions  of 
Pennsylvania,  New  York,  New  Jersey,  Delaware  and  Maryland. 
Accurate  information  is  solicited  concerning  Palaeolithic  gravel 
deposit^s,  artificial  shell-heaps,  cave-retreats,  encampments  or  vil- 
lage sites,  earthworks,*old  fields,  quarries,  workshops,  surface  de- 
posits of  implements  (caches),  large  rocks  in  place  used  as  mor- 
tars, rock  inscriptions  (in  situ),  burial  places,  tumuli  or  mounds, 
Indian  trails.     The  circular  of  the  society  is  signed  by  Edwin  A. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


404  General  Notes.  [April, 

Barber,  John  R.  Baker,  Henry  Phillips,  Jr.,  Francis  Jordan,  Jr., 
Stewart  Culin,  Daniel  G.  Brinton.  Communications  should  be 
addressed  to  Henry  Phillips,  Jr.,  No.  104  S.  Fifth  street,  Philadel- 
phia. The  society  is  to  be  congratulated  for  its  energy  in  this 
matter.  The  City  of  Brotherly  Love  was  once  headquarters  ot 
anthropology  in  America. 

The  Rkvue  d'Anthropglogie. — The  most  celebrated  of  the 
many  French  journals  devoted  to  the  science  of  man,  was  founded 
in  Paris  by  Paul  Broca,  in  1872,  and  continued  by  his  pupil,  Dr. 
Paul  Topinard,  after  the  death  of  the  former.  A  third  series  was 
commenced  with  1886  with  the  cooperation  of  the  most  dis- 
tinguished representatives  of  the  various  branches  of  anthropo- 
logical science ;  among  them  Dr.  Gavarret,  director  of  the  Ecole 
d*Anthropologie  de  Paris ;  Dr.  Mathias  Duval,  director  of  the 
Laboratoire  d'Anthropologie  a  TEcole  des  Hautes  Etudes ;  Mar- 
quis de  Nadaillac ;  General  Faidherbe,  High  Chancellor  of  the 
Legion  of  Honor;  Professor  A.  de  Quatrefages,  at  the  Museum 
of  Natural  History;  Dr.  Hamy,  of  the  Musee  Trocadero;  L. 
Rousselet ;  Jules  Rochard;  Baron  Savoy  and  D'Arboisde  Jubain- 
ville,  of  the  French  Institute.  Dr.  Topenard,  the  director  of  the 
Revue,  is  general  secretary  of  the  Societe  d'Anthropologie  de 
Paris,  and  author  of  the  Elements  d'Anthropologie,  to  which  the 
Academie  des  Sciences,  awarded  one  of  its  annual  prizes. 

The  Races  gf  Men. — The  latest  attempt  to  find  a  rational 
expression  of  racial  differences  among  mankind  is  by  Mr.  James 
Dallas,  curator  of  the  Albert  Memorial  Museum,  Exeter.  The 
author  is  in  accord  with  the  general  tendency  to  see  three  princi- 
pal groups  of  humanity,  as  follows : 

Leucochroi,  represented  by  the  European. 

Mesochroi,  represented  by  Mongols  and  American  Indians. 

i^thochroi,  represented  by  Negroes  and  Australians. 

In  the  iEthochroic  group,  Mr.  Dallas  would  include  Berbers, 
Nubians.  Even  admitting  that  this  type  extended  into  Arabia, 
there  would  still  be  an  enormous  gap  between  this  and  the  nearest 
Eastern  appearance  of  the  ^Ethochroic  group  in  India.  The 
Kuhlis,  Bhils,  Gonds  and  Konds  of  India ;  Mincopies,  of  Anda- 
man ;  the  Negritos  and  Saraangs  of  the  Philippines,  and  the  Malay 
archipelago;  the  Papuans  and  other  pelagian  negroes;  the  Aus- 
tralians and  Tasmanians  all  belong,  according  to  the  author,  to 
one  great  type. 

Although  the  iEthochroic  group  is  spread  over  an  immense 
area,  "  the  changes  in  physical  geography  requisite  to  bring  all 
these  into  communication  are  far  from  great.  An  elevation  of  one 
hundred  fathoms  would  join  all  the  islands  from  Cochin  China  to 
Java,  including  Borneo;  New  Guinea  would  be  joined  to  Aus- 
tralia, and  the  narrow  seas  which  would  exist  between  the 
remaining  islands  would  ofTer  no  great  barrier  to  the  migration 


Digitized  by 


Google 


1 886. 1  Anthropology.  405 

of  man.  A  yet  greater  elevation  would  convert  the  Bay  of 
Bengal  into  dry  land,  join  the  Andamans  to  India,  the  Laccadive 
and  Maldive  islands  to  Arabia,  converting  the  Arabian  sea  into  a 
broad  expanse  of  nearly  level  ground."  At  the  same  time  a 
great  geological  barrier  would  be  erected  against  the  northern 
movement  of  this  type.  "  Thus  we  have  an  area  to  no  small 
extent  demonstrably  cut  off  from  the  northern  regions  of  Asia 
and  Europe,  in  which  alone  traces  of  the  iCthochroic  group  are 
to  be  met  with,  and  the  iEthochroic  peoples  were  originally  the 
sole  occupiers  of  this  area."  Mr.  Dallas  relies  largely  upon  &cts 
connected  with  the  distribution  of  apes  and  other  mammals  to 
bear  him  out  in  his  views  regarding  the  spread  of  the  iEthochroi. 
As  regards  the  purity  of  this  group  it  is  supposed  that  two 
developments,  one  in  Africa,  the  other  in  the  Philippines  and 
Andamans.  almost  pure,  still  exist.  In  the  other  areas  the  stock 
is  much  mixed. 

Roughly  speaking,  the  Leucochroic  group  occupies  the  whole 
of  Europe  with  the  exception  of  a  part  of  the  northern  portion, 
and  parts  of  Hungary  and  Russia.  Eastward,  members  of  this 
group  exist  in  the  Caucasus,  Armenia,  Persia,  Georgia,  Circassia, 
Afghanistan,  Kashmir, and  Hindustan,  Kattiwar and  Rajputana,and 
include  the  Siah  Posh  Kafirs  of  the  Indian  Caucasus,  and  remnants 
in  China,  Tartary,  Japan,  Kurile  island  and  Kamtshatka.  Indeed, 
Mr.  Dallas  looks  for  the  origin  of  this  type  in  the  heart  of  what 
is  now  the  Mongol  area,  the  plateau  of  Central  Asia,  believing 
that  they  extended  along  the  eastern  coast  of  Asia  from  Kamt- 
shatka on  the  north  to  the  limits  of  the  ^Ethochroi  on  the  south. 
From  this  central  region  the  Leucochroic  race  passed  westward 
by  the  great  depression,  the  Zungarian  strait,  to  overrun  first 
Western  Asia,  and  eventually  the  whole  of  Europe,  branches 
being  thrown  out  wherever  geographical  confirmations  offered 
the  way.  In  this  distribution  the  wolf,  otter,  sheep,  mole  and 
marmot  are  taken  as  parallels  among  mammals.  The  Aino  and 
the  Gothic  races  are  assumed  to  be  tolerably  pure  examples 
of  this  stock. 

The  Mesochroi  occupy  the  two  Americas,  the  whole  extent  ot 
the  eastern  shores  of  Asia  from  Kamtshatka  to  Siam,  and  thence 
stretch  westward  to  the  Bay  of  Bengal.  North  of  the  Himalayas 
they  occupy  the  original  seat  of  the  Leucochroic  group,  and 
thence  spread  over  Western  Asia,  following  the  route  formerly 
taken  by  the  Leucochroi.  The  Malays,  Polynesians,  Lapps, 
Fins  and  Basks  are  relegated  also  to  this  type.  The  original 
, center  of  distribution  and  the  lines  of  march  in  this  group  are 
less  intelligible.  The  extinct  rhinoceros  is  taken  as  the  parallel 
in  migration.  Intimations  are  also  given  that  the  course  of  popu- 
lation was  from  Europe  to  America,  and  thence  to  Asia. — yournal 
Anthropological  Institute^  xv,  J04.. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


4o6  General  Notes.  [April, 

Anthropological  News. — ^A  German  treatise  of  Ernst  Kuhn 
"  on  the  origin  and  languages  of  the  transgangetic  nations  "  was 
published  in  the  Transactions  of  the  Bavarian  Royal  Academy 
(1883,  pp.  22,  4to),  and  gives  a  lucid  sketch  of  racial  and  linguis- 
tic facts  observed  in  China  and  Indo-China  by  recent  investiga- 
tors. Kuhn  thinks  that  the  autochthonic  population  of  the  Indo- 
Chinese  peninsula  are  the  people  of  Annam,  Kambodja  and  Pegu, 
and  that  the  intruders  who  drove  them  to  the  coast,  came  origi- 
nally from  Western  China,  like  the  Tibetans ;  that  the  monosyU 
labism  of  all  these  languages  is  not  original,  but  only  the  result 
of  condensation  of  a  former  polysyllabic  status ;  that  the  Tibetan 
language  has  retained  the  most  Arabic  forms  of  the  western 
group  of  dialects ;  that. the  Kambodja  is  not  a  Malayan  language, 
as  it  has  been  asserted  by  Aymonier  and  Keane ;  that  the  series  of 
nume^ls  proves  ancient  affinity  of  Chinese  with  Barma  (Bur- 
mese), Siamese,  Lepcha  and  Tibetan. The  Lord's  Prayer, 

translated  by  E.  H.  Man  into  the  South  Andamanese  language, 
has  been  fully  commented  by  R.  C.  Temple,  and  edited  by  him 
with  a  scientific  preface  and  introduction  on  that  curious  aggluti- 
native language,  which  had  never  been  previously  investigated  in 

a  philosophic  manner. The  interpretation  of  the  local  names 

of  Celtic  origin  in  France,  Germany  and  Italy  forms  a  crux  inter- 
pretum  of  a  peculiar  kind  for  local  etymologists,  for  the  simple 
reason  th^t  the  ancient  Celto-Gallic  language  and  its  dialects  is  al- 
most entirely  lost  to  us.  It  has  been  preserved  in  about  twenty  or 
thirty  short  inscriptions  only,  which  are  very  differently  translated 
by  the  scientists,  and  in  a  considerable  number  of  personal,  tribal 
and  local  names,  most  of  which  are  just  as  enigmatic  as  the  above 
inscriptions.  The  coeval  languages  of  the  Greeks  and  Romans, 
Oscans  and  Umbrians  being  of  the  same  linguistic  family,  some 
light  is  thrown  upon  the  Celtic  from  that  quarter.  Dr.  Quirinus 
Esser,  inspector  of  schools  at  Malmedy,  Prussia,  has  brought  to 
bear  all  the  resources  of  modern  linguistics  upon  the  elucidation 
of  these  local  names  of  Middle  Europe,  as  Ruhr,  Rezat,  Giirzen- 
ich,  Kanzach,  Creteil,  Doubs,  &c.,  through  the  historical  method, 
in  his  Beitrage  zur  gallo-keltischen  Namenkunde,  Malmedy, 
1884,  pp.  128.  Another  series  of  local  names,  Celtic  and  Ro- 
manic, were  learnedly  investigated  by  the  same  author  in  a  series 
of  articles  pubh'shed  in  the  Kreisblatt  fur  Malmedy^  at  St.  Vith,  the 
county  seat. — A.  S,  Gatschet. 

MIOROSOOPY.^ 

The  Dioptrograph.*  —  The   dioptrograph    is  a  mechanical 
drawing  apparatus  adapted  to  drawing  the  outlines  of  macro- . 
scopic  objects.     It  consists  of  a  pantograph  (in  which  the  tracer 
is  represented  by  a  tubular  diopter)  supported  on  a  square  table. 

*  Edited  by  Dr.  C.  O.  Whitman,  Mus.  Comparative  Zoology,  Cambridge,  Mass. 
«  F.  Kinkelin,  Humboldt,  I,  Part  5. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


l886.]  Micfoscopy.  407 

By  shifting  the  position  of  the  diopter  (sight  vane)  on  a  mirror 
glass  plate,  the  eye  can  follow  the  outlines  of  the  object  placed 
below  the  glass  as  they  appear  at  the  intersection  of  the  cross- 
wires  contained  in  the  diopter.  The  table  is  supported  by  four 
square  wood  frames  which  together  bound  a  cubical  area,  as 
shown  in  the  figure.  A  pane  of  glass,  fitted  with  a  frame,  repre- 
sents the  upper  ^urface  of  the  cube,  while  the  five  other  sides  are 
open  so  as  to  admit  of  the  frame  with  the  plate  being  placed  upon 
any  side  of  the  cube.  On  the  lower  frame  Schroeder's  steel 
pincers  are  fitted,  by  means  of  which  the  object  may  be  placed  in 
such  a  position  as  to  be  completely  detached  and  visible  from  all 
sides.  These  pincers  firmly  grasp  the  object ;  this  is  effected  by 
fastening  a  screw  and  by  three  sharp  points.  The  axis  of  the 
pincers  has  a  bilateral  clamping  movement,  which  may  be  regu- 


lated by  means  of  a  screw ;  then  there  is  a  round  bar  fixed  on 
two  opposite  sides  of  the  lower  frame,  on  which  a  vertical  rota- 
tion of  the  axis  of  the  pincers  and  a  horizontal  sliding  movement 
of  the  object  can  take  place.  Lastly  there  is  a  conical  pin,  adjust- 
able by  means  of  a  special  screw  and  admitting  of  a  horizontal 
rotation  of  the  object.  The  drawing-board,  which  is  connected 
with  the  table  by  means  of  hinges,  can  be  folded  down  upon  the 
glass  plate  of  the  table. 

In  the  figure  the  pantograph,  consisting  of  the  diopter  and  pen- 
cil connected  by  a  frame- work  for  mechanical  adjustment,  is  rep- 
resented in  position  for  drawing.  The  drawings  may  be  made  of 
natural  size,  or  they  may  be  enlarged  or  reduced,  according  to 
the  proportions  required. 

For  the  use  of  tourists  a  folding  instrument  is  made.  In  this 
instrument  objects  are  placed  on  three  pins,  which  can  be  adjusted 
at  the  bottom  according  to  requirements. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


4o8  General  Notes.  [April, 

For  the  geometric  drawing  of  smaller  objects  the  following 
appliances  are  used : 

1.  One  object-plate,  which  is  placed  below  the  glass  plate  and 
which,  by  means  of  an  arm,  may  be  moved  up  and  down  on  one 
side  of  the  cube.  Upon  this  plate  a  small  object  imbedded  in 
clay  or  any  other  suitable  substance  may  be  placed. 

2.  A  tubular  diopter  furnished  with  a  lens. 

Prices. 

A.  Folding  dioptrograph  of  polished  mahogany  for  tourists ^70  c» 

B.  Same  as  A,  but  not  polished  and  without  case 55  00 

C.  Same  as  A,  but  not  folding  (like  the  figure  here  given) 72  50 

D.  Same  as  C,  not  polished 62  50 

The  instrument  is  made  by  Luckhardt  &  Alten,  in  Cassel, 
Germany. 

Opalina.* — The  life-history  of  this  very  interesting  parasitic 
protozoan,  and  the  methods  to  be  employed  in  tracing  it  are  now 
very  fully  known,  thanks  to  the  investigations  cited  below.  The 
subject  is  one  of  special  interest  to  the  teacher  as  well  as  to  the  in- 
vestigator, since  it  illustrates  one  of  Ihe  simplest  life-cycles  known 
to  us,  and  since  the  mode  of  development  and  propagation  rises 
somewhat  higher  than  in  typical  unicellular  Protozoa. 

Habitat — Hind-gut  of  batrachians  (also  found  in  planarians 
and  Naideae). 

Period  of  reproduction, — Early  spring,  beginning  as  soon  as  the 
host  leaves  its  winter  quarters  for  the  open  water,  and  continuing 
only  a  few  weeks  in  some  species,  while  lasting  for  two  to  three 
months  in  others. 

Mode  of  reproduction,  —  Longitudinal  and  transverse  fission. 
The  adult  polynucleated  Opalina  {0.  caudata  and  0,  sunilis  have 
generally  two  nuclei,  and  occasionally  only  one)  splits  up  by  suc- 
cessive divisions  into  a  large  number  of  parts,  each  containing, 
according  to  the  species,  one  or  more  nuclei.  These  parts  encyst 
while  in  the  hind-gut  of  the  host,  and  are  then  dropped  with  the 
faeces  into  the  water.  The  spherical  cysts  (.025 -.03"")  remain 
unchanged  for  several  weeks  on  the  bottom,  and  only  begin  their 
development  after  being  swallowed  by  young  tadpoles  and  pass- 
ing into  the  hind-gut. 

Material, — The  adult  Opalina  may  be  easily  obtained  by  cutting 
out  the  hind-gut  of  a  frog  and  pressing  a  little  of  the  contents  of 

^  Th.  W.  Engelmann.  Ueber  Entwickelung  u.  Fortpflanzung  von  Infusorien. 
Morph.  Jahrb.,  i,  p.  573,  1875. 

Ernst  Zeller.  Untersuchungen  iiber  die  Fortpflanzung  und  die  Entwickelung  der 
in  unseren  Batrachiern  schmarotz!tnden  Opalinen.  Zeitschr.  f.  wiss.  Zool.,  xxix,  p. 
352,  1877. 

Wilh.  Pfitzner.  Zur  Kenntnis  der  Kemtheilung  bei  den  Protozoen.  Morph. 
Jahrb.,  xi,  H.  3,  p.  454,  1885. 

Moritz  Nussbaum.  Ueber  die  Theilbarkeit  der  lebcndigen  Materie.  Arch.  f. 
Mik.  Anat.,  xxvi,  pp.  487,  509  and  514,  Jan.,  1886. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


1 886.  J  Microscopy.  409 

the  anterior  end  into  a  drop  of  water  on  a  slide.  If  this  is  done 
in  early  spring,  all  the  phases  of  fissiparism  may  be  obtained,  to- 
gether with.encysted  stages.  The  best  time,  however,  for  study- 
ing the  process  of  fission  is  during  the  winter.  If  a  frog  is  kept 
in  a  warm  room  twenty-four  hours  and  fed  well,  it  will  be  found 
that  fission  of  the  Opalinae,  if  any  are  present,  has  advanced  to  the 
point  of  encysting,  and  a  complete  series  of  stages  may  be  readily 
obtained. 

Material  for  the  study  of  the  development  is  obtiiined  from 
young  tadpoles  (5™°*  arid  upwards  in  length)  collected  from  their 
natural  haunts,  or  better,  raised  from  the  egg  and  fed  with  Opalina 
cysts.  A  few  hundred  eggs  of  the  frog  may  be  placed  in  a  small 
aquarium,  and  at  the  same  time  the  faeces  from  several  frogs 
which  are  known  to  contain  numerous  Opalina  cysts.  Soon  after 
hatching,  the  tadpoles  will  begin  to  eat  water  plants  and  animal 
and  vegetable  remains  of  various  sorts  found  on  the  bottom,  and 
will  thus  become  infected  with  Opalina  cysts. 

Methods  of  study. — {A)  The  process  of  reproduction  by  fission 
can  be  followed  best  by  placing  fresh  specimens  in  a  drop  of  a  very 
dilute  solution  of  gum  arabic  and  examining  without  a  cover- 
glass  ;  or,  in  a  drop  of  humor  aqueus  from  the  frog,  in  which 
Nussbaum  kept  them  alive,  in  one  case  four  days.  The  humor 
aqueus  should  be  inclosed  air-tight. 

{JB)  For  the  study  of  the  caryokinetic  multiplication  of  nuclei, 
which  is  the  leading  feature  in  the  development  of  multi- nucleate 
forms,  preparations  may  be  made  in  the  following  manner: 

(i)  Press  out  a  portion  of  the  faeces  from  the  anterior  end  of 
the  rectum  on  to  a  slide,  adding  a  drop  of  water. 

(2)  Carefully  remove,  by  the  aid  of  fine  forceps,  all  visible 
pieces  of  substance,  taking  special  care  to  leave  no  grains  of  sand, 
and  then  cover  with  a  very  thin  cover-slip.  The  water  added 
should.be  just  enough  to  fill  the  space  beneath  the  cover  without 
flowing  beyond  its  edges,  and  the  space  as  thin  as  possible  in 
order  that  the  larger  Opalina  may  be  under  slight  pressure. 

(3)  By  means  of  a  brush  make  a  border  of  picric  acid  (satu- 
rated aqueous  solution)  all  around  the  cover,  and  leave  the  slide 
thus  prepared  in  a  moist  chamber  for  one  or  two  days,  giving 
time  for  the  acid  to  penetrate  slowly  and  evenly  from  all  sides. 

(4)  Wash  with  distilled  water  until  the  Opalina  are  completely 
colorless,  allowing  the  water  to  work  slowly  under  from  one  side 
of  the  cover,  while  it  is  drawn  away  with  blotting  paper  from  the 
opposite  side.  Great  care  should  be  taken  not  to  add  the  water 
more  rapidly  than  it  is  drawn  away,  as  the  raising  of  the  cover 
would  allow  the  Opalinae  to  float  away.  The  process  of  washing 
requires  several  hours,  and  must  be  closely  watched  from  begin- 
ning to  end. 

(5)  Stain  with  Grenacher's  alum  carmine  or  haematoxylin, 
drawing  a  border  of  the  dye  around  the  cover,  as  was  done  with 


Digitized  by 


Google 


410  Scientific  News.  [April, 


picric  acid ;  then  leave  in  moist  chamber  for  a  few  hours  (haema- 
toxylin),  or  one  or  more  days  (alum  carmine). 

(6^  Wash  with  distilled  water,  proceeding  as  in  No.  4. 

(7)  Dehydrate  with  absolute  alcohol,  taking  care  not  to  disturb 
the  cover,  and  then  add  a  border  of  clove  oil.  The  alcohol  soon 
evaporates  and  is  replaced  with  the  clarifying  medium.  The 
preparation  is  now  ready  for  examination.  If  the  preparation  is 
to  be  preserved  permanently  the  clove  oil  should  be  replaced  by 
xylol,  and  then  a  thin  solution  of  balsam  in  xylol  allowed  to  flow 
under  the  cover  as  the  xylol  evaporates.  •  As  a  good  preparation 
is  often  spoiled  in  the  process  of  mounting,  it  is  well  to  make  the 
examination  in  clove  oil  first. 

SCIENTIFIC  NEWS. 

—  Dr.  C.  V.  Riley,  entomologist  of  the  Department  of  Agricul- 
ture and  honorary  curator  of  insects  in  the  National  Museum,  has 
presented  to  the  National  Museum  his  extensive  private  collec- 
tion of  North  American  insects,  representing  the  fruits  of  his 
labors  in  collecting  and  study  for  over  twenty-five  years.  His  col- 
lection contains  over  20.000  species,  represented  by  over  115,000 
pinned  specimens,  and  much  additional  material  preserved  in 
alcohol  or  other  methods.  It  is  estimated  by  those  familiar  with 
the  collection  to  have  a  money  value  of  at  least  ^25,000.  In  addi- 
tion to  the  actual  cost  of  material  it  is  hard  to  estimate  the  amount 
of  time  and  labor  that  such  a  collection  represents.  In  acknowl- 
edging the  donation.  Professor  Baird  expresses  the  warmest  appre- 
ciation for  this  most  generous  gift,  and  his  assurance  that  both 
now  and  in  the  future  it  will  afford  a  valuable  means  of  study  for 
the  entomologists  of  this  country.  This  collection  is  especially 
rich  in  Coleoptera  and  Lepidoptera,  and  the  latter  contains  many 
rare  larvae,  blown  and  in  alcohol.  As  it  stands,  by  this  gift  the 
entomological  collections  of  the  National  Museum  become  next 
in  importance  to  those  at  Cambridge. 

—  The  anniversary  meeting  of  the  Royal  Microscopical  Soci- 
ety was  held  in  January,  when  the  president  (Dr.  Dallinger, 
F.R.S.)  delivered  an  address  dealing  with  the  results  he  had  ob- 
tained during  the  last  four  years  principally  in  the  employment  of 
the  greatly  improved  microscope  object-glasses  made  on  the  homo- 
geneous-immersion principle.  The  special  research  which  Dr. 
Dallinger  has  been  engaged  upon,  and  to  which  his  address  was 
devoted,  is  the  elucidation  of  the  origin,  development,  division 
and  ultimate  function  of  the  nucleus,  as  found  in  what  may  be 
assumed  to  be  its  simplest  condition  in  the  more  striking  of  the 
septic  organisms,  and  his  microscopical  observations  have  been 
chiefly  made  on  the  living  organism.  The  object-glasses  em- 
ployed by  Dr.  Dallinger  are  high  powers  of  most  recent  construc- 
tion, in  which  the  apertures  have  been  carried  to  the  highest 


Digitized  by 


Google 


1 886.]  SctenH^  News.  411 

point  hitherto  attained,  and  were  nnade  expressly  for  his  investi- 
gations by  Messrs.  Powell  and  Lealand. 

—  The  first  number  of  the  Bulletin  of  the  Scientific  Labora- 
tories of  Denison  University,  at  Granville,  Ohio,  edited  by  Pro- 
fessor C.  L.  Herrick,  contains  the  following  articles  : 

Osteology  of  the  evening  grosbeak  [^Hesptriphona  vespertina  Bonap.},  with  Plate  l 
and  frontispiece,  by  the  editor. 

Metamorphosis  of  phyllopod  Crustacea,  with  Plates  v-viii  and  Plate  x,  by  the 
editor.  ^ 

Superposed  bads,  with  Plate  xii,  by  Aug.  F.  Foerste,  class  of  '87. 

Lfimicole,  or  mud-living  Crustacea,  with  Plate  ix,  by  the  editor. 

Rotifers  of  America,  Part  i,  with  descriptions  of  a  new  genus  and  several  new  spe  • 
cies,  with  Plates  ii-iv  and  Plate  x,  by  the  editor. 

The  Clinton  group  of  Ohio,  with  descrip'ions  of  new  species,  with  Plates  xiii  and 
XIV,  by  Aug.  F.  Foerste. 

A  compend  of  laboratory  manipulation.  Chapter  I,  Lithological  manipulation,  ac- 
companied by  a  condensed  translation  of  Eugene  Hussak's  Tables  for  the  deter- 
mination of  rock-forming  minerals,  by  the  editor. 

The  whole  forms  a  volume  of  i8o  pages,  with  fifteen  plates, 
and  affords  good  evidence  of  the  scientific  zeal  and  energy  of  the 
scientific  corps  of  this  institution. 

—  At  a  recent  meeting  of  the  Royal  Society,  Dr.  Downes  read 
a  paper  on  the  action  of  sunlight  on  micro-organisms,  in  which 
he  called  attention  to  the  fact  that  the  observations  made  by  him- 
self and  Mr.  T.  Blunt,  described  in  papers  contributed  to  the 
society  during  1877-79,  ^^^  ht^n  corroborated  by  other  investi- 
gators. Dr.  Downes  now  asserts  that  the  hyperoxidation  of  pro- 
toplasm by  sunlight  is  a  general  law,  from  the  action  of  which 
living  organisms  are  shielded  by  protective  developments  of  cell 
wall,  coloring  matter,  &c.  In  previous  communications  Dr. 
Downes  had  shown  that  sunlight  was  fatal  to  saprophytes,  and 
that  in  the  presence  of  free  oxygen  the  molecule  of  oxalic  acid 
might,  under  the  influence  of  light,  be  entirely  resolved  into 
water  and  carbonic  acid.  The  alterative  ferment  of  cane  sugar,  a 
representative  of  the  diastases,  is  also  oxidized  by  sunlight. — 
English  Mechanic. 

—  A  question, — I  should  be  very  much  obliged  to  anybody  for 
some  information  on  the  following  points,  regarding  Menopoma, 
Amphiuma,  Necturus  and  Siren: 

1.  Where  are  these  batrachians  common? 

2.  Has  anybody  ever  seen  the  eggs  and  larvae  (embryos)  of 
these  forms,  and  in  what  season? — Dr.  G.  Baur,  Yale  College 
Museum,  New  Haven,  Conn. 

—  Mr.  Mellard  Reade's  presidential  address  to  the  Liverpool 
Geological  Society  has  been  printed  in  separate  form,  and  will 
interest  geologists.  He  discusses  the  way  in  which  the  enormous 
amount  of  mineral  matter  poured  into  the  Atlantic  is  distributed. 
He  concludes  that  deposits  thousands  of  feet  in  thickness  are 
being  laid  down  about  the  mouths  of  great  rivers,  forming  exten- 


Digitized  by 


Google 


412  Proceedings  of  Scientific  Societies.  [April,  1886. 

sions  of  the  true  deltas,  and,  therefore,  what  appears  to  be  a  sub- 
marine prolongation  of  the  margin  of  a  continent  may,  in  many 
cases,  be  merely  a  sedimentary  deposit  washed  down  from  the 
interior. 

—  Dr.  Alfredo  Duges  writes  from  Guanajuato,  Mexico,  that  on 
the  sth  of  February  there  fell  at  that  place  eight  inches  of  snow. 
It  made  a  fine  appearance,  covering  the  trees  full  of  leaves,  and 
stupefied  the  inhabitants,  most  of  whpm  had  never  seen  such  a 
phenomenon.    The  thermometer  fell  to  4**  and  5°  C. 

—  Jan.  17,  died  in  Strassburg,  Professor  E.  Oscar  Schmidt, 
who  was  distinguished  for  his  researches  on  turbellarian  worms 
and  sponges,  as  well  as  several  valuable  general  works. 

—  W.  T.  Thiselton  Dyer  has  succeeded  Sir  Joseph  Hooker  as 
director  of  Kew  gardens. 

:o: 

PROCEEDINGS  OF  SCIENTIFIC  SOCIETIES. 

Biological  Society  of  Washington,  Feb,  20. — Mr.  Romyn 
Hitchcock,  Demonstration  of  the  resolving  power  of  a  new  1-16 
inch  objective ;  Dr.  D.  E.  Salmon  and  Dr.  Th.  Smith,  On  a  new 
method  of  producing  immunity  from  contagious  diseases ;  Dr.  C. 
V.  Riley,  A  carnivorous  butterfly  larva ;  Mr.  Lester  F.  Ward, 
The  plane  tree  and  its  ancestors  ;  Dr.  C.  Hart  Merriam,  Contri- 
butions to  North  American  mammalogy.  II.  Description  of  a 
new  species  of  Aplodontia ;  Dr.  George  Vasey,  New  and  recent 
species  of  North  American  grasses. 

New  York  Academy  of  Sciences. — I.  A  new  electric  wirtding 
apparatus  for  clocks  (illustrated) ;  11.  On  the  need  of  a  normal 
time-system  for  observatories,  Professor  John  K.  Rees. 

March  i. — Mrs.  Alice  D.  Le  Plongeon  read  an  address  on  Yu- 
catan, its  ancient  temples  and  palaces.  The  paper  was  illustrated 
with  numerous  lantern  photographs,  taken  by  Dr.  and  Madame 
Le  Plongeon,  during  twelve  years  of  study  and  exploration 
among  the  remarkable  monuments  and  scenery  of  Yucatan. 

Boston  Society  of  Natural  History,  Feb.  17. — Dr.  W.  G. 
Farlow  spoke  of  the  collection  of  lichens  recently  presented  to 
the  society  by  Charles  J.  Sprague,  Esq., ;  and  Mr.  S.  H.  Scudder 
discussed  the  best  methods  for  arranging  and  classifying  the 
libraries  of  natural  history  institutions. 

March  3. — Dr.  Thomas  Dwight  read  a  paper  on  the  significance 
of  the  internal  structure  of  bone,  illustrated  by  the  stereopticon, 

Appalachian  Mountain  Club,  Feb.  10. — An  ascent  of  the 
Matterhorn,by  Melancthon  M.  Hurd  ;  The  Carter- Moriah  path  and 
camp,  by  W.  G.  Nowell;  An  exploration  of  the  Pilot  range,  by 
W.  H.  Peck. 

Feb.  17. — Major  Jed.  Hotchkiss  addressed  the  club  on  Mount 
Rogers,  the  highest  point  of  the  Appalachians  in  Virginia. 


Digitized  by  VjQO.gLf. 


•  x..;-.—     - 


Digitized  by 


Google 


PRINGAMTIDOTE 


Sa*- 


^SJ^ 


HEALTH  •    iMm    •  VIGORS 


Sanitary  Science  teaches 
how  to  preserve  health  by  the 
speedy  removal  of  all  waste 
matters  from  the  Household, 
but  the  victims  of 

QY8PEP8IA, 
SICK  HEADACHE 
^CONSTIPATION 

frequently  carry  with  them 
enough  effete  and  decompos- 
ing material  to  start  an  epi- 
demic. These  accumulations 
should  be  immediately  removed 
and  perfect  regularity  in  the 
action  of  the  Skin,  Stomach, 


The  vigorous  action  of  the 

human   system  is  procured 

I      by  the  immediate  CURE  of 

,  I      those  Spring  troubles  that 

1      affect  everybody. 


TARRANP8 

Seltzer  Aperient 

(SFFEBVESGZiirr.) 

IT  CURES  DYSPEPSU 

^  ttuMihg  M«  Aamaeh  to  digmt 

IT  CURES  SICK  HEUACHE 

By  neutraliaUHf  eooeeu  «/  acf4  in 


IT  CURES  CONSTIPATION 


r 


Digitized  by 


Google 


THE 

AMERICAN    NATURALIST. 

Vol.  xx.—A^AY,  1886.— No.  5. 


THE  LIMITS  OF  ORGANIC  EVOLUTION. 

BY  H.  W.  CONN,  PH.D. 

THE  theory  of  evolution  implies  a  past,  a  present  and  a  future. 
Since  the  time  of  Darwin  the  past  and  present  of  the  organic 
world  have  been  studied  with  the  result  of  showing  that  the  his- 
tory has  been  one  of  evolution.  Having  now  reached  this  con- 
clusion, and  having  discovered  many  of  the  laws  of  advancement 
in  living  nature,  we  are  getting  into  a  position  where  we  may 
begin  to  study  the  future.  It  is  the  object  of  this  paper  to  indi- 
cate certain  limits  in  development  toward  which  the  organic 
world  have  long  been  tending. 

The  idea  of  evolution  implies  that  there  has  been  a  gradual 
rise  in  the  scale  of  organisms  from  the  lowest  to  the  highest 
But  when  palaeontologists  have  attempted  to  show  this  gradual 
rise  by  a  study  of  fossils  they  have  had  much  less  success  than 
the  theory  of  evolution  would  lead  us  to  expect.  That  there  has 
been  a  general  advance  from  the  earliest  fossils  in  the  Silurian  until 
now,  seems  unquestionable.  But  instead  of  being  the  most  pal- 
pable result  of  study,  this  advance  is  so  obscure  as  to  cause  sur- 
prise to  all  who  have  attempted  to  make  it  out  in  detail.  Darwin 
expressed  his  surprise  at  the  lack  of  evidence,  and  the  difficulties 
have  increased  rather  than  decreased  since  he  wrote.  In  some 
groups  there  has  been  an  undoubted  advance;  the  vertebrates,  for 
instance,  showing  this  in  a  marked  manner.  In  a  majority  of 
groups,  however,  we  do  not  find  it,  for  while  the  animals  have  not 
in  any  case  remained  absolutely  stationary,  the  development,  as  a 
rule,  has  consisted  chiefly  in  the  increase  and  diversity  of  species 
and  genera.    It  is  a  matter  of  continual  surprise  to  naturalists  to 


Digitized  by 


Google 


414       '  7X^  Limits  of  Organic  EvohHon.  [May, 

find  constantly  increasing  evidence  of  the  great  diversity  of  life 
which  must  have  existed  in  the  Silurian  era.  With  the  advance 
of  our  knowledge  of  these  earliest  fossiliferous  rocks,  new  groups 
are  constantly  being  added  to  the  already  extensive  fauna.  Our 
knowledge  of  these  times  is  still  very  scanty,  but  even  now  we 
know  that  the  fauna  was  highly  developed.  All  of  the  subking- 
doms  of  the  animaf  world  were  represented,  about  five-sixths  of 
the  orders  and  suborders  of  the  present  time,  many  families  and 
a  few  genera.  Bearing  in  mind  the  necessary  incompleteness  of 
our  collections,  we  must  conclude  that  this  fauna  contained  rep- 
resentatives of  a  large  proportion  of  the  animals  now  existing. 
Nor  were  the  various  groups  represented  by  these  lowest  types 
simply.  The  Coelenterata  contained  Hydrozoa  and  Actinozoa; 
among  echinoderms  we  find  echinoids ;  among  mollusks  we  find 
cephalopods;  among  Arthropoda  were  Tracheata  in  the  shape  of 
scorpions.  And  while  these  types  were  not  developed  as  highly 
as  they  are  now,  their  mere  existence  is  enough  to  indicate  that 
already  a  large  advance  in  the  evolution  had  taken  place.  If  this 
is  the  case  it  becomes  plain  that  evolution  since  that  time  has 
been  almost  entirely  confined  to  the  elaboration  of  the  groups 
then  existing. 

Now  we  are  not  at  liberty  to  assume  an  indefinite  amount  of 
time  prior  to  the  Silurian.  Of  course  it  is  impossible  to  say  just 
how  long  a  time  elapsed  between  the  origin  of  life  and  the  Silu- 
rian, but  it  seems  hardly  possible  that  it  could  have  equaled  the 
time  since  then.  But  upon  evolutionary  theories  the  animal 
kingdom  must  have  developed  during  that  period  from  the  lowest 
unicellular  condition  to  the  complex  and  diverse  fauna  of  the 
Silurian.  When  we  consider,  therefore,  that  during  this  time  all 
of  the  important  groups  of  the  animal  kingdom*  arose,  and  that 
none  have  arisen  since  that  time,  it  becomes  quite  evident  that 
evolution  must  have  progressed  with  greater  rapidity  at  that  time 
than  it  has  since.  This  conclusion  is  no  new  one,  for  many  nat- 
uralists have  seen  the  necessity  of  making  some  such  assumption. 
It  will,  indeed,  be  generally  acknowledged  that  evolution  at  ear- 
lier times  was  more  rapid  than  at  present. 

Now  it  follows  as  a  direct  result  of  this  fact  that  the  evolution 
of  organisms  is  approaching  an  end,  and  that  it  will  eventually 
cease.  If  the  rapidity  of  evolution  as  a  whole  has  been  decreas- 
ing since  the  beginning  of  life,  it  is  evident  that  unless  something 

*[It  is  very  doubtful  whether  there  were  any  Vertebrata  during  the  Silurian. — Ed,\ 


Digitized  by 


Google 


1 886.]  The  Limits  of  Organic  Evolution.  4 1 5 

occurs  to  begin  the  process  over  again,  evolution  must  eventually 
cease. 

This  would  lead  us  to  the  conception  of  the  animal  kingdom 
as  not  unlimited  in  the  extent  of  its  development,  but  as  having 
a  definite  end.  This  may  be  made  clearer  by  two  comparisons. 
First,  consider  the  life  of  any  individual.  This  begins  with  the 
fertilization  of  the  ovum.  Fertilization  seems  to  endow  the  ovum 
with  a  large  amount  of  vitality,  or  whaf  has  been  called  growth 
force.  This  growth  force  causes  the  ovum  to  begin  to  divide  and 
grow  with  great  rapidity,  and  the  changes  which  take  place  as 
the  result  of  this  invigoration,  are  very  great  during  the  early 
part  of  the  development.  But  immediately  from  the  first  the 
rapidity  of  this  growth  begins  to  decrease.  As  the  individual 
becomes  older  its  rate  of  growth  becomes  less  and  less,  the  invig- 
orating force  gradually  expending  itself,  until  finally  a  condition 
is  reached  where  no  further  growth  takes  place.  For  some  time 
now  the  animal  remains  in  a  state  of  equilibriunfi,  but  finally 
begins  to  go  down  hill  and  dies.  A  better  comparison  still  may 
be  found  in  the  life  of  a  tree.  Here  also  we  find  at  the  outset  a 
rapid  growth  and  advance,  very  early  the  rapidly  growing  stems 
give  rise  to  buds  which  are  to  become  the  great  branches  of  the 
coming  tree,  and  in  a  very  short  time  the  shape  of  the  tree  is 
determined  by  the  growth.  All  of  the  larger  branches  have 
appeared,  and  they  have  already  given  rise  to  many  of  the  smaller 
ones.  But  here  also  the  rate  of  growth  diminishes,  and  as  the 
tree  becomes  older  and  larger  it  grows  less  rapidly.  Finally  at  a 
certain  size  its  growth  practically  stops.  It  does  not  of  course 
actually  cease  to  grow.  It  is  continually  producing  new  leaves, 
new  twigs ;  old  branches  are  being  in  some  places  expanded,  in 
others  they  are  dying  and  disappearing.  There  is  thus  a  constant 
change  and  growth  taking  place  in  the  various  parts,  but  the 
growth  of  the  tree  as  a  whole  has  ceased.  For  a  long  time,  per- 
haps the  tree  may  remain  in  this  condition,  but  little  by  little  the 
process  of  decay  encroaches  upon  that  of  growth,  and  finally  the 
tree  dies. 

These  examples  are  of  course  simple  analogies,  and  it  is  a 
question  how  far  they  may  be  regarded  as  applying  to  the  animal 
kingdom  as  a  whole ;  but  there  are  many  facts  which  indicate 
that  the  history  of  the  organic  world  as  a  whole  is  parallel  to  the 
life  of  the  individual,  in  part  at  least.    That  the  relations  of  ani- 


Digitized  by 


Google 


4i6  The  LimUs  of  Organic  Evolution,  [May, 

mals  in  the  world  are  to  be  looked  upon  as  that  expressed  by  a 
branching  tree  is  now  perfectly  demonstrated.  That  all  of  the 
great  branches  of  this  tree,  as  well  as  many  of  the  smaller  ones, 
had  made  their  appearance  at  the  time  of  our  first  record  of  life, 
is  also  proved.  That  evolution  since  that  time  has  consisted 
chiefly  in  the  elaboration  of  these  branches  by  increasing  their 
division  and  the  diversity  of  species  and  small  groups,  is  becom- 
ing more  and  more  evident  That  there  has  been  a  slowing  up 
of  development  in  recent  times  is  a  fact  which  is  strongly  forcing 
itself  upon  naturalists ;  and  the  conclusion  has  found  expression 
in  the  statements  sometimes  made  that  no  new  species  are  arising 
to-day,  or  that  the  present  is  a  period  of  comparative  rest.  The 
same  general  principle  is  taught  from  embryology,  for  very  early 
in  their  history  do  embryos  become  separated  into  the  subking- 
doms  to  which  they  belong,  while  more  and  more  slowly  does 
the  separation  into  the  smaller  groups  take  place.  All  of  these 
facts  together  strongly  indicate  that  the  illustrations  used  above 
are  in  part  real  illustrations,  and  that  the  whole  animal  kingdom 
must  be  looked  upon  as  an  individual  starting  its  history  with  a 
vigorous  growth  which  is  gradually  expending  itself.  Whether 
or  not  this  growth  will  reach  a  limit,  and  whether  or  not  it 
will  eventually  cease  so  that  the  animal  kingdom  will  disappear, 
it  is  our  purpose  to  consider. 

That  the  organic  world  is  approaching  a  limit  to  its  develop- 
ment  is  a  conclusion  which  does  not  depend  upon  any  vague  idea 
of  growth  force  for  its  support ;  for  a  little  thought  upon  discov- 
ered laws  will  clearly  show  us  that  there  must  be  a  limit  to 
advance.  The  best  definition  which  has  ever  been  given  of  the 
grade  of  structure  of  animals  is  the  degree  to  which  differentia- 
tion of  organs  is  carried.  *  Evolution  as  it  tends  to  raise  the  grade 
of  animals  is  constantly  increasing  the  amount  of  differentiation. 
A  distinction  must  be  made,  however,  between  differentiation 
and  specialization.  Evolution  sometimes  results  in  retrogres- 
sion, and  in  these  cases  differentiation  becomes  less  rather  than 
greater.  Evolution  does  not,  therefore,  always  produce  a  greater 
differentiation,  but  in  all  cases,  even  in  those  of  retrograde 
development,  it  does  produce  a  specialization  of  parts,  and  we 
may  rightly  regard  evolution  in  the  animal  kingdom  as  a  pro- 
cess of  specialization.  Now  it  is  plain  that  this  process  can  not 
go  on  forever.    A  low  undifferentiated   unspecialized  organism 


Digitized  by 


Google 


1 886. 1  The  Umits  of  Organic  Evolution,  4 1 7 

has  an  infinite  possibility  in  its  lines  of  specialization.  A  simple 
spherical  mass  of  cells,  the  supposed  common  ancestor  of  the 
animal  kingdom,  may  be  modified  in  a  very  great  variety  of  direc- 
tions, each  of  which  may  give  rise  to  a  different  type  of  animal. 
This  possibility  lies  in  the  fact  that  it  is  as  yet  undifferentiated 
and  unspecialized.  But  just  as  soon  as  it  does  become  modified 
in  any  one  direction  the  possibilities  decrease.  Some  of  the  de- 
scendants of  this  ancestor  becoming  vertebrates  are  forever  pre- 
cluded from  becoming  anything  else ;  others  becoming  moUusks 
must  remain  moUusks  forever,  with  all  of  their  descendants.  And 
as  later  descendants  become  further  modified  in  any  direction  into 
definite  types,  the  chance  for  future  modification  becomes  rapidly 
less.  It  is  only  the  absolutely  undifferentiated  which  has  infinite 
possibilities,  for  as  soon  as  a  single  step  is  taken  in  any  direction . 
they  become  finite.  Now  it  is  plain,  since  evolution  does  not 
retrace  its  steps,  that  with  every  step  in  advance  the  possible  lines 
of  development  become  less  and  less.  All  the  descendants  of  the 
vertebrate  line  must  conform  to  the  vertebrate  type.  The  verte- 
brate becomes  separated  into  fish,  reptile  and  mammal,  and  the 
individual  of  each  group  is  still  further  fettered  in  its  develop- 
ment by  the  special  line  which  its  ancestors  have  taken.  The 
descendants  of  the  animals  which  have  started  the  order  of  birds 
can  not  take  any  new  line.  They  can  develop  to  perfection  this 
type,  but  there  they  must  stop.  And  so  on,  with  every  advanced 
step  the  possibilities  of  expansion  are  constantly  decreasing.^ 

Now  a  continued  specialization  of  this  sort  is  sure  to  reach  a 
limit  eventually,  it  must  run  to  extremes  and  then  stop.  Devel- 
opment must  reach  a  position  where  further  advance  is  no  longer 
possible.  Let  us  illustrate  this  principle  by  a  concrete  exam- 
ple. A  five-toed  appendage  is  an  unspecialized  form  which  we 
may  conceive  as  modified  in  many  directions.  It  may  become  a 
grasping  organ  or  a  supporting  organ  or  a  swimming  organ,  etc. 
In  the  group  to  which  our  ruminants  belong  this  appendage  has 
become  a  supporting  structure.  In  this  same  group  there  has 
further  been  a  tendency  to  rise  upon  the  toes,  in  such  a  manner 
that  instead  of  walking  on  the  soles  of  the  feet  and  palms  of  the 
hands,  (he  animals  in  question  walk  more  and  more  upon  the 
fingers  and  toes.  When  this  peculiarity  first  began  to  manifest 
itself,  the  mammals  had  five  toes.     As  it  became  more  and  more 

^  This  idea  can  be  found  fully  expressed  in  the  writings  of  Professor  Cope. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


41 8  The  Limits  of  Organic  Evolution.  [May, 

marked  the  shorter  toes  were  little  by  little  lifted  from  the  ground 
and  became  of  little  or  no  use.  In  successive  ages  we  find  the 
shorter  toes  becoming  smaller  while  the  middle  toe  becomes 
larger.  This  line  of  specialization  has  continued  until  it  has 
reached  a  limit  in  the  horse,  which  has  lost  all  but  one  toe  on 
each  foot,  and  walks  on  the  extreme  tip  of  this  toe.  Now  it  is 
perfectly  evident  that  a  limit  has  been  reached  in  this  case.  The 
horse  may  perhaps  in  the  future  lose  the  rudimentary  splint  bones 
which  still  remain,  but  he  can  not  lose  his  last  toe ;  and  it  is 
therefore  impossible  to  conceive  any  further  development  of  the 
horse  in  this  direction.  Now  the  same  principle  will  apply  to 
all  other  lines  of  specialization,  although  we  may  not  always 
be  able  to  see  what  this  limit  may  be.  Physical  laws  would  of 
themselves  set  limits  to  every  line  of  advance,  even  if  there  be 
no  such  limits  determined  by  the  organism  itself. 

It  is  easy  to  find  examples  which  will  show  that  such  has  been 
the  general  history  of  groups  in  the  past.  Some  have  reached 
the  extreme  of  their  development  in  the  distant  past,  and  have 
ceased  to  advance  or  disappeared.  Others  seem  even  now  to  be 
at  the  summit  of  their  advance,  and  others  still  are  yet  advancing. 
The  line  of  development  represented  by  the  trilobites  has  com- 
pletely exhausted  itself.  It  rapidly  approached  its  limits  even  in 
the  Silurian,  and  then  began  to  dwindle  away  and  has  disappeared 
completely.  The  brachiopods  had  also  at  this  time  reached  their 
point  of  highest  specialization,  and  became  a  highly  developed 
group  even  at  this  early  age.  Since  then  they  have  remained 
stationary  as  to  their  organization,  having  steadily  decreased  in 
numbers,  and  the  few  that  are  left  show  no  advance  over  the  Silu- 
rian forms.  The  cephalopod  moUusks  gradually  increased  in 
complexity  during  the  Palaeozoic,  and  finally  a  limit  of  the  shelled 
forms  was  reached  in  the  ammonites  of  the  Jurassic  and  Creta- 
ceous. The  culmination  was  followed  by  extinction.  Meantime 
a  second  line  of  development  began,  that  of  the  naked  cephalo- 
pods,  and  this  has  gone  on  advancing  until  the  present  time.  The 
decapod  Crustacea  represent  a  group  which  is  even  now  near  its 
culmination.  From  their  first  appearance  in  the  Carboniferous 
there  has  been  a  tendency  toward  concentration  of  orgjans  toward 
the  head.  As  this  specialization  advanced  the  abdomen  became 
smaller  while  the  head  region  became  larger.  Finally  in  the 
crabs,  which  appeared  in  the  Jurassic,  everything  was  concen- 


Digitized  by 


Google 


1 886.]  The  Limits  of  Organic  Evolution,  419 

trated  into  the  head  region ;  the  abdomen  being  little  more  tha« 
a  rudiment.  Evidently  we  are  here  near  a  limit,  and  we  may 
look  upon  the  crabs  of  to-day  as  the  culmination  of  the  special 
line  of  development  which  has  characterized  this  line  of  animals. 
The  vertebrates  in  general  have  been  continually  advancing 
during  geological  times  with  a  continued  increase  in  specializa- 
tion and  in  hiultitude  of  types.  But  even  here  there  has  been 
the  same  story  of  limitation.  The  ganoids  culminated  in  the 
Devonian,  and  have  advanced  no  farther.  One  great  line  of  rep- 
tiles reached  its  limit  in  the  Jurassic.  And  so  everj'where.  The 
study  of  every  group  teaches  that  the  past  history  has  been  a 
gradual  specialization,  which  approaches  a  limit.  In  many  cases 
in  the  past  this  limit  has  been  reached  and  advance  ceases ;  while 
in  others  animals  are  still  on  their  road  toward  it. 

It  is  plain,  therefore,  that  the  evolution  of  the  whole  animal 
kingdom  is  slowly  but  inevitably  approaching  an  end.  With 
every  advance  in  differentiation  the  possible  lines  of  development 
decrease,  and  since  the  actual  lines  followed  are  tending  to  run 
themselves  out,  the  whole  must  eventually  stop. 

Recognizing,  then,  that  there  must  be  a  limit  to  advance,  we 
must  next  ask^the  question,  whether  after  this  limit  is  reached  tke 
animal  kingdom  will  become  extinct;  whether,  like  an  individual, 
it  will  die  of  old  age  ?  And  here  we  must  distinguish  two  ques- 
tions. First,  is  it  not  possible  that  animals  which  have  remained 
unspecialized  during  all  times,  should  give  rise  constantly  to  new 
lines  of  development,  and  thus  be  a  perpetual  source  of  new 
forms  ?  Second,  will  the  present  groups,  after  reaching  their  cul- 
mination, become  extinct  or  simply  remain  stationary  ? 

That  there  is  a  theoretical  possibility  of  the  origin  of  new 
types  cannot  be  denied.  New  types,  /.  ^.,  new  lines  for  specializa- 
tion, can  arise  only  from  undifferentiated  forms.  But  such  undif- 
ferentiated forms  still  exist  in  great  numbers.  Even  the  most 
unspecialized  form  of  all,  the  unicellular  animals,  are  abundant 
enough,  and  in  all  groups  we  are  acquainted  with  more  or  less 
generalized  types.  Theoretically,  then,  there  is  no  reason  why 
any  of  these  forms  should  not  expand  itself  and  thus  form  aa 
eternal  source  of  new  world  forms.  So  long  as  the  unspecialized 
forms  do  not  become  extinct,  we  cannot  deny  the  possibility  of 
an  infinite  number  of  future  subkingdoms,  which  would,  of  course^ 
make  the  animal  kingdom  an  example  of  never-ending  evolution. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


420  The  Limits  of  Organic  Evolution.  [May, 

But  all  of  our  evidence  indicates  that  such  a  future  is  probably 
not  a  practical  possibility,  even  though,  as  &r  as  we  can  see,  it 
may  be  a  theoretical  one.  All  biological  studies  point  strongly 
to  the  conclusion  that  instead  of  several  points  of  origin  the  ani- 
mal kingdom  has  had  only  one.  The  subkingdoms  have  not 
arisen  independently  from  the  Protozoa,  but  have  all  had  a  com- 
mon ancestor,  the  gastrula,  and  this  means  that  only  once  has 
the  unicellular  form  given  rise  to  important  lines  of  multicellular 
descendants.  Though  the  Ccelenterata  stand  very  near .  this 
primitive  unspecialized  form,  there  is  no  evidence  that  it  has  the 
power  of  further  differentiation ;  but  on  the  contrary,  all  tends  to 
sliow  that  whatsoever  differentiation  of  this  simple  type  ever  did 
take  place,  to  give  rise  to  the  subkingdoms,  occurred  before  the 
Silurian.  Since  palaeontology  shows  us  that  no  new  great  types 
have  arisen  since  the  Silurian,  it  is  plain  that  all  of  the  expansion 
of  the  simple  unicellular  form  must  have  taken  place  before  the 
Silurian.  And  coming  through  the  later  ages  we  find  evidence 
the  same  in  its  tenor. '  The  conclusion  everywhere  seems  to  be 
that  when  a  generalized  form  has  given  rise  to  one  or  two  lines  of 
development,  it  either  disappears  or  loses  its  power  to  originate 
new  forms.  Every  step  of  palaeontology  carrying -existing  groups 
farther  and  farther  back  in  the  geological  ages  adds  force  to  this 
general  conclusion.  Every  bit  of  evidence  which  indicates  a 
fundamental  unity  of  the  ^animal  kingdom  testifies  to  the  same. 
Without  questioning  the  theoretical  possibility  that  any  or  all  of 
the  existing  more  or  less  unspecialized  forms  may  in  the  future 
develop,  we  must  acknowledge  that  the  probability  is  against  it. 
Nothing  in  history  indicates  that  these  groups  retain  power  to 
expand,  and  there  is,  therefore,  no  reason  for  thinking  it  a  possi- 
bility in  the  future.  Remembering  what  a  large  number  of 
groups  we  are  learning  to  trace  back  to  the  Silurian,  remember- 
ing that  development  has  Consisted,  in  the  later  geological  ages, 
simply  in  the  expansion  of  groups  appearing  long  before,  we 
must  conclude  that  the  power  of  the  undifferentiated  forms  to 
expand  into  different  lines  of  development  disappears  very  early 
in  their  history.  While  then  we  cannot  deny  the  possibility  of 
an  indefinite  future  •  development  from  the  existing  generalized 
types,  it  is  certainly  improbable  that  any  new  great  groups  will 
arise.  Man,  seizing  upon  the  last  undifferentiated  faculty,  the 
intellect,  is  developing  this  to  extreme,  and  will  probably  be  the 
last  type  to  appear. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


l886.]  The  Limits  of  Organic  Evolution,  42 1 

The  second  question,  concerning  the  probability  of  the  various 
groups  becoming  extinct  after  reaching  their  culmination,  is  not 
so  easy  to  answer.  It  is  certainly  possible  to  conceive  of  them 
as  remaining  stationary  at  their  culmination,  neither  developing 
further  nor  becoming  extinct  Undoubtedly  the  history  of  the 
past  shows  that  after  any  group  reaches  an  extreme  of  specializa- 
tion it  does  not  remain  stationary,  but  begins  to  decrease  in  num- 
bers, finally  to  disappear.  But  the  number  of  groups  which  have 
thus  become  extinct  is  not  very  great,  and  it  is  a  question  whether 
it  is  justifiable  to  claim  that  they  really  represent  a  general  ten- 
dency. It  is  certain  that  disturbing  causes  which  have  acted  in 
the  past  to  produce  extinction  will  grow  less  and  less  in  the 
future.  We  can  see  that  extinction  in  the  past  has  been  due  to 
the  inability  of  these  extreme  forms  to  adapt  themselves  to  new 
circumstances  with  sufficient  readiness.  Of  course  when  all  of 
our  present  groups  shall  have  developed  themselves  to  extremes, 
they  too  will  be  unable  to  adapt  themselves  to  new  conditions, 
and  would  doubtless  become  extinct  if  they  were  called  upon  to 
meet  adverse  circumstances.  But  it  is  an  acknowledged  fact  that 
physical  changes  are  much  less  rapid  now  than  they  were  for- 
merly, and  that  they  are  constantly  diminishing.  If  this  is  the 
case  the  developed  extremes  of  the  future  will  not  be  called  upon 
to  meet  such  changes  in  condition  as  those  which  have  induced 
extinction  in  the  past ;  and  they  may  even  then  be  able  to  un- 
dergo such  slight  modifications  as  will  enable  them  to  meet  the 
slight  changes  in  condition.  Moreover,  in  the  past  extinctions 
have  very  generally  occurred  because  animals  have  been  unable 
to  contend  with  the  new  and  more  vigorous  forms  which  were 
capable  of  a  more  rapid  modification  than  the  older  ones.  But 
as  we  have  seen,  the  number  of  possible  new  forms  is  constantly 
decreasing,  and  the  time  must  come  when  it  is  no  longer  possible 
for  new  forms  to  arise  to  crowd  the  older  ones  out  of  existence. 
With  almost  stationary  physical  conditions,  and  with  no  new 
rivals,  it  may  be  that  the  animal  kingdom  is  approaching  a  con- 
dition when,  for  reasons  which  we  have  seen,  it  cannot  advance, 
and  when  there  will  be  nothing  to  cause  extinction,  and  it  will 
therefore  remain  stationary. 

There  is  one  new  condition,  however,  which  is  to  have  a  pro- 
digious influence  upon  the  evolution  of  the  future.  The  influ- 
ence of  man  on  the  animal  kingdom  cannot  be  computed,  but  it 


Digitized  by 


Google 


422  The  Limits  of  Organic  Evolution.  [May, 

is  probable  that  in  many  respects  it  will  be  a  death  blow  to  its 
evolution.  Man  is  rapidly  causing  the  extinction  of  almost  all 
land  animals,  at  least  the  larger  ones.  As  the  frontiers  of  civili- 
zation are  being  extended  further  and  further  into  the  uninhabited 
regions,  he  is  driving  out  of  existence  all  of  the  larger  animals 
and  many  of  the  smaller  ones.  We  have  only  to  look  ahead  a 
comparatively  short  time  to  se'e  the  extinction  of  all  land  animals 
except  such  as  man  may  preserve  for  his  own  use.  To  what  ex- 
tent this  may  apply  to  other  animals,  to  insects,  marine  animals, 
etc.,  is  not  clear.  But  in  the  highest  group  of  animals,  the  verte- 
brates, it  is  pretty  clear  that  man  is  eventually  to  bring  about  not 
only  the  end  of  advance,  but  also  the  practical  extermination  of 
all  animals  except  such  as  he  especially  preserves. 

With  all  of  these  considerations  together  it  seems  perfectly  plain 
that  we  must  look  upon  the  evolution  of  the  animal  kingdom  as 
definitely  limited  and  approaching  an  end.  The  tendency  of  spe- 
cialization to  advance  to  extreme  limits,  the  impossibility  of  the 
further  adaptation  of  these  extremes  to  new  conditions,  the  sig- 
nificant fact  that  no  new  forms  of  importance  have  arisen  during 
all  the  later  geological  ages,  the  great  influence  of  man  in  causing 
extermination  of  all  sorts  of  animals,  all  these  point  to  the  same 
end.  Just  as  evolution  began  in  time,  so  it  will  end  in  time,  and 
we  must  look  upon  the  animal  kingdom  as  progressing  toward  a 
limit.  When  this  limit  is  reached,  either  there  will  follow  a  grad- 
ual extinction  through  a  diminution  of  vital  power,  or  if  this  be 
not  the  result,  a  stationary  condition  will  ensue  in  which  such 
animals  as  man  has  left  in  existence  will  remain  unmodified  until 
the  progress  of  physical  changes  makes  this  world  no  longer 
habitable. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


1 886.]        Ancient  Rack  Inscriptions  in  Eastern  Dakota,  423 

ANCIENT    ROCK    INSCRIPTIONS    IN    EASTERN 
DAKOTA. 

BY  T.  H.  LEWIS. 

ON  the  celebrated  map  of  I.N.  Nicollet,  of  the  "  Hydrographi- 
cal  basin  of  the  Upper  Mississippi  river,"  published  by  the' 
U.  S.  Government  in  1845,  appear,  for  the  first  time,  two  strange 
names  in  Eastern  Dakota,  not  far  from  the  sources  of  the  Minne- 
sota river.  The  first  is  Wakiyan  Hurpi  (or  thunder's — not  light- 
ning's— nest),  placed  about  thirteen  miles  north-west  of  the  foot 
of  Lake  Travers;  and  the  other  is  Wakiyan  Oye,  a  few  miles 
west  of  the  head  of  the  same  lake.  The  route  followed  by  Nicol- 
let, however,  did  not  pass  by  either  place,  so  he  must  have  put 
them  down  from  the  general  description  of  his  guides,  as  he 
makes  no  mention  of  them  in  his  text  It  is  of  the  latter  locality, 
well  known  by  its  translated  equivalent  of  "Thunder  Bird's 
Track  " — on  account  of  the  incised  rocks  there — ^that  this  article 
treats;  together  with  another  rock  of  like  kind  in  the  neigh- 
borhood. 

In  the  month  of  August,  1883,  I  was  engaged  in  the  survey  of 
the  sepulchral  tumuli,  forts  and  other  earth-works  of  Big  Stone 
and  Travers  lakes,  and  thus  being  brought  into  the  vicinity  of  the 
rocks  in  question,  took  the  opportunity  afforded  of  making  care- 
ful tracings  of  the  pictographs  they  showed,  considering  them  of 
much  archaeological  interest  These  tracings  have  been  reduced 
by  pantograph  to  one-eighth  the  size  of  the  originals,  and  draw- 
ings thus  made  from  them  accompany  this  short  account  of  the 
"  track  rocks." 

The  first  diagram  shows  the  pictographs  constituting  "  Thun- 
der Bird's  Track,"  as  they  are  engraved  on  an  irregular  shaped 
rock  located  some  six  miles  west  and  a  little  north  of  the  village 
of  Brown's  Valley,  Minnesota,  and  within  the  limits  of  the  Sisse- 
ton  and  Wahpeton  reservation  of  Dakota  Territory.  The  rock 
lies  on  the  summit  of  a  hill  which  commands  a  good  view  of  the 
country,  though  there  are  other  hills  in  the  vicinity  which  have  a 
greater  altitude.  It  is  about  three  and  a  half  feet  in  diameter,  and 
the  characters  are  grooved  in  its  surface  to  about  one-fourth  of 
an  inch  in  depth.  The  grooves  are,  for  the  most  part,  very 
smooth.  It  will  be  seen,  however,  that  these  figures  do  not  make 
very  good  bird-tracks,  and  I  think  that  they  more  probably  rep- 


Digitized  by 


Google 


424  Ancient  Rock  Inscriptions  in  Eastern  Dakota.        [lifay, 

resent  human  hands.  For  convenience  of  reference  the  separate 
characters  are  numbered  on  the  diagram,  and  may^be  thus 
described. 

I  and  2.  Represent  hands  placed  in  different  positions. 

3.  Shows  two  hands  in  combination. 

4.  Is  of  a  nondescript  shape. 

5  and  6.  Are  undoubtedly  meant  for  hands,  as  their  outlines 
can  be  imitated  in  shadow  on  the  wall  by  placing  one's  own 
hands  in  the  proper  positions. 

7.  Is  another  nondescript,  though  a  portion  of  it  represents  a 
hand. 

The  other  rock  is  known  as  "  Thunder  Bird's  Track's  Brother  " 
— that  is,  a  brother  to  the  "  track  " — and  is  situated  about  two 
miles  east  of  his  elder,  on  the  slope  of  a  terrace  bordering  the 
valley  of  the  Minnesota  river.  As  will  be  seen  on  comparison, 
the  diagrams  illustrating  the  two  rocks  are  entirely  distinct  from 
each  other  in  respect  to  the  shapes  of  the  characters,  and  by  no 
means  bear  out  the  close  relationship  between  the  localities  im- 
plied by  the  names  the  Indians  have  given  them. 

The  inscriptions  on  both  rocks  are  apparently  very  ancient, 
and  it  is  extremely  doubtful  whether  the  present  Indians  or  their 
immediate  predecessors  (the  Cheyennes  ?)  had  anything  to  do 
with  carving  them. 

I  made  inquiry  as  to  any  traditions  that  might  be  current 
among  the  Dakota  Indians  on  the  reserve  concerning  these  rocks, 
and  obtained  certain  mythological  information  now  concisely 
stated. 

Thunder  Bird  is  said  to  have  had  his  nest  on  a  high  mound, 
which  was  composed  of  sticks  and  brush,  and  was  situated 
some  ten  miles  north-west  of  the  foot  of  Lake  Travers,  in  the  cen- 
ter of  a  deep  wide  gorge.  One  day  there  was  a  great  storm  which 
flooded  the  whole  country.  Thunder  Bird,  in  his  anger  at  having 
beeii  driven  from  his  nest  by  the  rising  waters,  flew  away  and 
alighted  on  this  rock — Wakiyan  Oye — which  was  the  only 
place  not  covered  by.  water,  and  left  the  impression  of  his  feet 
there. 

On  subsequently  looking  for  printed  records  of  this  tradition, 
the  first  account  I  could  find  of  it  was  in  the  shape  of  a  short 
poem  from  the  pen  of  an  Indian  trader  of  1823,  W.  J.  Snelling 
(son  of  the  military  officer  after  whom  Fort  Snelling  was  named). 


Digitized  by 


Google 


PLATE  XVI. 


Thunder  Bird's  Tracks. 


Thunder  Bird's  Tracks'  Brother. 


J^^ 


^  Pf 


;% 
T 


L 


Ancient  Rock  Inscriptions  in  Eastern  Dakota. 


...c^,.' 


Digitized  by 


Google 


1 886.]  Variation  of  Water  in  Trees  and  Shrubs,  425 

which  appeared  in  Griswold's  Poets  and  Poetry  of  America 
(1842),  and  has  been  reprinted  in  Mr.  Neill's  histories.  The  last 
stanza  but  one  has  direct  reference  to  the  rock  I  have  here  first 
described,  and  runs  thus  : 

'*  Not  long  upon  this  mountain  height 

The  first  and  worst  of  storms  abode, 
For,  moving  in  his  fearful  might, 

Abroad  the  God-begotten  strode. 
Afar,  on  yonder  faint  blue  mound. 

In  the  horizon's  utmost  bound, 
At  the  first  stride  his  foot  he  set ; 

The  jarring  world  confessed  the  shock. 
Stranger !  the  track  of  Thunder  yet 

Remains  upon  the  living  rock." 


VARIATION  OF  WATER  IN  TREES  AND  SHRUBS. 

BY  D.  P.  PENHALLOW. 

THE  amount  of  water  which  highly  lignified  plants  contain, 
particularly  as  influenced  by  season  and  condition  of  growth, 
obviously  bears  a  more  or  less  important  relation  to  physiological 
processes  incident  to  growth,  and  most  conspicuously  to  those 
which  embrace  the  movement  of  sap.  Studies  relating  to  the 
mechanical  movement  of  sap  in  early  spring  at  once  suggest  the 
question  as  to  how  far  this  is  correlated  to  greater  hydration  of 
the  tissues  at  the  time  when  this  movement  is  strongest.  It  was 
with  a  view  to  exhibiting  this  relation  more  clearly,  that  deter- 
minations of  moisture  in  a  large  number  of  woods,  representing 
growth  of  one  and  also  often  years,  collected  at  different  seasons, 
were  made  in  1874.^  The  range  of  seasons  was  not  as  complete 
as  could  have  been  desired,  and  no  attempt  was  made  to  formu- 
late a  general  law  applicable  to  this  question.  With  a  view  to 
extension  of  data  in  this  direction,  additional  estimates  were  un- 
dertaken in  1882,  and  it  is  the  object  of  the  present  paper  to  com- 
bine all  the  results  thus  obtained,  together  with  such  other  facts 

^  W.  S.  Clark.    Agriculture  of  Massachusetts,  p.  2S9. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


426 


Variation  of  Water  in  Trtes  and  Shrubs. 


[May, 


as  have  come  to  our  notice,  and  see  how  far  they  indicate  a  gen- 
eral law. 

Theoretical  considerations  lead  us  to  infer  that  if  there  is  any 
variation  at  all,  the  hydration  of  structure  must  be  greatest  during 
the  period  of  active  growth,  and  least  during  the  period  of  rest 
How  far  this  is  supported  by  the  facts  will  appear  in  what 
follows. 

Hydration  of  Dead  Wood. 

Incidentally  to  the  main  question,  specimens  of  dead  wood, 
deprived  of  the  bark  and  representing  an  age  of  from  four  to 
eight  years,  were  collected  and  the  moisture  determined  While 
the  branches  were  dead,  none  of  them  were  in  an  advanced  state 
of  decay,  so  that  the  contained  water  could  not  be  regarded  as 
that  of  active  decomposition,  but  simply  that  which  would  be 
readily  retained  in  the  lifeless,  air-dried  substance  as  exposed  on 
the  tree.  The  results  obtained  from  fifteen  species  of  trees 
showed  an  extreme  variation  of  6.1  per  cent,  the  range  being 
from  12.9  per  cent  to  19.0  per  cent  of  water.  The  mean  hydra- 
tion obtained  from  these  determinations  was  15.1  per  cent  The 
results  appear  in  the  following  table : 


HYDRATION  OF  DEAD  WOOD. 

Detennined  at  looP  C. 

Specits, 

Acer  saccharinum 

Amelanchier  canadensis 

Betula  alba 

"      lutea 

"       lenta 

Carpinus  americana 

Castanea  vesca 

Cydonia  vulgaris 

Cornus  sericea 

Pinus  strobus 

Pyros  malus , 

Prunus  serotina , 

Quercus  alba 

Tsuga  canadensis . . . ; 

Ulmus  americana 

Mean 


Per  cent  of  water. 


18.8 

19.0 

15.1 

159 

13.7 

13.8 

14.0 

12.9 

13.6 

1 1.9 

12.9 

17.4- 

15.5 

18.6 

15.1 


Digitized  by 


Google 


1 886.]  Variation  of  Water  in  Trees  and  Shrubs.  427 

Hydration  of  Wood  from  Living  Trees. 

The  specimens  upon  which  the  principal  facts  in  this  paper  are 
based,  were  collected  as  sections  of  living  branches,  representing 
on  the  one  hand  growth  of  two  years,  and  on  the  other  hand  the 
growth  of  four  years.  For  the  obvious  reason  that  the  bark 
could  not  be  properly  separated  from  the  wood  with  any  degree 
of  uniformity,  it  was  left  on  in  every  case,  so  that  in  all  the  deter- 
minations here  given  the  results  show  the  combined  percentage 
of  water  in  wood  and  bark.  Obviously  this  gives  a  result  which 
differs  materially  from  that  which  would  be  obtained  if  the  wood 
and  bark  were  considered  separately.  Also,  while  care  was  taken 
not  to  collect  specimens  in  which  the  dead  bark  was  strongly 
developed,  thus  securing  as  great  uniformity  as  possible,  the  very 
fact  that  the  |;>ark  was  present,  as  well  as  the  certainty  of  its  varia- 
bility in  structural  character,  and  thus  also  in  hydration,  as  col- 
lected even  from  the  same  species  at  different  seasons,  rendered 
certain  variations  in  the  results  unavoidable.  This  will  doubtless 
appear  upon  examination  of  specific  cases,  but  error  from  this 
source  is  reduced  to  a  minimum  in  the  aggregate,  so  that  the 
mean  results,  in^  view  of  all  the  precautions  taken,  may  doubtless 
be  accepted  as  correct. 

From  an  examination  of  the  following  results  it  will  appear 
that,  comparing  the  young  growth  with  the  older  wood,  the  per- 
centage of  water  is  sometimes  greater  in  one,  sometimes  greater 
in  the  other,  conforming  to  structural  peculiarities  of  the  species 
and  the  relative  preponderance  of  more  or  less  strongly  hydrated 
tissue.  The  mean  results,  however,  clearly  show  what  we  might 
infer  upon  theoretical  grounds,  viz.,  that  in  the  youngest  growth, 
as  also  in  the  sap  wood,  the  percentage  of  water  is  higher  by  two 
per  cent  than  in  the  older  growth,  where  the  heart  wood  is  in 
relative  excess.  This  is  found  to  hold  true  in  the  mean  results 
not  only  for  each  season  but  also  for  all  seasons ;  in  the  former 
case,  however,  the  disproportion  showing  a  variation  from  0.8 
per  cent  to  3.3  per  cent. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


428 


Variation  of  Water  in  Trees  and  Shrubs, 


[May, 


1 

vn 

5 

5"  J^ 

*NO 

to 

J 

00 
W 

'9% 

i 

^i 

oo 

1 

lO 

2" 

n 

f4 

w 

^ 

00  >d 

o 

CO 

6\ 

i 

'i 

vn 

0 

n 

NO 

"4 

i 

1 

n 

n 

1 

-'i 

5 

0  f^ 

'♦ 

? 

NO 

2i 

•is; 

f4 

i 

1** 

5? 

v»oo 

'-^ 

5 

o 

Jl 

NO 

U->ON 

i  I- 

s 

•c 

'»3 


S    3 


.2   h4   5   ^ 
3 

S 


8  -S 


•c 


3. 

0^ 


_g2  8 


8 


fi    ni     I 


8  J  S  g 


S    -5 


6 


11 

S  6 


I  a 


i  "'•SB 

I   n 


Digitized  by 


Google 


1 886.] 


Variation  of  Water  in  Trees  and  Shrubs. 


429 


;^^ 


^«  _•  ^  -r  -^     *  --  vn  fco 


^00  ro 
e^  lA  lA 


0.  «<?»? 

0   0\iOP0 

1/^ 

00       r^ 
vn      10 

0   fOO\ 

a4? 

CO 

coO\rO>0 
»ocot>^d 

to  ^  ^  u% 

so  MOO 

to*i  d 

CO 

>d 
10 

0  ^00 

* 

^ 

ro 

NO  vnvn 

d 

vn 

1 

'foo  « 
»o»oio 

H 

• 

0 

r* 

TO 

9, 

121 

Ml  »OVO   "^ 

« 

s 

00 

¥55 

J 

<4 

toooo 

N 

00 

1 

i 

M 

5" 

1 

vn 

i 

9< 

■i 

5- 

0^ 

e 

Is^-j-'iJ  ill 

■5S 


_  o 


VOL.  UC— KO.  V, 


%t 


'h'%^ 


n 


Digitized  by 


Google 


430 


Variation  of  Water  in  Trees  and  Shrubs. 


[May, 


1 

N              00              00 

fo          m          ro 

^3 

O  «  **oo  « 
m«n^  po<o 

1 

"i 

-* 

0 

00 

«n 

«« 

in 

1 

"i 

ri 

M 

ft  r^ 

1 

-i 

• 

si 

CI 

to 

1 

^i 

I 

000        00 

M   N   M   O 

>d  ei  dod 
«n»n^po 

n 

00 

a*4 

«^ 

-'i 

8^ 

00  0 

i       I 

Hi 

O            00             o\ 
ro            *o            PO 

m 

i 

il 


T  1  i  ^  I  S  i 


5  -S  1  ^ 


8  z  8  J  s   :  : 

g   a   g  -'   8   x^j 

•3  .s  ,S    5  13  a  5 


i 

3 

a 

I 


2     I 

Q        I 


o 

I 


8 


S 

9 

G 

5* 


I  -3 
^  I 

O 

3 

I 


8 


Co 

I, 


tJSE  a 


ft- 


Digitized  by 


Google 


I886.J 


Variation  of  Water  in  Trees  and  Shrubs. 


431 


OviOM  Q  ••   d  cfvtAvnr^O   d  ^ 


m«/)^oo  o\ 


i    %iHi> 


1 

^5 

10  »o 

^  vq  VO  so 

0  o»o\NQO  ^r^M  «  r^os^to 

10  »0 

vd  4  *n*n 
tn^tnvo 

■-■        --       — ■  "     1 

^•0 

9% 

|S 

00 

dvfo 
^10 

Ov 

r^ 

% 

vd 

qvovcoM 

1  t'O 

53.5. 

OS       ►-    Ov 

ITiOi 

vOOO  NOO 

to 

5 

0  "^J- 
«,?! 

i 

» 
5 

1 

0 
00 

fOCO 

1 

t1       t 

MNO         0 
'^f'*       ^r^ 

0.00 

Cv 

4 

1^ 

Digitized  by 


Google 


432 


Variation  of'  Water  in  Trees  and  Shrubs, 


[May, 


ir  we  next  inquire  into  the  relation  which  seasons  bear  to  the 
contained  water,  we  will  observe  that  the  percentage  continually 
rises  from  the  mid-winter  period  until  spring,  and  that  it  again 
falls  from  the  close  of  summer  to  the  mid-winter  period.  The 
extreme  variations,  as  exhibited  in  our  figures,  show  between 
February  and  September  a  difference  of  8.4  per  cent  for  the 
youngest  growth  and  7.1  per  cent  for  that  which  is  older. 

MEAN  HYDRATION  OF  WOODS. 
Detennined  at  loo^  C. 


Months. 


Febmary. . 
March.... 
April.... 
September 
December 


Per  cent  water. 


xftt  year. 


49.0 


ad  year. 


447 

43.9 

47.2 

44.8 

51.7 

4S.4 

53.1 

SI.0 

4«.3 

47.2 

47-' 


No.  fir  average. 


ut  year. 


37 

19 
61 

36.4 


sd  year. 


38 
60 

7 
18 

58 
36.2 


Our  figures  also  indicate  that^  the  maximum  hydration  of  the 
tissues  must  occur  either  in  September,  or  at  some  period  inter- 
mediate to  this  month  and  April.  By  graphic  representation  of 
these  results,  it  will  become  possible  to  determine  with  approxi- 
mate accuracy  the  true  period  at  which  this  maximum  is  reached. 
The  figures  show  that  from  February  to  April,  the  rate  of  per- 
centage increase  is  much  more  rapid  than  the  rate  of  percentage 
decrease  from  September  to  December,  showing  that  the  maxi- 
mum must  fall  nearer  the  former  than  the  latter  period. 

A  properly  constructed  curve  will  show  all  of  these  relations. 
By  reference  to  the  accompanying  diagrams  it  will  be  seen  that 
the  curves  for  both  young  and  old  wood  run  nearly  parallel,  but 
that  they  tend  to  approach  at  their  greatest  depression,  or  the 
mid-winter  period,  and  to  more  widely  separate  at  their  greatest 
altitude,  during  the  spring  period.  It  is  also  seen  that  from  mid- 
winter to  spring,  the  curve  rises  rapidly,  and  reaches  its  greatest 
elevation  about  the  last  of  May  for  the  young  wood,  that  which 
is  older  possibly  reaching  its  maximum  a  few  days  later.  From 
this  time  on  the  curve  descends  at  a  more  gradual  rate  until  De- 
cember, when  it  suddenly  drops  to  its  minimum  depression, 
which  evidently  occurs  in  January. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


PLATE  XVII. 


> 
< 

— nr 

^   ^    ^    1 

^    ^    IS    ^ 

\ 

V 

o 

^ 

IP 

f 

^ 

^ 

^ 

Ox 

\ 

% 

\ 

1 

■^ 

Co 

• 
% 

\ 

» 
\ 
1 

\ 

t 

1 

1 

4-= 

5       / 

i 

\ 

0 

/ 

/ 

1 
f 

,/ 

? 
'r 

?- 

t 

/ 

/  / 

1 

1 

t 
1 

// 

/    -7 

1 

/ 

I 

1^ 

l1 

1 

J 

Digitized  by 


Google 


Digitized  by 


Google 


1 886.]  Variation  of  Water  in  Tfees  and  Shrubs.  433 

Periods  for  Cessation  of  Growth. 
As  upon  theoretical  grounds  the  tissues  contain  most  water 
when  the  growth  is  most  active,  data  which  will  enable  us  to 
accurately  fix  the  limiting  periods  for  the  season's  growth,  will 
have  an  important  bearing  upon  this  question.  Mr.  W.  E.  Stone/ 
accepting  the  completion  of  terminal  buds  as  marking  comple- 
tion of  the  longitudinal  growth  for  the  entire  year,  has  obtained 
the  following  data  as  establishing  the  limiting  periods  of  growth 
for  the  latitude  of  West  Point,  N.  Y.,  41°  23'  N. : 

JUNE  1ST. 
Acer  saccharinum  Wang.  Quercus  alba  L. 

"     rubrum  L.  «'         bkoior  Willd. 

Amelanchier  canadensis  Torr.  &  Gray.  **        coccinea  Wang. 

Carya  alba  Nutt.  "        prinus  v«  monticola  Michx. 

Fagus  ferrugtnea  AXU  Sambucus  pubens  Michx, 

Fraxinns  americana  L.  TXlia  americana  L. 

Hamamelis  virginica  L.  Ulmus  americana  L. 

Kalmia  latifolia  L.  "     fuha  Michx. 

Populus  tremuloides  Michx. 

JUNE  15TH.  * 

Behila  lenta  L.  Lindera  benzoin  Meissn. 

Carpinus  americana  Michx.  Morus  rubra  L. 

Casiama  vesea  L.  Ostrya  virginica  Willd. 

ymglans  nigra  L.  Prunus  cerasus  L. 

JULY  I9TH. 
Andromeda  ligustrina  Mahl.  Nyssa  muUifiora  Wang. 

Alnus  incana  Willd.  Siaphylea  tri folia  L. 

INDETERMINATE  PERIOD. 

Ampehpsis  quinquifolia  Michx.  Rhus  sp. — 

Celaslrus  scandens  L.  Vitis  sp. — 

Growth  in  length  having  ceased  at  these  periods,  the  energy 
of  the  plant  then  becomes  directed  to  the  lignification  of 
tissues  and  the  deposition  of  reserve  material  for  growth  the 
following  year.  These  changes,  however,  of  necessity  involve 
a  continual  decrease  in  the  contained  water.  The  data  above  also 
show  that  the  majority  of  plants  complete  their  longitudinal 
growth  within  the  first  six  weeks  of  the  growing  season ;  that 
most  of  these  complete  their  growth  in  from  three  to  four  weeks ; 
and  that,  as  the  season  advances,  the  number  of  plants  still  grow- 
ing, rapidly  diminishes  until  the  middle  of  July,  after  which  time 
there  are  left  but  few,  those  being  plants  like  the  grape,  which 
continue  to  grow  until  arrested  by  severe  cold. 

Ball.  Torrej  Bot.  Club,  xil,  8,  83. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


434  Domestication  of  the  Grizzly  Bear.  [May, 

A  graphic  representation  of  these  changes  in  connection  with 
the  curves  of  hydration,  will  enable  us  to  determine  the  relation 
of  growth  and  seasons  to  hydration  of  tissues.  This  comparison 
will  show  most  conspicuously  that  that  period  at  which  growth 
for  the  season  is  chiefly  terminated,  is  nearly  coincident  with  the 
period  of  maximum  tissue  hydration,  the  former  being  but  five  or 
ten  days  later  than  the  latter. 

From  the  foregoing  fiicts  the  following  appear  to  be  the  general 
laws : 

1st.  The  hydration  of  woody  plants  is  not  constant  for  all  sea- 
sons, and  depends  upon  conditions  of  growth. 

2d.  The  hydration  reaches  its  maximum  during  the  latter  part 
of  May  or  early  June,  and  its  minimum  during  the  month  of  Jan- 
uary. 

3d.  Hydration  is  greatest  in  the  sap  wood  ;  least  in  that  which 
is  older. 

4th.  Greatest  hydration  is  directly  correlated  to  most  active 
growth  of  the  plant ;  lignification  and  storage  of  starch  and  other 
products  being  correlated  to  diminishing  hydration. 

These  facts  apply  only  to  latitudes  lying  between  New  York 
and  Boston.  For  other  latitudes,  certain  modifications  might  be 
necessary. 


DOMESTICATION  OF  THE  GRIZZLY  BEAR. 

BY  JOHN  DEAN  CATON,  LL.D. 

THE  family  of  bears  is  among  the  most  widely  distributed 
groups  of  the  quadrupeds,  and  is  represented  by  a  number 
of  living  species.  They  occupy  the  polar  regions  of  the  north 
and  the  temperate  and  torrid  regions  of  both  hemispheres.  Some 
are  of  enormous  strength  and  fierceness,  others  are  diminutive 
and  comparatively  mild  in  disposition.  Nearly  every  species  has 
been  held  in  captivity  in  considerable  numbers,  yet  of  their  adap- 
tability to  domestication  but  little  of  real  scientific  value  has  been 
written,  and  I  think  I  may  add  but  little  is  known,  for  the  want 
of  judicious  experiment  and  careful  observation. 

They  are  sometimes  met  with  in  the  streets  in  various  countries, 
exhibited  by  street  showmen,  who  have  taught  them  various 
amusing  tricks,  evincing  considerable  intelligence  and  docility. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


i886.]  Domesticatum  of  the  Grizzly  Bear.  435 

but  these  are  generally  of  the  smaller  and  milder  species,  and  but 
little  of  their  training  or  domestication  has  been  recorded. 

Those  which  have  been  exhibited  in  gardens  or  menageries,  as 
a  general  rule,  are  merely  held  in  confinement,  and  not  in  domes- 
tication, so  that  little  can  be  learned  from  them  of  their  adapta- 
bility to  complete  subjection  to  human  control.  This  can  only 
be  learned  by  long-continued  experiments  and  observations  under 
favorable  circumstances  by  those  whose  tastes  and  inclinations 
fit  them  for  the  task. 

My  attention  was  called  to  this  subject  by  reading  the  "Adven- 
tures of  James  C.  Adams,"  who  was  a  celebrated  hunter  of  Cali- 
fornia, who  seems  to  have  had  a  genius  for  capturing  and  domes- 
ticating wild  animals.  Among  others  he  fairly  domesticated  quite 
a  number  of  the  grizzly  bear  {Ursusferox  Lewis  and  Clark)  with 
complete  success.  This  is  the  largest  and  fiercest  known  of  all  the 
species,  and  it  might  be  expected  the  most  intractable  or  unsub- 
missive to  human  control,  yet  such  appears  not  to  have  been  the 
case. 

The  first  specimens  experimented  with  were  two  cubs,  over  a 
year  old  when  caught,  taken  in  Washington  Territory,  between 
Lewis  and  Clark's  fork  of  the  Columbia.  They  were  brother  and 
sister ;  the  latter  was  retained  by  Adams,  and  his  experiments 
were  principally  conducted  on  her,  which  he  called  "  Lady  Wash- 
ington." She  seems  to  have  been  the  more  tractable  and  submis- 
sive. The  male  he  parted  with  to  a  friend,  after  he  had  received 
but  the  rudiments  of  his  education.  At  first  they  were  chained 
to  trees  near  the  camp-fire,  and  resisted  all  attempts  at  familiarity 
and  kindness;  then  severity  was  adopted,  until  they  finally 
submitted. 

Soon  after  the  male  was  parted  with,  and  we  have  no  account 
of  his  subsequent  career.  The  female  was  always  after  treated 
with  the  utmost  kindness,  and  in  a  few  months  became  as  tracta- 
ble as  a  dog.  She  followed  her  master  in  his  hunting  excursions, 
fought  for  him  with  other  grizzlies,  and  saved  him  from  the 
greatest  perils. 

She  slept  at  his  feet  around  the  camp-fire,  and  took  the  place 
of  a  most  vigilant  watch-dog.  He  taught  her  to  carry  burdens 
with  the  docility  of  a  mule,  and  as  she  grew  up  her  great  strength 
enabled  her  to  render  him  great  assistance  in  this  way. 

Another  bear  of  the  same  species  he  captured  in  the  Sierras  in 


Digitized  by 


Google 


436  Domestication  of  the  Grizzly  Bear.  [May, 

California,  before  its  eyes  were  open,  and  raised  it  on  a  grayhound 
bitch  in  company  with  her  own  pup.  This  he  called  Ben  Frank- 
lin, and  proved  more  docile  even  than  the  first.  He  never  found 
it  necessary  to  confine  in  any  way  this  specimen,  but  he  was 
allowed  to  roam  and  hunt  with  his  foster  brother,  the  grayhound. 
They  were  inseparable  companions,  and  seemed  to  have  as  much 
affection  for  each  other  as  if  they  had  been  of  the  same  species. 
Before  he  was  full-grown,  when  his  master  was  attacked  by  a 
wounded  grizzly,  he  joined  in  the  fight  with  such  ferocity  as  to 
save  his  master's  life,  and  though  he  was  severely  wounded  in  this 
contest,  with  careful  nursing  he  survived,  and  ever  after  showed 
as  much  courage  in  attacking  his  own  species  as  if  he  had  not 
met  with  this  severe  punishment 

He  seems  to  have  had  less  confidence  in  Lady  Washington, 
for  she  was  generally  kept  chained  during  the  night  and  when  on 
the  journey,  though  allowed  to  follow  free  when  on  the  hunt. 
This  may  be  explained  by  the  fact  that  she  was  over  a  year  old 
when  captured,  while  the  other  never  had  any  taste  of  wild 
Ufe. 

When  she  was  chained  up  near  the  camp-fire  in  the  Rocky 
mountains,  she  was  visited  several  nights  by  a  large  wild  bear, 
which  her  master  refused  to  disturb,  and  she,  in  due  time,  bore  a 
cub,  which  grew  to  maturity  under  the  tuition  of  her  owner,  and 
which  he  called  Fremont,  which  he  says  manifested  considerable 
intelligence  and  sagacity,  but  not  equal  to  that  of  his  dam  or  to 
his  favorite,  Ben  Franklin.  It  is  to  be  regretted  that  exact  dates 
are  not  given  from  which  we  can  determine  precisely  the  period 
of  gestation,  but  by  comparing  all  the  dates  that  are  given,  it  may 
be  stated  provisionally  that  that  period  was  nine  months. 

It  has  been  stated  by  good  authority  that  no  instance  has  been 
known  of  any  member  of  the  bear  family  having  bred  in  domes- 
tication, and  this  is  the  only  instance  where  I  have  found  such  an 
event  recorded  or  heard  it  stated. 

Our  author  raised  many  of  these  animals,  but  generally  dis- 
posed of  them  before  they  reached  maturity,  but  he  gives  us  no 
particulars  except  in  these  two  instances. 

He  found  the  black  bear,  when  raised  in  camp,  as  readily 
domesticated  as  the  grizzly,  and  as  fond  of  his  society,  following 
him  about  the  camp  and  through  the  woods  with  fidelity  and 
attachment. 


Digitized  by  VjOOQIC 


1 886.]  Domestication  of  the  Grizzly  Bear.  437 

It  is  certainly  interesting  to  observe  how  completely  the  savage 
nature  of  these  ferocious  animals  was  overcome  in  those  which 
were  bom  in  a  wild  state,  and  it  would  be  interesting  to  know 
what  modifications  might  be  made  in  succeeding  generations  by 
domestication,  an  experiment  which  could  only  be  successfully 
tried  under  favorable  conditions,  which  do  not  exist  with  the 
great  number  of  animals  of  this  genus  now  held  in  confinement. 
I  may  remark  here  a  wide  difference  in  the  effect  of  domestica- 
tion upon  the  disposition  of  this  animal  and  many  others,  which 
in  the  wild  state  show  no  ferocity,  but  only  timidity.  Take  the 
Cervidae,  for  instance,  when  brought  up  by  hand ;  they  lose  all 
fear  of  man ;  they  develop  a  wickedness  and  ferocity  never  mani- 
fested in  the  wild  state ;  while  the  bears,  so  terrible  when  un- 
tamed, show  docility,  constancy  and  affection  when  brought  into 
close  familiarity  with  man.  They  seem  to  appreciate  his  kindness 
and  care,  and  repay  it  with  attachment  and  devotion,  while  the 
other  class  of  animals,  which  are  not  ferocious  by  nature,  seem 
to  be  entirely  unappreciative  of  kindness,  or  at  least  seem  incapa- 
ble of  continued  personal  attachment  to  the  hand  that  feeds  them. 

When  I  first  read  Mr.  Adams'  adventures,  I  considered  it  an 
interesting  romance,  or  at  least  that  it  was  largely  embellished  by 
an  ingenious  imagination,  but  upon  inquiry  in  San  Francisco,  I 
met  reliable  persons,  who  had  known  him  well,  and  had  seen  him 
passing  through  the  streets  of  that  city,  followed  by  a  troop  of 
these  monstrous  grizzly  bears  unrestrained,  which  paid  not  the 
least  attention  to  the  yelping  dogs  and  crowds  of  children  which 
closely  followed  them,  giving  the  most  conclusive  proof  of  the 
perfect  docility  of  the  animals.  Indeed,  they  were  so  well  trained 
that  they  obeyed  implicitly  their  master's  every  word  or  gesture 
in  the  midst  of  a  crowded  city,  with  surroundings  which  we  might 
suppose  would  have  aroused  their  native  ferocity,  if  that  were 
possible.  After  the  most  careful  investigation  I  became  con- 
vinced of  the  reliability  of  the  narrative,  and  as  the  facts  our 
author  gives  are  interesting  to  science,  I  venture  to  repeat  them, 
regretting,  however,  that  he  did  not  appreciate  the  great  value  of 
his  observations,  since  he  might  have  given  us  more  particulars 
which  must  have  come  under  his  observation ;  but  so  it  is  that  a 
vast  majority  of  those  who  have  good  opportunities  for  observ- 
ing do  not  know  how  to  observe  judiciously,  or  do  not  record 
their  observations. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


438  On  tJu  Nature  and  Origin  of  the  [May» 

Mr.  A.  S.  Kent,  of  San  Rafael,  California,  who  for  many  years, 
on  account  of  his  health,  spent  several  months  each  year  in 
camp  life  in  the  mountains,  principally  hunting  the  deer,  informed 
me  that  he  once  purchased  a  couple  of  cubs  of  the  grizzly  bear, 
which  he  took  into  camp  with  him.  One  of  these  proved  very 
docile  and  tractable,  and  seemed  iond  of  his  attention  and  society, 
and  usually  slept  contentedly  at  his  feet  The  other  seemed  pos- 
sessed of  a  much  more  vicious  disposition,  and  he  was  obliged 
to  kill  it  Possibly  this  might  have  been  overcome  by  patient 
care  and  judicious  training. 

There  is  no  doubt  that  different  dispositions  among  these  ani- 
mals as  among  most  other,  may  be  met  with. 

Mr.  Kent's  observations  tend,  in  some  degree  at  least,  to  con- 
firm those  of  Mr.  Adams. 

May  we  not  hope  that  some  one  with  the  necessary  taste  and 
proper  facilities  will  try  experiments  and  give  us  the  benefit  of 
their  observations  ? 

A  complete  monograph  of  any  one  of  our  species  of  bears 
under  all  conditions  would  be  a  valuable  addition  to  our  zoologi- 
cal literature. 

ON  THE  NATURE  AND  ORIGIN  OF  THE  SO-CALLED 
"SPIRAL  THREAD"  OF  TRACHEAE. 

BY  A.  S.  PACKARD. 

WHILE  we  owe  to  Professor  O.  Butschli  the  discovery  of  the 
mode  of  origin  and  morphology  of  the  tracheae,  which  as 
he  has  shewn^  arise  by  invaginations  of  the  ectoblast ;  there  being 
originally  a  single  layer  of  epiblastic  cells  concerned  in  the  forma- 
tion of  the  tracheae ;  we  are  indebted  to  Professor  A.  Weismann* 
for  the  discovery  of  the  mode  of  origin  of  the  "intima,"  from  the 
epiblastic  layer  of  cells  forming  the  primitive  foundation  of  the 
tracheal  structure.  We  are  also  indebted  to  Weismann  for  the 
discovery  of  the  mode  of  origin  of  the  terminal  tracheal  cells. 

Weismann  did  not  observe  the  earliest  steps  in  the  process 
of  formation  of  the  stigma  and  main  trunk  of  the  tracheae,  which 
Butschli  afterwards  clearly  described  and  figured. 

Weismann,  however,  thus  describes  the  mode  of  development 

>  Zar  Entwicklungsgeschichte  der  Biene.     Zeit.  wissen.  Zoologie,  xx,  519,  1870. 
*Die  Entwicklung  der  Dipteren  im  £i.    Zeit.  wissen.  Zoologie,  xiii,  1863. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


1 886.]  sthcaUid  ''Spiral  Thread''  of  Trachea.  439 

of  the  intima ;  after  describing  the  cells  destined  to  form  the  peri- 
toneal membrane,  he  says :  "  The  lumen  is  filled  with  a  clear 
fluid  and  already  shows  a  definite  border  in  a  slight  thickening  of 
the  cell-wall  next  to  it 

"Very  soon  this  thickening  forms  a  thin  structureless  intima, 
which  passes  as  a  delicate  double  line  along  the  cells,  and  shows 
its  dependence  on  the  cells  by  a  sort  of  adherence  to  the  rounded 
sides  of  the  cells  (Taf.  vii,  gj  A^a  b  c).  Throughout  the  mass, 
as  the  intima  thickens,  the  cells  lose  their  independence,  their 
walls  pressing  together  and  coalescing,  and  soon  the  considerably 
enlarged  hollow  cylinder  of  the  intima  is  surrounded  by  a  homo- 
geneous layer  of  a  tissue,  whose  origin  from  cells  is  recognized 
only  by  the  regular  position  of  the  rounded  nuclei  (Taf.  vii,  fig. 
97  B). 

"  Then  as  soon  as  the  wavy  bands  of  the  intima  entirely  dis- 
appear and  it  forms  a  straight  cylindrical  tube,  a  fine  pale  cross 
striation  becomes  noticeable  (vii,  97,  B,  int\  which  forms  the 
well-known  '  spiral  thread,'  a  structure  which,  as  Leydig  has 
shown,  possesses  no  independence,  but  arises  merely  from  a  partial 
thickening  of  the  originally  homogeneous  intima. 

"  Meyer's  idea  that  the  spiral  threads  are  fissures  in  the  intima 
produced  by  the  entrance  of  air  is  disproved  by  the  &ct  that  the 
spiral  threads  are  present  long  before  the  air  enters.  Hence  the 
correctness  of  Leydig's  view,  based  on  the  histological  structure 
of  the  tracheae,  is  confirmed  by  the  embryological  development, 
and  the  old  idea  of  three  membranes,  which  both  Meyer  and 
Milne-Edwards  maintain,  must  be  given  up." 

Weismann  also  contends  that  the  elastic  membrane  bearing  the 
**  spiral  thread  "  is  in  no  sense  a  primary  membrane,  not  corre- 
sponding histologically  to  a  cellular  membrane.  On  the  con- 
trary, the  "  peritoneal  membrane  comprises  the  primary  element 
of  the  trachea ;  it  is  nowhere  absent,  but  envelops  the  smallest 
branches  as  well  as  the  largest  trunks,  only  varying  in  thickness, 
which  in  the  embryo  and  the  young  larva  of  Musca  stands  in 
relation  to  the' thickness  of  the  lumen." 

The  trachea,  then,  consists  primarily  of  an  epithelial  layer,  the 
**  peritoneal  membrane"  or  the  invaginated  epiblast ;  from  this  layer 
an  intima  is  secreted,  just  as  the  skin  or  cuticle  is  secreted  by  the 
hypodermis.  We  may  call  the  peritoneal  membrane  the  ecto^ 
trachea^  the  intima  or  inner  layer  derived  from  the  ectotrachea 


Digitized  by 


Google 


440  On  the  Nature  and  Origin  of  the  [May, 

the  endotrachea;  we  hope  to  show  that  the  so-called  "spiral 
thread  "  is  not  spiral  in  arrangement  but  simply  thickenings  of 
the  endotracheal  membrane,  parallel  to  each  other,  not  necessa- 
rily continuous  nor  arranged  in  a  spiral  manner.  For  these 
chitinous  bands  we  would  suggest  the  name  tanidia  (Greek,  little 
bands). 

Our  observations  have  been  made  on  the  larva  of  a  species  of 
Datana^  which  was  placed  in  alcohol,  just  before  pupation,  when 
the  larva  was  in  a  semi-pupal  condition,  and  the  larval  skin  could 
be  readily  stripped  off.  At  this  time  the  ectotrachea  of  the  larva 
had  undergone  histolysis,  nothing  remaining  but  the  .molted  en- 
dotrachea, represented  by  the  taenidia,  which  lay  loosely  within 
the  cavity  of  the  trachea.  The  ectotrachea  or  peritoneal  mem- 
brane of  the  pupa  was  meanwhile  in  process  of  formation ;  the 
nuclear  origin  of  the  taenidia  was  very  apparent,  and  it  was  their 
appearance  which  led  me  to  examine  the  origin  and  mode  of 
development  of  the  so-called  "  spiral  thread,"  and  to  endeavor  to 
trace  its  relations  to  the  intima  (endotrachea)  and  peritoneal  mem- 
brane (ectotrachea). 

Fig.  I  is  a  longitudinal  section  through  a  secondary  tracheal 

branch,  showing 
^^r^"^  the   origin    of   the 

circular  chitinous 
bands,   or  taenidia. 
At  f  are  pieces  of 
^Q\  six   taenidia    which 

have  been  molted; 
ecir  are  the  nuclei 
forming    the  outer 
;  cellular    layer,  the 

^  ectotrachea  or  peri- 

toneal    membrane* 

Fig.  I.— Longitudinal  seclion  of  a  trachea,  showing        r^t  i   .  % 

the  origin  of  the  tanidia  or  so-called  spiral  thread.  ^  ^^^^    nuciei    senO 

long  slender  pro- 
longations around  the  inside  of  the  peritoneal  membrane ;  these 
prolongations,  as  may  be  seen  by  the  figure,  become  the  taenidia. 
The  taenidia,  being  closely  approximate,  grow  together  more  or 
less,  and  a  thin  endotracheal  membrane  is  thus  produced,  of 
which  the  taenidia  are  the  thickened  band-like  portions.  The 
endotracheal  membrane  is  thus  derived  from  the  ectotrachea,  or 


Digiti 


zed  by  Google 


1 886.] 


so-called  ^* Spiral  Thread*'  of  Trachea, 


441 


t^. 


end-tv 


primitive  tracheal  membrane,  and  the  so-called  "  spiral  thread  "  is 
formed  by  parallel  thickenings  of  the  nuclei  composing  the 
secondary  layer  of  nuclei,  and  which  become  filled  with  the  chitin 
secreted  by  these  elongated  nuclei.  The  middle  portion  of  the 
taenidia,  immediately  after  the  molt,  is  clear  and  transparent,  with 
obscure  minute  granules,  while  the  nuclear  base  of  the  cell  is 
filled  as  usual  with  abundant  granules,  and  contain  a  distinct'nu- 
cleolus. 

The  origin  of  the  tsenidia  is  also  well  shown  by  Fig.  2,  which 
is  likewise  a  longitud- 
inal section  of  a 
trachea  at  -the  point 
of  origin  of  a  branch. 
The  peritracheal 
membrane  or  ecto- 
trachea  {ectr)  is  com- 
posed of  large  granu- 
lated nuclei ;  and 
within  are  the  more 
transparent  endotrach- 
eal cells;  at  If  are 
fragments  of  the  molt- 
ed taenidia.  The  new  taenidia  are  in  process  of  development  at 
//  at  base  they  are  seen  to  be  granulated  nuclei,  with  often  a  dis- 
tinct nucleolus,  and  sending  a  long  slender,  transparent,  pointed 
process  along  the  inside  of  the  trachea.  These  unite  to  form  the 
chitinous  bands  or  so-called  spiral  threads. 

The  tsnidia  I  have  found  to  be  separate,  independent,  solid  ' 
rings,  more  or  less  parallel  and  independent  of  each  other.  The 
supposed  spiral  arrangement  I  believe  to  be  an  optical  illusion. 
The  tsnidia  of  a  main  branch  stop  at  the  origin  of  the  smaller 
branches,  and  a  new  set  begin  at  the  origin  of  each  branch.  This 
fact  also  shows  conclusively  that  the  chitinous  bands  are  not 
spiral.  Nor  do  the  taenidia  at  the  origin  of  the  branch  pass  en- 
tirely around  the  inside  of  the  peritoneal  membrane ;  in  the  axils 
they  are  short,  separate,  spindle-shaped  bands. 

The  taenidia  are  usually  thin,  flat,  but  often  slightly  concavo- 
convex,  the  hollow  looking  towards  the  center  of  the  trachea.  I 
have  been  unable  to  find  any  forming  incomplete  hollow  rings  or 
tubules,  like  the  pseudotrachea  of  the  fly's  tongue  figured  and 


ectr 

Fig.  2.    Origin  of  the  taenidia. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


442  Nature  and  Origin  of  the  so-called  ''Spiral  Thread,'*  etc.  [May, 

described  by  Professor  G.  Macloskie.^  It  seems  to  me  that  the 
function  of  the  taenidia  is  like  that  of  the  cartilaginous  rings  of 
the  tracheae  of  vertebrates,  i.  e,  to  keep  the  air-passage  open  so 
that  the  air  may  pass  to  the  cells  at  the  end  of  the  trachea.  All 
the  figures  of  the  spiral  thread  hitherto  published  I  believe  to  be 
incorrect.  In  Guyon's  work  on  Pulex  penetrans  they  are  repre- 
sented to  form  a  loose  spiral,  and  so  they  appear  at  first  glance 
under  a  low  power  in  the  tracheae  of  the  common  flea  of  the  cat 
But  on  close  examination,  in  an  excellent  preparation, the  so-called 
spiral  thread  is  a  series  of  independent  parallel  taenidia,  the  spaces 
between  them  being  wider  than  usual.     In  Fig.  3,  from  a  prepa- 


FiG.  3. — Stigma  and  trachea  of  Pulex. 

ration  kindly  presented  to  me  by  Mr.  Justin  Spaulding,  a  repre- 
sents one  of  the  first  abdominal  spiracles  and  the  trachea  arising 
from  it;  b  the  fifth ;  and  c  one  of  the  last  abdominal  spiracles  and 
its  trachea.  When  the  trachea  bends  or  contracts  in  diameter  the 
tenidia  become  less  parallel,  and  a  spiral  appearance  is  produced. 
In  the  last  pair  the  taenidia  are  remote  from  each  other. 

In  a  preparation  of  one  set  of  the  salivary  glands  from  the 
'  head  of  the  honey  bee,  given  me  by  Mr.  Spaulding,  the  common 
duct  is  much  like  a  trachea,  having  similar  taenidia,  and  here  they 
are  observed  to,  be  parallel,  independent  bands. 

The  sections  of  Datana  were  made  for  me  by  Professor  H.  C. 
Bumpus  of  Olivet  College. 

^  Thus  far  I  find  myself  unable  to  agree  with  Professor  G.  Macloskie  that  the 
**  spirals  of  the  proper  tracheae  "  are  "  crenulated  thickenings  of  the  intima/'  or  that 
the  taenidia  are  really  tubular.  In  his  valuable  and  suggestive  article,  *<  The  Struc- 
ture of  the  Tracheae  of  Insects  (Amer.  Nat.,  xviii,  567),  I  believe  he  has  demon- 
strated the  true  nature  of  the  pseudotrachese  of  the  tiy.  His  criticisms  of  Chun's 
viewl  and  figures  I  believe,  in  the  main,  to  b%  correct,  but  thus  far  I  am  unable  to 
convince  myself  that  the  "  external  fissure ''  of  the  taenidia  in  the  figure  he  copies 
from  Chun,  whose  original  essay  I  possess,  is  really  such  ;  it  appears  to  be  a  ne-v 
taenidium  in  process  of  formation  previous  to  molting. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


1 886.]  Editor^  Table.  443 

EDITORS'  TABLE. 
editors:  a.  s.  Packard  and  e.  d.  cope. 

In  our  issue  of  June  of  last  year  we  referred  to  certain 

conditions  of  membership  of  the  National  Academy  of  Sciences 
in  the  following  terms:  "In  the  interval  between  the  annual 
meetings  of  1884  and  '85  two  members  of  a  committee  appointed 
to  investigate  a  question  affecting  one  of  the  bureaus  of  which 
they  themselves  are  employees,  were  requested  to  resign  from  the 
committee  by  the  chief  of  the  bureau  in  question.  This  was  in 
obedience  to  a  rule  that  a  department  of  the  Government  can 
not  be  criticized  by  its  subordinates.  It  requires  no  argument 
to  show  that  if  this  rule  be  carried  out  with  reference  to  the 
Academy  of  Sciences,  its  usefulness  as  an  independent  body  is  at 
an  end.  There  is  also  another  danger  which  flows  directly  from 
the  same  or  a  similar  attitude  on  the  part  of  heads  of  bureaus. 
These  gentlemen  by  filling  up  the  academy  with  their  employees 
can  obtain  practical  control  of  its  decisions.  This  would  be  im- 
mensely Convenient  to  them  under  various  circumstances,  but  it 
would  introduce  an  element  of  corruption  into  the  academy  from 
which  it  has  been  hitherto  happily  free,  and  which  would  deprive 
it  of  the  respect  and  confidence  of  the  country." 

In  the  case  first  cited  the  bureau's  action  would  indicate  an 
apprehension  of  hostile  criticism,  perhaps  judging  from  the  char- 
acters of  its  employees  who  had  been  appointed  to  investigate.  In 
the  latter  case  reference  was  made  to  a  case  where  the  bureau 
concerned  did  not  ask  its  employees  to  resign,  since  it  evidently 
did  not  fear  any  adverse  report  as  a  result  of  their  investigation. 
In  this  case  some  of  the  members  of  the  committee  appointed  by 
the  president  of  the  academy  to  cooperate  with  the  committee  of 
Congress  in  the  investigation  of  the  scientific  bureaus,  were  em- 
ployed by  some  of  the  bureaus  at  high  salaries.  There  are  a  good 
many  men  who,  under  such  circumstances,  would  be  unable  to 
perceive  any  necessity  for  changes  in  the  administration  of  their 
bureaus. 

The  position  of  the  academy  in  relation  to  these  matters 
although  at  present  unavoidable,  is,  to  say  the  least  of  it,  unfortu- 
nate. And  the  situation  of  its  members  is  reduced  to  utter  help- 
lessness in  consideration  of  the  manner  in  which  committees  are 
appointed  and  are  permitted  to  report.  That  is,  they  are  appointed 
in  the  interval  of  the  academy's  meetings  by  the  preisident  alone, 
and  make  their  reports  without  the  supervision  or  criticism  of  the 


Digitized  by 


Google 


444  Recent  Literature.  [May, 

academy,  which  only  hears  of  them  at  the  next  meeting  as  a  mat- 
ter of  history !  The  academy  is  thus  made  responsible  for  any 
report  that  a  committee  of  paid  employees  of  a  department  may 
choose  to  make  respecting  that  bureau.  The  situation  is  such 
that  no  member  of  the  academy  can  wish  it  to  continue.  The 
reflections  which  the  world  can  justly  make  on  its  position  ought 
not  to  be  possible. 

As  a  remedy  for  this  fundamental  evil,  we  propose  the  follow- 
ing changes  in  the  constitution  of  the  academy : 

1.  Not  more  than  one-half  of  the  members  of  the  National 
Academy  shall  be  paid  employees  of  the  Government. 

2.  The  president  of  the  academy  shall  be  selected  from  those 
members  who  are  not  paid  employees  of  the  Government 

3.  Committees  selected  to  report  on  the  efficiency  of  a  Gov- 
ernment bureau,  shall  not  embrace  any  employees  of  that  bureau. 

4.  The  committees  shall  be  selected  by  the  president  and 
council,  which  shall  also  approve  the  reports  of  committees  be- 
fore they  are  sent  to  Congress. 

5.  The  members  of  the  council  who  are  not  such  ex  officio^ 
shall  be  selected  from  the  different  classes  of  the  academy  as  fol- 
lows :  One  from  the  anthropological  class ;  two  from  the  biologi- 
cal ;  two  from  the  physical ;  and  one  from  the  applied  class. 

6.  For  convenience  of  reference  and  selection  the  membership 
of  the  academy  shall  be  divided  into  four  classes  as  follows : 
Anthropology,  embracing  philosophy,  pure  mathematics  and 
anthropology  in  the  limited  sense;  Biology,  including  the 
biological  sciences  and  psychology;  Physics,  including  astron- 
omy, physics,  chemistry  and  geology,  without  palxontology ; 
and  Applied  science.  The  proportion  of  membership  of  each 
should  be  .15  p.  c.  .35  p.  c,  .35  p.  c.  and  .15  p.  c. 

7.  In  order  that  the  members  of  the  academy  shall  be  more  or 
less  independent  of  Government  places,  they  should  be  salaried ; 
$\QQO  per  annum  for  members;  $\^qo  for  members  of  the 
council,  and  ^5000  for  the  president. — C. 

RECENT  LITERATURE. 

The  Annals  of  the  Cakchiquels.^— The  Cakchiquel  tribe  ol 
Indians  forms  one  of  the  more  interesting  portions  of  the  Maya 
stock  of  Central  America  ;  their  territory  extends  at  present  from 
Lake  Atitlan,  Southern  Guatemala,  to  the  east  and  thence  to  the 
south  down  to  the  Pacific.     The  ruins  of  their  former  center  and 

*  The  Annals  0/  the  Cakchiquel^,  The  original  text,  with  a  translation,  notes  and 
introduction.  By  Daniel  G.  Brinton,  M.D.  Philadelphia,  1885.  8vo,  vi  and 
234  pages.     (Forms  No.  6  of  the  editor's  Library  of  Aboriginal  Literature.) 


Digitized  by 


Google 


i886.]  Recent  Literature.  445 

capital,  Iximche,  are  situated  in.  the  Department  of  Chimaltenan- 
go.  Owing  to  their  agricultural  pursuits,  to  the  healthy  climate 
and  the  consequent  density  of  population,  these  Indians,  as  well 
as  some  other  Maya  nations,  developed  a  higher  culture,  material 
and  mental,  than  many  other  neighboring  populations  of  South- 
ern Mexico,  Honduras,  etc.  Many  tracts  of  Guatemala  contain 
sculptures  and  architectural  remains  of  these  gifted  tribes,  attest- 
ing no  mean  degree  of  civilization,  and  this  they  must  have 
acquired  by  slow  progress  long  before  the  Spanish  conquest. 
Under  the  Spanish  domination  several  of  the  more  enlightened 
Indians  applied  themselves  to  gathering  and  writing  down  the 
legends  and  historic  traditions  of  the  people,  moved  by  patriot- 
ism and  by  the  desire  of  preserving  their  national  antiquities. 
One  of  these  monuments  is  the  Popul  Vuh,  written  in  Kiche ; 
another  is  the  book  now  before  us,  worded  in  Cakchiquel,  a  dia- 
lect differing  from  Kiche  about  as  much  as  Spanish  does  from 
Portuguese.  The  manuscript  was  called  by  Brasseur  de  Bour- 
bourg,  "  Memorial  de  Tecpan  Atitlan,"  but  Dr.  Brinton  has  sub- 
stituted'the  more  appropriate  title,  "Annals  of  the  Cakchiquels." 
The  original  forms  a  volume  of  forty-eight  leaves  or  ninety-six 
pages,  intended  to  figure  as  a  document  in  a  lawsuit  to  reobtain 
or  secure  landed  property  belonging  to  the  ancient  family  of 
tribal  rulers,  the  Xahila.  This  legal  instrument  included  in  its 
plea  the  full  history  of  the  tribe  and  the  genealogy  of  the  Xahila 
family,  to  make  their  claim  more  valid,  and  it  had  several  mem- 
bers of  that  family  for  its  authors.  They  wrote  it  in  Atitlan  in  the 
course  of  the  sixteenth  century,  and  only  the  historic  or  first  por- 
tion of  it  is  printed  in  the  volume  before  us.  The  precious  man- 
uscript became  the  property  oi  the  late  Abbe  Brasseur,  and  with 
his  collection  finally  passed  into  the  hands  of  Mr.  Alphonse  L. 
Pinart,  who  loaned  it  to  Dr.  Brinton  for  publication.  Assisted 
by  natives  the  learned  Abbe  had  made  a  tentative  French  transla- 
tion of  the  document,  and  in  perfecting  it  he  was  materially 
aided  by  the  then  extant  Spanish  translations  of  some  select  por- 
tions. The  document  is  authentic  and  of  high  ethnographic 
value.  Let  us  now  examine  how  Dr.  Brinton  has  acquitted  him- 
self of  the  task  of  editing,  translating  and  commenting  it. 

The  missionary,  F.  de  la  Parra.  who  died  in  1560,  introduced 
into  the  Cakchiquel  alphabet  five  un-Spanish  letters  or  signs  to 
represent  certain  "  cut "  sounds^  of  that  dialect.  These  occur 
also  in  the  Xahila  manuscript ;  Brinton  reproduces  four  of  them, 
rendering  the  fifth  by  tz.  These  bold,  black-faced  characters  no 
doubt  impart  to  the  book  an  air  of  erudition ;  but  Dr.  StoU  in  his 
grammatic  sketch  of  Cakchiquel  replaced  them  by  apostrophed 
consonants,  and  Dr.  Brinton  might  have  done  the  same.  At  any 
rate  it  is  pujeling  to  see  that  they  do  not  appear  also  in  the 
proper  names  of  the  English  translation  opposite.    One  of  these 

^  Sounds  followed  by  a  short  stop  of  the  voice* 

▼01.  XX.— MO.  V.  30 


Digitized  by 


Google 


44^  Riceni  Literature.  [  May, 

letters,  the  cuatrillo^  Brinton  often  transcribes  by  q^  but  when  he 
should  write  Baqahola  he  writes  Bagahola  (p.  df). 

Cakchiquel  never  became  a  literary  language  in  our  sense  of 
the  term,  and  consequently  its  orthography  was  never  regulated 
by  anything  like  steady  principles.  In  the  "Annals  "  the  ortho- 
graphy is  about  as  unsettled  as  can  be.  Now  in  editing  texts  of 
this  description,  the  first  thing  to  do  is  to  adopt  scientific  princi- 
ples deduced  from  and  consistent  with  the  character  of  the  lan- 
guage ;  to  introduce  a  correct,  logical  punctuation,  to  separate 
the  prefixed  pronouns  from  their  verbs  or  nouns,  if  separable^  to 
make  compound  words  conspicuous  as  such  at  sight,  and  to  unite 
the  tense  and  modal  signs  with  the  verb  into  one  word.  On  the 
lower  margin  the  editor  has  to  indicate  all  the  readings  of  the  orig^ 
inalfor  which  he  introduces  emendations,  according  to  his  system, 
into  the  text.  Of  a  similar  proceeding  Brinton  has  no  conception 
whatever,  for  he  reproduces  the  most  flagrant  incongruenties, 
which  every  school-boy  might  easily  correct,  in  his  text.  Thus  he 
writes:  qui  bi,  and  in  other  places  quibi,  their  names  (p.  66),  chu 
kahibal  and  chukahibal,  at  the  setting  (p.  68),  Iximche  and  Yxim- 
chee  (name  of  the  capital,  with  the  old-fashioned  Spanish  ^^  for 
I,  p.  1 66),  qari  instead  of  qa  ri,  and  they  (p.  68),  and  many  other 
instances  sufficient  to  perplex  the  student.  Besides  this,  Brinton 
has  also  "  doctored  "  the  manuscript  by  introducing  text- readings 
of  his  own,  for  in  the  introduction  (p.63)  he  says :  "  I  felt  myself  free 
to  exercise  in  the  printed  page  nearly  the  same  freedom  which  I  find 
in  the  manuscript."  He  did  so,  undoubtedly,  not  only  in  the  In- 
dian text,  but  also  in  French  quotations  from  Brasseur,  in  which 
he  shows  himself  fearfully  at  variance  with  the  accepted  French 
accentuation :  p.  197,  and  still  more  on  p.  206.  On  p.  206  the 
term  tceuvre  is  twice  written  Veuvre,  Neither  has  the  proof-read- 
ing been  thoroughly  attended  to ;  p.  168  we  find  Yaxontik,  and 
in  the  translation  Yaxonkik ;  p.  107,  Vookaok,  a  proper  name, 
which  is  spelt  voo  kaok  on  p.  1 10 ;  p.  66,  mahaniok,  before;  in  the 
vocabulary  the  same  term  is  spelt  mahanick. 

After  all  this  we  are  not  much  surprised  at  the  punctuation  of 
the  Indian  text,  for  where  there  is,  and  ought  to  be,  a  period  in  the 
translation,  Brinton  often  has  a  comma  or  nothing  at  all  in  the 
text.  On  p.  66  paragraph  third  is  subdivided  into  i,  1,0,  where 
he  has  i,  2,  3  in  the  translation.  It  takes  just  as  much  time  to 
study  Brinton's  "  system  "  of  editing  and,  as  he  calls  it,  his  "  freedom 
in  the  printed  page,"  as  it  does  to  acquire  the  whole  of  the  Cak- 
chiquel language,  which  cannot  by  any  means  be  called  a  very 
difficult  one. 

While  professing  to  disagree  in  many  passages  with  the  Abbe's 
translation,  the  merits  of  which  he  otherwise  fully  acknowledges, 
the  editor  sqmetimes  attempts  a  better  one,  and  gives. his  motives 
for  doing  so  in  the  Notes,  pp.  195-208.  Being  thus  bent  on  cor- 
recting, he  nevertheless  renders  ixkaqahol  ^.  67  and  often)  by 


Digitized  by 


Google 


1 886.]  Recent  Literature.  447 

oh  my  children^  when  the  correct  sense  is :  you  our  children,  ,0n 
pp.  176,  177  he  omits  in  the  translation  the  whole  sentence:  tok 
xbokotah  chiqa  el  Qeche  vinak  (§  145),  because  he  could  not  find 
in  his  dictionaries  the  original  form  of  the  verb  xbokotah.  Like- 
wise are  omitted  from  the  translation  opposite  the  words  rahpop 
achi  Ig*ich,  and  the  counselor  Ig^ich,  No  gap  or  empty  space  was 
left  in  the  translation  to  remind  the  reader  of  an  omission,  as 
fairness  would  have  prompted  every  common-sense  editor  to  do ; 
neither  do  Brinton's  "  Notes"  give  notice  of  any  omission  having 
been  made  consciously.  Students  confiding  in  the  translation 
alone  might  thus  get  cheated  out  of  very  important  facts  stated 
in  the  Indian  original.  It  would  be  interesting  to  find  out 
whether  Brinton  made  any  such  "  omissions  "  from  the  original 
also ;  in  that  case  passages  would  be  left  out  in  the  text  as  well  as 
in  the  translation. 

In  comparing  the  small  compass  of  the  vocabulary  contained 
in  pp.  209-227  with  the  bulky  text,  which  holds  not  4ess  than 
sixty  pages,  our  curiosity  becomes  aroused  to  some  degree.  For 
how  could  the  large  number  of  terms  composing  the  texts 
become  enclosed  within  so  small  limits,  although  there  is  a  sepa- 
rate index  for  proper  names  ?  Further  examination  easily  reveals 
the  fact,  that  vuo-o,  voo,  five y  a  numeral  often  occurring  in  the 
text,  is  not  in  the  vocabulary;  ahauh,  ruler ^  is  there,  but  the  verb 
to  rule,  of  which  xahauar  (p.  87)  is  a  conjugational  form,  is  not 
there ;  we  fail  to  find  there :  petebal,  jiavipe,  onohel,  g'anel  (the 
name  of  a  month)  of  the  text;  for /a  the  definition  from  is  dmit- 
ted,  though  referred  to  in  the  "  Notes."  Tok  is  probably  the  same 
as  tak,  though  we  get  no  information  on  this  point;  g'ana  (p.  68), 
though  translated  by  glorious,  is  not  recorded.  The  different 
forms  of  one  word  produced  by  alternation  of  sounds  are  referred 
to  in  a  few  instances  only.  In  view  of  this  neglect  to  enter  eUl 
the  words  of  the  text  into  the  collection,  which  Brinton  was 
bound  to  do,  we  understand  why  he  used  the  term  vocabulary  and 
not  the  otherwise  more  appropriate  term  glossary  to  designate  it. 

For  the  comprehension  of  a  text  in  a  foreign  language  we  nat- 
urally have  to  enlighten  ourselves  on  its  grammatic  elements. 
Suppose  a  reader  gets  hold  of  the  "  Annals  "  in  some  remote  cor- 
ner of  Russia  or  India  and  wishes  to  study  them  not  from  the 
botchy  translation  only,  but  from  the  text  itself,  he  finds  no  chap- 
ter on  the  grammar  of  Cakchiquel  in  the  volume,  except  on 
phonetics,  but  is  referred  by  Brinton  to  the  Grammar  "  which  he 
has  for  sale."  The  chief  elements  of  inflection  at  least  should  be 
contained  in  the  book,  as  prefixes,  suflfixes,  verbal  inflection, 
word-composition,  etc.  Of  all  this  we  find  incidental  notices  in 
the  "  Notes,"  but  nothing'  that  could  serve  for  grammatic  guid- 
ance. Brinton's  above-mentioned  "  Grammar "  consists  of  two 
old  grammars  united  into  one  volume,  one  of  the  seventeenth 
and  the  other  of  the  eighteenth  century.    They  will  prove  of 


Digitized  by 


Google 


448  Recent  Literature.  [May, 

help  to  students,  undoubtedly,  but  of  what  help  they  will  be,  can 
be  gathered  from  a  remark  of  Dr.  Otto  Stoll,  who  studied  the 
tongue  on  the  spot.  He  states  (Zur  Ethnographie  Guatemalas, 
p.  139),  that  Cakchiquel  possesses  three  tenses  only,  and  that  the 
three  or  four  others  given  by  the  Spanish  missionaries  do  not 
exist,  but  were  "  squeezed  out "  of  the  natives  by  the  application 
of  Latin  models.  The  verb  lok*  (p.  146)  which  supplied  para- 
digms to  the  unfortunate  grammatic  attempts  of  the  Padres  to 
conjugate  amare^  to  love,  does  not  signify  to  love  at  all,  but  to  pur- 
chase. The  verb  to  prize,  to  hold  dear,  to  esteem,  is  not,  as  falsely 
quoted  by  Brinton  (p.  216),  lok*,  but  lok'oj  (Stoll,  p.  147).  Or 
did  the  language  change  as  much  as  that  within  the  last  two  hun- 
dred years  ? 

In  the  Introduction,  p.  9,  the  editor  states  that  the  three  Maya 
nations  more  closely  related  to  the  Cakchiquels :  the  Quiches,  the 
Tzutuhils  and  the  Akahals  "  dwelt  respectively  to  the  west,  the 
south  an3  the  east  of  the  Cakchiquels."  Had  he  looked  up  the 
matter  in  Stoll's  map  and  in  the  map  of  the  Grammar  published 
by  himself,  he  would  have  noticed  that  the  Kiches  lived,  and 
still  live,  upon  a  much  larger  territorial  extent,  north,  west  and 
partly  south  of  the  Cakchiquels,  and  that  the  Tzutuhils  are  en- 
closed on  all  except  the  western  side  by  Cakchiquel  settlements. 

In  the  long  list  abeve,  the  mistakes  and  shortcomings  were 
quoted  from  a  few  pages  of  the  book  only,  and  readers  may 
decide  for  themselves  how  numerous  the  errors  may  be  for  the 
other  nineteen  twentieths  of  the  volume.  It  was  edited  on  false 
principles,  and  here  as  elsewhere  the  editor  was  too  much  in  a 
hurry  to  appear  before  the  public.  Books  like  these  require  the 
prolonged,  discriminating  and  plodding  work  of  a  mind  concen- 
trated upon  itself.  To  render  this  text  of  use  to  science,  Mr. 
Finart,  proprietor  of  the  original  and  himself  a  linguistic  scholar 
educated  at  German  universities,  should  republish  the  chronicle 
and  the  still  wanting  family  record  after  scientific  principles,  add- 
ing a  correct  and  full  translation  and  a  complete  glossary  together 
with  a  variety  of  grammatic  and  ethnologic  notes  forming  a  com- 
mentatius  perpetuus.  This  is  the  only  way  to  do  justice  to  this 
important  document,  now  so  piteously  "  doctored  up "  by  the 
rudest  kind  of  malpractice. — A,  S,  G. 

Report  of  the  New  York  Agricultural  Experiment  Sta- 
tion.^— It  does  not  speak  well  for  the  kind  of  work  generally  done 
upon  the  agricultural  experiment  stations  of  this  country  that 
readers  of  scientific  journals  do  not  expect  to  find  in  them  reviews 
of  the  annually  published  reports.  Agriculture  has  been  cursed 
by  a  greater  amount  of  very  poor  work  under  the  name  of  exper- 

*  Fourth  Annual  Report  of  the  Board  of  Control  of  the  New  York  Agricultural 
Experiment  Station  for  the  year  iSSj.  With  the  reports  of  the  director  and  officers. 
Transmitted  to  the  Legislature  January,  1886.  Rochester,  N.  Y.,  E.  R.  Andrews, 
printer  and  bookbinder,  1886. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


1 886.]  Recent  Literature.  449 

imentation  than  any  other  of  the  great  industries.  Dealing  as  it 
does  with  the  soil,  the  atmosphere,  plants  and  animals,  one  would 
suppose  that  careful  and  expensive  experiments  would  invariably 
be  confided  to  men  trained  in  one  or  more  of  the  great  modera 
sciences — chemistry,  physics,  botany,  zoology,  geology,  meteor- 
ology. That  such  has,  however,  not  been  the  case,  is  shown  by 
an  examination  of  tne  reports  which  have  appeared  with  more  or 
less  regularity  ever  since  the  agricultural  colleges  and  agricultu- 
ral departments  of  the  State  universities  were  organized.  With 
here  and  there  an  exception,  such  reports  have  contained  nothing 
which  were  of  any  value  to  a  scientific  investigator  in  any  field 
whatsoever. 

The  report  of  the  New  York  Agricultural  Experiment  Station 
for  the  year  1885  is  noteworthy  in  several  ways,  not  the  least 
important  of  which  is  its  early  appearance,  the  copy  under  review 
having  reached  us  early  in  February.  Its  contents  are  full  of  val- 
uable matter  covering  nearly  the  whole  field  of  agriculture  in  its 
widest  sense.  We  can  take  time  here  for  but  a  hasty  glance  at  a 
few  of  the  more  important  topics. 

The  results  of  duplicate  plantings  (p.  37)  are  suggestive.  In 
the  case  of  Indian  corn  differences  in  yields  equivalent  to  from 
two  to  fourteen  and  fifteen  bushels  per  acre  were  obtained  from 
similar  plats  treated  in  the  same  way.  Of  similar  significance 
are  many  of  the  duplicate  germinations  of  seeds  (p.  54). 

In  the  germination  of  seeds  to  determine  the  influence  of  age 
(p.  58),  much  greater  quantities  were  taken  than  is  customary,  the 
usual  number  here  being  some  hundreds,  often  reaching  several 
thousands.  Results  obtained  in  this  way  are  much  more  satis- 
factory. The  same  precautions  enter  into  the  temperature  exper- 
iments upon  germinations  of  Indian  corn  (p.  64),  and  in  the  latter 
case  some  very  useful  results  have  already  been  reached. 

Of  a  very  different  nature,  but  still  of  high  scientific  interest, 
are  the  following,  vi^ ,  a  study  of  maize,  being  an  attempt  at 
forming  a  new  variety  (p.  73) ;  variations  Xof  Indian  corn]  from 
seed  (p.  74);  the  characteristics  of  wheat  varieties  (p.  90),  being 
a  systematic  classification  and  arrangement  of  many  varieties; 
improvement  in  selecting  (p.  107),  a  bit  of  work  such  as  Darwin 
delighted  in ;  a  description  of  the  principal  varieties  of  lettuce 
(p.  137),  a  systematic  classification  and  arrangement;  observations 
on  growth,  character  and  depth  of  roots  p.  233). 

The  botanist's  report  (pp.  241-265)  deals  with  pear  blight,  the 
spotting  of  quince  fruit,  the  rotting  of  tomatoes,  lettuce-rust, 
lettuce-mildew,  the  rotting  of  cherries  and  plums,  the  disease  oF 
the  clover-leaf  weevil,  weeds  and  their  fungous  parasites.  It  is 
needless  to  say  that  this  work  has  been  well  and  carefully  done. 

In  the  chemist's  report,  among  many  other  interesting  topics 
may  be  particularly  mentioned  a  study  of  the  fat  globules  of 
milk,  the  lysimeter  observations,  the  records  of  sunshine,  and  the 


Digitized  by 


Google 


450  Recent  Literature.  [May, 

digestion  experiments,  in  which  artificial  digestion  is  resorted  to 
in  order  to  determine  the  value  of  feeding-stuffs. 

The  whole  report  is  one  of  which  the  board  of  control  may 
well  feel  proud,  and  we  trust  that  the  director  and  his  corps  of 
able  assistants  may  be  enabled  to  continue  with  increased  facili- 
ties the  lines  of  investigation  so  excellently  begun. — Charles  E. 
Bessey. 

Schmidt's  Mammalia  in  their  Relation  to  Primeval  Times.* 
— Although  Dr.  Schmidt,  who  has  died  since  the  publication  of 
this  book,  was  not  a  special  student  of  the  mammals,  he  was  the 
author  of  a  useful  work  on  comparative  anatomy,  and  well  fitted 
by  his  general  studies  for  preparing  the  present  interesting  sketch. 
The  book  is  mainly  of  interest  to  the  American  student  for  its 
discussion  of  the  fossil  mammals  of  the  old  world.  It  is  very 
much  behind  the  times  as  regards  our  knowledge  of  American 
extinct  mammals,  as  much  light  has  within  two  or  three  years 
past  been  thrown  on  the  subject  by  the  publications  of  Cope  and 
of  Marsh,  particularly  the  recent  generah'zations  of  the  former 
author,  which  appeared  in  this  journal  during  1884  and  '85.  The 
extract  from  Schmidt's  book,  which  appeared  in  our  department 
of  geology  and  palaeontology,  shows  his  mode  of  treatment  of 
the  subject.  Equally  interesting  is  his  account  of  the  evolution 
of  the  pigs,  the  deer,  and  especially  the  oxen.  The  discussion  as 
to  the  ancestry  of  the  whales  is  an  interesting  one,  Schmidt 
favoring  Flower's  view  that  they  are  an  offshoot  from  the  ungu- 
late mammals. 

As  to  the  origin  of  the  monkeys  and  apes,  Schmidt  suggests 
that  the  American  group  may  have  descended  from  the  Insectiv- 
ora,  and  the  old  world  forms,  with  the  apes,  from  the  Pachyder- 
mata,  certainly  a  novel  view.  As  to  the  origin  of  man  from  such 
'  z.  source,  he  thinks  we  are  justified  in  postponing  any  such  dis- 
cussion, "  as  the  study  of  anthropology  can  in  no  way  boast  of 
having  made  any  definite  progress  during  the  last  ten  years." 

Geikie's  Class-book  of  Geology.* — This  is  an  excellent  piece 
of  work,  both  literary  and  scientific.  In  very  readable  form,  with 
most  excellent  illustrations,  paper  and  press- work  ;  it  is  a  pleas- 
ure to  turn  over  the  pages.  Everything  has  been  done  to  make 
the  book  and  subject  attractive  to  the  beginner.  We  have  looked 
with  most  care  over  the  early  part  of  the  volume,  for  in  physical 
geology  the  author  is  at  his  best.  His  treatment  of  rocks  and  * 
minerals  is  excellent,  better  than  anything  we  know  of  published 
in  this  country ;  it  is  so  clear  simple  and  attractive.  The  wood- 
cuts being  also  unusually  well  drawn  and  engraved. 

We  are  a  little  disappointed  with  the  fourth  part  on  historical 

*  D.  Appleton  &  Co.,  New  York.   $1.50. 

'  Class-book  of  Geology,    By  Archibald  Geikie,  LL.D.,  F.R.S.    London,  Mac- 
niillan  &  Co.,  1886.  i2mo,  pp.  516. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


1 886.]  Geology  and  Palaontoiogy.  45 1 

geology.  It  is  scarcely  adapted  for  use  in  this  country,  though 
valuable  for  reference.  The  illustrations  are  mainly  of  European 
fossils,  and  the  treatment  is  rather  meager  and  dry  compared  with 
the  other  portions  of  the  book ;  the  classification  adopted  is  in 
some  points  not  fresh,  and  the  entire  treatment  is  not  what  is  now 
wanted. 

The  Eophytan  linnaanum  is  figured  as  though  it  were  a  plant ; 
the  Ceratiocaris  is  still  referred  to  the  phyllopod  Crustacea;  the 
Tunicata  are  still  retained  with  the  brachiopods  in  that  myste- 
rious collection  called  "  MoUuscoidea."  These,  however,  are 
slight  defects.  But  palaeontology  cannot  be  set  forth  in  its  truest 
light  by  one  who  has  not  done  practical  work  in  biology  and 
palaeontology. 

GENERAL  NOTES. 

aBOLOa?  AND   PALiBOKTOLOa?. 

The  PLAGiAULACiDiE  OF  THE  PuERCO  Epoch. —  Three  species 
of  this  marsupial  family  have  been  thus  far  detected  in  the  beds 
of  the  Puerco.  These  are  Plilodus  tneduBvus  Cope,  Vol.  iii. 
Report  U.  S.  Geol.  Surv.  Terrs.,  p.  173,  PI.  xxiiirf,  Fig.  i ; 
P.  travessartianus  Cope,  1.  c,  p.  737,  American  Naturalist, 
1885,  493;  Neoplagiaulax  americanus  Qo^^  Amer.  Naturalist, 
1885,  p.  493.  Of  these  the  last-named  species  is  the  largest, 
the  lower  jaws  representing  an  animal  of  the  probable  size  ojf 
the  Norway  rat.  I  am  now  able  to  add  a  fourth  species  to  this 
list  in  a  second  species  of  Neoplagiaulax,  much  larger  than  the 
N,  americanus^  and  hence  the  largest  species  of  the  family 
known.  It  is  established  on  an  entire  inferior  fourth  premolar. 
The  length  of  the  base  of  this  tooth  is  one  third  greater  than 
that  of  the  .corresponding  tooth  of  the  N.  americanus,  aind  there 
are  fifteen  keel-crests  on  the  side  of  the  crown,  while  there 
are  but  seven  in  the  N,  americanus.  The  outline  of  the  crown 
is  of  the  elongate  and  moderately  convex  character  of  that  of 
the  N.  antericanus^  and  thus  not  so  elevated  as  in  our  species 
of  Ptilodus.  The  irregularity  in  the  outline  of  the  base  of  the 
crown  is  less  than  in  the  other  species,  and  the  diameter  of 
the  roots  is  subequal.  The  anterior  base  of  the  crown  is  not 
excavated  for  the  fourth  premolar  as  in  the  species  of  Ptilodus. 
Length  of  base  of  crown  i6"°*  *•  elevation  at  middle,  8"°**  The 
discovery  of  species  of  this  family  of  increased  size  was  to  have 
been  anticipated,  in  view  of  the  dimensions  of  the  Thylacoleo 
camifex^  which  was  no  doubt  descended  from  the  Plagiaulacidae. 
I  call  the  animal  Neoplagiaulax  molestus. — E,  D.  Cope, 

*'  List  of  the  Geological  Formations  of  Spitzbergen," — 
The  article  with  the  above  title,  printed  in  the  last  December 
number  of  the  American  Naturalist  from  a  manuscript  which 


Digitized  by 


Google 


452  General  Notes.  [May, 

eight  years  ago  I  handed  to  on^  of  the  editors  of  this  journal,  had 
well  needed  a  revision  before  its  late  publication.  As  however 
no  opportunity  was  given  me  to  revise  it,  I  beg  to  add  the  follow- 
ing emendations,  based  on  the  late  discoveries  by  Dr.  Alfred 
Nathorst,  in  the  expedition  under  his  charge  in  1882. 

The  Cretaceous  system  should  be  stricken  out  From  the  list, 
the  beds  previously  supposed  to  belong  to  this  system  being 
Jurassic  o{  a  higher  horizon  than  the  "No.  i,  upper  beds"  at 
Cape  Boheman.  The  fossil  plant  determined  as  Sequoia  reichen-- 
bachii  belongs  to  another  genus  of  conifers,  allied  to  Araucaria. 

The  Permian  system  should  be  added  to  the  list,  beds  of  this 
system  existing  everywhere  on  the  Ice  fiord  and  Belsound 
between  the  Carboniferous  and  Triassic  beds. 

In  the  Carboniferous  systetH  the  "  i,  upper  beds"  should  be 
'  omitted  from  the  list ;  they  are  identical  with  "  3,  ursastuffe," 
but  placed  on  the  top  of  "  2,  calcareous  beds "  by  an  inver- 
sion which  had  been  overlooked  by  previous  explorers. 

The  existence  of  the  Devonian  system  on  Spitzbergen  is  no 
longer  doubtful.  Nathorst  has  found,  on  Dickson  bay,  and  EL 
Ray  Lankester  described,  characteristic  fossils,  e.  gr,^  Scaphaspis 
and  Cephalaspida. — Josua  LindahL 

Nicholson  on  SxROMATOPORiDiE. —  H.  A.  Nicholson,  in  his 
monograph  of  the  British  Stromatoporoids,  frankly  accepts  the 
views  of  Carter,  Lindstrom,  Zittel  and  others  as  to  their  coelen- 
terate  affinities,  and  regards  them  as  a  special  group  of  the  Hy- 
drozoa,  having  on  the  one  hand  relationships  with  Hydractinia,  on 
the  other  with  Millepora.  The  skeleton  of  the  typical  Stromato- 
porse  is  penetrated  by  numerous  minute  flexures,  but  essentially 
parallel  vertical  tubes,  not  bounded  by  distinct  walls,  but  enclosed 
by  the  vermiculate  fibers  of  the  coenosteum,  precisely  like  the 
zooidal  tubes  in  Millepora.  These  tubes  are  traversed  at  intervals 
by  calcareous  plates.  A  detailed  comparison  between  Hydrac- 
tonia  echinata  Flem.,  and  forms  of  Actinostroma  Nich.,  shows  a 
remarkable  similarity  between  the  chitinous  skeleton  of  the  first 
and  the  large  calcareous  ccsnosteum  of  the  second.  Our  author 
arranges  the  group  in  four  families,  two  of  which,  Actinostromi- 
dae  and  Labechiidae,  are  Hydractinoid,  while  the  Stromatoporida^ 
and  Idiostromidae  may  be  regarded  as  Milleporoid.  The  last 
family  contains  genera  which  have  a  central,  axial,  tabulated  tube 
without  proper  wall,  giving  off  lateral  branches,  which  also 
divide. 

Fossil  Hippopotami. — Dr.  Henry  Woodward,  in  a  review  of 
the  species  of  Hippopotamus,  shows  that  at  least  two  species  {H. 
major  =  amphibius^  and  H,  minutus,  and  probably  identical  with 
H,  liberiensis)  occurred  in  Europe  in  late  Tertiary  and  early 
Quaternary  time,  while  four  species  are  known  from  India.  H. 
pentlandif  the  bones  of  which  are  exceedingly  abundant  in  Sicily^ 


Digitized  by 


Google 


1 886.]  Mineralogy  and  Petrography.  45  3 

is  by  Mr.  Woodward  (agreeing  with  Professor  Boyd  Dawkins) 
considered  to  be  identical  with  H,  minutus  from  the  caves  and 
fissures  of  Malta. 

The  Indian  species  are  sivalensis^  iravaticus  and  namadicus  from 
the  Siwalik  hills,  and  palceindicus  from  the  Narbadas. 

MINERALOGY  AND  PETROGRAPHY.* 

MiNERALOGiCAL  News. — ^The  late  Dr.  Lasaulx,  of  Bonn,  re- 
cently examined^  very  thoroughly  the  mineral  corundum  with 
reference  to  its  microstructure  and  optical  properties.  The  fact 
that  sections  of  this  mineral  cut  perpendicular  to  the  vertical  axis 
often  show  a  biaxial  interference  figure  in  converged  polarized 
light  has  been  known  for  some  time.  Lasaulx  attempts  to  find 
the  cause  of  this.  Sections  of  crystals  from  nine  localities  were 
carefully  made  and  thoroughly  studied.  In  summing  up  the 
results  of  his  examinations  he  concludes  *that  (i)  corundum  is 
undoubtedly  a  uniaxial  mineral,  crystallizing  in  the  hexagonal 
system ;  (2)  the  anomalies  in  optical  properties  are  due  to  irregu- 
larity in  growth ;  (3)  this  irregularity  in  growth  often  gives  rise 
to  a  zonal  arrangement  in  which  the  different  zones  are  in  twin- 
ning position  to  each  other,  the  twinning  planes  and  planes  of 
growth  being  identical;  (4)  the  optical  anomalies  are  due  in 
some  cases  to  tension  in  the  individual  zones.  Compression 
obtained  in  a  direction  normal  to  their  greatest  extension  in 
the  base ;  consequently  the  plane  of  the  optical  axes  is  parallel 
to  this  direction  of  the  lamellae;  (5)  in  other  cases  where  the  dif- 
ferent lamellae  are  twinned,  optical  disturbances  are  produced ; 
finally  (6)  decomposition  may  give  rise  to  aggregate  polarization. 
Orthoclase  has  been  found  for  the  first  time  as  a  druse  min- 
eral in  leucite-tephrite.*  In  the  cavities  of  this  rock  were  found 
crystals  of  phillipsite,  calcite,  orthoclase  (adularia),  altered  pyrite 
and  calcite  again,  in  a  regular  order  of  deposition.  The  adularia 
occurred  in  groups  covering  the  phillipsite  and  also  in  perimorphs 
of  calcite.  Crystals  of  the  latter  mineral  were  covered  with  a 
druse  of  adularia,  and  showed  under  the  microscope  a  rim  with 
aggregate  polarization,  as  if  the  calcite  substance  were  gradually 

being  replaced  by  adularia. In  an  article  on  gbthite,*  Ed.  Palla 

declares  as  a  result  of  a  series  of  measurements  on  crystals  from 
Cornwall,  that  the  mineral  is  either  orthorhombic  with  the  axes 
a :  b  :c  =  .9163  :  i  :  .6008,  or  monoclinic  with  ^  =  90^  36'  25" 
and  a :  b  :  c  =  .9164  :  I  :  .6008.     If  the  former  view  is  taken  the 

planes  oo  ?  ^*.  oo  P '^.  oo  P  f .  {^  ?  Z  ^  IS  ^^^  ^  «  ™"s'  be  con- 
sidered  as  vicinal ;  whereas  if  the  mineral  is  considered  as  mono- 
clinic  these  (with  the  exception  of  the  first)  become  00  ^  ^\  So  ^  ^ 

1  Edited  by  W.  S.  Bayley,  Johns  Hopkins  University,  Baltimore,  Md. 
•  Zcitschnft  fiir  Krystallographie,  x,  p.  346. 
'V.  von  2>pharovich.    Zeitschrift  fttr  Krystallographie,  x,  p.  601. 
^  Zeitschrift  fiir  Krystallographie,  xi^  p.  23. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


454  Genetai  Nous.  [May, 

—  P,  -I-  P,  —  Bg.  Thin  plates  parallel  to  the  cleavage  are  trans- 
lucent to  transparent  with  very  weak  pleochroism  if  any.  The 
positive  bisectrix  is  probably  perpendicular  to  the  cleavage  plane. 
The  dispersion  very  large,  w  >  />,  so  that  for  red  light  the  mineral 
is  uniaxial.  For  green  and  blue  light,  however,  the  optical  angle 
is  about  50°.    In  all  its  optical  properties  it  resembles  rutile  very 

closely. In  attempting  to  prove  by  means  of  etched  figures^ 

that  cryolite  is  without  doubt  a  monoclinic  mineral,  Baumhauer* 
has  succeeded  in  showing  that  in  the  massive  mineral  two  cr)^s- 
tals  are  so  united  that  (i)  00  P  and  oP  of  the  one  are  parallel  re- 
spectively to  00  P  and  oP  of  the  other ;  or  (2)  ^^  oi  the  first  is 

parallel  to  oP  of  the  second,  and  vice  versa. Crystals  of  struv- 

ite  with  a  different  habit  from  any  heretofore  described  have  been 
found  at  Homburg  v.  d.  H.,  and  investigated  by  Kalkowsky.* 
The  planes  observed  were  P^J,,  oP,  2P2,  2^^,  ooPoi,  P^and 
00  P2.  In  physical  prbperties  the  mineral  from  this  locality  also 
differs  from  that  found  elsewhere,  a:b:c=  .5685  :  i  :  .9113. 
The  acute  bisectrix  is  the  macrodiagonal.   The  crystals  are  hemi- 

morphic  with  oP  the  analogue  pole. Friedel,*  of  Miinchen  has 

analyzed  pure  staurolite  from  Framnitzberg,  and  found  it  to  cor- 
respond to  the  formula  H4  (Mg  ¥t\  (Al  Fe),*  Sin  OM  =  (Mg  Fe)e 

A\  (AI  0)i8  (O  H)4  (Si04)u,  in  which  the  oxygen  ratio  is  2  :  i. * 

Doelter*  has  recently  succeeded  in  effecting  the  synthesis  of  sev- 
eral minerals  of  the  group  of  the  sulphides  and  sulpho-salts  by 
the  use  merely  of  those  reagents  which  exist  naturally,  and  at  a 
temperature  much  lower  than  that  usually  employed  in  such  ex- 
periments. Pyrite  was  obtained  in  crystals  by  the  action  of  sul- 
phuretted hydrogen  on  hematite  at  a  temperature  of  200®,  and 
also  by  the  action  of  an  aqueous  solution  of  the  same  reagent  on 
siderite  and  magnetite,  in  sealed  tubes  at  8o°-90°.  Galena  was 
obtained  by  heating  together  cerussite  and  an  aqueous  solution 
of  hydrogen  sulphide  in  a  sealed  tube  to  the  same  temperature. 
Crystals  of  cinnabar,  covellite,  chalcocite,  bornite,  chalcopyrite, 
bournonite,  miargyrite  and  jamesonite  were  all  obtained  by  meth* 
ods  analogous  to  one  or  the  other  of  these,  and  in  no  case  was  a 
high  temperature  required.  The  results  are  of  considerable  in- 
terest as  affording  a  ready  means  of  explaining  the  origin  of 

some  of  the  most  common  minerals  we  have  to  do  with. 

Messrs.  Friedel  and  Sarasin*  recently  heated  together  a  mixture 
of  precipitated  calcium  carbonate  and  a  solution  of  ten  grams 
of  calcium  chloride  in  60-70*^®  of  water  in  a  stell  tube  lined  with 
platinum.     After  ten  hours  heating  at  500°   the    mixture  was 

^Cf.  American  Naturalist,  1886,  February,  p.  158. 

"Zeitschrift  fdr  Krystallographie,  xl.  p.  133. 

*Ib.,  XI,  p.  I. 

*  lb.,  X,  p.  366. 
*Ib.  XI,  p.  29. 

*  Bulletin  de  la  Soci6t6  Miniralogique,  July,  1885,  p.  304. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


1 886.]  Mineralogy  and  Petrography.  455 

found  to  contain  little  rhombohedra  of  calcite.  With  twenty 
grams  of  calcium  chloride  rhombohedra  were  obtained,  which 
gave  on  measurement  an  angle  of  105°  46'.  Several  experi- 
ments were  made,  but  in  no  case  was   any  aragonite  formed. 

Hxmostilbite  is  described  bylgelstrom^  as  a  new  mineral 

from  the  iron  mine  of  Sjoegrufvau,  Grythyttan  parish,  Sweden. 
It  is  of  a  blood-red  color  by  transmitted  light,  and  is  found  in 
a  gangue  of  tephroite  in  fissures  with  calcite,  in  a  bed  of  lime- 
stone in  granulite.  An  optical  examination  by  Bertrand  proved 
the  mineral  to  be  orthorhombic.  The  acute  bisectrix  is  negative 
and  is  perpendicular  to  the  easy  cleavage.  The  optical  angle  is 
small  and  the  dichroism  very  pronounced.  In  hardness  and  gen- 
eral appearance  it  approaches  haussmannite.  An  analysis 
yielded : 

Sb,0,  MnO  FcO  Mg(Ca)0 

37.2  51.7  9.5  1.6 

This  composition  is  represented  by  the  formula,  SMnO,  Sb205,  or 
9MnO,  SbgOfi,  which  is  very  near  that  of  another  mineral  already 
described  under  the  name  of  manganostilbite,  with  which  the 
haemostilbite  may  be  identical. 

Petrographical  News. — ^A  very  interesting  article  has  just 
appeared  in  the  Beilage  Band  of  the  Neues  Jahrbuch,*  on  the  geo- 
logical and  petrographical  relations  of  the  porphyries  of  the 
Central  Alps.  In  it  the  author,  C.  Schmidt,  describes  the  massive 
rocks  of  the  Grouse  and  Kleine  Windgalle.  Among  the  Jurassic 
schists  an  iron-oolite  was  found.  This  consists  of  a  reddish  lime- 
stone containing  oolites  composed  of  magnetite,  both  massive  and 
crystallized,  in  a  groundmass  of  calcite  and  hematite,  with  a  rim 
of  a  green  fibrous  mineral  which  the  author  thinks  might  be  the 
chamosite  of  Bertier.  The  crystalline  rocks  are  principally 
gneisses,  hornblende  rocks  (including  a  peridotite  and  a  porphy- 
ritic  rock  composed  of  large  aggregates  of  hornblende  in  a  coarse- 
grained plagioclase  in  which  is  also  a  large  amount  of  augite  in 
smaller  granular  aggregates)  and  quartz  porphyries,  which  are 
divided  into  five  types.  As  a  result  of  the  pressure  to  which 
these  porphyries  have  been  subjected,  some  of  them  are  found 
to  pass  over  into  a  completely  schistose  rock  iji  which  the 
original  constituents  can  be  traced  under  the  microscope  by 
means  of  their  alteration  products.  From  a  study  of  the  granit- 
ites  and  porphyries  from  other  localities  in  the  same  region, 
Schmidt  concludes  that  the  Windgalle  rock  is  either  a  facies  of 
granite  or  a  distinct  rock  mass,  and  that  it  is  not  possible  to  de- 
clare positively  which  of  these  is  really  the  case.  The  paper  is 
well  illustrated  by  a  map  and  five  sections. Michel  Levy  has 

1  Bulletin  de  la  Soci^t^  Min^ralogique,  June,  1885,  p.  143. 

»  Neues  Jahrb.  filr  Mineralogie,  etc.,  Beil.  Bd.,  iv,  1886,  p.  388. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


45  6  General  Notes.  [May^ 

recently  examined^  a  rock  from  the  left  bank  of  the  Jamma,  a 
tributary  of  the  Blue  Nile.  This  rock  consists  of  the  remains  of 
orthoclase  of  the  first  generation  in  a  groundmass  of  secondary 
quartz  with  little  crystals  of  nepheline,  orthoclase  and  amphibole. 
It  is,  according  to  Levy,  a  type  of  rock  between  the  tephrites  and 

the  phonolites. In  the  same  journal  Lacroix  has  a  note^  on 

the  basaltic  rocks  of  County  Antrim,  Ireland.  These  are  labra- 
dor  basalts  with  a  typical  ophitic  structure.  They  contain  the 
following  minerals  in  the  order  of  their  crystallization  :  apatite, 
magnetite,  olivine,  labradorite  and  pyroxene  in  lathe-shaped  crys- 
tals, palagonite,  hematite,  chlorite  and  zeolites.  The  zeolites  are 
in  the  cavities  of  the  rock.  A  search  was  made  for  the  native 
iron  mentioned  by  Andrews  as  occurring  in  these  rocks,  but 

none  was  found. Four  additional  parts  of  the  "  Erlauterungen 

zur  geologischen  Specialkarte  des  Konigreichs  Sachsen  "^  have 
just  been  published.  The  sections  described  are  Oschatz-Miigeln 
by  Th.  Siegert,  Falkenstein  by  Schroder,  Wurzen  by  Schalch  and 
Auerbach-Lengenfeld  by  Dalmer.  These  authors  describe  the 
Eibenstock  tourmaline  granite,  the  Kirchberg  granitite  and  the 
slates  and  sandstones  metamorphosed  by  them. 

Miscellaneous. — The  Denison  University  of  Granville,  Ohio,, 
has  just  issued,  in  its  Bulletin  of  the  Laboratories  of  Denison 
University,  a  compendium  of  petrographical  manipulation  by  CX 
L.  Herrick.  The  first  part  is  a  condensation  of  the  theoreticaj 
part  of  Hussak's  book,  in  which  many  of  the  errors  of  the  orig- 
inal have  been  rectified.  The  methods  in  use  for  the  preparation 
and  examination  of  rock  section  are  described  as  clearly  as  might 
be  expected  in  a  treatise  of  such  small  size.  Unfortunately  a  few 
mistakes  still  remain  to  confuse  the  student  who  attempts  to  make 
use  of  this  little  work  without  the  aid  of  an  instructor  to  explain 
away  his  difficulties.  Most  of  these  errqrs,  however,  seem  to  be 
due  to  too  much  hurry  on  the  part  of  the  composer.  On  page  132^ 
for  instance,  the  axes  of  elasticity  are  spoken  of  as  optical  axes. 
The  second  part  is  a  translation  of  Hussak's  tables.  It  is  safe  to 
say  that  in  the  hands  of  a  consciencious  teacher  this  little  pam- 
phlet of  Mr.  Herrick's  will  prove  of  great  value  to  students  who 
desire  merely  to  gain  some  insight  into  the  methods  so  generally 
made  use  of  at  present  in  the  study  of  rocks. 

BOTANY.* 

Carbonaceous  Reserve  Food-materials  in  Fungi. — M.  L. 
Errera  points  out  in  the  Comptes  Rendus  of  the  French  Acad- 
emy of  Sciences  a  close  analogy  in  this  respect  between  fungi 
and  flowering  plants.    In  the  seeds,  tubers,  &c.,  of  Phanerogams 

>  Comptes  Rendus,  cii.  No.  8,  p.  451. 

•lb.,  454. 

•Cf.  American  Naturalist,  April,  1886,  p.  374, 

*  Edited  by  Professor  Charles  £.  Bessey,  Lincoln,  Nebraska. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


1 886.]  Botany.  457 

the  food-material  may  be  stored  up  either  in  the  form  of  starch, 
inulin,  &c.,  on  the  one  hand,  or  in  that  of  oil  on  the  other  hand. 
Exactly  the  same  difference  is  observable  in  fungi,  substituting 
only  glycogen  for  starch  or  inulin.  The  great  reservoirs  of  food- 
material  in  fungi  are  the  sclerotia.  The  sclerotia  of  Claviceps 
purpurea  contain  oil,  those  of  Coprinus  niveus^  Peziza  sclera- 
tiorum^  &c.,  glycogen,  while  in  other  cases  the  food-material  is 
accumulated,  as  in  some  seeds,  in  the  form  of  thickenings  of  the 
cellulose-walls. 

When  sclerotia  which  contain  glycogen  germinate,  the  glycogen 
gradually  decreases,  while  it  accumulates  in  the  growing  fungus, 
in  the  stipes,  pileus  and  lamellae,  into  which  it  appears  to  pass 
directly  from  the  sclerotium.  In  the  germination  of  the  sclerotia 
of  ergot  the  oil  rapidly  disappears  and  is  replaced  by  glycogen, 
which  is,  however,  only  of  a  temporary  persistence,  soon  dis- 
appearing, and  again  making  its  appearance  in  the  part  when  the 
fructification  is  subsequently  formed.  This  resembles  closely  the 
phenomena  which  attend  the  germination  of  oily  seeds  like  those 
of  Ricinus  and  Cucurbita.  Transitory  glycogen  is  also  formed 
in  the  germination  of  the  spores  of  many  fungi. — A.  JV,  Bennett, 

Henslow's  Studies  of  Evaporation  of  Water  from  Plants. 
— In  December,  1885,  the  Rev.  George  Henslow  read  a  paper 
before  the  Linnean  Society  entitled,  "A  contribution  to  the  study 
of  the  relative  effects  of  different  parts  of  the  solar  spectrum  on 
the  transpiration  of  plants,"  which  is  of  such  interest  that  we 
reproduce  its  more  essential  parts.  After  reviewing  the  work  of 
other  observers  the  author  describes  his  method  of  work,  which 
consisted  in  using  glasses  of  different  colors : 
*  "  The  plan  I  finally  adopted  was  to  grow  small  plants  in  minia- 
ture pots  two  inches  high  and  nearly  two  inches  in  diameter. 
These  can  be  entirely  wrapped  up  in  gutta-percha  sheeting,  which 
is  carefully  bound  round  the  stem  of  the  plant  with  cotton-wool 
"within  and  around  the  stem.  This  effectually  prevents  any  evap- 
oration from  the  surface  of  the  earth  or  pot;  and  all  loss  of 
weight  is  due  to  the  transpiration  from  the  exposed  surface  of  the 
plant  alone. 

"My  experiments  were  made  upon  lettuce,  box,  Echeveria, 
small  seedling  palms,  ferns,  cactus  and  many  other  kinds  of 
shrubs  and  herbs;  having  selected  them  with  very  various 
degrees  of  density  in  the  epidermis,  as  well  as  of  different  fami- 
lies. The  results  would  seem  to  entirely  corroborate  the  conclu- 
sion of  Weisner,  that  transpiration  is  mainly  effected  by  the  red, 
blue  and  violet  rays,  while  the  (optically)  brightest  rays  of  yellow 
and  green  are.  generally  less  able  to  effect  it,  even  if  they  do  not 
hinder  it.  I  emphasize  this  sentence,  as  there  appear  to  me  to 
be  grounds  for  coming  to  such  a  conclusion,  as  will  be  seen  here- 
after." 


Digitized  by 


Google 


45  8  General  Notes.  [May, 

After  detailing  his  experiments  the  following  is  given  as  the 
conclusion:  "The  aboye  experiments,  selected  from  a  large 
series,  seem  to  me  to  abundantly  prove  that  Weisner's  results  are 
correct;  and  while  recognizing  the  fact  that  obscure  heat-rays 
cause  a  certain  amount  of  the  loss  of  water  by  evaporation,  that 
transpiration  per  se  (theoretically  distinct  from  the  purely  physi- 
cal process  of  evaporation,  which  takes  place  from  all  moist  sur- 
faces and  bodies,  dead  or  alive)  is  especially,  if  not  solely  refera- 
ble to  those  particular  bands  of  light  which  are  absorbed  by 
chlorophyll,  and  that  such  light,  being  arrested,  is  converted  into 
heat,  which  then  raises  the  temperature  within  the  tissues  and 
causes  the  loss  of  water.  The  only  additional  fact  which  I  have 
here  advanced,  somewhat  tentatively,  is,  that  yellow  light  has  a 
retarding  influence  upon  transpiration,  for  the  reasons  given 
above.  That  *  life '  has  a  retarding  influence  upon  evaporation  as 
distinct  from  transpiration,  L  think  my  experiments  (which  I  hope 
to  continue  hereafter)  have  distinctly  proved." 

It  will  puzzle  any  one  to  make  out  a  good  reason  for  using  two 
terms  for  the  process  of  water-loss  in  plants.  We.  have  it  said 
that  "  evaporation  "  is  the  "  purely  physical  process,"  while  the 
experiments  show  that  what  is  called  "  transpiration  "  is,  after  all, 
a  physical  process  also  ;  and  when  we  are  told,  as  in  the  last  sen- 
tence above,  that  "  life  has  a  retarding  effect  on  evaporation,"  the 
confusion  of  ideas  becomes  somewhat  embarrassing.  Why  not 
use  but  one  term,  and  that  the  more  general  one — evaporation  ? 
The  fact  of  modification  or  control  of  evaporation  is  so  common 
a  phenomenon  in  nature  that  we  cannot  regard  it  as  of  great 
significance.  Common  salt  or  sugar  added  to  water  retards  evap- 
oration. 

The  mutual  attraction  of  the  molecules  of  cellulose  and  wat* 
retards  evaporation ;  so  does  the  mutual  attraction  of  the  mole- 
cules of  protoplasm  and  water.  Heat  increases  the  rate  of  evap- 
oration, while  a  reduction  of  temperature  (other  things  being 
equal)  retards  it,  etc.,  etc.  Why  not  call  the  loss  of  water  in  the 
plant  what  it  is-— evaporation,  and  then  discuss  the  several  modify- 
ing influences?  Certainly  such  a  course  would  contribute  to 
clearness  and  accuracy,  and  would  relieve  the  beginner  of  one  of 
the  difficulties  in  vegetable  physiology. — Charles  E.  Bessey, 

Ellis  and  Everhart's  North  American  Fungi. — The  six- 
teenth and  seventeenth  centuries  of  this  valuable  distribution  of 
dried  specimens  of  the  fungi  were  sent  out  early  in  March.  With 
the  fifteenth  century  the  first  series  of  centuries  closed,  and  in 
order  to  mark  its  termination  Mr.  Everhart  prepared  an  alphabet- 
ical index  to  all  the  species.  The  first  fifteen  centuries  were  pub- 
lished by  Mr.  Ellis,  but  now  with  the  beginning  of  the  new  series 
the  name  of  Mr.  Everhart  appears  upon  the  title-page  and  the 
labels.  As  Series  i  included  fifteen  centuries,  we  may  confidently 
hope  that  Series  ii  will  carry  the  work  up  to  thirty  centuries  ! 


Digitized  by 


Google 


I886.J  Botany.  459 

The  centuries  before  us  are  largely  devoted  to  the  Sphaeriaceae 
and  the  so-called  "  imperfect  fungi."  The  genus  Cercospora  is 
represented  in  Cent,  xvi  by  twenty-five  species,  many  of  which 
have  been  but  recently  described.  Septoria  is  represented  in 
Cent.  XVII  by  sixteen  species,  Sphaerella  by  eleven. 

We  trust  that  thi^  important  work,  which  must  be  largely  a 
labor  of  love,  will  go  on  to  the  completion  of  the  second  series, 
so  happily  begun. 

Botanical  News. — From  the  Transactions  of  the  Institute  of 
Natural  Science  of  Nova  Scotia  we  have  a  paper  on  the  Canadian 
species  of  the  genus  Melilotus,  by  Professor  George  Lawson. 
The  eleventh  annual  report  of  the  American  Postal  Micro- 
scopical Club  contains  a  couple  of  pages  of  suggestive  botanical 

notes  from  the  "  note-books  "  of  the  club. Superposed  buds 

are  discussed  by  Aug.  F.  Foerste  in  a  late  number  of  the  Bulle- 
tin of  laboratories  of  Denison  University.  The  paper  is  accom- 
panied by  a  plate. Dr.  Farlow's  paper  on  Biological  teaching 

in  colleges,  published  in  the  March  number  of  the  Popular  Set- 
ence  Monthly ^  will  be  read  with  interest  by  every  teacher  of  the 
"  laboratory  method  "  in  botany. The  March  youmal  of  My- 
cology contains  descriptions  of  the  species  of  Phyllosticta,  Clavi- 
ceps  and  Cordyceps,  and  also  a  sketch  of  the  life  and  labors  of  the 

botanist  Schweinitz,  the  latter  accompanied  with  a  portrait. 

The  March  number  of  GrevilUa  is  accompanied  by  pp.  113  to 
128  of  the  new  edition  of  Cook's  Hand-book  of  British  Fungi. 
Thus  iax  the  descriptions  include  456  species,  all  of  the  genus 

Agaricus. Late  numbers  of  Flora  contain  an  important  paper^ 

Zur  Systematik  der  Torfmoose,  by  Dr.  Roll  of  Darmstadt.  The 
"  collective  species,"  with  their  numerous  varieties  and  forms,  are 
fairly  bewildering,  and  strongly  suggest  the  inadequacy  of  the  Lin- 

naean  nomenclature. The  Bulletin  of  the  Torrey  Botanical  Club 

has  been  much  improved  the  present  year.  Its  Index  to  recent 
American  botanical  literature  is  now  one  of  its  most  valuable 
features.  In  the  February  number  L.  H.  Pammel  publishes  a 
paper  on  the  structure  of  the  testa  of  several  leguminous  seeds, 

accompanied  by  two  plates. In  the  March  Botanical  Gazette 

D.  H.  Campbell  describes  the  development  of  the  root  in  Bo- 
trychium  ternatum,  and  J.  N.  Rose  contributes  an  article  on  the 
mildews  (Erysiphei)  of  Indiana.  The  June  number  of  this  invalua- 
ble journal  is  to  be  devoted  to  field  and  herbarium  work,  and 

hence  will  be  of  particular  interest  to  collectors. Henry  Holt 

&  Co.,  of  New  York,  announce  for  early  publication  a  Hand-book 
of  plant  dissection,  by  J,  C.  Arthur,  C.  R.  Barnes  and  J.  M. 
Coulter. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


460  General  Notes,  [May, 

BNTOMOIiOGY. 

Development  of  the  MoLfi  Cricket. — A.  Korotneffhas  pub- 
lished in  the  Zeitschrift  fur  wissen.  Zoologie,  xu,  4,  570,  a  well 
illustrated  essay  on  the  embryology  of  the  mole  cricket,  which 
has  been  also  noticed  by  C.  Emery  in  the  Biologisches  Central- 
blatt  for  Jan.  15,  in  connection  with  Grassi's  observations  on  the 
development  of  the  honey  bee.  The  egg  of  the  mole  cricket 
has  an  abundant  yolk,  while  that  of  the  bee  has  little  yolk  and  is 
small  and  transparent.  Yet  both  observers  have  independently 
arrived  at  the  same  results  in  four  important  points.  It  is  note- 
worthy that  in  both  forms  before  the  formation  of  the  blastoderm 
a  stage  was  observed  in  which  the  amoeboid  embryonal  cells 
seemed  to  possess  no  clear  nuclei.  With  this  result  might  be 
<:onnected  the  relation  briefly  described  by  A.  Sommer  in  the  case 
of  a  Podurid,  when  the  ripe  egg  was  entirely  without  a  nucleus. 
Whether  there  was  in  all  these  cases  a  genuine  absence  of  the 
nucleus,  or  a  diffuse  nucleus  form,  such  as  Graber  discovered  in 
the  Protozoa,  is  still  to  be  determined,  and  would  not  be  without 
interest  in  connection  with  *  the  late  reflections  of  Weismann  and 
others  on  heredity. 

In  Gryllotalpa  the  embryonic  cells  are  at  first  scattered  over 
the  surface  of  the  egg ;  some  migrating  into  the  deeper  parts  of 
the  yolk  and  forming  the  yolk  cells  regarded  by  Korotneff  as  the 
primary  mesoderm.  From  the  ectoderm  exclusively  separates 
the  endoderm.  There  first  originate,  under  the  ectoderm  cells 
which  Korotneff'  denotes  as  mesenchym,  and  not  till  later  does 
the  separation  of  the  myoblasts  follow  along  the  ventral  median 
line.  Later  still  arise  from  the  ectoderm  near  the  tracheae  other 
groups  of  cells  which  are  also  to  be  considered  as  mesenchym, 
and  which  were  also  observed  in  Bombyx  by  Tichomiroff*. 

The  embryonal  membranes  serosa  and  amnion  arise  as  ecto- 
dermal folds.  After  the  limbs  are  indicated  the  segments  are 
formed.  Korotneflf  enumerates  eighteen  segments,  /.  ^.,  four  in 
the  head,  three  in  the  thorax,  ten  abdominal  and  one  tail-segment 
(TichomirofT  observed  the  same  number  in  Bombyx.  The  ner- 
vous system  primarily  shows  a  corresponding  organization  in 
seventeen  pairs  of  ganglia,  which  are  reduced  to  thirteen  by  the 
consolidation  of  the  three  hinder  head-ganglia  (in  the  text  they 
are  erroneously  called  thoracic  ganglia)  and  the  three  last  abdom- 
inal ganglia.  The  cerebral  ganglia  are  first  separated  from  each 
other  and  only  joined  to  the  ventral  chain  by  slender  commis- 
sures. The  structure  called  "  chorda  "  by  Nusbaum  is  a  median 
ectodermal  one,  which  grows  in  between  the  two  series  of  ganglia, 
and  has  nothing  at  all  to  do  with  the  formation  of  the  connective 
tissue  of  the  nervous  system.  This  last  tissue  must  arise  from 
the  immigrating  blood-cells. 

Especially  interesting  are  the  observations  on  the  structure  of 


Digitized  by 


Google 


PLATE  XVIII. 


Digitized  by  VjOOOifc' 


Digitized  by 


Google 


1 886.  J  Entomology.  461 

the  entoderm  and  digestive  canal.  The  cells  of  the  primary  ento- 
derm (the  yolk  cells)  undergo  a  radial  division  of  the  yolk,  the 
yolk-pyramids  thus  arising  melting  into  each  other  centrally. 
Some  of  the  cells  grow  and  form,  under  the  serous  membrane 
which  has  not  yet  disappeared,  the  dorsal  wall  of  the  body,  and 
the  dorsal  plate  or  dorsal  organ.  Through  the  growth  of  the 
parts  forming  the  lateral  walls  of  the  body,  the  dorsal  organ 
gradually  becomes  covered,  its  cells  sink  into  the  yolk  and  seem 
to  break  into  fragments.  After  the  ectodermal  parts  of  the  diges- 
tive canal  (fore  and  hind  intestine)  have  formed,  amoeboid  cells 
still  migrate  into  the  yolk,  and  seem  to  contribute  to  its  fluidity 
(verflussigung).  After  hatching,  the  whole  yolk  by  a  pumping 
movement,  gradually  becomes,  including  whatever  is  contained  in 
the  same,  partly  degenerate  cells,  thus  pushing  the  so-called  pri- 
mary entoderm  into  the  portion  of  the  fore-intestine,  called  the 
crop.  The  mesenteron  receives  no  epithelial  covering  from  the 
primary  entoderm,  and  the  epithelium  of  the  mid-intestine, 
namely,  the  definite  or  secondary  entoderm,  arises  from  the  meso- 
derm, according  to  Korotneff,  through  the  wandering  blood-cells. 
The  morphological  significance  of  the  strange  dorsal  organ  is, 
according  to  Korbtnefif,  nothing  else  than  a  stopper  which  fills  up 
the  dorsal  gap  of  the  body-walls  of  the  embryo.  Physiologically 
the  organ  plays  an  important  role  in  the  manufacture  of  the 
yolk-mass  destined  for  the  nourishment  of  the  embryo.  In  the 
digestion  of  the  yolk,  so  to  speak,  three  kinds  of  cells  are  active : 
I,  the  yolk  cells ;  2,  the  dorsal  organ;  3,  immigrant  blood  cor- 
puscles. By  the  above  considerations  the  want  of  a  dorsal  organ 
in  eggs  with  a  scanty  yolk  is  explained. 

The  formation  of  the  heart  is  very  fully  described.  We  will 
only  give  the  following  abstract.  Blood  cells  are  early  present 
almost  everywhere  between  the  yolk  and  mesoderm ;  the  heart 
becomes  indicated  in  the  form  of  two  furrows,  which  draw  near 
to  one  another  together  with  the  dorsal  edges  of  the  myoblasts, 
and  which  unite  in  the  heart-tube ;  each  furrow  borders  a  wide 
blood-lacuna  which  covers  the  dorsal  side  of  the  yolk  and  be- 
comes reduced  to  the  cavity  of  the  heart. 

EXPLANATION  OF  PLATES  XVIII  AND  XIX. 

Lettering. 

^bc,  amoeboid  blastodermic  cells.  dpm^  dorsal  diaphragm. 

antt  antenna.  en^  endodermal  celb. 

tf  r,  arterial  sinus.  ent^  enteric  layer. 

bCf  blastoderm  cells'.  /,  fat-body. 

bl^  blastoderm.  g^  ventral  ganglion. 

bla^  abdominal  vesicles.  H^  ht,  heart. 

cTf  proventriculus,  or  crop.  /,  lacuna. 

ilm^  ventral  diaphragm.  M^,  cavity  of  the  myoblast* 

da^  dorsal  organ.  m,  mouth. 

VOL.  XZ.'-MO.  v.  3 


Digitized  by  VjOOQIC 


462  General  Notes.  [May^ 

mby  myoblast  cells.  pm^  proclodaeum. 

mdt  mandible.  sg^  suboesophageal  ganglion. 

ffUHf  mesenteron.  sm,  stomodaeum. 

mx^t  1st  maxilla.  tg,  thoracic  ganglion. 

mx^'t  labium,  or  second  maxilla.  vm,  ventral  muscle. 

ml,  leaf-like  portion  of  mesenteron.  y,  yolk. 

N,  nerve-furrow.  yp,  yolk-pyramids. 

a,  oesophagus.  I,  1st  pair  of  feet. 

/*,  primitive  groove.  ii,  2d    "      " 

pCf  procerebrum.  Ill,  3d  "      ** 

pd,  primitive  disk. 

Figures. 

Fig.    I. — Egg  in  which  the  amoeboid  {/tbc)  nuclei  are  moving  toward  the  surface. 

"      2. —      "        "         "  "         **      have  reached  the  surface,  and  $how  an 

active  nucleus-formation. 

"  j.^The  blastodermic  cells  have  no  nucleu^  and  are  placed  at  equal  distance 
apart. 

"      4. — ^The  blastoderm  cells  now  forming  a  continuous  layer. 

«  5. — Cross-section  of  the  egg  with  blastodermic  disk,  also  showing  the  disposi- 
tion of  the  endodermal  cells. 

«  6. — Cro5s.section  of  the  blastodermic  disk,  with  the  myoblast  cells  {ntb) 
already  formed. 

*<  7. — ^Cross-section  through  the  thorax  of  the  embryo ;  the  body-cavity  extended 
into  the  limbs. 

"  8. — Longitudinal  section  of  the  embryo ;  the  yolk.pyramids  {yp)  form  a  com- 
mon inner  yolk-mass  {y). 

*<  9. — Section  through  the  heart;  11,  cavity  of  the  heart;  the  two  halves  of  the 
heart-sinuses  having  united  dorsally,  ventrally  they  are  still  open  and  are 
bounded  by  the  walls  of  the  mesenteron. 

*<  10. — Cross -section  of  an  embryo,  showing  the  blood-lacunae  separated  on  the 
back  by  the  dorsal  organ  {do) ;  the  intestinal  fasciated  layer  (darmfaserblatt) 
has  not  completely  enclosed  the  yolk. 

"  II. — Embryo  completely  segmented,  with  the  rudiments  of  the  appendages, 
labrum  (lab)  and  nervous  ganglia  (pc-ng), 

"  12. — A  more  advanced  embryo,  showing  the  stomodseum  (;/)  indicated  as  a 
frontal  protuberance. 

«  13.— Section  through  the  recently  hatched  larva,  showing  the  cells  of  the  me- 
senteron or  chyle-stomach,  and  the  cellular  layer  on  the  front  surface ;  alsa 
the  proventriculus  or  crop. 

Development  of  the  Honey  Bee. — An  abstract  of  Grassi's 
observations  appears  in  the  Biol.  Centralblatt,  which  we  translate. 
The  development  of  the  honey  bee  is  much  more  simple  in  some 
respects  than  that  of  the  mole  cricket  because  the  necessary 
structures  for  the  digestion  of  the  food  yolk  are  entirely  lacking. 
Yolk  cells  exist  after  the  formation  of  the  one-layered  blastoderm,, 
but  do  not  limit  the  cleavage  of  the  yolk.  The  blastoderm  is  at 
first  spread  continuously  over  the  whole  egg,  but  afterwards  be- 
comes arrested  upon  the  back.  The  mesoderm  so  arises  from  the 
ectoderm  that  a  median  ventral  plate  at  the  same  time  sinks  in 
and  becomes  overgrown  by  the  adjoining  later  parts.    This  plate 


Digitized  by 


Google 


ri.ATF,  XIX. 


// 


21? 


i/& 


Digitized  by 


Google 


Digitized  by 


Google- 


1 886.]  Entomology.  463 

is  at  first  one-layered,  and  afterwards  is  composed  of  two  layers, 
and  then  divides  for  the  formation  of  the  body-cavity.  The  pos- 
terior and  anterior  ends  of  the  mesoderm-plate  lengthen  to  form 
the  mesoderm  of  the  head  and  end  of  the  abdomen.  Fro^^  these 
last  portions  of  the  mesoderm  arises  also  the  definite  entoderm, 
viz.,  the  epithelial  covering  of  the  mesenteron.  The  yolk  cells 
thereupon  disappear ;  according  to  Grass!  the  figures  quoted  from 
Tichomiroff  as  well  as  from  O.  and  P.  Hertwig,  in  regard  to  the 
proof  of  the  origin  of  the  endoderm  in  the  yolk  cells  can  also  be 
explained  to  agree  with  his  views.  The  amnion  and  serous  mem- 
branes are  not  separated  in  the  bee.  but  form  a  single  layer  of 
cells.  Grassi  is  inclined  to  trace  the  embryonal  membranes  of 
insects  phylogenetically  from  an  especially  modified  dermal  fold, 
which  was  inherited  from  the  ancestors  of  the  class ;  such  a 
duplicature,  suggests  Emery,  might  be  comparable  to  the  mantle 
of  many  Entomostraca. 

According  to  Grassi  the  cerebral  ganglia  arise  independently 
of  the  ventral  chain,  and  is  afterwards  connected  with  it.  The 
entire  nervous  system  and,  as  far  as  could  be  observed,  also  the 
commissures  arise  directly  from  the  ectoderm.  The  antennae  are 
developed  from  the  head  plate  (procephalic  lobes)  and  are  situated 
in  front  of  the  other  appendages.  A  pair  of  cephalic  appendages 
previously  observed  by  Biitschli,  which  only  appear  for  a  short 
time  in  front  of  the  mandibles,  soon  disappear.  Grassi  considers 
them  as  homologous  to  the  second  antennae  of  Crustacea.  He 
found  abdominal  appendages  only  exceptionally,  and  not  on  all 
the  segments.  The  observations  of  Grassi  on  the  mode  of  devel- 
opment of  the  heart  agree  well  with  those  of  Korotneff  on  Gryl- 
lotalpa ;  both  uphold  the  hypothesis  of  Biitschli  of  the  origin  of 
the  vascular  system  from  the  residue  of  the  segmentation-cavity, 
i,  e.,  the  primitive  body-cavity.  The  sexual  organs  originate  as 
two  mesodermal  elongated  streaks  in  the  4th-8th  abdominal 
segments. 

The  tracheae  arise  very  early;  there  are  ten  pairs  of  stigma 
present,  the  ist  thoracic  and  the  two  last  abdominal  segments 
wanting  the  same.  In  the  corresponding  place  of  the  two  last 
segments  appear  the  germs  of  the  malpighian  tubes,  which  as 
soon  as  the  hind-intestine  is  formed  extend  and  open  into  it. 
Tracheae  and  urinary  tubes  should  be  regarded,  as  P.  Mayer  sup- 
posed, as  homodynamic  organs.  This  opinion  is  also  supported 
by  the  results  of  TichomeroflPs  researches  on  the  silk-worm  ;  the 
latter  found  nine  pairs  of  stigmata,  but  three  pairs  of  malpighian 
tubes.  Grassi  further  supposes  that  the  silk  glands  and  other  in- 
vaginations or  "  head-canals  "  found  by  him  near  the  mandibles 
and  maxillae  are  homologous  with  the  tracheae. 

In  case  an  entodermal  origin  for  the  antennal  glands  of  the 
Crustacea  and  the  segmental  organs  (schleifenkanali)  of  annelids 
becomes  proved,  then  the  first  might  be  the  homologues  of  the 


Digitized  by 


Google 


464  General  Notes.  [May, 

head-canals  of  the  bee-embryo,  and  both  the  tracheae  and  mal- 
pighian  tubes  be  proved  homologous  with  the  nephridia  of  the 
annelids. 

From  such  a  view  Emery  dissents :  he  thinks  the  relation  of 
these  organs  in  Peripatus  are  not  consistent,  since  in  that  animal 
occur  both  nephridia  and  trachea,  unless  we  suppose  that  the 
tracheae  of  Peripatus  and  of  the  other  arthropods  are  not  equiva- 
lent. If  one  accepts  the  fact  that  the  tracheae  and  the  malpighian 
tubes  have  originated  from  diffusely  distributed  cutaneous  glands, 
then  one  could  further  suppose  that  their  openings  unite  later 
with  the  openings  of  the  nephridia,  by  which  means  they  assumed 
a  segmental  arrangement.  But,  however,  it  is  not  at  all  neces- 
sary to  make  the  nephridia  arise  from  the  ectoderm,  which  would 
contradict  all  the  researches  hitherto  made. 

Lintner's  Second  Report  as  State  Entomologist  of  New 
York. — This  forms  a  volume  of  265  pages,  representing  work  done 
in  the  years  1882  and  1883.  Besides  many  miscellaneous  notes 
on  various  local  attacks  of  insects  and  remedies,  certain  well- 
known  injurious  caterpillars  are  described  at  length,  as  well  as 
noxious  flies,  beetles,  bugs  and  orthopterous  and  neuropterous 
insects. 

In  the  appendix,  reprinted  from  other  sources,  is  described  a 
new  sexual  character  in  the  pupa  of  some  moths,  and  an  egg  par- 
asite of  the  currant  saw-fly  is  described,  while  besides  is  a  list  of 
notes  of  a  miscellaneous  nature  published  in  various  journals, 
succeeded  by  a  reprint  of  Fitch's  Winter  Insects  of  New  York. 

The  report  is  rather  more  miscellaneous  and  contains  perhaps 
the  results  of  less  field  work  than  the  first,  but  still  will  prove  ser- 
viceable to  the  farmers  of  New  York. 

The  State  should  be  more  liberal  in  affording  illustrations  for 
so  important  and  useful  a  report,  those  not  reproduced  being 
poorly  drawn  and  engraved.  This  is  not  the  fault  of  the  ento- 
mologist, and  should  not  be  under  the  control  of  the  State 
printers. 

Entomological  News. — At  the  meeting  of  the  French  Acad- 
emy for  Jan.  25,  M.  J.  Chatin  read  a  note  on  the  comparative 

morphology  of  the  labium  in  Hymenoptera. In  the  Bulletin 

of  the  Buffalo  Society  of  Natural  Sciences  (Vol.  v,  i).  Dr.  D.  S. 
Kellicott  describes  as  new  Nonagria  subcarnea^  and  compares  its 
larva  with  that  of  Sphida  obliquata, In  the  Canadian  Ento- 
mologist for  January  Mr.  Herbert  Osborn  publishes  a  useful  pre- 
liminary list  of  the  species  of   mites  of  North  America. In 

Entomologica  Americana  for  March,  D.  W.  Coquillet  gives  a  syn- 
opsis, with  descriptions  of  new  species,  of  our  species  of  bom- 
bylid  flies  of  the  genus  Toxophora.  Miss  M.  Murtfeldt  shows 
that  certain  seed-feeding  Coleophora  larva,  which  remain  ten  or 
eleven  months,  and  sometimes  even  longer,  in  a  dormant  state. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


1 886.]  Zoology.  465 

not  feeding  in  the  spring  or  summer    months. Mr.   H.   B. 

Moschler  discusses  the  systematic  position  of  the  genus  of  zyg- 

aenid  moths,  Triprocris. At  the  meeting  of  the  Washington 

Entomological  Society  for  Feb.  11,  Mr.  Schwarz  said  that  among 
the  many  forms  of  secondary  sexual  characters  in  the  Coleop- 
tera,  some  would  likely  be  found  to  be  analogous  in  function  to 
those  in  the  Lepidoptera.  He  referred  more  particularly  to  the 
tufts  of  hair  in  the  mentum  of  Trogosita,  and  those  on  the  ven- 
tral segments  of  the  male  of  Dermestes.  Differences  in  the  ves- 
titure  of  the  sexes  are  known  to  occur,  e,  g.^  Hoplia,  where  the 
male  has  scales  and  the  females  only  hairs ;  but  in  this  case  it  is 
hardly  possible  that  we  have  to  do  with  odoriferous  organs. 

ZOOLOQY. 

Markings  of  Animals. — Eimer  has  advanced  the  view  that 
the  markings  on  animals  are  primitively  longitudinal  stripes, 
which  may  subsequently  be  broken  up  to  form  dots,  and  these 
fuse  to  form  transverse  rings.  This  view  is  supported  by  the 
ontogeny  of  many  animals.  Dr.  W.  Haacke  controverts  this 
view  from  the  study  of  an  Australian  fish,  Helotes  scotus.  The 
adult  fish  is  marked  by  eight  longitudinal  black  bands;  young 
specimens  have  in  addition  a  row  of  clear  transverse  bands,  which 
disappear  when  the  fish  attains  to  maturity. — ^oum.  Roy,  Micr. 
Soc.,  February,  1886. 

Blind  Crabs. — Mr.  J.  Wood-Mason  states  that  four  species  of 
Brachyura  were  dredged  in  the  Bay  of  Bengal  from  depths  ex- 
ceeding 100  fathoms,  during  the  past  season,  by  H.  M.'s  Indian 
marine  survey  steamer  Investigator.  They  belong  to  the  genera 
Amathia,  Ethusa,  Eucephaloides  (n.  gen.  allied  to  Collodes  Stimp* 
son)  and  Lyreidus,  of  which  the  last  named  {L.  channert)  is  espe- 
cially interesting  on  account  of  the  rudimentary  condition  of  the 
eyes. 

These  organs  are  unequally  reduced,  the  cornea  of  the  left 
being  of  the  normal  form  and  extent,  but  opaque  and  devoid  of 
all  traces  of  facets,  as  in  Munidopsis,  Orophorhynchus,  Nephrop- 
sis  and  other  blind  forms  of  the  deep  sea,  while  that  of  the  right 
is  entirely  aborted,  its  place  being  only  indicated  by  a  small 
smooth  spot  marked  out  by  the  transparence  of  a  lead-colored 
pigment  similar  to  that  which  is  seen  through  the  integument 
around  the  base  of  the  left  eye.  This  interesting  brachyuran, 
which  is  at  once  distinguished  from  the  Japanese  and  American 
species  by  having  the  anterolateral  margin  of  the  carapace  armed 
with  two  pairs  of  long  and  slender  spines,  were  trawled  up  from 
a  depth  of  285-405  fathoms. — your.  Roy.  Micr.  Soc,  February, 
1886. 

The  Intercentrum  in  Sphknodon  (Hatteria).  —  Professor 
Cope,  in  his  important  note  on  this  point  (Am.  Nat.,  Feb.,  '86) 


Digitized  by 


Google 


466  General  Notes.  [May, 

has  shown  that  the  intercentrum  in  Sphenodon  is  complete  in 
the  caudals ;  I  can  add  that  the  same  condition  is  to  be  found  in 
the  praecaudal  vertebrae  also.  This  makes  Professor  Cope's  view 
of  the  Embolomeri  being  the  batrachian  type  ancestral  to  the 
Reptilia,  still  stronger. 

Fritsch*  believes  that  he  has  found  the  representatives  of  the 
pleurocentra  in  the  cervicals  of  a  young  Sphenodon;  the  praezyga- 
pophyses,  he  says,  represent  these  elements;  which  are  devel- 
oped from  a  distinct  point  of  ossification  (according  to  Fritsch). 
I  examined  two  Sphenodons  in  alcohol  (one  about  290™"^  long). 
I  could  not  find  such  a  condition,  and  nobody  will  find  it,  not 
even  in  embryos.  Archegosaurus  has  well  developed  praezyga- 
pophyses,  besides  the  pleurocentra.  In  no  vertebrate  are  the  prae- 
zygapophyses  developed  from  a  distinct  center;  and  Spheno- 
don makes  no  exception.  The  "  centrum "  of  the  vertebra  in 
reptiles  and  mammals  is  formed  by  the  pleurocentra ;  and  embry- 
ology of  the  Reptilia  will  probably  show  that  the  centrum  is  de- 
veloped from  two  lateral  elements.— ^Z?r.  G.  Baur,  March  2j, 
j886. 

Zoological  News. — Mammalia, — H.  H.  Johnson,  in  his  work 
on  the  Kilimanjaro  expedition,  notes  a  singular  resemblance 
(which  some  may  call  mimicry)  between  the  aspect  of  the  tall 
red-brown  'antelope,  Alcelaphus  cokei^  and  the  mounds  built  by 
termites.  The  color  being  the  same  and  the  long  grass  hiding  the 
animal's  legs,  it  was  really  difficult  to  distinguish  an  antelope 
from  an  ant  hill.  The  mimicry  was  sometimes  made  more  ludi- 
crously exact  by  the  sharply  pointed  leaves  of  a  kind  of  squill, 

which  suggested  the  horns  of  an  antelope. F.  W.  True  has 

described  in  a  recent  issue  of  the  Proc.  U.  S.  Nat.  Mus.  a  new 
species  of  Mesoplodon  {M.  stejnegeri)  obtained  on  Bering  island 
by  M.  Stejneger.  The  species  frests  upon  the  characters  of  the 
cranium,  quite  badly  water-worn,  of  a  young  individual.  In  gen- 
eral proportions  it  agrees  with  the  skull  of  M,  hectori,  but  the 
contour  of  the  occipital,  the  section  of  the  beak,  etc.,  are  differ- 
ent.  Mr.  True  pronounces  the  Hyperoodon  semijunctus  of  Cope 

to  be  a  Ziphius,  distinct  from  Z.  cavirostris.  In  the  general  form 
and  proportion  the  skull  approaches  most  closely  to  Z,  gervaisu, 

Sowerby's  whale  {Mesoplodon  bidens)  has  been  found  upon 

the  coast  of  Yorkshire.  A  male  specimen  fifteen  feet  nine  inches 
long  was  left  stranded  in  shallow  water  at  the  entrance  to  the 
Humber.  Fourteen  instances  of  the  occurrence  of  this  species 
on  various  parts  of  the  European  coast  and  one  in  North  America 
(Nantucket,  1867)  are  enumerated  {Ann.  and  Mag.  Nat.  Hist, 
Jan.,  1886). 

Reptiles,  etc. —  Mr.  A.  B.  Macallum  (Quart,  Journ.  Mic.  Soc., 
Nov.,  1886),  gives  the  following  summary  of  the  results  of  his 

1  Fritsch,  A.   Fauna  der  Gaskohle.  Bd.  11,  Heft  n,  Prag,  1S85. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


1 886.]  Zoology.  467 

studies  of  the  nerve  terminations  in  the  cutaneous  epithelium  of 
the  tadpole.  Certain  fibers,  placed  below  the  corium  and  known 
as  Ihe  fundamental  plexus,  give  origin  to  fibrils  which  enter  the 
epithelium  and  end  in  comparatively  large  bead-like  bodies  be- 
tween the  cells,  and  may  or  may  not  branch,  arise  from  a  network 
of  fine  anastomozing  nerve-fibrils  situated  immediately  below  the 
epithelium  an^l  forming  meshes  smaller  than  the  space  covered 
by  an  epithelial  cell.  One,  commonly  two,  often  three  or  moro, 
nerve-fibrils  terminate  in  the  interior  of  each  epithelial  cell  near 
its  nucleus.     The  figures  of  Eberth  are  sheaths  for  intra-cellular 

nerve-terminations. Colonel  R.  H.  Beddome  describes  the 

earth  snakes  (Uropeltidae)  of  India  and  Ceylon  in  a  recent  num- 
ber of  the  Annals  and  Mag,  of  Nat,  Hist,  Six  species  of  Rhino- 
phis,  one  of  Uropeltis,  nineteen  of  Silybura,  five  of  Plectrurus, 
one  of  Teretrurus  (nov.  gen.),  three  of  Melanophidium,  and  three 
of  Platyplectrurus  are  characterized?    Several  species  are  new. 

Fishes, — Nature  (Feb.  4,  1886)  has  an  interesting  article  by  A. 
Ernst  upon  the  shoals  of  living  and  dead  fishes  which  are  cast 
upon  the  shore  of  Carupano,  Venezuela.  The  place  is  celebrated 
for  the  occurrence  of  these  shoals,  which  for  the  most  part  con- 
sist of  small  fishes,  and  are  composed  of  several  distinct  species. 
The  shoals  are  most  common  from  May  to  November,  during 
the  rainy  season,  but  in  fine  weather,  when  there  is  a  moderate 
breeze  from  the.  sea.  Sharks  and  other  predatory  fishes,^s  well 
as  whales  and  sea-gulls,  follow  the  shoal.  The  movement  of  the 
fishes  is  probably  due  to  migration  in  search  of  food,  the  conforma- 
tion of  the  coast  at  Carupano  is  such  as  to  favor  the  embayment 
of  the  shoals  at  that  point,  and  the  death  Of  the  fishes  is  caused  by 

submarine  eruptions  of  gases. T.  J.   Cunningham  (Quart. 

Jour.  Micr.  Soc.)  contributes  observations  upon  the  relations  of 
the  yolk  to  the  gastrula  in  teleosteans  and  other  vertebrate  types. 
At  an  av'erage  temperature  of  7.5  C.  whiting  began  to  hatch  on 
the  tenth  day.  haddock  on  the  eleventh.  The  fertilized  ova  of 
the  cod,  haddock  and  whiting  are  similar  in  all  respects  save  size, 
while  the  ovum  of  Trigla  gurnardus  has  a  single  large,  brownish- 
yellow  oil-globule.  In  the  earlier  condition  of  the  periblast  the 
cells  of  the  blastoderm  are  continuous  with  it.  The  invaginated 
layer  of  the  germinal  ring  is  never  continuous  beneath  the  seg- 
mentation cavity,  nor  is  it  continuous  with  the  periblast;  it 
passes  beneath  the  axis  of  the  embryo,  and  from  the  first 
constitutes  the  dorsal  hypoblast.  The  floor  of  the  intestine 
is  in  all  probability  derived  from  the  periblast.  The  whole  edge 
of  the  blastoderm  represents  the  ancestral  blastopore,  and  the 
formation  of  the  embryo  by  concrescence  is  simply  the  closing 
of  the  blastopore  from  before  backwards.  The  edge  of  the  blas- 
toderm in  Amphibia,  Petromyzon  and  the  ganoids  is  homologous 
with  that  of  teleosteans  but  not  with  that  of  elasmobranchs.  The 
inflected  part  of  this  edge  in  the  latter  represents  the  whole  of  it  in 


Digitized  by 


Google 


468  General  Notes.  [May, 

the  teleosteans.  The  ancestral  part  of  the  primitive  streak  in  Sau- 
ropsida  represents  the  ancestral  blastopore,  while  the  postqfior 
part  represents  the  coalesced  uninflected  part  of  the  blastodermic 

rim  in  the  elasmobranchs. The  fish  fauna  of  Lake  Balkhash, 

according  to  M.  Nikolsky,  numbers  fourteen  species,  viz.,  Perca 
schrenkii,  Phoxinus  (two  sp.),  Barbus  platyrostriSy  Schizothorax 
(five  sp.),  Diptychus  dibawskii  and  three  species  of  Diplophysa. 
All  but  one  of  these  are  new,  and  none  are  found  either  in  the 
Aralo- Caspian  basin  or  in  the  system  of  the  Obi.  Five  genera 
are  common  to  Lake  Balkhash  and  the  Central  Asian  lakes.  In 
all  these  lakes  Cyprinidx  and  Cobitidae  predominate,  and  two 
species  are  common  to  Lob-nor  and  Lake  Balkhash.  Three  spe- 
cies, the  two  Phoxini  and  the  perch,  are  the  only  ones  which  ally 
the  fauna  of  the  latter  lake  to  that  of  the  Obi.  From  these  facts 
M.  Nikolsky  concludes  that  if  the  depressions  of  the  Alatau, 
Aral-Caspian  and  Siberia  were  ever  a  continuous  marine  basin, 

the  first  was  separated  earlier  than  the  others. Messrs.  G.  B. 

Goode  and  T.  H.  Bean  describe  sixteen  new  species  of  fishes 
(Proc.  U.  S.  Nat.  Mus.,  Oct.,  1885)  obtained  by  the  U.  S.  Fish 
Commission  mainly  from  deep  water  off  the  Atlantic  and  Gulf 
coasts.  The  species  include  five  Heterosomata  (Aphoristia  two, 
Hemirhombus  one,  Citharichthys  one,  Etropus  one),  two  species 
of  Macrurus,  one  of  Coryphaenoides,  one  of  Malococephalus, 
three  of  Bathgadus,  one  of  Neobythites  (nov.  gen.),  one  of  Poro- 
gadus  (n.  g.)  and  two  of  Bathyonus,  which  last  name  is  a  sub- 
stitute for  Bathynectes  Gnthr.,  preoccupied  in  Crustacea. 

Mollusks, — It  appears  from  the  experience  of  Mr.  W.  Arm- 
strong and  W.  K.  Brooks  that  seed  oysters  grow  more  rapidly 
and  are  of  a  better  shape  when  placed  on  floating  collectors  than 
when  deposited  on  the  bottom.  This  is  due  to  the  absence  upon 
these  floating  surfaces  of  the  sediment  which  often  forms  a  coat 

upon  the  bottom  before  the  spat  can  become  attached. Those 

who  wish  to  know  how  a  list  of  species  fares  in  the  hands  of  one 
who  critically  republishes  it,  should  look  over  the  Report  on  the 
testaceous  Mollusca  obtained  during  a  dredging  excursion  in  the 
Gulf  of  Suez  in  the  months  of  February  and  March,'  1869,  by 
Robert  MacAndrew.  Republished,  with  additions  and  correc- 
tions, by  Alfred  Hands  Cooke  {Ann.  and  Mag.  Nat,  Hist^  Feb. 
1886). 

Echinoderms, — M.  G.  Cotteau  has  put  forth  a  preliminary  but 
important  paper  upon  the  Eocene  Echini  of  France,  containing 
descriptions  and  figures  of  the  species  belonging  to  the  genera 
Spatangus,  Maretia,  Euspatangus  and  Hypsospatangus. How- 
ard Ayers,  as  a  result  of  studies  of  the  structure  and  function  of 
the  Sphaeridia  of  the  Echinoidea,  carried  on  at  Banyul-sur-Mer 
(Quart  Jour.  Micr.  Soc,  Nov.,  1885),  arrives  at  the  conclusion 
that  these  organs  possess  the  double  function  of  taste  and  smell. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


i886.J  Zoology.  469 

They  are  much  more  highly  specialized  than  they  are  described 
by  ^ven  to  be,  and  have  in  fact  a  greater  specialization  of  parts 
than  can  be  seen  in  similar  organs  in  the  Medusae.  Sounds, 
which  affect  the  spines  and  pedicellariae  immediately,  are  not 
noted  by  the  sphaeridia,  which  are  first  to  recognize  the  presence 

of  a  drop  of  acetic  acid  in  the  water. Mr.  R.  Rathbun  (Proc. 

U.  S.  Nat.  Mus.)  contributes  a  report  upon  the  Echini  collected 
by  the  U.  S.  steamer  Albatross  in  the  Gulf  of  Mexico  from  Jan- 
uary to  March,  1885.  Thirty-one  species  were  collected  in  suit- 
able condition  for  determination.  These  represent  seventy-eight 
dredging  stations  in  from  twenty-one  to  1330  fathoms,  only  one 
species  having  been  obtained  in  shore  collecting.  Seventeen 
species  were  additional  to  those  obtained  in  i884,yet  nine  species 
of  that  date  were  not  found  in  1885. 

Worms, — Dr.  von  Linstow  (Zeit.  f.  wissen.  Zool.)  enumerates 
fourteen  courses  of  development  known  among  Nematelminths, 
according  to  the  medium  in  which  they  develop,  (i)  Some  gen- 
era pass  directly  into  an  adult  form ;  (2)  the  larvae  live  in  the 
earth,  the  adults  in  plants ;  (3)  the  larvae  live  in  worms,  and  on 
their  death  pass  into  the  earth  and  become  adult ;  (4)  in  Sphceru-^ 
laria  bombi  the  adults  live  in  the  earth,  and  the  fruitful  females 
enter  the  bodies  of  bees  and  there  reproduce ;  (5)  the  larvae  live 
in  the  earth,  the  adults  in  some  animal ;  (6)  the  hermaphrodite 
worm  lives  in  some  animal,  while  the  offspring  develops  into 
bisexual  forms  in  the  earth ;  (7)  some  adults  are  free-liviftg  and 
sexual,  others  hermaphrodite  and  parasitical  on  animals ;  (8)  the 
larvae  hatch  in  the  earth  and  develop  into  hermaphrodite  forms  in 
animals;  (9)  the  larvae  live  in  insects,  the  adults  in  earth  or 
water;  (10)  the  larvae  live  encapsuled  in  one  animal,  and  with  it 
V  pass  into  the  digestive  system  of  another  animal  and  become 
adult;  (11)  the  hermaphrodite  form  lives  a  short  time  in  the  in- 
testine of  some  animal  and  here  produces  a  larva  which  becomes 
encapsuled  in  the  muscles ;  (12)  the  adults  live  in  the  tracheae  of 
birds,  the  embryos  are  expectorated,  swallowed  with  the  bird's 
food,  hatch  out  in  the  crop  and  oesophagus,  wander  into  the 
bronchiae  and  air-sacs,  and  thence  to  the  tracheae  {Syngamus 
trachealis)]  (13)  Gordius  has  two  larval  forms,  one  in  beetles  the 
other  in  mollusks,  while  the  adults  live  in  water;  (14)  of  two 
larval  forms  one  is  aquatic,  while  the  other  inhabits  the  lung  of 
an  amphibian  and  passes  thence  into  the  intestine  of  the  same 
animal  where  it  develops  into  the  hermaphrodite  form.  This  is 
the  case  with  Nemaioxis  longicauda,  the  last  form  of  which  is  de^ 

scribed  and  figured  by  Dr.  Linstow. ^The  annelid,  Siphono- 

stoma  diplochastus,  according  to  M.  Et.  Jourdain,  has  two  pairs  of 
true  eyes  provided  with  a  refringent  body  analogous  to  that 
present  in  tunicates,  and  traversed  with  radiating  striae.  This 
worm  is  common  in  the  mud  near  Marseilles,  and  is  covered  with 
a  very  thick  coat  of  mucus  derived  from  two  types  of  papillae, 


Digitized  by 


Google 


470  General  Notes.  [May, 

the  one  ovoid,  as  it  were,  isolated  in  the  mucus  and  formed  of 
glandular  cells  similar  to  those  which  enter  into  the  structure  of 
the  epidermis,  the  other  fusiform  and  with  filaments  at  their  ex- 
tremity.   The  papillae  are  joined  to  the  body  by  long  and  slender 

peduncles. F.  E.  Beddard  i^Ann,  and  Mag.  Nat  Hist,  Feb., 

1886)  describes  three  species  of  Perichaeta  and  one  of  Moniligas- 
ter  from  Ceylon  and  the  Philippines.  The  latter  genus  is  remark- 
able for  the  apparent  absence  of  a  clitellum  and  the  presence  of 
five  distinct  gizzards  in  the  oesophagus. 

Protozoa, — A.  C.  Stokes  {Ann,  and  Mag,  Nat.  Hist)  describes 
several  New  Infus6ria  from  American  fresh  waters. H.  J.  Car- 
ter describes  in  the  January  and  February  numbers  of  the  Ann. 
and  Mag,  of  Nat,  Hist.,  thirty-five  species  of  sponges  from  the 
neighborhood  of  Port  Phillip  heads,  South  Australia. 

EMBRYOLOGY.^ 

On  the  Symmetry  of  the  first  segmentation  Furrows  of 
THE  Blastodisk  OF  Elasmobranchii. — The  nearly  symmetrical 
subdivision  of  the  blastodisk  of  Teleosts  by  the  first  four  seg- 
mentation furrows  has  long  been  known.  The  details  of  the 
early  development  of  the  blastodisk  of  Teleosts  ^have  been  very 
carefully  elaborated  by  Agassiz  and  Whitman/ whose  conclu- 
sions are,  I  believe,  generally  accepted  by  embryologists.  Of  the 
development  of  the  blastodisk  of  Elasmobranchs  we  know  com- 
paratively little,  especially  in  relation  to  the  relative  position  and 
direction  of  the  first  segmentation  furrows.  The  object  of  the 
present  note  will  therefore  be  to  describe  the  early  segmentation 
of  the  blastodisk  of  one  of  the  latter,  viz.,  Raia  erinacea,  as  dis- 
played by  an  egg  removed  from  the  oviduct  and  cloaca  of  a 
female  of  that  species,  July  11,  1885,  at  Wood's  HoU,  Mass. 

Upon  opening  the  tough  horny  membranous  envelope  in  which 
the  ovum  proper  of  Raia  is  enclosed,  it  is  found  that  the  egg  is 
somewhat  pinkish  in  color,  and  is  imbedded  in  a  layer  of  very 
glairy  "  white  "  or  albumen,  which  fills  up  the  space  between  the 
egg  and  the  horny  case.  The  pinkish  egg  proper  is  somewhat 
flattened  and  oval  in  shape,  and  is  immediately  invested  by  a  very 
thin  and  delicate  vitelline  membrane.  At  one  side  of  the  flattened 
vitellus,  which  measures  nearly  one  and  a  quarter  inches  through 
its  longest  diameter,  a  small  circular  whitish  area  about  two  mil- 
limeters in  diameter  is  noticeable.  This  is  the  blastodisk  or  ger- 
minal area  of  authors,  and  is  the  point  where  development  first 
begins  to  manifest  itself. 

If  the  egg  case  is  carefully  opened,  the  white  removed  and 
then  laid  into  a  one  per  cent  solution  of  chromic  acid,  the  blasto- 

^  Edited  by  John  A.  Ryder,  Smithsonian  Institution,  Washington,  D.  C. 
*0n  the  development  of  some  pelagic  fish-eggs.    Proc.  Am.  Acad.  Arts  and  Sci., 
XX,  1S84. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


1 886. 1  Embryology,  47 1 

disk  may  be  hardened  in  situ  without  distortion,  and  afterwards 
separated  from  and  carefully  h'fted  off  of  the  underlying  vitellus, 
together  with  a  thin  hardened  flake  of  the  latter  to  support  it. 
Such  was  the  treatment  to  which  the  blastodisk  here  figured  and 
described  was  subjected.  The  surface  view,  Fig.  i,  was  drawn 
with  the  camera  lucida  after  hardening,  and  the  section  shown  in 
Fig.  2  was  drawn  from  one  taken  at  about  the  position  of  the  line 
a  in  Fig.  I.  Cleavage  had  already  advanced  so  far  as  to  subdi- 
vide the  area  of  the  blastodisk  into  fifteen  sharply  defined  cells, 
so  that  it  may  be  assumed  that  this  blastodisk  has  nearly  com- 
pleted its  sixteen-celled  stage  of  development  or  that  the  fourth 
cleavage  is  about  completed. 

A  comparison  of  the  first  four  cleavage  planes  of  this  blasto- 
disk shows  that  they  are  formed  in  very  nearly  the  same  order 
and  relation  to  each  other  in  Elasmobranchs  as  in  Teleosts.    For 
example,  the  first  plane  i,  in  Fig.  i,  has  cut  through  the  originally 
circular  blastodisk  and  caused  it  to  become  elongated  at  right 
angles  to  the  direction  of  the  first  segmentation*  furrow  exactly 
as  in  the  eggs  of  teleostean  fishes.     The  second  furrow.  11,  cuts 
the  first  at  right  angles  so  as  to  further  subdivide  the  first  two 
cells  into  four.     The  next  cleavage  is  caused  by  two  nearly  par- 
allel furrows,  iii,  iii,  which  appear  simultaneously,  and  further 
subdivide  the  cells  of  the  blas- 
todisk into  eight     The  fourth 
cleavage  is  caused  by  two  par- 
allel  furrows,   iv,   cutting  the 
blastodisk     approximately    at 
right  angles  to  the  two  furrows 
of  the  third  cleavage.     It  thus 
results   that  sixteen  cells  will 
be   developed,  and  it  will   be 
apparent  also  that  the  method 
of  segmentation  thus  indicated 
is  exactly  comparable  with  that 
characteristic  of  the  developing 
ova  of  telcosteans.     We  have,  ^ 
in  fact,  the  same  elongation  of  '"^ 
the   blastodisk   in   one    direc- 
tion as  is  produced  by  the  first  ^i^ 
segmentation    furrow    in    the 

latter.  The  same  oblong,  squarish  outline  of  the  blastodisk  as 
observed  in  the  sixteen-celled  stage  of  teleostean  development 
is  also  obvious,  and  it  is  also  evident  that  such  a  squarish 
configuration  of  the  blastodisk  does  not  disappear  until  the 
morula  condition  is  reached  or  at  least  approximated,  just  as 
in  Teleosts.  These  data  serve  to  show  that  the  features  of 
segmentation  as  observed  by  several  investigators  in  the  eggs 
of  Teleosts  are  repeated  with  no  essential  variation  in  the  de- 


Digitized  by 


Google 


472  General  Notes.  [May, 

velopment  of  the  eggs  of  the  Elasmobranchs.  The  subdivision 
of  the  blastodisk  into  cells  in  both  types  of  Ichthyes  is  essentially 
a  symmetrical  one,  determined  by  the  first  cleavage  plane. 
Whether  or  not  the  first  cleavage  plane  of  the  ovum  of  elasmo- 
branchs coincides  with  the  median  plane  of  the  future  embryo, 
as  supposed  by  Whitman,  Roux,  Pfliiger  and  E.  Van  Beneden,  it 
is  impossible  to  decide  at  present,  but  it  would  seem  not  at  all 
improbable  that  such  might  be  the  case. 

A  series  of  sections  of  this  blastodisk  of  Raia,  prepared  by  the 
aid  of  a  Cambridge  rocking  microtome,  which  was  presented  to 
the  U.  S.  Fish  Commission  by  Professor  Adam  Sedgwick,  have 
enabled  me  to  reach  some  interesting  conclusions  in  reference  to 
the  structure  of  the  blastoderm  of  the  Elasmobranchii  during  its 
one-layered  condition.  At  this  stage  the  four  median  or  central 
cells  are  not  completely  sundered  from  the  underlying  periblast, 
p,  Fig.  2,  since  the  cleavage  furrows  are  found  to  terminate  ab- 
ruptly before  they  haVe  quite  cut  through  the  finely  granular 
plasma  of  the  filastodisk  proper,  as  shown  in  Fig.  2.  In  this 
respect  the  cleavage  of  the  blastodisk  of  Elasmobranchs  differs 
very  decidedly  from  that  of  teleosts  as  described  by  Agassiz  and 
Whitman  in  the  paper  already  cited. 

The  germinal  plasma  of  the  disk  is  composed  of  a  clear  sub- 
stance in  which  very  fine  granules  are  imbedded.  These  gran- 
ules are  probably  of  the  same  nature  as  the  crystalloids  or  tabu- 
lar crystal- like  rigid  bodies  which  largely  enter  into  the  composi- 
tion of  the  yolk  y.  In  fact  a  careful  examination  reveals  the  fact 
that  the  very  finely  granular  plasma  of  the  segmenting  blastodisk 
passes  by  insensible  gradations  into  that  of  the  yolk  changed  with 
very  coarse  granules  or  tablets.  An  e^lceedingly  thin  envelope 
of  finely  granular  plasma,  which  is  continuous  with  the  margin 
of  the  blastodisk,  covers  the  entire  vitelline  mass.  This  is  repre- 
sented by  the  irregular  outline  of  the  area  p  in  Fig.  i,  below 
which  lies  a  discoidal  mass  of  coarsely  granular  yolk,  y.  In  Fig. 
2  the  relations  of  the  cortical  layer  p,  or  periblast,  to  the  vitellus 
are  still  more  distinctly  shown,  and  it  is  very  evident  that  the 
plasma  of  the  blastodisk  is  continuous  inferiorly  with  the  vitel- 
line mass,  and  that  a  cleavage  cavity  must  be  developed  at  a  con- 
siderably later  stage. 

The  lower  limits  of  the  segmentation  furrows  were  very  sharply 
defined,  as  shown  in  Fig.  2,  and  the  nuclei  of  the  constituent 
cells  of  the  blastodisk  were  observed  as  clear  round  or  oval  areas 
in  the  plasma  of  the  cells,  and  near  the  center  of  each  one  could 
be  seen  a  very  well  marked  nearly  globular  chromatin  body, 
which  occasionally  was  observed  to  be  provided  with  irregular 
processes  which  extended  outward  into  the  nuclear  space.  No 
karyokinetic  phenomena  were  observed. 

From  what  has  preceded  it  does  not  seem  at  all  probable  that 
the  "  free  nuclei  "  which  are  finally  developed  under  the  blasto- 


Digitized  by 


Google 


1886.]  Physiology.  473 

disk  of  Elasmobranchs  originate  spontaneously.  It  is  indeed  far 
more  likely  that  they  originate  by  a  process  of  segmentation  in 
which  the  marginal  cells  of  the  blastodisk  are  involved  the  same 
as  in  Teleosts.  Such  a  view  is  in  fact  supported  by  fig.  15  given 
in  Balfour's  Comparative  Embryology.  Vol.  11,  p.  34,  in  which 
two  free  nuclear  spindles  are  shown  at  the  edge  of  the  deeper- 
lying  part  of  the  blastodisk  of  Pristiurus  in  the  morula  condition, 
consisting  of  four  superimposed  rows  of  cells.  Balfour's  figure 
also  shows  that  between  the  lowermost  cells  composing  the  blas- 
todisk and  the  coarsely  granular  vitellus  there  is  still  a  consider- 
able unsegmented  stratum  of  finely  granular  plasma  interposed. 
In  this  lower  layer  of  finely  granular  plasma  alone  the  "  free 
nuclei "  are  found,  thus  furnishing  additional  evidence  that  the 
view  expressed  above  as  to  the  origin  of  such  nuclei  is  probably 
correct.  In  the  disk  of  Raia  examined  by  me  the  cleavage 
planes  are  also  marked  by  the  clear  margins  of  adjacent  cells,  as 
in  the  blastodisk  of  Pristiurus  figured  by  Balfour.  The  blasto- 
disk of  Raia  here  figured  and  described  measured  1.7 1  millime- 
ters in  width  and  2.37  millimeters  in  length.  Its  thickness  in  the 
center  was  about  .6  of  a  millimeter,  and  thinned  out  at  the  mar- 
gin into  a  very  thin  layer  of  plasma  which  is  obviously  homolo- 
gous with  the  cortical  or  periblastic  layer  of  the  teleostean  egg. 
Later  stages  of  the  blastodisk  of  Raia  show  it  subdivided  into 
smaller  and  more  irregular  cellular  areas ;  the  whole  disk  also 
again  assumes  much  more  nearly  the  original  discoidal  form 
characteristic  of  it  previous  to  the  beginning  of  segmentation. 
To  judge  from  the  condition  of  the  blastodisk  here  described,  it 
of  course  is  to  be  inferred  that  the  fertilization  of  the  egg  takes 
place  while  it  is  still  in  the  oviduct,  or  possibly  even  before  it  en- 
ters the  latter. — yohn  A.  Ryder. 

PHYSIOLOaY.^ 

Glycogenic  Function  of  the  Liver. — I  see  that  in  your  gen- 
eral notes  on  Physiology  in  the  April  number  of  the  American 
Naturalist,  p.  397,  an  abstract  is  given  of  Professor  Seegen's 
researches  on  the  glycogenic  function  of  the  liver.  One  of  his 
most  important  conclusions  is  that  peptones  are  destroyed  in 
the  liver  by  being  split  into  liver-sugar  and  a  nitrogenous  resi- 
due. Now  this  is  exactly  the  conclusion  at  which  I  arrived  in 
my  paper,  "  On  the  glycogenic  function  of  the  liver,"  published 
eight  years  ago.^  In  that  paper  I  say  (p.  102):  "Therefore — 
and  this  is  a  very  important  point — albuminoids  are  decomposed 
in  the  liver  into  glycogen  and  some  nitrogenous  matter  which  is 
excreted  partly  in  the  bile  but  probably  mostly  restored  to  the 
blood  to  be  excreted  as  urea  by  the  kidney.  In  this  way  ex- 
cess of  albuminoid  over  and  above  what  is  necessary  for  build- 

'  This  department  is  edited  by  Professor  Henry  Sew  all,  of  Ann  Arbor,  Michigan. 
^Am,  Jour,  Set.,  Vol.  xv,  p.  99,  1878. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


474  General  Notes.  [May, 

ing  is  reduced  to  a  condition  suitable  for  combustion."  I  do  not 
pretend  to  put  my  results,  founded  entirely  on  general  reasoning, 
on  the  same  footing  as  the  careful  researches  and  experiments  of 
Professor  Seegen,  but  it  seems  to  me  so  explicit  a  statement  de- 
serves recognition. 

Again  Professor  Seegen  draws  attention  to  the  fact  that  fasting 
animals  still  continue  to  make  liver-^ugar  and  that  therefore  this 
function  is  continuous.  In  the  same  paper,  I  state  that  waste  tis- 
sues being  albuminoid  are  undoubtedly  eliminated  in  the  same 
way,  i,  e.,  by  splitting  in  the  liver  into  a  carbo-hydrate  wliich  is 
burned  and  an  incombustible  nitrogenous  residue  to  be  eliminated 
mostly  by  the  kidneys.  The  researches  of  Schiff*  demonstrate 
that  waste  tissue  undergo  some  important,  yea  necessary,  change 
in  the  liver,  but  as  to  the  nature  of  the  change  he  says  nothing. 
If  the  disposal  of  waste  is  connected  with  sugar  making,  as  I 
affirm,  this  fact  entirely  explains  the  continuity  of  the  function. 

Again  Professor  Seegen  says :  "  The  formation  of  peptones  (at 
least  in  carnivores  not  growing)  is  mostly  to  form  sugar."  I  say, 
'•  The  whole  albuminoid-excess  is  split  into  sugar  to  be  burned 
for  vital  force  and  vital  heat  and  an  incombustible  residue  to  be 
otherwise  eliminated,  i.  e.,  the  whole  albuminoid-excess  is  utilized 
as  sugar." 

As  to  the  experiments  of  Professor  Seegen  and  others  showing 
that  with  carbo-hydrate  diet  the  sugar  in  the  portal  vein  is  less 
than  in  hepatic  vein,  I  confess  they  are  wholly  unintelligible  to 
me.  What  becomes  of  the  sugar  which  is  absorbed  in  such 
large  quantities  ?  Is  it  not  possible  that  it  may  be  present  in 
some  form  which  does  not  respond  to  the  ordinary  tests  for 
glucose  ? 

The  final  conclusion  of  Professor  Seegen  that  glycogen  always 
present  in  the  liver  is  not  tite  source  of  liver-sugar,  must  be  estab- 
lished on  very  firm  basis  before  it  will  be  accepted  by  physiolo- 
gists.-—/<75/'/A  LeConte, 
Berkeley,  Cal.,  April  8, 1886, 

PSYOHOLOQY. 

Meynert's  Psychiatry,*  Vol.  I. — ^This  volume  of  285  pages  is 
largely  devoted  to  the  gross  and  minute  anatomy  of  the  brain. 
Besides  the  appendix  on  the  mechanism  of  expression,  and  a 
short  chapter  on  the  nutrition  of  the  brain,  two-thirds  of  the  book 
are  devoted  to  anatomy  and  one-third  to  the  physiology  of  this 
important  organ.  The  work  represents  the  results  of  Meynert's 
researches  up  to  1884,  and  is  of  first-class  value  as  embracing  the 

1  Arch,  des  Sciences,  Vol.  58,  p.  203,  1877. 

'  Psychiatry,  a  clinical  treatise  on  diseases  of  the  Fore-brain.  By  Theodor  Mey- 
nert,  M.D.,  professor  of  nervous  diseases  and  chief  of  psychiatric  clinic  of  Vienna. 
Translated  by  B.  Sachs,  M.D.  Vol.  i.  New  York,  G.  P.  Putnam's  Sons.  8vo^ 
1885. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


1886.] 


Psychology. 


47S 


descriptions  of  a  master  in  cerebral  anatomy  and  physiology.  The 
text  is  accompanied  by  mostly  excellent  engravings,  which  are 
so  necessary  to  the  comprehension  of  this  abstruse  subject.  We 
give  some  of  these,  Figs,  i,  2  and  3  (Nos.  9,  24  and  56  of  the 
book)  which  represent  structure,  and  Fig.  4  (60)  which  illustrates 
the  law  of  muscular  action  under  stimulus'^ 

Meynert  opens  his  chapter  on  the  physiology  of  the  brain  with 
the  assertion  (p.  138)  that  it  is  an  organ  of  which  the  function 
may  be  inferred  from  its  structure.  This  inference  is  justified  by 
facts  of  physiology  both  normal  and  abnormal.  The  most  im- 
portant normal  physiological  law  which  is  adduced  in  evidence, 


Fig.  I. — Convexity  of  the  human  brain,  y,  island  of  Reil ;  ^S,  sylvian  fissure. 
The  letten  are  placed  on  the  temporal  lip  ot  the  fissure ;  above  the  island  lies  the 
operculum,  bounded  by  the  anterior  ascending  limb,  which  passes  upward  toward 
the  letters  ^(^  and  the  posterior  ascending  limb  approaching  the  lettering  arc,  /. 
C  central  fissure ;  ||(|,  prncentral  fissure  (anterior  radial  fissure) ;  tttf  (S-0 jl)>  post- 
radial  fissure  (sulcus  occipito-parietalis)  ;  SoCC.  occipital  fissure;  SI^,  ^1%  longi- 
tudinal fissures  in  frontal  and  temporal  lobes;  ^(S  designates  *below  parallel  fissure; 
S.)iO,  preeoccipital  fissure  ffus  gyrus  fusiformis)  ;  Gi,  anterior  central  convolutions; 
Cpt  posterior  central  convolutions ;  Ps  iQu),  superior  parietal  lobe  (lobus  quadratus) ; 
arc  /,  arc  II,  inferior  and  superior  parietal  convolutions ;  S.QCC-f  >  external  occipital 
fissure  (ape  fissure) ;  Cu,  Occ,  Occ  i,  the  three  occipital  convolutions  of  Ecker;  Cu, 
indicating  the  convex  surface  of  the  cuneus,  and  Occ  i  designating  the  convex  sur- 
face of  the  gyrus  Hngualis;  (7/,  em,  callosomarginal  convolution;  arcocc,  occipital 
arch;  1}  Z'  Z*,  above  %^,  frontal  convolutions. 

is  that  of  Bell,  "  that  the  conduction  of  nerve  force  is  in  a  centri- 
petal direction  through  the  posterior,  and  in  a  centrifugal  direc- 
tion through  the  anterior  spinal  roots."  That  cerebral  function 
has  definite  locations  is  demonstrated  by  three  facts  among  many 
others.    The  first  of  these  is  the  intimate  relation  observed  to 


Digitized  by 


Google 


476 


'  Central  Notts. 


[May, 


exist  between  the  size  of  the  olfactory  lobe  aiid  the  sense  of 


smell;  the  second,  the  close  relation  between  the  size  of  the 


Digitized  by  VjOOQIC 


1 886.]  Psychology.  At77 

oltactory  lobes  and  the  gyrus  fornicatus,  with  which  its  fibers 
connect  This  convolution  is  greatly  developed  in  Mammalia 
with  strong  olfactory  powers,  forming  with  the  external  olfactory 
convolution  the  very  extensive  convexity  of  the  cornu  ammonis; 
thirdly,  the  direct  connection  which  exists  between  diseases  of 
the  region  about  and  within  the  sylvian  fissure,  especially  the 
claustrum,  and  disorders  of  the  faculty  of  speech.  The  experi- 
ments of  Hitzig,  Nothnagel,  Ferrier  and  Munk  receive  due 
attention,  and  their  curious  results  are  given  in  detail. 

Dr.  Meynert's  definition  of  the  ego  is  interesting  as  proceeding 
from  the  physiological  standpoint.  He  says  (p.  i6)  :  "  The  sum 
of  these  [innervation]  centers  constitutes  the  '  individuality,'  the 
'  ego '  of  abstract  psychologists.     I  attach  some  importance  to 


fr. 


Fig.  3. — ^Transparent  longitadinal  section  through  the  brain  of  a  monkey.  />, 
frontal  end ;  oc€,  occipital  end ;  Rd^  cortex  cerebri ;  J/,  medullary  substance  of  the 
fore-brain;  Ne,  caudate  nucleus;  Z,  lenticular  nucleus ;  C,  anterior  commissura;  N^ 
globus  pallidus ;  A,  amygdala  ;  //,  optic  tract ;  C/,  internal  capsule;  Th^  thalamus; 
^r,  brachium  corporis  quadrigemini;  Lb^  discus  lentiformis  (by  mistake  of  the  en- 
graver united  to  the  stratum  intermedium.  The  dark -pointed  triangular  mass  in 
nont  of  it  is  the  radiation  of  the  posterior  longitudinal  fasciculus.  Underneath  Br 
the  radiation  of  the  nucleus  ruber) ;  L  Z,  Z,. ,  lemniscus  of  the  superior  and  inferior 
corpus  bigeminnm,  and  of  the  valvula  cerebeili ;  P,P^  pes  peduncuii ;  /'.  pons  vari- 
olii;  ^^,  corpus  rhomboideum ;  O^  inferior  olive;  Cbl^  ceiebellum;  /V,  processus 
cerebeili  ad  cerebrum;  R^  corpus  restiforme;  Fp^  funiculus  posterior. 

the  word  '  individuality  '  because  it  is  founded  upon  the  anatomi- 
cal structure  of  the  cortex,  and  the  simple  physiological  process 
which  enters  into  our  present  discussion.  Individuality  implies 
the  sum  of  firmest  associations  which  under  ordinary  circumstances 
are  well  nigh  inseparable ;  the  aggregate  of  '  memories  '  forming 
a  solid  phalanx,  the  relation  of  which  to  conscious  movements 
can  be  defined  apparently  with  mathematical  precision.    This  un- 

VOL.  XX.— NO.  ▼.  3a 


Digitized  by 


Google 


478 


General  Notes. 


[May,   ^ 


equal  activity  of  the  fore-brain,  constituting  individuality,  varies 
as  regards  contents  and  degree  with  each  person ;  it  is  designated 


Fig.  4. — Diagram  explaining  the  mechanism  of  a  conscious  movement  of  the  arm. 

F,  frontal  cortex;  ccO,  occipital  cortex;  CA^,  nucl.  caud. ;  Z.,A^  nucl.  lenticularis ; 
h  T,  thalamus  opticus ;  JD,  mesen  cephalon  ;  L,  pons  variolii ;  O,  med.  oblongata, 
characterized  by  the  olivary  body ;  Af,  medulla  spinalis,  terminating  with  a  cross- 
section  of  the  cervical  spinal  cord ;  cd,  cerebellum,  blue  lines  indicate  centripetal, 
red  lines  centrifugal  tracts,  the  red  and  blue  circles  in  the  spinal  cord  and  fore-brain 
denote  central  gray  nuclei,  black  lines  mark  the  association  fibers;  /a/,  sensory  tract 
of  the  arm ;  B,  part  of  the  cortical  center  for  cutaneous  sensation ;  2,  tract  for  effect- 
ing the  movement  of  the  arm ;  jA,  conducting  tract  of  the  optic  nerve :  A,  part  of 
the  visual  center;  ^C,  tract  conducting  sensation  of  innervation  interrupted  in  the 
thalamus ;  C,  a  center  in  the  cortex  for  sensations  of  innervation ;  j,  centrifugally 
conducting  tract  originating  in  the  cortical  area  C 


Digitized  by 


Google 


1 886.]  Anthropology.  479 

also  as  the  character  of  each  individual.  It  has  been  justly  ob- 
served that  if  the  character  (individuality)  of  a  person  were  en- 
tirely known,  we  would  be  able  to  predict  the  thoughts  and  deeds 
of  such  an  individual,  however  complicated  they  might  be." 

On  p.  170  it  is  pertinently  remarked,  that  "  there  is  no  gap 
between  conscious  and  reflex  movements  to  be  filled  in  by 
instinct." 

Dr.  Meynert  makes  the  following  reference  to  the  nature  and 
value  of  our  cognitions  (p.  183) :  "  I  wish  to  add  that  it  is  the 
boldest  hypothesis,  shared  alike  by  the  ordinary  mind  and*  by 
scientific  realism,  to  assume  that  the  world  is  such  as  it  appears 
to  the  brain  to  be ;  that  the  latter  can  be  likened  to  a  mirror  which 
simply  reflects  the  forms  of  the  outer  world  ;  that  the  world  as  it 
appears  to  the  brain  exists  independently  of  the  presence  or  absence 
of  mind.  Indeed,  it  seems  to  me  to  be  a  crucial  test  of  an  indi- 
vidual's power  of  thought  to  determine  whether  he  can  conceive 
or  not  of  the  unreality  of  the  world  clad  in  forms  which  our 
minds  have  bestowed  upon  it.  It  should  be  reiterated  that  the 
idealistic  conception  of  the  world  is  supported  by  physiological 
facts,  and  still  more  positively  by  the  facts  of  cerebral  architeg- 
ture  before  alluded  to."  We  cannot  learn  from  this  paragraph 
whether  Dr.  Meynert  is  an  idealist  in  the  Berkeleyan  sense  or 
not.  In  any  case  the  pathological  argument  has  a  double  edge. 
Perceptional  and  ideational  incapacity,  based  on  pathological  con- 
ditions, no  more  prove  the  unreality  (;.  ^.,  immensurability)  of  the 
non  ego,  than  the  perfection  of  our  cognitions  enables  us  to  per- 
ceive all  there  is  of  the  world.  Because  we  do  not  apprehend  all, 
it  is  not  to  be  inferred  that  we  therefore  apprehend  nothing. 

Dr.  Meynert  promises  to  discuss  the  important  question  of 
hereditary  predisposition  to  mental  disease  in  the  second  part  of 
the  work.  He  outlines  his  position  on  this  question  in  the  preface 
to  Vol.  I  in  the  following  language:  "  It  is  taking  altogether  too 
simple  a  view  of  things  to  regard  morality  as  one  of  man's  talents 
and  as  a  definite  psychical  property  which  is  present  in  some  per- 
sons and  lacking  in  others." — C, 

ANTHROPOLOaY.^ 

The  Aboriginal  Ax  of  the  Salt  River  Valley,  Arizona. — 
The  fertile  alluvial  lands  of  the  great  valley  of  Salt  river,  which 
have  been  lying  idle  for  unknown  centuries,  are  now  being  rap- 
idly redeemed  by  irrigation  and  planting.  Phoenix,  the  "  Garden 
City  "  of  Arizona,  now  numbers  some  5000  inhabitants,  and  is 
rapidly  growing  in  population  and  wealth  upon  the  ground  which 
was  formerly  densely  occupied  by  a  race  presumably  extinct, 
unless  it  finds  representation  in  the  Pimos  and  Maricopas  of 
to-day. 

^  Edited  hf  Prof.  Otis  T.  Mason,  National  Museum,  Washington,  D.  C. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


48o 


General  Notes. 


[May, 


Amongst  the  relics  of  the  past  turned  up  by  the  modern 
plough  the  aboriginal  stone  ax  is  the  most  conspicuous  and 
abundant.  The  numerous  specimens  show  that  but  one  general 
form  and  type  prevailed,  and  that  the  material  in  all  was  nearly 
the  same — a  compact,  firm,  dark-green  dolerite.  Availing  doubt- 
less of  the  river-worn  boulders  nearest  to  the  desired  form,  the 
ancients  shaped  them  by  rubbing  or  grinding  into  axes  of  superior 
form  and  finish,  capable  of  doing  good  service  in  cutting  and 
hewing  the  soft  Cottonwood  trees  of  the  lowlands  and  even  the 
harder  mezquite  of  the  first  terrace  where  their  homes  were 
built. 

The  form  of  the  ax  is  best  described  by  the  accompanying 
figures,  in  side  view  and  top  view.    The  groove  or  channel  for 


the  withe  or  thong  of  rawhide  for  the  handle  is  generally  deep 
and  left  somewhat  rough  in  surface,  while  the  rest  of  the  ax  is 
ground  smooth  and  is  polished.  In  some  specimens,  however, 
the  groove  is  also  smooth  and  polished  as  if  by  long  wear.  This 
groove  extends  across  the  top  of  the  ax  and  down  the  two  sides, 
but  not  across  the  bottom,  or  under  edge,  which  is  left  straight 
and  is  ground  smooth,  apparently  for  the  reception  of  a  key  or 
wedge  to  tighten  the  clasp  of  the  thong  on  the.stone.  In  many 
specimens  particularly  in  the  heavy  hammers  or  sledges,  also 
found  here,  the  borders  of  the  groove  are  raised  in  a  ridge  a 
quarter  of  an  inch  or  more  above  the  general  surface,  thus  giving 
a  broader  and  firmer  bearing  for  the'  thong  while  the  blade  and 
head  of  the  ax  are  made  smaller  and  thinner. 

The  thickness  of  the  axes  varies  considerably,  as  also  the 
length,  due  in  part  to  wear  by  long  use  and  'repeated  grinding. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


I886.J  Anthropoiogy.  481 

The  weight  seldom  exceeds  three  pounds,  and  the  length  eight 
to  ten  inches. 

One  double-bitted  ax,  an  unusual  form,  is  seven  inches  long 
and  one  and  a  quarter  inches  thick.  It  is  well  shaped  and  ap- 
pears to  have  been  an  effective  tool.  The  cutting  edges  of  all 
the  axes  were  formed  with  great  care  and  are  curved  as  in  our 
modern  axes.  They  bear  indisputable  evidence  of  careful  grind- 
ing into  shape  and  to  a  cutting  edge.  This  grinding  was  done 
with  great  accuracy  and  skill.  The  rectilinear  parallelism  of  the 
lines  of  abrasion  is  surprising.  Evidence  of  the  use  of  stone 
axes  is  found  in  the  remnants  of  the  cedar  floor  beams  in  the 
walls  of  the  ruins  of  Casa  Grande. — Wm.  P,  Blake,  Phosmx,  Ari- 
zona, March,  1886. 

The  so-called  Deformed  Crania.^ — The  discovery  in  Cuba 
of  a  series  of  crania  commonly  called  deformed  Carib  skulls,  is  itself 
an  argument  against  this  identification,  for  it  is  well  known  that 
there  never  were  either  Caribs  or  practices  of  deformation  in  Cuba. 
M.  le  Docteur  Montane  read  before  this  society,  at  a  former  meet- 
ing, an  essay  entitled,  "  A  Cuban  Carib/'  an  epithet  as  opposed  to 
the  opinions  of  the  author  of  the  piesent  paper  as,  for  example,  a 
Jamaican  Aztec,  a  Venezuelan  Quichua,  a  Portuguese  Basque  or 
a  Magyar  Englishman. 

Let  us  establish  who  are  the  Caribs  and  under  what  circum- 
stances were  the  crania  found  ? 

The  Caribs,  according  to  P.  Casas  and  other*  chroniclers  of 
America,  were  the  inhabitants  of  Guadeloupe  and  Dominica,  tlie 
first  islands  that  opposed  the  Castilians.  Christopher  Columbus 
gave  them  the  name,  confounding  them  with  the  Chalybes  of 
Asia,  warlike  people,  neighbors  to  the  Amazons,  dwelt  upon  by 
the  geographers  and  historians  of  antiquity. 

These  Caribs  belonged  to  the  same  race  as  the  other  inhabi- 
tants of  the  archipelago,  with  no  other  difference  except  wearing 
the  hair  long  and  eating  human  flesh.  This  last  accusation,  un- 
proved, extended  later  to  other  peoples  of  the  continent  belong- 
ing to  different  races.  The  word  Carib  became  the  synonym  of 
anthropophagy,  and  there  were  Caribs  throughout  America,  in 
Mexico,  the  Antilles,  Brazil,  &c.  The  first  to  bear  this  name 
disappeared  a  few  years  after,  quicker  than  their  relatives  in  other 
islands.  War,  slavery,  and  their  own  aggressive  wars  more 
promptly  resulted  in  their  extermination.  In  fact,  half  a  century 
after  the  discovery  of  America,  Guadeloupe,  Dominica  and  adja- 
cent islands  were  deserted.  A  new  race  of  Indians  established 
itself  there  and  the  land  was  occupied  by  France  and  other 
powers. 

Thus  the  Indians  called  at  the  end  of  the  seventeenth  century 
Caribs  by  Breton,  Du  Tertre,  Rochefort  and  Labat,  and  who, 

1  Read  in  Spanish  before  the  Anthropological  Society  in  Havana,  Nov.,  1885. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


482  General  Notes,  [May, 

according  to  Rochefort,  came  from  Florida  (an  incredible  theory), 
and  according  to  other  authors  from  South  America,  were  not 
the  descendants  of  the  first-named  inhabitants  of  the  archipelago. 
The  authors  named  above  depict  their  Carlbs  with  racial  charac- 
teristics quite  different  from  those  of  the  race  anteriorly  described 
by  the  first  conquerors.  Their  language,  according  to  Breton, 
had  nothing  in  common  with  that  familiar  to  Columbus  and  his 
companions.  They  were,  moreover,  much  mixed  with  the 
negroes  of  Saint  Vincent  and  Tabago,  forming  a  race  commonly 
called  Carib  negroes. 

The  opinions  advanced  in  this  study  are  related  especially  to 
the  true  and  ancient  Caribs  of  Columbus  and  the  first  chron- 
iclers. 

The  plaster  cast  before  us  was  taken  from  one  of  a  number 
found,  in  1847,  ^^  ^  cave  near  the  eastern  end  of  Cuba,  by  Miguel 
Rodriguez  Ferrer,  whose  explorations,  writings  and  official  meas- 
ures have  contributed  so  much  to  scientific  studies  in  our  island. 
Two  of  these  crania  are  now  in  Havana,  where  they  were  studied 
by  the  learned  Poey;  two  others  were  sent  to  Madrid,  where 
they  were  studied  by  MM.  Graells,  Vilanova.and  Peres  Areas; 
others  remained  in  the  possession  of  the  discoverer.  The  original 
of  this  cast  belonged  to  the  University  of  Havana,  and  was  de- 
stroyed by  fire.  Fortunately  Sr.  Nicolas  Gutierez  had  preserved 
a  perfect  reproduction  in  plaster,  which  he  presented  to  the  Soci- 
ety of  Anthropology. 

The  cranial  measurements  of  Sr.  Montane  although  useful,  and 
indeed  indispensable  in  other  craniological  studies,  have  no  im- 
portance when  we  have  to  prove  or  disprove  an  historic  fact  as 
definite  as  the  usage  attributed  to  the  Caribs  and  other  American 
savages  of  voluntarily  changing  the  form  of  the  head.  Cranio- 
logical measures  are  useful  in  determining  the  characters  of  a 
large  series  or  in  deciding  whether  a  given  skull  belongs  to  a 
class  well  known.  But  M.  Montane  does  not  possess  the  dimen- 
sions of  a  single  series  of  crania  called  deformed  Carib ;  what  is 
more  he  has  not  the  measures  of  one  such.  If  such  data  existed 
they  would  be  found  in  the  best  known  texts,  but  we  search  for 
them  in  vain.  Neither  in  public  or  private  museums  nor  in 
atlases  have  we  a  single  example  of  a  deformed  Carib  skull. 
Only  one  has  been  described  under  this  head  in  Morton's  Crania 
Americana  from  a  cast  in  Philadelphia,  the  original  of  which 
existed  in  Paris  and  had  been  used  by  Gall  and  Spurzheim  in  their 
phrenological  studies.^  But  notice  that  this  came  from  the  Island 
of  St.  Vincent,  the  principal  home  of  the  Carib  negroes.  More- 
over, this  skull  has  not  been  measured  by  any  modern  methods, 
or  at  least  Dr.  Montane  does  not  give  them. 

On  the  contrary,  there  is  at  Charleston  a  veritable  Carib  skull 

'  Dr.  Moultrie,  quoted  by  Morton,  "  Physical  Type  of  American  Indians,"  in 
Schoolcraft,  "  Archives,"  11. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


1886.]  Anthropology.  483 

from  Guadeloupe  ;  but,  notice  well,  it  is  not  flattened  but,  quite 
the  contrary,  very  high  in  the  crown,  a  decisive  proof  against  the 
justice  of  the  classification  generally  called  "  cleformed  Carib." 

Finally,  there  are  at  Paris  several  other  crania  coming  from  the 
Lesser  Antilles  called  Carib,  which  have  been  measured  by  mod- 
ern methods.  But,  mark  well,  they  are  not  deformed ;  that  is  to 
say.  Dr.  Montane  does  not  possess  the  measurements  of  a  single 
deformed  Carib  cranium. 

Consequently  he  undertakes  to  discover  resemblances  between 
this  and  crania  from  Ancon,  in  Peru.  He  reports  the  measure- 
ment of  two  types  of  these  the  deformed  and  the  non-deformed. 
The  figures  published  in  his  work,  if  they  prove  anything,  demon- 
strate that  the  skull  in  que3tion  is  not  Carib  at  all  but  of  the  non- 
deformed  from  Ancon,  Peru. 

On  the  contrary  the  rfeport  of  M.  Graells,  Vilanova  and  Perez 
Areas,  signed  by  a  large  special  committee  of  the  Museum  of 
Madrid  relates  to  the  two  crania  discovered  by  Sr.  Ferrer.*  The 
authors  do  not  hesitate  to  recognize  the  resemblance  between  the 
two  skulls  before  them  and  those  generally  called  deformed  Carib. 
They  declare  that  a  complete  study  of  the  question  of  artificial 
flattening  is  impossible  without  a  numerous  series  of  the  same 
form.  They  close  by  saying  that  in  relation  to  the  two  crania 
before  them,  they  do  not  believe  that  there  had  been  deformation 
but  that  the  shape  is  natural. 

Sr.  Felipe  Poey,  who  examined  at  Havana,  about  twenty  years 
ago,  two  crania  found  by  Sr.  Ferrer,  believed  that  one  of  them 
was  perfectly  natural.  Sr.  Rodriquez  Ferrer  himself  did  not 
believe  them  to  be  Carib,  relying  mainly  upon  the  belief  that  we 
had  never  had  Caribs  in  Cuba.  Indeed,  they  never  came  in  their 
excursions  further  than  Porto  Rico,  or  at  least  than  Santo  Do- 
mingo, they  never  flattened  the  skull,  and  finally  their  crania 
were  not  of  the  form  which  they  had  been  supposed. 

In  15 12  an  abandoned  vessel  was  discovered  on  the  coast  of 
Guanimar,  south  side  of  Cuba.  No  trace  of  its  crew  was  after- 
ward found.  Peter  Martyr,  from  his  library  in  Spain  wrote  that 
they  were  devoured  by  anthropophagous  savages. 

On  the  contrary  Las  Casas  says :  "  This  has  not  the  slightest 
appearance  of  truth.  No  one  has  been  able  to  prove  that  the 
Caribs — if  there  are  any  such  people — have  ever  traveled  so  far 
from  their  islands,  which  are  Guadeloupe  and  Dominica,  situated 
fer  to  the  east  of  San  Juan  (Porto  Rico).  I  believe  that  they 
land  at  TEspagnole  (Saint  Domingo)  only  now  and  then.  Those 
who  speak  like  Peter  Martyr  take  their  fancies  for  realities."^ 

The  phrase,  "  if  there  are  any,"  applied  to  the  Caribs  would 
appear  a  little  strange  from  the  pen  of  such  a  great  authority. 

1  Rqx>rt  presented  at  Madrid,  March  24,  by  Srs.  Graells,  Vilanova  and  Perez 
Arcat. 
>  Casas,  Historia  de  las  Indias.     Madrid,  1875,  ui,  484, 


Digitized  by 


Google 


484  General  Notes.  [May, 

Casas  had  no  &ith  in  tlfe  charge  of  anthropophagy  made  against 
the  Indians  by  the  conquerors  of  the  new  world,  an  accusation 
which  he  attributed  to  a  desire  for  a  pretext  to  enslave  the 
savages. 

Still  more  strange  is  it  that  neither  Casas  nor  any  other  of  the 
earlier  historians  speak  of  the  Indians  called  Caribs  as  applying 
to  the  heads  of  their  infants  apparatus  to  change  the  form — an 
ominous  silence  when  we  consider  that  these  same  writers  are 
full  of  detail,  false  or  true,  relative  to  these  same  savages.  In  a 
word,  Columbus,  Chanca,  Americus  Vespucius,  Bernal  Diaz, 
Peter  Martyr,  En  Ciso,  Ferdinand  Columbus,  Las  Casas,  Oviedo, 
Gomara  and  many  others  for  a  century  and  a  half  after  the  dis- 
covery are  unanimously  silent  about  the  artificial  deformation  of 
the  cranium  attributed  in  later  times  to  the  early  inhabitants  of 
the  Lesser  Antilles. 

If  the  first  witnesses  and  chroniclers  on  America  are  mute 
regarding  deformation,  they  describe  with  great  exactness  the 
heads  of  the  indigenes  of  these  islands,  and  the  result  is  that  the 
skulls  are  very  elevated  in  the  crown. 

The  most  ancient  and  authoritative  of  these  witnesses,  Christo- 
pher Columbus,^  declares  that  the  inhabitants  of  the  Antilles,  the 
Greater  and  the  Lesser,  and  those  of  Terra  Firma,  resemble  one 
another  in  respect  to  their  natural  form,  with  wide  foreheads  and 
heads  well  elevated. 

There  were  not  in  the  Antilles  the  two  races  as  alleged,  but  one 
uniform  race  without  variation  of  physical  characters.  This  is  so 
true  that  when,  after  ten  years  of  exploration  in  the  archipelago 
and  the  northern  part  of  South  America,  Christopher  Columbus 
arrived  at  the  Island  of  Guanaja  and  the  countries  of  Central 
America,  where  he  found  forms  of  head  quite  difTerent  from  those 
which  he  had  formerly  seen,  he  recorded  this  fact  in  his  notes. 

Americus  Vespucius,^  who  saw  the  same  Indians  on  the  islands 
as  well  as  on  the  coast,  compares  their  visages  with  that  of  the 
Tartars,  who  have  the  forehead  very  wide. 

Doctor  Chanca'  asserts  that  the  only  difference  among  the  In- 
dians of  these  isles  consisted  in  the  pretended  wearing  long  hair 
by  the  Caribs  and  the  wearing  by  the  women  of  a  kind  of  cotton 
bands  around  the  legs  above  and  below  the  calf. 

Bernal  Diaz,*  who  never  lived  in  America,  but  who  saw  at 
Seville  some  hundreds  of  Indians  sent  to  be  sold  under  the  unjust 
accusation  of  being  eaters  of  human  flesh,  many  of  whom  he 
lodged  in  his  own  house,  says  the  Caribs  have  the  same  physical 
conformation  as  others.  "They  are  not  more  deformed  than 
others,  only  they  have  this  evil  custom.     In  all  the  islands  there 

^  F.  Colon.     Vida  del  Almirante,  cap.  89.     Casas.     Historia,  ill,  109,  1 13. 

*  Premier  Navigatum. 

'  Chanca.     Lettre  au  Municipe  de  Seville,  Jan.,  1494.   Coll.  de  Navarrete,  I,  353, 

358. 

^Bernal  Diaz.     Historia  de  los  Reyes  Cat6licos,  cap.  118. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


1 886.]  Anthropology.  485 

is  no  difference  either  in  the  form  or  the  manners  of  the  inhabi- 
tants, nor  in  their  language.  AH  have  the  face  and  forehead 
long,  the  head  round,  with  the  same  distance  between  the  temples 
as  from  the  forehead  to  the  occiput" 

We  may  affirm  then,  in  virtue  of  this  testimony,  that  the  prim- 
itive Caribs  had  no  habits  of  deformation,  and  that  their  heads, 
instead  of  being  elongated  and  flattened  as  was  supposed,  were 
round  and  elevated. 

Oviedo^  was  the  first  to  start  the  report  of  the  existence  of  vol- 
untary deformation  in  America.  In  his  edition  of  1535  he  says 
that  the  inhabitants  of  St.  Domingo  had  the  forehead  very  wide 
on  account  of  certain  manipulations,  ''  For  at  the  moment  of 
birth  they  press  the  forehead  and  the  occiput  of  children." 

Such  treatment  would  not  effect  a  permanent  change  in  the 
form  of  the  head.^ 

Gomara^  expresses  himself  in  parallel  terms  in  relation  to  Saint 
Domingo,  only  he  specifies  that  it  was  the  wise  women  to  whom 
was  due  the  shape  of  the  head  in  these  Indians.  He  adds,  re- 
garding the  Indians  of  Cumana,  that  the  pressure  made  at  the 
moment  of  accouchment  was  effected  by  two  bundles  of  cotton. 
Gomara  was  never  on  American  soil. 

Las  Casas^  says  that  in  Peru  it  was  a  great  privilege  granted  to 
certain  chiefs  whom  they  wished  to  honor  to  give  to  the  heads  of 
their  infants  the  form  of  those  of  the  king  and  princes  of  the 
royal  family. 

From  this  we  conclude  that  the  practice  was  neither  obligatory 
nor  general,  nor  practiced  upon  the  heads  of  the  royal  family. 
Moreover  Casas  was  never  in  Peru*  On  the  contrary  he  knew 
Saint  Domingo  better  than  did  Oviedo,  but  says  not  one  word 
concerning  the  heads  of  the  inhabitants  of  that  island.  He  knew 
Central  America  better  than  did  Oviedo,  and  though  he  mentions 
practices  attributed  to  mothers  or  wise  women,  deformations  of 
the  skull  have  no  place. 

It  is  Cieza  de  Leon^  who  commences  to  speak  vaguely  of 
wooden  apparatus  applied  to  the  heads  of  Indians.  He  says  that 
among  the  Chancos,  in  the  province  of  Quimbaya,  and  in  other 
regions  they  compress  the  heads  of  new-born  babes  with  tablets 
which  are  replaced  later  on  by  ligatures. 

It  is  astonishing  that  with  respect  to  the  Caraqiies,  near  Manta, 
by  Quito,  the  operation  is  reversed,  first  the  bandages  and  then 
the  tablets,  which  in  his  opinion  remain  four  or  five  years  in 
place.     But  he  knows  only  indifferently  the  countries  of  which 

'  Oviedo.     Histotia  general  y  Natural  de  Indias,  il,  cap.  5 ;  XLII,  cap.  3. 
*Topinard.     Elements  d' Anthropologic  generale.     Paris,  756. 

*  Gomara.     Historia  de  las  Indias.     Madrid,  1852,  172,  206. 

*  Casas.     Apologetica  Historia,  cap.  34,  392. 

*  La  Cronica  del  Per6,  cap.  26,  378,  1853.   Madrid.    Also  cap.  50, 404 ;  also  cap. 
45.  399. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


486  General  Notes.  *  [May, 

he  speaks,  as  himself  avows.  As  to  Peru  proper,  he  mentions 
the  deformative  process  only  among  the  CoUas,  saying  nothing 
of  Cuzco,  Lima  and  other  places  in  the  empire.  Moreover  this 
author  is  one  of  the  most  credulous  of  his  time. 

Finally,  Garcilaso^  reports  that  the  Indians  of  Manta,  by 
Quito,  deform  the  heads  of  their  children  by  means  of  two  tab- 
lets which  they  tighten  more  and  more  every  day  during  four  or 
five  years.  He  says  that  in  Tula,  or  Florida,  the  same  result  was 
attained  by  means  of  certain  ligatures  which  they  used  nine  or 
ten  years.  But  Garcilaso  visited  neither  of  these  countries. 
Cabeza  de  Vaca  lived  ten  years  in  Florida,  describes  many  cus- 
toms of  the  Indians,  but  makes  no  mention  of  deformation.  As 
to  Quito,  Garcilaso  evidently  copies  Cieza. 

It  is  with  relation  to  Peru  proper,  where  he  was  born  and 
where  he  lived  up  to  his  twentieth  year,  that  Garcilaso  is  an 
authority  of  the  first  order.  He  says  not  one  word  of  deforma- 
tion among  the  Collas  nor  of  any  place  in  the  empire  of  the 
Incas.  It  IS  improbable  that  he  would  have  omitted  an  operation 
so  common  and  one  practiced  on  his  own  head,  if  it  had  existed. 
Moreover  he  describes  what  is  done  to  infants  at  the  moment  of 
birth  and  during  lactation.  Instead  of  the  compression  of  the 
head,  either  by  the  hands,  or  by  bandages,  or  by  tablets,  the  head 
is  left  entirely  uncovered  and  is  never  touched,  particularly  near 
the  brain,  while  the  body  and  arms  are  securely  wrapped. 

There  are  many  other  narratives  of  the  conquest,  but  in  none 
of  them  is  there  the  least  confirmation  of  the  statement  as  to 
cranial  deformation.  Human  nature  is  so  prone  to  receive  with- 
out examination  extraordinary  statements,  that  the  ball  of  snow 
of  voluntary  deformations  in  America  attained  colossal  propor- 
tions. That  which  began  by  being  credited  concerning  three  or 
four  regions  wide  apart,  finishes  by  being  extended  over  the  en- 
tire continent 

A  century  and  a  half  after  the  extinction  of  the  Caribs  from 
the  Lesser  Antilles,  we  find  other  savages  in  the  same  islands,  in 
regard  to  whom  the  voyagers  of  their  time  have  repeated  all  the 
stories,  false  or  true,  that  the  first  Spanish  conquerors  told  con- 
cerning various  Indian  populations. 

It  has  been  said  that  this  absurd  practice  endured  long  after 
the  conquest,  and  that  it  was  forbidden  by  order  of  the  Spanish 
government,  according  to  others  by  the  decisions  of  a  council  of 
Lima,  according  to  others  by  a  papal  decree.  The  Marquis  de 
Nadaillac  afllirms  that  the  council  in  question  was  held  in  1545  ; 
but  M.  Topinard  believes  that  it  took  place  in  1585,  and  that  in 
1752  the  governor  of  Lima  published  a  new  edict  against  defor- 
mations. Now,  there  were  no  councils  held  in  Lima  in  1545  and 
1585.    The  five  councils  held  there  took  place  in  1551,  1567, 

^  Garcilaso  de  la  Vega.  Comentario  reales  de  los  Incas,  ix,  cap.  8 ;  La  Florida, 
del  Inca,  IV,  cap.  15;  Comentarios,  iv,  cap.  12. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


1 886.]  Anthropology.  487 

1583,  1591  and  1601.  The  decisions  are  preserved,  and  there 
are  not  the  slightest  allusions  to  deformation.^ 

Rivero  and  Tschudi^  visited  a  large  number  of  Peruvian  tombs, 
examined  the  mummies  in  them,  among  others  a  foetus  of  seven 
months  old,  still  in  the  mother's  womb,  many  children  of  all 
ages,  and  of  adults,  and  having  observed  throughout  the  same 
cranial  form,  without  the  least  vestige  of  depression  nor  of  de- 
forming apparatus,  they  came  to  the  conviction  that  this  was  the 
natural  form  of  the  head. 

M.  Robertson*  examines  no  less  minutely  the  platicephalic 
crania  of  the  mound-builders  of  the  United  States,  supposed  to 
be  deformed,  and  the  analysis  convinced  him  that  the  crania  were 
natural. 

We  have  seen  in  a  former  citation  that  according  to  Casas  the 
heads  of  Guatemala  Indians  deformed  in  times  anterior  to  the 
discovery,  had  given  rise  by  inheritance  to  crania  spontaneously 
deformed.  According  to  other  witnesses  the  same  thing  took 
place  among  the  Omaquas  of  South  America.*  The  practice 
having  been  attributed  to  these  savages  by  Ulloa,  an  affirmation 
repeated  in  1754  by  Unarte,  it  results  that  this  form  of  head  is  at 
present  perfectly  natural  and  that  "  Children  come  into  the  world 
in  this  tribe  and  some  others  with  the  head  dislocated." 

The  same  result  follows  concerning  the  three  races  of  Peru 
that  exist  at  this  moment  with  the  same  form  of  head  that  they 
formerly  had,  without  any  need  of  deformatory  practices.  In  the 
words  of  Rivero  and  Tschudi  :*  "  But  there  is  one  proof  still  more 
conclusive  against  the  usage  of  mechanical  means ;  it  is  the 
actual  existence  of  three  races,  in  distinct  although  contracted 
areas,  where  we  find  no  trace  of  bandage  nor  of  pressure  exer- 
cised on  the  head  of  the  new  born. 

It  is  then  demonstrated  there  is  neither  historic,  scientific  nor 
rational  base  for  the  affirmation  that  in  Tropical  America  there 
were  countries  where  the  head  was  modified  in  form  by  mechani- 
cal means.  Nature  by  its  own  forces  was  entirely  equal  to  the 
task  of  producing  then  and  producing  to-day  these  same  forms 
in  many  parts  of  the  world. 

This  truth  is  still  more  evident  in  relation  to  the  savages,  called 
Caribs,  ol  the  Lesser  Antilles ;  first,  because  none  of  the  earliest 
chroniclers  attribute  to  them  a  similar  habit,  and  secondly,  because 
no  one  has  found  the  form  of  head  that  has  been  attributed  to 
them. — yuan  Ignacio  de  Armas, 

^Leyes  de  IndiAs;  Solerzano,  Politica  Indians;  Heraaez,  Coleccion  de  Bulas 
Breves,  y  ottos  Documentos  relativos  a  la  Iglesia  de  America  y  Filipini^.  Broxelles, 
1879. 

>  Rivero  et  Tschudi.  Antiquida  des  Peru&nas.  Vienna,  1 851,  p.  52. 

*S.  Robertson.  Les  Monnd  Builders.  Cong.  Intemat.  d'Amiricanistes.  Luzem- 
bwg,  I,  43- 

4  Sobron.   Los  idiomas  de  la  America  lateria.  Madrid,  io6. 

*  Rivero  and  Tschudi,  op  cU, 


Digitized  by 


Google 


488 


General  Notes. 


[May, 


MIOROSOOFY.' 

An  Alcoholic  Drip  for  the  Thoma-Jung  Microtome. — ^As 

is  well  known,  sec- 
tions of  many  hard- 
ened specimens  may 
be  readily  made 
without  imbedding 
by  simply  fastening 
them  in  the  holder 
of  a  microtome, 
with  or  without 
cork,  pith,  etc.,  for 
support.  Trial  sec- 
tions of  moderate 
thinness  thus  made 
often  prove  surpris- 
ingly useful.  Decal- 
cified bone,  cartilage, 
kidney,  and  many 
other  hardened  ani- 
mal tissues  may  be 
examined  with  great 
despatch,  while 
stems,  roots,  and 
other  fairly  rigid 
portions  of  plants 
also  give  excellent 
results.  This  sim- 
ple method  generally 
demands,  however, 
that  the  object  shall 
be  constantly  flood- 
ed with  strong  alco- 
hol, and  the  same 
necessity  exists  al- 
ways in  the  use  of 
celloidin,  which  we 
have  found  to  be  an 
imbedding  material 
of  great  utility,  es- 
pecially in  vegetal 
histology.  For  the 
Schanze  and  other 
microtomes,in  which 
the  object  is  raised 
without  any  lateral 
movement,  a  simple  siphon,  consisting  partly,  at  least,  of  rubber 

>  Edited  by  Dr.  C.  O.  Whitman,  Mus.  Comparative  Zoology,  Cambridge,  Mass. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


1886.1 


Microscopy. 


489 


tubing,  upon  which  is  placed  a  common  screw-clamp  for  regula- 
ting the  outflow,  supplies  a  dripper  which  is  eflective  and  quickly 
home-made  in  any  laboratory.  For  the  Thoma  microtome  it  is 
also  available,  either  by  flooding  the  knife  when  this  is  set  slant- 
ing and  pushed  clear  of  the  instrument,  or  by  frequent  readjust- 
ments to  compensate  the  progress  of  the  object  up  the  inclined 
plane.  Either  of  these  expedients,  however,  involves  objections 
which  are  avoided  by  the  use  of  the  simple  apparatus  here  figured. 
Constant  pressure  and  flow  are  secured  by  the  siphon  which  is 


obtained  conveniently  as  in  Fig.  i.  The  stopper  of  the  flask  or 
bottle  may,  of  course,  be  omitted,  but  in  the  figure  it  has  three 
holes:  one  for  the  siphon-tube,  one  for  a  small  funnel,  and  one 
for  the  exit  of  the  vapor  when  alcohol  is  poured  in  through  the 
funnel. 

For  use  with  the  Thoma  microtome  the  end  of  the  flexible 
siphon-tube  is  attached  to  the  object-holder  in  such  a  way  as  to 
travel  with  it,  and  hence  over  the  object,  wherever  it  goes  (Fig. 
2).    This  js  done  by  means  of  a  bent  (or  straight)  stiff  wire  (a), 


Digitized  by 


Google 


490  General  Notes.  [May, 

to  the  top  of  which  is  soldered  a  clipp  or  grip  (*),  which  embraces 
the  end  of  the  siphon-tube  (0,  as  shown  in  the  figure,  and  gives 
adjustment. by  allowing  the  dripper  to  be  pushed  back  or  forth. 
Instead  of  the  wire  and  clip  a  "  sleeve-holder "  having  a  loag 
shank  may  be  used,  after  merely  straightening  out  and  twisting 
the  shank.  Attachment  of  the  wire  to  the  object-holder  is 
secured  by  the  collar  (^,  which  is  screwed  down  firmly  upon 
the  wire  and  gives  at  the  same  time  a  second  and  valuable  adjust- 
ment about  a  vertical  axis.  To  carry  off  and  save  the  alcohol  a 
copper  or  tin  trough  is  used,  and  is  shown  in  Fig.  3.  It  may  be 
readily  made  by  "  bending  up  "  a  thin  flat  piece  of  the  metal,  and 


is  completed  by  the  addition  of  a  small  hook  (r)  of  the  same 
material,  though  this  may  be  dispensed  with.  The  trough  fits 
underneath  and  behind  the  object-holder,  as  shown  in  Fig.  2,  the 
hook  X  serving  to  hang  it  (Fig.  2,  £).  The  notches,  z  z^  in  the 
trough  are  for  a  loop  of  wire  or  string  passing  about  the  neck  of 
a  beaker  (Fig.  izc;),  which  is  thus  carried  underneath,  catches  the 
alcohol,  and  is  occasionally  emptied  into  the  siphon-flask.  When 
not  in  use  the  siphon-drip  and  the  wire  are  removed  by  loosening 
the  collar  (Fig.  2,  d)^  and  are  hung  as  one  piece  upon  the  bull- 
dog hook  (^,  Fig.  i).  In  the  devising  and  constructing  of  the 
apparatus  I  have  been  constantly  aided  by  my  friend  and  pupil, 
Mr.  G.  E.  Stone,  who  has  also  made  the  accompanying  drawings. 
—  W.  7.  Sedgwick. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


1 886.]  Proceedings  of  ScienHjic  SocieHes.  491 

SCIENTIFIC  NEWS. 

« 

—  The  Audubon  Society. —  The  Audubon  Society  (named 
after  the  great  naturalist),  founded  last  February,  is  rapidly  in- 
creasing its  membership  in  all  parts  of  the  country.  The  purpose 
of  the  society  is  to  prevent — (i)  The  killing  of  any  wild  bird 
not  used  for  food.  (2)  The  taking  or  destroying  of  the  eggs  or 
nests  of  any  wild  birds.  (3)  The  wearing  of  the  feathers  of  wild 
birds.    The  office  is  at  40  Park  Row,  New  York. 

The  society  wishes  a  local  secretary  in  every  town  and  village 
to  secure  signers  of  its  pledges  ;  and  will  upon  application  furnish 
circulars  of  information  and  pledge  forms.  Upon  the  return  of 
the  signed  pledges  certificates  of  membership  will  be  issued. 
Beyond  the  promise  contained  in  the  pledge  no  obligation  nor 
responsibility  is  incurred.  There  are  no  fees,  no  dues,  nor  any 
expenses  of  any  kind.     There  are  no  conditions  as  to  age. 

The  promoters  of  the  movement  are  sanguine  of  effecting  a 
great  change  of  sentiment  relative  to  the  destruction  of  our  song- 
sters and  insect-destroying  birds  for  hat  decoration. 


-:o:- 


PROCEEDINGS  OF  SCIENTIFIC  SOCIETIES. 

National  Academy  of  Sciences,  April  20-22,  1886. — The 
following  are  the  titles  of  the  papers  read  at  the  session : 

The  geologic  age  of  the  Equus  fauna.     By  G.  K.  Gilbert. 

The  Cowles  electrical  furnace.     By  T.  Sterry  Hunt 

On  the  phytogeny  of  the  Batrachia.    \\y  E.  D.  Cope. 

On  the  phylogeny  of  the  placental  Mammalia.     By  E.  D.  Cope. 

The  comet  of  Biela.     By  H.  A.  Newton. 

Areas  of  high  barometric  pressure  over  Europe  and  Asia.     By  Elias  Loomis. 

The  cockroach  in  the  past  and  in  the  present.     By  S.  H.  Scudder. 

On  the  diathermancy  of  ebonite  and  obsidian,  and  on  the  production  of  calorescence 

by  means  of  screens  of  ebonite  and  obsidian.     By  Alfred  M.  Mayer. 
On  the  coefficient  of  expansion  of  ebonite.    By  Alfred  M.  Mayer. 
On  the  determination  of  the  cubical  expansion  of  a  solid  by  a  method  which  does 

not  require  calibration  of  vessels,  weighings,  or  linear  measure.    By  Alfred  M. 

Mayer. 
On  measures  of  absolute  radiation.     By  Alfred  M.  Mayer. 

On  the  geology  of  the  region  near  Zacualtipan,  Hidalgo,  Mexico.    By  E.  D.  Cope. 
On  ancient  and  modern  methods  of  arrow  release.     By  Edward  S.  Morse. 
The  ordinal  and  super-ordinal  groups  of  fishes.     By  Theo.  Gill. 
On  the  absolute  and  relative  wave-length  of  the  lines  of  the  solar  spectrum.    By  H. 

A.  Rowland. 
Platinous  compound  as  additive  molecules.     W.  Wolcot^  Gibbs. 
Influence  of  magnetism  on  chemical  action.     By  Ira  Remsen. 
Upon  the  deaf  and  dumb  of  Martha's  Vineyard  (continuation  of  research  relating 

to  the  ancestry  of  the  deaf).     By  Alexander  Graham  Bell. 
On  the  invisible  spectra.    By  S.  P.  Langley. 
Cretaceous  metamorphic  rocks  of  California  (by  invitation).    By  G.  F.  Baker. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


Digitized  by 


Google 


SI 


Thb  Making  OF  Man.     Charles  Morris.  ,  .....   493 
Rbvibw  op  thb  Progrbss  or  North  Ambrican  In- 

VBRTBBRATB  PALiBONTOLOGY  TOR  iSSs.y.  B.  MareOH  505 
GKAVrTATlON  AND  THB  SOARING  BiRDS.   [Illutrited.] 

/.  Lancatter 514 

Causbs  of  FoRBsr  Rotation.   John  T,  CamphtU,  .   521 

Obsbrvatsons  on  Young  Humming-biros.    [Illiig- 
tratcd.]    H.  5.  Grtencugh 538 

Thb  Mbchanics  op  Soaring.    J.  E,  Hendricks  ...    539 

Kditobs'  Tarlb. 

The  Miftiing  Link.— The  U.  S.  Geological  Survey.  534 

Rbckkt  Litbratvnb. 

A  Hand-book  of  Plant  Dissection.— The  Fourth 


536 


American  Birds.— Recent  Books  and  Pamphlets. 

Gknbikai.  Notbs. 

Geography  and  TraveU.—k%\3i :  Railtray  prqjecU 
in  the  Shan  country  ;  The  Heri-rud  valley ;  Asiatic 
Notes. — Africa :  Mr.  Kerr's  Journey  to  Lake  Nyassa : 
The  Berbers :  The  Congo.  —  America :  American 
News.— Europe  :  European  News 541 

Geology  and  Paleeontolagy.  —  The  long-«pined 
Tberomorpha  of  the  Permian  epoch.— The  Report  of 
the  Congress  of  Geologists.— First  Appearance  of  the 
Grasses — Geological  News 544 


Mineralogy  and  /V/r<^tf/A/.— Petrographlcal 
News.— Mlneralogical  News 548 

Botany.  —  Variations  of  Tradeseantia  virginica. 
—Some  abnormal  Forms  of  Vaucheria  [Illostritedj. 
— Botany  m  Winter 551 

EntomolM^.  —  A  carnivorous  Butterfly  Larva. 
Plant-lice  feeding  Habit  of  Fenestra  targninius.^ 
Witlaczil  on  Coccidae.— The  Origin  of  the  Spiral 
Thread  in  Tracheae.  A  Correction.  —  Destructive 
Locusu  in  Texas.- Entomological  News 556  J 

Z00/<»^.— Self-division  in  Septic  Monads.  —  Blue 
Color  of  Animals. — Perception  of  Brightness  and 
Color  by  Marine  Animals.— The  Sacrum  of  Meno- 
poma  [Illostnted].— Zoological  News 5 


Emiryoloey.—x.  The  Development  of  Patella.— 
2.  The  Development  of  Dentalium.— 3.  The  Develop- 
ment of  Chitor.idae  or  Polyplacophora.  —4.  The 
Development  of  the  Gill  in  F.-iscioUria 56 


J 


Psychology. — Intelligence  of  the  Hen  and  Opossum.       _ 
— The  SwaUow  as  a  Surgeon 56! 

Anthropology,— CoTesi.—T\\e  Relation  of  Anthro- 
pology to  the  Science  of  Mind.— Jewish  Ability.— 
The  Mangue  Langua(;e.—"  Tableau  dcs  Bacabs."— 
Aboriginal  Baking  Pans, — War-clubs  vs.  Digging- 
sticks. — The  Aztec  Langtiage 5^ 

Microscot>y.SlT\xc{.\xx^  of  the  Human  Skin  [lllns 
trited].- Karyokincsis 5 


Scientific  News 

Procf.kdings  of  Scientific  Socibtibs j 


M^CALiUA  A:  STAVBLTT. 

PUBLISMEU^ 
«  i^Apiv-  CT  ov»n  Afin  pmia 


Wl 


II  I 


'peculiarities  in  the  manufacture  of 
jensen's  crystal  pepsin: 

NATURE   OF  TBE    ZMXTATIONS,    ETC. 


THE  champion  pepsin  of  the  world !  The 
only  pepsin  found  worthy  to  be  imitated  ! 
Even  the  wealthiest  manufacturing  chemists 
could  not  resist  the  temptation  ! 

One  party  used  glue  as  a  cheapening  adulter- 
ant  for  the  production  of  scale  pepsin  ;  another 
party  has  now  succeeded  in  flooding  the  market 
wiih  their  imitations  of  my  scale  pepsin,  owing 
to  its  extreme  cheapness.  This  party  now  de. 
Clares  (not  to  the  profession)  that  they  use  sixty 
pounds  of  dry  ^g  albumen,  peptonized  by  two 
hundred  hogs'  stomachs.  A  third  party  wrap 
their  imitations  in  an  exact /ir  simile  of  my  cir- 
cular, making  full  use  of  all  my  testimonials. 
The  great  injury  these  imitations  cause  my 
preparations  can  easily  be  understood. 

The  protection  chiefly  relied  upon  is  through 
the  profession's  vigilance  in  discriminating  be- 
tween the  genuine  and  the  spurious  article. 
When  prescribing  my  pepsin,  most  physicians 
now  underline  my  name  thus,  Jensen's  Crystal 
Pepsin,  and  no  misconception  can  excuse  sub- 
stitutions. The  great  reputation  of  this  pepsin 
lies  in  that  it  is  a  peptone  pepsin,  i.  <.,  the  tex- 
ture of  the  stomachs  in  which  the  ferment  is 
lodged  is  entirely  dissolved,  thereby  obtaining 
all  the  pepsin.  When  thereto  is  added  my 
recent  improvement  in  precipitating  from  this 
solution  all  of  the  earthy  and  saline  matter, 
leaving  only  the  azotized  constituent,  containing 
all  of  the  peptic  principle,  and,  Anally,  is  further 
concentrated  by  drying  it  upon  glass  plates  until 
brittle  scales  are  formed,  the  reason  for  its  high 
digestive  power  can  easily  be  understood.  Why 
it  surpaiiises  also  in  keeping  qualities  all  of  the 
former  pepsins,  is  owing  to  its  scaly  and  brittle 
texture,  it  being  the  only  organic  medicine  in 
the  materia  medica  produced  for  the  market  in 
scales. 

It  is  also  perfectly  soluble  upon  the  tongue, 
pleasant  to  the  taste,  and  practically  inodorous. 

Although  it  commands  a  higher  price  than 
any  other  pepsin  in  the  market,  it  is,  neverthe- 
less, the  most  prescribed.  Its  purity  and  solu- 
bility, combined  with  its  great  digestive  power 


upon  albuminoids,  have  inspired  phjrsicians  of  i 
suggestive  mind  to  try  it  also  as  a  solvent  !\  t 
diphtheritic  membranes  and  coagulated  blo^ 
in  the  bladder.  The  success  also  of  these  novd 
uses  has  already  become  generally  known  to 
the  profession  all  over  the'  world.  Physicians! 
writing  for  samples  will  receive  prompt  returns.. 

Dr.  Hollman  (NecUrl,  Weekbl,,  i8,  p.  272). 
reports  the  case  of  an  old  man,  aged  80  year^, 
suflering  from  retention  of  urine,  in  whom  the 
introduction  of  a  catheter  failed  to  produce  the 
desired  result.     It  was  found  that  the  bladder 
contained  coagulated  albuminoid  masses  mixe^t 
with  blood.     A  few  hours  after  the  injection  of  | 
about  16  grains  of  Dr.  Jensen's  Pepsin  dissolved   | 
in  water,  a  large  amount  of  a  dark,  viscid,  feti<l   ' 
fluid  readily  escaped  by  the  catheter. — London    , 
Medical  Record, 

Dr.  Edwin  Rosenthal,  acting  on  the  sugges- 
tion of  Dr.  L.  Wolfl*,  has  used  an  acidulated 
concentrated  solution  of  pepsin  as  an  applica- 
tion to  the  membranes  of  diphtheritic  patients,  for 
which  there  seemed  to  be  no  other  help  than 
tracheotomy,  and  reports  that  it  acted  like  a 
charm,  dissolving  the  membranes,  admitting  a 
free  aeration  of  the  blood,  and  placing  them 
soon  on  the  road  to  convalescence.  The  solu- 
tion he  used  was: 

R.    Jensen's  Pepsin,  ^j. 

Acidi  Hydrochloric,  C.  P.,       git.  xx. 
Aquse  q.  s.  ft.,  fl.  5J. 

M.  S. — Apply  copiously  every  hour  with  a 
throat- mop. — From  the  Medical  Bulletin, 

Formula  for  Wine  of  Pepaia: 

Y^.    Carl  Jensen's  Pepsin,  gr.  192. 
Sherry  or  port  wine,  5  viss. 

Glycerin  puris,  3  iss. 

Acid  Tartaric,  gr.  v. 

Sig.  f  3J.  after  meals.  This  is  three  grains  of 
I  the  i>epsin  in  each  tea<ipoonful. 

'      For  severe  attacks  of  colic  it  has  afl^orded 
present  relief,  after  a  few  doses  have  been  given 
I  in  short  intervals,  when  other  remedies  have 
'  failed. 


CARL  L.  JENSEN, 

I3C02«rE   OS^FICE,   2039   O-K-EBIfr   STiaB3ST, 
PHILADELPHIA. 


Digitized  by 


GoosIp 


THE 

AMERICAN    NATURALIST. 

Vol.  XK.—y[/NE,  1886.— No.  6. 


THE    MAKING    OF    MAN. 

BY  CHARLES  MORRIS. 

FOR  a  period  of  many  millions  of  years — how  many  not  even 
conjecture  can  decide — the  world  of  vertebrate  life  continued 
quadrupedal,  the  seeming  deviations  therefrom  being  rather  appa- 
rent than  real.  Suddenly  a  true  biped  appeared.  For  a  period 
of  equal  duration  the  mentality  of  animaU  developed  with  exces- 
sive slowness.  Suddenly  a  highly  intellectual  animal  appeared. 
The  coming  of  man  indicated,  both  physically  and  mentally,  an 
extraordinary  deviation  from  the  established  course  of  organic 
development.  Both  physically  and  mentally,  evolution  seems  to 
have  taken  an  enormous  leap,  instead  of  proceeding  by  its  usual 
minute  steps ;  and  in  the  advent  of  the  human  species  we  have  a 
remarkable  problem,  whose  solution  is  as  difficult  as  it  is  im- 
portant. 

It  might  be  solved  in  a  moment  were  we  able  to  accept  the 
arguments  of  those  who  hold  that  man  is  the  outcome  of  a  dis* 
tinct  act  of  creation,  and  is  invested  with  powers  and  qualities, 
and  prepared  for  a  destiny,  in  which  from  the  beginning  he  has 
stood  apart  from  all  other  living  beings.  Yet  these  arguments  no 
biologist  of  our  day  can  accept.  It  has  become  clearly  apparent 
that  the  points  of  distinction  between  man  and  the  lower  animals 
are^ simply  of  degree,  not  at  all  of  kind,  and  that  both  physically 
and  mentally  man  comes  into  close  contact  with  the  lower  form3 
of  life.  They  do  not  only  touch,  they  are  intimately  interwoven. 
There  is  an  intricate  net-work  of  structural  relations  which  binds 
man  inextricably  to  the  realm  of  lower  life.  This  realm  is  not 
alone  the  basis  on  which  he  rests.    It  is  the  soil  from  which  he 

▼OU  3KX.— KO.  Vf.  13 


Digitized  by 


Google 


494  The  Making  of  Man.  [June, 

has  sprung,  and  into  which  he  is  so  deeply  rooted  that  not  the 
hand  of  a  god  could  tear  him  loose. 

It  is  not  our  purpose  here  to  give  any  of  the  arguments  in 
favor  of  this  conclusion.  They  may  be  found  fully  presented 
elsewhere.  We  design  rather  to  endeavor  to  trace  the  line  of 
ascent  of  man  from  the  lower  animal  world,  and  to  seek  to  dis- 
cover to  what  combination  of  highly  favorable  circumstances  his 
development  is  due. 

Physically  man  does  not  deviate  very  greatly  from  the  mam- 
mals next  below  him.  His  method  of  locomotion  is  essentially 
changed,  but  structurally  he  is  very  closely  related  to  the  higher 
apes.  Yet  so  much  are  all  living  beings  the  creatures  of  circum- 
stance, that  it  seems  possible,  and  even  probable,  that  the  remark- 
able mental  differentiation  of  man  may  be  a  necessary  result  of 
this  comparatively  slight  physical  diflferentiation.  His  erect  atti- 
tude, with  certain  variations  in  his  life-habits  which  directly  arise 
from  it,  bring  him  into  new  relations  with  surrounding  nature^ 
and  these  new  relations  have  certainly  very  much  to  do  with  the 
new  conditions  which*  have  arisen  within  him.  A  single  step  may 
lead  at  times  to  a  vast  train  of  unexpected  consequences,  and 
such  seems  to  have  been  the  case  with  this  new  step  in  evolution 
made  by  man. 

Man  is  the  only  true  biped.  He  has  but  two  points  of  support, 
while  all  other  animals  are  supported  at  four  or  more  specialized 
points,  or  else  rest  on  the  general  surface  of  the  body.  In  birds, 
for  instance,  which  are  usually  considered  bipeds,  the  wings  are 
organs  for  aerial  support,  and  have  no  other  function.  The  near- 
est approach  to  man  in  this  respect,  among  existing  animals,  may 
be  found  in  the  forms  which  progress  by  jumping,  such  as  the 
kangaroo.  Yet  in  these  the  structure  and  function  of  the  fore 
limbs  is  distinctly  locomotive.  And  such  was  probably  the  case 
with  the  dinosaurian  reptiles  of  a  past  geological  era,  despite  the 
fact  that  they  seem  to  have  been  able  to  walk,  to  some  extent,  on 
their  hind  limbs  alone. 

It  is  certainly  remarkable  that,  in  the  whole  extended  period  of 
animal  life,  no  single  vertebrate  form  appeared,  so  far  as  we  can 
discover,  before  the  advent  of  man,  in  which  the  fore  limbs  were 
completely  freed  from  duty  as  organs  of  support  and  became 
structurally  unfit  for  this  duty.  A  partial  freedom  in  this  respect 
would  be  of  minor  value,  since  the  formation  necessary  to  loco- 


Digitized  by 


Google 


1 886.]  The  Making  of  Man.  495 

motive  duty  must  be  retained,  and  the  development  of  any  new 
functional  power  would  be  checked.  Thus  in  this  respect  man  is 
an  anomaly  in  the  kingdom  of  life.  And  to  this  anomalous  fea- 
ture is  quite  probably  due  in  very  considerable  measure  the  pecu- 
liar character  of  his  development 

It  is  very  evident^  indeed,  that  the  full  adoption  of  the  erect 
attitude  gave  man  an  immense  motor  supremacy  over  the  lower 
animals ;  for  it  completely  released  his  fore  limbs  from  duty  as 
organs  of  support — ^for  the  first  time  in  the  known  history  of  ver- 
tebrate life.  They  were  set  free  to  be  employed  in  new  methods 
and  to  develop  new  functional  powers,  to  which  the  grasping 
function,  which  man  inherits  from  the  ape  tribe,  was  an  invaluable 
aid.  It  is  to  the  possession  of  two  limbs  which  are  freed  from 
any  organic  duty  other  than  attack  and  defense,  and  which  are 
adapted  to  grasp  weapons  and  tools,  that  man  owes  his  enormous 
advantage  over  the  lower  animals.  It  opens  to  him  possibilities 
which  do  not  exist  beneath  him.  All  the  forces  of  nature  are  at 
his  command,  as  soon  as  he  can  learn  to  control  them.  The  first, 
club  or  spear  he  grasped,  the  first  missile  he  threw,  inaugurated 
a  new  era  in  the  history  of  life,  and  opened  the  way  to  'man's 
complete  mastery.  And,  so  far  as  we  can  perceive,  this  important 
structural  advantage  preceded  the  development  of  his  mental 
superiority,  and  gave  the  cue  to  it. 

In  the  vertebrate  class  below  man,  there  exists  but  a  single  ani- 
mal form  that  possesses  a  limb  which  is  free  from  duty  as  an 
organ  of  support  This  is  the  elephant,  whose  nose  and  upper 
lip  have  developed  into  an  enbrmous  and  highly  flexible  trunk, 
with  delicate  grasping  powers.  The  possession  of  such  an  organ 
has  undoubtedly  had  its  share  in  the  marked  intellectual  develop- 
ment of  the  elephant  Yet  this  organ  is  far  inferior  in  its  powers 
to  the  hand  and  arm  of  man,  while  the  form,  the  size  and  the 
habits  of  this  animal  stand  in  the  way  of  its  gaining  the  full 
results  which  might  arise  from  the  possession  of  such  an  organ 
in  connection  with  a  better  adapte*d  bodily  structure. 

As  to  the  evolutionary  processes  through  which  man  gained  the 
peculiar  features  of  his  structure,  we  have  interesting  evidence  in  the 
existing  forms  of  life.  In  one  type  of  life,  and  one  alone,  can  we 
perceive  indications  of  a  gradual  variation  from  the  quadrupedal 
towards  the  bipedal  structure.  This  is  the  ape  type,  or  rather  that  of 
the  lemurs  and  apes  in  conjunction.  In  all  other  mammalian  types 


Digitized  by 


Google 


496  "  The  Making  of  Man.  Qune, 

the  aspect  of  the  body  is  distinctively  horizontal.  Life  in  trees 
does  not  necessarily  produce  a  deviation  from  this  horizontal 
aspect,  since  it  is  retained  by  all  arboreal  n^ammals  except  those 
just  mentioned.  Yet  it  offers  an  opportunity  for  such  a  deviation, 
and  this  opportunity  has  been  improved  by  the  lemurs  and  apes. 
Their  hands  have  developed  a  grasping  power  which  is  possessed 
by  no  other  arboreal  animal,  and  which  opens  to  them  new  motor 
possibilities.  They  may  assume  a  semi-erect  or  a  fully  erect 
attitude,  by  grasping  upper  branches  with  the  hands.  And  this 
ability,  in  the  higher  apes,  has  led  to  the  development  of  a  mode 
of  progression  on  the  ground  which  is  more  or  less  intermediate 
between  the  quadrupedal  and  the  bipedal  modes. 

This  fact  is  of  great  interest,  as  it  seems  to  lead  us  directly  to- 
wards the  development  of  the  bipedal  habit,  as  attained  in  man. 
Though  such  a  habit  may  be  partly  attained  by  tree-living  ani- 
mals, a  residence  on  the  ground  is  essential  to  its  full  develop- 
ment. And  it  is  significant,  in  this  connection,  that  no  existing 
apes  have  fully  given  up  the  arboreal  habit 

Of  the  anthropoid  apes,  the  orang  and  the  chimpanzee  dwell 
habitually  in  the  trees.  On  the  ground  they  are  out  of  their  true 
element  The  same  is  the  case  with  all  the  species  of  the  gib- 
bons. All  these  creatures  move  with  some  difficulty  on  the 
ground,  but  freely  and  easily  in  the  trees.  The  gorilla,  on  the 
contrary,  seems  to  dwell  more  habitually  on  the  surface.  Its 
great  weight  tends  to  render  an  arboreal  life  unsuitable,  and  its 
hand  is  not  so  well  adapted  to  climbing  as  that  of  the  chimpan- 
^zee.  Yet  it  has  only  in  part  given  up  its  arboreal  residence.  It 
ascends  trees  for  food  and,  to  some  extent,  to  sleep,  though  there 
is  some  reason  to  believe  that  the  adult  males  sleep  occasionally, 
and  perhaps  habitually,  on  the  ground.  It  seems  to  be  in  a  tran- 
sition state  between  the  arboreal  and  the  surface  life-habit 

Of  the  lower  apes,  the  baboons  make  the  ground  their  usual 
place  of  residence.  They  have  not  lost  their  climbing  power, 
however,  but  can  ascend  trees  with  ease  and  rapidity.  Most  of 
the  other  apes  dwell  wholly,  or  nearly  so,  in  the  trees. 

This  fact  of  the  partial  or  complete  arboreal  habit  of  all  exist- 
ing ape^  is  of  importance  in  this  connection.  It  prevents  any  of 
them  from  attaining  the  peculiar  structural  development  of  man. 
The  mode  of  progression  best  adapted  to  a  life  in  trees  is  opposed 
to  the  erect  attitude  of  man,  and  this  attitude  could  not  be  fully 


Digitized  by 


Google 


1 886.]  The  Making  of  Man.  497 

gained  except  by  a  species  which  dwelt  wholly  on  the  ground. 
And  life  in  trees  absolutely  requires  the  use  of  the  arms  as  loco- 
motive organs,  and  prohibits  that  freeing  of  them  from  this  duty 
ivhich  exists  in  man.  When  man  ascends  trees  he  is  obliged  to 
return  to  the  habit  of  his  ancestors  and  use  his  arms  as  organs  of 
progression.  It  seems  evident,  therefore,  that  if  man  descended 
from  the  apes  his  ancestral  species  must  have  been  a  form  which 
had  fully  given  up  its  life  in  trees,  and  had  become  almost  as 
awkward  in  climbing  as  man  now  is,  ere  it  fairly  began  to  change 
from  ape  into  man. 

The  adoption  of  a  surface  residence  by  any  ape  would  necessi- 
tate certain  changes  in  structure.  Tree-dwelling  apes,  when  they 
descend  to  the  ground,  present  us  frequently  with  an  awkward 
compromise  between  the  horizontal  and  the  vertical  modes  of 
motion.  Neither  of  these  modes  is  natural  to  them,  and  to  be- 
come properly  adapted  to  either  some  change  of  structure  is 
necessary.  Many  of  them  progress  in  the  true  quadrupedal  man- 
ner, and  in  one  ground-living  tribe,  the  baboons,  the  structure  of 
the  body  has  suffered  an  accordant  change.  They  have  become 
true  quadrupeds. 

In  other  cases  there  is  an  inclination  towards  an  erect  mode  of 
motion.  Even  among  the  lemurs  this  is  occasionally  displayed. 
Some  species  of  these  progress  on  the  ground  by  jumps,  the  body 
being  semi-erect  and  the  arms  held  above  the  head.  The  anthro- 
poid apes  all  have  a  curious  mode  of  progression  on  the  ground, 
intermediate  between  the  erect  and  the  horizontal  methods.  The 
orang,  the  chimpanzee  and  the  gorilla  alike  use  their  four  limbs  in 
progression,  but  in  a  manner  very  unlike  that  of  ordinary  quad- 
rupeds. They  swing  the  body  in  a  curious  fashion  between  the 
arms,  k  is  a  sort  of  half-jumping,  half- walking  motion.  Rest- 
ing the  body  on  the  hands,  the  animal  swings  itself  between  the 
arms,  and  moves  forward  by  a  quick  succession  of  such  lifts  and 
swings.  In  this  movement  the  orang  and  the  chimpanzee  bring 
their  closed  knuckles  to  the  ground,  but  the  gorilla  is  said  to 
keep  the  hand  open  aiid  apply  the  palm  to  the  ground.  The 
outer  edge  rather  than  the  sole  of  the  foot  touches  the  ground. 
The  whole  movement  is  as  awkward  as  is  that  of  man  when  he 
attempts  to  climb  trees,  and  seems  to  indicate  that  there  can  be 
no  satisfactory  compromise  between  the  two  life-habits.  A  sur- 
face-dwelling ai}iqfial  must  tend  to  become  either  a  quadruped  or 
a  bipedf 


Digitized  by 


Google 


498  The  Making  of  Man.  Dune, 

The  actual  result  in  all  these  cases  seems  to  depend  largely  on 
the  comparative  length  of  the  arms  and  legs.  All  the  three  spe- 
cies named  have  shorter  legs  and  longer  arms  than  man,  and  can 
thus  readily  lift  their  bodies  upon  their  arms  while  Jn  a  semi-erect 
attitude.  Yet  they  all  are  obliged  to  incline  the  body  forward  in 
movement  This  is  less  the  case  with  the  gibbons,  the  extreme 
length  of  whose  arms  enables  them  to  reach  the  ground  with  the 
hands  without  bending  the  body.  Thus  the  gibbons  can  walk  on 
the  four  limbs  with  the  body  erect 

Certain  species  of  the  gibbon  can  readily  walk  erect  on  their 
legs  alone  by  balancing  themselves  with  their  arms.  They  often 
do  so,  and  can  even  move  tolerably  fast,  the  body  rocking  from 
side  to  side.  But  if  urged  to  speed  they  drop  their  long  arms  to 
the  ground  and  progress  in  the  swinging  fashion.  Of  the  other 
forms  there  is  no  satisfactory  evidence  that  the  orang  ever  walks 
erect,  though  It  may  be  able  to  assume  the  erect  attitude  when 
attacked.  Mr.  Savage  says  that  the  chimpanzees  are  sometimes 
seen  walking  erect,  the  body  bent  forward,  with  the  hands  clasped 
over  the  occiput  to  balance.  But  on  the  appearance  of  danger 
they  immediately  take  to  all  fours  to  fly. 

The  gorilla  seems  more  inclined  to  walk  erect,  or  rather  in  an 
inclined  position,*  the  body  bending  forward,  with  the  head  hung 
down.  And  it  stoops  less,  when  on  all  fours,  than  the  chimpanzee, 
since  its  arms  are  longer.  When  walking  it  balances  its  huge 
body  by  flexing  its  arms  upwards.  Its  gait  is  a  rolling  one,  from 
side  to  side.  When  attacked  it  seems  to  always  assume  the  erect 
posture.  In  structural  formation  it  is  better  fitted  to  the  erect 
attitude  than  is  the  gibbon. 

The  subject  here  considered  is  of  considerable  importance  in 
its  relation  to  the  evolution  of  man.  We  observe  various  phases 
of  tendency  towards  the  biped  habit,  and  can  readily  perceive 
that  the  walking  gibbons  or  the  gorilla  might  in  time  become 
true  bipeds  if  they  should  completely  give  up  their  arboreal 
residence.  The  length  of  the  arms  is  an  important  element  in 
this  problem.  In  all  the  species  mentioned  the  length  of  the 
arms  differs,  but  in  all  it  is  longer,  as  compared  with  the  body 
and  legs,  than  in  man.  The  species  from  which  man  descended, 
with  its  longer  legs  and  shorter  arms  than  in  the  existing  anthro- 
poid apes,  could  nut,  without  the  greatest  difficulty,  have  adopted 
their  swinging  mode  of  motion.  Nor  could  it  advantageously  hgve 


Digitized  by 


Google 


1 886.  ]  The  Making  of  Man.  499 

assumed  the  quadrupedal  habit,  as  in  the  baboon,  whose  four 
limbs  are  nearly  equal  in  length.  It  was  forced  towards  the 
bipedal  habit  by  sheer  necessity.  On  taking  the  ground  surface 
for  its  place  of  residence,  it  was  probably  obliged  to  walk  erect 
as  the  only  movement  to  which  its  structure  was  well  adapted. 
Neither  the  quadrupedal  nor  the  semi*quadrupedal  movement 
would  have  been  suited  to  the  proportions  <of  its  limbs,  and  its 
ancestral  movement  in  trees  may  have  been  more  vertical  than  i$ 
common  with  apes.  Its  bipedal  development  may  have  begun 
while  it  was  still  arboreal. 

This  erect  posture  once  fully  assumed  and  the  arms  thus  com- 
pletely freed  from  duty  as  organs  of  support,  the  animal,  yet  an 
ape,  would  have  had  an  advantage  of  the  greatest  value  over  its 
fellow  apes,  and  over  all  other  members  of  the  animal  kingdom. 
Nearly  all  quadrupeds  use  their  limbs  to  some  extent  in  attack 
and  defense.  Yet  the  necessity  of  resting  on  these  limbs  inter* 
feres  to  a  certain  extent  with  this  duty.  In  the  animal  in  ques- 
tion the  duty  of  locomotion  being  confined  to  the  hind  limbs,  the 
fore  ones  were  completely  set  free  to  be  used  as  weapons.  And 
to  this  power  was  added  that  very  important  one  of  their  pecu* 
liar  adaptation  to  grasping,  which  enabled  the  creature  to  add 
greatly  to  its  natural  strength  by  the  use  of  missile  and  other 
weapons. 

This  advantage  has  not  been  confined  to  man  and  his  progeni- 
tors. The  power  of  the  grasping  function  in  this  direction  is  of 
service  to  many  of  the  apes.  The  story  of  the  cocoanut-flinging 
monkeys  does*  not  need  to  be  repeated.  And  it  is  equally  well 
known  that  the  orang,  when  attacked,  will  break  off  fragments  of 
branches  and  shower  them  to  the  ground  in  a  rage.  But  in  all 
such  cases  there  is  nothing  to  indicate  any  precision  of  aim.  The 
throwing  seems  to  be  done  at  random.  It  is  probable  that  the 
arm  has  to  be  educated  to  the  proper  use  of  missiles,  and  that  to 
gain  this  function  it  must  be  freed  from  other  duties. 

There  is  no  positive  evidence  that  any  apes  use  weapons  except 
in  this  manner.  The  story  is  told  that  the  chimpanzee  will  wrest 
the  spear  from  the  hunter  and  use  it  against  him.  But  this  story 
needs  to  be  verified.  Also  the  common  picture  of  the  orang 
walking  erect  and  supporting  itself  with  a  staff  is  entirely  imag^ 
inative.  Nothing  of  the  kind  was  ever  seen  in  nature.  The  teeth 
seem  the  main  depend^nge  of  tl^es^  creatures  for  purposes  of 


Digitized  by 


Google 


SOD  The  Making  of  Man.  Qune, 

defense.  They  will  break  ofT  limbs  and  twigs  and  make  them- 
selves beds  with  great  rapidity,  but  this  seems  the  utmost  limit 
of  their  constructive  powers. 

As  for  the  animal  from  which  man  descended,  it  must  have 
quickly  gone  further  than  this  in  the  use  of  artificial  weapons  and 
in  the  arts  of  construction.  Possibly  its  first  assumption  of  the 
erect  attitude  may  have  been  aided  by  the  use  of  a  stafT,  and  if 
so,  this  would  naturally  be  employed  as  a  club  or  a  spear  on 
occasion.  Through  uses  of  this  kind  the  arms  would  gradually 
become  educated  to  their  new  duties,  and  gain  facility  in  im- 
portant movements  which  were  impossible  while  they  were  forced 
to  retain  their  locomotive  adaptation. 

This  line  of  argument  need  not  be  carried  further.  It  is  evi- 
dent that  we  have  here  the  beginning  of  a  new  course  of  develop- 
ment whose  end  is  yet  in  the  future.  The  freedom  of  the  arms 
and  hands  from  the  duty  of  support,  their  grasping  power,  and 
the  use  of  artificial  weapons  and  tools,  were  unquestionably  main 
elements  in  the  evolution  of  man.  For  under  such  circumstances 
the  employment  of  artificial  instruments  would  naturally  be 
progressive.  There  would  be  no  limitation  to  this  progress  from 
the  necessity  of  using  the  arms  for  other  duties,  and  such  struc- 
tural limitation  as  may  have  originally  existed  must  gradually 
have  disappeared,  through  increasing  performance  of  and  grow- 
ing adaptation  of  the  arms  and  hands  to  these  new  duties.  The 
use  of  clubs  in  attack  and  defense,  and  of  stone  missiles  for  the 
same  purposes,  might  readily  have  been  adopted  by  an  ape  so 
constituted,  and  modern  archaeologists  do  not  hesitate  to  trace  all 
subsequent  development  in  the  arts  to  just  such  a  simple  begin- 
ning. Rudely  chipped  stones  are  found  as  early  weapons  of 
primitive  man.  Naturally  shaped  stone  weapons  undoubtedly 
preceded  them. 

Whether  one  or  more  species  attained  this  bipedal  develop- 
ment is  a  question  not  easily  settled.  It  is  almost  certain  that 
there  was  one  only.  Yet,  if  so,  variations  in  the  structure  of  this 
original  biped  must  have  taken  place  at  an  early  date,  possibly  ere 
it  became  a  full  biped  and  began  to  strongly  resist  the  molding 
influences  of  nature,  if  we  may  judge  from  the  essential  struc* 
tural  differences  between  the  principal  races  of  mankiml. 

Yet  highly  favorable  as  was  the  structural  development  of  the 
original  man,  it  needs  no  extended  consideration  of  the  subJQCt 


Digitized  by 


Google 


1 886.]  The  Making  of  Man.  50 1 

to  perceive  that  in  this  we  have  but  one  of  the  factors  to  which 
he  owes  his  supremacy.  The  freeing  of  the  arms  to  the  perform- 
ance of  new  duties  was  an  essential  agent  in  any  rapid  mental 
development.  Yet  it  was  not  the  only  agent.  The  mental  devel- 
opment of  man  began  in  the  mental  development  of  the  apes.  It  is 
but  the  completion  of  a  process  which  extends  much  further 
back  than  the  beginning  of  the  human  era,  and  through  which^ 
in  one  type  of  life,  the  mammalian  intellect  attained  an  excep- 
tional unfoldment.  Human  mental  progress  began  at  the  high 
level  attained  by  the  anthropoid  apes.  To  the  causes  of  the  un- 
foldment of  the  ape  intellect  some  attention  is  therefore  due. 

There  is  nothing  in  an  arboreal  residence  in  itself  to  specially 
promote  mentality.  The  squirrels  and  other  arboreal  quadrupeds 
are  not  of  a  high  intellectual  grade.  Undoubtedly  the  activity, 
the  variety  of  motions,  and  the  grasping  power  of  the  monkeys 
must  have  aided  in  their  mental  unfoldment,  yet  we  find  that 
the  lemurs,  with  the  same  general  organization  and  life-habits, 
are  intellectually  dull.  For  the  inciting  element  to  the  develop- 
ment of  the  ape  intellect,  therefore,  we  must  look  further. 

Among  the  lower  life  forms  the  Carnivora  are  more  intellectual 
as  individuals  than  the  Herbivora.  Yet  as  groups  the  latter  occa- 
sionally display  intellectual  conditions  far  higher  than  anything 
attained  by  the  solitary  Carnivora.  These  instances  of  intelli- 
gence are  only  found  among  the  social  species,  and  are  displayed 
most  remarkably  in  the  communal  classes,  the  ants,  bees  and 
beavers.^  Yet  even  in  these  the  purely  plant-feeding  bees  fail  to 
display  the  great  variety  of  intelligent  acts  of  the  partly  carniv- 
orous and  actively  belligerent  ants.  It  would  appear,  therefore, 
that  while  the  activity  and  cunning  arising  from  carnivorous  hab- 
its aid  in  the  (development  of  individual  intelligence,  it  is  equally 
aided  by  social  habits,  and  that  a  combination  of  these  two 
requisites  presents  the  most  favorable  condition  for  high  progress 
in  intelligence. 

In  fact,  if  we  consider  fully  the  ants,  we  find  that  these  minute 
creatures,  with  none  of  the  advantages  in  structure  over  their 
fellows  possessed  by  man,  have  advanced  politically  and  indus- 
trially to  a  level  which  was  not  reached  by  man  until  after  he 
had  dwelt  for  ages  upon  the  earth.  And,  so  &r  as  all  indications 
point,  this  exceptional  development  is  due  to  social  or  communal 

^See  Communal  Societies,  Popular  Science  Monthly^  Jan.,  1886. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


502  The  Making  of  Man.  Qunc, 

influences  alone.  It  appears,  therefore,  that  social  combination 
is  a  highly  essential  agent  in  intellectual  development,  quite  as 
important  as,  perhaps  more  important  than,  any  special  advan- 
tages in  structure  and  individual  habits. 

The  solitary  life  of  cats,  spiders,  &c.,  while  aiding  to  develop 
mentality  in  individuals,  prevents  the  transmission  of  useful 
ideas.  Only  instincts  are  transmitted.  Ideas  die  with  their 
originators.  On  the  other  hand,  the  communal  habits  of  ants 
and  bees,  while  highly  adapted  to  the  preservation  of  useful 
ideas,  tend  to  hinder  individual  excursions  of  mind  and  the 
rapid  growth  of  ideas.  An  ant  community  is  a  society  of 
strict  specialists.  The  best  condition  for  intellectual  progress 
would  seem  to  be  an  intermediate  one,  in  which  complete 
individual  activity  exists,  yet  in  which  social  links  are  closely 
drawn,  so  that  ideas  may  be  transmitted  by  education  and  obser- 
vation, as  well  as  instincts  by  heredity.  And  to  the  fullest  utility 
of  this  condition  some  degree  of  carnivorous  habits  would  seem 
essential.  It  needs  no  intellectuality  to  gather  fruit  from  the 
trees.  It  needs  often  the  highest  exercise  of  cunning  to  capture 
animal  prey,  while  it  produces  a  variety  of  perilous  and  exciting 
situations  to  which  the  strict  vegetarian  is  not  subjected. 

Among  modern  apes  socialism  exists  in  various  degrees.  The 
lemurs  display  but  little  socialism.  Some  species  of  monkeys 
display  it  in  a  high  degree,  and  it  is  a  general  characteristic  of 
the  family.  Mutual  aid  in  danger  is  common,  education  is  not 
wanting,  combination  in  enterprises  is  frequently  observed,  and 
probably  through  these  and  the  like  influences,  observation  and 
imitation  have  been  developed  to  a  degree  not  seen  elsewhere 
among  the  Mammalia.  Yet  so  advantageous  is  social  combina- 
tion in  promoting  intelligence,  that  the  high  degree  of  cunning 
displayed  by  baboons,  in  posting  sentries  while  robbing  fruit 
plantations,  is  but  a  fuller  development  of  a  similar  habit  pos- 
sessed by  several  species  of  otherwise  dull  social  animals. 

Among  the  existing  anthropoid  apes,  however,  the  social  habit 
is  greatly  lacking.  The  orang,  the  chimpanzee  and  the  gorilla 
are  more  or  less  solitary  in  their  habits.  The  orang  is  particularly 
so,  and  is  never  seen  in  groups  of  more  than  two  or  three.  The 
chimpanzee  and  the  gorilla  are  somewhat  more  social,  yet  not 
markedly  so.  The  groups  of  the  gorillas  appear  to  be  polyga- 
mous bands,  since  they  never  possess  more  than  one -adult  male, 


Digitized  by 


Google 


1 886,]  .  The  Malting  oj  Man.  503 

the  rest  of  the  band  being  composed  of  females  and  young. 
There  is  more  evidence  in  favor  of  the  chimpanzees  combining 
in  larger  groups,  yet  this  does  not  appear  to  be  their  usual  habit. 
Reade  remarks  that  both  these  species,  without  being  gregarious, 
sometimes  seem  to  assemble  in  large  numbers.  Unfortunately 
very  little  satisfactory  information  is  possessed  as  to  their  habits 
in  a  state  of  nature. 

These  large  apes  are  also  strictly  vegetarian.  They  lack  the 
incitement  to  intellectual  development  arising  from  carnivorous 
habits.  On  the  whole,  then,  their  marked  powers  of  intellect  are 
somewhat  surprising.  It  is  probable,  if  we  may  judge  from  the 
habits  of  the  lower  monkeys,  that  the  anthropoids  descended 
from  social' species,  and  have  in  part  lost  their  social  habits.  This 
is  also  indicated  by  the  fact  that  the  young  of  these  anthropoid 
apes  seem  more  inclined  to  socialism  than  do  the  adults.  It  is 
also  shown  in  the  higher  socialism  of  the  gibbons,  the  existing 
representatives  of  the  primitive  anthropoids. 

If  we  seek,  then,  for  the  ancestors  of  man  in  the  family  of 
apes,  we  must  look  for  a  species  possessed  of  several  essential 
requisites,  all  of  which  can  be  found  in  no  existing  apes.  These 
requisites,  as  considered  in  the  preceding  pages,  may  be  briefly 
summarized. 

The  ancestor  of  man  must  have  been  of  sufficient  size  and 
weight  both  to  render  continued  life  in  the  trees  inconvenient  and 
to  give  the  necessary  strength  to  combat  with  the  perils  of  a 
surface  life.  His  strength,  indeed,  must  have  been  sufficient, 
combined  with  his  cunning,  to  make  him  a  match  for  the  larger 
animals.  He  must  have  been  aggressive  as  well  as  defensive,  and 
if  not  originally  carnivorous  must  have  become  so  in  a  degree. 
Strictly  herbivorous  habits  would  have  tended  to  check  mental 
development. 

Second,  and  yet  more  important,  was  the  assumption  of  an 
erect  attitude,  and  of  a  true  biped  structure,  with  the  complete 
freeing  of  the  fore  limbs  from  duty  in  locomotion.  There  natu- 
rally followed  upon  this  an  increase  of  that  use  of  missiles  already 
possessed  by  the  apes,  with  an  advancing  skill  in  the  use  of  arti- 
ficial weapons  as  the  arms  became  adapted  to  this  new  function. 
With  this  came  that  dominance  over  the  lower  animal  world 
which  has  been  so  essential  a  feature  in  the  progress  of  man. 
And  with  it  began  his  still  increasing  control  of  the  energies  of 
nature. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


504  The  Making  of  Man.  (June, 

To  these  physical  conditions  must  be  added  the  social  one. 
The  ancestors  of  man  could  not  have  been  solitary  in  their  habits, 
but  must  have  been  strongly  social.  It  is  possible  that  the  soli- 
tary condition  of  the  existing  great  apes  is  a  result  of  their  strictly 
vegetarian  habits.  An  anthropoid  with  carnivorous  tendencies  and 
original  social  habits  would  tend  to  increase  rather  than  to  lose 
the^e  habits,  through  the  great  benefit  derived  from  mutual  aid  in 
conflicts  with  the  larger  animals.  That  man,  at  an  early  period 
in  the  stone  age,  waged  war  with  the  largest  animals,  we  have 
satisfactory  evidence  in  the  results  of  archaeological  discovery. 

The  original  human  society  must  have  been  one  of  mutual  aid, 
combination  in  enterprises,  some  degree  of  language,  or  of  the 
U3e  of  sounds  conveying  warning  and  information,  protection  and 
education  of  the  young,  and  habits  of  observation  and  imitation. 
All  these  exist  in  some  tribes  of  monkeys.  As  to  vocal  powers, 
the  gibbons  possess  them  in  a  high  degree,  though  there  is  no 
evidence  to  show  that  any  existing  apes  have  specialized  sounds 
to  convey  special  information.  It  is  to  a  group  of  the  higher 
apes  which  possessed  these  characteristics  in  an  dnusual  degree 
that  we  must  look  for  the  ancestors  of  man.  If  we  be  asked  for 
traces  of  such  a  group  we  can  but  point  to  man.  The  ancestral 
line  has  vanished  in  that  of  its  descendants.  The  existing  anthro- 
poid apes  are  but  side  issues  in  the  problem. 

The  development  of  the  social  condition  and  of  the  educational 
process  must  have  had  a  vigorous  influence  in  the  enlargement 
of  the  brain.  In  man  the  dividing  line  between  the  physical  and 
the  mental  powers,  as  organizing  agents,  was  finally  passed.  A 
tribe  had  arisen,  for  the  first  time  in  the  long  history  of  animal 
life,  that  trusted  more  to  its  mind  than  to  its  muscles,  and  which 
had  begun  to  substitute  artificial  for  natural  tools  and  weapons. 
With  the  attainment  of  this  condition  there  was  taken  the  first 
decided  step  in  that  long  line  of  mental  progress  which  has  pro- 
duced the  brain  of  man.  In  all  preceding  ages  evolution  had 
been  mainly  physical,  and  exerted  its  chief  influence  upon  the 
limbs  and  muscles.  Now,  for  the  first  time,  mental  evolution 
gained  the  supremacy,  and  development  centered  itself  in  the 
brain,  the  organ  of  the  mind,  while  the  body,  in  great  measure, 
ceased  to  change. 

Under  these  circumstances  there  is  nothing  very  surprising  in 
the  fact  that  the  human  brain  has  attained  an  exceptional  devel- 


Digitized  by 


Google 


1 886.]   Progress  of  N.  A,  Invertebrate  Palaontology  for  1885,   505 

opment,  or  that  its  growth  was  strongly  marked  at  a  very  early 
date.  How  far  it  has  increased  in  size  over  that  of  its  non-human 
ancestor,  we  cannot  judge  from  comparison  with  the  brains  of 
any  existing  apes,  since  these  may  be  of  a  much  lower  grade  of 
development  They  are  probably  not  fair  standards  of  compari- 
son. And  if  the  body  stood  almost  unchanged  for  ages,  and  all 
the  influences  of  nature  centered  themselves  upon  the  brain,  a 
considerable  increase  in  size  and  some  variation  in  struaure  were 
inevitable  consequences,  and  it  is  not  easy  to  perceive,  under  the 
circumstances,  that  there  is  anything  extraordinary  in  the  special 
growth  of  the  human  brain. 

In  the  making  of  man,  then,  we  perceive  the  critical  step  that 
took  the  animal  world  over  the  dividing  line  between  physical 
and  mental  evolution ;  and  in  human  development  we  are  con« 
cemed,  not  with  the  maturity  of  an  old,  but  with  the  infancy  of  a  " 
new  evolutionary  process,  which  is  full  of  far-reaching  and  extraor- 
dinary possibilities,  of  which  the  intellectual  progress  yet  attained 
by  man  may  be  but  the  beginning.  There  may  be  needed  as 
many  millions  of  years  for  the  full  development  of  the  mind  as 
have  been  consumed  in  the  evolution  of  the  body,  and  the  organ 
of  the  mind  may  yet  attain  an  importance  in  the  scheme  of  the 
physical  organism  of  which  we  have  no  conception. 


REVIEW  OF  THE  PROGRESS  OF  NORTH  AMERICAN 
INVERTEBRATE  PALAEONTOLOGY  FOR  1885. 

BY  J.  B.  MARCOU. 

THE  year  which  has  just  passed  shows  a  marked  increase  in 
the  number  of  palaeontologic  articles.  The  tendency  to  pub- 
lish new  species  without  any  illustrations  is  also  diminishing,  and 
those  interested  in  the  science  can  look  with  great  satisfaction  on 
the  augmented  activity  of  North  American  invertebrate  palaeon- 
tology. 

T.  H.  Aldrich  gives  "  Notes  on  the  Tertiary  of  Alabama  and 
.Mississippi,  with  descriptions  of  new  species,"  and  "  Notes  on 
Tertiary  fossils,  rare,  or  little  known,"  in  the  Jour.  Cincinnati 
Soc.  Nat.  Hist,  Vol.  viii,  pp.  145  and  153.  "  Observations  upon 
the  Tertiary  of  Alabama  "  appeared  in  the  Amer.  your.  Set.,  3d 
scr.,  Vol.  XXX,  p.  300. 

H.  M.  Ami  has  a  "  List  of  fossils  from  Ottawa  and  vicinity/* 


Digitized  by 


Google 


5o6  Review  of  the  Progress  of  North  American  fjuoc, 

and  "Additional  notes  on  the  geology  and  palaeontology  of 
Ottawa  and  vicinity/'  in  the  Ottawa  Field  Naturalists'  Club  Trans., 
Nos.  5  and  6,  Vol.  ii,  p.  251. 

Francis  Bain  and  (Sir)  J.  W.  Dawson  have  a  joint  paper, 
"  Notes  on  the  geology  and  fossil  flora  of  Prince  Edward  island," 
in  the  Canadian  Rec.  Sci.,  Vol.  i,  p.  1 54. 

C.  E.  Beecher  publishes  a  "  List  of  the  species  of  fossils  from 
an  exposure  of  the  Utica  slate  and  associated  rocks  within  the 
limits  of  the  city  of  Albany,"  in  the  36th  Rep.  New  York  State 
Mus.  Nat  Hist,  p.  78. 

W.  R.  Billings  describes  '•  Two  new  species  of  Crinoids,"  and 
gives  the  *'  Report  of  the  palseontological  branch  "  in  the  Ottawa 
Field  Naturalists'  Club  Trans.,  No.  6,  Vol.  11,  pp.  248  and  259. 
.  N.  L.  Britton  has  an  article  on  the  discovery  of  **  Cretaceous 
plants  from  Staten  Island"  in  the  Trans.  N.  Y.  Acad.  ScL,  Vol.  v, 
p.  28. 

N.  L.  Britton  and  Arthur  Hollick  have  an  article  on  "  Leaf- 
bearing  sandstones  on  Staten  Island,  New  York/'  in  the  Trans. 
N.  Y.  Acad.  Sci,,  Vol.  iii,  p.  3a 

Charles  Brongniart  has  *'  Les  Insectes  Fossiles  des  Terrains 
Primaires,  Coup  d'oeil  rapide  sur  la  faune  entomologique  des  ter- 
rains paleozoiques,"  in  the  Bulletin  de  la  Societe  des  Amis  des 
Sciences  Naturelles  de  Rouen,  3®  serie,  Vingt  et  unieme  annee, 
I**  semcstre,  p.  50.  This  article  was  translated  in  the  Geo/,  Mag.^ 
new  series,  Dec.  3^  Vol.  it,  p.  481. 

R.  E.  CaH  writes  ''On  the  Quaternary  and  recent  Mollusca  of 
the  Great  basin,  with  descriptions  of  new  forms ;"  this  constitutes 
Bulletin  1 1  of  the  U.  S.  Geol.  Survey. 

P.  H.  Carpenter  prints  "Further  remarks  upon  the  morphology 
of  the  Blastoidea  "  in  the  Ann,  and  Mag,  Nat,  Hist,,  5th  ser.,  Vol. 
XV,  p.  277.  This  is  an  answer  to  and  a  criticism  of  Mr.  G.  Ham- 
bach's  article  entitled,  "Contributions  to  the  anatomy  of  the 
Pentremites,  with  descriptions  of  new  species,"  in  the  Trans.  St. 
Louis  Acad.  Sci.,  Vol.  iv,  p.  145. 

J.  M.  Clarke  gives  "  A  brief  outline  of  the  geological  succession 
in  Ontario  county,  N.  Y.,  to  accompany  a  map,"  in  the  Report 
State  Geologist  for  1884,  p.  9.  In  this  he  gives  Iist$  of  fossils 
occurring  in  the  different  Devonian  formations.  Bulletin  U.  S. 
Geol.  Survey,  No.  16,  is  "  On  the  higher  Devonian  faunas  of 
Ontario  county,  New  York." 


Digitized  by 


Google 


1 886.]  Invertebrait  Paiaontology  far  188$.  S07 

E.  W.  Claypole  has  an  article  "  On  the  vertical  range  of  cer- 
tain fossil  species  in  Pennsylvania  and  New  York  "  in  the  Amer- 
ican Naturalist,  Vol.  xix,  p.  644. 

J.  C.  Cooper  has  an  article  "  On  fossil  and  sub-fossil  land  shells 
of  the  United  States,  with  notes  on  living  species,"  published  by 
the  California  Academy  of  Sciences,  pp.  235-2S5. 

W.  H.  Dall  notices  the  "Miocene  deposits  in  Florida"  in 
Science^  Vol.  vi,  p.  82.  He  has  also  "  Notes  on  some  Floridan 
land  and  fresh-water  shells,  with  a  revision  of  the  Auriculacea  of 
the  Eastern  United  States,"  in  Proc.  U.  S.  Nat.  Mus.,  Vol.  viii,  p. 
255.  In  Bulletin  of  the  U.  S.  Geol.  Survey,  No.  24,  is  a  "  List  of 
marine  Mollusca,  comprising  the  Quaternary  fossils  and  recent 
forms  from  American  localities  between  Cape  Hatteras  and  Cape 
Roque,  including  the  Bermudas." 

J.  D.  Dana  has  a  note  on  "  Lower  Silurian  fossils  at  Canaan, 
N.  Y.,"  in  Science,  Vol.  vi.  p.  C83. 

N.  H.  Darton  has  a  "  Preliftiinary*notice  of  fossils  in  the  Hud- 
son River  slates  of  the  southern  part  of  Orange  county,  N.  Y., 
and  elsewhere,"  in  the  Amer.  your.  Set.,  3d  ser.,  Vol.  xxx,  p.  452. 

G.  M.  Dawson,  in  the  Bull.  Chicago  AcadSci.,  Vol.  i,  No.  6, 
p.  59,  has  an  article  entitled,  "  Boulder  clays.  On  the  micro- 
scopic structure  of  certain  boulder  clays  and  the  organisms  con- 
tained in  them." 

(Sir)  J.  W.  Dawson  has  "On  Rhizocarps  in  the  Paleozoic 
period  ;"  "  Notes  on  Eozoon  canadense  ;"  "  The  Mesozoic  floras 
of  the  Rocky  Mountain  region  of  Canada ;"  and  "  Ancient  insects 
and  scorpions,"  in  the  Canadian  Rec.  Set.,  Vol.  i,  pp.  19,  58,  141 
and  207.  He  has  also  **  A  modern  type  of  plant  in  the  Creta- 
ceous," and  "  A  Jurasso-Cretaceous  flora  in  the  Rocky  mount- 
ains," in  Science,  Vol.  v,  pp.  514  and  531.  "  The  Cretaceous 
floras  o(  Canada,"  in  Nature,  Vol.  xxxiii,  p.  32 ;  and  "  Sir  William 
Dawson  on  the  Mesozoic  floras  of  the  Rocky  Mountain  region  of 
Canada,"  in  the  American  Naturalist,  Vol.  xix,  p.  609,  are  ab- 
stracts and  notices  published  in  advance  from  the  author's  essay 
**  On  the  Mesozoic  floras  of  the  Rocky  Mountain  region  of  Can- 
ada," in  the  Trans.  Roy.  Soc.  Canada,  Vol.  iii,  Sect,  iv,  p.  i. 

S.  W.  Ford  has  a  "  Note  on  the  age  of  the  slaty  and  arenaceous 
rocks  in  the  vicinity  of  Schenectady,  Schenectady  county,  New 
York,"  in  the  Amer.  your.  Set.,  3d  ser.,  Vol.  xxix.  p.  397. 

W.  F.  E.  Gurley  describes  some  "  New  Carboniferous  fossils  '* 


Digitized  by 


Google 


5o8  Review  of  the  Progress  of  North  American  [June, 

'in  Bulletin  No.  2  of  his  own  series ;  no  illustrations  accompany 
these  descriptions. 

James  Hall  has  published  a  large  number  of  papers,  some  of 
which  have  appeared  in  limited  editions  in  previous  years,  but 
they  have  not  yet  been  noticed  in  these  reviews.     He  publishes  a 
**  Note  on  the  intimate  relations  of  the  Chemung  group  and 
Waverly  sandstone  in  Northwestern  Pennsylvania  and  South- 
western New  York,"  and  a  "  Note  on  the  Eurypteridaeof  the  De- 
vonian and  Carboniferous  formations  of  Pennsylvania,  with   a 
supplementary  note  on  the  Stylonurus  excelsior*'  in  the  Proc.  A, 
A.  A.  S.,  Vol.  xxxHi,  Part  ii,  pp.  416  and  420.    In  the  2d  Geol. 
Surv.  Pennsylvania,  Rep.  of  progress  PPP,  p.  23,  he  has  a  "  Note 
on  the  Eurypteridae  of  the  Devonian  and  Carboniferous  forma- 
tions of  Pennsylvania."     In  the  Rep.  State  Geologist  for  i88r,  p. 
8,  there  is  a  "  Classification  of  the  Lamellibranchiata."     In  the 
Rep.  State  Geologist  for  1882,  p.  J,  there  is  a  "  Discussion  upon 
the  manner  of  growth,  variation  of  form  and  characters  of  the 
genus  Fenestella,  and  its  relations  to  Hemitr}T>a,  Polypora,  Rete- 
pora,  Cryptopora,  etc."    This  article  is  continued  in  the  Rep.  State 
Geologist  for  1884,  p.  35.     Sixty-one  photo-lithographed  plates 
accompany  the  Rep.  State  Geologist  for  1882.  They  are  published 
in  advance,  with  their  explanations,  under  the  following  heads : 
'*  Fossil  corals  and  Bryozoans  of  the  Lower  Helderberg  group, 
and  fossil  Bryozoans.  of  the  Upper  Helderberg  group,"  p.  17, 
plates  i~xxXiii,  in  advance  of  Vol.  vi.  Palaeontology  of  New 
York ;  "  Brachiopoda,  plates  and  explanations,"  pis.  xxxiv-lxi,  in 
advance  of  Vol.  iv.  Part  11,  Palaeontology  of  New  York.     In  the 
Rep.  State  Geologist  for  1883,  p.  5,  he  gives  a  "  Description  of  the 
Bryozoans  of  the  Hamilton  group  (Fenestellidae  excepted)."  The 
35th  Rep.  New  York  State  Mus.  Nat.  Hist,  contains  the  following 
papers :  ''  Notice  of  the  machinery  and  methods  of  cutting  speci- 
mens of  rocks  and  fossils  at  the  New  York  State  Mus.  Nat.  Hist/' 
p.  121 ;  "  Preliminary  notice  of  the  lamellibranchiate  shells  of  the 
Upper  Helderberg,  Hamilton  and  Chemung  groups,  preparatory 
for  the  Palaeontology  of  New  York,"  Part  i,  p.  215  ;  "  Descrip- 
tion of  fossil  corals  from  the  Niagara  and  Upper  Helderberg 
groups,"  p.  407 ;  and  "  Illustrations  of  the  microscopic  structure 
of  Brachiopoda,"  pi.  xxii.    The  36th  Rep.  New  York  State  Mus. 
Nat  Hist,  contains  the  following  papers :  "  Bryozoa  (Fenestel- 
lidae) of  the  Hamilton  group,"  p.  57 ;  "  On  the  structure  of  the 


Digitized  by 


Google 


1886.1  Invertebrate  PalcBtnUohgy  far  1885.  509 

shell  in  the  genus  Orthis,"  p.  73  ;  *'  Description  of  a  new  species 
of  Stylonurus  from  the  Catskill  group,"  p.  76 ;  and  "  Description 
of  a  new  genus  from  Greenfield,  Saratoga  county,  N.  Y.,"  pi.  vi. 
The  Rep.  State  Geologist  for  1884  contains  the  following  papers : 
"On  the  mode  of  growth  and  relations  of  the  Fenestellidae,"  p. 
35,  continued  from  p.  14  of  the  Rep.  State  Geologist  for  1882; 
"On  the  relations  of  the  genera  Stictopora,  Ptilodictya,  Acrogenia 
and  allied  forms  in  the  Palxozoic  rocks  of  New  York,"  p.  46 ; 
and  "  Note  (on  some  Paleozoic  pectenoid  shells),"  p.  47. 

Angelo  Heilprin  ha^j  published  a  book  entitled,  "  Town  Geol- 
ogy :  the  lesson  of  the  Philadelphia  rocks.  Studies  of  nature 
along  the  highways  and  among  the  byways  of  a  metropolitan 
town ;"  plates  iv  and  v  contain  figures  of  the  Cretaceous  inverte- 
brate fauna.  In  Science,  Vol.  v,  p.  475,  and  Vol.  vi,  p.  83,  he  has 
two  notes  on  "  The  classification  and  palaeontology  of  the  U.  S. 
Tertiary  deposits;"  these  are  criticisms  of  Dr.  Otto  Meyer's 
views. 

E.  W.  Hilgard  has  two  papers,  one  in  Science,  Vol.  vi,  p.  44, 
entitled,  "  The  classification  and  palaeontology  of  the  U.  S.  Ter- 
tiary deposits ;"  and  the  other  in  the  Amer.  your.  Set,,  3d  sen, 
Vol.  XXX,  p.  266,  entitled,  "  The  old  Tertiary  of  the  Southwest ;" 
both  are  criticisms  of  Dr.  Otto  Meyer's  views. 

G.  J.  Hinde  has  a  "  Description  of  a  new  species  of  Crinoids 
with  articulating  spines,"  in  the  Annals  and  Magazine  of  Natural 
History,  5th  ser..  Vol.  xv,  p.  157. 

Alpheus  Hyatt,  in  the  Proc.  A.  A.  A.  S.,  Vol.  xxxiii.  Part  11, 
pp.  490  and  492,  publishes  two  notes,  one  on  the  "  Structure  of 
the  siphon  in  the  Endoceratidas,"  and  the  other  on  the  "  Structure 
and  affinities  of  Beatricea."  He  has  a  letter  (relative  to  the  Pter- 
opods  of  the  St.  John  group)  in  the  Bull.  Nat.  Hist  Soc.  New 
Brunswick,  No.  iv,  p.  102.  In  the  Proc.  Boston  Soc.  Nat.  Hist, 
Vol.  XXIII,  p.  45,  he  has  published  an  elaborate  discussion  of  the 
"  Larval  theory  of  the  origin  of  cellular  tissues." 

J.  F.  James,  in  the  Jour.  Cincinnati  Soc.  Nat  Hist.,  Vol.  vii,  p. 
151,  has  an  article  on  the  "  Fucoids  of  the  Cincinnati  group."  In 
the  American  Naturalist,  Vol.  xix,  p.  165,  he  has  a  note  enti- 
tled, '*  Are  there  any  fossil  Algae  ?"  He  has  also,  "  Remarks  on 
a  supposed  fossil  fungus  from  the  coal  measures ;"  "  Remarks  on 
some  markings  of  the  rocks  on  the  Cincinnati  group,  described 
under  the  names  of  Ormathicuus  and  Walcottia ;"  and  **  Jlemafk^ 


Digitized  by 


Google 


5  lo  Review  of  the  Progress  of  North  American  [June, 

on  the  genera  Lepidolites,  Anomaloides,  Ischadites  and  Recepta- 
culites.  from  the  Cincinnati  group,"  in  the  Jour.  Cincinnati  Soc. 
Nat.  Hist,  Vol.  viii,  pp.  157,  160  and  163. 

A.  A.  Julien  has  "A  study  of  Eozoon  canadense  ;  filed  obser- 
vations," in  the  Proc.  A.  A.  A.  S.,  Vol.  xxxiii,  Part  11,  p.  415. 

G.  F.  Kunz  has  an  article  "  On  the  agatized  woods,  and  the 
Malachite,  Azurite,  etc.,  from  Arizona,"  in  the  Trans.  N.  Y.  Acad. 
Sci.,  Vol.  V,  p.  9. 

Leo  Lesquereux's  "Contributions  to  the  fossil  flora  of  the 
Western  Territories.  Part  in.  The  Cretaceous  and  Tertiary 
floras.  Rep.  U.  S.  Geol.  Surv.  Terr.,  F.  V.  Hayden,  U.  S.  geolo- 
gist in  charge.  4to,  Vol.  viii."  Was  not  published  till  February, 
1885,  although  it  bears  the  imprint  1883. 

A.  H.  Mackay  publishes  an  article  on  the  "  Organic  siliceous 
remains  in  the  lake  deposits  of  Nova  Scotia/'  in  the  Canadian 
Rec.  Sci.,  Vol.  i,  p.  236. 

Jules  Marcou  writes  on  "  The  Taconic  system  and  its  position 
in  stratigraphic  geology,"  in  the  Proc.  Amen  Acad,  of  Arts  and 
Sciences,  new  series,  Vol.  xii,  p.  174. 

J.  B,  Marcou  records  '*  Progress  of  North  American  invertebrate 
palaeontology  for  1884,"  in  the  American  Naturalist,  Vol.  xix, 
?•  3S3-  This  is  a  brief  sketch  of  the  palaeontologic  work  done 
in  the  year ;  a  more  extended  review  of  it  is  published  in  the 
Smithsonian  report  for  1884,  No.  610,  pp.  1-20,  Washington, 
1885.  In  the  Proc.  U.  S.  National  Museum,  Vol.  viii,  p.  290,  he 
has  "A  list  of  the  Mcsozoic  and  Cenozoic  types  in  the  collections 
of  the  U.  S.  Nat  Museum ;"  and  the  "  Identification  of  certain 
fossils  and  strata  of  the  Great  Sioux  Reservation"  (in  ''  The  Lig- 
nites of  the  Great  Sioux  Reservation,  a  report  on  the  region  be- 
tween the  Grand  and  Moreau  rivers,  Dakota,"  by  Bailey  Willis, 
Bull.  U.  S.  Geol.  Sur,  No.  21,  p.  11). 

G.  F.  Matthew  has  "  Recent  discoveries  in  the  St.  John  group," 
and  "  A  new  genus  of  Cambrian  Pteropods,"  in  the  Canadian 
Rec.  Sci,,  Vol.  I,  pp.  J 36  and  152.  In  the  Bull.  Nat.  Hist.  Soc. 
New  Brunswick,  No.  iv,  p.  97,  he  has  "  An  outline  of  recent  dis- 
coveries in  the  St.  John  group.  With  a  letter  of  Professor 
Alpheus  Hyatt  relative  to  the  Pteropods."  In  the  Amer.  ^our. 
Sci.,  3d  sen.  Vol.  xxx,  p.  72,  he  has  a  note  "  On  the  probable 
occurrence  of  the  great  Welsh  Paradoxides,  P.  davidis,  in  Amer- 
ica.'"   Ill  the  same  yoliime,  p.  293,  he  has  a  "Notig^  of  a  new 


Digitized  by 


Google 


1 886.]  Invertebrate  Paleontology  f^  1885.  5 11 

genus  of  Pteropods  from  the  St.  John  group  (Cambrian)."  In 
this  he  describes  the  genus  Diplotheca.  He  has  a  "  Note  on  the 
genus  Stenotheca  "  in  the  Geol  Mag,,  new  series,  Decade  iii,  Vol. 
II,  p.  4^5.  In  the  Trans.  Roy.  Soc.  Canada,  Vol.  11,  Sec.  iv,  p. 
99,  appear  his  "Illustrations  of  the  fauna  of  the  St.  John  group 
continued ;  and  a  paper  on  the  Conocoryphea,  with  further  re- 
marks on  Paradoxides." 

Charles  Morris,  in  the  Proc.  Acad.  Nat.  Sci.  Philada.  for  188;, 
pp.  97  and  385,  has  two  articles  entitled,  "The  primary  condi- 
tions of  fossilization,"  and  "  Attack  and  defense  as  agents  in  ani- 
mal evolution." 

Otto  Meyer,  in  the  Amer,  your,  Sci.,  3d  sen,  Vol.  xxix,  p.  457, 
and  Vol.  xxx,  pp.  60  and  421,  has  an  article  in  three  parts,  enti- 
tled "  The  genealogy  and  the  age  of  the  species  in  the  southern 
old  Tertiar>\"  The  author  assumes  the  extraordinary  position 
that  the  succession  is  just  the  contrary  from  what  it  has  hitherto 
been  considered  to  be,  the  Vicksburg.  according  to  him,  being  the 
oldest  and  the  Claiborne  the  most  recent  formation.  In  "  Part  r. 
The  geological  relations  of  the  species,"  he  partially  describes  a 
number  of  species  and  varieties,  without  any  illustrations  ;  these 
he  considers  to  be  new.  Part  11  is  on  "  The  age  of  the  Vicksburg 
and  the  Jackson  beds."  Part  iii,  "  Reply  to  criticisms."  Thie 
author  defends  his  views  against  the  criticisms  of  E.  W.  Hilgard, 
E.  A.  Smith  and  T.  H.  Aldrich,  in  the  October  number  of  the 
Amer.  your.  Set.  In  Science,  Vol.  v,  p.  516,  and  Vol.  vi,  p.  143, 
he  has  two  notes  on  Angelo  Heilprin's  criticism  of  his  work. 

J.  S.  Newberry,  in  the  Ann.  N.  Y.  Acad.  Sci.,  Vol.  iii,  p.  217, 
has  a  "  Description  of  some  peculiar  screw-like  fossils  from  the 
Chemung  rocks."  They  are  also  described  in  the  Trans.  N.  Y. 
Acad.  Sci.,  Vol.  in,  p.  33. 

H.  A.  Nicholson  and  Robert  Etheridge,  Jr.,  in  the  Geol  Mag., 
new  series.  Decade  lu,  Vol.  11,  p.  529,  have  an  article  "  On  the 
synonymy,  structure  and  geological  distribution  of  Solenoptera 
compacta  Billings  sp." 

H.  A.  Nicholson  and  A.  H.  Foord,  in  the  Ann.  and  Mag,  Nat. 
Hist.^  Sth  ser.,  Vol.  xvi,  p.  496,  have  an  article  "  On  the  genus 
Fistulipora  McCoy,  with  descriptions  of  several  species." 

A.  S.  Packard,  in  the  American  Naturalist,  Vol.  xix,  pp.  291, 
700,  790  and  880,  has  the  following  articles :  '*  Types  of  Carbon- 
if<^roq3  Xipl^osur^  new  to  North  A'ncri^a ;"  "  The  Syncaqda,  a 


Digitized  by 


Google 


512  Review  of  the  Progress  of  North  American  [June, 

group  of  Carboniferous  Crustacea ;"  "  On  the  Gampsonychidae, 
an  undescribed  family  of  fossil  schizopod  Crustacea ;"  "  On  the 
Anthracaridse,  a  &mily  of  macrurous  decapod  Carboniferous 
Crustacea,  allied  to  the  Eryonidae." 

B.  N.  Peach,  in  Nature^  Vol.  xxxi,  p.  295,  has  "Ancient  air- 
breathers  ;"  a  general  review  of  Paleozoic  scorpions. 

J.  H.  Perry,  in  the  Amet,  Jour.  Sci.,  3d  sen,  Vol.  xxix,  p.  157, 
has  a  "  Note  on  a  fossil  coal  plant  found  at  the  graphite  deposit 
in  mica-schist  at  Worcester,  Mass.'' 

Julius  Pohlman  and  R.  P.  Whitfield,  in  Science,  Vol.  vi,  p.  183, 
have  a  note  on  "  An  American  Silurian  scorpion." 

A  reprint  of  geological  reports  and  other  papers  on  the  geol- 
ogy of  the  Virginias,  by  the  late  William  Barton  Rogers,  has 
been  issued. 

S.  H.  Scudder  publishes  "  The  geological  history  of  Myriopods 
and  Arachnids.  Eighth  annual  address  of  the  retiring  president 
of  the  Cambridge  Entomological  Club,"  in  Psyche,  Vol.  iv,  Jan- 
uary-March, 1885,  p.  245.  In  the  Mem.  Nat.  Acad.  Sci.,  Vol. 
in,  p.  I,  he  has  a  *'  Description  of  an  articulate  of  doubtful  rela- 
tionship from  the  Tertiary  beds  of  Florissant,  Colorado."  In  the 
Proc.  Acad.  Nat.  Sci.  Philada.  for  1885,  pp.  34  and  105.  he  has 
'*  New  genera  and  species  of  fossil  cockroaches  from  the  older 
American  rocks;"  and  ''Notes  on  Mesozoic  cockroaches."  In 
the  American  Naturalist,  Vol.  xix,  p.  876,  is  an  abstract  of  his 
paper  on  the  "  Relations  of  the  Paleozoic  insects." 

\\,  M.  Seeley,  in  the  Amer.  your.  Sci.,  3d  sen,  Vol.  xxx,  p.  355, 
describes  *'  A  new  genus  of  chazy  sponges,  Strephochetus." 

E.  A.  Smith,  in  the  At/ier.  Jour.  Sci.,  3d  ser..  Vol.  xxx,  p.  270, 
has  "  Remarks  on  a  paper  of  Dr.  Otto  Meyer  on  *  Species  in  the 
southern  old  Tertiary.' " 

C.  Wachsmuth  and  W.  H.  Barris  have  "  Descriptions  of  new 
Crinoids  and  Blastoids  from  the  Hamilton  group  of  Iowa  and 
Michigan." 

C.  Wachsmuth  and  Frank  Springer  issue  a  "  Revision  of  the 
Palaeocrinoidea.  Part  in.  Discussion  of  the  classification  and 
relations  of  the  brachiate  Crinoids,  and  conclusion  of  the  generic 
descriptions,"  in  the  Proc.  Acad.  Nat.  Sci.  Philada.  for  1885,  p. 
225. 

C.  D.  Walcott  has  a  "  Description  of  the  (Deer  creek,  Arizona) 
poajfjeld,"  Senate  EJ:?.  Doc.  No.  :?o,  48th  Coogresg,  second  ses- 


Digitized  by 


Google 


1 886.]  Invertebrate  Palceoniology  for  1885.  5 1 3 

sion,  Appendix  i,  p.  5.  He  contributes  the  following  papers  to  the 
Amer.  Jour.  Set.,  3d  sen,  Vol.  xix,  pp.  1 14  and  328,  an^  in  Vol. 
XXX,  p.  17,"  Palaeontologic  notes;"  "  Paleozoic  notes,  new  genus 
of  Cambrian  Trilobites,  Mesonacis  ;"  and  "  Note  on  some  Paleo- 
roic  Pteropods." 

L.  F.  Ward,  in  the  Botanical  Gazette,  Vol.  ix,  p.  169.  has  "  The 
fossil  flora  of  the  globe."  In  the  Proc.  A.  A.  A.  S.,  Vol,  xxxiii. 
Part  II,  pp.  493,  495  and  496,  he  has  "  Historical  view  of  the 
fossil  flora  of  the  globe ;"  "  Geological  view  of  the  fossil  flora  of 
the  globe ;"  and  "  Botanical  view  of  the  fossil  flora  of  the  globe." 
In  the  American  Naturalist,  Vol.  xix,  pp.  637  and  745,  he  has 
an  article  on  "  Evolution  in  the  vegetable  kingdom." 

C.  A.  White  has  "The  application  of  biology  to  geological  his- 
tory, a  presidential  address  delivered  at  the  fifth  anniversary 
meeting  of  the  Biological  Society  of  Washington,  January  24, 
1885,"  in  the  Proc.  Biol.  Soc.  Washington,  Vol.  in,  p.  i.  In  the 
Amer.  Jour.  Set'.,  3d  sen,  Vol.  xxix,  pp.  228  and  277,  he  has 
•*  Notes  on  the  Jurassic  strata  of  North  America ;"  and  "  The 
genus  Pyrgulifera  Meek,  and  its  associates  and  congeners."  Bull, 
U.  S.  Geol.  Surv., ,No.  15,  is  "On  the  Mesozoic  and  Cenozoic 
palaeontology  of  California."  Bull.  U.  S.  Geol.  Surv.,  No.  18,  is 
"  On  marine  Eocene,  fresh-water  Eocene  and  other  fossil  Mol- 
lusca  of  Western  North  America ;"  it  is  divided  into  three  parts : 
I.  The  occurrence  of  Cardita  planicosta  Lamarck,  in  Western 
Oregon ;  11.  Fossil  Mollusca  from  the  John  Day  group  in  East- 
ern Oregon ;  in.  Supplementary  notes  on  the  non-marine  fossil 
Mollusca  of  North  America.  Some  additions  and  corrections  for 
the  illustrations  on  p.  19  are  made  to  the  above  work.  Bull.  U. 
S.  Geol.  Surv.,  No.  22,  is  "  On  new  Cretaceous  fossils  from  Cali- 
fornia." 

J.  F.  Whiteaves  has  a  "  Report  on  the  Invertebrata  of  the  Lar- 
amie and  Cretaceous  rocks  of  the  vicinity  of  the  Bow  and  Belly 
rivers  and  adjacent  localities  in  the  Northwest  Territory  "  in  the 
Geol.  and  Nat.  Hist.  Surv.  Canada,  A.  R.  C.  Selwyn,  director ; 
Contribution  to  Canadian  palaeontology.  Vol.  i.  Part  i.  In  the 
Amer.  your.  Set.,  3d  ser..  Vol.  xxix,  p.  444,  he  has  "  Notes  on  the 
possible  age  of  some  of  the  Mesozoic  rocks  of  the  Queen  Char- 
lotte islands  and  British  Columbia."  In  the  Trans.  Roy.  Soc. 
Canada,  Vol.  11,  pp.  237  and  239,  he  has  "  Description  of  a  new 
species  of  Ammonite  from  the  Cretaceous  rocks  of  Fort  St.  John, 


Digitized  by 


Google 


514  Gravitation  and  the  Soaring  Birds.  [June, 

on  the  Peace  river,"  and  "  Note  on  a  decapod  Crustacean  from 
the  Upper  Cretaceous  of  Highwood  river,  Alberta,  N.  W.  T." 

R.  P.  Whitfield  contributes  to  Science,  Vol.  vi,  p.  87,  "  An 
American  Silurian  scorpion."  In  the  Bull.  Amer.  Mus.  Nat 
Hist,  October  10,  1885,  Vol.  i.  No.  6,  pp.  181,  191  and  193,  he 
has  the  following  articles :  "  On  a  fossil  scorpion  from  the  Silu- 
rian rocks  of  America ;"  "  Notice  of  a  new  Cephalopod  from  the 
Niagara  rocks  of  Indiana ;"  "  Notice  of  a  very  large  species  of 
Homalonotus  from  the  Oriskany  sandstone  formation." 

H.  S.  Williams,  in  the  Proc.  A.  A.  A.  S.,  Vol.  xxxiii,  Part  11, 
p.  422,  publishes  an  article  on  '*  Geographical  and  physical  condi- 
tions as  modifying  fossil  faunas."  In  the  Amer,  Jour.  Sa\,  3d  sen, 
Vol.  XXX,  p.  45,  he  has  a  "  Notice  of  a  new  limuloid  Crustacean 
from  the  Devonian." 

A,  Winchell,  in  the  Amer.  /our.  Sci.,  3d  sen,  Vol.  xxx,  pp.  316 
and  317,  has  "  Notices  of  N.  H.  Winchell  on  Lingula  and  Para- 
doxides  from  the  red  quartzites  of  Minnesota,"  and  "  On  Coenos- 
troma  and  Idiostroma  and  the  comprehensive  character  of  Stro- 
matoporoids." 

N.  H.  Winchell  describes  "  Fossils  from  the  red  quartzites  at 
Pipestone"  in  the  Geol.  and  Nat  Hist  Surv:  Minnesota,  13th 
Ann.  Rep.,  p.  65. 

H.  H.  Winwood,  in  the  Geol.  Mag,^  new  series,  Decade  in, 
Vol.  II,  p.  240,  remarks  on  the  "  Geological  age  of  the  Rocky 
mountains ;"  in  it  he  reports  finding  a  Menevian  fauna  between 
the  1 1 6th  and  1 17th  parallels  of  longitude  on  the  Canadian  Pacific 
railway. 

B.  H.  Wright,  in  the  3Sth  Rep.  N.  Y.  State  Mus.  Nat  Hist,  p. 
19S,  contributes  "  Notes  on  the  geology  of  Yates  county,  N.  Y." 

GRAVITATION  AND  THE  SCARING  BIRDS. 

BY  I.  LANCASTER. 

"TN  experimental  philosophy,  all  propositions  collected  by  in- 
JL  duction  from  phenomena  are  to  be  held  either  exactly  or 
approximately  true  until  other  phenomena  are  found  by  which 
those  propositions  can  be  made  either  more  accurate  or  subject 
to  exceptions"  (Newton's  Principia,  Book  in). 

The  soaring  birds  seem  to  be  excused  from  obedience  to  the 
laws  determining  the  actions.of  other  inert  bodies  heavier  than 


Digitized  by 


Google 


1 886.]  Gravitaiian  and  the  Soaring  Birds.  5 1 5 

the  air,  which  are  abandoned  to  its  support.    Weighing  more 
than  the  air  they  displace,  and  using  no  muscular  exertion  to 
sustain  themselves,  they  still,  in  the  sense  of  getting  nearer  to  the 
earth,  do  not  fall.    When  we  seek  for  a  motive  power  which  is 
competent  to  resist  the  weight  of  the  bird's  bbdy,  and  neutralize 
the  resistance  of  the  air  to  its  translation,  we  seem  baffled.    Bird 
and  air  form  a  material  system  in  which  no  other  object  is  in* 
eluded,  so  that  it  is  impossible  to  obtain  power  from  the  wind. 
Wind  is  motion  of  the  entire  system  as  a  whole,  compared  to  a 
fixed  object,  as  an  observer,  and  such  motion  does  not  affect  the 
motion  of  the  parts.   Wind  from  any  direction,  or  at  any  velocity, 
or  entire  calm  are  differences  of  air-conditions  to  an  observer,  but 
not  to  a  bird.    We  are  therefore  limited  to  the  gravitating  force 
of  the  bird's  body  to  find  the  power  producing  the  phenomena,  as 
it  is  nowhere  else  discoverable.    But  here  we  are  confined  to 
certain  notions  derived  from  sticks  and  stones,  and  in  fact  all 
other  falling  things,  and  they  do  not  seem  to  help  us  in  explain- 
ing a  thing  which  does  not  fall.     We  are  likewise  taught  that  the 
direction  of  the  gravitating  force  is  vertically  downwards,  i,  e.,  in 
a  straight  line  from  the  body  manifesting  it  to  the  center  of  the 
earth.    What  we  understand  by  this  "  direction  "  is,  that  when 
gravity  does  work,  when  it  is  in  the  act  of  making  anything  dif- 
ferent from  what  it  was  before,  when  it  moves  a  thing  at  rest,  or 
stops  it  when  in  motion,  or  accelerates  it,  or  is  in  the  act  of  man- 
ifesting energy  in  the  way  which  we  call  "  work,"  that  the  "  direc- 
tion "  in  which  it  does  it  is  vertically  downwards.    How  then  can 
this  force  drive  a  body  upwards,  or  translate  it  horizontally  ? 

Still  further.  Although  we  admit,  wh)en  our  attention  is  called 
to  it,  that  weight  is  the  result  of  gravity  acting  on  a  quantity  of 
matter,  we  are  apt  to  confound  mass,  and  weight,  and  gravity  into 
one  identical  thing.  This  is  inadmissible,  since  the  doctrine  of 
the  correlation  of  forces  is  established,  as  it  is  entirely  possible  to 
change  every  atom  of  gravitating  force  which  a  body  manifests 
into  some  other  form  of  force,  in  which  case  either  the  former  is 
separate  from  the  quantity  of  matter  or  the  latter  is  created.  We 
thus  find  ourselves  in  a  sort  of  dilemma.  We  are  obliged  to  con- 
sider gravity  as  something  apart  from  body,  and  still  we  have  no 
knowledge  of  it  excepting  what  we  are  enabled  to  infer  about  it. 
Were  it  not  for  these  inferences  we  would  be  shut  up  to  the 
conclusion  that  the  quantity  of  matter  was  acting,  and  that  grav- 


Digitized  by 


Google 


S  i6  Gravitadan  and  the  Soaring  Bitds.  [June, 

ity,  as  a  separate  force,  was  simply  non-existent,  for  it  never  man* 
ifests  its  power  but  in  connection  with  body,  and  the  action  of 
the  body  is  our  rule  to  determine  the  action  of  the  force. 

It  would  be  expected  that  in  dealing  with  agencies  of  this  kind, 
the  greatest  care  should  be  exercised  lest  we  fall  into  errors,  and 
it  is  apparent  that  many  of  our  notions  in  regard  to  gravitating 
bodies  have  been  brought  up  from  generalizations  which  do  not 
include  all  the  facts.  The  soaring  birds  have  been  omitted.  To 
the  extent  of  their  exclusion  our  ideas  are  subject  to  error.  It  is 
imperative  that  they  be  brought  under  the  dominion  of  gravity, 
and  that  the  phenomena  presented  by  them  shall  have  due  recog- 
nition in  determining  the  characteristics  of  that  force. 


I  have  shown  in  the  pages  of  this  magazine  that  these  birds 
can  be  reduced  to  lower  terms.  A  plane  resting  in  air,  and  acted 
on  by  a  force,  exhibits  all  their  activities,  and  up  to  this  time,  so 
far  as  my  knowledge  extends,  the  mechanical  world  has  failed  to 
recognize  the  facts  exhibited  by  such  a  body,  when  subjected  to 
work  on  elastic  air. 

To  accomplish  my  purpose  most  directly,  it  will  be  best  to 
touch  upon  ground  already  covered,  and  I  will  do  so  in  the  follow- 
ing propositions,  which  are  self-evident  on  statement.  Unless 
otherwise  noted,  acceleration  will  be  supposed  to  have  terminated 
and  uniform  motion  progressing. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


i886j  Gravitation  and  the  Soaring  Birds.  517 

As  there  is  no  authority  for  the  value  of  frictional  resistance  of  air 
on  smooth  surfaces,  and  as  I  have  failed  to  measure  it  by  any  exper- 
imental test  at  my  command,  on  account  of  its  extreme  smallness, 
the  argument  would  be  in  no  wise  affected  if  it  were  not  taken 
into  account  for  any  of  the  velocities  that  we  shall  deal  with.  The 
reader  may  therefore  place  upon  it  any  value  within  reasonable 
limits. 

Let  A  B  represent  one  of  the  edges  of  a  plane,  say  one  foot 
square,  resting  in  air,  and  of  the  same  weight  as  the  atmosphere 
it  displaces. 

1.  The  only  actual  or  conceivable  work  the  plane  can  be  sub- 
ject to  under  the  dominion  of  any  force  whatever,  is  either  air 
pressure  upon  its  sides,  or  resistance  to  atmospheric  sur&ce  or 
skin  friction,  parallel  to  itself  or  in  its  own  plane. 

2.  From  the  law  of  fluid  pressures,  and  the  contrary  and  equal 
character  of  action  and  reaction,  a  force  operative  upon  the  plane 
A  B  from  any  direction,  does  work  in  one,  or  both,  of  two  ways, 
viz.,  either  in  it  or  at  right  angles  to  it. 

3.  Forces  in  the  direction  of  c  d,  or  in  the  plane  in  any  direc- 
tion, are  not  resolved  by  the  plane,  but  work  to  their  full  value  in 
absolute  independence  of  each  other,  as  they  are  right-angled 
forces. 

4.  Forces  from  any  direction,  excepting  in  the  plane  and  nor- 
mal to  it,  are  resolved  by  the  plane  into  those  two  directions. 

5.  Any  number  of  forces,  not  in  the  plane  nor  normal  to  it, 
operate  upon  it  in  the  resultant  of  one  force,  from  one  direction ; 
and  this  resultant,  if  not  already  in  the  plane  or  normal  to  it,  is 
resolved  therein  by  the  plane. 

6.  It  follows  that  the  plane  can  be  subject  to  work  only,  (i)  in 
its  own  plane,  (2)  in  a  direction  at  right  angles  to  its  surfaces,  (3) 
in  both  of  these  directions. 

7.  The  nature  of  the  work  done  by  the  force  acting  normal 
to  the  plane  is  compressing  air,  and  as  the  resistance  of  the 
atmosphere  to  motion  in  this  direction  is  very  great,  the  velocity 
will  be  correspondingly  slow. 

8.  The  nature  of  the  work  done  by  the  force  in  the  plane,  is 
overcoming  atmospheric  friction  on  the  two  surfaces,  which  being 
very  little,  motion  in  this  direction  will  be  correspondingly 
great 

9.  A  force  not  in  the  plane,  nor  normal  to  it,  is  resolved  by  the 


Digitized  by 


Google 


5 1 8  Gravitation  and  the  Socaring  Birds,  Qune, 

plane  into  those  forces  in  the  same  ratio  that  the  direction  of  the 
force  be«irs  to  those  directions. 

To  illustrate  these  propositions  we  will  suppose  a  force,  e  f^  in- 
clined 1 8^  from  c  d,  to  operate  on  the  plane  A  B^  with  a  value  of 
sixty  foot  pounds  per  second.  The  plane  would  instantly  resolve 
this  force  into  twelve  foot  pounds  in  its  own  plane  in  the  direction 
2,  and  forty-eight  foot  pounds  in  the  direction  c  d^  at  right  angles 
to  it,  when  it  would  be  reasonable  to  suppose  that  the  twelve 
pounds  would  drive  the  plane  against  friction  of  air  with  br 
greater  velocity  than  forty-eight  pounds  would  against  air  com- 
pression. 

If  motion  in  the  direction  2  were  resisted  to  the  point  of  pre- 
vention, all  the  force,  ef^  would .  do  work  in  the  direction  c  d, 
when  the  entire  sixty  pounds  would  be  setting  up  air  pressure, 
and  the  plane  would  be  in  equilibrium  in  the  direction  i  2.  A 
very  small  force,  say  one  or  two  pounds,  would  now  drive  the 
plane  in  any  direction,  say  towards  i,  with  considerable  velocity. 

It  is  obvious  that  the  sixty  pounds  of  air  pressure  would  be 
enough  to  supply  the  twelve  pounds  needed  to  balance  the  force 
actmg  towards  2,  and  the  one  or  two  pounds  additional  needed  to 
drive  the  plane  towards  i  with  a  velocity  we  will  suppose  of  iso 
feet  per  second.  If  we  suppose  the  motion  of  the  plane  in  the 
direction  ef  to  be  at  the  rate  of  thirty  feet  per  second,  it  will 
move  in  opposition  to  the  direction  of  the  force  as  fast  as  it  does 
with  its  direction,  and  we  will  have  the  anomalous  case  of  a  force 
developing  enough  force  in  moving  a  body  to  move  several  such 
bodies  through  the  same  space  in  the  same  time  diametrically 
opposite  to  its  own  direction  ! 

This  seems  absurd,  and  needs  rectification  to  make  it  tolerable. 
We  have  entirely  overlooked  the  fact  that  the  moment  ef  began 
the  task  of  working  it  abandoned  the  direction  in  which  it  re- 
sided, and  four-fifths  of  it  went  over  i8®  to  cd.^nd  one-fifth 
went  over  io8®  to  A  B,  The  direction  //is  vacated,  it  is  without 
significance.  For  all  the  influence  it  has  on  the  plane  it  might  as 
well  not  exist.  There  is  now  no  movement  of  the  plane  against 
the  direction  of  the  force  whatever.  Now,  the  forces  working  on 
air,  and  driving  the  plane  towards  i,  are  at  right  angles  to  each 
other  and  do  not  resist  each  other.  The  problem  is,  the  ability 
of  a  force  to  drive  a  pUne  faster  edgeways  than  flatways  through 
air* 


Digftized  by 


Google 


1 886.]  Gravitation  and  the  Soaring  Birds.  5 1 9 

In  going  over,  the  one  firth  that  traveled  108^  was  wasted,  /.  ^., 
it  neutralizes  an  equal  amount  of  the  other,  so  that  only  forty- 
eight  pounds,  instead  of  sixty  pounds,  are  available  to  drive  the 
plane  edgeways;  but  this  would* be  competent  to  produce  an 
enormous  velocity.  Had  the  force  been  originally  in  c  d^  the 
entire  sixty  pounds  would  have  been  available. 

But  when  we  rectify  the  diagram  so  as  to  make  ef  vertical, 
and  add  two  pounds  weight  to  the  plane,  so  that  the  force  em- 
ployed will  be  gravity,  all  the  ghosts,  which  we  supposed  laid,  at 
once  reappear  in  vastly  magnified  proportions.  The  outcry  now 
is,  that  the  law  of  falling  bodies  is  violated,  for  a  body  in  falling 
can  do  no  more  work  than  sufficient  to  lift  it  thi;ough  the  same 


perpendicular  height  It  seems  that  here  is  a  good  place  to 
establish  an  exception,  and  we  will  examine  into  the  way  in  which 
it  may  be  done. 

While  the  plane  .^  ^  is  level,  the  gravitating  force  is  not  re- 
solved by  it,  but  acts  at  right  angles  to  the  surfaces,  when  lateral 
motion  will  be  resisted  by  nothing  but  atmospheric  friction,  and 
this  the  one  or  two  pounds  is  competent  to  overcome,  driving  the 
plane  to  D  while  it  is  falling  the  thirty  feet  in  which  the  sixty 
pounds  is  developed.  It  will  therefore  pass  to  H,  the  resultant  of 
the  two  motions.  It  will  simply  have  a  lateral  motion  of  150  feet 
edgeways  through  the  air  added  to  its  fall  of  thirty  feet  To  its 
work  of  air  compression  there  will  be  joined  an  additional  item 
of  work  in  overcoming  150  feet  of  atmospheric  friction.    The 


Digitized  by 


Google 


SiO  Graintation  and  the  Soaring  Birds.  FJ^'*^* 

force  developed  in  the  fall  will  be  enough  to  supply  the  lateral 
force  and  still  leave  fifty-eight  or  fifty- nine  pounds  to  go  to  waste 
by  falling  to  the  tension  o!  the  surrounding  air. 

But  this  would  not  be  "  soaring,"  as  the  plane  will  soon  reach 
the  ground. 

If  we  now  throw  the  plane  over  on  an  incline  of  one  in  five,  or 
i8^,  we  have  an  additional  twelve  pounds  of  lateral  resistance  to 
overcome,  which  the  sixty  pounds  !s  entirely  competent  to  effect, 
together  with  the  one  or  two  needed  to  carry  the  plane  to  c,  and 
still  have  forty-six  or  forty-seven  pounds  more  than  is  wanted  left 
over.  We  now  have  the  plane  elevated  as  fast  as  it  falls,  so  that 
its  resultant  passage  to  D  is  the  horizontal  translation  of  flight, 
and  a  body  in  falling  does  work  enough  to  not  only  lift  it  to  the 
same  height  from  which  it  fell,  but  to  move  it  against  air  resist- 
ance, and  have  a  large  surplus  left  over! 

This  seems  impossible.  But  the  reason  of  such  appearance,  as 
already  shown,  is  that  we  are  entertaining  a  fallacy.  We  are 
supposing  the  direction  of  the  gravitating  force  to  still  be  vertical 
after  it  has  gone  over  eighteen  and  a  hundred  and  eight  degrees. 
We  have,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  changed  the  direction  of  gravity 
more  than  we  have  slanted  the  plane.  One-fifth  of  its  total 
amount  has  gone  over  io8^.  The  plane  has  taken  the  same  lib- 
erty with  the  great  cosmical  force  of  gravitation  that  it  would 
with  any  other  force.  It  refuses  to  be  operated  upon  by  any 
energy  whatever  of  a  mechanical  kind  while  doing  work  on  elastic 
fluids,  excepting  in  the  two  directions  mentioned,  and  any  force 
whatever,  not  in  either  of  these,  is  instantly  put  therd  by  the 
plane.  To  say  that  the  gravitating  force  is  still  vertical,  and 
has  not  gone  over,  is  to  increase  the  difficulties  of  the  case 
and  not  to  abate  them.  In  such  event  the  law  of  fluid  pressures 
is  violated,  which  demands  that  they  be  at  right  angles  to  the 
compressing  surface.  The  plane  would  also  fall  vertically  with- 
out lateral  motion,  all  of  which  is  impossible.  Some  force  is 
actuating  A'  B  in  its  own  plane  and  normal  to  it.  From  whence 
comes  it  ?  There  is  but  one  source  of  supply.  The  plane  has 
simply  resolved  gravity  until  its  perpendicular  line  has  been 
vacated,  and  re-located  at  right  angles  to  the  lateral  force  acting 
in  the  plane,  which  lifts  no  weight,  and  resists  nothing  whatever 
but  friction.  The  plane,  in  its  translation  towards  c,  is  moving 
towards  e^  but  not  towards  £^  It  is  going  contrary  to  the  abstract 


Digitized  by 


Google 


i886.]  Causes  of  Forest  Rotation.  521 

direction  of  gravity,  but  not  contrary  to  the  direction  in  which 
that  force  is  now  working,  which  alone  concerns  us. 

The  whole  matter  hinges  on  the  ability  of  a  plane  to  resolve 
the  gravitating  force  as  it  resolves  other  forces.  In  doing  so  it 
does  a  very  wonderful  thing.  It  makes  of  gravity  a  continuous 
motive  power.  It  introduces  a  new  idea  into  our  conceptions  of 
things,  and  makes  it  imperative  that  we  rectify  our  notions  of  the 
gravitating  force  so  as  to  admit  these  facts,  which  we  have  not 
hitherto  recognized. 

It  dignifies  the  soaring  birds  into  the  position  of  favored  crea- 
tures of  nature.  They  inhabit  a  universe  of  their  own.  The 
horizon  of  their  world  is  not  the  level  of  the  sea,  but  the  incline 
of  their  own  wings,  which  they  can  change  at  will.  Their  gravi- 
tating force  is  either  in  a  straight  line  from  their  bodies  towards 
the  center  of  the  earth,  or  the  moon,  or  the  sun,  or  any  of  the 
stars  of  heaven,  indifferently,  as  it  suits  them,  to  sleep  on  the 
breeze,  to  play  at  gymnastics  high  in  air,  to  enact  the  role  of  the 
highway  robber,  or  to  serenely  float  from  zone  to  zone. 

I  have  now  presented  the  case  of  the  sparing  birds  to  the  ex- 
tent of  my  ability.  The  task  could  have  been  better  done  by  a 
specialist  in  analytic  mechanics,  as  it  is  in  this  sphere  that  its  sig- 
nificance lies.  The  whole  matter  is  extremely  peculiar.  In  con- 
sequence of  the  throng  of  preconceived  ideas  which  tend  to  cast 
the  obscurity  of  night  over  the  whole  case,  the  evidence  upon 
which  it  rests,  although  axiomatic  throughout,  is  difficult  to  see. 
The  mechanism  also  seems  devoid  of  organization,  a  simple  plane 
is  all  there  is  of  it,  and  still  it  has  the  power  to  change  the  hori- 
zon of  the  world  to  suit  its  own  purposes.  It  would  be  unwise 
to  suppose  that  a  device  capable  of  doing  this  was  not  competent 
to  give  to  man  what  he  has  long  coveted,  the  power  to  navigate 
the  air.. 

Certainly  we  must  entertain  two  standards  of  horizontal,  one 
the  level  of  the  sea,  and  the  other  the  incline  of  the  wings  of  the 
soaring  birds. 

CAUSES  OF  FOREST  ROTATION. 

BY  JOHN  T.  CAMPBELL. 

IN  a  letter  recently  received  from  Dr.  S.  V.  Clevenger,  he  men- 
tioned a  case  coming  under  his  own  observation  on  the  North 
Pacific  railroad,  in  Minnesota,  near  Mille  Lacs,  where  the  railroad 


Digitized  by 


Google 


522  Causis  of  Forest  Rotation.  [June, 

company  cut  the  pine  timber  off  of  their  own  alternate  sections 
for  railroad  ties  and  other  purposes.  This  pine  forest  was  suc- 
ceeded at  once»  to  all  appearances  spontaneously,  by  oaks. 

I  have  often  heard  North  Carolinians  say  the  same  thing  about 
old  fields  in  that  State,  when  abandoned  as  worn-out  land,  that 
some  timber  different  from  that  which  had  been  cut  off  when 
clearing  the  land  at  first,  would  spring  up  spontaneously,  or  ap- 
pear to  be  spontaneous. 

I  can  speak  only  for  my  own  locality,  not  having  observed  any 
other.  Here  (West  central  Indiana)  we  have  in  many  localities 
a  prevailing  species  of  timber,  but  no  species  that  exist  to  the 
exclusion  of  all  others,  as  is  often  the  case  with  pine.  But  of 
our  prevailing  timber,  or  any  other  kind,  sugar  maple  excepted, 
none  seem  to  be  reproducing  their  kind  in  their  immediate  vicin- 
ity. For  reasons  which  will  follow,  I  surmise  that  dearly  all 
forest  trees  bear  and  shed  leaves  which  are  unfavorable  to  the 
sprouting  and  growing  of  their  own  seeds.  The  most  notable 
instance  I  can  now  think  of  is  the  red  cedar,  introduced  into  this 
vicinity  from  the  north  and  north-east  about  forty-five  years  ago 
for  ornamental  purposes.  I  don't  remember  at  what  age  they 
began  bearing  seed,  but  I  think  as  early  as  ten  years,  counting 
them  to  have  been  three  years  old  from  the  seed  when  trans- 
planted here.  Until  certain  kinds  of  birds  be;;an  to  eat  their 
seeds,  they  were  not  found  growing  wild  in  the  forests.  I  do  not 
know  what  birds  eat  the  seed,  but  evidently  all  do  not,  else  they 
would  have  been  planted  as  soon  as  the  parent  trees  bore  seeds, 
which  was  not  the  case  for  fully  fifteen  years  afterward.  When 
these  seeds  pass  through  the  craw  and  intestines  of  birds  they 
are  prepared  to  sprout  when  they  come  in  contact  with  the  ground 
of  the  proper  degree  of  moisture.  Nurserymen,  when  they 
gather  them  direct  from  the  trees,  are  obliged  to  put  them  through 
some  process  of  scalding  before  planting.  The  birds  drop  them 
promiscuously  over  the  country,  where  they  have  been  appearing 
within  the  past  fifteen  years  numerously,  and  only  rarely  before 
about  that  time.  They  are  a  hardy  tree,  and  bid  fair  to  become 
one  of  the  forest  trees  of  the  future  in  this  part  of  Indiana.  It  is 
reasonable  to  presume  that  these  seeds  would  be  more  abundantly 
dropped  under  and  very  near  these  parent  trees  than  elsewhere, 
for  quite  probably  the  birds  that  nest  in  these  trees  eat  their  seeds. 
Yet  no  young  cedars  are  ever  seen  to  sprout  and  grow  there. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


1 886.]  Causes  of  Forest  Rotation.  5  23 

The  same  is  true  (1.^.,  not  growing  their  young  within  the  radius  ' 
of  their  leaf-fall)  of  the  white  pine,  firs  and  other   evergreens 
transported  here  for  ornamental  purposes.     Some  of  the  older 
ones  are  twenty  inches  in  diameter,  and  have  borne  seeds  many 
years. 

1  have  long  observed  that  the  seeds  of  forest  trees  shed  upon 
the  forest  leaves,  sugar  maple  excepted,  cannot  sprout.  This  is 
very  specially  the  case  with  the  American  poplar  seeds.  Yet  I 
often  find  in  the  v^oods  clusters  of  young  poplars,  var>'ing  in  age 
from  one  year  to  sixty  and  seventy  years.  I-ast  year  I  found  out 
how  this  comes  about.  If  the  seeds  happen  to  fall  on  the  bare 
ground  of  the  right  degree  of  moisture,  they  at  once  take  root 
and  grow.  If  about  the  time  these  seeds  are  falling  there  should 
be  a  hog  in  the  woods  and  he  should  have  an  appetite  for  ground 
worms,  he  would  thrust  his  strong  snout  through  the  leaves  into 
the  ground  and  cast  up  fresh  earth  in  a  very  promiscuous  manner, 
and  every  poplar  (or  other)  seed  that  should  happen  to  fall  on 
that  fresh  ground  would  stand  a  good  chance  of  growing.  I  saw 
young  poplars  just  barely  sprouted  under  the  above  circum- 
stances, while  at  the  same  time  other  and  brother  seeds  had 
fallen  on  the  leaves  near  by,  where  they  lay  dead  and  as  dry  and 
crisp  as  smoking  tobacco. 

Sometimes  squirrels,  hares,  ground  squirrels  (chipmunks)  dig 
through  the  leaves  into  the  ground  for  food  which  they  find  there, 
I  presume,  and  these  places  give  a  chance  for  one  or  more  seeds 
to  grow,  and  the  hoofs  of  heavy  bullocks  (and  in  times  past  the 
elk  ancf  buffalo)  have  made  deep  tracks  through  the  leaves  into 
the  ground,  which  would  give  a  like  chance,  whilst  the  coating 
of  leaves  would  prevent  the  growth  of  all  the  rest.  The  hogs  were 
brought  here  at  the  very  earliest  time  of  settlement,  turned  loose 
in  the  woods,  where  they  multiplied  rapidly,  becoming  wild,  fero- 
cious and  more  dangerous  to  man  than  bears,  wolves  or  panthers. 
Many  of  these  clusters  of  poplars  correspond  in  age  to  this  time. 

In  Rockville,  Indiana,  where  I  reside,  the  river-bottom  soft 
maple  is  very  generally  planted  for  a  street  shade- tree,  mainly 
because  of  its  rapid  growth.  Many  of  these  are  ten  to  twenty 
inches  in  diameter  at  the  butt,  and  have  been  bearing  seeds  for 
years.  The  seeds  of  this  tree  must  find  favorable  growing  con- 
ditions as  soon  as  they  fall  or  they  are  lost,  for  one  day's  baking 
in  the  hot  sun  kills  them.     They  must  have  a  steady  moisture 


Digitized  by  VjOOQIC 


5  24  Causes  of  Forest  Rotation.  (June, 

with  warm  but  not  hot  sunshine.  The  trees  bore  a  bountiful  crop 
of  seed  last  May,  and  of  the  first  that  matured  and  fell,  I  tried  to 
sprout  about  a  dozen  by  placing  them  in  good  ground  and  water- 
ing every  day  for  several  days.  But  as  I  could  not  give  them  all 
my  time,  they  dried  up  between  waterings  and  died.  After  these 
had  died,  there  came  a  threatening,  blustering  storm  one  Sunday 
evening  about  sundown,  which  shook  off  the  remaining  soft  maple 
seeds.  They  were  so  abundant  that  they  gave  the  streets  a  bufTcolor 
where  they  fell  The  wind  was  followed  by  a  light,  steady  rain,  which 
continued  several  days,  alternating  with  sunshine.  This  was  favora- 
ble to  sprouting  these  seeds,  and  they  came  up  all  over  the  streets, 
yards,  and  gardens  as  thick  as  weeds  in  a  neglected  field,  a  thing 
that  never  happened  before  in  the  twenty-two  years  I  have  resided 
in  the  place.  Those  in  the  street  the  cows  ate  up ;  those  in  the  gar- 
dens were  weeded  out,  and  those  growing  elsewhere  were  killed 
by  the  following  summer  drought.  On  the  south  end  of  my  gar- 
den, where  a  cellar  drain  terminates,  the  proper  moisture  was 
maintained  through  the  drought,  and  there  stands  a  thick  cluster 
of  them,  the  only  survivors,  so  far  as  I  know,  of  the  millions  that 
sprang  up  last  May.  After  these  trees  are  three  years  old  they 
can  be  successfully  transplanted  into  any  kind  of  soil  we  have 
here,  and  seem  as  hardy  as  any  dry-ground  tree ;  but  during  their 
infancy  the  conditions  must  be  as.  before  stated  or  they  die.  So  I 
think  it  is  clear  that  this  tree  will  never  be  self-planting,  except 
along  the  low,  moist  bottom  of  the  streams  where  we  find  it 
native. 

The  hard  sugar  maple  does  plant  its  own  seeds  within  the 
radius  of  its  own  leaf-&ll.  In  1884  there  developed  a  local  rain 
in  the  south-east  quarter  of  this  (Parke)  county  which  continued 
showery  for  several  days,  alternating  with  sunshine,  just  as  the 
sugar  maple  seeds  were  falling.  The  result  was  as  in  the  case  of 
the  soft  maples  last  May ;  all  the  seeds  sprouted.  As  this  favor- 
able condition  did  not  happen  when  the  other  trees  were  shedding 
their  seeds,  the  result  in  that  part  of  the  county  is,  that  the  sugar 
maples  are  a  hundred  to  one  of  all  the  other  young  trees  com- 
bined, and  the  deep  snow  and  cold  winter  that  followed,  making 
a  hard  crust  on  the  snow,  prevented  the  sheep,  cattle  and  rabbits 
(hares)  from  browsing  them  down,  though  it  starved  thousands 
of  rabbits,  as  their  bones  found  in  holk»w  logs  and  trees  abun- 
dantly attest ;  but  it  saved  the  young  sugar  maples  till  they  are 


Digitized  by 


Google 


1 886.]  Causes  of  Forest  Rotation.  525 

now  large  enough  to  be  safe  from  every  enemy  except  man.  If 
he  were  out  of  the  way  for  150  years  about  all  the  present 
forest  trees  will  have  lived  out  their  time,  and  these  young  sugar 
maples  would  be  almost  the  only  trees  of  the  forest  in  the  area 
where  a  rain  happened  to  fall  with  the  seed.  In  the  other  three- 
quarters  of  the  county  that  state  of  things  would  not  exist,  for 
there  only  the  lucky  seed  that  fell  where  a  hog  had  rooted  or  a 
bull  had  trodden  has  made  a  tree,  and  this  luck  was  as  favorable 
to  other  seeds  as  to  the  sugar  maple.  These  maple  seeds  send 
rootlets  right  down  through  the  coating  of  leaves  into  the  ground, 
and  I  have  seen,  over  an  area  of  many  acres  at  a  time,  a  maple 
sprout  for  every  four  inches  square,  or  nine  to  the  square  foot, 
none  seeming  to  have  missed  sprouting.  In  replanting  the  ground 
where  the  present  forest  has  been  cut  away,  the  sugar  maple 
makes  the  least  show  of  all  the  forest  trees.  As  an  infant  it 
seems  to  thrive  best  in  the  shade  of  older  trees. 

How  the  oak  can  take  the  place  of  pine  where  there  are  no 
oaks  in  the  vicinity  to  bear  acorns,  I  am  not  sure,  but  it  is  easier 
and  more  rational  to  believe  that  there  is  some  natural  agency  for 
transporting  the  seed  of  the  apparently  spontaneous  new  tree, 
than  to  believe  it  to  be  really  spontaneous,  whether  we  understand 
the  transporting  agency  or  not. 

One  of  the  most  industrious  and  persistent  seed-transporting 
agencies  I  know  of  is  that  ubiquitous,  energetic,  rollicking,  med- 
dlesome busybody,  the  crow.  Did  you  ever  take  a  young  crow 
and  raise  it  as  a  j)et  ?  Please  do  so  once  and  you  will  have  more 
information  about  crows  than  I  could  give  you  in  an  entire  num- 
ber of  the  Naturalist.  They  become  very  tame,  and  after  they 
are  able  to  fly  it  seems  to  be  the  delight  and  work  of  their  lives  to 
pick  up  and  carry  from  place  to  place  any  and  every  article  which 
is  not  too  heavy  for  them.  After  a  pet  crow  has  had  a  little 
practice  he  isuas  expert  at  tricks  of  legerdemain  as  a  showman. 
He  will  steal  a  spool  of  thread,  a  thimble,  a  pair  of  scissors,  a 
paper  of  pins,  or  what  not?  right  before  your  eyes,  and  as  he 
flies  away  will  tuck  it  so  adroitly  up  under  his  tail  feathers  that 
you  can't  see  it  He  makes  a  deceptive  grab  as  he  starts  to  fly, 
by  taking  a  few  steps  as  if  to  give  himself  a  little  momentum  to 
start  his  flight,  and  one  of  these  steps  he  will  plant  square  on 
the  article  he  intends  to  steal,  when  his  claws  close  round  it  and 
off"  he  goes.    Perchance  he  will  alight  only  ^  few  yards  distant 


Digitized  by 


Google 


S  26  Causes  of  Forest  Rotation.  [June, 

on  the  ground  beside  a  chip,  which  chip,  as  he  alights,  he  will  so 
quickly  and  adroitly  turn  over  with  the  other  foot  as  to  cover  out 
of  sight  the  article  he  has  taken.  He  will  then  take  a  few  steps 
about  the  chip  with  his  toes  all  properly  radiating,  purposely  to 
show  you  that  he  does  not  hold  the  missing  article  in  his  claw. 
Unless  you  are  acquainted  with  his  tricks  you  would  concede 
that  he  had  not  taken  your  thimble,  so  adroitly  is  the  trick  per- 
formed. Then  he  is  ready  for  some  new  mischief.  Off  hp  goes 
to  the  chicken-yard  where  a  hen  and  her  chicks  are  scratching 
for  bugs.  He  alights  plump  into  their  midst.  The  little  chicks 
scream  and  scamper  for  shelter.  The*  old  hen,  with  her  feathers 
all  awry,  dashes  at  him  as  if  she  would  tear  him  into  strings,  but 
just  as  she  gets  in  striking  distance  the  crow  opens  his  mouth 
and  caws  loudly  right  into  her  face.  She  stops  abruptly,  hesi- 
tates and  slowly  backs  off.  Then  comes  the  cock  of  the  3rard, 
like  a  charge  of  cavalry,  to  drive  the  intruder  from  his  premises  ; 
but  as  he  too  gets  in  striking  distance,  the  crow  opens  his  mouth 
about  three  inches  wide  and  caws  so  loud,  right  into  the  cock's 
face,  that  he  can  be  heard  a  quarter  of  a  mile.  The  cock  too 
stops  suddenly,  and  his  look  of  surprise  and  amazement  is  most 
amusing.  His  wrothy  feathers  gradually  smooth  down  and  he 
takes  a  few  steps  cautiously  backward,  then  whirls  and  runs  back 
under  the  rose-bush  and  there  tells  the  hens  how  the  crow  acted, 
like  Irving's  Knickerbocker  soldiers  who  were  sent  up  the  Hud- 
son to  capture  a  fort,  and  who  had  nose,  thumb  and  fingers  all 
lyiggled  at  them  at  once  over  the  wall  by  the  garrison,  which  was 
such  a  strange  and  unexpected  proceeding  that  they  hastened 
back  to  headquarters  to  report  what  had  taken  place. 

I  had  a  pet  crow  two  years  ago  that  cut  so  many  tricks  in  his 
way  that  a  neighbor  shot  him  one  morning.  Afterward,  in  clean- 
ing the  leaves  out  of  my  eave  troughs,  various  of  our  own  and 
owr  neighbors'  articles  were  found  in  the  trougljs  and  on  the 
roof, 

The  crow  in  his  wild  state  is  all  the  time  busy  at  some  such 
work  as  I  have  described.  I  cannot  discover  that  he  has  any  design 
in  this  busy,  meddlesome  mischief.  If  there  is  design  in  his  work 
it  is  back  of  the  crow  in  the  Great  Superintendent  of  nature's 
processes.  I  have  seen  crows  gather  by  hundreds  and  have  a 
regular  pow-wow,  a  mass  convention  where  they  seemed  to  dis- 
cuss measures  and  ^ppoit^t  officers,     I  have  heard  their  cawing 


Digitized  by 


Google 


1 886.]  Causes  of  Forest  Rotation.  5  27 

more  than  a  mile  distant  At  length  they  get  through,  by  finish- 
ing their  work  or  tiring  of  it,  and  disperse.  As  they  start  to  fly 
away  many,  if  not  all,  will  drop  sometiiing.  I  have  found  these 
to  be  acorns,  walnuts,  hickory-nuts,  buckeyes,  sycamore-balls, 
sticks,  egg-shells,  pebbles,  &c.  As  a  crow  leaves  an  oak  he  will 
pluck  an  acorn  which  he  may  carry  five  miles  and  light  on  a 
beech  tree,  where  something  else  will  attract  his  attention,  when 
he  will  drop  the  acorn  and  may  be  pluck  a  pod  of  beech  nuts  and 
fly  away  somewhere  else. 

The  squirrel  is  also  a  nut-transporting  agent  The  hog  will 
eat  his  nut  where  he  finds  It,  but  the  squirrel  must  find  some  suit- 
able place  to  eat  his  nut,  like  some  fastidious  boarders  I  have 
known,  who  would  not  and  could  not  eat  if  they  failed  to  get 
their  own  conspicuous  place  at  table.  The  squirrel  will  select  his 
nut,  take  it  in  his  mouth,  skip  along  a  few  yards,  pause  a  moment, 
then  a  few  more  skips  and  pause,  preferring  a  fence  or  fallen  tree 
to  the  ground  for  his  roadway.  He  will  sometimes  carry  his  nut 
several  hundred  yards,  not  to  his  home,  but  to  some  conspicuous 
tall  fence-stake  or  dead  projecting  limb  of  a  tree,  on  which  he  sits 
on  his  haunches,  his  tail  curled  over  his  back,  and  in  this  striking 
attitude  he  complacently  gnaws  through  the  shell  of  his  nut  to 
get  the  kernel.  It  will  sometimes  happen  that  just  as  he  is  ready 
to  begin  on  his  nut  a  hawk  will  swoop  down  after  him,  and  His 
Complacency  is  glad  to  drop  his  nut  and  flirt  down  to  the  under 
side  of  the  limb  for  protection.  This  nut  may  fall  on  good 
ground  and  make  a  future  great  forest  tree.  He  will  be  chased 
by  a  dog,  fox  or  hawk  sometimes  white  on  his  way  to  his  eating 
place,  and  involuntarily  plant  an  oak,  a  walnut  or  hickory.  The 
partition  fences  across  our  cleared  farms  and  stumps  out  in  the 
fields  have  many  such  planting  of  oak,  walnut  and  hickory,  far 
from  the  trees  that  bore  the  nuts,  which  I  attribute  to  the  crow 
or  the  squirrel. 

I  know  a  place  about  four  miles  south-west  of  here,  where  a 
low  place  in  a  field  was  too  wet  to  be  plowed,  and  has  grown  up 
full  of  young  bur  oaks,  but  there  is  no  parent  tree  anywhere 
near,  not  near  enough  even  for  high  winds  to  carry  such  acorns. 
Such  acorns  sprout  only  in  wet  ground.  I  think  this  grove  of 
bur  oaks  is  the  result  of  a  frolic  of  the  crows.  They  had  a  pre- 
vious frolic  on  a. bur  oak,  and  in  leaving  it  for  this  place,  each 
carried  an  agorn^  as  is  (h^ir  habit, 


Digitized  by 


Google 


528  /  Observations  on  Young  Humming-Birds.  [June, 

OBSERVATIONS  ON  YOUNG  HUMMING-BIRDS. 

BY  H.  S.  pREENOUGH. 

DURING  the  month  of  June  last,  I  heard  through  friends  of 
the  nest  of  a  humming-bird  {Trochilus  colubris)  at  Cotuit,  on 
Cape  Cod,  where  I  was  then  staying,  and  having  long  wished  for 
such  an  opportunity,  I  immediately  decided  to  do  what  I  could 
towards  observing  the  growth  of  the  young.  Unfortunately  the 
position  of  the  nest  made  this  rather  difficult,  for  it  was  on  a 
small  dead  branch  of  a  yellow  pine  tree,  some  distance  from  the 
trunk  and  twelve  to/ourteen  feet  from^he  ground,  or  thereabout. 
Of  four  nests  that  I  have  seen,  all  in  Cotuit,  three  were  in  yellow 
pines  and  one  on  a  silver  poplar,  two  about  twenty  or  twenty- five 
feet  high,  one  nine  or  ten  and  the  last  as  above  stated ;  the  one 
on  the  poplar  was  on  a  small  dead  branch  ;  with  regard  to  those 
that  were  highest  up,  I  do  not  remember  whether  they  were  on 
dead  limbs  or  not. 

The  young  birds  were  first  seen  by  me  on  a  Saturday,  the  pre- 
vious Wednesday  a  lad,  whom  I  sent  up  the  tree,  reported  two 
eggs,  as  he  had  already  done  once  before,  so  that  I  cannot  say 
when  the  birds  were  hatched,  and  had  feared  to  make  daily  visits 
at  this  stage  lest  I  should  frighten  away  the  old  bird.  By  means 
of  a  lopg  step-ladder,  improvised  for  the  occasion  by  tying  to- 
gether two  ordinary  ladders,  I  was  enabled  to  view  the  young 
within  a  few  inches.  Though  very  small,  they  were  rather  larger 
than  I  had  expected  them,  and  appeared  to  be  already  covered  for 

the  most  part,  a  bare 
streak  extending, 
however,  down  the 
middle  of  the  back ; 
the  bills  were  very 
short  and  of  wide 
gape  and  yellow ^  and 
the  general  appear- 
ance of  head  and  bill 
was  decidedly  swift- 
like, but  whether  the 

f^G,\, — Diagrammatic  sketch  from  memory  of  young  bill  was  of  the  full 
^hcn  first  seen  A  trifle  reduced;  heads  too  smallin  fissirostral  type,  J>.. 
proporiion  to  bodies.  ^  r  >         > 

gape    extending    to 

below  the  eye,  I  am  |iot  syre.    I  fpjired  to  t?dce  the  young  out  for 


Digitized  by 


Google 


1 886.]  Observations  on  Young- Hummln^-Birds.  529 

closer  inspection  lest  I  should  injure  them  or  frighten  off  the  old 
bird,  and  I  particularly  wished  to  ascertain  other  points  which 
could  only  be  done  by  leaving  the  nest  undisturbed.  The  two 
young  lay  quite  still  at  the  bottom  of  the  nest  (which  was  deeper 
than  those  I  have  seen  after  the  birds  have  left,  and  with  sides  and 
edge  beautifully  finished)  with  their  heads  pointing  the  same  way 
and  their  bills  somewhat  upward  and  against  the  side  of  the  nest. 
The  annexed  diagram,  from  memory,  will  give  a  fair  idea  of  their 
general  appearance  at  this  time,  it  being  borne  in  mind  that  spe- 
cial attention  was  paid  to  (he  head  and  bill. 

On  the  following  Thursday  I  again  went  up  to  the  nest,  and 
found  the  birds  somewhat  grown  and  the  typical  humming-bird 
bill  beginning  to  show  itself.  I  can  best  describe  it  by  saying 
that  it  looked  somewhat  as  if  it  had  grown  out  of  or  on  to  the 
other  like  an  extraneous  thing,  but  was  still  only  a  fraction  of  an 
inch  long,  say  a  quarter  or  trifle  less.  During  this  time  the  old. 
bird  had  been  on  the  nest  nearly  always  when  I  passed  by,  or  if 
away  was  very  soon  back.  A  few  days  later, 
however,  I  found  her  absent  for  some  time,  at 
different  hours  of  the  day,  and  feared  some  acci- 
dent had  happened,  but  on  watching  near  by  I 
finally  saw  her  return  and  feed  the  young  and  of ^oung1^?mmfn^ 
then  sit  on  the  nest  again.  I  now  borrowed  an  bird's  head  onThurs- 
opera-glass  and  passed  a  good  deal  of  time  JJ^'  *'seen!''  From 
watching  the  feeding  of  the  young.  When  first  memory. 
seen  the  old  bird  perched  on  the  edge  of  the  nest  in  an  erect  atti- 
tude, very  much  as  a  >Yoodpecker  on  the  trunk  of  a  tree,  and 
bent  down  her  bill  close  to  her  nest  whilst  feeding  the  young; 
later  on  the  position  was  varied,  sometimes  sitting  nearly  horizon- 
tal and  feeding  a  bird  on  the  opposite  side  of  the  nest.  After 
the  young  got  a  little  larger  she  could  be  seen  to  thrust  her  bill 
into  theirs;  she  fed  first  one  and  then  the  other,  apparently  by  re- 
■gurgitation  from  the  crop,  for  a  motion  could  be  seen  in  the  region 
of  the  throat,  and  after  feeding  one  she  would  hold  up  her  head 
for  an  instant  before  feeding  the  other.  In  a  few  days  she  ceased 
to  brood  the  young,  but  fed  them  very  frequently.  I  often  saw  her 
fly  to  the  nest,  and  when  she  had  gotten  near  she  would  generally 
poise  and  look  round  before  perching  on  its  edge.  On  going 
away  she  would  sometimes  fly  off  immediately  till  out  of  sight, 
^t  others  would  alight  some  twenty  to  forty  yards  off  and  stay  for 


? 


Digitized  by 


Google 


530  Observadans  on  Young  Humming-Birds.  D"''^ 

a  few  minutes,  and  then  away  as  before.  She  did  not  appear  to 
mind  my  presence  much,  if  at  all,  though  I  was  quite  near,  within 
thirty  feet  and  sometimes  much  less,  say  fifteen  or  seventeen,  i.  e.^ 
almost  directly  under  the  nest  At  no  time  did  I  see  the  male 
bird  come  about  the  nest  Some  ten  days  or  thereabout  after  the 
young  were  first  seen,  their  bills  began  to  show  above  the  edge  of 
the  nest,  and  soon  after  were  generally  plainly  visible. 

On  the  morning  of  the  fifteenth  day  after  the  birds  were  first 
seen,  one  of  them  was  observed  to  flutter  its  wings  just  a  little 
for  the  first  time.  I  now  judged  that  the  birds  would  soon  leave, 
and  accordingly  passed  several  hours  every  day  under  the  nest 


Fig.  3. — Humming-bird  feeding  its  young ;  copied  from  pencil  drawing  made  on 
the  spot  in  summer  of  1885. 

The  restlessness  of  the  young  increased ;  their  heads  generally 
showed  above  the  edge  of  the  nest,  they  looked  about  and  fre- 
quently turned  round,  and  every  now  and  then  one  would  flutter 
its  wings,  or  sometimes  only  spread  one  or  both  ;  this  phase  was 
very  interesting  to  observe  on  account  of  the  progressive  activity 
shown,  and  that  without  leaving  the  nest  at  all.  By  the  following 
Wednesday  the  restlessness  had  increased  very  much,  the  birds 
raising  themselves  somewhat  and  the  motion  of  the  wings  being 
very  rapid,  producing  a  g^uzy,  halo-like  appearance  as  in  old 
birds.    The  following  morning,  Thursday,  i.  e.,  the  twentieth  day. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


1 886.]  ObservcOiofts  on  Young  Humming-Birds.  531 

I  saw  one  of  them  raise  himself  on  "  tip-toe  "  and,  fluttering  his 
wings,  get  upon  the  edge  of  the  nest  and  then  down  upon  the 
branch,  sit  there  a  moment,  and  then  back  into  the  nest  in  the 
same  way.  I  watched  all  the  morning,  but  neither  bird  left  the 
nest,  though  both  seemed  very  restless ;  on  my  return  in  the 
afternoon  only  one  young  bird  remained.  I  saw  the  old  one  feed 
him  once  or  twice,  and  noticed  that  she  approached  him  from  a 
different  direction  to  what  I  had  before  seen,  coming  downwards 
from  the  clump  of  pines,  on  the  edge  of  which  stood  the  nesting 
tree,  instead  of  the  open  glades  from  which  I  had  always  before 
seen  her  approach.  I  accordingly  laid  on  my  back  and  looked 
upward,  and  presently  saw  her  return  and  perch  on  a  bough  be- 
side another  humming-bird,  feed  it  and  fly  away.  I  now  watched 
the  bird  on  the  bough  very  carefully  and  soon  saw  it  fly,  and  this 
it  did  repeatedly  at  short  intervals,  sometimes  down,  again  up,  on 
a  level  and  in  curves;  except  for  the  shortness  of  its  flights,  I 
could  see  no  difference  from  that  of  the  old  bird  (and  as  it  was 
well  grown,  had  I  seen  it  casually  I  should  not  have  known  it  for 
a  young  one) ;  there  appeared  to  be  the  same  precision  of  move- 
ment, facility  of  turning  and  rising,  and  the  same  humming  style 
of  flight,  though  I  was  not  near  enough  to  hear  any  sound. 
Once  toward  the  end  of  an  unusually  long  flight,  I  thought,  I 
perceived  signs  of  fatigue,  but  do  not  feel  sure  of  this.  The  sec- 
ond bird  continued  in  the  nest,  and  was  still  there  on  Friday 
morning  and  again  in  the  afternoon,  the  other  bird  being  in  the 
neighboring  trees,  flying  perfectly,  and  both  frequently  fed  by  the 
old  one.  On  Saturday  morning  the  second  bird  had  also  left,  and 
all  three  birds,  if  I  remember  rightly,  were  observed  in  and  about 
the  neighboring  trees.  I  now  tried  to  get  some  pots  of  flower- 
ing plants  to  place  near  by,  and  determine,  if  possible,  how  soon 
the  young  would  begin  to  feed  themselves,  but  did  not  succeed 
in  obtaining  any,  so  that  I  could  not  ascertain  this  point. 

I  frequently  heard  a  faint  chirping  just  before  or  during  feed- 
ing, but  do  not  know  if  made  by  old  or  young,  or  both,  though, 
as  when  feeding  the  flown  bird,  I  once  saw  the  old  one  seek  him 
some  little  time,  he  having  changed  his  place,  and  heard  the 
chirping:  I  am  in  this  case  inclined  to  think  the  young  bird 
must  have  made  the  sound,  and  perhaps  the  old  one  also. 

I  once  saw  the  old  bird  thrust  her  tongue  out,  and  to  a  much 
greater  distance  than  I  should  have  supposed. 


Digitized  by  VjOOQIC 


532  The  Mechanics  of  Soaring.  [June, 

I  was  unable  to  secure  any  photographs,  though  a  friend  kindly 
tried  to  take  some  for  me,  our  ladder  proving  too  short  to  admit 
of  getting  the  camera  into  position  for  focussing ;  but  the  rough 
drawing  made  on  the  spot  with  the  aid  of  an  opera-glass  may- 
give  a  better  idea  of  the  feeding  position  assumed  by  the  mother 
bird  than  my  description  has  done. 

THE  MECHANICS  OF  SOARING. 

BY  PROFESSOR  J.  B.  HENDRICKS. 

AS  Mr.  I.  Lancaster  has  published,  through  the  medium  of  the 
American  Naturalist,  his  very  interesting  and  valuable 
observations  of  soaring  birds,  and  has,  in  the  April  number  (No. 
4,  Vol.  xx)  given  an  explanation  of  the  mechanics  of  soaring  that 
might  lead  non-technical  readers  astray,  a  brief  review  of  the 
"  Mechanics  of  Soaring  "  may  not  be  unprofitable  to  some  of  the 
readers  of  the  Naturalist. 

As  much  that  Mr.  Lancaster  has  said  is  in  accordance  with 
the  recognized  principles  of  mechanics,  I  will  not  encumber 
the  pages  of  the  Naturalist  with  a  general  review  of  the  whole 
article,  but  will  conRne  this  paper  mainly  to  a  consideration  of  the 
question  proposed  by  him  and  which  he  regards  as  a  crucial . 
test  of  the  validity  of  his  theory  of  soaring. 

In  investigations  concerning  the  operation  of  forces,  it  is  im- 
portant that  the  distinction  between  continuous  and  momentary 
forces  be  kept  in  view.  Although  all  forces  require  time  for  their 
operation,  yet  such  forces  as  act  for  a  short  time  and  then  cease 
to  act,  are  called  momentary  forces,  and  the  time  during  which 
they  act  is  not  considered  ;  the  velocity  induced  being  constant 
and  equal  to  the  intensity  of  the  force  divided  by  the  mass. 

When  a  force  acts  uniformly  for  a  considerable  portion  of 
time,  it  is  called  a  constant  force,  and  the  time  of  its  action  is 
involved  in  the  velocity  it  induces,  which  is  represented  by  the 
intensity  of  the  force  multiplied  by  the  time  and  divided  by  the 
mass  or  weight  of  the  body. 

Although  we  do  not  know  what  produces  the  phenomena 
of  gravitation,  we  know,  as  manifested  on  the  surface  of  the 
earth,  it  is  a  result  of  two  opposing  forces  (a  centripetal  and  a 
centrifugal  force)  whose   difference  at  any  point  on  the  earth's 


Digitized  by 


Google 


J  886.]  The  Mechanics  of  Soaring.  533 

sur&ce  is  indicated  by  the  weight  of  the  body  at  that  point. 
Weight,  therefore,  or  gravity,  is  a  constant  force,  and  difters 
in  no  respect  from  any  other  constant  force. 

It  is  found  by  experiment  that  a  current  of  air,  having  a 
velocity  of  thirty  feet  per  second,  and  mfeeting  a  stationary 
plane,  the  projection  of  which,  in  the  direction  of  the  motion, 
has  a  superficial  area  of  one  square  foot,  exerts  upon  the  plane, 
in  the  direction  of  the  current,  a  force  =  2  lbs.  X  sin^  ^,  where 
B  denotes  the  angle  which  the  plane  makes  with  the  direction  of 
the  motion ;  and  for  different  planes  the  force  is  approximately 
proportional  to  the  areas  of  the  planes,  so  that  on  a  plane 
one  foot  wide  and  six  feet  long,  as  supposed  by  Mr.  Lan- 
caster, when  the  current  is  normal  to  the  plane,  the  force  ex- 
erted upon  the  plane  by  a  velocity  of  thirty  feet  per  second  will 
be  twelve  pounds.  This  is  the  value  of  the  special  force  assumed 
by  Mr.  Lancaster,  and  whether  we  consider  the  twelve  pounds 
pressure  as  resulting  from  a  constant  atmospheric  current  or 
any  other  cause  is  obviously  indifferent 

If  then  we  suppose  the  weight  of  the  plane  to  be  twelve 
pounds,  and  its  descent  vertical  through  a  quiescent  atmos- 
phere, while  the  plane  surface  is  horizontal,  the  case  will  be  that 
of  a  falling  body  in  a  resisting  medium,  and  when  the  plane  shall 
have  acquired  a  velocity  of  thirty  feet  per  second,  we  know,  from 
the  experiments  above  referred  to,  that  the  plane  will  meet  a  con- 
stant resistance  of  twelve  pounds,  and  this  being  the  weight  of 
the  plane  it  will  thenceforth  descend  with  the  uniform  velocity 
of  thirty  feet  per  second. 

If  while  thus  descending,  in  equilibrium,  a  momentary  hori- 
zontal force,  the  intensity  of  which  is  equal  to  gravity,  be  im- 
pressed upon  the  plane,  because  it  would  impart  to  one  pound  a 
velocity  of  thirty-two  feet  per  second,  it  will  therefore  impart 
to  the  plane,  the  weight  of  which  is  twelve  pounds,  a  velocity 
of  only  xV  ^  32  ft-»  or  2^  ft  per  second,  instead  of  1000  ft  per 
second  as  assumed  by  Mr.  Lancaster. 

If  now  the  plane  be  tilted  so  as  to  make  an  angle  0  with  the 
vertical,  the  vertical  pressure  it  will  encounter,  when  the  velocity 
is  thirty  feet  per  second,  will  be  12  sin^  ^  lbs.,  and  because  its 
weight  remains  the  same  the  plane  will  cease  to  be  in  equilibrium. 
An  increase  in  the  velocity  of  the  descent  of  the  plane  in  the 
ratio  of  ^sin^  B  \  i  would  restore  the  equilibrium  and  the  plane 


Digitized  by 


Google 


534  Editor^  Table,  Qune, 

would  descend  along  the  "  rest "  with  the  uniform  velocity  of 

//  -  %  /i\fect  per  second. 
V  (sm*  9)       ^ 

We  are  now  prepared  to  answer  the  query  proposed  by 
Mr.  Lancaster  as  a.  crucial  test  of  the  validity  of  his  theory,  viz., 
"  Will  the  tilted  surface,  supplied  with  the  rest  of  two  pounds  and 
moving  with  uniform  velocity,  obey  the  impulse  of  an  external 
force  applied  in  its  own  plane  with  equal  facility  in  any  direc- 
tion r 

The  above  formula  for  uniform  velocity  of  descent  indicates 
that,  for  all  inclinations  of  the  plane,  there  is  an  unbalanced  force 
which  acts  downward  and  parallel  with  the  face  of  the  plane,  and 
therefore  toward  the  "  rest."  The  tilted  surface  therefore  will 
not  "  obey  the  impulse  of  an  external  force  applied  in  its  own 
plane  with  equal  facility  in  any  direction." 

"  The  implication  of  the  case  "  therefore  is,  that  if  an  inclined 
plane  is  free  to  descend  through  the  atmosphere,  by  virtue  of  its 
weight,  it  will,  in  consequence  of  the  atmospheric  resistance,  move 
laterally  downward  unless  it  encounters  a  current  of  air  that,  be- 
ing resolved  by  the  under  surface  of  the  plane,  gives  a  vertical 
component  which  is  equal  to  or  greater  than  the  weight  of  the 
plane,  in  which  case  the  plane  will  move  horizontally  or  ascend ; 
or  if  the  plane  is  properly  shaped  it  may,  in  consequence  of  •'  rear 
expansion "  of  the  air,  remain  stationary  with  respect  to  the 
earth. 

It  follows  that  all  of  the  observed  phenomena  of  soaring  are  in 
accord  with  the  recognized  principles  of  mechanics,  but  I  trust  it 
is  sufficiently  obvious,  from  the  preceding  discussion,  that  a  soar- 
ing bird  is  not "  translated  at  right  angles  to  the  gravitating  force, 
or  horizontally,  solely  by  the  action  of  that  force." 

EDITORS'  TABLE. 

editors:  a.  s.  Packard  and  e.  d.  cope. 

Just  as  the  inorganic  appears  to  have  preceded  the  or- 
ganic in  the  history  of  the  phenomena  of  nature,  the  inorganic 
preceded  the  organic  as  the  most  potent  factor  in  the  environment 
in  which  organic  nature  developed.  Convulsions  of  inorganic 
nature  were  frequent  and  irresistible  in  the  most  ancient  periods 
of  time,  and  they  diminished  in  number  and  importance  as  life 


Digitized  by 


Google 


1 886.]  Editor^  Table.  535 

varied  and  multiplied.  The  conditions  of  the  fitness  essential  to 
survival  were  thus  originally  those  of  physical  endurance,  and  as 
life  multiplied  and  inorganic  nature  receded  in  importance  as  a 
factor,  these  conditions  came  to  depend  more  and  more  continu- 
ally on  intellectual  development  or  adaptation  to  the  wants  of 
the  most  intelligent  organisms.  The  most  useful  and  successful 
man  in  the  Plymouth  Rock  colony  was  he  of  the  strongest  arm 
and  broadest  shoulders,  but  the  most  useful  and  successful  man 
of  the  metropolis  to-day  is  he  of  the  greatest  business  tact  and 
shrewdness  and  the  broadest  human  sympathies. 

When  we  speak  of  the  "  survival  of  the  fittest,"  it  is  obvious 
that  we  must  keep  before  our  minds  a  clear  idea  of  the  sense  in 
which  the  words  "  survival "  and  '*  fittest "  are  used.  If  the  con- 
ditions of  a  certain  sense,  of  the  word  "  survival "  pass  away  or 
indefinitely  decrease  in  relative  importance,  we  cannot  reasonably 
expect  to  apply  the  word  in  that  sense  as  if  it  were  invariable. 
It  is  necessary,  instead,  to  employ  a  more  constant  and  general 
signification  of  the  word. 

If  there  were  no  universal  and  overwhelming  convulsions  of 
nature  after  the  arrival  of  the  highest  members  of  the  scale  of 
animal  life  at  a  plane  of  absolute  intelligence,  we  are  warranted  in 
supposing  that  the  most  intelligent  mammals,  at  least,  were 
capable  of  preserving  themselves  from  destruction  and  burial  by 
the  lesser  convulsions  of  nature  that  occurred  from  time  to  time. 

Moreover,  if  we  assume,  for  the  sake  of  argument,  that  man 
descended  from  the  highest  development  of  anthropoid  apes 
whose  existence  in  prehistoric  times  is  known,  we  must  admit 
the  occurrence  of  a  considerable  interval  between  the  cessation 
of  such  convulsions  of  nature  as  were  likely  to  bury  and  preserve 
the  remains  of  anthropoid  apes  and  the  attainment  by  the  anthro* 
poid  of  a  suflficient  degree  of  intelligence  to  suggest  the  burial  of 
the  dead  in  a  manner  calculated  to  preserve  their  remains  for 
modem  scientific  inspection. 

The  longer  this  intermediate  period  is  supposed  to  be,  the 
greater  the  intellectual  development  which,  under  the  laws  of 
evolution,  should  take  place  in  the  course  of  it.  The  reasonable 
inference  is  that  the  greater  the  gap  between  the  highest  known 
form  of  anthropoid  ape  and  the  lowest  known  form  of  man,  the 
more  important,  relatively,  must  have  become  the  social  and 
moral  conditions  of  development,  while  the  physical  conditions 


Digitized  by 


Google 


536  Recent  Literature.  [June, 

dwindled  i^  importance  during  the  period  represented  by 
that  gap. 

If,  mathematically  speaking,  we  let  tn  represent  the  product  of 
physical  conditions  in  effecting  the  variation  and  development  of 
the  organism,  and  n  the  product  of  social  and  moral  conditions, 
we  find  that  m  varies  inversely  as  n.  If  m  be  infinite  and  n 
infinitesimal,  as  at  first,  and  m  continually  diminishes  while  n  in* 
creases  according  to  definite  laws,  the  attainment  of  a  point  at 
which  tn  is  infinitesimal  and  n  infinite  is  only  a  question  of  time. 

The  conditions  of  any  possible  development  of  man  from 
anthropoid  apes  appear  therefore  to  require  that  there  should  be 
a  "  missing  link,"  in  the  sense  that  physical  evidences  of  inter- 
calary types  are  unpreserved.  The  "  survival  "  of  the  fittest,  at  a 
certain  period  in  the  history  of  life,  means  exactly  such  survival 
as  would  make  it  improbable  that  many  remains  should  be  pre- 
served, and  this  survival  only  the  fittest  would,  under  the  circum- 
stances, attain.  Such  anthropoid  apes  as  were  capable  of  generating 
man  should  have  been  superior  to  those  whose  remains  were  pre- 
served because  they  had  not  intelligence  enough  to  protect  their 
lives.  The  first  considerable  preservation  of  primitive  man  would 
begin  when  he  ventured  on  navigation ;  but  his  remains  so  pre- 
served will  be  "  missing,"  until  such  time  as  "  the  sea  gives  up 
her  dead." 

The  committee  of  Congress  which  has  been  investigating 

the  U.  S.  Geological  Survey  has  not  dealt  kindly  with  Major 
Powell  and  his  charge.  There  is  no  intrinsic  reason  why  Congress 
should  not  be  favorable  to  the  Geological  Survey,  but  there  is 
probably  no  department  where  it  is  less  likely  to  tolerate  abuses. 
We  cannot  say  that  the  survey  has  been  entirely  free  from  &ults 
of  this  kind.  If  Major  Powell  is  carrying  any  Jonahs  he  had  bet- 
ter relieve  himself  of  them. 

RECENT  LITERATURE. 

A  Hand-Book  of  Plant  Dissection.^ — This  long-promised 
work  has  at  last  appeared,  and  we  have  no  doubt  that  it  will  be 
welcomed  by  laboratory  workers  throughout  the  country.  It  is 
apparently  an  entirely  original  work,  no  statements  being  made 
at  second  hand,  and  no  directions  for  work  being  given  which  have 
not  been  actually  worked  out  by  the  authors  themselves.  One 
finds  evidence  of  this  original  work  on  almost  every  page,  and 
this  fact  alone  will  commend  the  book  to  all  teachers  and  to 
every  pupil  who  wishes  to  become  an  investigator  in  structural 
botany. 

^  Hand' Book  of  Plant  Dissection,  By  J.  C.  Arthur,  M.Sc,  botanist  to  tbc 
New  York  Agricultural  Experiment  Station ;  Charles  R.  Barnes,  M.A.,  professor 
of  botany  in  Purdue  University,  and  John  M.  Coulter,  Ph.D.,  professor  of  botany 
in  Wabash  College ;  editors  of  the  Botanical  Gazette,  New  Y6rk,  Henry  Holt  & 
Company,  1886,  pp.  xxii,  256,  12  mo,  with  two  plates. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


Digitized  by 


Google 


[June, 

d  by 

Ktof 
it  of 
tons, 
id  n 
!  in- 
tat 

me. 

om 
^be 

rr- 

:a 

•al 

e- 

I- 

£ 


1 


Digitized  by  VjOOQIC 


1 886.]  Recent  Literature.  5  37 

The  book  opens  with  two  plates,  illustrating  (i)  gross  anatomy 
and  (2)  minute  anatomy,  and  the  methods  of  recording  results  by 
means  of  the  pencil  or  drawing-pen.  This  is  followed  by  a 
chapter  on  instruments,  reagents,  section  cutting,  mounting,  etc., 
etc.,  in  which  the  treatment  is  refreshingly  non-technical.  There 
is  a  suggestive  absence  of  the  usual  "  microscopical  "  lingo,  and 
a  plainness  of  statement  which  cannot  help  pleasing  every  reader. 

The  succeeding  chapters  take  up  in  order  the  following  plants, 
viz.,  green  slime  \Protocvccus  viridis\  dark-green  scum  {Osdllaria 
tenuis),  common  pond  scum  {Spirogyra  quinind),  white  rust  {Cys- 
topus  candidus),  lilac  mildew  {Microsphcera  friesii)^  common  liver- 
wort {Marchantia  polymofphd),  moss  {Atrichum  undulatum\ 
maiden-hair  fern  {Adiantum  pedatum\  Scotch  pine  {Pinus  sylves^ 
iris),  field  oats  {Avena  sativd),  trillium  {Trillium  recurvatuni), 
shepherd's  purse  [Capsella  bursa-pastoris).  A  chapter  is  devoted 
to  each  plant,  and  in  the  treatment  the  gross  anatomy  is  first 
taken  up,  and  afterwards  the  minute  anatomy.  Preceding  both, 
however,  is  a  short  statement  giving  such  general  facts  as  to 
habitat,  appearance,  structure,  development,  etc.,  as  will  enable 
the  student  to  find  the  plant  and  undertake  its  study  with  less 
difficulty. 

It  will  be  observed  that  the  work  proceeds  from  the  simple  to 
the  complex,  and  that  every  great  branch  of  the  vegetable  king- 
dom is  represented  by  species  which  may  be  obtained  easily  in 
in  any  part  of  the  country.  The  authors  have  exercised  unusual 
care,  as  it  appears  to  us,  in  this  matter,  and  have  succeeded  in 
making  a  list  of  illustrative  plants  which  even  a  tyro  will  have 
little  difficulty  in  securing  wherever  he  may  happen  to  be. 

We  would  direct  the  attention  of  those  who  are  skeptical  as  to 
the  possibility  of  beginners  studying  the  lower  forms  of  vegeta- 
tion to  the  gross  anatomy  studies  under  each  species.  The  things 
which  can  be  seen  in  every  one  of  the  lower  plants  will  astonish 
the  old-fashioned  teacher.  Even  in  the  two  protophytes  (Proto- 
coccus  and  Oscillaria),  the  authors  coolly  set  the  student  at  work, 
first,  with  nothing  but  his  unaided  eyes,  or  at  most  with  a  simple 
hand-lens;  and  he  is  expected  to  find  out  a  good  deal,  too,  by 
such  means.  We  venture  the  assertion  that,  considering  the  al- 
most infinitely  greater  complexity  of  shepherd's  purse  over  Pro- 
tococcus,  the  latter  has  far  more  which  can  be  made  out  by 
gross  anatomy  than  the  former.  If  the  student  can  see  little  in 
Protococcus  with  his  unaided  eyes,  or  with  a  hand-lens,  it  is  be- 
cause there  is  very  little  to  be  seen.  The  old  adage,  "  a  short 
horse  is  soon  curried,"  is  appropriate  here.  One  must  not  expect 
to  see  as  much  in  Protococcus  as  in  Capsella,  but  one  must  not 
neglect  to  see  the  little  that  is  to  be  seen. 

An  excellent  pronouncing  and  descriptive  glossary,  and  a  full 
index,  complete  the  volume. — Charles  E.  Bessey. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


538  Recent  Literature.  Qune, 

The  Fourth  Annual  Report  of  the  U.  S.  Geological  Sur- 
vey.— Besides  the  usual  reports  showing  the  progress  in  the  sur- 
vey by  the  different  members,  the  body  of  the  volume  is  filled 
by  the  following  memoirs:  Hawaiian  volcanoes,  by  Capt.  C.  E. 
Dutton ;  Abstract  of  report  on  the  mining  geology  of  the  Eu- 
reka district,  Nevada,  by  J.  S.  Curtis ;  Popular  fallacies  regarding 
the  precious  metal  ore  deposits,  by  A.  Williams,  Jr. ;  A  review  of 
the  fossil  Ostrcidae  of  North  America,  by  Dr.  C.  A.  White ;  A 
geological  reconnaissance  in  Southern  Oregon,  by  L  C.  Russell. 

Having  already  called  attention  to  Dr.  White's  valuable  essay, 
we  would  briefly  notice  Capt.  Dutton's  elaborate  account  of  the 
volcanoes  of  the  Hawaiian  islands.  Besides  detailed  descriptions, 
accompanied  by  excellent  illustrations  and  maps,  of  Kilauea  and 
Mauna  Loa,  the  author  also  describes  Mauna  Kea  and  the  old 
extinct  volcano  of  Kohala  and  the  lava  fields  of  Hualalai. 

The  descriptions  of  the  mountains  and  lava  streams  ^and  beds 
are  careful  and  the  facts  presented  will  be  .important  to  the  stu- 
dent of  vulcanism.  The  author  does  not  regard  Kilauea  as  a 
crater,  but  considers  the  depression  in  that  mountain,  which  he 
designates  a  caldera^  as  due  to  the  '*  dropping  of  a  block  of  the 
mountain  crust  which  once  covered  a  reservoir  of  lava,  this  reser- 
voir being  tapped  and  drained  by  eruptions  occurring  at  much 
lower  levels." 

Acknowledging  that  volcanic  action  and  regional  uplifting  are 
really  associated  phenomena,  the  author  states  that  the  cause  is 
mysterious,  the  attempted  solutions  not  standing  criticism,  though 
suggesting  that  the  effects  are  due  to  expansion  of  the  earth's 
crust  in  the  region  involved.' 

The  three  plates  which  we  are  allowed  to  reproduce  from  this 
volume,  will  convey  some  idea  of  the  grandeur  and  beauty  of 
this  volcanic  region. 

The  Zoological  Record  for  1884. — This  volume  appeared 
promptly,  our  notice  of  it  having  been  delayed.  It  forms  the 
twenty-first  volume  of  the  series,  and  like  its  predecessors  it  is 
indispensable  to  all  workers  in  systematic  zoology,  and  it  is  to  be 
hoped  that  its  future  publication  will  be  maintained  even  though 
heavy  sacrifices  be  made.  While  members  of  the  Zoological 
Record  Association  and  subscribers  receive  the  volume  for  ;^i, 
the  volume  is  issued  to  the  public  at  ;^  i  ids.  The  undertaking 
is  partly  supported  by  a  grant  of  one  hundred  and  fifty  pounds 
from  the  Government  Grant  Committee  of  the  Royal  Society, 
and  of  one  hundred  pounds  from  the  British  Association,  but 
still  more  subscribers  are  needed.  The  Record  is  now  edited  by 
Professor  F.  Jeffrey  Bell,  and  there  has  been  a  number  of  changes 
in  the  list  of  assistant  editors.  We  regret  to  notice  that  Profes- 
sor E.  von  Martens,  from  the  first  the  recorder  of  MoUusca  and 
Crustacea,  has  been  obliged  to  resign.     His  place  is  taken  by 


Digitized  by 


Google 


PLATE  XXI. 


Digitized  by 


Digitized  by 


Google 


1 886.]  Recent  Literature.  S  39 

four  younger  men.  The  work  of  compiling  such  a  record  as  this 
is  a  great  labor,  but  is  a  most  useful  task,  and  the  results  are  a 
great  boon  to  those  situated  away  from  libiraries.  To  such  the 
purchase  of  the  Record  is  earnestly  commended.  It  is  published 
by  Mr.  J.  Van  Voorst,  Paternoster  row,  London. 

The  American  Ornithologists'  Union  Check-ust  of  North 
American  Birds.^ — This  catalogue  of  North  American  birds,  as 
the  latest  issued,  is  the  most  complete,  and  will  be  a  useful  work 
of  reference  to  ornithologists.  The  volume  also  contains  a  digest 
of  rules  of  nomenclature  adopted  by  the  American  Ornithologists* 
Union.  There  has  always  been  a  large  proportion  of  authors  of 
works  on  birds  with  literary  rather  than  scientific  tastes,  so  that 
the  conclusions  of  an  ornithologists'  union  will  require  careful 
scrutiny  on  the  part  of  the  scientific  investigator.  The  danger 
from  the  side  of  letters  is  the  subordination  of  the  true  interests 
of  scientific  research  to  red  tape  and  literary  archaeology.  The 
way  to  do  this  is  to  excuse  authors  from  giving  definitions  to  the 
new  words  they  introduce,  and  so  to  open  wide  the  doors  to  ama- 
teurism and  its  attendant  confusion  and  redundancy.  We  are 
glad  to  observe  that  the  new  code  agrees  with  the  old  ones  in  re- 
quiring that  new  generic  names  shall  be  defined  in  order  to  be 
adopted.  But  a  few  pages  later  the  code  contradicts  itself  by  say- 
ing that  when  an  author  describes  a  new  species  which  belongs 
to  a  new  genus,  it  is  not  necessary  to  give  a  separate  description 
of  the  genus,  although  a  new  generic  name  may  be  proposed. 
The  code  on  this  point  therefore  appears  to  us  to  be  without  au- 
thority either  way,  and  we  have  to  rest  on  the  older  codes,  which 
require  definitions  in  all  cases.  Nor  do  we  find  the  code  clear  as 
to  the  necessity  of  furnishing  definitions  for  divisions  of  higher 
rank. 

Another  objection  we  find  is  that  it  requires  the  use  of  an  old 
specific  name  when  the  generic  name  later  proposed  is  identical 
with  it.  Such  names  are  really  mononomial,  and  no  more  to  be 
adopted  than  quadrinomial  ones.  The  question  is,  however, 
rather  one  of  taste,  than  of  any  serious  moment. 

Apart  from  these  points  we  concur  heartily  in  the  rules  of  the 
code. 

Recent  Books  and  Pamphlets. 

Lydikker^  ^.— 'Note  on  the  zodlogical  position  of  the  genus  Microchoerus.  Both 
from  the  Quart.  Jour.  Geol.  Soc,  1885.     All  from  the  author. 

Ccokt  G.  /^.—Annual  report  of  the  State  geologist  of  New  Jersey,  1885.  From  the 
author. 

Sehoytit  A,  R,  C. — ^Summary  report  of  the  operations  of  Geological  and '  Natural 
History  Survey  of  Canada  to  31st  Dec,  1885.    From  the  author. 

Bureau  of  Education, — Report  of  the  Commissioner  of  Education,  i883'-'84.  From 
the  department. 

^New  York,  American  Ornithologists'  Union.  1886,  8vo,  pp.  392.  For  sale  by 
L.  S.  Foster,  35  Pine  street,  New  York  dty.    ^3. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


540  Recent  LiiercUute,  [June, 

Baiftl,  S,  F. — Annttal  report  of  the  Smithsonian  Institution,  1883.  From  the  depart- 
ment. 

ffail.Jas, — Thirty-eighth  annual  report  on  the  N.  Y,  State  Museum  of  Natural  His- 
tory.    From  the  director. 

Also  the  33d,  34th,  35th,  36th  and  37th  reports  of  the  same  museum. 
Natural  history  of  New  York.     Palaeontology.  Vol.  v.   Part  t.  LamelUbrancfa.i- 
ata.     II.  Text  and  plates.     From  the  anthor. 

Baur^  G. — Historische  Bemerkungen.     A.  d.  Monatssch.  f.  Anat.  u.  Histol.,  1886. 

The  proatlas,  atlas  and  axis  of  the  Crocodilia. 

^The  oldest  tarsus. 

The  intercentrum  of  living  Reptilia.  These  three  Amer.  Naturalist  extras,  1886. 

W.  K.  Patker's  Bemerkungen  Uber  Archseopteryx,  1864,  etc.     Sp.  Abd.  a.  d. 

Zool.  Anzeiger,  No.  216, 1886. 

——Die  altestc  Tarsus  (Archaeosaunis).    From  the  same. 

H.  Professor  K.   Bardeleben's   Bemerkungen   fiber  Cemtetes  maiagcasttriensis. 
Sep.  Abd.  a.  d.  Zool.  Anzeiger,  No.  220,  1886. 

Pie  zwei  Centralia  im  Carpus  von   Sphenodon  u.  d.  Wirbel  v.  Sphenodon  a» 
Gecko  verHciilatus,     From  the  same,  No.  219,  1886.    All  from  the  author. 

Eudes-Deslongchantps,  E, — Notice  sur  Th.   Davidson.    Caen,   1886.    From  the 
author. 

Becker^  G,  /*.— A  theorem  of  maximum  dissipativity. 

A  new  law  of  thenno-chemistry.     Ext.  Amer.  Jour,  of  Science,  Feb.,   r886. 

From  the  author. 
—Notes  on  the  stratigraphy  of  California.    Bull.  U.  S.  Geol.  Surv.,  No.  19,  1885. 

From  the  department. 
Atbrecht^     . — Ueber  die  Wirbelkflrperepiphysen  und  Wirbelk5rpergelenke  zwischen 

dem  Epistropheus,  Atlas  und  Occipitale  der  Sftugethiere.     Kopenhagen,  1884. 
—Ueber  die  vier  ZwiRchenkiefer,  das  Quadratum,  etc.    Ext.  des  Comptes  rendns 

la  8n>e  session  du  Cong.  per.  iniemat.  d.  sci.  med.     Both  from  the  author. 
James,  y.  /'.--Cephalopoda  of  the  Cincinnati  group.       Ext.  Jour.  Cincin.  Soc.  Nat. 

Hist.,  Jan.,  1886.     From  the  author. 
fVki/e,  C,  A. — Notes  on  the   Mesozoic  and  Cenozoic  palaeontology  of  California. 

Bull.  U.  S.  Geol.  Survey,  No.  15,  1885. 
■  1      On  marine  Eocene,  fresh-water  Miocene  and  other  fossil  Mollusca  of  North 

America.    Do.  Bull.  No.  18. 
.^-^n  new  Cretaceous  fossils  from  California.     Do.  Boll.  No.  22,  1885.    All  from 

the  department. 
ClarJke,  J.  M. — On  the  higher  Devonian  faunas  of  Ontario  county,  N.  Y*    Bull.  U, 

S.  Geol.  Surv.,  No.  16,  1885. 
Haguet  A,i  and  Iddings^J,  P, — On  the  development  of  crystallization  in  the  igneous 

rocks  of  Washoe,  Nev.    Bull.  U.  S.  Geol.  Surv.,  No.  17.    From  the  depart- 
ment. 
Crois^  IV.,  Hillebrand,  W,  F. — Contributions  to  the  mineralogy  of  the  Rocky  mount-' 

ains.    Bull.  U.  S.  Geol.  Surv.,  No.  20,  1885.     From  the  department. 
WUIU,  ^.— The  lignites  of  the  Great  Sioux  reservation.     Bull.  No.  21,  U.  S.  Geol. 

Surv.,  1885.     From  the  author. 
FrUschf  K,  v. — Das  Pliodin  im  Thalgebiete  der  zahmen  Gera  in  Thilringen.    Sep. 

Abd.  a.  d.  Jahrbuch  d.  k.  preus.  geol.  Landesanstalt  f.  1884. 
Carl  Ritter's  Zeichnungen  des  Ix>phiskos  a.  d.  Nea  Kaiwani,  Santorin,  1885. 

From  the  author. 
Irving,  /^.  /?.,  and  Chamberlin,  T,  CI — Observations  on  the  junction  between  the 

eastern  sandstone  and  the  Keweenaw  series  on  Keweenaw  point,  Lake  Superior. 

Bull.  U.  S.  Geol.  Surv.,  No.  23,  1885.     From  the  department. 
Wkiie,  C.  E, —  An  answer  to  Dr.  Keen's  address  entitled  **  Our  recent  debts  to 

vivisection."     Phila.,  1886.     From  the  author. 
Mayer,  P, — Zoologischer  Jahresbericht  fttr  1884.    Tunicata,  Vertcbrata.     Berlin, 

1886.    From  the  editor. 


Digitized  by  VjOOQIC 


PLATE  XXII. 


Clifis  on  the  windward  coast  of  Hawaii. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


Digitized  by  VjOOQIC 


1 886.]  Geography  and  Travels.  541 

Powell,/,  fr.— Fifth  annual  report    of  the  U.   S.  Gcol.  Surv.,  1885.    From  the 

,  department. 
Geinitt,  H.  ^.— Uebcr  Palmacites.     Abd.  d.  Isis,  1883. 
-Geognostische  Excursion  nach  Dippoldiswalde,  30  Juli,  1885.     Both  from  the 

author. 
Haddon^  A,  C. — Preliminary  report  on  the  fauna  of  Dublin  bay. 

■    Note  on  the  blastodermic  vesicle  of  mammals. 
Note  on  Halcampa  chrysantkellum  Peach.    All  rep.  from  the   Sci.  Proc.  Roy. 

Dub.  Soc,  1885. 
Recent  contributions  to  the  marine  invertebrate  fauna  of  Ireland.  Reprint  from 

The  2^log»st,  Jan.,  1886.     All  from  the  author. 
Ptttnam^  F.  W, — On  jadeite  ornaments  from  Central  America.    Ext.  Proc.  Mass. 

Hist.  Soc,  1886.     From  the  author. 

GENERAL  NOTES. 
QEOaBAPHT   AND   TRAVELS.* 

Asia. — Railway  Projects  in  the  Shan  Country, — Mr.  Holt 
Hallett  states  that  the  most  practicable  line  for  a  railway  in  Indo- 
China,  to  connect  India  with  that  country,  is  up  the  valleys  of  the 
Meh  Ping  and  Meh  Wung,  tributaries  of  the  Meh  Nam,  to  Kiang 
Hsen,  on  the  Meh  Kong.  At  Raheng  this  line  would  be  joined 
by  another  from  Maulmein,  at  the  mouth  of  the  Salween,  in 
British  Burmah.  North  of  Kiang  Hsen  the  railway  would  be 
produced  along  the  Meh  Kong  valley  to  Kiang  Hung,  fifty  miles 
from  the  Chmese  town  of  Ssumao.  By  taking  this  route  the 
mass  of  mountains  lying  east  of  the  Irawadi  is  avoided. 

The  Burmese  Shan  States  east  of  the  Irawadi  are  believed  to 
contain  a  million  to  a  million  and  a  half  of  inhabitants ;  the  Sia- 
mese Shan  States  about  two  and  a  half  millions,  while  the  Meh 
Nam  valley,  south  of  the  latter,  has  about  three  and  a  half 
millions. 

The  Shans  are  described  as  a  cultivated  people,  free  from  caste, 
industrious  and  energetic,  hospitable  and  frank  toward  strangers, 
eager  for  free  trade,  and  of  great  capacity  as  petty  traders.  The 
hill-tribes  are  a  hard-working,  manly  people,  good  agriculturists 
and  handicraftsmen,  great  growers  of  cotton,  tobacco,  indigo  and 
tea,  and  extensive  breeders  of  cattle. 

There  are  two  races  of  Lua  or  Lawa,  one  of  which,  the  "  Baw 
Lua,"  is  acknowledged  to  be  the  aboriginal  race.  They  are  found 
chiefly  in  the  Maing  Loongyee  valley,  and  here  number  about 
nine  thousand. 

Tlu  Heri-rud  Valley. — Dr.  Aitchison,  naturalist  to  the  Afghan 
Delimitation  Commission,  states  that  the  valley  of  the  Heri-rud  is 
extremely  fertile,  producing  magnificent  crops  of  wheat,  barley, 
cotton,  grapes,  melons  and  the  mulberry  tree.  Among  the  trees 
grown  are  Finns  lialepensis,  an  ash  and  two  elms.  The  country 
appears  barren  and  arid  in  winter,  but  in  spring  is  covered  with 

^  This  department  is  edited  by  W.  N.  LocKiIfGTON,  Philadelphia. 

VOL.  XX.— MO.  vx.  36 


Digitized  by 


Google 


542  General  Notes.  [June, 

plants,  which  shoot  from  under-ground  root-stocks,  bulbs,  tubers 
and  rhizomes.  Among  these  are  the  assafoetida  plant  {Ferula 
scorodosma\  and  other  Ferulas,  one  of  which  yields  galbanum, 
and  another  is  taller  than  a  man  on  horseback.  Forests  of  pis- 
tachio are  met  with  among  sand-stone  rocks.  Manna  is  collected 
from  a  Cotoneaster  tamarisk,  and  a  thorny  pea-shrub  called 
taratijabin. 

The  earliest  spring  flowers  are  three  Merenderas,  followed  by 
a  many-colored  tulip  and  several  Eremuri  (liliaceous).  The  golden 
flowers  of  a  Delphinium  are  collected  for  dyeing  silk  yellow. 
More  ordinary  plants  are  two  low  Artemisias,  two  species  of  Ephe- 
dra, and  numerous  Astragali.  An  Asclepias,  which  sends  up  an- 
nual stems  from  an  under-ground  root-stock,  yields  a  good  fiber, 
which  is  made  into  cloth. 

Asiatic  Notes. — The  Calcutta  Englishman  states  that  Mr.  Need- 
ham  and  Captain  Molesworth  followed  the  course  of  the  Brahma- 
putra from  Sadiya  to  Rima,  and  are  able  to  state  authoritatively 

that  the  Zayal  Chu  falls  into  it. The  expedition  dispaiched  to 

the  Fly  river  by  the  Geographical  Society  of  Australasia,  in 
November  last,  has  returned.  Reports  of  the  massacre  of  the 
party  were  circulated  by  two  natives,  who  became  panic- 
stricken  at  a  time  when  the  steamer  was  surrounded  by  hostile 

natives,  who  threw  spears  and  shot  arrows  from  the  banks. 

Petroleum  appears  to  abound  in  Asia.  It  occurs  in  Burmah,  also 
near  Quetta  (Hindustan),  and  the  whole  country,  from  the  north- 
eastern corner  of  the  Black  sea,  through  the  Caucasus  to  Baku 

on  the  Caspian,  abounds  with  it. There  is  much  dispute  about 

the  title  of  Mount  Everest,  undoubtedly  the  highest  known  peak 
in  the  world.  Mr.  D,  Freshfield  maintains  the  accuracy  of 
Schlagintweit's  observations,  and  insists  on  Gaurisankar, "  the 
bright  or  white  bride  of  Siva,"  as  the  native  name  for  the  peak, 
while  Devadunga,  "  the  abode  of  Deity,"  is  that  of  the  group. 
General  J.  T.  Walker  denies  that  Mount  Everest  is  identical  with 
Gaurisankar.  The  first  name  was  given  by  Sir  A.  Waugh,  be- 
cause no  native  name  could  be  discovered.  Herman  Schlagint- 
weit  identified  it  with  the  Gaurisankar  of  the  Nepalese.  but  from 
the  description  he  gives  it  is  obvious  that  he  mistook  Makalu 
(which  is  nearer  to  his  point  of  view,  and,  though  I2CX)  feet  lower, 
appears  higher,  because  of  the  earth's  curvature)  for  Everest, 
which  he  calls  Sihsur. 

Africa. — Mr.  Kerr^s  Journey  to  Lake  Nyassa. — W.  Montagu 
Kerr  gives  in  the  February  issue  of  the  Proc,  Royal  Geographical 
Society  an  account  of  a  journey  from  Cape  Town  to  Lake 
Nyassa.  The  traveler  passed  through  Gubuluwayo,  the  capital 
of  Lo  Bengula,  king  of  the  Matabele,  by  whom  he  was  cordially 
received.  The  next  people  met  with  were  the  Mashonas,  who  as 
a  race  are  inferior  to  the  Matabele.     They  file  a  triangular  opening 


Digitized  by 


Google 


1 886.}  Geography  and  Travels.  •  543 

between  the  front  teeth,  and  are  armed  with  bows,  ax,  and  two 
or  three  assegais.  The  women  shave  the  head.  They  are  a  per- 
secuted race,  dwelling  in  towns  among  the  fastnesses  of  the 
Igneous  mountains.  The  next  people  visited,  the  Mokorikori, 
resemble  the  Mashona.  Among  the  Senga,  the  women  perforate 
the  upper  lip,  placing  therein  a  ring  of  ivory  or  wood,  called  the 
jaga.  By  constantly  enlarging  this,  they  succeed  in  making  the 
lip  project  two  and  a  half  inches. 

Tete,  a  flourishing  Portuguese  town  in  Livingstone's  time,  is 
now  half  ruined,  for  the  elephant  has  retreated  to  the  far  interior, 
and  the  ivory  trade  is  small. 

After  leaving  Tete,  Mr.  Kerr  was  deserted  by  his  followers 
and  left  alone  among  a  tribe  of  kidnappers  of  mixed  Zulu  and 
Chopetta  origin.  The  king  has  absolute  power;  executions  are 
frequent,  and  nameless  cruelties  general.  It  might  have  fared  ill 
with  the  traveler  had  it  not  been  for  a  Portuguese  hunter. 

At  length  Lake  N3-assa  was  reached,  at  the  mission  station  of 
Livingstonia.  The  station  was  deserted,  and  the  Ajawas,  who 
remained  with  the  traveler,  would  not  risk  their  boats  on  the 
Shire.  After  sixteen  days  in  a  deserted  hut,  he  was  rescued  by  M. 
Giraud,  then  on  his  way  to  the  coast. 

Lake  Nyassa  is  many  feet  lower  than  in  1859,  and  the  Shire*  is 
diminishing  in  volume. 

The  Berbers, — M.  Foncin  (Revue  de  Geographic,  Fevrier,  1886) 
states  that  the  Berbers  are  the  predominating  race  in  Algeria. 
Phenicians,  Carthaginians  and  Romans  have  disappeared,  and  oc- 
casionally the  blonde  type  occurs  in  Kabylia,  and  recalls  the 
soldiers  of  Genseric ;  the  Arab  tongue  preponderates ;  yet  even 
the  Arab  is  merged  in  the  ancient  Berber  race.  There  are,  in  fact, 
only  two  chief  races  in  Algeria — Arabized  Berbers,  about  2,000,- 
000  strong,  and  Berberized  Arabs,  about  800.000  strong.  M  oors, 
Turks  and  negroes  are  few  and  are  becoming  fewer,  but  Jews  in- 
crease. The  Berbers  are  often  nomads,  and  were  so  in  the  time  of 
Sal  lust. 

The  sedentary  tribes  are  the  Kabyles  of  the  mountains  east  of 
Algiers,  the  natives  of  the  Dahra,  the  Traras  and  Little  Kabylia, 
the  Aurasians  of  the  Auris,  the  highest  mountain  mass  of 
Algeria,  and  the  Ksourians  or  natives  of  the  oases  of  the  Algerian 
Sahara,  including  the  people  of  Mzab.  The  Tuareg  are  nomad 
Berbers. 

The  Congo, — M.  de  Brazza  thus  summarizes  the  results  of  his 
last  expedition,  which  covered  a  space  of  two  years  and  nine 
months.  The  survey  of  the  Ogowe  has  been  completed ;  the 
Alima  and  the  Congo  (from  the  Nkundja  to  Brazzaville)  has  been 
thoroughly  surveyed  ;  important  topographical  and  hydrograph- 
ical  work  has  been  executed  on  the  coast  of  Loango ;  numerous 
astronomical  observations  have  been  taken  at  different  points; 
natural  history  specimens  of  mterest  have  been  extensively  col- 


Digitized  by 


Google 


544  General  Notes.  TJ""^* 

lected  and  a  large  number  of  photographs,  sketches  and  ethno- 
graphical notes  have  been  brought  home. 

Almost  all  the  tribes  along  and  between  the  Ogowe  and  Congo 
have  been  brought  under  the  Influence  of  France,  including,  to 
some  extent,.the  cannibal  Fahuins. 

Mr.  Grenfell  has  made  another  exploring  voyage  devoted  to  the 
Lulongo  and  the  Boruki,  the  only  rivers  of  importance  that  re- 
mained unexplored  between  the  Kasai  and  the  Lomame.  The 
Lulongo  falls  into  the  Congo  in  i8^  42'  E.  long,  and  0^41'  N. 
lat.  Mr.  Grenfell  ascended  it  to  22°  32'  E.  long,  and  10'  N.  lat ; 
it  therefore  runs  nearly  parallel  to  the  main  stream.  The  Boruki 
is  formed  by  the  union  of  three  rivers,  one  of  which,  the  Juapa, 
was  ascended  as  far  as  23°  14'  E.  long,  and  1°  i'  S.  lat,  where  it 
was  still  an  open  water-way  one  hundred  yards  wide  and  twelve 
feet  deep. 

America. — American  News. — Explorations  conducted  in  the 
Gran  Chaco  by  M.  de  Brettes  have  resulted  in  the  discovery  of  a 
large  salt  lake,  situated  between  lat.  25°  57'  .06"  S.  and  lat.  27^  30' 
18"  S.  Three  rivers,  flowing  north  and  south,  probably  tributarfcs 
of  the  Vermejo,  were  discovered.  The  natives,  Chunupis,  Velolas 
and  Matacos,  are  degraded,  cruel  and  hypocritical.  The  country 
is  flat,  covered  with  thorny  trees,  marshes  and  tall,  sharp  prairie 

grass. Dr.  Ten  Kate  has  explored  the  canal  connecting  the 

Surinam  and  Saramacca  rivers,  ascended  the  Wayombo,  the  banks 
of  which  are  inhabited  by  the  Arrowaks,  proceeded  for  five  days 
up  the  Nikerie,  which  flows  through  a  well-wooded  but  unin- 
habited  region,   and  returned  down  the   Nikerie  and   up  the 

Corentin  to  Oneala. M.  Thouar,  according  to  the  Brazil  and 

River  Plate  Mail^  has  returned  successfully  from  his  second  jour- 
ney up  the  Pilcomayo,  and  has  proved  the  river  to  be  navigable. 

Europe. — European  News. — The  German  Statistical  Bureau 
gives  the  population  of  Berlin  in  1885  as  1,316,382.  In  1880 
Germany  had  only  eight  towns  of  more  than  100,000  Inhabitants, 

now  it  has  fourteen. The  Dobruja  has  an  area  of  about  5766 

square  miles,  about  two-thirds  of  which  is  productive,  the  rest 
marshes  and  sand  with  lakes.     The  official  estimates  place  the 
•population  at  150,000. 

QEOIiOaT  AND   PAL-fflONTOLOGY. 

The  long-spined  Theromorpha  of  the  Permian  Epoch. — I 
have  at  various  times  described  the  extraordinary  development 
of  neural  spines  of  the  dorsal  vertebrae  in  the  genus  Dimetrodon, 
which  belongs  to  the  Clepsydropidae,  one  of  the  carnivorous 
families  of  the  saurian  order  Theromorpha.  The  dentition  of  these  - 
animals  is  of  the  most  formidable  character,  consisting  of  com- 
pressed, finely  serrate  teeth  on  the  maxillary  and  dentary  bones 
mingled  with  huge  conic  tusks  on  the  middle  of  the  maxillary. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


1 886.]  Geology  and  Falaontology.  545 

anterior  end  of  the  dentary,  and  occupying  the  entire  alveolar 
face  of  the  premaxillary.  The  huge  neural  spines  formed  an  ele- 
vated fin  on  the  back.  In  a  medium-sized  specimen  of  Dimetrodon 
incisivus,  where  the  vertebral  body  is  35"*™  in  length,  the  elevation! 
of  the  spines  is  900"*"*  or  twenty  and  a  half  times  as  great.  The 
apex  of  the  spine  in  this  species  is  slender  and  apparently  was 
flexible.  The  utility  is  difficult  to  imagine.  Unless  the  animal 
had  aquatic  habits  and  swam  on  its  back,  the  crest  or  fin  must 
have  been  in  the  way  of  active  movements.  Accordingly  the 
spines  are  occasionally  found  distorted  at  the  union  of  surfaces  of 
fractures.  The  limbs  are  not  long  enough  nor  the  claws  acute 
enough  to  demonstrate  arboreal  habits,  as  in  the  existing 
genus  Basiliscus,  where  a  similar  crest  exists.  A  very  peculiar 
species  has  been  described  under  the  name  of  Naosaurus  claviger 
Cope.  There  the  spines  are  not  quite  so  elevated  as  in  the 
D,  incisivuSf  but  they  are  more  robust,  and  have  transverse  pro- 
cesses or  branches  which  resemble  the  yardarms  of  a  ship's  mast. 
In  a  full-sized  individual,  the  longest  cross-arms,  which  are  the 
lowest  in  position,  have  an  expanse  of  260™"*  or  ten  and 
a  quarter  inches,  while  the  spine  has  about  the  height  of 
500"°*  (19.75  inches),  the  body  being  60"*"  long.  The  animal 
must  have  presented  an  extraordinary  appearance.  Perhaps  its 
dorsal  armature  resembled  the  branches  of  shrubs  then,  as  they 
do  now,  and  served  to  conceal  them  in  a  brushy  or  wooded  region. 
Or,  more  probably,  the  yardarms  were  connected  by  membrane 
with  the  neural  spine  or  mast,  thus  serving  the  animal  as  a  sail 
with  which  he  navigated  the  waters  of  the  Permian  lakes.  A 
very  singular  character  of  the  spines  in  all  the  species  is  that 
they  are  hollow,  as  in  Coelacanth  fishes,  and  that  the  central 
cavity  is  not  closed  at  the  apex. 

There  is  a  w^l-preserved  cranium  of  the  D.  claviger,  but  the 
muzzle  is  unfortunately  wanting.  The  median  line  rises  forward 
so  that  the  convexity  of  the  top  of  the  muzzle  is  higher  than  the 
posterior  parts  of  the  skull,  whose  profile  descends  rapidly.  This 
throws  the  orbit  &r  back  and  gives  the  animal  a  peculiar  appear- 
ance. 

Naosaurus  difiers  from  Dimetrodon  in  the  transverse  processes 
of  the  neural  spines  of  the  vertebrae.  There  are  three  species, 
which  differ  as  follows  : 

Spines  of  vsrtebr?:  cylindrical   disully;   transverse  processes  replaced  above  by 
tuberosities '• • N,  crudger. 

Spines  of  vertebrae  expanded  and  compressed  above. 

Palatine  teeth  large,  forming  a  pavement N,  microdus}' 

Palatine  teeth  much  smaller  and  more  widely  spaced. N,  ciaviger* 

All  these  species  are  from  the  Permian  formation  of  Texas. 
Figures  of  the  N,  claviger  will  be  published  in  the  Transactions 
of  the  American  Philosophical  Society. — E,  D,  Cope, 

'^Edapkosai^n^  n^Urodt^i  Cope^  Ftoceeds,  Amcr.  Philos.  Societyi  1884,  p,  37. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


546  General  Notes.  [June, 

The  Report  of  the  Congress  of  Geologists.*— This  publica- 
tion includes  a  report  of  the  proceedings  of  the  congress  and 
reports  of  the  feveral  committees  appointed  to  present  systems  of 
nomenclature  and  cartography  by  the  Congress  of  Bologna* 
These  reports  are  highly  interesting,  and  display,  in  an  instructive 
manner,  the  points  of  agreement  and  divergence  between  the 
geologists^  of  the  different  countries  of  Europe.  The  digested  re- 
sult will  constitute,  when  completed,  the  most  valuable  synopsis 
of  the  subject  yet  written.  Unforeseen  circumstances  prevented 
the  completion  of  the  reports  qf  some  of  the  American  commit- 
tees, and  the  United  States  Geological  Survey  was  not  a<ie- 
quately  represented,  although  Mr.  McGee  did  his  best  with  the 
means  at  his  disposal. 

The  color  system  adopted  is,  as  it  should  be,  founded  on  that 
which  has  long  been  current  in  all  countries.  The  new  system 
proposed  by  the  U.  S.  Geological  Survey  was  not  adopted,  but  a 
letter  from  Major  Powell,  recommending  it,  was  read.  Some  of 
the  details  for  representing  details,  proposed  by  Major  Powell, 
might,  we  think,  be  introduced  with  advantage.  The  important 
American  formations  of  the  Laramie  and  Puerco  must  also  be 
represented  by  appropriate  colors.  We  hope  that  the  Congress 
of  London  will  make  up  for  these  deficiencies,  and  add  to  the 
good  work  done  by  the  Congress  of  Berlin  whatever  may  be 
necessary  from  other  portions  of  the  earth. 

The  report  is  well  printed  and  is,  in  all  respects,  what  was  to 
have  been  expected  of  the  distinguished  secretary  of  the  Ameri- 
can Committee. 

First  Appearance  of  the  Grasses. — At  a  meeting  of 
the  Geologists'  Association,  held  at  Londo.n,  April  2d,  J. 
Starkie  Gardner  discussed  the  points  bearing  on  the  geological 
period  at  which  grasses  first  commenced  to  assume  a  preponder- 
ating position  in  vegetation.  Their  value  and  importance  at  the 
present  day  were  first  sketched,  and  it  was  remarked  that  they 
occupy  under  cultivation  one-third  of  the  entire  area  of  Europe, 
inclusive  of  lakes  and  mountains,  while,  exclusive  of  malt  and 
spirituous  drinks  distilled  from  them,  their  products  to  the  value 
of  nearly  one  hundred  millions  sterling  are  imported  annually 
into  this  country  alone.  There  are  over  3000  species  fitted  to 
occupy  most  diverse  stations  and  to  overcome  nearly  every  kind  of 
competition  under  no  matter  what  conditions,  with  the  result  that 
about  ninety-five  per  cent  of  the  plants  growing  in  ordinary  meadow- 
land  are  grasses.  The  conclusion  arrived  at  was  that  there  was 
no  great  development  of  grasses  until  towards  the  close  of  the 
Eocene,  no  definite  remains  being  associated  with  any  of  the 
older  Eocene  floras  of  temperate  latitudes.    A  number  of  facts 

^  The  Work  of  the  International  Congress  of  Geologists  of  Berlin  and  of  its  com- 
inittees.  Published  by  the  American  Committer  under  directiqn  qf  Dr.  Persifor 
frazcr. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


1 886.]  Geology  and  Paleontology.  547 

were  brought  forward  to  show  that  grasses  could  by  no  possibil- 
ity have  failed  to  become  associated  with  the  remains  of  other 
plants  in  beds  deposited  under  such  conditions  as  those  of  the 
Eocene  had  they  existed  in  any  profusion  then,  while  further  to 
support  this  argument  it  was  stated  that  the  very  similar  Oligo- 
cene  and  Miocene  beds  all  over  Europe  are  crowded  with  them. 
Further,  it  was  shown  that  the  dentition  of  all  the  early  Eocene 
herbivorous  Mammalia  was  adopted  for  crunching  fruits,  snapping 
twigs,  and  grubbing  of  roots,  rather  than  for  browsing  on  such  food 
as  grass,  so  that  the  evolution  of  true  Graminivora,  as  well  as  the 
specialized  Carnivora  that  prey  on  them,  must  be  post-dated  to 
the  appearance  of  the  grass  itself  The  geological  history  of 
the  whole  class  of  insects  was  reviewed,  with  the  object  of  support- 
ing the  conclusion  arrived  at  as  to  the  post  mid-Eocene  date  of 
grass.  Older  remains  of  grass  may,  however,  occur  in  the  last 
series  of  Tertiary  deposits  in  Spitzbergen,  but  as  yet  their  age  has 
not  been  accurately  correlated.  Finally,  it  was  shown  that  the 
introduction  of  an  aggressive  type  in  vast  numbers  and  of  differ- 
ent habits  to  pre-existing  vegetation,  exerted  an  influence  on  ter- 
restrial life  altogether  without  par.iUel.and  for  the  first  time  ren- 
dered possible  the  development  of  a  meadow  and  prairie  vegetation 
as  distinct  from  that  of  marsh,  scrub  and  iorest,  with  all  the  at- 
tendant forms  of  animal  and  vegetable  life  to  which  such  vegeta- 
tion is  indispensable. 

Geological  News. — General — An  orographical  and  geological 
map  of  Turkestan,  the  work  of  M.  Mouchketoff,  has  been  pre- 
sented to  the  Academic  des  Sciences  de  Paris,  accompanied  by 
a  geological  description  of  the  Aralo-Caspian  steppes. 

Carboniferous. — M.  B.  Renault  affirms  that  'the  reproductive 
bodies  of  Calamodendrons  are  grains  of  pollen,  which  occur  in 
groups  of  (pur  within  four  sacs  carried  by  the  fertile  bracts  of 
the  fruit,  which  recalls  that  of  Annularia.  These  plants  must, 
therefore,  according  to  M.*  Renault,  be  regarded  as  gymnosper- 
mous  phanerogams. 

Secondary, — R.  F.  Tomes  {Geol.  Mag,,  March,  1886)  describes 
two  species  of  Madreporaria  of  the  genera  Thecocyathus  and 
Trococyathus,from  the  Upper  Lias  of  Gloucestershire. 

Tertiary,  —  R.  Lydekker  has  described  the  palatal  half  of 
the  cranium  of  a  large  Erinaceus  from  the  Upper  Miocene  of 
CEningen.      It  is  closely  allied  to  E,  europaus,  but  the  describer 

names  it  aeningensis, The  same  palaeontologist  has  described 

the  anterior  portion  of  the  cranial  rostrum  of  Melitosaunis 
champsoides,  a  crocodilian  from  the  Miocene  of  Malta. — r— 
Alfred  Bell  reviews  the  succession  of  the  later  tertiaries  in 
Great  Britain  in  the  Geological  Magazine  for  February,  1886.  He 
concludes  that  Britain  was  never  otherwise  than  continental  from 
the  close  of  the  Middle  Red  Crag  to  that  of  the  minor  glaois^tion, 
also  that  man  came  into  Britain  after  the  glacial  epocht 


Digitized  by 


Google 


548  General  Noiis.  [}^^^» 

.  Quaternary. — According  to  Prof.  J.  N.  Woldrich,  seven  or  eight 
forms  of  domestic  dogs  have  existed  in  Europe  from  alluvial 
times  until  now,  while  four  species  of  diluvial  dogs  are  known. 
Existing  European  dogs  are  therefore  not  descended  from  any 
species  of  Can  ids  now  living  in  Europe,  though  they  may  have 
been  crossed  with  the  wolf,  fox,  or  jackal.  The  so-called  feral 
dogs  of  Syria  may  be  the  remnant  of  a  diluvial  true  wild  dog, 
the  greyhound  is  said  to  be  certainly  descended  from  a  diluvial 
ancestor  of  the  African  Canis  simensis,  and  long-eared  small  dogs 

may  be  descended  from  a  diluvial  ancestor  of  the  fennec. 

Sir  R.  Owen  has  described  the  premaxillary  and  scalpriform 
teeth  of  a  large  extinct  wombat  (Pkascolomys  curvirosiris  Ow.) 
from  the  Wellington  bone  caves.  The  animal  must  have  been 
somewhat  smaller  than  the  type  of  the  sub-genus  Phascolomys. 

MINBRAIiOOY  AND  PESTROORAPHY.* 

Petrographical  News. — In  a  "Preliminary  paper  on  an  in- 
vestigation of  the  Archaean  formations  of  the  Northwestern 
States,"*  Professor  R.  D.  Irving  mentions  the  results  he  has 
reached  in  the  study  of  the  Archaean  formations  in  the  region 
extending  from  Lake  Huron  to  Southeastern  Dakota.  These 
results,  as  well  as  those  reached  by  other  investigators,  have 
been  incorporated  in  a  map  which  presents  in  good  form  the 
present  views  held  by  the  author  in  regard  to  the  distribution  of 
the  rocks  of  this  region.  The  map  is  accompanied  by  a  report 
of  the  work  which  has  already  been  done  in  the  various  districts 
and  a  description  of  the  plans  to  be  followed  in  the  solution  of 
problems  which  .are  presented  in  such  great  number.  These 
problems  are  all  of  the  very  highest  importance  to  a  knowledge 
of  the  relations  which  the  older  formations  bear  to  each  other, 
and  to  the  explanation  of  the  origin  of  the  crystalKne  schists. 
The  subject  of  metamorphism  in  the  fluronian  rocks  is  referred 
lo,  and  a  promise  is  made  that  before  long  some  publications  in 
this  direction  may  be  expected.  A  microscopical  examination  ol 
hornblende  rocks,  occurring  throughout  the  region,  seems  to  point 
to  the  conclusions  (i)  that  many  of  the  non-schistose  varieties  are 
really  changed  augitic  eruptives ;  (2)  that  some  of  the  hornblende 
schists  were  originally  also  augitic  eruptives,  while  others  grade 
into  and  are  associated  with  the  hornblende  gneisses.  In  these 
the  hornblende  appears  always  to  be  of  a  secondary  nature,  every 
phase  being  found  between  schists  in  which  augite  excludes  the 
hornblende  to  others  in  which  th^  hornblende  excludes  augite. 
(3)  The  so-called  actinolite  schists  are  sometimes  only  the  result 
of  extreme  alteration  of  eruptive  green  stones.    The  fact  of  the 

*  Edited  by  W.  S.  Baylky,  Johns  Hopkins  University,  Baltimore,  Md. 
>  Fifth  annual  report  of  the  Director  of  t^e  y.  S.  Geol.  Survey.    Washington: 
Qovernment  Printing  Office,  i§85. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


1 886.]  Mineralogy  and  Petrography.  549 

secondary  origin^  of  brown  basaltic  hornblende  is  emphasized. 
The  proof  relied  upon  for  this  belief  is,  (i)  the  intimate  relation 
of  the  two  minerals;  (2)  the  occurrence  in  the  hornblende  of 
cores  of  augite,  several  of  which  polarize  together ;  (3)  the  occur- 
rence of  every  phase  of  change  from  complete  augite  to  complete 
hornblende,  and  (4)  the  nearly  invariable  coincidence  of  the 
occurrence  of  the  secondary  hornblende  with  other  indications  of 

alteration. In  a  "  Note  on  the  microscopic  structure  of  some 

rocks  from  the  neighborhood  of  Assouan,"  collected  by  Sir  J. 
W.  Dawson,'  Professor  Bonney  describes  *  gneisses,  granites,  horn- 
blende schist,  quartziferous  kersantite  and  a  "  schistose  rock,  not 
of  a  highly  metamorphic  aspect,"  which  "  has  been  made  out  of 
a  dionte  or  a  hornblende  schist."  In  some  of  the  gneisses 
structures  were  observed  which  the  author  thinks  are  character- 
istic of  the  older  rocks  of  this  nature  and  very  similar  to  a  quartz 
or  a  gneiss  from  the  Greenville  series,  occurring  near  Papineau- 

ville  station  on  the  Ottawa  river. Messrs.  Michel  Levy  and 

J.  Bergeron*  have  recently  been  at  work  on  the  eruptive  rocks  of 
the  Ronda  mountains  in  the  southern  part  of  Spain.  They  con- 
sist principally  of  norites,  Iherzolites,  tourmaline,  granite  and  dio< 
rites.  Like  MacPherson  before  them.  Levy  and  Bergeron  think 
that  the  serpentines  have  been  derived  by  the  decomposition  ot 
Iherzolites.  This  latter  rock,  by  the  assumption  of  anorthite, 
frequently  passes  over  into  norite.  The  constituents  of  this  are 
spinel,  twins  of  zonal  olivine,  twinned  anorthite,  chromiferous 
pyroxene  in  twinning  relation  with  large  bands  of  eustatite  and  a 
little  black  secondary  mica.  Bronzite  often  occurs  in  large 
crystals,  giving  the  rock  the  appearance  of  a  porphyrite.  Oph- 
itic  rocks  from  the  same  region  are  composed  of  titanic  iron, 
labradorite  and  pyroxene,  with  a  little  olivine  in  the  most  basic 
varieties.  The  most  interesting  fact  in  connection  with  these 
rocks  is  the  occurrence  in  them  of  a  secondary  glaucophane  with 
the  usual  pleochroism.  The  most  ancient  schistose^  rocks  are  the 
cordierite  gneisses  and  amphibolites.  In  a  mass  of  dolomite, 
intercalated  in  the  gneiss,  the  following  minerals  were  found  in 
the  order  of  their  crystallization :  pyrite,  ilmenite,  sphene,  rutile, 
pargasite,  humite,  clino-humite,  pleonast,  anorthite  and  talc. 
Following  the  schistose  rocks  in  age,  occur  eclogites  and  crystal- 
line limestone  containing  metamorphic  minerals,  among  which 
are  epidote,  sphene,  rutile  and  scapoUte. 

^Cf.  American  Naturalist.    December,  18831  P*  i^^S*  ^^^  G.  H.  Williams^ 
Amer,  Jour.  Set,,  October,  1884,  p.  259. 

'The  Geological  Magazine,  March,  1886,  p.  103. 

'lb.,  October,  1884,  p.  440. 

^Comptes  Rendos,  Mars  15,  1886,  p.  640. 

^Ib.,  Mars  22,  1886,  p.  709. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


5  50  General  Notes.  [June, 

MiNERALOGiCAL  Nkws. — A.  Lacroix^  hasan  article  in  the  "  Comp- 
tes  Rendus  "  on  the  optical  properties  of  some  minerals  which  are 
without  crystal  forms.  In  it  he  affirms  the  discovery  by  Dcs 
Cloizeaux  that  griinerite  is  an  amphibole  and  not,  as  is  generally 
held,  a  pyroxene.  Its  cleavage  planes  make  an  angle  of  124° 
with  each  other.  The  plane  of  the  optical  axes  is  o©  P  ^j,  and  the 
bisectrix  is  negative  and  inclined  15°  to  the  normal  to  the  ortho- 
pinacoid.  Pleochroisra  is  feeble  and  twins  are  abundant.  War- 
wickite  is  a  borotitanate  of  iron  and  magnesium.  Its  crystal  sys- 
tem is  not  positively  known.  A  microscopical  examination 
makes  it  appear  orthorhombic,  with  a  pleochroism  in  three  shades 
of  brown.  The  plane  of  the  optical  axes  is  00  P  oo»  the  bisectrix 
being  positive  and  normal  to  this,  which  is  the  direction  of  easy 
cleavage.  Withamite,  xantholite,  scoulerite  and  chalilite  are  iden- 
tified respectively  with  piedmontite,  staurolite  and  thomsonite,  of. 
which  the  latter  two  are  but  impure  varieties. Some  interest- 
ing manganese  minerals  are  described  by  WeibuU*  from  the 
Wester-Silfberg  mine  in  Dale  Karlien,  Sweden.  A  manganese 
magnetite  gave  on  analysis  6.27  per  cent  of  MnO,  It  is  un- 
crystallized  and  is  associated  with  masses  and  grains  of  mangano- 
calcite.  The  massive  variety  contains  6.98  per  cent  of  MnO  and 
the  granular  mineral  24.32-24.89  per  cent.  A  careful  examina- 
tion of  Igelstromite*  (2Fej(Mg)  Si04+Mn2  (Mg)  Si04)  proves  it 
to  be  orthorhombic,  with  the  optical  axes  in  the  plane  of  the 
base  and  the  a  axis  the  negative  bisectrix.  Pleochroism  :  b  = 
grayish-yellow,  a  =  grayish-yellow-white,  a  =  yellowish-gray. 
Absorption,  a  >  b  >  c.  Silf bei^ite,  first  described  by  Weibull  * 
in  1883,  is  further  investigated.  Its  crystals  are  bounded  only  by 
the  planes  qq  P  and  00  ^  oot  parallel  to  which  the  cleavages  run. 
In  polarized  light  these  crystals  are  seen  to  be  composed  of 
twinned  lamellae  with  the  orthopinacoid  the  twinning  plane.  The 
plane  of  the  optical  axes  is  the  plane  of  symmetry,  and  the  double 
refraction  is  negative.  The  pleochroism  is  marked,  c  =  dirty 
brown,  6  =  brownish-yellow  with  a  green  tinge,  a  =  yellow 
white.  Absorption,  c  >  b  >  a.  An  analysis  of  a  pure  variety 
gave : 

SiO,  FeO  MnO  MgO  CaO  ALO,  H,0 

49.50  30.69  8.24  8.10  2.02  .09  .40 

In  the  same  article  the  author  reports  the  result  of  a  re-examina- 
tion of  the  Knebelite  of  Dannemora.  This  mineral  occurs  in 
columnar  masses  of  black  to  blackish-gray  individuals,  with  three 
cleavages,  one  parallel  to  the  faces  of  a  prism  of  50°  6',  very  per- 
fect, and  the  other  two  parallel  to  the  brachy  and  macro-pina- 
coids.     A  parting  perpendicular  to  the  three  cleavages  was  also 

^Comptcs  Rendas,  cri,  Mars  1$,  1886,  p.  643. 

>Mineralogische  und  Petroj^raphische  Mittheilungen,  vii,  188$,  p.  108. 

»  Cf.  Zeiischrifl  f.  Kryst.,  viir,  p.  647. 

*Gcol.  FOren.  Fdrhandl,  vi,  p.  504. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


1 886.]  Botany.  551 

observed.  The  relation  of  the  horizontal  axes  is  0.467:1.  The 
axial  plane  is  the  base,  with  the  a  axis  the  negative  bisectrix. 
The  plcochroism  is  strong,  a  +  b  yellowish-gray,  c  =  grayish- 
white,  a  >  b  >  c  The  analysis  of  Knebelite  would  indicate 
that  it  is  a  manganese  olivine,  with  most  of  the  optical  properties 
of  this  mineral. 

BOTANY.^ 

Variations  of  Tradescantia  virginica. — An  interesting  case 
of  floral  variation  is  under  observation  by  the  writer  in  the 
shape  of  a  highly  aberrant  form  of  Tradescantia  virginica,  or 
spiderwort,  also  called,  in  quaint  allusion  to  the  ephemeral  nature 
of  its  petals,  "  widow's  tears."  Said  plant  presents,  as  the  result 
of  thirteen  years'  cultivation,  the  curious  aspect  of  a  monocotyle- 
donous  plant  having  in  bloom,  at  the  same  time,  flowers  of  dimer- 
ous, trimerous,  tetramerous,  pentamerous,  hexamerous  and  hept- 
amerous  types  respectively,  each  flower  having  twice  as  many 
stamens  as  sepals,  petals  or  carpels  of  ovary.  The  plant  was  set 
out  in  1872  and  received  very  rich  treatment,  so  that  it  gave 
forth  blossoms  measuring  two  inches  in  diameter.  In  1874  it 
began  to  deviate  from  the  original  trimerous  type  and  to  assume 
the  tetramerous  one,  by  developing  another  petal,  and  instead  of. 
doing  this  at  the  expense  of  the  pistil  or  stamens,  it  added  another 
sepal,  another  carpel  with  style,  and  two  stamens,  thus  making  a 
typical  tetramerous  flower.  The  plant  has  since  then  continued 
to  diflerentiate  in  a  greater  degree  each  succeeding  year,  the  dif- 
ferentiated forms  being  typical  plants  and  maturing  seed  capable 
of  perpetuating  and  possibly  increasing  the  differentiation.  The 
seed  of  differentiated  forms  gives  plants  having  a  large  number  of 
aberrant  forms,  while  that  of  normal  flowers  gives  a  few  abnormal 
forms,  showing  that  the  plant  is  working  out  a  plan  of  evolution. 
The  original  trimerous  plant  was  set  out  in  1872;  in  1874  the 
tetramerous  plant  was  evolved;  in  1876  the  pentamerous  ;  in  1879 
the  hexamerous ;  in  1882  the  dimerous;  and  in  1884  the  hept- 
amerous.  Of  these  differentiated  forms,  as  observed  last  year, 
the  most  plentiful  were  the  pentamerous  flowers,  giving  a  complete 
refutation  to  the  dictum,  "  Endogens  never  have  the  parts  of  the 
flowers  in  fives'* 

The  dimerous  and  heptamerous  types  are  as  yet  but  few,  as 
they  are  struggling  for  existence.  The  hexamerous  and  hept- 
amerous flowers  occasionally  show  an  imperfect  carpel,  and  in 
one  case  a  heptamerous  flower  had  an  octamerous  ovary  with  two 
imperfect  carpels,  showing  that  seven  is  evidently  not  the  limit  of 
differentiation.  A  number  of  interesting  experiments  have  been 
made  regarding  the  intensity  of  variation,  showing  that  it  is  very 
pronounced. 

Roots  of  this  plant  and  seeds  from  trimerous,  tetramerous, 

1  Edited  by  Professor  Charles  E.  Bessey,  Lincoln,  Nebraska. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


552 


General  Notes. 


Qune, 


hexamerous  and  pentatnerous  forms  have  been  sent  to  Dr.  Asa 
Gray  for  cultivation,  at  his  request — G.  A,  Brennan^  Roseland,  HI, 

Some  abnormal  Forms  of  Vaucheria. — While  engaged  in  the 
study  of  Vaucheria  with  my  classes  in  botany,  some  weeks  since, 
my  attention  was  called  to  some  very  curious  abnormal  develop- 


u 
> 


< 


ments  that  seemed  to  me  worthy  of  record.  The  commonest 
species  of  Vaucheria  in  the  neighborhood  of  Detroit  is  V.  gem- 
inaia  Vauch,  van  racemosa,  and  it  was  in  this  species  that  the  ab- 
normal growths  referred  to  were  observed. 


Digitized  by 


Qoogle 


1 886.]  Botany.  553 

The  ordinary  form  of  the  fertile  part  of  the  plant  is  shown  in 
Fig.  I.  The  sexual  organs  arise  as  buds  upon  a  common  branch, 
the  siftgle  antheridium  being  terminal  and  decidedly  curved ;  the 
oogonia  varying  in  number  from  two  in  the  typical  form  of  the 
species  to  eight  or  nine  in  some  specimens  of  the  variety.  They 
are  arranged  in  a  circle  about  the  base  of  the  antheridium  (Fig. 

The  specimens  when  first  collected  showed  no  peculiarities,  but 
after  being  kept  for  a  week  or  two  in  rather  confined  quarters,  a 
large  proportion  of  the  fertile  branches  developed  abnormally, 
owing  no  doubt  to  the  unnatural  conditions  in  which  the  plants 
were  grown. 

The  accompanying  figures  will  show  the  more  peculiar  cases 
observed.  In  all  of  these  it  will  be  seen  that  the  branches  that 
under  ordinary  circumstances  would  develop  into  the  sexual 
organs  are  here  variously  modified. 

In  Fig.  2  the  antheridium  is  replaced  by  a  filament  that  is  in 
all  respects  like  an  ordinary  vegetative  filament. 

In  Fig.  3  the  antheridiiim  is  perfect,  but  the  oogonia  are  re- 
placed by  slender  filaments. 

In  Fig.  4  one  oogonium  has  developed,  but  its  apex  is  pro- 
longed into  a  filament  like  those  in  Fig.  3. 

In  Fig.  5  the  antheridium  is  complete,  but  one  of  the  lateral 
buds  has  developed  a  secondary  branch  bearing  a  complete  set  of 
sexual  organs,  a  perfect  antheridium  and  four  perfect  oogonia. 

Fig.  6  shows  a  case  where  in  addition  to  the  ordinary  anther- 
idium two  others  are  developed  with  accompanying  oogonia  from 
the  lateral  buds. 

In  Fig.  7  one  of  the  lateral  buds  has  grown  out  into  a  filament 
which  bears  laterally  a  smaller  branch  upon  which  a  perfect 
antheridium  and  oogonium  and  a  rudiment  of  a  second  oogonium 
were  forriled. — Douglas  H.  Campbell^  Detroit,  April,  1886. 

Botany  in  Winter. — In  connection  with  the  subject  ol 
"  Teaching  botany  in  winter,"  treated  recently,  though  briefly,  in 
the  American  Naturalist,  I  would  like  to  say  a  few  words.  My 
sophomore  class  of  over  fifty  members  begins  its  second  term  in 
botany  the  last  week  in  February.  The  college  vacation  is  during 
December,  January  and  most  of  February.  The  sophomore 
class  has  had  one  term  of  botany  as  freshmen  in  the  previous 
autumn.  The  class  meets  twice  each  week  in  both  the  freshmen 
and  sophomore  years,  and  a  field  exercise  is  required  between 
each  meeting.  During  the  autumn  the  class  study  first  leaves, 
next  flowers  and  later  in  the  season  fruits.  Any  botanist  will  at 
once  note  the  special  facilities  for  the  study  of  fruits.  The  class 
comes  to  the  sophomore  work  in  February,  having  had  very  little 
concerning  stems  and  buds.  The  first  field  exercise  for  this  year 
was  the  making  of  a  careful  drawing  of  at  least  three  inches  of 


Digitized  by 


Google 


554  General  Notes.  Dune, 

the  tip  of  an  elm  and  of  a  maple  branch.  The  students  were 
given  no  further  instruction.  They  are  never  told  what  to  look 
for.  From  my  pile  of  sketches  and  descriptions  I  quote  the  Whole 
of  the  first  one  without  making  any  selection  : 

"  I.  Drawing  of  maple  branch  with  terminal  and  opposite  lat- 
eral buds.  Stem  thick  and  of  a  red  color,  covered  with  small 
specks.  Wood  not  so  tough  as  elm.  Buds  more  tender.  2. 
Drawing  of  elm  twig  with  a  terminal  bud  and  alternate  lateral 
buds.  Wood  compact  and  tough.  Buds  appear  to  be  better  pro- 
tected from  weather  than  maple."  The  drawing,  if  not  the  de- 
scription, would  indicate  that  the  maple  is  Acer  dasycarpum. 

For  the  next  field  work  each  member  of  the  class  was  requested 
to  make  a  study  of  the  last  year's  growth  of  a  branch  of  each  of 
two  kinds  of  Acer.  What  is  Acer  ?  was  one  of  the  first  ques- 
tions each  member  answered  for  himself.  This  lesson  brought 
out  the  specific  peculiarities  of  members  of  the  same  genus — 
peculiarities  not  easily  found  in  books  within  the  reach  of  stu- 
dents. One  of  the  first  duties  of  a  teacher  in  natural  science  is 
to  keep  students  away  from  printed  descriptions.  They  must  go 
to  the  objects  and  make  their  own  descriptions.  I  quote  again 
from  the  first  paper : 

"  The  bark  of  No.  i  is  of  a  lightish  color  and  it  is  diflScuIt  to 
tell  a  year's  growth,  while  that  of  No.  2  is  of  a  red  color  and  it 
is  very  easy  to  recognize  a  year's  growth,  as  there  is  a  marked 
difference  in  the  color.  The  coverings  of  the  buds  of  No.  i  are 
much  more  scaly  than  those  of  No.  2.  and  they  are  also  more 
closely  attached  to  their  buds  than  those  of  No.  2  are  attached 
to  their  buds.  The  internodes  of  the  first  are  much  shorter  than 
those  of  the  second.  The  year's  growth  of  the  first  is  shorter 
than  that  of  the  second,  as  it  grows  more  slowly." 

Much  better  work  than  this  is  found  on  several  papers.  The 
"  chance  selection  "  is  not  far  below  the  average.  The  Allowing 
questions'  were  given  the  class  at  its  next  meeting  and  written 
answers  handed  in :  (i)  Have  you  observed  any  branching  on 
the  last  year's  growth?  (2)  What  are  the  differences  in  the  buds 
of  the  two  maples?  (3)  Give  number  of  buds  on  year's  growth  of 
each.  (4)  Relative  size,  flexibility  and  strength  of  the  two  kinds 
of  twigs.  (5)  Where  are  the  flower-buds?  The  fourth  question 
opened  the  eyes  to  many  important  subjects,  and  the  fifth  set 
them  in  search  of  the  promises  of  blossoms  on  the  twigs.  At 
this  meeting  two  microscopes  were  so  placed  that  each  student  of 
the  large  class  could  look  in  as  he  filed  out  of  the  lecture-room 
at  the  close  of  the  exercise.  Under  the  first  instrument  was 
shown  a  longitudinal  section  of  a  fresh  leaf-bud,  and  under  the 
second  a  like  view  of  a  flower-bud,  both  of  the  lilac.  It  may  be 
stated  here,  in  passing,  that  each  member  bf  the  class  gets  either 
one  or  two  microscopic  views  in  the  above  way  at  each  meeting. 

Without  here  fully  following  out  the  course,  it  may  be  said  that 


Digitized  by 


Google 


1 886.]  Botany.  .555 

after  the  buds  and  branches  had  been  canvassed  we  took  up  the 
evergreens,  and  as  a  first  lesson  each  student  made  a  drawing  of 
a  branch  of  any  pine  and  any  spruce  he  might  choose.  This 
was  followed  by  a  study  of  two  species  of  Pinus,  which  brought 
out  the  characteristics  that  pertain  principally  to  branches  and 
their  leaves.  The  study  of  the  evergreens  being  disposed  of,  in 
of  course  only  a  general  way,  the  class  took  as  a  single  field  ex- 
ercise the  following :  Make  a  study  of  a  branch  bearing  thorns 
and  of  another  bearing  prickles. 

It  would  be  a  pleasure  to  reproduce  here  the  descriptions  on  a 
dozen  papers,  but  already  these  notes  are  far  longer  than  they 
were  expected  to  be  at  the  outset.     Here  is  one,  however  : 

"  No.  I  has  large  spines  or  thorns  situated  just  above  the  lat- 
eral buds.  These  thorns  are  branched,  having  small  thorns  very 
much  like  the  original  one,  only  smaller.  One  of  these  thorns 
has  two  smallones  upon  it  situated  nearly  opposite  each  other. 
No.  2  has  many  prickles,  with  three  on  each  internode.  They 
appear  to  have  a  definite  arrangement  with  respect  to  each  bud, 
one  being  situated  a  little  to  the  left  of  and  below  the  bud,  another 
is  a  little  farther  down  on  the  stem  and  to  the  right ;  the  third  is 
much  farther  down  and  directly  under  the  bud.  The  prickles  are 
quite  large  at  the  base,  but  easily  broken  off  from  the  bark.  Many 
of  them  have  fallen  off.  Prickles  grow  on  the  bark  and  have  no 
union  with  the  wood,  and  come  off  on  the  bark  when  the  branch 
is  peeled.    The  thorns  are  connected  with  the  woody  structure." 

To-day  (March  28th)  the  class  brought  in  their  work  upon  the 
study  of  pith.  The  directions  given  were  as  follows  :  Study  the 
stem  of  a  plant  with  a  large  pith  and  one  with  a  small  pith.  The 
two  stems  are  to  be  of  the  same  diameter.  Make  a  cross-section 
of  each  stem  and  draw  them  four  times  enlarged,  showing  all  the 
parts.  Make  radial  section  lengthwise  and  draw  as  for  cross- 
section.  ^ 

Each  student  collects  his  own  material.  A  specimen  paper,  of 
course  without  the  drawings,  is  submitted  : 

*'  The  linden  (No.  i)  has  a  small  pith  about  ^V  inch  in  diame- 
ter; situated  at  or  near  the  center.  The  relative  thickness  of 
wood  to  pith,  in  No.  i,  is  about  one  to  seventeen,  and  in  No.  2 
(elder)  it  is  about  three  to  five.  The  distance  from  the  surface  of 
the  bark  to  the  pith,  in  No.  i,  is  about  ^^  inch,  the  stem  being  a 
little  more  than  |  inch  in  diameter.  In  No.  2  the  distance  from 
the  surface  of  the  bark  to  the  pith  is  nearly  -^  inch,  the  diameter 
being  about  the  same  as  that  of  No.  2.  The  pith  in  the  latter  is 
not  so  firm  as  that  of  No.  i,  and  seems  to  be  made  up  of  larger 
cells.  The  middle  layer  of  bark  in  No.  i  is  of  a  greenish  color, 
that  of  No.  2  has  brown  spots  which  seem  to  alternate  with  spots 
of  white.  These  spots  are  mostly  triangular  in  form,  with  the 
base  next  to  the  wood." 

Work  of  the  nature  above  pointed  out  will  be  continued  until 


Digitized  by 


Google 


SS6  '  Genera/ NoUs.  [J"''^» 

the  spring  flowers  come,  when  each  student  is  prepared  to  make 
an  herbarium  of  plants  collected  and  determined  by  himselt  It 
is  doubtless  true  that  the  work  in  the  fall  term  helps  in  the  field 
work  herein  mentioned,  but  there  is  no  question  that  students 
with  no  knowledge  of  plants  can  take  hold  of  botany  in  the  win- 
ter and  do  excellent,  interesting  work — ^work  that  is  at  the  founda- 
tion of  morphology  and  gross  anatomy,  the  fresh  material  for 
which  is  in  better  condition  than  during  the  growing  season  when 
buds  are  forming  and  branches  and  leaves  obscure  the  view. — ' 
Byron  D.  HcUsied. 

BNTOMOLOOY. 

A  CARNIVOROUS  BUTTERFLY  LaRVA — PlANT-LICE  FEEDING  HaBIT 

OF  Fenesica  tarquinius.* — One  of  the  most  interesting  of  our 
butterflies  is  that  known  as  Fenesica  tarquinitis,  a  unique  Lycsnid 
having  the  wings  above  brown-black  in  color  with  conspicuous 
orange  markings  both  on  primaries  and  secondaries.  It  has  a 
wide  geographical  range,  occurring  very  generally  over  North 
America  as  also  in  Asia. 

Donovan,  in  his  "  Insects  of  India"  (PI.  xliv,  fig.  i),  illustrates 
the  butterfly  rather  poorly,  but  says  nothing  about  the  larva. 

Boisduval  and  LeConte  (Hist,  des  Lep.  et  des  Chen,  de  I'Am. 
Sept.,  p.  128,  PI.  xxxvn)  figure  the  larva,  pupa  and  imago  under 
the  name  of  Polyommatus  cratcegi^  and  simply  quote  Abbot  as 
stating  that  the  larva  lives  on  several  species  of  Cratxgus. 

Scudder  (Proc.  Essex  Inst,  Vol  iii,  p.  163,  1862)  treats  of  it 
under  the  name  of  Polyommatus  porsenna  (Syn.  List  of  Am. 
Ruralcs,  Bull.  Buff.Soc.  Nat.  Hist,iii,p.  129,  May,  1876)  and  gives 
the  food-plants  of  the  larva  as  Alnus,  Ribesia,  Vaccinium  and 
Viburnum.  Later,  in  the  American  Naturalist  for  August, 
1869,  he  gives  the  food-plants  as  follows:  "  Probably  arrow- 
wood,  elder  and  hawthorn." 

Grote  (Trans.  Am.  Ent  Soc,  11,  p.  307)  first  proposed  the 
generic  name  of  Fenesica,  but  says  nothing  about  its  larval  history. 

Strecker  (Butt  and  Moths,  etc..  Diurnes,  p.  103)  repeats  simply 
from  Scudder;  while  Wm.  H.  Edwards,  in  his  admirable  life- 
histories  of  butterflies,  has  not  so  far  treated  of  this  particular 
species.  In  short,  so  far  as  the  published  records  go,  it  has  been 
generally  assumed  that  the  larva  feeds  upon  the  plants  named. 

The  object  of  this  brief  communication  is  to  show  that  in  this 
larva  we  have  one  that  is  truly  carnivorous,  a  fact  which  is  ex- 
tremely interesting  because,  so  far  as  I  can  find,  there  is  not 
another  recorded  carnivorous  butterfly  larva;  and  Mr.  Scudder, 
who  has  given  great  attention  to  the  butterflies,  writes  me  in  a  re- 
cent letter,  in  reply  to  an  inquiry  on  this  point,  that  he  cannot  re- 
call any  mention  of  such.    Quite  a  number  of  Heterocerous  larvae 

^Abstract  of  a  paper  by  C.  V.  Riley,  lead  Feb.  20,  1886,  before  the  Biological 
Society  of  Washington. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


1 886  J  Entomology.  5  57 

are  known  to  be  carnivorous  by  exception,  and  not  a  few  are  so 
as  a  rule.  These  are  chiefly  found  among  Pyralids,  and  it  is  not 
necessary  for  my  present  purpose  to  refer  to  the  cases  in  detail. 

For  some  years  now  I  have  been  studying  the  remarkable  life- 
habits  of  the  Aphididae  and  especially  of  some  of  the  gall-making 
and  leaf-curling  species  of  Pemphiginae. 

In  the  collecting  of  material  and  making  of  observations,  I 
have  been  assisted  by  Mr.  Th.  Pergande,  who  has  on  a  number  of 
occasions,  since  1880,  found  the  larva  of  this  Fenesica  associated 
with  various  plant-lice.  Among  the  species  with  which  it  has 
been  thus  found  associated  are  Pemphigus  fraxinif alii  Riley,  which 
curls  the  leaves  of  Fraxinus ;  Schizoneura  iessellata  Fitch,  which 
crowds  upon  the  branches  of  Alnus ;  and  Pemphigus  imbricator 
Fitch,  which  congregates  in  large  masses  on  Fagus.  All  these 
species  produce  much  flocculent  and  saccharine  matter. 

The  frequency  with  which  this  larva  was  found  among  these 
plant-lipe  justified  the  suspicion  that  it  feeds  upon  them  or  derives 
benefit  from  them;  yet  up  to  1885  the  presumption  was  that  it 
benefited  from  the  secretions  of  the  plant-lice  rather  than  from  the 
insects  themselves.  Last  fall,  however,  Mr.  Pergande  obtained 
abundant  evidence  that  the  Fenesica  larva  actually  feeds  upon  the 
Aphidids,  and  I  thought  it  worth  while  to  call  attention  to  this 
positive  proof  of  the  carnivorous  habits  of  the  species.  That  the 
diflferent  species  of  plant-lice  are  the  normal  food  of  this  larva  is 
rendered  more  than  probable  for  the  following  reasons : 

1.  Attempts  to  feed  the  larva  upon  the  leaves  upon  which  it  was 
found  have  proved  futile,  the  larva  perishing  rather  than  feed 
upon  them. 

2.  The  food-plants  given  by  the  authorities  are  such  as  are  well 
known  to  harbor  plant-lice. 

3.  Mr.  Scudder's  authorities,  as  he  informs  me,  were  picked  up 
here  and  there  and  one  of  them  for  alder,  which  he  recalls,  viz:, 
a  Mr.  Emery  "  found  it  more  commonly  on  a  limb  among  plant- 
lice." 

4.  Mr.  Otto  Lugger  has  frequently  observed  the  larva  around 
Baltimore,  among  Pemphigus  hnbricator  on  beech,  but  never  dis- 
associated from  the  lice,  and  Judge  Lawrence  Johnson  also  found 
it  in  connection  with  the  same  species  around  Shreveport,  La., 
last  fall  and  surmised  that  it  might  feed  upon  the  Pemphigus,  but 
neither  of  these  observers  were  able  to  get  positive  proof  of  the 
fact— C.  K  RUey. 

WiTLACZiL  ON  CocciDiE. — Dr.  E.  Witlaczil  completes  his  notes 
on  the  plant-lice  by  an  interesting  article  on  the  Morphology  and 
anatomy  of  the  Coccidae,  in  Zeitschr^f.  IVissen.  Zoologie,  Vol.  XLiii, 
pp.  149-174.  At  first  both  the  male  and  the  female  larvae  possess 
limbs,  antennae  and  simple  eyes,  which  are  subsequently  lost  by 
both  st:>its,  the  females  degenerating  so  2^  to  become  wa^-covered, 
t.  37 


Digitized  by 


Google 


558  General  Notes.  D^ne, 

iinmovable  forms,  and  the  males  acquiring  an  improved  edition  of 
all  these  organs,  with  wings  superadded.  The  antennae  and 
wings  of  the  males  arise  as  evaginations  from  invaginal  disks, 
are  afterwards  withdrawn  during  the  quiescent  or  pupal  stage,  to 
be  finally  driven  put  again  on  reaching  maturity.  Contrary  to 
the  usual  way  in  Hemiptera,  these  males  undergo  complete 
metamorphosis.  The  waxy  coat  of  the  female  consists  not  of  the 
larval  cuticles  that  were  shed,  but  of  variously  crumpled  and  felted 
wax  filaments  emitted  by  dermal  glands,  and  enclosing  the  re- 
mains of  the  cuticles.  The  embryological  development  is  much 
as  in  Aphides,  but  the  eggs  Jiave  no  pseudo-vitellus. 

Some  notes  on  the  Chermetidae  are  appended  to  the  article,  es- 
pecially on  Chermes  abiitis  and  on  Phylloxera.  He  kept  the  galls 
of  Chermes,  in  autumn,  till  the  parthenogenetic  females  escaped, 
of  two  varieties,  some  yellow,  others  nearly  black.  The  female 
oviposited  on  the  needles  of  a  pine-branch  in  a  heap.  After  this' 
operation  the  mother  died,  protecting  the  eggs  with  her  shrunk 
body  and  wings.  In  spring  large  wingless  females  were  found  on 
the  pine-shoots,  having  remained  over  winter.  Each  had  thirty 
to  forty  egg  tubules,  with  two  to  four  well-formed  eggs  ;  and  the 
eggs  had  a  pseudo-vitellus.  The  eggs  were  laid  in  masses  at  the 
base  of  the  young  pine-shoots  ;  the  masses  of  eggs  being  covered 
with  wax  and  with  the  carcass  of  the  mother.  The  young  issuing 
from  these  eggs  moved  to  the  axils  of  the  needles,  and  together 
formed  the  nucleus  of  a  cone-like  gall ;  by  their  sucking  the  needle 
swells,  coalescing  with  the  gall.  It  is  not  the  swelling  of  the 
needle,  but  of  the  branch  that  causes  the  gall ;  and  this  is  due  to 
the  piercing  action  of  the  laivae,  not  of  the  mother. — G.  Macloskie. 

The  Origin  of  the  Spiral  Thread  mTRACHEiE. — A  Correc- 
tion.— Since  the  article  on  this  subject  was  published  in  the  May 
Naturalist,  I  have  examined  more  specimens  of  insect  tracheae, 
in  which  the  *' spiral  thread"  seems  to  be  present;  but  I  do  not 
think  the  taenidia  invariably  form  a  continuous  spiral  thread.  In 
the  axils  of  the  branches  we  see  short  spiqdle-shaped  taenidia ; 
and  each  branch  has  a  separate  "  spiral  thread."  In  certain  fine 
tracheae  of  the  eyes  of  the  fly  no  spiral  threads  are  developed, 
judging  by  Hickson's  researches.  Where  the  thread  is  continu- 
ous it  may  be  called  a  tcenidium ;  when  only  separate  rings  are 
developed  they  may  be  called  tanidia,  I  think,  however,  that  I 
have  demonstrated  the  nuclear  origin  of  the  **  spiral  thread,"  and 
that  the  elongated  filamental  nuclei  of  the  endotrachea  coalesce 
to  form  the  spiral  tcenidium. — A.  S,  Packard. 

Destructive  Locusts  in  Texas. — During  the  past  winter  the 
eggs  of  some  species  of  locusts  were  reported  by  Mr.  R,  T. 
Flewellen,  of  Houston,  Texas,  to  occur  in  great  numbers  in  Wash- 
ington county,  and  fears  were  expressed  of  great  injury,  this  sea- 
son, from  the  resulting  lopusts,    Professor  Riley,  of  the  Depart- 


Digitized  by 


Google 


I886.J    '  Zodio^.  559 

ment  of  Agriculture,  has  had  the  matter  investigated  and  it  appears 
that  the  young  locusts,  which  are  now  all  hatched,  turn  out  to  be 
one  of  the  larger  wide-spread  species,  viz.,  the  differential  locust 
(  Caloptenus  dtfftrentialts).  This  species  has  at  times  been  very 
abundant  in  Illinois  and  in  other  States  but,  according  to  its  past 
history,  there  is  no  danger  of  its  ever  becoming  so  serious  a  pest 
as  the  Rocky  Mountain  locust,  and  hence  Professor  Riley  believes 
there  is  no  occasion  for  alarm. 

Entomological  News. — ^At  a  recent  meeting  of  the  London  En- 
tomological Society,  the  venerable  Professor  Westwood  remarked 
that  an  insect  [MachcKrota  evsifera  Burm  )  in  Ceylon,  allied  to  the 
frog-hopper  (Aphrophora),  instead  of  being  enclosed  in  a  liquid 
(cuckoo-spittle),  formed  a  case  by  the  rapid  hardening  of  the 
liquid  secreted. Dr.  Geo.  Marx,  artist  of  the  Agricultural  De- 
partment, publishes  in  Entomologia  Americana  for  May ,  a  descrip- 
tion of  the  male  of  Gasteracantha  rufospinosa  from  Florida,  with 
excellent  figures  of  the  two  sexes.  Although  170  species  of  this 
genius  are  known,  the  males  of  only  two  species  have  been 
hitherto  discovered     The  male  differs  much  in  shape,  besides 

being  less  than  one-quarter  as  large  as  the  female. In  Bulletin 

No.  5  of  the  Cal.  Acad.  Sciences,  T.  L.  Casey  revises  the  Califor- 
nia species  of  Lithocharis  and  allied  genera  of  Staphylinidae. 

The  Transactions  of  the  American  Entomological  Society,  xil, 
Nos.  3, 4,  complete  an  excellent  volume.  They  contain  a  thorough 
monograph  of  North  American  Chrysididae,  by  S.  Frank  Aaron, 
illustrated  by  five  plates ;  a  monograph  of  the  earlier  stages  of  the 
Odonata,  subfamilies  Gomphina  and  Cordulegastrina,  by  Dr.  H. 
A.  Hagen ;  and  a  useful  bibliographical  and  synonymical  ca;ta- 
logue  of  the  North  American  Cynipidae,  by  Mr.  W.  H.  Ashmead, 
with  description  of  new  species.  Appended  is  a  list  of  species 
peculiar  to  designated  trees  and  plants,  the  greater  number,  as 
is  well  known,  living  on  the  oaks. 

ZOOLOGY. 

Self-Division  in  Septic  Monads. — In  Dr,  DalUnger's  annual 
address  before  the  Royal  Microscopical  Society,  Feb.  10,  he  de- 
tailed the  results,  which  are  published  in  full  in  the  journal  of  the 
society  for  April,  Four  forms  were  selected  for  study.  In  each 
of  the  four  organisms  the  facts  were  discoverable  in  the  develop- 
ment of  the  nucleus,  the  origin  of  the  flagella  and  the  growth  of 
the  body.  They  were  best  seen  in  Tetramitus  rostraius  and  Po/y- 
toma  uvella;  not  quite  so  well  in  Dallingeria  drysdali,  and  least 
perfectly  in  Heteromita  rostrata;  but  in  all  they  were  seen  with 
sufficient  clearness  to  leave  no  doubt.  Each  of  these  septic  or- 
ganisn)s  terminates  a  long  series  of  fissions  with  what  is  practi- 
cally a  generative  act  of  fusion.  The  last  two  of  a  long  chain  of 
self-divided  forms  fuse  into  one,  become  quite  still,  and  at  length 


Digitized  by 


Google 


560  General  Notes,  [June, 

the  investing  sac  bursts  and  a  countless  host  of  germs  is  poured 
forth.  The  growth  of  these  germs  into  forms  like  the  parent  was 
continuously  watched,  showing  gradual  enlargement  and  ulti- 
mate, but  as  to  time  somewhat  uncertain,  appearance  of  the  nu- 
cleus, and  the  somewhat  sudden  appearance  of  the  flagella  or 
thread-like  motor  organs,  the  latter  being  found  in  each  instance 
to  arise  in  the  nucleus.  Very  soon  after  the  adult  stage  is  reached 
the  act  of  self-division  commences,  and  is  kept  up  for  hours  in 
succession.  The  delicate  plexus-like  structure  becomes  aggre- 
gated at  one  end  of  the  nucleus,  leaving  the  rest  perfectly  clear, 
except  that  a  faint  beading  is  seen  in  the  middle  line,  with  two  or 
three  fine  threads  from  it  to  the  plexus.  Then  occurs  the  com- 
mencement of  partition  of  the  nucleus,  followed  by  a  slight  indi- 
cation of  division  of  the  body-substance.  Quickly  afterwards  the 
nucleus  becomes  completely  cleft,  and  the  body-substance  follows 
suit  Then  the  plexus-like  condition  is  again  diflfused  equally 
over  the  whole  nucleus.  When  the  generative  condition  is  ap- 
proached by  the  last  generation  of  a  long  series  of  dividing  forms, 
it  is  remarkable  that  the  organism  becomes  amoeboid,  showing 
how  far-reaching  is  the  amoeboid  state.  In  this  condition,  when  two 
such  forms  touch  one  another,  they  coalesce  and  fuse  into  each 
other  almost  as  though  two  globules  of  mercury  had  touched,  until 
nucleus  reaches  nucleus  and  two  melt  into  one,  and  the  blended 
bodies  become  a  globular  sac,  Which  ultimately  emits  an  enor- 
mous number  of  germs.  Previous  to  the  blending  it  is  now  made 
out  that  all  traces  of  plexus- like  structure  are  lost  in  the  nucleus, 
which  becomes  greatly  enlarged  and  assumes  a  milky  aspect,  and 
shows  no  trace  of  structure  throughout  the  process  of  fusion. 
Afterwards  it  begins  to  diffuse  itself  radially  through  the  body- 
sarcode  until  every  trace  of  the  nucleus  is  gone,  and  the  still 
globule  of  living  matter  becomes  tight  and  glossy,  but  no  trace 
of  structure  can  be  anywhere  found  in  it.  In  this  condition  it 
remains  for  six  hours,  when  it  emits  the  multitude  of  germs. 
After  giving  similar  details  about  several  other  organisms,  Dr. 
Dallinger  summed  up  thus  :  "  One  thing  appears  clear,  the  nu- 
cleus is  the  center  of  all  the  higher  activities  in  these  organisms. 
The  germ  itself  appears  to  be  but  an  undeveloped  nucleus,  and 
when  that  nucleus  has  attained  its  full  dimensions  there  is  a 
pause  in  growth,  in  order  that  its  internal  development  may  be 
accomplished.  It  becomes  practically  indisputable  that  the  body- 
sarcode  is,  so  to  speak,  a  secretion,  a  vital  product  of  the  nucleus. 
From  it  the  ilagella  originally  arise ;  by  it  the  act  of  fission  is 
initiated  and  in  all  probability  carried  to  the  end ;  the  same  is  the 
case  with  fertilization  and  the  production  of  germs.  We  are  thus 
brought  into  close  relation  with  the  behavior  of  the  nucleus  in 
the  simplest  condition.  No  doubt  far  profounder  and  subtler 
changes  are  concurrently  proceeding.  We,  of  course,  are  no 
nearer  to  the  solution  of  what  life  |s.    ji^ut  to  come  any  distance 


Digitized  by 


Google 


1 886.]  Zoology.  561 

nearer  to  a  knowledge  of  how  the  most  living  part  of  the  min- 
utest organisms  acts  in  detail  has  for  me,  and  for  most  biologists, 
an  increasing  fascination." 

Blue  Color  of  Animals. — Professor  F.  Leydig  says  that  a  blue 
granular  pigment  is  rarely  found  in  animals ;  in  the  crayfish,  for 
example,  there  are  blue  crystals.  The  blue  color  is  more  often 
due  to  interference,  owing  to  the  presence  of  lamellae,  or  to  the 
fibrils  of  connective  tissue,  as  in  the  tapetum  fibrosum  of  the  eye 
of  ruminants ;  the  corium  of  the  living  larva  of  Pelobates  fuscus 
is  similarly  blue.  A  dull  material  overlying  black  pigment  pro* 
duces  blue,  as  in  the  case  of  blue  eyes,  which  are  due  to  the  urea 
shining  through  the  non-pigmented  iris,  and  in  some  frogs.  Dark 
chromatophores  have  a  like  effect,  as  has  too  the  swelling  of  the 
corium  consequent  on  the  filling  of  the  lymph-spaces.  In  conclu- 
sion, the  author  discusses  the  tegumentary  secretions,  which  are  of 
various  colors,  and  which  can  be  washed  away;  an  example  is  to 
be  seen  in  the  celestial  blue  color  of  the  abdomen  of  Ldbellula  de- 
pressa  and,  perhaps^  the  "  bloom  "  of  the  pupa  of  the  Apollo  but- 
terfly. On  the  other  hand,  the  coloring  matter  may  be  in  cells  of 
the  epidermis,  as  is  the  case  with  the  rosy  color  of  Tetrao  uro- 
gallus,  and  can  then,  of  course,  only  be  removed  after  the  de- 
struction of  the  tissue  which  contains  it. — Journ.  Roy,  Micr.  Soc, 
April,  1886. 

Perception  of  Brightness  and  Color  by  Marine  Animals. — 
Professor  V.  Graber  has  made  some  further  experiments  on  marine 
animals  with  the  divided  box  already  used  by  him.  He  finds 
that  the  common  star-fish  is  an  eminently  leucophilous  or  light- 
loving  animal,  for  the  bright  division  of  the  box  always  contained 
2.2  as  many  individuals  as  the  dark;  they  avoid  red,  or  are  ery- 
thophobes,  three  times  as  many  seeking  a  dark-blue  compart- 
ment. The  common  jelly-fish  {Medusa  atiritd)  was  neither  spe- 
cially sensitive  to  brightness  nor  to  color ;  but  it  is  possit>le  that 
the  results  might  be  different  with  larger  aquaria.  Idotea  tricus- 
pidata  is  very  sensitive  to  light  at  the  maximum  differences  in 
brightness,  for  6.3  as  many  individuals  sought  the  white  as  the 
dark  compartment;  but  they  are  quite  insensitive  to  less  marked 
differences.  They  object  to  red  and  like  blue.  Gammarus  locusta 
does  not  seem  to  be  affected  by  light  or  shade.  Rissoa  octona 
dislikes  the  dark  and  is  sensitive  to  less  marked  distinctions;  it 
again,  in  the  proportion  of  103  to  2,  liked  blue  and  avoided  red. 
Gasterosteus  spinachia,  like  frjesh-water  fishes,  prefers  darkness  in 
the  proportion  of  78  to  6,  and  Syngnathus  acus  gave  somewhat 
similar  results.— /<?«r«.  Roy.  Micr.  Soc.^  April,  1886. 

The  Sacrum  of  Menopoma. — In  a  recent  paper  read  be- 
fore the  Biological  Society  of  Washington,  Mr.  F.  A.  Lucas  drew 
attention  to  the  fact  that  the  figure  of  the  pelvis  of  Menopoma  in 
the  article  Amphibia,  ninth  edition  of  the  Encyclopaedia  Britannica, 


Digitized  by 


Google 


562  Genet  al  Notes.  [June 

must  have  been  drawn  from  an  abnormal  specimen.  The  figure 
and  accompanying  text  credit  Menopomawilh  two  sacral  vertebrae, 
but  an  examination  of  ten  specimens  failed'to  show  the  occurrence 
of  more  than  ope.  An  abnormal  specimen  in  the  possession  of  Pro- 
fessor H.  A.  Ward  showed  an  intermediate  condition  between  the 
figure  in  the  Enc.  Brit,  and  the  normal  sacrum,  having  the  right 
ilium  attached  to  one  vertebra,  and  the  left  to  two  vertebrae,  Mr. 
Lucas  further  called  attention  to  the  variation  in  the  number  of 
dorsal  vertebrae  in  certain  Urodeles.  Menopoma  may  have  19 
or  20  pre-sacrals;  Necturus,  18  or  19.  Siren  may  have  41,  42 
or  43  pre-caudals  ;  Muraenopsis.  64  or  65.  The  total  number  of 
vertebrae  in  two  perfect  skeletons  of  Siren  was  loi  and  108;  in 
three  perfect  Muraenopsis^  105,  107,  iii. 


A^  specimen  with  two  sacral  vertebrae,  Bg.  2,  article  Amphibia,  Encyclopaedia 
Brtannica,  Qlh  cd.;  B^  specimen  normal  on  right  side,  two  sacrals  on  left — drawxi 
by  H.  L.  Ward  from  a  skeleton  in  the  possession  of  H.  A.  Ward;  C,  normal  speci- 
men. 

Zoological  News. —  Vermes, — M.  J.  Perrier  announces  as  the 
result  of  his  studies  of  the  Trematoda  (Archives  de  Zool.  Experi- 
mentale,  1885)  that  the  muscles  divide  at  their  extremities,  the 
divisions  being  inserted  upon  projections  of  the  inner  side  of  the 
cuticle.  The  suckers  have  a  more  developed  muscular  system 
than  has  hitherto  been  admitted;  since  they  are  completely  en- 
veloped by  one  or  two  elastic  membranes  upon  which  the  muscu- 
lar bundles  of  the  organ  are  fixed  and  are  also  subject  to  the 
action  of  exterior  muscles.  There  is  often  a  mass  of  glandular 
cells  in  the  external  layer  of  the  parenchyma.  The  digestive 
tract  is  always  covered  internally  by  a  layer  of  elongated  cellules 
united  only  at  their  base.  The  canal  of  Laurer  is  not  a  vagina, 
but  a  canal  of  safety,  permitting  of  the  discharge  of  any  too 
abundant  genital  products.  From  the  disposition  of  the  external 
orifices  external  self-fecundation  is  the  only  mode  of  fecundation 
possible.  The  spongy  cords  found  in  all  Platyelminths  are 
certainly  nerve  fibers,  and   the  large  multipolar  cells  are  nerve 

cells. Dr.  von  Linstow  describes  (Arch.  £  Natur.,  1885,  part 

III)  several  new  Nematodes  and  Trematodes. 

EcJtinoderms, — M.  Ed.  Perrier  contributes  to  the  Annales  des 
Sciences  Naturelles  an  account  of  the  echinoderms  collected  by 


Digitized  by 


Google 


1 886.]  •  Embryology.  563 

the  Travailleur  and  Talisman,  These  include  several  Brisincridae 
and  Stichasteridae;  species  of  Cribrella  and  Solaster  ;  several  Pter- 
asteridae,  a  family  almost  entirely  confined  to  e^reat  depths  ;  many 
Goniasteridae,  and  some  Archasteridae  and  Porcellanasterldae. 
Asteriadae  and  Asterinidaj  are  almost  wanting,  Linckiadae  entirely 
so.     Sixty-four  species  is  the  total,  of  which  fifty  are  new. 

Mollusks. — The  Archiv.  (ur  Naturgeschichte  for  1885  (part  iii) 
contains  remarks  upon  the  post-embryonal  development  of  the 

Naiadae,  by  Fred  Schmidt In  a  second  article  upon  the  mol- 

luscan  fauna  of  Behring's  sea  (Arch.  f.  Naturgeschichte,  1885,  part 
iji)  A.  Krause  enumerates  sixty-six  Gastropoda,  including  several 
new  species  and  three  Pteropods,  one  of  which  is  new. 

Mammals, — Dr.  E.  L.  Trouessart  (Ann.  d.  Sci.  Naturelles)  sup- 
ports his  previously-expressed  views  that  the  musk-rat  of  the 
Antilles  should  be  placed  in  the  genus  Hesperomys,  but  made  the 
tyf)c  of  the  sub-genus  Megalomys.  The  form  of  its  teeth  will 
not  permit  it  to  be  ranged  under  the  sub-genus  Holochilus,  which 
is  by  Mr.  Thomas  considered  to  be  a  genus.  Megalomys  pilorides 
has  as  yet  been  found  only  in  Martinique  and  St.  Lucia.  It 
reaches  the  size  of  a  rabbit,  and  did  great  damage  to  the  planta- 
tions. Systematic  war  waged  upon  it  by  the  colonists  has  almost, 
if  not  quite,  brought  about  its  extinction,  so  that  the  examples  in 
the  Paris  Museum  are  perhaps  all  that  is  left  of  this  curious  and 
interesting  species.     [The  name  Megalomys  is  preoccupied.--fi/.] 

BMBRYOLOaY.i 

I.  The  Development  of  Patella. — Dr.  William  Patten,'  of 
Boston,  while  working  in  Claus's  laboratory  at  Trieste,  succeeded 
in  artificially  fertilizing  the  ova  of  a  species  of  Patella,  the  spe- 
cific name  of  which  is  not  given.  The  ova  measured  0.12°^  in 
diameter;  bluish-green  in  color  and  opaque.  Acetic  acid  and 
glycerine  were  used  to  render  them  transparent  enough  for  a 
study  of  the  general  external  characters.  The  internal  changes 
were  studied  by  means  of  sections.  The  eggs  were  matured 
from  the  first  of  November  to  the  middle  of  January. 

The  ova  were  covered  by  a  very  thick  transparent  chorion, 
traversed  by  fine  pore  canals.  The  micropyle  was  a  wide  crater- 
like opening  in  the  chorion  at  one  pole  of  the  egg ;  within  this 
opening  were  a  number  of  highly  refractive  globules  which  greatly 
interfered  ^ith  the  observation  of  the  fecundation  and  formation 
of  the  polar  globules.  Ten  minutes  after  removing  the  ova  from 
the  ovaries,  the  pole  globules  appear  as  two  colorless  and  trans- 
parent prolongations  arising  from  the  surface  of  the  ovum  at  the 
bottom  of  the  crater-like  micropyle.     The  polar  cells  are  of  great 

1  Edited  by  John  A.  Ryder,  Smithsonian  Institution,  Washington,  D.  C. 
'The  Embryology  of  Patella.    Arbeiten  aus  dem  Zool.  Inst,  zu  Wien.     Tom.  VI, 
Hft.  2,  pp.  149-174,  pis.  I  to  V,  1885. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


564  General  Notes.  *  [June, 

size  as  compared  with  those  of  other  t)rpes.  Two  polar  globules 
arise  side  by  side  and  not  one  beneath  the  other,  as  in  other  cases. 
As  many  as  five  distinct  polar  globules  were  extruded  in  abnor- 
mal cases,  and  the  extremity  of  one  of  these  was  enlarged  into  a 
globular  form,  the  same  as  one  of  the  two  in  the  case  of  the 
normally  developing  egg.  The  polar  cells  finally  become  much 
reduced  in  size  and  are  easily  detached  from  the  egg. 

The  segmentation  is  slightly  meroblastic  and  a  hollow  blastula 
is  soon  formed ;  hatching  occurs  in  about  ten  hours,  when  the 
apical  cells  and  the  two  equatorial  rings  of  velar  cells  have  become 
ciliated.  At  the  vegetative  pole  of  the  blastula  four  large,  so-called, 
endo-mesodennal  cells,  forming  part  of  the  wall  of  the  blastula,  are 
elongated  and  prolonged  into  the  blastocoel  and  two  of  them  have 
their  inner  ends  segmented  off  to  form  the  primitive  mesoderm ;  the 
other  two  and  what  remains  of  the  two  preceding  ones  give  rise  to 
the  endoderm  or  intestine,  while  the  decreasing  area  on  the  outside 
of  the  blastula  embraced  by  the  endo-mesodermal  cells  represents 
the  blastopore.  The  primitive  pair  of  mesoblastic  cells  are  bilateral 
in  position  and  render  the  larva  bilaterally  symmetrical.  The 
blastoporic  area  gradually  assumed  a  more  ventral  position 
and  is  then  shoved  forwards  and  inwards,  finally  disappearing 
at  the  bottom  of  a  deep  furrow  which  partially  closes  or  concres- 
ces  from  behind  forward,  leaving  the  permanent  mouth — stomo- 
dsum — ^at  its  anterior  end,  from  which  the  oesophagus  extends 
inwards  toward  the  original  site  of  the  blastopore  at  the  bottom 
of  the  stomodaeal  invagination.  On  either  side  of  the  posterior 
part  of  the  stomodaeal  furrow  there  is  a  swelling ;  this  pair  of 
swellings  eventually  leads  to  the  formation  of  the  foot,  on  either 
side  of  which  the  otocysts  are  invaginated.  At  this  stage  also 
the  shell  gland  is  developed  and  the  two  primitive  mesoblastic  cells 
have  segmented  into  a  row  of  three  cells  each,  lying  symmetri- 
cally on  either  side  of  the  median  plane  of  the  embryo.  A  glos- 
sophoral  sac  is  formed  in  the  floor  of  the  oesophagus,  and  the 
anus  is  obviously  broken  through  late. 

The  important  points  brought  out  in  this  paper  are  the  follow- 
ing: (i)  the  possibility  of  artificially  fertilizing  the  eggs  of  Gas- 
tropods ;  (2)  the  presence  of  a  definite  blastoporic  area  which  is 
carried  ventralwards  and  forwards  leading  to  the  formation  of  the 
mouth  and  oesophagus ;  (3)  the  presence  of  a  pair  of  bilaterally- 
disposed  primitive  mesoblast  cells,  derived  from  two  of  the  endo- 
mesodermal  cells,  and  the  subsequent  development  from  Ae  former 
of  a  pair  of  mesoblastic  cords  on  either  side  of  the  median  line  ; 
(4)  the  partial  concrescence  and  closure  from  behind  forwards  of 
the  ventral  furrow  in  which  the  blastopore  is  situated. 

The  oldest  embryo  figured  is  one  of  130  hours.  The  figures 
are  excellent,  and  the  paper  as  whole  bears  evidence  of  having 
been  prepared  with  great  care,  and  represents  an  important  con- 
tribution to  molluscan  embryology. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


1886.)  Embryology.  565 

2.  The  Development  of  Dentalium.* — M.  Kowalevsky  con- 
cludes that  the  development  of  Dentalium  has  a  good  deal  in 
common  with  that  of  the  Lamellibranchs,  the  segmentation 
resembling  that  of  Unio  as  described  by  Rabl,  and  Teredo  as 
described  by  Hatschek.  The  segmentation  is  nearly  regular,  and 
leads  to  the  formation  of  a  hollow  blastula  and  an  invaginate  gas- 
trula.  The  mesoderm  is  derived  from  the  inner  wall  of  the  invagi- 
nated  side  of  the  blastula,  and  the  mesodermic  cells  are  disposed 
symmetrically  on  either  side  of  the  median  line.  The  shell-gland 
becomes  defroed  very  early  on  the  dorsal  aspect  of  the  embryo, 
and  as  the  blastopore  travels  forward,  as  in  Patella,  the  area  of  the 
shell-gland,  or  mantle-organ,  becomes  greater,  so  that  it  gradually 
embraces  the  body  of  the  embryo,  especially  over  the  region  just 
behind  the  foot,  leading  to  the  development  of  the  characteristic 
tubular  shell.  The  resemblance  of  the  larvae  of  Dentalium  to 
those  of  the  Annelids  is  shown  to  be  only  a  very  superficial  one. 
Three  ciliary  girdles  encircle  the  anterior  or  cephalic  pole  of  the 
larval  body.  The  blastopore  is  wide  at  first,  and  persists  as  such 
much  longer  than  in  Patella ;  it  is  also  elongated  in  the  process 
of  shifting  towards  the  ventral,  anterior  aspect  A  radular  sac 
is  developed  on  the  inferior  side  of  the  oesophagus.  The  cepha- 
lic ganglia  develop  from  a  pair  of  deep  invaginations  of  the  ecto- 
derm of  the  velum  ;  the  pedal  ganglia  irom  a  pair  of  prolifera- 
tions of  cells  from  the  ectoderm  of  the  foot.  The  otocysts  are 
developed  before  the  pedal  ganglia  on  either  side  of  the  foot  and 
much  in  the  same  way  as  in  Patella. 

This  memoir,  illustrated  with  eight  well-executed  plates,  the 
figures  being  drawn  from  actual  sections,  is  a  very  important  con- 
tribution to  molluscan  morphology,  as  nothing  of  equal  value  has 
appeared  since  the  publication  of  the  paper  on  Dentalium  by  H. 
Lacaze^Duthiers  in  1857. 

3.  The  Development  of  the  CniTONiDiE  or  Polyplacophora.' 
— This  important  paper  by  M.  Kowalevsky  discusses  very  fully 
the  development  of  Chiton  polity  valuable  observations  being  also 
recorded  upon  Ch,  olivaceus  Spengler,  and  Acanthochites  dis- 
trepans  Brown. ^  The  ?  carries  about  a  mass  of  eggs  in  the 
mantle  cavity,  between  the  gills  and  mantle ;  those  set  free  by 
the  9  do  not  develop  normally.  The  ova  are  enclosed  by  a 
chitinous  covering,  consisting  of  hexagonal  plates  which  support 
processes  externally,  which  vary  in  form  in  the  various  species. 

The  four  first  segmentation  spheres  are  nearly  equal ;  each  of 
these  subdivide  into  two,  giving  rise  to  four  upper  and  four.lower 
ones.    The  polar  globules   rest  near  the   center  of   the  area 

^Etude  sur  rEmbryogenie  du  Dentale,  meipoire  vii,  par  M.  A.  Kowalevsky,  Ann. 
du  Mus.  d'Hist.  Nat.  de  Marseille,  Zool.  Tom.  I,  Seconde  partie,  1882-1883. 

'Embryogenie  du  Chiton polii {?\i\\\^ip\)  avec  quelques  remarques  sur  le  Develop- 
pement  des  autres  Chitons,  memoire  v,  par  M.  A.  Kowalevsky,  Ann.  Mus.  d'Hist. 
JIat.  de  Marseille,  Zool.,  Tom.  i,  second  partie,  1883.     4to,  pp.  46,  pis.  vni. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


566  General  Notes.  [June, 

embraced  by  the  four  upper,  smaller  cells  of  the  animal  pole.  By 
division  of  the  lower  cells  there  arises  a  third  layer  of  four  inter- 
mediate cells,  and  soon  after  these  four  others  appear  which  are 
apparently  derived  from  the  four  upper  ones.  Thereupon  six  more 
smaller  cells  are  developed  at  the  animal  pole,  and  somewhat 
later  ei^ht  more  such  appear  at  the  vegetative  pole,  so  that  the 
embryo  is  now  composed  of  thirty-six  cells.  At  this  stage  the 
gastrula  mouth  begins  to  develop ;  at  first,  as  a  slight  depression, 
which  later  becomes  deeper,  leadinjj  to  the  formation  of  a  sym- 
metrical gastrula  consisting  of  ecto-  and  endoderm.  The  two 
annuli  or  cycles  of  large  cells,  which  represent  the  velum,  are 
now  differentiated. . 

Xhe  gastrula  is  next  somewhat  elongated,  and  near  the  blasto- 
pore an  endodermal  cell  is  pushed  into  the  blastocoel  to  give  rise 
to  the  mesoderm.  The  blastopore  is  soon  displaced  somewhat 
ventralwards,  and  simultaneously  certain  ectodermal  cells  are 
drawn  inwards  to  form  part  of  the  wall  of  the  cavity  of  the  gastrula. 
There  are  two  distinct,  symmetrically  disposed  groups  of  mesoder- 
mal cells  near  the  blastopore ;  the  largest  of  these  cells  still  form 
part  of  the  endoderm  and  take  part  in  limiting  the  cavity  of  the 
gastrula.  The  blastopore  is  gradually  shoved  nearer  to  the  velum, 
and  in  connection  with  it  is  developed  an  oesophagus  formed  of 
ectodermal  cells.  The  mesodermal  cells  have  multiplied,  but  re- 
tained their  bilaterally  symmetrical  position. 

The  oesophagus  is  now  a*  spacious  sac,  from  the  posterior,  in- 
ferior wall  of  which  a  radular  sac  has  been  invaginated.  Imme- 
diately behind  the  mouth,  in  a  median  line,  there  is  developed  an 
invagination,  which  Kowalevsky  calls  the  pedal  gland.  Two 
longitudinal,  anteriorly  conjoined  thickenings  of  the  ectoderm, 
which  encroach  upon  the  mesoderm,  form  the  rudiments  of  the 
pedal  and  branchial  nerves.  The  four  nerve  cords  are  gradually 
split  off  from  the  ectoderm  and  assume  their  definitive  position  in 
the  mesoderm.  The  cavity  in  the  pedal  gland  becomes  filled 
with  a  slimy  secretion.  At  the  apex  of  the  velar  area  a  pair  of 
ectodermal  cells  support  a  tuft  of  cilia.  At  certain  points,  where 
spiculae  appear  later,  each  spicule-forming  ectodermal  cell  acquires 
a  clear  vacuole.  There  now  appear  seven  transv.erse  furrows  on 
the  dorsal  aspect,  in  each  of  which  the  cuticula,  which  now  covers 
the  back,  becomes  thickened.  The  ventral  aspect  is  now  mostly 
embraced  by  the  foot,  which  consists  of  a  layer  of  deep  columnar 
ciliated  cells.  Anteriorly  the  cephalic  ganglion  is  developed  as  a 
cellular  body,  enclosing  a  hollow  cavity,  and  posteriorly  the 
branchial  ganglion  appears  as  the  widened  ends  of  the  two 
branchial  nerves,  lying  close  to  the  ectoderm.  The  posterior 
section  of  the  gut  is  surrounded  by  a  dense  mass  of  mesodermal 
cells,  which  doubtless  furnish  the  materials  for  the  development 
of  the  segmental  organs,  vessels  and  sexual  organs.  At  a  some- 
what later  stage  fibrils  from  multipolar  cells  are  developed  in  the 


Digitized  by 


Google 


1 886. 1  Embryology.  567 

cephalic  ganglion.  In  the  anterior  part  of  the  body,  the  mesoder- 
mal cells  form  a  gelatinous  connective  tissue  between  the  organs. 
The  pedal  gland  is  now  very  strongly  developed ;  its  secretion  is 
poured  out  between  the  ectodermal  cells,  a  special  opening  for  it  be- 
ing absent.  At  the  sides  of  the  body,  above  the  foot,  a  ciliated  band 
is  present,  which  marks  the  site  where  the  branchiae  will  appear. 
At  the  level  of  the  first  dorsal  fold,  the  ^y^s  may  be  recognized. 
The  larva  now  leaves  the  egg  envelope  and  swims  about  by 
means  of  its  velum.  The  calcareous  spicules  are  still  enclosed  by 
their  mother  cells,  but  soon  break  tlirough.  After  the  lapse  of 
several  hours  to  several  days,  the  larva  finally  rest  on  the  bot- 
tom, losing  the  velum,  which  is  replaced  by  other  ectodermal  cells. 
A  diverticulum  of  the  intestine  at  this  time  probably  represents 
the  liver.  An  invagination  at  the  posterior  end  of  the  body 
seems  tcrbe  the  rudiment  of  the  rectum.  The  pedal  gland  seems 
to  have  become  smaller  than  in  the  preceding  stage ;  in  young 
Chitons  (probably  a  year  old)  it  is  still  present,  but  in  those 
somewhat  larger  it  is  absent ;  it  is,  therefore,  an  organ  pertaining 
to  the  embryonic  period.  The  cuticular  thickenings  which  lie  in 
the  transverse  dorsal  furrows  are  the  rudiments  of  the  segmented 
shell,  and  in  each  furrow,  beginning  at  its  anterior  border,  small 
calcareous  plates  are  formed.  The  eyes  are  hedps  of  pigment  in 
the  ectoderm,  with  a  clear  nucleus  in  the  center,  lying  close  to 
the  branchial  nerves.  In  a  fully  developed  young  Chiton  they 
were  sunken  into  the  skin  and  the  ectoderm  became  circum- 
scribed somewhat  in  the  form  of  a  cornea.  The  eight  segments 
of.  the  shell  appear  sometime  after  the  metamorphosis  in  Ch.  polii 
and  cinereus,  but  in  olivaceus  somewhat  before  it. 

4.  The  Development  of  the  Gill  in  Fasciolaria.^ — Dr. 
Osborn's  observations  show  that  the  gill  of  this  gastropod  is 
developed  from  a  ridge  of  the  ectoderm  formed  in  the  median 
line  between  the  border  of  the  advancing  mantle  and  the  velum. 
Later,  with  the  growth  and  folding  forward  of  the  mantle  and 
the  formation  of  a  mantle  cavity,  the  gill  is  also  carried  forward 
and  is  brought  to  occupy  a  position  on  the  outer  instead  of  the 
inner  wall  of  the  branchial  chamber.  This  change  of  position, 
the  author  finds,  is  entirely  due  to  the  manner  in  which  the 
mantle  cavity  is  developed.  The  species  investigated  by  Dr. 
Osborn  was  /^  tulipa  Linn.,  var.  distans  Lam. 

^  H.  Leslie  Osborn.  Studies  from  Biolog.  Lab.,  Johns  Hopkins  Univepity,  ni, 
No.  5,  pp.  217-225,  pi.  XIII,  188s. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


568  General  Notes.  [June, 

PSYCHOLOGY. 

Intelligence  of  the  Hen  and  Opossum. — Advices  from  home 
inform  me  that  an  early  brood  of  chickens  with  the  mother  hen 
were  taken  into  the  cellar  to  protect  them  from  the  very  cold 
weather  which  prevailed.  Here  they  did  well  and  appeared  con- 
tented till  a  thaw  and  flood  occurred.  When  the  cellar  was 
visited  the  next  morning,  several  inches  of  water  were  found  in 
it,  flooding  the  quarters  occupied  by  the  brood.  The  hen  was 
standing  deep  in  the  water  with  all  of  the  chicks  perched  on  her 
back.  She  was  standing  on  the  highest  object  to  which  she 
could  step.  She  could  have  flown  to  higher  objects,  but  this 
would  have  dislodged  the  youngsters  and  resulted  in  their  being 
drowned. 

This  reminds  me  of  an  incident  which  I  reported  to  the 
Naturalist  many  years  ago,  which  may  be  briefly  repeated.  A 
boatman  on  the  Illinois  and  Michigan  canal  observed  an  object 
on  a  fence-post,  surrounded  by  water,  which  enabled  him  to  work 
his  boat  up  to  it.  There  he  found  an  opossum  with  several 
young  ones  in  the  pouch  or  pocket  with  which  nature  has  provided 
this  animal  in  which  to  carry  her  young.  She  was  nearly  fem- 
ished  and  suffered  lierself  to  be  taken  on  board  without  the  least 
opposition  and  ate  ravenously  of  the  food  given  her.  They  were 
taken  to  Chicago  and  presented  to  my  brother,  in  whose  posses- 
sion I  saw  them  after  the  young  ones  had  attained  the  size  of 
small  rats.     They  made  rather  pretty  pets. 

In  both  of  these  instances  there  seems  to  have  been  more  of 
reason  than  of  instinct,  if  by  the  latter  we  mean  that  inherited 
faculty  which  long-repeated  emergencies  has  taught  a  long  an- 
cestral line  a  mode  of  avoiding  or  escaping  danger. — /.  D,  Catati, 

The  Swallow  as  a  Surgeon.  —  Dr.  Walter  F.  Morgan,  of 
Leavenworth,  Kan.,  sends  to  the  Medical  Record  this  curious 
account  of  what  may  be  called  aviarian  surgery,  related  to  him 
in  1876  by  the  late  Joseph  O'Brien,  Esq.,  of  Cleveland,  O. :  "  On 
going  into  his  bam  Mr.  O'Brien  discovered  a  swallow's  nest,  and 
being  a  natural  observer  and  lover  of  animals,  he  climbed  to  the 
nest  and  found  in  it  two  young  swallows,  one  being  smaller  and 
less  vigorous  than  the  other  and  having  a  slighter  covering  of 
feathers.  Upon  taking  the  young  bird  in  his  hand,  he  was  aston- 
ished to  find  one  of  its  legs  very  thoroughly  bandaged  with  horse- 
hairs.  Having  carefully  removed  the  hairs  one  by  one,  he  was 
still  more  astonished  to  find  that  the  nestling's  leg  was  broken. 
Mr.  O'Brien  carefully  replaced  the  bird  in  its  nest  and  resolved 
to  await  further  developments.  Upon  visiting  the  *  patient '  the 
next  day  the  leg  was  again  found  bandaged  as  before.  The  bird- 
surgeon  was  not  again  interfered  with,  and  the  case  being  kept 
under  observation,  in  about  two  weeks  it  was  found  that  the  hairs 
were  being  cautiously  removed,  only  a  few  each  day ;  and  finally 


Digitized  by 


Google 


1 886.]  Anthropology.  569 

when  all  were  taken  oflF  the  callus  was  distinctly  felt,  and  the 
union  of  bone  evidently  perfect,  as  the  bird  was  able  to  fly  off 
with  its  mates.  Such  instances  may  seem  incredible  to  those  not 
yet  prepared  to  fully  accept  the  axiom  of  the  scientists,  viz., 
•  That  the  intelligence  of  animals  differs  from  that  of  man  only 
in  degree  and  not  in  kind.' " 

ANTHROPOLCX^hY.^ 

CoREA. — The  United  States  National  Museum  has  just  received 
from  Ensign  J.  B.  Bernadou,  U.S.N.,  a  large  and  intelligently  se- 
lected collection  of  ethnological  objects  from  Corea.  Among 
them  are  several  illustrated  books  full  of  water-color  sketches  of 
Corean  life.  Almost  the  same  day,  Messrs.  Ticknor  &  Co.  sent 
us  Mr.  Percival  Lowell's  work  entitled,  "  Choson,  the  land  of  the 
Morning  Calm,  a  sketch  of  Corea."  We  rarely  have  the  opportu- 
nity of  testing  a  book  of  travels,  in  an  out-of-the-way  region,  by 
the  touchstone  of  things.  It  has  been  for  that  reason  a  source  of 
great  pleasure  to  us  to  read  Mr.  Lowell's  book,  in  the  light  of 
Ensign  Bernadou's  specimens.  Perhaps  the  air  of  the  philoso- 
pher, which  the  author  here  and,  there  assumes,  may  to  some 
readers  appear  the  more  attractive  part.  But  to  us,  we  must  ad- 
mit, the  chief  charm  lies  in  the  assurance,  growing  on  us  from 
page  to  page,  that  the  writer  is  telling  the  truth.  The  journey 
to  Soul  from  Chemulpo  in  a  sedan-chair,  and  the  khan  heated 
with  brush,  are  verities.  We  have  seen  pictures  of  these  things 
painted  by  Coreans  themselves,  and  they  look  like  Mr.  Lowell's 
descriptions.  The  walls,  gateways,  detached  houses,  endless 
series  of  courtyards,  tile  roofs,  grinning  monsters  on  the  house 
tops,  are  well-drawn  word  pictures  of  things  that  have  existence. 
Then  the  baggy  clothing,  pantaloons  that  measure  just  seventy-two 
inches  in  the  waistband,  great  flowing  surplices,  shoes  of  straw,  hats 
in  endless  variety,  the  sack-cloth  of  the  mourner,  these  are  portrayed 
so  faithfully  that  we  have  only  to  transfer  Mr.  Lowell's  language 
to  the  label.  The  three  chapters,  impersonality,  patriarchy  and 
the  position  of  woman,  are  well  and  clearly  worded  expressions  of 
convictions  after  a  brief  stay  and  superficial  examination.  Ameri- 
cans who  have  spent  many  years  in  the  far  east  have  lost  some 
predilections  on  these  subjects  after  a  wider  experience. 

The  palaces  of  Corea  are  essentially  Chinese.  First  the  great 
courtyard  where  horsemen  dismount,  bulls  of  burden  halt,  and 
sedan-chairs  discharge  their  living  cargoes.  Then  the  arched 
gateways  and  paragons  of  roofs,  covering  the  entrance  to  a  first 
inner  court,  where  bearers  of  gifts  and  invited  guests  arrange 
charms  to  captivate  royalty.  The  graded  ways  and  platforms 
leading  to  a  verandahed  throne-room,  where  soldiers  and  citi- 
zens vie  in  the  gorgeousness  of  their  profuse  attire  and  especially 

1  Edited  by  Prof.  Otis  T.  Mason,  National  Museum,  Washington,  D.  C. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


570  Genet  ai  Notes.  [June, 

in  the  diversity  of  their  hats.  Above  all,  the  affected  grandeur 
of  royalty  amid  decay  and  national  poverty,  these  are  all  subjects 
which  Mr.  Lowell  fully  appreciates  and  describes  with  charming 
grace. 

As  to  the  population,  Mr.  Lowell  says :  "  Money  being  more 
important  to  the  Corean  official  oligarchy  than  men,  the  amount 
of  taxable  property  in  the  kingdom,  represented  principally  by 
rice  fields,  is  much  more  accurately  known  than  is  the  number  of 
its  inhabitants.  No  census  of  the  population  is  ever  takea.  the 
number  of  the  houses  alone  being  counted.  The  estimate  formed 
recently  by  a  Japanese  paper  is  probably  the  nearest  yet  made  to 
the  truth.     This  estimate  gives  Corea  12,000,000  inhabitants. 

"As  for  Soul,  the  aggregate  of  population,  includingboth  the  city 
proper — that  is,  the  part  within  the  wall — and  the  outlying  suburbs^p 
will  probably  not  exceed  in  all  250,000  souls.  The  amount  of 
ground  covered  is  about  ten  square  miles.  But  a  city  in  the  far 
east  extends  only  in  two  dimensions,  not,  as  with  us,  in  three. 
Tokio,  in  Japan,  with  about  1,200,000  inhabitants,  covers  eighty 
squs^re^miles. 

"The  fabulously  large  estimated  populations  of  Chinese  cities — 
as  for  instance.  Canton — will,*  I  think,  ofn  trustworthy  census  be 
found  to  have  been  greatly  exaggerated." 

The  Relation  of  Anthropologv  to  the  Science  of  Mind. — 
In  the  scheme  of  anthropology  followed  by  the  Naturalist,  the 
science  of  mind  follows  hard  upon  comparative  physiology.  In 
this  journal,  as  it  would  be  in  an  academy  or  scientific  association, 
the  rule  has  been  to  allow  only  th^se  psychical  inquiries  to  enter 
in  which  natural  history  methods  and  processes,  well  approved, 
have  been  engaged.  It  is  with  profound  pleasure,  therefore,  that 
we  draw  attention  to  Dr.  Alexander  Bain's  paper,  read  at  the  last 
meeting  of  the  British  Association,  upon  the  scope  of  anthropology 
and  its  relation  to  ttie  science  of  mind.  Says  this  distinguished 
authority :  "  The  mode  of  research,  grounded  on  discriminative 
sensibility,  and  working  up  from  that,  according  to  the  best  known 
principles  of  our  intellectual  nature,  may  be  contrasted  with 
another  mode  which  has  always  been  in  vogue,  namely,  finding 
out  and  noting  any  surprising  feats  that  animals  can  perform,  out 
of  all  proportion  to  what  we  should  be  led  to  expect  of  them. 
The  spirit  of  such  inquiries  is  rather  to  defy  explanation  than  to 
promote  it ;  they  delight  to  nonplus  and  puzzle  the  scientific  in- 
vestigator, who  is  working  his  way  upward  by  slow  steps  to  the 
higher  mysteries.  Before  accounting  for  the  exceptional  gifts  of 
animals — the  geniuses  of  a  tribe — we  should  be  able  to  prove  the 
average  and  recurring  capabilities. 

"  It  is  an  error  to  suppose  that  mental  qualities  do  not  admit  of 
measurement.  No  doubt  the  higher  complex  feelings  of  the 
mind  are  incapable  of  being  stated  with  numerical  precision,  yet, 


Digitized  by 


Google 


1 886.]  Anihfopology.  5  7 1 

by  a  proper  mode  of  approaching  the  subject,  a  very  considerable 
degree  of  accuracy  is  attainable. 

"  As  to  the  present  position  of  the  science  of  mind  in  the  British 
Association,  it  is  nowhere.  Taken  in  snatches,  it  appears  in  several 
places;  it  would  come  in  under  zoology,  which  embraces  all  that 
relates  to  animals ;  under  physiology,  in  connection  with  the 
nervous  system  and  the  senses ;  and  it  figures  still  more  largely, 
although  in  an  altogether  subordinate  and  scarcely  acknowledged 
fashion,  in  the  section  on  anthropology.  Indeed,  to  exclude  it 
from  this  section  would  be  impossible ;  man  is  nothing  without 
his  mind. 

"  Now,  while  zoology  and  physiology  would  keep  the  study 
of  mind  within  narrow  limits,  there  is  no  such  narrowness  in  the 
present  section.  In  the  ample  bosom  of  anthropology,  any  really 
valuable  contribution  to  the  science  of  mind"  should  have  a  nat- 
ural place. 

"  Psycholog)'  has  now  a  very  large  area  of  neutral  [non-contro- 
versialj  information ;  it  possesses  materials  gathered  by  the  same 
methods  of  rigorous  observation  and  induction  that  are  followed  in 
the  other  sciences.  The  researches  of  this  section  exemplify  some 
of  these.  If  these  researches  are  persisted  in,  they  will  go  still 
further  into  the  heart  of  psychology  as  a  science,  and  the  true 
couise  will  be  to  welcome  all  the  new  experiments  for  determin- 
ing mental  facts  with  precision,  and  to  treat  psychology  as  an 
acknowledged  member  of  the  section.  To  this  subdivision  would 
then  be  brought  the  researches  into  the  brain  and  nerves  that 
deal  with  mental  functions ;  the  experiments  on  the  senses  having 
reference  to  our  sensations;  the  whole  of  the  present  mathematics 
of  man,  bodily  and  mental ;  the  still  more  advanced  inquiries  re- 
lating to  our  intelligence ;  and  the  nature  of  emotion,  as  illustrated 
by  expression,  in  the  manner  of  Darwin's  famous  treatise.  In- 
deed, if  you  were  to  admit  such  a  paper  as  that  contributed  by 
Mr.  Spencer  to  the  Anthropological  Institute,  you  would  commit 
yourself  to  a  much  further  raid  on  the  ground  of  psychology  than 
is  implied  in  such  an  enumeration  as  the  foregoing."— y.  Anthrop, 
Jmt,  XV,  380-388. 

Jewish  Ability. — Mr.  Joseph  Jacobs,  who  has  been  communi- 
cating to  the  Anthropological  Institute  papers  upon  the  Jewish 
race,  reproduces  in  the  February  number  of  the  journal  of  that 
society  his  paper,  read  at  the  Aberdeen  meeting  of  the  British 
Association.  Applying  to  Jews  Mr.  Galton's  methods  with 
reference  to  hereditary  genius  in  England,  he  aims  to  find  how 
many  eminent  men,  of  certain  rank,  exist  in  each  million  of 
Englishmen,  Scotchmen  and  Jews. 

It  follows  that  the  722,oooih  is  equal  in  ability  to  the  739,000th 
Scotchman  and  the  756,000th  Englishman,  reckoning  from  the 
bottom.    Or,  in  other  words,  if  we  took  a  hundred  men  at  hazard 


Digitized  by 


Google 


5/2  General  Notes.  [June, 

from  each  of  the  three  races,  the  72d  Jew,  reckoned  from  the 
least  able,  would  equal  in  ability  the  74th  Scotchman  or  the  76th 
Englishman,  and  would  be  the  superior  to  the  72d  of  either  of 
the  other  two  races.  Thus  we  arrive  at  last  at  a  real  comparative 
estimate  of  Jewish  ability,  which  we  may  state  roughly  in  the  fol- 
lowing way  :  The  average  Jew  has  four  per  cent  more  ability  than 
the  average  Englishman,  and  two  per  cent  more  than  the  average 
Scotchman. 

The  men  of  ability  are  arranged  in  grades,  according  to  their 
eminence,  over  the  s[>ace  of  a  century.  It  is  interesting  to  note 
even  the  names.  In  the  first  rank  Mr.  Jacobs  places  Benjamin 
Disraeli,  Heinrich  Heine,  Ferdinand  Lassalle  and  Felix  Bartholdy- 
Mendelssohn.  In  the  second  class  are  Auerbach,  Benfey, 
Borne,  Cremieux,  Gans,  A.  Geiger,  Graetz,  Halevy,  Sir  W.  Her- 
schell,  Jacobi,  Jessel,  Lasker,  Maimon,  Marx,  Meyerbeer,  Neander, 
Oppert,  Palgrave,  Rachel,  Ricardo,  Jules  Simon,  Steinthal  and 
Lazarus,  Sylvester,  Steinschneider  and  Zunz. 

The  reasons  assigned  by  Mr.  Jacobs  for  Jewish  ability  in  cer- 
tain lines  are  doubtless  correct,  and  furnish  a  confutation  of  the 
doctrine  that  only  prosperity  ministers  to  human  progress. 

The  Mangue  Language. — Dr.  Brinton  read  before  the  Ameri- 
can Philosophical  Society,  in  November  last,  a  paper  on  the  Mangue, 
an  extinct  dialect  formerly  spoken  in  Nicaragua.  The  chief 
source  of  this  paper  was  the  MS.  of  Don  Juan  Eligio  de  la  Rocha. 
The  Mangue  is  the  mother-tongue,  from  which  the  Chiapanec 
of  Chiapas  branched  off.  The  Mangues  at  one  time  occupied 
the  whole  coast,  from  the  entrance  of  the  Gulf  of  Nicoya  to 
Fonseca  bay.  Some  time  in  the  fourteenth  century  a  large  col- 
ony of  Aztecs  descended  the  coast  and  seized  the  strip  between 
Lake  Nicaragua  and  the  Pacific,  thus  splitting  the  Mangues  in 
two  and  driving  a  large  part  of  them  from  their  homes. 

"  Tableau  des  Bacabs"  is  the  name  given  by  Leon  de  Rosny 
to  a  certain  double  plate  of  the  Cortesian  Codex.  By  that  name 
he  intended  to  indicate  that  the  table  or  plate  refers  to  the  four 
Bacabs,  or  gods,  which  were  supposed  to  bear  up  the  four  comers 
of  the  earth — the  gods  of  the  cardinal  points. 

On  this  plate  are  the  four  characters  supposed  to  be  the  sym- 
bols of  the  cardinal  points.  As  these  probably  occupy  on  this 
plate  their  proper  relative  positions,  we  have  here,  perhaps,  the 
best  existing  data  by  which  to  determine  the  respective  points  to 
which  the  symbols  are  assigned. 

Entering  upon  the  study  of  the  plate  with  this  object  in  view, 
I  soon  formed  the  opinion  that  the  plate  is,  in  fact,  a  calen- 
dar table.  The  discovery  that  the  rows  of  day  symbols,  lines  and 
dots  in  the  outer  form  but  a  single  continuous  line  and  cover  one 
cycle  of  thirteen  months,  or  260  days,  convinces  him  of  the  correct- 
ness of  this  opinion.    Applying  this  disco  /ery  to  the  plate  44  of  the 


Digitized  by 


Google 


J  886.J  Anthropology.  573 

Fejervary  Codex,  and  bearing^  in  mind  that  it  was  Mexican,  it  was 
readily  shown  to  be  a  calendar  formed  upon  the  same  plan  as  the 
**  Tableau  des  Bacabs."  His  next  step  was  to  determine,  if  possi- 
ble, the  object  of  the  singular  arrangement  of  the  days  in  the  mid- 
♦dle  circle  of  the  Cortesian  plate  and  in  the  corners  of  the  Fejervary 
plate.  This  he  has  shown  clearly  to  have  been  in  accordance 
with  both  a  Maya  and  Mexican  custom  of  dividing  the  twenty 
days  of  the  month  into  four  groups  by  placing  them  in  the 
order  they  come,  one  alternating  in  each  group.  Each  of  these 
groups  have  a  special  relation  to  one  of  the  four  years  of  both, 
calendar  systems.  The  first  part  of  my  paper  is  devoted  to  the 
explanation  and  discussion  of  these  points ;  the  remaining  por- 
tion to  the  proper  assignment  of  the  cardinal  point  symbols.  In 
the  course  of  this  discussion,  I  enter  at  some  length  into  the 
question  of  the  assignment  of  the  years,  colors  and  elements. 

Since  the  publication  of  this  paper,  it  has  been  ascertained 
that  some  of  the  conclusions  reached  by  me  have  been  arrived  at 
independently  by  one  or  two  of  the  European  students,  whose 
papers  on  these  codices  will  shortly  be  published.  I  am  how 
satisfied  that  I  am  able  to  explain  and  illustrate  the  use  and  sig- 
nificance of  nearly  all  the  numerals  in  the  Dresden  and  other 
Maya  codices.  By  means  of  this  discovery,  the  reality  of  which 
is  demonstrable,  most  of  the  obliterated  day  symbols  and  numeral 
characters  can  be  restored  and  errors  in  the  reproductions  de- 
tected. This  discovery  shows  that  these  calendar  systems  are 
much  simpler  than  they  have  been  supposed  to  be. — Cyrus 
Thomas. 

Aboriginal  Baking  Pans. — I  wish  to  call  th*e  special  attention 
of  archaeologist  to  a  form  of  stone  implement  upon  which  addi- 
tional light  has  been  thrown.  Lt.  Ray,  U.S.A.,  has  just  sent  to  the 
National  Museum  a  collection  of  objects  illustrating  the  aborig- 
inal industries  of  the  Hupa  Indians  of  California.  Among  these 
are  five  stone  implements,  called  baking  pans,  used  in  cooking 
bread  made  of  acorn  meal.  They  may  be  very  properly  termed 
"  individual  "  pans,  each  of  them  holding  enough  meal  to  bake 
a  good-sized  corn-cake,  with  brown  crust  all  around.  They  are 
made  either  of  lapisollaris,  or  of  a  soft  schist  not  subject  to  fire- 
cracks.  The  dimensions  are  as  foUows,  although  the  outline  is  a 
'^^xy  irregular  oval : 

77,160. — Length,  3)^  inches;  width,  7.%  inches;  height,  U  inch. 
77,161.— Length,  3^  inches;  width,  3>^  inches;  height,  i finches. 
77,162. — Length,  5  inches;  width,  3 j^  inches;  height,  \y^  inches. 
77i>63. — Length,  4|^  inches;  width,  3^;^  inch<*s;  height  z%  inches. 
77,164. — Length,  6^  inches;  width,  i%  inches;  height,  i^  inches. 

With  the  exception  of  77,163,  of  schist,  they  are  from  |  to  i  inch 
thick.  Comparing  these  w*ith  our  archaeological  collections,  I 
find  many  specimens  of  soft  material  labeled  pamt-cups,  which  are 
much  more  likely  to  have  been  individual  baking  pans. 

VOt.   XX.— HO.  VI.  38 


Digitized  by 


Google 


574  General  Notes.  [June, 

War-Clubs  vs.  Digging- Sticks. — Toward  the  end  of  April  the 
secretary  of  the  Smithsonian  Institution  received  from  Dr.  Stephen 
Bowers,  of  San  Buenaventura,  California,  editor  of  the /'tfri/Zciofwr^ 
Monthly,  No.  4,  Vol.  i,  of  that  publication,  containing  an  account  of 
the  discovery  of  Indian  relics  in  a  cave  in  the  San  Martin  mountains* 
Los  Angeles  county,  California.  Among  the  relics  were  four 
heavy  perforated  stone  (probably  serpentine)  disks,  measuring 
from  four  to  five  and  a  half  inches  in  diameter,  and  still  retaining 
their  handles  of  toyon  or  bearberry-wood,  which  is  among  the 
hardest  in  Southern  California,  The  handles  are  from  thirteen  to 
seventeen  inches  in  length,  and  are  cut  oflf  bluntly.  To  judge 
from  an  accompanying  photograph,  the  stones  are  in  every  way 
analogous  to  a  certain  class  among  the  many  perforated  stones 
collected  by  Mr.  Paul  Schumacher  and  others  in  the  same  neigh^ 
borhood,  and  now  in  the  archaeological  collection  of  the  National 
Museum. 

Dr.  Rau  expressed  ten  years  ago  (in  "Archaeological  Collection 
of  the  U.  S.  National  Museum,"  p.  31),  the  opinion  that  the  more 
bulky  of  the  Californian  disk  or  cone-shaped  stones  served  as  club* 
heads,  and  he  was  strengthened  in  his  view  by  the  fact  that  the 
extensive  National  Museum  collections  from  the  above-named 
region  contain  no  other  heavy  implements  which  could  have 
been  used  for  striking ;  but  he  could  not  then  foresee  that  his 
theory  would  be  so  unexpectedly  verified  by  the  finding  of  such 
stones  with  their  handles  still  inserted.  Mr.  Schumacher  con- 
sidered the  stones  as  weights  for  digging-sticks,  relying  on  the 
statement  of  a  half-breed  vaquero. 

The  Aztec  Language  is  still  the  favorite  language  among 
linguistic  students  as  well  as  among  the  scholarly  authors  of 
books  on  American  ethnology.  The  harmonious,  vocalic  struct- 
ure of  its  words  as  well  as  the  copiousness  of  its  literature 
may  account  for  that,  and  we  gratefully  acknowledge  every  new 
effort  to  popularize  the  study  of  Aztec,  whenever  such  efforts 
rest  on  a  scientific  basis.  The  director  of  the  Mexican  Statistical 
Bureau,  Mr.  Ant.  Pefiafiel,  has  made  a  new  advance  in  that  direc- 
tion by  republishing  the  "Arte  Mexicana  "  of  the  Jesuit  priest  of 
Puebla,  Antonio  del  Rincon  (died  1601),  who  after  a  prolonged 
theoretic  study  of  liis  own  dialect,  that  of  Tezcuco,  published  the 
above  Aztec  grammar  in  1595.'  Antonio  del  Rincon  was  a  de* 
scendant  of  the  "  kings  "  ol  Tezcuco,  near  Mexico,  and  as  such 
had  peculiar  facilities  of  becoming  acquainted  with  all  the  dialects 
of  Anahuac,  if  not  of  the  whole  Nahuatl  family.  In  the  vocab- 
ulary appended,  he  differs  in  many  points  irom  Molina,  and 
whether  he  then  gives  his  native  Tezcucan  dialect  forms  or  vary- 
ing forms  of  the  "  literary  "  Aztec,  is  not  always  possible  to  find 
out.  As  an  early  source  for  dialectic  study  the  "  Arte  Mexicana  " 
will  prove  to  be  of  peculiar  value. — A.  S.  Gatschet, 


Digitized  by 


Google 


1 886.]  Microscopy.  575 

MIOROSOOFY.^ 

Structure  of  the  Human  Skin. — The  following  note  refers  to 
a  method  of  isolating  the  epidermis  of  human  and  other  embryos 
from  the  underlying  dermis,  and  to  the  presence  of  a  layer  of 
cells,  not  previously  described,  which  may  be  observed  in  the 
epidermis  when  so  prepared,  and  which  corresponds,  I  think,  to 
the  epitrichium  of  birds.  The  method  is  also  convenient  for  the 
study  of  the  development  of  hairs. 

It  is  well  known  to  physicians  that  if  the  foetus  dies  and  is 
retained,  it  is  preserved  for  a  considerable  peripd  without  disinte- 
gration of  the  tissues  in  the  amniotic  fluid.  In  specimens  thus 
preserved  it  is  often  found  that  the  epidermis  is  loosened  so  much 
that  strips  can  be  removed  without  tearingoflfthe  underlying  tissues. 
Now  as  the  amniotic  fluid  is  little  more  than  a  salt  solutioil,  the 
facts  just  stated  naturally  suggest  that  a  salt  solution  preserved 
from  septic  changes  is  sufficient  to  loosen  the  epidernn's  of  the 
embryo.  My  experiments  have  satisfied  me  that  a  sojourn  of  several 
days  in  a  0.6  per  cent  solution  of  common  salt,  with  o.i  per  cent 
thymol  added  to  prevent  putrefaction,  is  a  simple  and  satisfactory 
way  of  liberating  the  embryonic  epidermis  from  its  connections, 
so  that  bits  can  be  easily  renioved  for  histological  examination, 
for  which  they  are  apparently  still  adapted ;  even  the  minute 
structure  of  the  nucleus  will  persist  through  this  treatment, 
though  imperfectly. 

A  piece  of  epidermis  of  a  human  embryo,  of  about  six  months, 
taken  from  the  scalp  by  this  method  and  stained  with  haema- 
toxyline,  is  shown  in  the  accompanying  figure ;'  each  dot  repre- 
sents a  nucleus.  We  distinguish  two  kinds  of  nuclei,  those  which 
are  darker  stained  and  those  which  are  lighter.  Some  of  the 
nuclei  in  the  figure  appear  darker  from  another  cause  to  be  stated 
directly,  but  with  the  exception  of  these,  all  the  dark  nuclei 
belong  to  cells  which  participate  in  the  formation  of  the  hairs. 
At  first  the  dark  nuclei  make  a  little  cluster,  as  at  /  and  2  ;  the 
clusters  grow  in  size ;  one  a  litttle  larger  is  seen  just  to  the  left  of 
that  numbered  ^,  one  a  good  deal  larger  is  shown  at  j.  Sections 
show  that  such  clusters  are  on  the  under  side  of  the  epidermis  and 
form  slight  protuberances  or  rudimentary  papillae ;  the  papillae 
lengthen  out  and  acquire  rounded  ends,  4;  they  grow  rapidly  down 
into  the  cutis,  and  by  the  contraction  of  their  upper  part  become 
club-shaped,  5  and  6l  The  next  step  is  the  formation  of  the  der- 
mal papillae  of  the  hair,  7 ;  a  little  notch  arises  at  the  thick  end  of 
the  epidermal  ingrowth,  and  the  tissue  filling  this  notch  is  the  so- 
called  dermal  papilla.  The  figure  presents  also  a  well-developed 
hair ;  here  the  axial  portion  of  the  papilla  has  formed  the  hair,  A, 
while  the  cortical  portion  has  formed  the  follicle,/;  the  end  of  the 

*  Edited  by  Dr.  C.  O.  WHmiAN,  Mus.  Compontive  Zofilogy,  Cambridge.  Mass. 
*Tbe  illttstnUioivi  are  borrowed  fron^  a  forU^coming  wqrk  o^  human  emhiyolcigy. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


576  Ceneiol  Notts.  [June, 

hair  is  thickened,  h\  as  the  so-called  hair  bulb ;  the  sebaceous 
gland,  Gl,  has  begun  to  grow  out  from  the  foUicuIar  walls.  In 
the  upper  part  of  the  follicle  the  hair  lies  quite  free,  hence  in  sev- 
eral places  where  the  hairs  have  been  forcibly  torn  off  the  upper 
part  of  the  follicle,  F,  still  remains,  while  the  lower  part  attached 


Fig.  I. — Embryo  human  epidermis. 

to  the  hair  is  gone.     In  the  walls  of  the  follicle  I  notice  granules 
which  I  take  to  be  of  eleidine  (cf.  Ranvier's  Traite  technique, 
p.  890). 
The  ^bov^  descriptiqn  contains  nothing  new,  and  is  intended 


Digitized  by 


Google 


1886.] 


Microscopy. 


S77 


to  serve  merely  as  an  explanation  of  the  preparation  regarded  as 
an  object  to  demonstrate  the  development  of  hairs.  The  prepa- 
ration also  reveals  the  existence  of  an  important  undescribed 
layer  in  the  skin,  namely,  the  epitrichium. 

With  a  low  power  one  observes  in  the  preparation  we  have 
been  considering,  and  in  others  similar  to  it,  that  there  are  scat- 
tered about  everywhere  little  groups  of  nuclei,  three  to  five,  as  / 
in  Fig.  I,  which  appear  darker  than  the  rest;  only  a  very  few 
of  these  are  represented  in  the  drawing ;  examination  with  a 
higher  power  shows  that  this  efTect  is  produced  by  large  stained 
bodies  lying  on  the  outer  surface  of  the  skin. 

The  characters  of  the  bodies  in  question  are  indicated  by  the 
accompanying  figure.  They  are  irregular  in  size  and  shape; 
quite  granular ;  in  prep* 
arations  stained  in  pi- 
cric-acid carmine  each 
body  is  readily  seen  to 
lie  in  a  separate  area 
with  very  distinct  polyg- 
onal outlines,  but  the 
area  is  only  partly  filled 
by  the  body ;  occasion- 
ally there  is  a  distinct 
round  body  of  smaller 
size  and  more  darkly 
stained  than  the  main 
body  we  are  now  de- 
scribing. I  consider 
the  outlines  to  be  cellu-  Fig-  2. — Human  epitrichium. 

lar,  the  granular  bodies  to  be  the  shrunken  mass  of  protoplasm 
of  the  cells,  and  the  inner  round  body  to  be  the  nucleus.  In  fact, 
the  supposed  nuclei  appear  very  clearly  in  almost  every  one  ot 
the  cells  after  a  specimen  has  been  stained  by  alum  haematoxy- 
line.  The  cells  are  very  much  larger  than  those  of  the  horny 
layer  proper,  two  layers  of  which  are  drawn  in,  in  the  figure,  to 
scale  for  comparison.  The  layer  of  cells  is  continuous  over  the 
whole  surface,  even  over  the  hair  follicles  and  the  hairs,  and  is 
absolutely  distinct  from  the  horny  layer.  It  can  hardly  be  ques- 
tioned that  it  is  homologous  with  the  so-called  epitrichium  of 
birds  and  reptiles.  For  a  full  account  of  the  epitrichium  of  those 
animals,  I  refer  to  the  valuable  memoir  by  E.  G.  Gardiner  in  the 
Archiv.  fur  mikroskopische  Anatomic,  Vol.  xxiv,  p.  289.  Welcker 
long  ago  (1864)  showed  that  an  epitrichium,  or  a  special  layer 
outside  of  the  horny  layer,  exists  in  various  mammals,  but  K61- 
liker  has  expressly  denied  the  occurrence  of  a  true  epitrichium 
in  man,  and  after  saying  in  his  larger  Entwickelungsgeschichte 
(2d  ed.,  p.  776)  that  the  outer  parts  of  the  horny iayer  may  be 
thrown  off,  adds,  "  it  has  not  been  demonstrated,  that  over  all  and 


Digitized  by 


Google 


578  Scientific  News.  {June, 

in  the  first  instance  only  the  external  layer  is  sloughed  ofT,  and 
that  between  this  and  the  next  following  horny  layers  there  is  a 
definite  contrast."  As  we  have  seen,  the  distinguished  Wurzburg 
embryologist  has  expressed  doubts  not  justified  by  the  facts, 
there  being  an  external  layer  which  is  extremely  different  from 
the  horny  layer,  and  is  apparently  a  true  epitrichium. 

The  human  epitrichium,  so  far  as  I  have  observed,  is  devel* 
oped  quite  late,  about  the  fourth  or  fifth  month,  though  to  be 
sure  an  enlargement  of  the  outermost  epidermal  cells  may  be 
observed  earlier  than  this. 

I  deem  it  probable  that  the  presence  of  the  epitrichium  as  an 
intact  membrane  results  in  the  retention  of  the  secretions  of  the 
foetal  sebaceous  glands,  and  is  therefore  the  immediate  cause  of 
that  hitherto  unexplained  phenomenon,  the  formation  of  the  so* 
called  vernix  caseosa  of  physicians. 

It  is  not  rare  in  science  that  something,  easily  seen,  remains 
long  overlooked,  and  each  time  we  are  touched  by  surprise  when 
observation  is  thus  corrected.  Certainly  the  human  skin  is  not 
a  structure  which  the  microscopist  would  have  searched  in  order 
to  discover  a  new  layer  of  cells,  which  are  easily  demonstrated 
and  very  conspicuous.  I  may  confess  that  I  looked  at  the  prep- 
arations, which  show  the  epitrichium  plainly,  a  great  many  times 
without  observing  at  all  what  I  now  see  at  the  first  glance. — 
Charles  Sedgwick  MinoU 

Karyokinesis. — In  the  study  of  karyokinesis  in  the  arthropods, 
Professor  J.  B.  Carnoy^  obtained  the  best  results  with  the  two 
following  mixtures: 

(i)'  Chiiomic  acid  (2  p.  c.  or  more).. • . • .  .45  parts. 

Osmic  acid  (2  p.  c.) 16    <* 

Glacial  acetic  acid 3    *< 

(2)  Corrusive  sublimate 

Glacial  acetic  acid  (i  p.  c). 

The  object  (testes)  is  left  from  six  to  ten  minutes  in  one  of  these 
mixtures ;  then  washed  in  distilled  waters  and  further  hardened  in 
alcohol. 

SCIENTIFIC  NEWS. 

— Edward  Tuckerman,  professor  of  botany  in  Amherst  Col- 
lege, died  March  15,  aged  sixty-nine  years.  He  was  a  graduate 
of  Union  College  (1837),  of  Harvard  College  (1846),  of  the  Har- 
vard Law  School  (1839);  studied  history,  philosophy  and  botany 
several  years  in  Germany,  and  in  1858  was  appointed  to  the 
chair  of  botany  at  Amherst  College,  which  he  held  to  the  day  of 

1 1^  Cytodidrdse  chez  les  Arthropodes,  p.  21 1.  (Extrait  de  la  Revae  *'  La  Cellule," 
I,  2o  fas.,  Louvain,  1885.) 
s  Modified  form  of  Flemming's  mixture. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


1 886.]  SciifiH^  News.  579 

his  death.  Distinguished  as  a  h'chenologist,  Tuckertnan  was  one 
of  our  most  philosophical  botanists,  and  a  ripe  scholar,  with 
literary  skill  of  a  high  order,  belonging  to  a  family  well  known 
for  its  literary  and  musical  tastes.  Professor  Tuckerman  was  a 
pioneer  in  the  study  of  the  White  Mountain  flora.  His  name  as 
an  explorer  will  be  ever  remembered  in  the  ravine  of  Mt.  Wash- 
ington, which  bears  his  name.  Among  his  principal  works  are 
the  following:  "An  enumeration  of  North  American  Lichenes," 
1845  ;  "  A  synopsis  of  the  Lichenes  of  New  England,  the  other 
Northern  States  and  British  America,"  1848;  "  Genera  Lichenum : 
an  arrangement  of  the  North  American  Lichens,"  1872;  "A 
synopsis  of  the  North  American  Lichens,"  parti,  1882.  He  also 
contributed  the  chapter  on  lichenes  to  the  botany  of  Wilkes* 
U.  S.  Exploring  Expedition,  and  was  the  author  of  a  number  of 
other  papers  and  works. 

— The  annual  report  of  the  trustees  of  the  American  Museum 
of  Natural  History  in  Central  Park,  New  York,  for  1885-86, 
shows  gratifying  progress  in  the  scientific  development  of  that 
institution.  The  expenditures  for  maintenance  were  1^30,508.80, 
while  1^6,654.16  were  spent  for  improvements  and  additions  to 
the  collections;  $S<\9Z7'SO,  a  gift  of  Mr.  W.  H.  Vanderbilt,  being 
carried  to  the  endowment  fund.  The  purchases  include  the 
Bailey  collection  of  birds*  nest  and  eggs,  toward  the  purchase  of 
which  Mrs.  Robert  L.  Stewart  contributed  JS1500. 

— ^The  celebration  of  the  sixty-ninth  year  of  the  New  York 
Academy  of  Sciences  took  place  on  the  evening  of  May  icth,  at 
Columbia  College.  Secretary  H.  L.  Fairchild  read  an  interesting 
resume  of  the  society's  history.  Dr.  Asa  Gray  read  his  first  paper 
before  this  society.  Its  first  president  was  the  Hon,  Samuel 
L.  Mitchell,  who  held  the  office  seven  years.  He  was  succeeded 
by  Dr.  John  Torre)',  Major  Joseph  Delafield,  Professor  Charles 
A.  Joy  and  Dr.  John  S.  Newberry.  The  history  of  the  society 
will  form  the  subject  of  a  forthcoming  volume. 

— From  the  report  of  the  Zoological  Society  of  Philadelphia 
it  appears  that,  as  the  result  of  special  effort,  ;$22,ooo  were  raised 
for  the  present  and  future  support  of  the  garden.  Still  a  large 
endowment  fund  is  needed  to  render  the  garden  permanent.  The 
most  remsrkable  addition  was  a  pair  of  hairy-nosed  wombats 
froni  Australia.  A  notable  addition  is  three  hybrids  between  a 
female  Cants  latrans  and  a  male  dog,  said  to  be  a  Scotch  colley. 

— An  interesting  feature  of  recent  numbers  of  the  Journal  of  the 
Royal  Microscopical  Society  has  been  the  publication  of  portraits 
from  photographs  of  all  the  presidents  of  the  society.  The 
April  number  furnishes  a  full-page  likeness  of  the  present  presi* 
dent,  Kev.  W.  H.  Dallinger, 


Digitized  by 


Google 


5  8o  ProceecUngs  of  Scientific  SacieHes.  [June, 

—Mr.  Alfred  R.  Wallace,  the  distinguished  English  natural- 
ist, is  to  give  a  course  of  eight  lectures  at  the  Lowell  Institute, 
Boston,  Mass.,  beginning  in  November  next 

— Mr.  C.  W.  Peach,  so  well  known  as  a  zealous  field  naturalist 
and  collector  of  fossils,  whose  name  appeared  so  often  in  Gosse's 
sea-side  books,  died  in  March. 

— Dr.  T.  Speijcer  Cobbold,  well  known  for  his  work  on  para- 
sitic worms,  died  in  London  in  March,  aged  fifty-seven. 

— ^The  eminent  botanist  of  Liege.  Professor  C.  J.  E.  Morren, 
died  late  in  February  at  the  age  of  fifty-three  years. 


PROCEEDINGS  OF  SCIENTIFIC  SOCIETIES. 

National  Academy  of  Sciences. — In  addition  to  the  list  of 
papers  read  at  the  Washington  meeting  the  following  were  pre- 
sented April  2 1st  and  22d: 

.On  color  contrast.    By  Ogden  N.  Rood. 
Classification  of  the  Cambrian  system  of  North  America  (by  invitation).     By  Chas. 

D.  Walcott. 
Crystallization  of  platinum  by  means  of  the  electric  dbcharge  in  vacuo.    By  A.  W. 

Wright. 
The  Stomatopoda  of  the  ** Challenger''  collection.    By  W.  K.  Brooks. 
Budding  in  the  Tunicata.     By  W^  K.  Brooks. 

Effect  of  magnetization  on  the  electrical  resistance  of  metals.     By  A.  W.  Wright 
On  a  proposed  expedition  into  the  interior  of  Greenland  during  the  present  summer 

with  Disco  as  a  base  (by  invitation).     By  R.  E.  Peary,  U.  S.  N. 

At  an  evening  meeting  of  the  academy  the  Henr>'  Draper 
medal  was  for  the  first  time  awarded  to  Professor  S.  P.  I^ngley 
for  his  researches  on  solar  physics.  The  Watson  medal,  with  an 
honorarium  of  one  hundred  dollars,  was  given  to  Dr.  B.  A. 
Gould  as  a  recognition  of  his  services  to  astronomy  in  founding 
and  conducting  the  Cordova  observatory.  At  the  same  meeting 
a  biographical  notice  of  the  late  Professor  Arnold  Guyot,  pre- 
pared by  Professor  J.  D.  Dana,  was  presented,  and  a  similar  notice 
of  the  late  Professor  John  W.  Draper  was  read  by  Professor 
Barker. 

Biological  Society  of  Washington,  March  6. — Communi- 
cations :  Dr.  George  Vasey,  New  and  recent  species  of  North 
American  grasses ;  Mr.  Charles  Hallock,  Hyper- instinct  of  ani- 
mals ;  Dr.  W.  S.  Barnard,  Exhibition  of  a  fungus,  with  remarks ; 
Dr.  H.  G.  Beyer,  U.  S.  N.,  Remarks  on  antipyretics. 

March  20. — Communications  :  Dr.  D.  E.  Salmon  and  Dr.  Th. 
Smith,  Notes  on  some  biological  analyses  of  Potomac  drinking- 
water  ;  Dr.  H,  G.  Beyer,  U.  S.  N.,  Remarks  on  antipyretics ;  Dr.  W. 
S.  Barnard,  Exhibition  of  a  fungus,  with  remarks;  Mr.  F.  H. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


1 886.]  Proceedings  of  Scientific  Societies.  5  8 1 

Knowlton,  Additions  to  and  changes  in  the  Flora  Columbiana  for 
1885. 

April  3. — Communications:  Dr.  Frank  Baker  and  Mr.  J.  L. 
Wortman,  Recent  investigations  into  the  mechanism  of  the  elbow- 
joint  ;  Mr.  J.  B.  Smith,  Some  peculiar  secondary  sexual  charac- 
ters in  the  Deltoids,  and  their  supposed  function ;  Dr.  C.  Hart 
Merriam,  Contributions  to  North  American  mammalogy — in. 
Description  of  a  new  sub-species  of  a  gray  squirrel ;  Dr.  R.  W. 
Shufeldt,  U.  S.  A.,  Some  early  and  as  yet  unpublished  drawings 
of  Audubon. 

April  17. — Communications :  Dr.  Theo.  Gill,  The  characteristics 
and  families  of  iniomous  fishes;  Mr.  F.  A.  Lucas,  Notes  on  the 
vertebras  of  Amphiuma,  Siren  and  Menopoma ;  Mr.  Frederick 
True,  I.  Exhibition  of  a  wood  hare  with  abnormal  growth  of 
fur;  2.  Some  distinctive  cranial  characters  of  the  Canadian  lynx; 
Mr.  John  B.  Smith,  Ants'  nests  and  their  inhabitants. 

May  I. — Communications.:  Dr.  R.  E.  C.  Stearns,  Instances  of 
the  effect  of  musical  sounds  on  animals;  Dr.  John  A.  Ryder, 
The  evolution  of  the  mammalian  placenta;  Dr.  T.  H.  Bean,  The 
trout  of  North  America,  with  exhibition  of  specimens;  Mr.  W. 
H.  Dall,  I.  On  the  attachment  of  Lingula,  with  exhibition  of 
specimens ;  2.  On  the  divisions  of  the  genus  Pecten. 

New  York  Academy  of  Sciences,  March  15,  1886. — Recent 
progress  in  chemistry,  by  Dr.  H.  Carrington  Bolton,  of  Trinity 
College,  Hartford,  Conn. 

March  22. — Significance  of  flora  to  the  Iroquois  (with  gram- 
matical notes),  by  Mrs.  Erminnie  A.  Smith. 

March  29. — Theories  concerning  the  protective  influence  of 
mitigated  virus,  by  Mr.  Lucius  Pitkin.. 

April  5. — Geological  notes  in  Western  Virginia,  North  Caro- 
lina and  Eastern  Tennessee  (illustrated  with  specimens),  by  Dr. 
N.  L.  Britton. 

April  19. — Mineralogical  notes  (a.  On  the  hardness  of  a  Bra- 
zilian diamond ;  d,  A  fifth  mass  of  meteoric  iron  from  Augusta 
county,  Va.;  c,  Asteriation  in  garnet),  by  Mr.  Geo.  F.  Kunz ; 
Minerals  of  Staten  Island,  by  Mr.  B.  B.  Chamberlin. 

April  26. — On  the  variation  of  decomposition  in  iron  pyrites,, 
its  cause,  and  its  relation  to  density,  by  Dr.  Alexis  A.  Julien. 

May  3. — Review  of  the  fossil  fishes  of  North  America,  with 
notice  of  some  new  species,  illustrated  with  specimens  and  lantern 
views,  by  Dr.  J.  S.  Newberry. 

Boston  Society  of  Natural  History,  March  17,  1886. — Dr. 
C.  C.  Abbot  described  the  habits  of  the  white-footed  mouse; 
Professor  Wm.  Trelease  read  a  paper  on  the  North  American 
species  of  Thalictrum  (meadow  rue) ;  Professor.  W.  T.  Sedgwick 


Digitized  by 


Google 


582  Proceedings  of  Scientijic  Societies.        [June,  1886. 

exhibited  some  new  and  simple  forms  of  apparatus  in  use  in  the 
biological  laboratory  of  the  Massachusetts  Institute  of  Tech- 
nology. 

April  7. — Dr.  R.  R.  Andrews  read  a  paper  on  the  development 
of  the  teeth  (illustrated  by  the  stereopticon) ;  Dr.  S.  Kneeland 
showed  some  metallic  tubes  from  a  girdle  found  on  an  Indian 
skeleton  at  Fall  river — the  sorcalled  "  Skeleton  in  Armor ;"  and 
Mr.  S.  H.  Scudder  spoke  of  the  mode  of  life  of  an  ancient  beetle. 

April  21. — Mr.  Percival  Lowell  read  a  paper  on  the  Corean 
language ;  and  Professor  A.  Hyatt  showed  and  explained  Hat- 
scheck's  models  of  the  development  of  a  vertebrate  (Amphioxus). 

May  5. — ^The  annual  meeting  was  held  on  this  date.  Business  : 
Annual  reports  of  the  curator,  secretary,  and  treasurer,  on  the 
condition  and  work  of  the  society ;  report  of  the  committee  on 
the  Walker  prize  for  1886;  election  of  officers  for  1886-7.  Com- 
munication :  Dr.  G.  L.  Goodale  read  a  paper  upon  plasmolysis. 

Appalachian  Mountain  Club,  March  10,  18^6. — Mr.  J.  Ray- 
ner  Edmands  read  a  paper  entitled  ''  A  day  on  Flume  mountain 
and  a  night  in  the  wilderness;"  Mr.  S.  H.  Scudder  made  some 
remarks  on  the  progress  of  the  State  topographical  survey ;  Mr. 
Rosewell  B.  Lawrence  exhibited  a  new  map  of  Middlesex  Fells, 
intended  to  show  wood-roads  and  foot-paths.  The  following  sub- 
ject was  presented  for  discussion :  What  should  be  done  by  or  for 
persons  detained  (possibly  lost  or  injured)  among  woods  and 
.mountains  ? 

March  23. — Mr.  S.  H.  Scudder  occupied  the  evening  with  an  ac- 
count of  his  three  months'  adventures  by  stage,  canoe  and  ox-cart 
with  an  eclipse  party  in  the  Winnepeg  and  Saskatchewan  country 
a  quarter  of  a  century  ago. 

April  14. — ^A  paper  by  Professor  A.  S.  Packard,  entitled  "  Over 
the  Mexican  plateau  on  a  diligence,"  was  read  by  Mr.  F.  W. 
Freeborn;  Professor  E.  C.  Pickering  presented  for  discussion 
plans  for  a  summer  school  in  geodesy  and  topography. 

April  20. — ^A  semi-social  meeting  was  hold  from  7.30  to  10.30. 
During  the  evening  Rev.  John  Worcester  showed  fifty  lantern 
views  of  scenery  on  the  Great  Range. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


^^Wr^  t  V^  t  V**^  t  V^:^  t  A-i^-v^  ^^ 


^e  V-^:n%^\^i 


Jr 


^•^SINGi.c.  wmwDcifg,  aa  ue.wi>.     o^ 


I 


~^^, 


Contents. 


a^^  YEARLY  SUBSCRIPTION,  S4.00    • 


PACB. 

A  New  Trap-door  Spidsr.    [Illustnted.]    do.  F. 
AtkimtoH 583 

A    FEW    LSGBNDARY   FrAGMRNTS    PROM    THB     PoiHT 

Barrow  Eskimos.   John  Murdoch 593 

History  OP  Cilery.    [lIliiBtrftted.]    E.  Lewit  Siur- 
infant. 599 


?=- 


Tmb    Yrllow-billbo   Magpir. 
mann 


Barton    W.  Ever- 


Thb  Phylogbny  op  the  Camblid/B.    [IIlDStrftted.l 
E.  D.  Cop€ 611 

Editors'  Table. 

A  Government  Department  of  Science  and  Public 
Instruction 634 

Rbcbkt  Litbraturb. 

Gilbert's  Topop^phic  Features  of  Lake   Shores 
[ I llnstrated].— Recent  Books  and  Pamphlets.  ...   626 

I      Gbnkral  Notes. 


Geography  and  Travf/t.— Asia. :  Tong-klng ;  The 
Survey  ot  Japan  ;  Asiatic  News.— Asiatic  Islands  and 
Australia,  etc.  —  Europe  :  EUiropean  News.—  Amer- 
ica;  American  News. — Africa  :  African  News  ....    629 


Peii  Hi,  Mexico. — On  the  Fossil  Flora  of  the  Laramie 
*eri      if  Western  Canada.— Notes  on  the  Variation  of 


PAGE. 

certain  Tertiary  Fossils  in  overlying   beds  [lllas- 
treted].— Geological  News 633 

hfineralogy    and   Petrography.—'  Petrographical 
News. — Mineralogical  News 640 


Botany,  —  Figures  of  some  American  Conifers.— 
Strange  Pollen-tubes  of  Lobelia  [lllastrated].  — 
Books  on  Funei.— A  Pocket  Manual  of  Bouny. — 
A  cheap  Hand-book  of  Mosses.— Bounical  News  .  .   643 


Entomology.  —  Description  of  the  Form  of  the 
Female  in  a  Lampy^rid  (Zarhijis  riversi  Horn). — 
History  of  the  Buffalo  GnaL— Larval  Forms  of  Poly- 


desmus  canadensis. — Occurrence  of  early  stages  of 
Blepharocera.— Entomological  Notes 648 


^(CH»A3j{3'-""Physiological  Selection. — Mechanics  of 
Soaring. — Limulu<(  in  the  Pacific— Fhe  Swim-blad- 
der of  Fishes. — The  former  Southern  Limits  of  the 


w\s  in  the  Pacific.-->rhe  Swim-blad- 
-The  former  Southern  Limits  of  the 
Whiteor  Polar  Bear  [IllastfAted].— Zoological  News  653 


Embryology. — The  early  Development  of  Julus 
terrestris, — The  Development  of  Agelena  ntruia.—- 
Embryology  of  Armadillos 662 

/**>vA<jAj>^.— Gambctla's  Brain.— Memory  in  the 
Humble  Bee.— The  Vision  of  Birds r^3 

Anthropology,—  The  Davenport  Academy.— Vo- 
cabulary of  Archery 671 

Microscopy.— \  Staining  Dish  [Illnstrfttrd]  ...    675 

SciEMTiPic  News .676 

Proceedings  op  Scibntipic  Socibtibs 678 


^^WMi^ 


Digitized  by 


Google 


PECULIARITIES   IN   THE  MANUFACTURE  OF 
JENSEN'S  CRYSTAL  PEPSIN: 


NATURE   OF  THE    ZMITATZONS,   ETC. 


THE  champion  pepsin  of  the  world !  The 
only  pepsin  found  worthy  to  be  imitated  ! 
Even  the  wealthiest  manufacturing  chemists 
could  not  resist  the  temptation ! 

One  party  used  glue  as  a  cheapening  adulter- 
ant for  the  production  of  scale  pepsin ;  another 
party  has  now  succeeded  in  flooding  the  market 
with  their  imitations  of  my  scale  pepsin,  owing 
to  its  extreme  cheapness.  This  party  now  de. 
Clares  (not  to  the  profession)  that  they  use  sixty 
pounds  of  dry  egg  albumen,  peptonized  by  two 
hundred  hogs'  stomachs.  A  third  party  wrap 
their  imitations  in  an  exactor  simile  of  my  cir- 
cular, making  full  use  of  all  my  testimonials. 
The  great  injury  these  imitations  cause  my 
preparations  can  easily  be  understood. 

The  protection  chiefly  relied  upon  is  through 
the  profession's  vigilance  in  discriminating  be- 
tween the  genuine  and  the  spurious  article. 
When  prescribing  my  pepsin,  most  physicians 
now  underlme  my  name  thus,  Jensen's  Cr3rstal 
Pepsin,  and  no  misconception  can  excuse  sub- 
stitutions. The  great  reputation  of  this  pepsin 
lies  in  that  it  is  a  peptone  pepsin,  i.  e,.,  the  tex- 
ture of  the  stomachs  in  which  the  ferment  is 
lodged  is  entirely  dissolved,  thereby  obtaining 
all  the  pepsin.  When  thereto  is  added  my 
recent  improvement  in  precipitating  from  this 
solution  all  of  the  earthy  and  saline  matter, 
leaving  only  the  azoti zed  constituent,  containing 
all  of  the  peptic  principle,  and,  finally,  is  further 
concentrated  by  drying  it  up>on  glass  plate?  until 
brittle  scales  are  formed,  the  reason  for  its  high 
digestive  power  can  easily  be  understood.  Why 
it  surpasses  also  in  keeping  qualities  all  of  the 
former  pepsins,  is  owing  to  its  scaly  and  brittle 
texture,  it  being  the  only  organic  medicine  in 
the  materia  medica  produced  for  the  market  in 
scales. 

It  is  also  perfectly  soluble  upon  the  tongue, 
pleasant  to  the  taste,  and  practically  inodorous. 

Although  it  commands  a  higher  price  than 
any  other  pepsin  in  the  market,  it  is,  neverthe. 
less,  the  most  prescribed.  Its  purity  and  solu- 
bility, combined  with  its  great  digestive  power 


upon  albuminoids,  have  inspired  physicians  of  a 
suggestive  mind  to  try  it  also  as  a  solvent  for 
diphtheritic  membranes  and  coagulated  blood 
in  the  bladder.  The  success  also  of  these  novel 
uses  has  already  become  generally  known  to 
the  profession  all  over  the  world.  Physicians 
writing  for  samples  will  receive  prompt  returns. 
Dr.  HoWmzxi  {I^ederL  H^eekhL,  i8,  p.  272) 
reports  the  case  of  an  old  man,  aged  80  years, 
suffering  from  retention  of  urine,  in  whom  the 
introduction  of  a  catheter  failed  to  produce  the 
desired  result  It  was  found  that  the  bladder 
contained  coagulated  albuminoid  masses  mixed 
with  blood.  A  few  hours  after  the  injection  of 
about  16  grains  of  Dr.  Jensen's  Pepsin  dissolved 
in  water,  a  laige  amount  of  a  dark,  viscid,  fetid 
fluid  readily  escaped  by  the  catheter. — London 
Medical  Record, 

Dr.  Edwin  Rosenthal,  acting  on  the  sugges- 
tion of  Dr.  L.  Wolff,  has  used  an  acidulated 
I  concentrated  solution  of  pepsin  as  an  af^Iica- 
tion  to  the  membranes  of  diphtheritic  patients,  for 
which  there  seemed  to  be  no  other  help  than 
tracheotomy,  and  reports  that  it  acted  like  a 
charm,  dissolving  the  membranes,  admitting  a 
free  aeration  of  the  blood,  and  placing  them 
soon  on  the  road  to  convalescence.  The  solu- 
tion he  used  was: 

R.    Jensen's  Pepsin,  gj. 

Acidi  Hydrochloric,  C.  P.,       gii.  xx. 
Aqua  q.  s.  ft.,  fl.  3  j. 

M.  S. — Apply  copiously  every  hour  with   a 
throat-mop. — From  the  Medical  Bulletin^ 

Formula  for  Wine  of  Pepsin: 

^.     Carl  Jensen's  Pepsin,  gr. 


Carl  Jensen's  Pepsin, 
Sherry  or  port  wine, 
Glycerin  puris, 
Acid  Tartaric, 


192. 

fviss. 
iss. 
gr.  V. 

Sig.  f  3  j.  after  meals.     This  is  three  grains  of 
the  pepsin  in  each  teaspoonful. 


For  severe  attacks  of  colic  it  has  afforded 
I  present  relief,  after  a  few  doses  have  been  given 
I  in  short  intervals,  when  other  remedies  bave 
failed. 


CARL  L.  JENSEN, 

PHILADELPHIA.    m^m.^H  hy  Google 


Digitized  by  ^ 


Digitized  by 


Google 


PLATE  XXIII. 


G-RAtkinsoK  deL 


A  new  Trap- door  Spider. 


Digitized  by  ©pC>gle 


THE 

AMERICAN    NATURALIST. 

Vol.  xx.—yC/LY,  1886.— No.  /• 


A  NEW  TRAP^DOOR  SPIDER. 

BY  PROF.  GEO.  F.  ATKINSON. 

IN  his  excellent  work  on  trap^loor  spiders  Mr.  Moggridge  says: 
"  There  would  doubtless  be  a  just  feeling  of  pride  and  satisfac- 
tion in  the  heart  of  a  naturalist,  who  could  say  that  he  had  made 
himself  thoroughly  acquainted  with  all  the  species  of  a  particular 
group  of  animals,  had  learned  their  most  secret  habits,  and  mas- 
tered their  several  relations  to  the  objects,  animate  and  inanimate, 
which  surrounded  them.  But  perhaps  a  still  keener  pleasure  is 
enjoyed  by  one  who  carries  about  with  him  some  problem  of  the 
kind  but  partially  solved ;  and  who,  holding  in  his  hand  the  clue 
which  shall  guide  him  onwards,  sees  in  each  new  place  that  he 
visits  fresh  opportunities  of  discovery.  The  latter  is  certainly 
the  condition  of  those  who  take  an  interest  in  searching  out  the 
habits  and  character  of  the  trap-door  spider."^ 

While  many  interesting  facts  in  the  life-history  and  architecture 
of  trap-door  spiders  were  observed  and  collated  by  Mr.  Mog- 
gridge, he  very  modestly  says  that  many  remain  yet  to  be  gath- 
ered in ;  that  we  are  only  on  the  threshold  of  discoveries  of  these 
creatures,  who  have  lain  quietly  in  the  earth  century  after  century, 
and  that  he  will  be  satisfied  to  have  been  able  to  "  hold  the  door 
sufficiently  ajar  to  permit  those  who  love  nature  and  her  ways  to 
catch  a  glimpse  of  the  wonders  and  beauties  of  the  untrodden 
land  that  lies  beyond."* 

A  fiivorable  circumstance  aflforded  me  an  opportunity  for 
making  some  observations  on  the  unseen  **  wonders  and  beauties 

^  HanrestiDg  Ants  and  Trap- door  Spiders,  Supplement,  p.  I  So. 
'Haireitiiig  Ants  and  Tiap-door  Spiders,  p.  136. 

TOL.  Z3C.-wl|Q.  yif.  39 


Digitized  by 


Google 


584  A  new  Trap-door  Spider.  U^^Yt 

of  the  untrodden  land  "  which  is  the  abode  of  these  interesting 
creatures,  and  it  is  with  a  sense  of  pleasure  that  I  note  them. 

Some  time  in  the  latter  part  of  May  or  earJy  part  of  June,  1885, 
Mr.  Merritt,  of  Pittsborough,  N.  C,  brought  to  Chapel  Hill  two 
trap-door  spiders  with  their  nests,  and  placed  them  in  the  care  of 
Professor  Holmes  for  the  University  of  North  Carolina.  The 
nests  with  their  occupants  were  placed  in  the  ground  for  the 
summer.  On  Nov.  12,  after  a  careful  search,  Professor  Holmes 
was  able  to  find  only  one,  and  this  one  with  difficulty,  as  for  some 
reason  it  had  dug  through  the  lower  end  of  the  tube  and  was 
hidden  in  the  earth.  Later  I  shall  offer  what  seems  to  me  may- 
be an  explanation  of  this.  On  the  morning  of  the  same  day  the 
spider  with  its  trap-door  nest  was  placed  in  my  keeping,  which 
was  the  first  intimation  I  had  of  the  presence  of  such  an  agree- 
able neighbor. 

At  4.30  P.M.  I  placed  three  and  a-half  inches  of  earth  in  a  glass 
jar  five  inches  in  diameter  and  seven  inches  deep.  Two-thirds  of 
the  surface  of  the  soil  was  then  covered  with  moss.  In  this  the 
spider  was  placed,  and  the  jar  and  its  contents  taken  to  my 
room,  that  I  might,  if  possible,  observe  the  operation  of  digging 
the  tube  and  making  the  trap-doon 

The  results  were  most  gratifying.  Just  before  going  to  supper, 
at  dusk,  I  observed  that  the  spider  had  not  undertaken  the  work. 
Upon  returning,  at  8.30  p.m.,  I  found  the  task  undertaken.  The 
spider  was  resting  in  a  hole  about  20™°*  deep  by  22"*°*  in  diame* 
ter,  which  she  had  excavated  at  one  side  of  the  jar.  I  placed  the 
jar  upon  my  study  table,  just  beneath  the  light  of  a  student  lamp, 
so  that  while  reading  I  could  observe  any  movements  made  by  my 
companion.  The  spider  was  resting  in  the  hole  with  its  legs  par- 
tially folded,  the  anterior  ones  lying  upon  the  edge  of  the  exca- 
vation. 

After  I  had  been  quiet  for  some  time  the  spider  began  to  move 
cautiously,  and  turning  about  slowly  went  head  first  into  the 
hole,  and  dug  from  the  bottom  with  her  mandibles  a  pellet  of 
earth  about  the  size  of  a  small  pea.  Then  turning  carefully 
around  she  placed  it  at  the  edge  of  the  hole,  where  she  pushed 
it  off  with  the  aid  of  her  palpi,  at  the  same  time  working 
her  mandibles  up  and  down.  At  first  the  spider  seemed  timid, 
and  would  cease  operations  upon  the  slightest  movement  on  the 
part  of  myself.    During  the  course  of  the  evening  three  other 


Digitized  by 


Google 


1 886.]  A  new  Trap-door  Spider.  585 

persons,  who  came  to  my  room,  had  the  fortune  to  witness  the 
operation  of  digging  out  the  earth.  The  spider  soon  became 
bold,  paid^  no  attention  to  movements  in  the  room,  and  permitted 
me  to  watch  her  very  closely.  Occasionally,  by  using  both  palpi 
at  once,  the  dirt  was  flirted  suddenly  from  the  grasp  of  the  man- 
dibles with  such  force  as  to  strike  against  the  opposite  side  of  the 
jar.  Had  it  not  been  for  this  obstruction  the  dirt  must  have  been 
thrown  three  or  four  feet. 

After  depositing  each  load  on  the  edge  of  the  hole,  the  spider 
would  turn  around  again  for  another  load,  but  before  picking  it 
up  she  would  project  the  posterior  pair  of  spinnerets  about  5"*™ 
from  the  abdomen  and  carefully  knead  the  viscjd  liquid  upon  and 
around  the  freshly  placed  pellet  of  earth  and  over  the  edge  for  a 
distance  of  4  or  5°*°^  for  the  purpose  of  making  the  soil  adhere 
and  prevent  its  caving  in.  In  Plate  xxiii.  Fig,  4,  the  spider  is  shown 
in  the  act  of  removing  a  pellet  of  earth  from  her  mandibles.  In 
Fig.  5  is  represented  the  application  of  the  viscid  liquid.  The 
ends  of  the  spinnerets  are  applied  to  the  surface  alternately,  as 
shown  in  the  illustration.  The  legs  took  no  part  in  the  applica- 
tion of  the  viscid  liquid ;  nor  did  the  liquid  form  a  thread  when 
the  spinnerets  were  drawn  from  the  surface,  as  I  have  since  seen 
it  when  the  spider  was  crawling  about  on  the  surface  of  the 
earth.^ 

At  1 1.30  o'clock,  when  the  hole  was  about  4*^"*  in  depth,  to  my 
surprise  and  pleasure  the  spider  began  to  make  the  "  trap  door." 
Standing  upon  its  fore  feet  and  placing  the  spinnerets  against  the 
glass  jar  at  the  level  of  the  edge  of  the  hole,  the  spider  covered  the 
glass  with  the  viscid  liquid.  Several  pellets  of  earth  were  stuck 
to  this,  each  time  another  portion  of  the  viscid  liquid  being  ap- 
plied. After  a  depth  of  5°^"*  had  been  biiilt  up  in  this  way,  which 
was  to  answer  as  the  hinge,  the  spider  cut  a  sprig  of  the  moss 
and  cemented  it  to  the  hinge  so  that  the  -end  projected  above  it. 
Small  sticks,  particles  of  moss  and  earth  were  constantly  placed 
upon  the  edge  of  the  growing  door.  Each  time  the  spider  would 
come  out  of  the  hole  for  new  material,  retreat  backward,  and  turn 
half  way  around  so  as  to  apply  it  to  the  door.     Placing  the  load 

*  As  I  am  now  writinj;,  Jan.  16,  1886,  11.55  P-^**  *^®  spider  is  crawling  about  on 
the  surface  of  a  freshly  prepared  jar  of  earth.  Sometimes  the  viscid  liquid  adhering 
to  some  object  is  drawn  out  in  a  band  of  silk  2™*  wide,  and  the  pieces  of  moss 
strewn  on  the  eaitli  are  loosely  matted  together  in  the  mtb  of  the  spide^  about  tl^e 
*id<jp(^beiat, 


Digitized  by 


Google 


586  A  new  Trap-doot  Spider.  Quly, 

on  the  under  side  of  the  partial  door,  she  would  carefully  move 
it  up  to  the  edge.  Then  placing  the  distal  portion  of  the  palpi 
and  anterior  pair  of  legs  above,  while  the  proximal  portion  of 
these  limbs  and  the  ends  of  the  mandibles  were  on  the  under 
side  of  the  pellet  and  door,  she  would  fit  and  press  it  in  shape,  as 
one  would  mold  with  the  hand  a  moist  portion  of  earth  by  press- 
ing it  into  a  thin  sheet  This  is  illustrated  in  Fig.  7,  Plate  xxiii. 
Indeed  it  looked  very  much  like  the  black  bony  fingers  of  a  hand 
performing  the  work  of  pressing.  The  greatest  pressure  seemed  to 
be  brought  to  bear  upon  the  rounded  ends  of  the  mandibles. 
After  fastening  on  a  portion  thus,  the  spider  would  take  an  in- 
verted position  and  apply  viscid  liquid  along  the  edge  and  under 
the  surface  of  the  door,  as  shown  in  Plate  xxiii,  Fig.  6.  She  would 
then  turn  about  and  crawl  out  for  more  material.  The  hole 
being  by  the  side  of  the  jar,  I  could  watch  the  operation  both  in 
the  hole  and  upon  the  cover.  By  one  o'clock  in  the  morning 
(Nov.  13)  the  door  was  finished  so  that  the  spider  could  pull 
down  the  lid,  which  completely  closed  the  entrance,  nicely  fitting 
in  around  the  edge  and  appearing  as  if  there  was  no  hole  nor 
spider,  but  through  the  glass  the  spider- could  still  be  seen. 

At  intervals  during  the  construction  of  the  door  the  spider 
would  pull  it  down  to  observe  where  the  next  pellet  should  be 
placed  in  order  to  make  the  door  fit  the  circular  opening  of  the 
tube.  Discovering  this  she  would  turn  completely  around,  and 
not  being  able,  with  her  head  in  the  bottom  of  the  tube,  to  see 
the  place  where  she  intended  to  put  the  next  load,  she  would  find 
it  by  feeling  about  with  her  spinnerets.  The  viscid  liquid  would 
then  be  applied  and  the  pellet  of  earth  fitted  with  extreme  nicety. 

Satisfied  with  the  result  of  my  experiment  I  retired.  By  day- 
break I  found  that  the  excavation  was  continued  after  the  com- 
pletion of  the  trap  door,  the  soil  being  deposited  around  the  nest 
to  raise  the  surface  of  the  earth  in  the  jar  to  a  level  with  the  top 
of  the  nest.  Without  close  searching  it  was  impossible  to  detect 
the  door. 

The  mode  of  making  the  trap  door  by  this  spider  differs  very 
widely  from  that  observed  by  other  naturalists  so  far  as  I  can  find 
any  record.  Mr.  Moggridge  saw  the  female,  Nemesia  meridian'' 
alis^  construct  a  trap  door  in  captivity.  He  made  a  cylindrical, 
hole  in  a  flower-pot  of  earth.  Into  this  the  spider  disappeared. 
"  During  the  night  following  the  day  of  her  capture  she  made  a 


Digitized  by 


Google 


i886.]  A  new  Trap^door  Spider.  587 

thin  web  over  the  aperture,  into  which  she  wove  any  materials 
which  came  to  hand.  The  trap  door  at  this  stage  resembled  a 
rudely  constructed,  horizontal,  geometrical  web,  attached  by  two 
or  three  threads  to  the  earth  at  l9ie  mouth  of  the  hole,  while  in 
this  web  werq  caught  the  bits  of  earth,  roots,  moss,  leaves,  etc., 
which  the  spider  had  thrown  into  it  from  above.  After  the  sec- 
ond night  the  door  appeared  nearly  of  the  normal  texture  and 
thickness,  but  in  no  case  would  it  open  completely,  and  it  seemed 
the  spider  was  too  much  disgusted  with  her  quarters  to  think  it 
worth  while  to  make  a  perfect  door."^ 

He  also  records  the  making  of  a  door  by  a  very  young  one  of 
this  species,  in  which  the  threads,  except  at  the  hinge.  Were  cut 
so  that  the  door  would  open  and  shut* 

The  only  thing  he  records  which  seemed  at  all  analogous  to 
the  mode  of  making  a  trap  door  exhibited  by  the  spider  in  my 
possession  is  that  manifested  in  the  enlargement  of  nests  and  trap 
doors  by  spiders  as  they  grow  larger,  and  consequently  require 
nests  of  larger  dimensions.  This  operation  was  not  witnessed 
by  him,  however,  but  the  additions  to  the  size  of  the  door  were 
pfoven  by  measurements  and  observations  upon  nests  of  young 
spiders  at  different  seasons.' 

It  would  seem  natural  to  suppose  that  in  making  slight  addi- 
tions  from  time  to  time  to  the  edge  of  the  nest,  the  spider  would 
cement  pellets  of  earth,  pieces  of  moss,  etc.,  to  the  edge  instead 
of  first  spinning  a  web ;  unless  the  web  is  spun  over  the  lower 
side  of  the  door  and  made  to  project  just  far  enough  to  fit  the  en- 
larged tube.  In  Plate  xxiii.  Fig.  8,  can  be  seen  eight  concentric 
"  lines  of  growth,"  as  they  might  be  termed,  of  the  trap  door, 
corresponding  to  the  growth  and  needs  of  the  spider.  These  I 
judge  to  represent  the  successive  enlargements  of  the  door  con- 
comitant with  the  enlarging  of  the  tube.  We  can  safely  say  that 
these  additions  were  made  by  cementing  the  material,  piece  by 
piece,  which  forms  each  ring,  to  the  edge  of  the  door.  These 
"  lines  of  growth  "  are  not  present  in  the  door  made  by  the  adult 
spider  in  captivity.  I  induced  the  spider  to  make  the  door  the 
fourth  time  Qan.  19,  1886)  in  order  to  observe  if  there  was  any 
regularity  in  the  cementing  of  the  particles,  which  might  form 

^Harvesting  Ants  and  Trap-door  Spiders,  p.  Ii8» 

'Idem,  p.  119. 

'Idem, pp.  133, 137  and  150,  and  Supplement,  p*  245* 


Digitized  by 


Google 


588  A  new  Trap-door  Spider,  [July, 

these  lines  of  growth  in  a  door  made  by  an  adult  spider.  There 
is  no  such  regularity.  Indeed,  this  last  door  was  made  of  about 
a  dozen  very  large  pellets  of  clay  which,  being  very  plastic,  the 
spider  was  able  to  press  each  pellet  into  a  sheet  of  considerable 
dimensions. 

It  is  to  be  regretted  that  Mr.  Moggridge  did  not  have  the 
opportunity  of  observing  the  manner  of  enlargement  of  trap 
doors  made  by  the  spiders  which  he  studied,  or  that  he  did  not 
offer  some  theory  as  an  explanation.  If  the  particles  are  cemented 
to  the  edge,  it  would  be  quite  natural  that  the  species  of  spider  in 
my  possession  once  made  its  door  by  first  spinning  a  web  across 
the  mouth  of  the  tube,  and  then  weaving  into  it  other  material,  as 
in  the  case  of  N.  meridionalis,  and  that  the  habit,  followed  through 
life  and  successive  generations,  of  making  additions  to  the  door 
by  cementing  particles  to  the  edge,  finally  became  so  fixed  that 
this  mode  of  making  additions  to  it  became  the  permanent  habit 
and  type  of  construction  of  the  trap  door  from  the  foundation ! 
The  rapidity,  ease  and  intelligence  manifested  in  this  method  of 
building  up  the  door,  piece  by  piece,  certainly  indicates  a  higher 
development  of  instinctive  power.  A  perfect  and  neatly  fitting 
and  swinging  door  made  in  i  j^  hours ! 

When  I  took  the  spider  from  her  nest  it  was  necessary  to 
remove  nearly  all  of  the  soil  from  the  jar  and  take  her  from  the 
lower  end  of  the  tube,  as  all  efforts  to  attract  her  from  the  nest 
failed.  As  the  soil  was  very  loose  and  the  nest  not  long  made, 
the  walls  of  the  tube  collapsed.  In  ten  days  the  spider  was 
returned  to  the  nest  Though  the  trap  door  was  capable  of  being 
used,  and  seemed  to  satisfy  the  spider's  idea  of  the  "  fitness  of 
things,"  it  was  in  a  very  dilapidated  condition.  This  agrees  with 
what  Mr.  Moggridge  says  of  the  reluctance  manifested  by  spiders 
to  abandon  an  old  nest.  The  examples  cited  by  him  are,  that  if 
a  door  be  pinned  back  during  the  night,  a  second  door  will  be 
made ;  that  if  the  nest  be  covered  with  earth,  the  tube  will  be 
prolonged  to  the  surface  of  the  superimposed  earth  and  a  nevv 
trap  door  will  be  made ;  and  that  in  some  cases  nests  become  in- 
verted, when  a  door  being  made  at  the  now  upper  end  of  the 
tube,  the  nest  will  have  a  door  at  each  end.^  The  conduct  of  my 
spider  under  another  condition  farther  illustrates  this  feature. 
Wishing  to  observe  the  habit  of  the  spider,  if  possible,  while  the 

>  Harvesting  Ants  and  Trap- door  Spiders,  pp.  121  and  122. 


Digitized  by  VjOOQIC 


1886.]  A  new  Trap-door  Spider.  589 

door  of  the  nest  was  closed,  I  prepared  a  glass  test  tube,  17™°'  in 
diameter,  by  placfng  4^°*  from  the  mouth  a  cork  bottom,  so  that 
the  spider  might  have  something  on  which  to  stand  while  making 
the  door.  This,  .with  the  spider  in  it,  I  placed  in  the  glass  jar 
and  surrounded  it  with  earth  to  darken  the  walls,  hoping  thus, 
because  of  the  firm  smooth  surface  of  the  tube,  she  would  not 
line  it  with  silk,  and  by  lifting  the  tube  from  the  soil  I  could  ob- 
serve the  position  of  the  spider  as  it  held  down  its  door.  The 
experiment  was  a  decided  success. 

This  was  prepared  at  eleven  o'clock  on  the  night  of  Dec.  27 
'85.  Pieces  of  moss  were  strewn  about  the  tube.  By  morning  a 
perfectly  fitting  door,  beautifully  covered  with  moss,  had  been 
constructed  (Plate  xxiv.  Fig.  3).  About  this  time  many  visitors 
came  to  see  the  spider,  and  in  pulling  at  the  door  to  show  how 
persistently  she  would  resist  its  being  opened,  the  hinge  became. 
loosened  and  the  door  was  pulled  down  upon  her.  She  held  on 
to  the  door  with  such  tenacity  that  I  pulled  it  into'  bits  in  my 
efforts  to  remove  it  from  her  grasp.  It  was  removed  Dec.  30, 
'8$,  and  on  the  following  night  she  built  another  as  neatly  as  the 
first.  The  hinge  to  this  became  loosened  and  the  door  moved 
down  about  5"*"  from  the  mouth  of  the  tube.  Here  she  strength- 
ened the  hinge  by  spinning  a  broad  piece  of  silk,  the  width  of  the 
hinge,  from  the  door  down  on  to  the  wall  of  the  tube.  Several 
times  in  endeavoring  to  open  the  door  I  tore  pieces  from  its  edge, 
and  in  every  instance  the  spider  repaired  it.  Finally,  when  I 
wished  to  remove  her  from  the  tube  I  was  obliged  to  push  up  on 
the  cork  bottom,  and  in  this  way  crowd  her  out  through  the  door. 
After  this  was  done  it  was  with  some  difficulty  that  she  freed  her 
posterior  feet  from  the  silk  bag  which  she  had  constructed  at  the 
bottom,  so  firmly  did  she  hold  on. 

I  have  this  yet  to  add.  In  a  note  I  have  mentioned  the  wan- 
dering of  the  spider  about  in  a  jar  of  freshly  prepared  earth,  Jan. 
16.  For  three  days  she  has  been  restless,  and  though  several 
attempts  have  been  made  to  dig  a  tube  she  had  failed.  I  came  to 
the  conclusion  that  the  soil  was  not  such  as  she  could  work  easily 
or  satis&ctorily.  Wishing  to  have  soil  which  would  make  a  more 
durable  tube  than  the  loose  soil  in  which  I  saw  the  first  nest 
made,  I  used  a  large  proportion  of  fine  plastering  sand  mixed  with 
black  earth.  This  was  wetted,  and  pieces  of  moss  strewn  over 
the  surface.    She  tried  several  times  to  take  up  pellets  of  the 


Digitized  by 


Google 


590  A  new  Trap-door  Spider,  fjuly* 

earth,  but  seemed  to  be  disgusted  with  its  crumbling.  She  then 
tried  to  bore  a  hole  by  pushing  down  with  her  mandibles  while 
turning  her  body  around.  She  evidently  wished  to  hide  her 
head  from  the  light,  for  after  making  a  hole  2^  deep  she  remained 
with  her  head  at  the  bottom.  To-day,  Jan.  14,  '86,  the  soil  in  the 
woods  having  thawed  sufficiently,  I  prepared  a  jar  of  moist  fer- 
ruginou3  clay,  very  much  like  that  of  which  the  nest  is  con- 
structed that  caqie  from  Pittsborough.  .Upon  this  I  put  a  fine 
mat  of  fresh  moss,  covering  the  earth  except  a  spot  at  one  side 
2^**°  in  diameter.  In  this  I  placed  the  spider  at  noon.  I  then 
covered  it  from  the  light.  As  I  returned  to  my  room  after  din- 
ner, she  was  resting  in  a  hole  3^°^  deep  which  she  had  excavated, 
and  small  pellets  of  earth  were  placed  against  the  moss  at  the 
mouth  of  the  hole.  She  would  not  work  during  the  day  unless 
I  covered  the  jar  from  the  light  During  the  evening,  by  lamp 
light,  I  had  the  pleasure  of  seeing  her  make  another  door.  It 
required  about  one  and  a  half  hours.  Only  one  piece  of  moss 
was  used,  and  that  I  let  drop  into  the  hole  while  she  was  at  work. 
This  seemed  very  strange,  for  the  tube  was  the  only  place  not 
covered  with  moss,  and  to  save  her  the  trouble  of  cutting  the 
moss  I  had  strewn  loosened  particles  about  the  hole.  In  this 
case  all  of  the  earth  used  in  the  construction  of  the  door 
was  taken  from  the  bottom  of  the  hole.  The  door  being  made 
almost  entirely  with  the  clay  was  very  conspicuous  in  comparison 
with  the  surrounding  moss ;  though  the  door  fitted  very  neatly, 
the  tube  being  built  up  to  a  level  with  the  top  of  the  moss.  This 
time  instead  of  making  the  hinge  against  the  side  of  the  jar  it 
was  made  on  the  opposite  side  of  the  tube.  Surely  this  persist- 
ence is  equal  to  that  shown  by  the  spider  who,  making  her  web 
the  thirteenth  time,  taught  a  general  lesson  of  perseverance. 

I  was  unable  to  understand  how  the  resistance  to  opening  the 
door  was  offered,  if  the  spider  fastened  its  fangs  and  ail  of  its 
claws  into  the  under  surface  of  the  door,  as  Mr.  Moggridge 
states.^  A  reference  to  Plate  xxiv,  Figs.  3  and  4,  will  show  the 
results  I  reached  in  the  experiment  when  the  spider  was  induced 
to  make  a  trap  door  to  the  mouth  of  a  glass  test  tube.  The  por- 
tion of  the  tube  from  ^  to  ^  was  not  lined  with  silk.  The  spider, 
evidently  not  admiring  the  cork  at  d  for  a  bottom  to  her  nest, 
carried  in  pellets  of  earth  and  bits  of  moss  as  shown  at  ^.     She 

1  Harvesting  Ants  and  Trap-door  Spiders,  pp.  95-96. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


1886.]  A  new  Trap-doer  Spider.      "  591 

then  spun  a  short  bag  of  silk,  /)  which  was  attached  by  the 
mouth  to  the  walls  of  the  tube  at  c^  and  rested  on  the  piece  of 
of  cork.  The  mouth  of  the  test  tube  was  lined  with  silk  from 
the  edge  for  about  5"™  to.  7™"°-  The  ends  of  the  silk  lining  at  b 
and  the  silk  bag  at  c  were  for  some  distance  transparent,  so  that 
I  was  enabled  to  see  the  spider  fairly  well.  As  can  be  seen  in 
Fig.  4,  die  spider  clings  to  the  bag  of  silk  at  the  bottom  (or  walls 
of  the  tube)  with  the  claws  of  her  two  posterior  pair  of  legs,  and 
to  the  under  surface  of  the  door  with  her  fangs  and  the  claws  of 
her  anterior  pair  of  legs.  By  partiaHy  lifting  the  door  I  was 
enabled  to  see  the  hold  upon  the  door,  and  when  I  pushed  the 
spider  out  of  the  tube,  as  before  stated,  I  found  her  feet  entangled 
in  the  bag  of  silk.  The  manner  in  which  this  spider  holds  down 
the  door  is  precisely  the  same  as  that  described  by  Emerton*  in 
^  the  case  of  Cteniza  califomica,  except  that  he  states  the  "  third 
and  fourth  pairs  of  legs  are  pressed  out  against  the  walls  of  the 
tube." 

The  nest  of  this  spider  belongs  to  the  simple,  unbranched  t3rpe 
with  shallow  cork  door.  The  door  belonging  to  the  nest  in 
which  the  spider  was  caught  (Plate  xxiv,  Fig.  i)  measures  3  to  4"" 
in  thickness ;  the  edge  is  beveled  and  fits  neatly  in  the  mouth  of 
the  tube.  The  door  measures  25°*"*  across  near  the  hinge ;  the 
tube  6o""  in  length.  The  walls  are  badly  collapsed,  and  the 
lower  edge  ragged  and  open.  It  will  be  remembered  that  the 
spider  was  found  in  the  earth  below  the  tube  when  the  nest  was 
taken  up  in  November.  The  first  nest  which  the  spider  made 
under  my  observation  was  left  open  at  the  bottom,  and  when  I 
attempted  to  take  her  out,  finding  she  could  not  hold  down  the 
door,  she  attempted  to  bury  herself  in  the  soil  at  the  bottom  of 
the  tube.  The  question  naturally  arises.  Is  this  not  left  open  as 
a  last  means  of  escape  from  enemies  ?  I  am  inclined  to  think  it 
is,  in  some  cases  at  least  with  this  species,  as  this  is  the  only 
resort  for  safety  after  the  door  is  open.  Further  observation  is 
needed  on  this  point. 

The  trap  door  of  this  nest  is  so  hung  that  it  tends  to  close 
itself.  In  Fig.*2,  Plate  xxiv,  at  a  are  patches  of  silk  that  are  drawn 
on  the  stretch  when  the  door  is  open.  When  all  resistance  is 
removed  these  tend  to  close  the  door. 

The  subject  of  the  food  of  trap-door  spiders  is  an  interesting 

'  Structure  and  Habits  of  Spiders,  p.  45. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


592  A  new  Trap-door  Spider.  D^ly, 

one,  and  much  is  yet  to  be  learned  of  their  habits  in  this  respect 
While  I  had  the  spider  out  of  her  tube  I  offered  her  several 
house-flies,  holding  them  by  one  wing  with  the  forceps  near  her 
head.  The  struggles  of  the  fly  attracted  her  attention.  With  a 
quick  sweep  of  the  palpi  and  anterior  pair  of  legs  she  would 
clutch  the  fly  and  place  it  between  her  powerful  mandibles, 
crushing  it  immediately. 

She  held  some  of  these  about  one  minute,  but  I  very  much 
doubt  her  having  derived  any  nourishment  from  them.  One  of 
the  smaller  species  of  the  flies  belonging  to  the  genus  Tabanus 
was  offered  her.  It  seemed  only  to  frighten  her,  as  she  could 
not  be  made  to  touch  it  even  by  being  angered,  but  would  turn 
and  run  away  as  if  in  great  fear.  After  returning  the  spider  to 
her  nest,  Dec.  8,  I  placed  in  the  jar  two  ants  and  a  small  carabid 
beetle.  The  ants  hid  themselves  in  the  earth.  Dec'  14  the  beetle 
was  still  unharmed,  and  I  concluded  the  spider  did  not  come  out 
for  food.  I  then  lifted  the  trap  door  and  placed  the  beetle  inside. 
Dec.  16  I  found  the  broken  hard  parts  of  the  beetle  strewn  about 
just  outside  the  nest.  It  had  been  killed,  the  soft  parts  eaten  by 
the  spider,  and  the  parts  of  the  skeleton  ejected  from  the  nest. 
Jan.  17,  '86, 1  placed  a  half  dozen  large  yellow  ants  in  the  jar.^ 
As  they  attacked  her  she  would  catch  aitd  crush  them,  but  I  did 
not  see  that  she  ate  any  of  them. 

Jan.  2,  '86,  which  was  almost  like  a  summer  day  at  Chapel 
Hill,  I  went  into  the  woods  for  the  purpose  of  collecting  some 
moss.  While  tearing  up  a  large  patch  of  this  at  the  foot  of  a 
tree,  I  discovered  a  hole  which  I  thought  to  be  the  nest  of  a  trap- 
door spider.  I  dug  down  into  the  tube  and  found  at  the.bottom 
a  spider  belonging  to  this  family.  In  the  afternoon  I  found  sev- 
eral nests  and  one  more  female  spider.  Under  some  stones  I 
found  a  male.  I  placed  them  in  jars  of  earth  containing  moss. 
One  of  the  females  escaped,  the  other  built  a  nest  and  made  a 
slanting  double  door  which  might  be  compared  to  an  outside 
cellar  door.  Each  door  is  made  of  moss  cemented  with  silk  and 
hung  by  a  semicircular  hinge.  These  the  spider  will  open  and 
shut  at  pleasure,  sometimes  fastening  them  togetheV  with  a  thread 
of  silk.  In  both  of  the  nests  in  which  I  found  these  spiders 
there  were  the  remains  of  ants.  I  had  intended  to  illustrate  and 
describe  farther  the  nests  and  habits  of  these  found  by  myself  at 

^The  spider  was  not  in  her  nest. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


Digitized  by 


Google 


PLATE  XXIV. 


A  new  Trap-door  Spider. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


I886.J  legendary  Fragments  from  the  PoifU  Barrow  Eskimos,  593 

Chapel  Hill,  as  they  are  lively  creatures  and  seem  to  offer  inter- 
esting objects  for  study  as  to  habit,  food  and  architecture.  But 
as  this  article  is  already  long,  and  I  wish  to  make  farther  collec- 
tions and  study  their  habits  more  closely  in  captivity,  I  will 
reserve  the  subject  for  a  future  time.^ 

EXPLANATION  OF  PLATES. 
Plate  XXII I. 
Fig.  I. — Spider,  natural  size,  dorsal  view. 
•«     2.^    "  ••         ventral    •* 

••    3.—.    "  ««         side        •« 

*'    4. — Spider  in  the  act  of  unloading  a  pellet  of  earth  while  excavating  the  tube. 

tf,  pellet  of  earth. 
"    5. — Spider  applying  viscid  liquid  to  the  freshly  placed  pellet  of  earth,    tf ,  spin- 
nerets. 
<*     6. — Spider  applying  viscid  liquid  to  the  edge  of  the  partially  constructed  door. 

tf,  spinnerets;  b^  door;   r,  pieces  of  moss. 
"    7. — Spider  in  the  act  of^tting  to  edge  of  the  door  a  pellet  of  earth,  a. 
«<    S.^Trap  door  showing  eight  concentric  rings '  which  represent  the  successive 
additions  to  the  edge  of  the  door  corresponding  to  the  enlargement  of  the 
tube.    <z,  hinge. 

Plate  XXIV. 

Fig.  I. — Natural  size  of  nest  in  which  the  spider  was  caught. 
"     2. — Trap  door  open,    a,  bands  of  silk  which  tend  to  close  the  open  door;   ^, 

claw  and  fang  marks  of  spider  made  while  holding  down  the  door. 
"    3. — Nest  made  in  glass  test  tube.     «,  hinge  ;  /,  bag  of  silk ;  d^  cork  bottom ; 

g^  pieces  of  moss  and  earth. 
*'    4.^Spider  in  act  of  holding  down  the  door  while  in  the  nest.   All  natural  size. 

A  FEW  LEGENDARY  FRAGMENTS  FROM  THE 
POINT  BARROW  ESKIMOS. 

BY  JOHN  MURDOCH. 

DR.  Rink,  in  his  "  Tales  and  Traditions  of  the  Eskimo,"  has 
already  called  attention  to  the  fact  that  among  the  rare  cases 
that  we  have  of  any  Eskimo  tradition  from  the  western  regions, 
in  what  is  now  the  territory  of  Alaska,  there  is  one  legend,  that 
of  the  sun  and  the  moon,  which  is  identical  with  a  well-known 
Greenland  tradition  (p.  237),  and  from  this  draws  additional  evi- 
dence of  the  identity  of  the  Eskimo  race  over  this  extensive 
region. 

The  following  fragments  of  stories  were  collected  by  the  writer 

*  A  description  of  these  spiders  I  reserve  for  a  future  time  when  a  fuller  collection 
is  made  and  habits  more  clearly  observed. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


594  A  few  Legendary  Fragments  from  [J^'y, 

and  other  members  of  the  United  States  International  Polar  Ex- 
pedition from  the  Elskimos  of  £oint  Barrow,  Alaska,  which  is  the 
extreme  north-western  point  of  the  continent  of  North  America, 
during  a  stay  of  two  years  (from  1881  to  1883).  The  fact  that 
several  of  them  show  features  indicating  a  relationship  with  well- 
known  Greenlandic  stories  seems  to  the  writer  to  render  them, 
scanty  as  they  are,  worthy  of  publication. 

Two  or  three  of  them  have  already  been  published  by  Lieut. 
Ray,  the  commander  of  the  expedition,  but  as  they  appeared  in 
a  government  publication,^  perhaps  not  accessible  to  all  readers, 
it  will  not  be  out  of  place  to  repeat  them  here. 

Occupied  as  our  party  was  with  the  manifold  routine  scientific 
work  of  the  station,  it  was  exceedingly  difficult  to  get  hold  of 
any  of  the  traditions  of  the  natives,  though  they  showed  no 
unwillingness,  from-  superstitious  or  other  reasons,  to  talk  freely 
about  them.  In  the  first  place  there  wer»  so  many  (to  the  Eski- 
mos) more  interesting  things  to  talk  about  with  us,  that  it  was 
difficult  to  bring  the  conversation  round  to  the  subject  in  ques- 
tion. Then  our  lack  of  familiarity  with  the  language  was  a  great 
hindrance  to  obtaining  a  connected  and  accurate  version  of  any 
story.  The  jargon,  or  kind  of  lingua  franca,  made  up  of  Eskimo 
roots  and  "  pigeon  English  "  grammar,  which  served  well  enough 
for  every-day  intercourse  with  the  natives,  enabled  us,  with  the 
help  of  expressive  gestures,  to  get  the  general  sense  of  the  story, 
but  rendered  it  impossible  to  write  down  an  Eskimo  text  of  the 
tale  which  could  afterwards  be  translated.  Moreover,  the  confu* 
sion  and  difficulty  was  still  further  increased  by  the  fact  that  two 
or  three  people  generally  undertook  to  tell  the  story  at  once. 

In  writing  out  the  following  stories  I  have  endeavored  to  avoid 
introducing  ideas  and  expressions  of  my  own,  and  to  adhere  as 
closely  as  possible  to  the  simple  sense  of  the  brief  disconnected 
sentences  of  the  narrators. 

I.  How  people  were  made.  Long  ago,  Aselu,  a  dog—"  where 
he  came  from  I  did  not  hear  " — ^was  tied  to  a  stick.  He  bit  the 
stick  [r.  ^.,  set  himself  freej  and  went  into  the  house,  where  he 
had  intercourse  with  a  woman,  who  gave  birth  to  men  and  dogs. 

The  belief  that  a  dog  was  one  of  their  remote  progenitors  is  a 
very  common  one  among  savages.    According  to  Egede  (Green- 

1  Report  of  the  United  States  International  Polar  Expedition  to  Point  Barrow, 
Alaska.     By  P.  H.  Ray.    Washington,  1885. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


1 886.]  the  Faint  Barrow  Eskimds.  595 

land,  p.  195)  the  Greenlanders  believed  that  white  men  were  the 
offspring  of  a  similar  union  between  a  woman  and  a  dog.  (The 
same  story  is  also  referred  to  in  Rink's  "  Tales/'  &c.,  p.  471.) 

2.  Another  account  of  the  origin  of  human  beings.  In  the 
ea^t,  a  tall  tube  [like  a  reed.  The  narrator  to  illustrate  this 
pointed  to  one  of  our  bamboo  fishing-rods]  stuck  up  from  the 
ground.  A  man  broke  the  tube.  "Behold,  many  men  and 
women !" 

3.  The  origin  of  reindeer  and  fishes.  Both  reindeer  and  fishes 
were  made  by  a  mythical  person  of  whom  we  got  only  a  vague 
account,  though  he  was  often  mentioned.  He  was  said  to  be  a 
little  man  with  long  tusks  like  a  walrus,  and  many  of  the  little 
Eskimo  figurines  and  masks  of  ivory,  soapstone  or  wood,  which 
we  brought  home  from  Point  Barrow,  represent  such  a  being,  and 
are,  perhaps,  meant  for  images  of  this  person. 

When  the  deer  was  not,  this  man  made  one  out  of  earth.  The 
deer  all  had  large  teeth  in  the  upper  jaw  and  were  "  bad  " — they 
bit  people.  So  he  said  to  them :  "  Come  here !"  and  when  they 
came  he  pulled  out  these  teeth.     Now  they  are  "  good." 

The  reindeer,  of  course,  like  the  sheep  and  other  ruminants, 
has  no  incisor  teeth  in  the  upper  jaw,  and  this  myth  is  certainly 
an  ingenious  way  of  accounting  for  this  fact,  which  must  have 
seemed  very  strange,  since  all  the  other  animals  known  to  the 
Eskimos  are  well  supplied  with  teeth  in  both  jaws. 

When  the  fish  were  not,  this  man  hewed  a  piece  of  wood  by 
the  river  side  with  his  adze.  The  chips  fell  into  the  water  and 
were  fishes. 

There  seems  to  have  been  a  similar  myth  in  Greenland.  Ac- 
cording to  Crantz :  "  They  say  fishes  were  produced  by  a  Green- 
lander's  taking  the  shavings  of  a  tree,  drawing  them  between  his 
legs  and  casting  them  into  the  sea"  (History  of  Greenland,  Vol. 
I,  p.  204) ;  and  Egede  tells  a  similar  story  (Greenland,  p.  196). 

4.  Thunder  and  lightning.  It  rarely  thunders  at  Point  Barrow, 
but  the  natives  know  what  these  phenomena  are  and  account  for 
them  as  follows :  Long  ago  a  grown  person  and  a  child  went  up 
into  the  sky,  carrying  a  dried  sealskin  and  torches  of  tar.  With 
these  they  make  the  thunder  and  lightning,  apparently  by  waving 
the  torches  and  rattling  the  sealskin. 

Dr.  John  Simpson,  the  surgeon  of  the  Plover^  the  English  dis- 
covery ship  that  wintered  at  Point  Barrow  thirty  years  before  us, 


Digitized  by 


Google 


596  A  few  Legendary  Fragments  from  [July, 

gives  a  version  slightly  different  but  agreeing  in  the  main  with 
this. 

Evidently  related  to  this  is  the  Greenland  tradition  referred  to 
by  Crantz  (Vol.  i,  p.  233)  that  the  thunder  is  caused  by  "  two 
•women  stretching  and  flapping  a  dried  sealskin."  Egede  (p.  207) 
gives  the  story  in  greater  detail.  The  thunder  and  lightning  are 
made  by  two  old  women  who  live  in  a  house  in  the  air.  They 
now  and  then  quarrel  about  a  dried  sealskin,  and  while  they  are 
fighting  down  comes  the  house  and  breaks  the  lamp,  so  that  the 
fire  flies  about. 

5.  The  story  of  the  Kokpausina.  Long  ago  there  were  five 
very  strong  brothers,  Kokpausina,  Kokkaun,  Inaluoktuo,  Nimna 
and  Piikanigarua.  (The  narrators  were  particular  to  impress  it 
upon  us  that  these  men  were  not  especially  tall,  but  very  stout  and 
strong.  The  strength  of  Kokpausina  especially  seems  to  have 
become  proverbial,  for  an  Eskimo  once  compared  the  great,  pow- 
erful hand  of  an  old  whaleman,  one  of  our  party,  to  that  of  Kok- 
pausina.) Kokpausina  lived  at  Pernye  [/.  ^.,  "  the  elbow,"  the 
summer  campground  in  the  Bend  of  Elson  bay,  between  Point 
Barrow  and  the  station],  Kokkaun  east  of  Point  Barrow  on  the 
seashore,  Inaluoktuo  inland  in  the  south,  Nimna  at  Dease  inlet, 
and  Pukanigarua  at  Cape  Smyth.  Kokpausina  found  two  little 
orphans  asleep  and  thrust  excrement  up  their  noses  [apparently 
from  sheer  malevolence,  though  we  never  succeeded  in  making 
the  natives  understand  that  we  wanted  to  know  the  reason  of 
this  action.]  So  they  went  home  and  made  a  little  bow  and 
arrows,  short  enough  to  hide  under  the  jacket,  but  strong  enough 
to  shoot  through  a  walrus-hide  dried  before  the  fire  [and  there- 
fore nearly  as  hard  as  iron].  Then  they  went  to  Pernye  and  saw 
Kokpausina,  with  his  back  towards  them,  stooping  over.  So 
they  shot  him  in  the  buttocks^and  the  arrow  came  out  at  his  col- 
lar bone,  and  he  died. 

His  great  shoulder-blade  and  some  of  his  other  bones  are  still 
at  Pernye.  [Natives  who  came  down  from  the  Point  Barrow  vil- 
lage to  the  station  once  or  twice  told  the  writer  that  they  had 
seen  Kokpausina's  bones  at  Pernye  on  their  way  down.  One 
went  so  far  as  to  bring  us  down  a  rather  large  human  jaw  bone 
from  the  old  cemetery  near  Pernye,  saying  that  it  was  Kok- 
pausina's.] 

This  story,  which  we  heard  from  several  narrators  without  any 


Digitized  by 


Google 


1 886.]  the  Point  Barrow  Eskimos,  597 

essential  variation  of  names  or  incidents,  and  without  being  able 
to  get  more  details,  is  the  skeleton  of  one  of  the  semi-mythical 
traditions  so  common  in  Greenland,  which  may  really  refer  to 
some  actual  occurrences  in  ancient  times,  but  which  have  been 
localized  and  adapted  to  suit  the  region  in  which  the  narrator 
lives. 

The  death  of  Kokpausina  bears  a  strong  resemblance  to  the 
final  catastrophe  of  the  Greenland  story  of  Kagsuk  (see  Rink's 
"  Tales,"  &c.,  p.  431),  which  is  said  to  have  taken  place  in  Green- 
land, in  the  districts  of  Holsteinborg  and  of  Sukkertoppen,  and 
according  to  Dr.  Rink  is  perhaps* a  variant  of  an  older  tale  only 
localized  in  this  way.  In  this  story  the  wicked  Kagsuk,  after 
committing  various  deeds  of  violence,  at  last  mprders  the  sons  of 
two  old  men  "  clever  in  magic  spells,"  To  revenge  themselves 
they  prepare  "  bows  of  an  arm's  length**  and  while  others  engage 
Kagsuk's  attention  in  front  they  creep  up  behind,  escaping  obser- 
vation by  magic,  and  shoot  him  dead. 

.  It  seems  hardly  too  bold  a  statement  to  say  that  if  Kagsuk  and 
Kokpausina  were  real  persons*  at  all  they  were  one  and  the  same 
man,  who  lived  neither  at  Sukkertoppen  nor  at  Pernye,  but  some- 
where in  the  common  home  of  the  prehistoric  Eskimos,  before 
the  Greenlanders  started  on  their  weary  journey  towards  the  east 
and  the  meil  of  Point  Barrow  on  their  perhaps  longer  journey . 
towards  the  setting  sun. 

It  is  interesting  to  note  that  the  five  very  strong  and  (appa- 
rently) wicked  brothers  who  appear  in  this  story  are  evidently 
the  same  as  the  "band  of  five  brothers,  generally  called  'a  lot  of 
brothers  or  men  "  who,  according  to  Dr.  Rink,  figure  in  so  many 
of  the  Greenland  tales  as  the  personification  of  haughtiness  or 
brutality. 

6.  A  murder  at  Cape  Smyth.  Udlimau  was  once  given  as  the 
name  of  one  of  Kokpausina's  four  brothers,  but  the  narrator 
afterwards  corrected  himself  and  said,  as  did  other  natives  also, 
that  Udlimau  was  a  bad  man  who  long  ago  lived  at  Utkliavwing 
(Cape  Smyth)  and  who  murdered  Kumnero  as  he  lay  asleep  be- 
side his  wife  by  cutting  him  across  the  bowels.  The  house  where 
this  murder  was  committed  was  pointed  out  to  us  in  the  village. 
This  is  probably  an  account  of  an  actual  occurrence,  as  is  the  fol- 
lowing: 

7.  The  people  who  talked  like  dogs.    Long  ago,  when  there 


Digitized  by 


Google 


59*  Legendary  Fragments  from  the  Point  Barrow  Eskimos.  [July, 

was  no  iron,  five  &milies  had  their  houses  at  Isutkwa  (the  site  of 
the  signal  station,  where  several  mounds  indicate  the  position  of 
the  former  village).  They  were  called  Isutkwamiun  ("  they  who 
live  at  Isiitkwa  "),  and  they  talked  like  dogs.  They  said  "  imek- 
lunga,  wa !  wa  I  "  ("  I  want  a  drink,  bow-wow !"). 

The  following  fragment,  however,  for  which  Lieut  Ray  is  my 
authority,  and  which  was  also  related  to  Dr.  Simpson  thirty  years 
before,  which  both  these  gentlemen  think  indicates  that  these 
Eskimos  are  really  acquainted  with  an  unexplored  land  in  the 
north,  is  in  my  opinion  more  probably  referable  to  the  same  cate- 
gory as  the  numerous  tales  of  the  eastern  Eskimo  about  the 
mythical  land  of  Akilinek. 

8.  Iglu  Nuna  ("  House  country").  In  the  north  is  a  country 
where  the  Iglumiun  live.  When  all  men  wore  one  labret  [the 
characteristic  lip-stud  of  the  western  Eskimos,  of  which  a  pair  is 
now  universally  worn  in  the  under  Up,  one  at  each  corner  of  the 
mouth.  The  expression  means  a  very  long  time  ago.  as  the  sin- 
gle labret  has  long  been  out  of  fashion,  and  a  few  only  are  pre- 
served as  heirlooms  or  amulets],  a  man  with  his  sledge  and  dogs 
lost  his  way  on  the  ice  and  traveled  many  days  till  he  came  to  a 
country  he  had  never  seen  before,  where  there  were  people  who 
spoke  his  language. 

We  also  heard  of  various  fabulous  animals,  though  in  many 
cases  the  names  which  in  Greenland  are  applied  to  animals  known 
only  by  tradition,  and  which  therefore  have  grown  into  fabulous 
monsters,  are  still  used  for  the  animals  to  which  they  properly 
belong,  as  in  Labrador  and  elsewhere,  for  instance,  amaro  means 
the  wolf,  and  avwinga  the  lemming,  while  in  Greenland  the  ama^ 
rok  and  avingak  are  semi-supernatural  creatures  that  figure  in 
many  of  the  old  stories. 

The  Greenlandic  word  kilivfak  or  kiliopak^  which  there  means 
an  animal  with  six  or  even  ten  legs,  appears  at  Point  Barrow  as 
at  the  Mackenzie  river  in  the  form  kiligwa  as  the  name  of  the 
mammoth  or  fossil  elephant  (see  also  Rink,  *'  The  Eskimo  Dia- 
lects," Journal  of  the  Anthropological  Institute  of  Great  Britain, 
November,  1885).  We  heard  none  of  the  fanciful  myths  about 
this  animal  which  have  been  reported  by  various  travelers  from 
the  shores  of  Bering  sea,  but  the  word  was  in  common  use,  espe- 
cially as  the  name  of  the  fossil  ivory,  which  is  very  plenty  and 
much  used  by  the  western  natives  for  various  purposes. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


1 886.]  History  of  Celery,  '  599 

It  is  interesting  to  note  in  this  connection  that  one  of  the  little 
ivory  images  brought  home  by  our  party  from  Point  Barrow  rep- 
resents a  bear  with  ten  legs,  said  to  have  been  seen  once  at  Point 
Barrow,  and  evidently  a  Wood  relation  of  the  many-legged  kiliv- 
fak  of  the  Greenland  stories. 

Another  fabulous  beast  was  the  ugruna.  "  There  are  none  now 
on  the  land.  It  has  gone  away,  only  the  bones  [remain]."  This 
name  appears  to  be  applied  to  an  extinct  species  of  ox  or  buffalo, 
whose  bones  they  sometimes  see  in  the  interior,  probably  along 
the  banks  of  the  rivers.  We  procured  several  teeth  of  the 
ugruna  which  had  been  worn  as  amulets.  As  in  Labrador  this 
name  is  also  applied  satirically  to  the  smallest  mammal  known  to 
the  Eskimos,  a  little  shrewmouse. 

As  elsewhere  on  the  American  continent,  the  Red  Indian,  who 
in  Greenland,  like  the  wolf,  has  become  a  fabulous  being,  dwell- 
ing in  the  mysterious  inland  country,  is  called  by  the  contemptu- 
ous name,  "son  of  a  «i/" — Itkudling,  the  Ingalik  or  "  Ingaleet" 
of  Norton  sound,  which  is  plainly  the  same  word  as  the  erkiUk 
of  the  Greenland  traditions. 

Outside  of  the  strict  field  of  legendary  history  or  tradition,  the 
religious  ideas  and  superstitious  observances  of  these  people,  as 
far  as  we  had  the  good  fortune  to  observe  them,  show  a  great 
resemblance  to  those  of  the  Greenlanders  before  their  conversion 
to  Christianity.  So  strong  is  the  resemblance  in  this  and  in  other 
respects  that  I  feel  confident  that  an  intelligent  observer  who 
should  devote  himself  to  the  collection  of  the  traditions  of  the 
Eskimos  of  Point  Barrow,  as  Dr.  Rink  has  so  ably  done  for  the 
Greenlanders,  would  find  here  the  greater  part  of  the  older  tra- 
ditions of  the  Greenlanders  in  a  recognizable  shape. 

HISTORY  OF  CELERY. 

BY    E.    LEWIS    STURTEVANT,    M.D. 

IF  we  consider  cultivation  as  embracing  only  the  removal  of  a 
plant  to  fertile  soil  and  its  protection  from  injury  from  crowd- 
ing, the  only  marked  effect  of  the  continuance  upon  a  plant 
through  itself  and  its  offspring  seems  to  be  embraced  in  the  one 
word  expansion,  1.  ^.,  increase  of  size.  If  we  enlarge  the  mean- 
ing of  cultivation  so  as  to  embrace  selection  and  the  cross-fertili- 
zation of  the  flowers  which  yield  seed  for  future  use,  the  subject 

TOL.   XX.'x-NO.  VII.  40 


Digitized  by 


Google 


6oo  History  of  Cilery.  [July, 

becomes  more  complicated,  and  we  find  it  difficult  in  all  cases  to 
connect  the  sequence  of  cause  and  effect  One  fact,  however, 
through  "careful  observations,  seems  undoubtedly  true,  that  by 
selection  alone,  without  the  assistance  of  the  break  caused  by  a 
cross-fertilization,  changes  in  our  plant  are  extremely  slow,  and 
many  generations  are  required  to  obtain  and  fix  any  change  other 
than  increase  which  is  sufficient  to  be  noted  by  the  casual  eye. 
In  support  of  this  view  we  can  direct  attention  to  the  little  change 
that  has  been  produced  by  centuries  of  culture  in  those  plants 
which  represent  but  improved  forms  of  a  wild  species,  such  as  the 
parsnip,  scorzonera,  salsify,  etc.,  among  roots ;  and  we  may  also 
call  attention  to  the  stability  of  type-form  during  centuries  of 
culture  in  the  eggplant,  pepper,  and  I  may  even  add  the  pump- 
kin. Perhaps  one  of  the  most  interestipg  instances  of  increase 
of  size  without  change  of  type  can  be  seen  in  the  watermelon. 
The  old  herbalists  figure  this  fruit  of  small  size,  but  as  is  very 
likely,  only  small  varieties  were  commonly  grown  in  Europe. 
John  Bauhin,  whose  history  of  plants  was  published  in  1650, 
many  years  after  it  was  written  (he  died  in  161 3),  states  the 
watermelon  to  be  so  large  that  one  could  scarcely  embrace  it  with 
the  two  hands,  "  quos  fere  ambabus  manibus  ambias."  Marg- 
gravis,  whose  history  of  natural  productions  of  Brazil  was  pub- 
lished in  1648,  describes  the  watermelon  as  being  as  large  as 
one's  head,  "  magnitudine  capitis  humani."^  That  our  present 
types  of  fruit  were  then  known  is  evidenced  in  many  ways,  but 
can  be  given  succinctly  by  Caspar  Bauhin's  statement  in  his 
Pinax,  edition  of  1623,  that  some  have  a  green  skin,  others  a 
skin  spotted  with  dingy  white;  the  flesh  of  some  red,  of  others 
white;  the  seeds  black,  red  and  tawny,  in  varieties.  Ray  de- 
scribes the  fruit  as  round,  or  globose  or  even  elliptical.  In  mod- 
ern times  we  have  fruit  so  large  that  my  arms  cannot  embrace 
the  oval,  and  a  weight  of  ninety-six  pounds  has  been  claimed, 
probably  with  justice. 

In  seeking  for  a  good  illustration  of  the  stability  of  t5rpe 
joined  with  a  change  produced  by  cultivation  and  selection,  I 
have  taken  the  celery,  as  this  vegetable  seems  to  be  of  modem 

^  Cardanus,  however,  in  his  de  rerum  varietate,  1556,  apparently  refers  to  a  water- 
melon, "  Magnitudo  quandoque  tanta,  ut  homo  expansis  brachiis  vix  una  amplecti 
queat;"  but  then  Cardanus  was  dealing  with  wonderful  things!  He  calls  it  **  An- 
guria,  qua  melopeponem  ob  it  Galenus  vocat,  quod  non  distincta  sit  caqalittua  fit 
pepon  sed  rotuncla  ut  pomum." 


Digitized  by 


Google 


1 886.]  History  of  Celery.  6oi 

origin,  and  the  variations  from  the  wild  plant  have  been  appa- 
rently deemed  great,  although  really  but  slight,  except  in  expan- 
sion produced  by  freedom  of  growth  and  changes  which  have 
slowly  accumulated  through  selection. 

The  celery  has  originated  from  the  Apium  graveolens  L.,  a 
plant  of  marshy  places  whose  habitat  extends  from  Sweden 
southward  to  Algeria,  Egypt,  Abyssinia,  and  in  Asia  even  to  the 
Caucasus,  Beloochistan  and  the  mountains  of  British  India,^  and 
has  been  found  in  Fuegia,^  in  California'  and  in  New  Zealand.* 
It  is  supposed  to  be  the  selinon  of  the  Odyssey,  the  selinon  heleion 
of  Hippocrates,  the  Eleioselinon  of  Theophrastus  and  Dioscorides 
and  the  Helioselinon  of  Pliny  and  Palladius.  It  does  not  seem  to 
have  been  cultivated,*  although  by  some  commentators  the  word 
interpreted  as  smallage  has  a  wild  and  cultivated  sort.  Nor  do  I 
find  any  clear  statement  that  this  smallage  was  used  as  food,  for 
sativus  means  simply  planted  as  distinguished  from  growing 
wild,  and  we  may  suppose  that  this  Apium^  if  smallage  was 
meant,  was  planted  for  medicinal  use,  Targioni-Tozzetti*  says 
this  Apium  was  considered  by  the  ancients  rather  as  a  funereal 
or  ill-omened  plant  than  as  an  article  of  food,  and  that  by  early 
modern  writers  it  is  mentioned  only  as  a  medicinal  plant  This 
seems  true,  for  in  the  books  in  my  library  I  find  that  Fuchsius, 
1542,  does  not  speak  of  its  being  cultivated,  and  implies  a  medic- 
inal use  alone,  as  did  Walafridus  Strabo  in  the  ninth  century ; 
Tragus,  1552,  likewise;  Pinaeus,  1561;  Pena  and  Lobel,  1570; 
also  Ruellius'  Dioscorides,  1 5  29;  Camerarius'  Epitome  of  Mat- 
thlolus,  1586,  says  planted  also  in  gardens/' Seritur  quoque  in 
hortis,"  and  Dodouc^eus,  in  his  Pemptades,  1616,  speaks  of  the 
wild  plant  being  transferred  to  gardens,  But  distinctly  says  not  for 
food  use.  According  to  Targioni-Tozzetti,^  Alamaqqi  in  the  six- 
teenth century  speaks  of  it,  but  at  the  same  time  praises  Alexan- 
ders for  its  sweet  roots  as  an  article  of  food.  Baqhin's  (1623) 
name,  Apium  palu^trf  &  Apium  officinarum  indicates  medicinal 

»  De  Candolle.    Qrig.  des  PI.  Cult.,  71. 

'  Ross.  Voy.  to  the  South  seas,  11,  298.  Apium  antarcHcum^  Cook's  Voy.,  ed. 
1769, 1,  28. 

'  Nutt.    Jour.  Acad.  Phila.,  n.  ser.,  I,  183. 

♦Forstcr.    PI,  Esc,  67. 

^  Bodaeus  and  Scaliger's  Theophrastus,  ed.  1644,  p.  804.  Ruetlius'  Dioscorides, 
1529,  Pliny.  Grandsagne.  ed.  Palladfus,  Gesners  Script,  rei  rust. 

•  Hort.  Trans.,  1854,  144. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


6o2  History  of  Celery.  U^ly» 

rather  than  food  use,  and  J.  Bauhin's  name,  Apium  vulgare  in- 
gratuSy  does  not  promise  much  satisfaction  in  the  eating.  Accord- 
ing to  Bretschneider^  celery,  probably  smallage,  can  be  identified 
in  the  Chinese  work  of  Kia  Sz'mu,  the  fifth  century  A.  D.,  and  is 
described  as  a  cultivated  plant  in  the  Nung  Cheng  Ts'nan  shu, 
1640.  We  have  a  mention,  however,  of  a  cultivated  variety  in 
France  by  Olivier  de  Serres  in  1623,^  and  in  England  the  seed 
was  sold  in  1726  for  planting  for  the  use  of  the  plant  in  soups 
and  broths,'  and  Miller*  says,  in  1722,  that  smallage  is  one  of  the 
herbs  eaten  in  the  spring  to  purify  the  blood.  The  cultivated 
smallage  is  even  now  grown  in  France  under  the  name  of  Celeri 
a  couper^  differing  but  little  from  the  wild  form.  The  number  of 
names  that  are  given  to  smallage  indicate  antiquity,  such  as 
Arabic  Ascdis,  Italian  apio,  German  Eppich,  Spanish  Perexil  dagoa^ 
French  ache^  Egypt  Kerafsf  English  smallage^  etc. 

The  prevalence  of  a  name  derived  from  one  root  indicates  a 
recent  dispersion  of  the  cultivated  variety.  Vilmorin'  gives  the 
following  synonyms :  French  Celeri,  English  celery,  German  Sel^ 
leree,  Flanders  Selderij,  Denmark  Selleri,  Italy  Sedano,  Spain  apio, 
Portugal  Aipo,  and  M'Intosh*  gives  for  the  Spanish  Apio  hartensis. 
The  first  mention  of  the  word  celery  that  I  have  observed  is  in 
Walafridus  Strabo's  poem  entitled  "  Hortulus,"  where  he  gives 
the  medicinal  uses  of  Apium,  and  in  line  335  uses  the  word  as 
follows : 

"  Passio  turn  celeri  cedit  devicta  medelae." 

The  disease  then  to  celery  yields,  conquered  by  the  remedy,  as  it 
may  be  liberally  construed,  yet  the  word  celeri  here  may  be  trans- 
lated quick-acting,  and  this  suggests  that  our  word  celery  was  de- 
rived from  the  medicinal  uses.  Strabo  wrote  in  the  ninth  century, 
having  been  born  A.  D.  806  or  807,  and  dying  in  France  in  849. 
Targioni-Tozzetti*  says  it  is  certain  that  in  the  sixteenth  century 
celery  was  already  begun  to  be  grown  for  the  table  in  Tuscany.  I 
cannot  find  any  mention  of  celery  in  Fuchsius,  1 542 ;  Tragus,  1552; 
Matthiolus  Commentaries,  1558;   Camerarius'   Epitome,    1558; 

^  Botanicon  Sinicum,  78. 

'  Ponce.  La.  Cult.  Maraich.     Also  Heuze,  Les  PI.  Alim.,  I,  p.  5. 

■Townsend.     Seedsman,  1726,  37. 

*Bot.  Offic,  1722. 

*  Pinaeus,  1561. 
•Forsk. 

»Les  PI.  Pot.,  72. 

*Book  of  the  Garden,  11,  150. 

•  1.  c. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


1 886.]  History  of  Celery.  603 

Pinaeus,  1561;  Pena  and  Lobel,  1570;  Gerarde,  IS97;  Clusius 
ran  plant,  i6oij  Dodonaeus,  pempt,  1616;  or  in  Bauhin's  Pinax, 
1623.  Parkinson's  Paradisus,  1629,  mentions  Sellery  as  a  rarity, 
and  names  it  Apium  dulce.  Ray  in  bis  Historia  plantarum,  1686, 
says  the  smallage  transferred  to  culture  becomes  milder  and  less 
ungrateful,  whence  in  Italy  and  France  the  leaves  and  stalks  are 
esteemed  as  delicacies,  eaten  with  oil  and  pepper.  The  Italians 
call  this  variety  Sceleri  or  Celeri.  The  French  also  use  the  vege- 
table and  the  name.  He  adds  that  in  English  gardens  the  culti- 
vated form  often  degenerates  into  smallage.  Quintyne,  who 
wrote*  prior  to  1697,  the  year  in  which  the  third  edition  of  his 
Complete  Gardener  was  published,  says,  in  France  "  we  know 
but  one  sort  of  it."  Celeri  is  mentioned,  however,  as  Apium 
duUe,  Celeri  Italorum  in  Hort.  Reg.  Par.,  1665  ;*  in  1778  Mawe 
and  Abercrombie  note  two  sorts  of  celery  in  England,  one  with 
the  stalks  hollow  and  the  other  with  the  stalks  solid;  but  in 
1726  Townsend' distinguished  the  celeries  as  smallage  and  sel- 
lery, and  the  latter  he  says  should  be  planted  "  for  Winter  Sallads, 
because  it  is  very  hot."  Tingburg*  says  celery  is  common  among 
the  richer  classes  in  Sweden,  and  is  preserved  in  cella^rs  for  win- 
ter use.  In  1806  M'Mahon'  mentions  four  sorts  in  his  list  of 
garden  esculents  for  American  use.  It  is  curious  that  no  men- 
tion of  a  plant  that  can  suggest  celery  occurs  in  Bodaeus  and 
Scaliger's  edition  of  Theophrastus,  published  at  Amsterdam  in 
1644. 

The  summary  of  our  investigation  hence  is,  that  we  find  no 
clear  evidence  that  smallage  was  grown  by  the  ancients  as  a  food 
plant,  but  that  if  planted  at  all  it  was  for  medicinal  use.  The 
first  mention  of  cultivation  as  a  food  plant  that  I  note  is  by  Oli- 
vier de  Serres,  1623,  who  calls  it  ache,  while  Parkinson  speaks  of 
celery  in  1629,  and  Ray  indicates  the  cultivation  as  commencing 
in  Italy  and  extending  to  France  and  England.  Targioni-To2- 
zetti  states,  however,  as  a  certainty  that  celery  was  begun  to  be 
grown  in  Tuscany  in  the  sixteenth  century.  The  hollow  celery 
is  stated  by  Mawe^  to  have  been  the  original  kind,  and  is  claimed 
by  Cobbett'  even  as  late  as  1821  as  being  the  best 

*Eng.  ed.,  1704. 

*Tourn.  Inst,  1719,  305. 

■I.e. 

•  Hort.  Culin.,  1764,  25. 

■American  Gardeners'  Kalendar. 

■Mawe  and  Abercrombie.     Gardener,  1778. 

'American  Gardener. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


6o4  History  of  Celery.  Duly* 

The  first  celeries  grown  seem  to  have  differed  but  little  from 
the  wild  plant,  and  the  words  celery  and  [cultivated]  smallage 
were  apparently  nearly  synonymous  at  one  time,  as  we  find  culti- 
vated ache  spoken  of  in  1623  in  France,  and  at  later  dates  Petit 
celeri  or  celeri  a  couper^  a  variety  with  hollow  stalks  cultivated 
even  at  the  present  time  for  use  of  the  foliage  in  soups  and 
broths.  Among  the  earlier  varieties  we  find  mention  of  hollow- 
stalked,  stalks  sometimes  hollow,  and  solid-stalked  forms  ;  at  the 
present  time  the  hollow-stalked  forms  have  become  discarded. 
Vilmorin^  describes  thirteen  sorts  as  distinct  and  worthy  of  cul- 
ture in  addition  to  the  celeri  a  couper^  but  in  all  there  is  this  to  be 
noted,  we  have  but  one  type. 

A  curious  circumstance  is  that  smallage  took  on  the  appear- 
ance of  celety  before  its  use  was  commonly  recorded,  if  at  all,  as  a 
salad  plant,  as  is  evidenced  by  the  drawings  herewith  reproduced 
in  reduced  form.  The  first  drawing  is  substantially  the  same  as  that 
inFuchsius,  1542;  Tragus,  1552;  Pmaeus,  1561  ;  Tabernaemon- 
tanus  ic,  1 590,  or  Gerarde,  1597,  and  Dodonaeus,  1616,  and  is 
taken  from  Matthiolus'  Commentaries,  15^8 ;  this  represents  the 
common  expression  of  the  herbalists  as  to  the  appearance  of 
Apium  palustre  at  this  time.  The  second  picture  is  from  Came- 
rarius'  Epitome  of  Matthiolus,  1586,  and  represents  the  form  we 
call  celery,  but  hollow  stalked  as  at  first  noticed.  The  third  pic- 
ture is  taken  from  Decaisne  and  Naudin*s  Manuel  de  I'amateur 
des  jardins,  and  represents  the  unblanched  plant  of  one  of  our 
most  improved  varieties.  These  pictures  suggest  the  same  ideas 
that  I  have  previously  shown  to  hold  true  for  the  dandelion,  viz., 
that  our  improved  strains  originated  from  natural  sources,  and 
are  not  cultural  in  their  beginnings. 

Take  the  wild  smallage,  transfer  to  fertile  soil  and  protect  from 
crowding,  and  we  should  expect  increase  of  size  to  the  plant ; 
earth  up  for  the  purpose  of  blanching  and  we  should  expect  to 
gain  increased  weight  to  the  leaf-stalks ;  a  long-continued  selec- 
tion of  the  best  plants  for  seed-growers  would  gradually  succeed 
informing  the  solid  stalked;  the  growing  of  varieties  from  the 
earliest  seed  would  tend  toward  earliness  ;  the  occasional  grow- 
ing through  accident  from  unripe  seed  would  tend  towards  ob- 
taining a  curled-leaf  form  with  dwarf  habit,  etc.  We  may  hence 
say  that  all  our  celeries  in  form  are  not  changed  from  the  orig- 

»Lcs.  PI.  Pot, 


Digitized  by 


Google 


1 886.]  History  of  Celery.  605 

inal  except  in  unessential  points  correlated  with  size  and  selec- 


Tig.i 


Fro.  \,---'Afnum  palmtre  (Matth.  Comm.,  1558,  p.  362).     Fro.  2.^^Apium  palm- 
tre  (Cam.  Epit.,  1586,  p.  527).    Fio.  3. — Celeri  plein  ^^if^  (Decaisae  and  Naudin), 

lion.     In  quality  celeries  have  tended  to  become  milder,  until 


Digitized  by 


Google 


6o6"  History,  of  Celery,  D^'y* 

now  some  of  our  varieties,  such  as  the  Boston  market,  are  of  a 
very  deh'cate  taste,  far  different  from  the  sort  spoken  favorably  of 
by  Townsend  in  1726  as  very  hot  and  very  slow  growing. 

It  is  probable  that  some  original  variation  in  quality  discovered 
in  the  wild  plant  suggested  cultivation,  for  among  a  people  like 
the  Italians,  with  whom  high  aromatic  taste  seems  popular,  the 
strong  savor  of  the  smallage  would  present  little  objection,  if 
only  grateful  to  them ;  or  that  its  use  was  suggested  by  some 
popular  idea  of  its  value  as  a  medicinal  food,  as  seems  probable. 
That  there  is  great  variety  in  wild  plants  in  respect  to  flavor,  we 
have  every  reason  to  believe.  Smallage,  described  by  most  bot- 
anists as  a  suspicious  if  not  dangerous  plant  for  eating,  yet  in 
Fuegia  was  found  palatable  and  healthful  by  the  sailors  of  the 
exploring  ships,^  and  in  New  Zealand  described  by  Forster^  as 
truly  pleasant  and  salutary  for  scorbutic  sailors.  The  use  in 
Italy  as  a  medicinal  food,  and  the  introducing  to  garden  culture, 
with  blanching,  etc.,  would  improve  the  flavor  and  increase  its 
use,  and  improvement  once  initiated  and  recognized  would  neces- 
sarily continue,  and  stability  of  type-form  would  also  tend  to 
continue,  as  the  seeding  habits  of  the  garden  plant  is  not  favora- 
ble to  cross-fertilization  with  the  wild  or  allied  species,  it  being  a 
biennial,  and  not  usually  seeding  alongside  of  other  species  with 
which  crosses  might  occasionally  occur. 

We  have  now  in  celery  an  improved,  not  changed,  wild  plant, 
which  does  not  now  tend  to  revert  to  the  wild  form,  as  it  seemed 
to  have  done  at  the  first,  and  a  good  illustration  of  the  flxity  of 
a  garden  form  species.  The  present  form  will  undoubtedly  con- 
tinue unchanged  for  a  long  period,  unless  cross-fertilization  with 
another  species-variety  is  brought  to  pass.  It  would  be  of  gar- 
den interest  to  grow  and  cross  the  species-forms  from  different 
portions  of  the  globe  with  our  garden  varieties,  as  analogical 
reasoning  would  suggest  possibilities  as  yet  unsuspected  in 
practice. 

^  Ross,  1.  c.    Cook,  1.  c. 
•l.c. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


1 886.]  TJie  YellcW'Hlled  Magpie.  607 

THE  YELLOW-BILLED  MAGPIE. 

BY  BARTON  W.  EVERMANN. 

DURING  two  years  spent  in  Ventura  county,  Southern  Cali-- 
fomia,  I  became  quite  familiar  with  this  handsome  yet  noisy 
bird  of  plebeian  tastes.     The  yellow-billed  species  seems  to  be 
restricted  in  its  range  to  California,  throughout  which  State  it  is 
locally  abundant. 

One  of  the  great  industries  of  Southern  California  is  wool- 
growing;  the  valleys  and  hillsides  are  covered  with  flocks  of 
sheep,  from  a  score  to  several  thousands  in  number ;  and  nearly 
every  canon  has  its  corral  to  which  the  herder  and  his  faithful 
dog  drive  the  flocks  at  eventide.  Here  they  are  shut  up  and 
guarded  through  the  night.  In  the  morning  they  are  again 
turned  loose  to  feed  upon  the  burr  clover,  alfiUarilla  (or  "  fillaree  '*), 
and  such  other  stuff  as  can  cause  only  sheep  and  mules  to  thrive. 
In  and  about  these  corrals  are  various  kinds  of  filth — carcasses 
of  sheep  that  have  died  of  disease  or  starvation,  bodies  of  dead 
lambs  and  the  refuse  of  the  sheep  which  the  herder  has  slaugh- 
tered for  his  own  larder,  for  jerked  mutton  and  tortillas  constitute 
the  chief  part  of  his  meager  bill-of-fare.  Such  a  place  as  this  is 
a  paragon  of  restaurants  to  the  magpies.  Here  they  can  be  found 
in  the  early  morning,  in  the  evening,  and  at  any  other  time  of 
day  when  they  happen  to  be  hungry.  Here  they  come  to  feed 
upon  the  filth,  keeping  up  an  almost  incessant  chattering,  crying 
and  scolding,  which  if  translated  into  intelligible  English  would 
certainly  bristle  with  oaths  and  slang.  For  there,  where  the 
English  sparrow  has  not  yet  found  its  way,  the  magpie  represents 
the  "  hoodlum  element"  in  bird  society.  But  when  the  English 
sparrow  invades  its  domain,  the  magpie  will  become,  by  compari- 
son, a  most  estimable  member  of  the  avian  fauna  of  that  region. 

Almost  any  canon  which  has  a  considerable  sheep  corral,  and 
is  supplied  with  a  few  scattered  clumps  of  live  oaks,  cottonwoods 
or  sycamores,  is  quite  sure  to  have  its  colony  of  magpies.  And 
when  you  enter  one  of  these  canons  you  are  apt  to  know  of  their 
presence  long  before  you  come  within  gunshot  of  them,  unless 
they,  as  is  sometimes  their  custom,  remain  quiet  and  hidden  until 
you  are  near  them,  when  they  open  fire  upon  you  with  volleys  of 
oaths,  imprecations  and  maledictions,  which  nothing  but  a  charge 
of  shot  will  stop. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


6o8  The  YeUaw-billed  Magpie.  Quly, 

Such  a  place  as  this  is  Wheeler  canon,  a  few  miles  down  the 
Santa  Clara  valley  from  Santa  Paula.  By  former  visits  to  this 
canon  I  had  kept  myself  informed  as  to  the  progress  these  birds 
were  making  in  their  nesting.  So  on  April  2,  188 1,  Mr.  Fred. 
Corey  and  I  paid  the  canon  a  visit,  believing  that  many  "  full 
sets  "  would  be  gotten.  We  started  from  home  early  in  the 
morning  and  drove  down  to  the  canon,  fully  prepared  to  spend 
the  day.  As  we  drove  leisurely  along  the  foot  of  the  mountain 
slope,  numerous  brown  birds  {Pupilo  fuscus  crissalis)  and  valley 
quails  (Callipepla  califarnica)  scurried  from  our  path  and  hid 
themselves  in  the  sage-bush  chaparral  which  there  abounds; 
and  an  occasional  burrowing  owl  (Speotyto  cunicularia  hypogtsa) 
would  salute  us  with  a  school-boy  bow  as  we  passed.  Where 
the  canon  opens  into  the  valley  are  many  large  spreading  live 
oaks  which,  with  their  dark-green  foliage  and  spreading  form, 
resemble  large  apple-trees.  Many  of  them  have  beautifully 
rounded  tops,  whose  bases  are  only  a  few  feet  from  the  ground, 
and  whose  small  dark-green  leaves  are  so  thickly  set  that  it  is 
impossible  to  see  among  the  branches  except  from  below.  Far- 
ther up  the  canon  are  a  number  of  cottonwoods  and  a  few  wil- 
lows, and  still  farther  more  oaks  and  several  sycamores. 

He  who  has  collected  only  here  in  the  East  hardly  knows  how 
rich  may  be  the  results  of  a  day  spent  in  such  a  canon  as  this. 
Here  every  tree  could  be*  climbed  with  no  great  difficulty,  and 
anything  it  might  contain  was  nearly  always  obtainable.  When 
we  reached  the  sycamores  and  cottonwoods  the  hooded  and  Bul- 
lock's orioles,  happiest  of  all  the  canon's  happy  birds,  flitted 
among  the  green  leaves,  delighting  the  eye  with  their  royal  dress, 
and  the  ear  with  their  rich  melody  of  song.  And  a  pair  of  mag- 
pies flew  up  from  the  edge  of  a  little  stream  where  they  had 
come  to  make  their  morning  toilet,  and  perched  upon  a  cotton- 
wood  near  by.  Emphasis  was  given  to  their  scoldings  by  excited 
jerkings  of  the  tail  and  body  after  the  manner  of  the  jay.  But 
as  we  had  decided  to  begin  collecting  at  the  upper  end  of  the 
conon,  we  passed  on  without  disturbing  the  nest  which  we  plainiy 
saw  in  the  tree's  top.  As  we  near^d  the  upper  end  of  the  canon 
a  California  vulture  [Pseudogryphus  califomianus)  rose  from  the 
ground  in  front  of  us,  where  lay  a  dead  pig  upon  which  it  was 
feasting,  and  soared  away  to  the  higher  mountains.  I  know  of 
no  bird  of  more  majestic  flight  than  this  great  vulture  of  our 


Digiti 


zed  by  Google 


1 886.]  The  Yellow-billed  Magpie.  609 

AATestern  coast.  While  rising  from  the  ground  his  niovenrients  are 
anything  but  graceful ;  he  starts  with  a  few  very  awkward  steps 
and  still  more  awkward  flaps  of  his  immense  wings,  but  after 
reaching  an  elevation  of  fifty  to  seventy-five  feet,  flapping  of  the 
>vings  ceases,  and  as  he  circles  above  you,  ascending  higher  and 
higher  on  motionless  wings,  he  proves  himself  king  of  the  soar- 
ing birds.  But  the  magpie  was  the  object  of  our  trip,  and  to  her 
•we  must  return.  Our  time  was  well  selected,  for  the  nesting  was 
at  its  height  The  large  globular  nests  were  seen  in  the  tops  of 
a  number  of  trees,  and  most  of  those  that  we  climbed  to  con- 
tained good  sets  of  eggs.  We  obtained  nine  sets  altogether. 
Five  nests  were  found  in  sycamores  and  contained  three,  six,  seven, 
seven  and  nine  eggs  respectively.  The  full  nest  complement  for 
each  of  the  first  two  sets  had  evidently  not  been  reached,  as  the 
eggs  were  perfectly  fresh.  Incubation  had  scarcely  begun  in  the 
two  sets  of  seven  each ;  and  the  nine  eggs  of  the  other  set  showed 
but  slight  embryonic  changes. 

Two  sets  of  eight  eggs  each  were  taken  from  nests  in  live  oaks, 
and  with  these  incubation  had  proceeded  several  days.  One 
beautiful  set  of  eight  eggs  was  found  in  a  nest  in  the  top  of  a 
willow  near  the  lower  end  of  the  canon.  In  only  two  or  three 
of  the  eggs  were  embryonic  changes  visible.  But  one  nest  was 
found  in  a  cottonwood,  the  one  we  had  "spotted"  in  the  morn- 
ing, and  but  a  short  distance  from  the  willow  just  mentioned.  In 
this  nest  we  found  four  fresh  eggs.  Thus  from  the  nine  nests  we 
got  sixty  eggs,  which  we  regarded  as  a  pretty  fair  day's  collect- 
ing. From  the  above  facts  it  seems  safe  to  conclude  that  the 
usual  nest  complement  of  the  yellow-billed  magpie  is  from  seven 
to  nine  eggs,  and  that  the  sycamore  is  the  favorite  tree  in  which 
to  nest  in  that  region. 

The  nest  is  a  large'  globular  structure  very  much  resembling 
two  crow's  nests  placed  with  their  faces  or  edges  together,  the 
dome  or  roof  of  the  nest  being  somewhat  thinner  than  the  lower 
part.  An  irregular-shaped  entrance-way  is  left  at  one  side,  and 
the  walls  of  the  ilest  support  the  dome-shaped  roof  at  a  sufficient 
height  to  permit  the  long  tail  of  the  sitting  bird  to  extend  upward, 
as  the  horizontal  diameter  is  not  sufficient  to  permit  any  other 
disposition  of  that  member.  Except  in  the  lining,  very  coarse 
material  is  used  in  the  construction  of  the  nest — large  twigs  of 
cottonwood  being  most  frequently  used.    The  nest  is   roughly 


Digitized  by 


Google 


6io  The  Yellow-billed  Magpie.  [J'^'Xt 

lined  with  finer  twigs  and  strips  of  the  inner  bark  of  the  cotton- 
wood.  A  few  of  the  nests  we  examined  were  newly  made,  but 
the  majority  were  old  nests  which  had  been  used  in  previous 
years.  Quite  a  number  of  old  deserted  nests  were  found,  partic- 
ularly in  the  live  oaks  near  this  mouth  of  the  canon,  where  we 
found  no  recent  nests  at  all.  But  a  few  years  before  a  school- 
house  had  been  built  near  this  grove  of  oaks,  and  the  "  small 
boy  "  proved  too  much  for  even  the  magpies,  who  retreated  up 
the  canon,  leaving  their  tents  behind  them. 

The  eggs  of  the  yellow-bill  magpie  vary  considerably  in  color 
as  well  as  in  size  and  general  shape.  The  description  of  the  color 
given  in  Baird,  Brewer  and  Ridgway,  and  copied  by  Mr.  Oliver 
Davie  in  his  "  Egg  Check-list  of  North  American  Birds,"  is 
applicable  to  nearly  all  the  specimens  I  have  seen,  viz.,  "  The 
ground-color  is  a  light  drab,  so  clearly  marked  with  fine  cloud- 
ings of  an  obscure  lavender  color  as  nearly  to  conceal  the  ground, 
and  to  give  the  egg  the  appearance  of  an  almost  violet-brown." 
One  set  of  four  in  my  collection  has  the  lavender  very  pro- 
nounced, and  in  quite  large  spots  or  blotches,  rather  most  numer- 
ous about  the  larger  end.  The  eggs  of  this  set  measure  1.35  x 
•95,  143  X  .90.  I  29  X  .90  and  i-33  X  -94— the  average  1.35  X  .89, 
being  the  largest  of  any  of  the  sets  I  have  seen.  Another  set  of 
eight  gives  1. 18  X  .85  as  the  smallest,  1.40  X  .85  as  the  largest, 
and  1.30  X  .85  as  the  average.  The  average  of  a  set  of  six  given 
by  Mr.  Davie  is  1.30  X  .89,  and  on  another  page  he  gives  1.20  x 
.92,  presumably  the  average  of  many  sets.  B.  B.  &  R.  give  1.20 
X  .90  as  the  measurement  of  an  egg  from  Monterey,  Cal.  These 
last  measurements  seem  rather  under  the  average  of  those  I  have 
seen. 

Several  of  the  nests  to  which  we  climbed  were  old  deserted 
ones,  and  contained  no  eggs.  Mr.  Corey,  after  much  difficulty, 
reached  one  in  which  he  was  surprised  to  find  a  set  of  eggs  of 
the  sparrow-hawk  ( Tinnunculus  sparveriiii). 

While  we  had  been  quite  successful  in  securing  many  good  sets 
of  beautiful  eggs,  these  material  things  alone  did  not  represent 
the  profits  which  the  day  had  brought  to  us.  During  our  morn- 
ing ride,  besides  the  objects  already  mentioned,  we  had  seen,  en- 
joyed and  conversed  about  a  score  of  other  things  no  less  attrac- 
tive. And  now  in  the  evening,  as  the  sun  sank  beyond  the  hills, 
and  the  highest  peaks  of  the  canon's  walls  received  its  last  warm 


Digitized  by  VjOOQIC 


1 886.] 


The  Phytogeny  of  the  Camelidce, 


6ii 


glows  ere  it  passed  beyond  the  Pacific,  new  charms  were  added 
to  the  place.  We  saw  the  beautiful  crested  valley  quails  fly  on 
'whirring  wing  from  the  mesas  and  the  chaparral  to  the  dense 
foliage  of  the  live  oak,  where  their  leader  called  to  the  night's 
repose ;  we  heard  the  long-continued  ringing  note  of  the  ground 
tit  {Chamaa  fasciatd)  from  the  thicket  by  the  road-side;  we  heard 
— aXmosi  felt — the  dismal,  multitudinous  barkings  and  bowlings 
of  a  coyote  that  watched  us  from  a  ridge  not  far  away,  and  could 
hardly  believe  one  poor  beast  could  carry  on  such  a  concert ;  we 
saw  and  heard  and  felt  a  hundred  beauties  which  delight  the  soul 
and  fill  it  with  happy  memories.  We  enjoyed  most  the  fish  we 
didn't  catch.  ' 

THE  PHYLOGENY  OF  THE  CAMELIDiE. 

BY  E.  D.  COPE. 

AS  is  well  known,  the  camels  form  a  well-distinguished  division 
of  the  Artiodactyla,  or  even-toed  ungulates.  The  prominent 
features  which  separate  them,  osteologically  speaking,  from  other 
Artiodactyla  are  three,  viz.,  the  absence  of  a  canal  of  the  cervical 
vertebrae  which  in  other  Mammalia  encloses  the  vertebral  artery 
(Fig.  i);  the  presence  of  an  incisor  tooth  on  each  side  of  the 


ap        ^^p       ^^         ep 


Fig.  I. — Poebrotherium  labiaium  Cope;  five  anterior  cervical  vertebrae,  showing 
absence  of  vertebrarterial  canal;  one-half  natural  size.  Figs.  />,  posterior  views  of 
yertebrse  lettered  to  correspond  with  those  represented  above  them.  Original,  from 
specimen  from  While  River  bed  of  Colorado,  represented  in  Fig.  7. 

upper  jaw  (Fig.  12);  and  thirdly,  the  incompleteness  of  the  keels 
of  the  distal  ends  of  the  metapodial  bones  (Fig.  2).  This  char* 
acter  and  that  of  the  presence  of  incisors,  are  primitive  conditions 
common  to  all  the  early  Mammalia.  The  peculiar  cervical  verte- 
brae constitute  a  specialization,  but  whether  degenerative  or  pro- 


Digitized  by 


Google 


6i2  The  Phytogeny  ef  the  Camelida.  Uulyt 

gressive  remains  to  be  ascertained  In  one  respect  this  line  ex- 
hibits a  high  specialization,  which  is  present  at  the  earliest  known 
period  of  its  history.  This  consists  in  the  reduction  of  the  lat- 
eral (n  and  v)  metapodial  bones,  so  that  but  two  functional  toes 
remain  (see  Fig.  i,  c-f).  This  condition  has  been  reached  by 
the  more  typical  artiodactyles  after  a  much  longer  lapse  of  time, 
for  most  of  the  extinct  and  recent  types  display  latenal  digits  in  a 
well-developed  or  rudimentary  condition;  in  but  few  of  them 
have  they  totally  disappeared.  In  another  respect  the  line  of  the 
camels .  attains  a  higher  specialization  than  that  of  the  typical 
ruminants,  although  its  beginning  is  that  which  is  common  to  the 
entire  suborder.  This  is  in  the  dentition.  The  reduction  in 
numbers  of  teeth  showed  by  Owen  to  characterize  the  historical 
succession  of  all  Mammalia,  is  carried  further  in  the  molar  series 
of  camels  than  in  any  hoofed  order ;  for  in  the  final  term  or 
genus,  Eschatius  (Cope),  there  is  but  one  premolar  left  in  the 
upper  jaw,  and  that  is  reduced  to  a  simple  cone.  The  true 
molars  never  reach  the  complexity  of  those  of  the  other  line,  of 
the  Bovidae  or  oxen,  nor  do  they  become  prismatic  as  in  that 
family,  but  retain  the  short  crown  well  distinguished  from  long 
roots,  which  belongs  to  all  the  earlier  Mammalia. 

The  successional  reduction  in  the  numbers  of  premolar  teeth 
in  the  family  of  the  Camelidae  is  shown  in  the  following  table.^ 
There  is  seen  in  the  genera  Protauchenia  and  Palauchenia  a  ten- 
dency to  an  increase  of  complication  of  the  fourth  inferior  pre- 
molar. 

I.  Premolar  teeth  }. 

P'in.  I  separated  by  diastema Procamelus  I^idy. 

II.  Premolar  teeth  \, 

P-m.  II  below  wanting. .^PHauehimia  Cope. 

III.  Premolar  teeth  ). 

Fourth  inferior  premolar  triangular, Camehu  Lion. 

Fourth  inferior  premolar  composed  of  two  crescents,  which  enclose  a  lake,(u&  infe- 
rior P-m.  3  ?) Palauchenia  Owen. 

Fourth  inferior  premolar  composed  of  two  crescents,  with  two  posterior  tubercles 
behind  them.. . ., Protauchenia  Branco. 

IV.  Premolar  teeth  }. 

Fourth  premolar  below  triangular. •  Auchenia  IlUger. 

V.  Premolar  teeth  J. 

Fourth  superior  premolar  composed  of  two  crescents Holemenucus  Cope. 

Fourth  superior  premolar  consisting  of  a  simple  cone Eschatius  Cope. 

^From  Proceedings  Amer.  Philosoph.  Soc.  1884,  p.  16. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


1 886.]  The  Phylogeny  of  the  Camelidce,  613 

The  only  genera  which  include  existing  species  are  Camelus 
and  Auchenia,  the  camels  and  llamas 
respectively.  It  may  be  remarked  that 
the  latter  genus,  which  is  confined  to  the 
new  world,  is  more  specialized  than 
Camelus,  which  is  restricted  to  the  old 
-world. 

Ancestral    to    the    Camclidae  is  the 

genus  Protolabis  Cope  (Fig.  10),  which 

agrees  with  Procamelus   (Fig.  11),  the 

earliest  genus  of  that  family  in    most 

respects,  but  differs  decidedly  in  having 

a  full  set  of. superior  incisor  teeth.     In 

this  genus  we  reach  the  stage,  in  tracing 

back  the  ancestry  of  the  camels,  which 

we  find  represented  by  Oreodon  in  the 

series  of  the  Chevrotains  (Tragulidae),  or 

the  Gelocus  in  the  line  of  the  cattle  and 

deer.     It  is  probable,  though  not  certain, 

that  in  Protolabis  the  metapodial  bones 

are  combined  into  a  cannon  bone  as  in 

the  Camelidae.      If  so   it   differs  mate. 

rially   from   its   predecessor,  the  genus 

Poebrotherium,  and  must  be  regarded  as 

the  type  of  a  special  family,  the  Proto- 

labididae. 

The  Poebrotheriidae  have  their  general 

characters  like  those  of  the  Protolabi-     ^^^    ^      r«,.^««    ^«..«^« 

riG.    2.  —  Carpus,    cannon 

didse,  but  the  metapodial  bones  are  en-  bone  and  first  phalanges  of 

tirely  distinct  (Figs.  3. 7)-     The  molar  l^-^wM^S'^ll^i' 
teeth  are  truly  selenodont,  and  the  cres-viduai  Fig.  12;  a,  anterior,  *, 

,,  ,,  r       •!•  t        posterior      views.        Original, 

cents,  as  m  the  other  families,  are  but  from  Kept.  U.  S.  G.  G.  Surv. 
four  in  number.    The  premolars  are  en-  ^-  ^/    *^^  "*"•»  ^-  ^• 

.     ,       ../v.  .     r  r  1  1         Wheeler. 

tirely  different  m  form  from  the  molars, 

and  the  last  one  in  the  upper  jaw  consists  of  but  two  crescents,  as 

in  ruminants  generally. 

The  family  which  should  be  ancestral  to  the  Poebrotheriidae  is 
not  certainly  known.  It  should  possess  the  foot-characters  of  the 
latter  with  quadritubercular  inferior  and  superior  molars.   That  is, 


Digitized  by 


Google 


6 14 


The  Phylogeny  of  the  Camelida, 


0"iy. 


4^ 


instead  of  four  crescents,  these  teeth  should  possess  four  cones  or 
tubercles  perhaps  more  or  less  flattened.  Such  forms  are  already 
known  as  ancestral  to  some  other  Ruminantia, 
as  for  instance  the  genus  Anthracotherium, 
where  the  external  cones  are  flattened  on  the 
outer  side,  or  Dichobune,  where  the  cones  are 
not  flattened  at  all.  In  both  of  these  genera 
there  are  five  tubercles  to  the  superior  molars, 
and  the  lateral  (ii,  v)  digits  are  present.  We 
possess  some  fragments,  however,  of  a  lost 
genus  from  the  age  of  the  Poebrotherium 
(the  White  River  Miocene,  or  Oligocene), 
which  very  probably  represents  the  one  which 
fills  the  interval.  This  has  been  named  Stib- 
arus  (Cope),  and  it  is  only  known  from  parts 
of  lower  jaws  which  contain  premolar  teeth. 
These  have  a  great  resemblance  to  the  corre- 
F  G  7  —  c  r  s  sponding  parts  of  an  older  genus  of  the  same 
metacarpus  and  end  of  line,  ^  Pantolestes,  from  the  Wasatch  forma- 
'^^TMLTX^^.  tion  or  Lower  Eocene.  It  might  be  suspected 
Original.  that    Stibarus   is    a  member  of  the    Panto- 

lestidae  but  for  one  fact.  The  superior  molars  of  Pantolestes  be- 
long to  the  primitive  type  which  has  only  three  tubercles  or 
cusps.  No  genus  of  ungulate  mammals  having  this  character  is 
known  to  pass  the  bounds  of  the  Eocene  series  of  epochs  in  any 
country,  and  it  is  extremely  improbable  that  Stibarus  will  prove 
to  be  an  exception  to  this  rule.  I  have  very  little  doubt  that  the 
superior  molars  will  be  found  to  be  quadritubercular,  but  it  is 
impossible  to  be  certain  whether  the  tubercles  are  simple  or  cres- 
centic.  The  resemblance  of  the  premolars  to  those  of  Pantoles- 
tes leaves  the  probabilities  in  favor  of  their  being  simple.  In  this 
case  Stibarus  represents  a  family  in  the  wide  interval  between  the 
Pantolestidae  and  the  Poebrotheriidae. 

Messrs.  Scott  and  Osborn  have  described  a  mammal,  from  the 
Bridger  Eocene  of  Wyoming,  as  a  probable  member  of  the  camel 
series,  under  the  name  of  Ithygrammodon  cameloides.  It  is  only 
known  from  two  premaxillary  and  a  part  of  one  maxillary  bones. 
The  former  are  slender  and  bear  a  complete  set  of  incisor  teeth, 
which  are  followed  by  a  large  canine.  It  is  probable  that  this 
genus  belongs  in  the  camel  series,  but  it  cannot  yet  be  positively 
aflirmed. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


I  »86.]  The  Phylogeny  cf  the  Camelida.  615, 

The  question  of  the  origin  of  the  Fantolestidae  is  that  of  the 
origin  of  the  suborder  Artiodactyla.  This  I  have  believed  would 
be  found  to  have  been  from  some  yet  undiscovered  typQ  or  sub- 
order of  the  order  Amblypoda.^  None  of  the  known  families  of 
that  order  can  have  occupied  this  position,  for  although  their 
general  organization  is  appropriate,  their  superior  and  inferior 
molar  teeth  have  been  modified  too  much  from  the  simple  tritu- 
bercular  type  on  which  they  are  built  The  ancestor  of  Panto- 
lestes  was  an  amblypod  with  the  tubercles  of  its  tritubercular 
superior  molars  entirely  simple  or  conical.  No  such  form  has 
yet  been  discovered,  but  I  have,  in  anticipation  of  such  discovery, 
named  the  suborder  the  Hyodonta. 

Dr.  E.  Schlosser  in  an  abstract  of  an  unpublished  memoir  to 


Fig.  4.  ^  Fig.  5. 

Fig.  4.— Left  anterior  foot  of  PAenacoJus  primavus,  one  third  natural  sire  (crrijj- 

inal).     Fig.  5. Manus  of  Coryphodon  (original).   The  cunctform  is  imperfect.   Sr, 

scaphoid;  Z,  lunar;  C«, cuneiform ;  7«, trapezium ;  71>,  tiapczoides ;  M^,  magnum; 
(7,  unciform. 

appear  in  the  Morphologisches  Jahrbuch,^  takes  the  position  that 
the  Artiodactyla  have  been  directly  derived  from  the  Taxeopoda 
and  from  the  family  of  the  Periptychidae.  thus  leaving  the  Ambly- 
poda  out  of  their  phylogeny.  In  this  I  cannot  agree  with  him,' 
and  for  the  following  reasons  : 

The  evolution  of  the  Diplarthrous,  or  alternate  wrist-andankle- 
boned  Ungulata  (Fig.  6),  from  the  Taxeopoda,  or  straight-rowed 
wrist-and-ankle-boned  Ungulata  (Fig.  4),  has  been  by  the  rotation 

»  Proceedings  Amcr.  Philosoph.  Society,  1882,  p.  447.  Report  U.  S.  Geol.  Sur- 
vey Terrs.,  ill,  1885,  p.  382. 

*  Zoologischcr  Anzeiger,  1 886,  No.  222. 

»On  condition  that  the  carpus  of  the  Fcriptychidae  (which  is  unknown)  is  taxeo- 
podous,  as  I  have  supposed. 

VOL.  XX. — wo.  VII.  4* 


Digitized  by 


Google 


6i6 


7he  Phyhgeny  of  the  Camelida. 


[July, 


inwards  of  the  second  row  on  the  first,  in  both  the  fore  and  hind 
feet  This  rotation  has  resulted  sooner  or  later  in  the  loss  of  the 
internal  digit  (thumb  and  great  toe)  from  both  extremities.  In 
the  history  of  this  sliding  inwards  of  the  second  row,  the  out- 
side element  of  the  row  has  always  preceded  in  time  the  inside 
element  The  Amblypoda  (Fig.  5)  show  this  clearly.  The  unci- 
form bone  has  extended  inwards  so  as  to  support  the  second  bone 
of  the  first  row  (lunar)  in  part  as  well  as  the  one  which  properly 
rests  on  it  (cuneiform).  But  the  magnum  has  not  slipped  inwards  so 

as  to  support  the  scaphoid  of 
the  first  row.    That  continues 
to  be  supported  by  its  proper 
successors  below,  the    trape- 
zoides  and  the  trapezium,  the 
latter  taking  half  the  burthen. 
This  structure  (Fig.  5)  is  ab- 
solutely intermediate  between 
that  of  the  Taxeopoda  (Fig. 
4).  and  that  of  the  Diplarthra 
(Fig.  6),  and  I  imagine  that 
all  ungulates  in  passing  from 
the  taxeopodous  to  the  diplar- 
throus   stages    traversed    the 
amblypodous.  The  only  other 
conceivable  path  would  have 
been  through  a  type  in  which 
the  magnum  had  extended  to 
below    the     scaphoid,    while 
the  unciform  did  not  pass  in- 
wards beyond  the  limits  of  the 
cuneiform.     No  such  type  has 
been  found.    On  the  other  hand,  I  have  shown  that  the  Oreodon- 
tidae^  have  pushed  the  transposition  of  the  bones  of  the  second 
carpal  row  to  such  an  extreme  that  the  magnum  has  gotten  en- 
tirely under  the  scaphoid,  while  the  unciform  supports  the  lunar 
completely.  Thus  the  alternating  position  with  its  useful  mechan- 
ical consequence  has  been  lost  to  this  group,  the  effect  produced 
being  exactly  that  seen  in  the  Amblypoda.     This  may  have  had 
something  to  do  with  the  extinction  of  the  Oreodontidae. 

'  Proceedings  Amer.  Philos.  Soc.  1884,  pp.  504-9,  and  1884,  P-  ^3  (Palaeontolog. 
Bull.,  No.  39). 


^ 


Fio.  6. — Fore-leg  and  foot  of  Hyraco^ 
therium  venticohim  Cope,  iwo-lhirds  nat. 
size;  irom  Eocene  beds  of  Wind  river, 
Wyoming.  Original,  from  Report  U.  S. 
Gcol.  Surv.  Ttrrs.,  iii. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


1886.] 


Ihe  Phylogeny  of  Camelida. 


617 


The  following  suggestions  as  to  the  origin  of  the  three  pecu- 
liarities of  the  cameloid  series,  or  Tylopoda  as  they  have  been 
called,  may  be  made.  The  imperfection  of  the  distal  metapodial 
keels  (Figs.  2,  3  and  7)  is  probably  due  to  the 
early  development  of  an  elastic  pad  of  connec- 
tive tissue  beneath  the  proximal  phalanges.  It 
is  this  pad  which  gives  the  foot  of  the  camel  its 
peculiar  lateral  expansion,  and  causes  its  step  to 
be  both  elastic  and  silent.  This  structure  has 
relieved  the  metapodials  of  the  concussions  to 
which  the  feet  of  other  Ruminantia  are  subject, 
and  I  have  advanced  this  fact  as  the  cause  of  the 
peculiarity  of  the  metapodials  above  mentioned.^ 
The  cause  of  the  absence  of  superior  incisor 
teeth  is  unknown,  but  has  been  supposed  to  be 
complementary  to  the  presence  of  horns  in  the 
Ruminantia.  None  of  the  camel  line  have  horns, 
and  the  presence  of  the  single  incisor  on  each 
side  may  be  connected  with  this  fact ;  but  why 
two  of  the  incisors  on  each  side  should  have 
been  lost  under  the  circumstances,  is  not  ex- 
plained. Nor  has  any  explanation  been  offered 
for  the  absence  of  the  vertebrarterial  foramina 
of  the  cervical  vertebrae  (Fig.  i). 

There  have  been  six  species  of  the  Pantoles- 
tidae  described,  all  belonging  to  the  genus  Panto- 
lestes.  The  only  ones  of  the  six  which  are 
known  from  parts  of  the  skeleton,  are  the  P, 
longicaudus  Cope,  of  the  Bridger  Eocene  epoch, 
and  the  P,  brachystomus  of  the  Wasatch  Eocene 
(Fig.  8).  Neither  of  these  species  exceeded  an 
existing  musk-deer  in  size,  and  both  had  slender  Colorado, 
limbs.  The  tarsus  of  the  P.  brachystomus  is  known,  and  it  is  truly 
ruminant,  though  all  the  bones  are  distinct  (Fig.  8).  At  the  upper 
end  the  adjacent  sides  of  the  metatarsal  bones  are  flattened  and 
applied  together,  so  that  the  later  formation  of  a  cannon  bone  by 
their  fusion,  must  have  been  of  easy  accomplishment.  The  dis- 
tal parts  of  these  bones  as  seen  in  the  P,  longicaudus  are  not 
closely  appressed,  but  are  quite  distinct  from  each  other.    The  P. 

*  American  Naturalist. 


^f 


Fig.  7.  —  Hind 
foot  of  Poebrotheri- 
um  labiatum  from 
specimen  represent- 
ed in  Fig.  I.  Orig- 
inal, from  White 
River    Miocene   of 


Digitized  by 


Google 


6i8 


The  Phylogeny  cf  the  Camelida. 


Duly, 


etsagicus,  also  from  the  Wasatch  Eocene  of  the  Big  Horn  river, 

is  represented  by  a  portion  of  a 
robust  lower  jaw  as  large  as  that 
of  a  fox. 

But  one  species  of  Stibarus  is 
known,  and  that  from  jaw  fragments 
only  in  my  museum  and  in  that  of 
Princeton  College.  These  fragments 
appear  to  have  belonged  to  an  animal 
of  the  size  of  a  pine  weasel  or  martin, 
but  the  premolar  teeth  are  very 
large  for  the  size  of  the  jaw  and 
may  indicate  a  larger  animal.  The 
anterior  ones,  ?  first  and  second, 
have  two  roots  each,  and  are  quite 
elongate  in  the  lore  and  aft  direc- 
tion. They  are  separated  by  a  very 
narrow  diastema  from  the  tooth  in 
front  of  them,  ?the  canine.  The 
premolars  are  compressed  and  have 
a  straight  median  cutting  edge. 
This  edge  is  thrown  into  two  lobes 
Fig.  %.^Pantoiestes  brachystomus  between  the  anterior  and  posterior 

cro"NV«ing%g''rsu%r^  ^^^^^  °""' *e  anterior  Only  being 
molar  iceih  from  below;  *,  mandible,  the  larger.  The  whole  tooth  resem- 

left  side :  r,  do.  from  above ;  ^,  tarsus    %%  ^1.1  1       ^      ^i_     /• 

with  paA  of  leg  and  metatarei  from  bles  a  rather  low  premolar  tooth  of 
before;  d,  from  behind;  ^,  from  a  dog,  and    was    evidently   quite 

outside:   /,*  from  inside.     Ori^nal,      rr    ^^  .^  e        e.        1 

from    Report   U.    S.   Geot.   Survey   effective    aS  a    CUtter  of    Soft   Sub- 
Terrs.,  Vol.  in,  F.  V.  Hayden. 


stances. 

Of  the  Poebrotheriidae  there  are  two  genera, 
follows : 


These  diflfer  as 


First  premolar  of  upper  jaw  elongate  and  with  two  roots .. . . .  PoJ^brotherium  Leidy. 
First  upper  premolar  short  and  with  a  simple  conic  root Gomphotherium  Cope. 

In  Poebrotherium  we  have  two  species,  a  larger  P.  labiatum 
Cope,  and  a  smaller  P,  vilsoni  Leidy  (Fig.  9).  Both  are  animals 
of  graceful  and  slender  proportions,  of  about  the  size  and  build 
of  the  existing  gazelles.  Their  heads  were,  however,  of  a  more 
narrowed  form  towards  the  end  of  the  muzzle.  The  remains  of 
these  animals  have  been  found  in  the  White  River  beds  of  Ne- 


Digitized  by 


Google 


i886.] 


The  Phylogetiy  of  the  Camelidce. 


619 


braska,  Dakota,  Wyoming  and  Colorado.    They  were  evidently 
very  abundant  during  Oligoccne  time. 

The  genus  Gomphot&erium  embraces  but  one  species,  the  ^« 


Fig.  9. — P(^brotherium  vilsoni  Leidy,  from  White  River  Miocene  of  Nebraska. 
Fi);.  a,  skull,  right  side,  one-half  natural  site;  b^  superior  molar  teeth,  nat.  size;  r, 
inferior  molars,  nat  size.     From  Leidy,  Ancient  Fauna  of  Nebraska. 

stembergi  Cope,  which  was  found  by  Mr.  C.  H.  Sternberg  in  the 
John  Day  Miocene  beds  of  Central  Oregon.  Its  size  exceeds 
that  of  either  of  the   Poebrotheria,  equaling  that  of  a  llama. 


Fig.  10. — Gomphoiherium  itemberf^i  Cope,  two-fifths  nat.  size,  from  the  John 
Day  Miocene  of  Oregon.  Fig.  a,  left  side;  b^  inferior  side;  r,  distal  end  of  radius. 
Original,  from  Report  U.  S.  Geolog.  Survey,  F.  V.  Hayden. 

Its  limbs  were  also  slender,  and  in  their  general  characters 
resemble  those  of  the  genus  which  preceded  it.  The  second  and 
fifth  digits  fire  rcpr^^^i>tpd  on  bpth  feet  by  small  sc^le-like  bone| 


Digitized  by 


Google 


620  The  Phytogeny  of  the  Camelida.  [July, 

adherent  to  the  sides  of  the  two  median  metapodials.  The  infe- 
rior premolars  in  this  genus  are  all  much  compressed,  but  differ 
much  in  form  from  those  of  Stibarus.  The  first  upper  premolar 
is  a  simple  tooth  with  a  subconical  crown,  totally  different  from 
the  long  cutting  crown  of  the  corresponding  tooth  in  Poebro 
therium.  The  next  two  premolars  alone  are  compnsssed,  though 
the  third  is  rather  wide  posteriorly.  The  fourth  is  like  that  of 
other  ruminants. 

The  oldest  species  of  Protolabis,  P.  transmontanus  Cope  (Fig. 
1 1),  was  obtained  from  the  Ticholeptus  beds,  which  overlie  the 
John  Day  beds  in  Central  Oregon.     Its  skull  and  a  few  bones 


». 


Fig.  \\.^— Protolabis  transmontanus  Cope,  skull  one- third  nat.  size,  from  Ticho- 
leptus bed  of  Oregon.     Fig.  a,  from  left  side;  3,  from  below.    Original. 

only  are  known,  but  the  former  displays  very  complete  dentition. 
Its  size  is  about  that  of  the  Virginia  deer.  Its  dimensions  are  in 
strict  accord  with  the  rate  of  increase  of  size  to  be  observed  in 
this  series,  and  which  it  will  be  noticed,  is  maintained  to  the  Plio- 
cene epoch,  when  the  greatest  dimensions  were  attained.  Two 
species  of  Protolabis  appear  in  the  succeeding  or  Loup  Fork 
epoch  which  exceed  the  P.  transmontanus  in  size.  These  are  the 
P.  keterodontus  and  the  P.  prehensilis  Cope. 

Accompanying  the  latter  we  have  the  species  of  Procamelus 
Leidy,  the  earliest  members  of  the  true  Camelidae.  Its  species 
vary  in  size  from  that  of  a  sheep,  as  P,  gracilis  Leidy,  to  that  of 
^  deer,  P.  occidentaUs  Leidy,  and  to  that  of  a  camel,  P,  rgbusius 


Digitized  by 


Google 


1 886.]  The  Phytogeny  of  the  Camelidce.  621 

Leidyr.  The* P.  occidentalis  (Fig.  12)  appears  to  occur  wherever 
the  Loup  Fork  beds  exist,  from  New  Mexico  north  and  east  to 
Dakota.  The  P.  angustidens  Cope,  intermediate  in  size  between 
this  form  and  the  P.  robustus^  is  not  rare  in  Kansas  and  Colorado. 
Six  or  seven  species  of  this  genus  have  been  named,  one  of  them 
from  teeth  found  near  Richmond,  Virginia.  Species  of  the  genus 
probably  occur  in  beds  of  corresponding  age  in  Florida. 

Pliauchenia  has  been  found  as  yet  only  in  New  Mexico,  in  two 
species  not  well  preserved.    It  is  not  certain  that  any  species  of 


Fig.  12. — Procamehis  occidentalis  Leidy,  one-third  nat.  size,  from  Loup  Fork  bed 
of  New  Mexico.  Fig.  a,  skull  from  above;  b^  do.  from  left  side.  Original,  from 
Report  U.  S.  Expl.  Surv.  W.  looth  m?r.,  Vol.  iv,  G.  M.  Wheeler. 

the  genus  Auchenia  (llama)  has  been  found  fossil  within  the  United 

States,  though  several  have  been  described.    Some  or  all  of  these 

belong  to  Holomeniscus    Cope,  which  has   only  one  premolar 

above,  while  Auchenia  has  two.    A  species  about  as  large  as  a 

large  llama  has  been  found  in  the  Oregon  desert  and  named  H. 

vitakerianus  Cope.     Another  as  large  as  the  largest  known  camel 

is  the  H.  hesternus  Leidy.     This  fine  species  ranged  from  Oregon 

throqgh  California  to  the  valley  of  Mexico,  where  it  has  been 

found  by  Professor  Castillo  of  the  School  of  Mines.    A   still 

larger  species,  perhaps  of  this  genus,  the  H.  calif ornicus  Leidy,  must 

hav^  e^^ceeded  in  its  dimensions  either  of  the  living  camels.   It  is 

known  fron^  4  few  bones  from  California^  and  perhaps  ffom  Mexicp. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


622  The  Phytogeny  of  the  Camelida.  [J^'X* 

The  most  specialized  of  all  the  genera  of  Camelidae,  Eschatius 
Cope,  extended  its  range  from  Oregon  1o  the  valley  of  Mexico- 
I  owe  to  the  courtesy  of  my  friend  Dr.  Mariano  Barcena,  formerly 
•director  of  that  department  of  the  Museo  National  of  the  City  of 
Mexico,  the  opportunity  of  inspecting  specimens  of  the  jaws  and 
teeth  of  this  genus.  It  is  represented  by  two  species.  The  larger, 
E.  conidens  Cope,  was  about  as  large  as  a  camel  or  dromedary.  It 
ranged  from  the  valley  of  Mexico  to  Oregon  ;  specimens  found 
by  Mr.  Sternberg  in  the  latter  region  not  being  distinguishable 
from  those-of  the  Mexican  origin.  The  second  species,  E.  longi- 
rostris^  is  a  good  deal  smaller,  and  is  only  known  from  the  same 
Equus  beds  of  Oregon  which  have  yielded  the  larger  one. 

The  succession  of  structure  in  the  leading  genera  of  the  selen- 
odont  or  tylopod  part  of  this  phylogeny  may  be  represented  as 

follows  :  No  cannon  bone.  Cannon  bone  present. 

Incisor  teeth  present.        Incisors  one  and  two  wanting. 


4  premolars.  3  prem's.*      2  prem's.     i  prcm'r. 


Lower  Miocene  X  Po<lbrotherium» 

{Protolabis, 
Procamelus, 
Pliauchenia, 
f  Camelus. 

Pliocene  and  recent    |  Auchenia. 

This  table  shows  that  geological  time  has  witnessed,  in  the  his- 
tory of  the  Camelidx,  the  consolidation  of  the 
bones  of  the  feet  and  a  great  reduction  in  the 
numbers  of  the  incisor  and  premolar  teeth.    The 
embryonic  history  of  these  parts  is  as  follows : 
In  the  foetal  state  all  the  Ruminantia  (to  which 
the  camels  belong)  have  the  cannon  bones  divided 
as  in  Poebrotherium ;  they  exhibit  also   incisor 
teeth,  as  in  that  genus  and  Protolabis.      Very 
Fig.  13.— Cast  of    young  recent  camels  have  the  additional  premolar 
brain  of   Poebro-    of  Pliauchenia.    They  shed  this  tooth  at  an  early 
nat.  size.     From    period,  but  very  rarely  a  camel  is  found  in  which 

®/"^^vi"w  ""^''"  the  tooth  persists.  The  anterior  premolar  of  the 
of  E.  M.  Museum,  1    r-         1       •    •     ri  r        ^   •      *u 

Princeton,  N.  J.        normal  Camelus  is  m  like  manner  found  in  the 

young  llama  (Auchenia),  but  is  shed  long  before  the  animal  at- 
tains maturity.  I  may  add  that  in  some  species  of  Procamelus 
caducous  scales  of  enamel  and  dentine  in  shallow  cayitjes  r^pr^- 
sent  the  incisive  dentition  of  Protolabis, 

*  In  lower  ja>Y. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


1 886.] 


The  Phylogeny  of  the  CatneHdce, 


623 


In  greater  detail,  the  extinct  American  forms  of  this  line  are 
distributed  as  follows : 


Eocene. 

Miocene. 

Pliocene. 

WaMtch. 

Bridger. 

White 
River. 

John 
Day. 

Ticholep. 
tus. 

Loup 
Fork. 

Equus. 

Pantolestes  Cope 

Ithy^rammodon  S.  0.. 

?  Stibarus  Cope 

Poebrotherium  Lcidy. 
Gomphotherium  Cope. 

Protolabis  Cope 

Procamelus  l^idy .... 
Pliauchenia  Cope 

5 

I 
I 

I 

2 

I 

I 

2 

6 

2 

Holme  niscus  Cope  . . . 
Eschatius  Cope 

3 

2 

The  total  number  of  genera,  nine ;  of  species,  twenty-six. 

The  development  of  the  brain  displays  the  same  progress  that 

has  been  shown  by  Lartet 
and  Marsh  to  have  taken 
place  in  other  lines  of 
Mammalia.  The  accom- 
panying figures  of  the  brain, 
show  that  while  the  Procam- 
elus occidentalis  is  inferior 
to  the  camel  in  the  size  and 
development  of  the  convolu- 
tions of  the  hemispheres, 
it  is  in  advance  of  the  Poe- 

!brotherium  vilsoni  in  these 
respects  (Figs.  13-14). 
The  development  of  the 
camels  in  North  America 
presents  a  remarkable  par- 
allel to  that  of  the  horses. 
The  ancestors  of  both  lines 
•  appear  together  in  the  Wa- 
satch  or    lowest    Eocene, 
I  and  the   successive   forms 
I  develop  side  by  side  in  all 
the  succeeding  formations. 
Camels     and     horses    are 
Fig.  14.— /'r^r/iw^/i/jtfrr/ViVif/tf/w,  cast  of  brain  standard  types  in  all   our 

from  skull  represented  in  Fig.  12.  one-half  nat.  Tertiary    formations ;    and 
size.     Original,  from  Report  U.  S.  G.  G.  Surv.    ,  ^         ,       ,  '       , 

w.  of  looih  mer.,  1877,  Vol  iv,  G.  M.  Wheeler,  they  must  be  learned  by 


Digitized  by 


Google 


624  Editors'  Table.  [July, 

any  one  who  wishes  to  distinguish  readily  the  horizons  one  from 
the  other.  The  horse-forms  are  more  numerous  in  all  the  beds, 
in  individuals  as  well  as  in  species.  Both  lines  died  out  in  North 
America,  and  of  the  two,  the  camels  only  have  certainly  held 
their  own  in  South  America.  The  history  of  the  succession  of 
horses  in  Europe,  although  not  as  complete  as  that  in  America, 
extends  over  as  wide  a  period  of  time.  Not  so  with  the  camels. 
There  is  no  evidence  of  the  existence  of  the  camel  line  in  the  old 
world  prior  to  the  late  Miocene  epoch  ;  and  so  far  as  the  existing 
evidence  goes,  the  new  world  furnished  the  camel  to  the  old. 

Camelidae  only  appear  in  South  American  palaeontology  in  the 
genus  Auchenia,  in  Pliocene  time,  in  the  Pampean  beds.  The 
best  known  species  are  Auchenia  weddellii  and  A,  intermedia  of 
Gervais.  It  is  curious  that  M.  Ameghino,  in  his  report  on  the 
fauna  of  the  Miocene  age  found  on  the  River  Parana,  which  con- 
tains the  ancestors  of  so  many  Pliocene  genera,  finds  none  that  * 
stand  in  that  relation  to  these  llamas. 


-:o: 


EDITORS'  TABLE. 

editors:  a.  S.  PACKARD  AND  E.  D.  COPE. 

Various  suggestions  have  been  made  as  to  the  permanent 

organization  of  science  at  the  National  Capital.  The  necessity 
for  the  employment  of  experts  having  been  felt  in  various  depart- 
ments of  the  Government,  commissions  and  offices  for  the  con- 
duct of  research  have  grown  up  in  them.  The  results  have  been 
greatly  to  the  advantage  of  the  Government  and  of  the  people, 
and  have  often  represented  important  advances  of  science  itself. 
The  efficiency  of  these  commissions  has,  however,  often  been 
impaired  through  their  association  with  the  various  bureaus  and 
departments  under  which  they  are  placed.  This  comes  from  their 
necessary  direction  by  noq-experts  and  the  quantity  of  routine 
work  which  may  be  required  of  them.  There  is  also  necessarily 
more  or  less  overlapping  of  the  similar  offices  in  the  different 
departments.  Many  of  the  commissions  have  been  from  time  to 
time  threatened  with  total  extinction  through  the  want  of  knowl- 
edge of  their  utility  by  some  of  our  legislators.  Several  illustra- 
tions of  this  fact  have  recently  occurred  in  Washington.  The 
able  superintendent  of  the  Coast  Survey  has  been  removed,  and 
his  place  taken  by  superior  clerk  of  the  Treasury  Department. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


1 886.]  Editors'  Table.  625 

A  bill  has  been  introduced  into  the  House  of  Representatives  by 
Mr.  Herbert,  of  Alabama,  which  forbids  the  publication  of  its 
results  by  the  Geological  Survey,  which,  with  other  restrictions, 
is  almost  equivalent  to  its  abolition. 

On  the  other  hand  a  bill  has  been  introduced  by  Mr.  Reagan, 
of  Texas,  creating  a  "Department  of  Industries,"  to  be  repre- 
sented in  the  Cabinet.  This  bill  contemplates  combining  in  the 
new  department  the  following  divisions :  Agriculture,  Labor  and 
Commerce,  The  division  Agriculture  embraces  the  subdivisions : 
I.  Agricultural  products,  including  botany,  entomology  and 
chemistry ;  2.  Animal  industry ;  3.  Lands,  including  the  geo- 
logical survey. 

As  regards  the  intrinsic  merits  of  this  proposed  new  depart- 
ment we  have  nothing  to  say,  but  we  think  there  are  better  ways 
of  disposing  of  the  scientific  work  of  the  Government.  The 
above  plan  omits  necessarily  a  number  of  important  scientific 
bureaus,  and  does  not  provide  for  the  consolidation  of  all  the 
offices  which  pursue  a  given  branch  of  science.  Thus  there  will 
be  a  chemical  commission  in  the  Agricultural  Department  and 
another  in  connection  with  the  Navy,  as  at  present,  and  so  on. 

If  it  can  be  done  properly,  the  creation  of  an  organization  to 
be  called  the  Department  or  Bureau  of  Science  and  Public  In- 
struction, to  be  embraced  in  the  present  Department  of  the  Inte- 
rior, might  meet  the  necessities  of  the  case.  Such  a  department 
would  embrace  the  present  Naval  Observatory,  Nautical  Almanac, 
Signal  Service,  Coast  Survey,  Fish  Commission,  Geological  Sur- 
vey, Agricultural  Department,  Bureau  of  Statistics  and  Bureau  of 
Education.  The  diverse  and  heterogeneous  character  of  the 
above  divisions  might  be  remedied  by  a  suitable  re  classification. 

Each  of  the  divisions  should  be  under  a  capable  expert,  who 
should  devote  his  time  to  promoting  the  efficiency  of  the  work. 
Financial  matters  to  be  under  direct  management  and  control  of 
the  head  of  the  entire  bureau. 

But  the  essential  to  success  of  this  or  of  any  other  plan  for  pro- 
moting science  at  Washington  is  that  its  offices  be  removed  from 
the  field  of  political  patronage.  How  this  is  to  be  done  is  the 
question.  The  Smithsonian  Institution  as  a  private  corporation, 
and  the  National  Museum  as  under  its  direction,  are  happily  re- 
moved from  such  contingency,  and  any  system  which  would 
place  the  scientific  commissions  and  bureaus  in  a  position  of 
equal  security,  would  be  a  great  benefit  to  them.  Nothing  would 
be  gained  in  this  direction  by  the  creation  of  the  proposed  new 
department.  For  this  reason  the  commission  appointed  by  Con- 
gress to  investigate  the  relations  of  the  scientific  bureaus  to  each 
other  and  to  the  Government  has  decided  that  no  change  of 
organization  should  be  made  at  present 


Digitized  by 


Google 


626  Recent  Literature.  Quly. 

RECENT  LITERATURE. 

Gilbert's  Topographic  Features  of  Lake  Shores. — ^This 
treatise  is  reprinted  from  the  fifth  annual  report  of  the  director  of 
the  U.  S.  Greological  Survey,  and  is  based  on  the  observations  of 
many  years,  particularly  in  Utah,  around  the  shores  of  Great 
Salt  lake.  The  author  states  that  the  body  of  the  essay  was  pre- 
pared before  he  met  with  the  writings  of  Elie  de  Beaumont  and  of 
Cialdi.     It  is  well  illustrated  with  original  diagrams  and  land- 


FiG.  I. — Sheep  Rock,  a  sea-cli6f  on  the  shore  of  Great  Salt  Lake,  near  the  Black 
Rock  bathing  resort. 

scape  illustrations,  some  of   which    we    have    been    permitted 
to  use. 

After  discussing  the  subject  of  earth-shaping,  a  second  section 
treats  of  littoral  erosion.  While  the  impact  of  large  waves  has 
great  force  and  its  statement  in  tons  to  the  square  foot  is  most 
impressive,  the  author  believes,  as  the  result  of  his  own  observa- 
tions, that  "  the  erosive  action  of  waves  of  clear  water  beating 
upon  firm  rock  is  practically  nil     It  rarely  happeas,  however. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


Digitized  by 


Google 


Digitized  by 


Google 


PLATE  XXVI. 


o 


o 


o 


Digitized  : 


Digitized  by 


Google 


PLATE  XXVII. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


Digitized  by 


Google 


1 886.]  Recent  Literature,  627 

that  the  impact  of  waves  is  not  reinforced  by  the  impact  of  min- 
eral matter  borne  by  them.  The  detritus  worn  from  the  shore  is, 
of  course,  always  at  hand  to  be  used  by  the  waves  in  continu- 
ance of  the  attack ;  and  to  this  is  added  other  detritus  carried 
along  the  shore." 

The  sea  cliff  and  wave-cut  terrace  are  then  described  and  well 
illustrated ;  then  follow  the  discussion  of  littoral  transportation, 
the  beach  and  the  barrier.  Under  the  last  head  the  following 
remarks  on  the  part  played  by  great  floods  and  storms  will  inter- 
est our  readers : 

"  Not  only  is  it  true  that  the  work  accomplished  in  a  few  days 


Fig.  2. — Fault  scarps  and  shore  lines  at  the  base  of  the  Wasatch. 

during  the  height  of  the  chief  flood  of  the  year  is  greater  than 
all  that  is  accomplished  during  the  remainder  of  the  year,  but  it 
may  even  be  true  that  the  effect  of  the  maximum  flood  of  the 
decade  or  generation  or  century  surpasses  the  combined  effects 
of  all  minor  floods.  It  follows  that  the  dimensions  of  the  chan- 
nel are  established  by  the  great  flood  and  adjusted  to  its  needs. 

"In  littoral  transportation  the  great  storm  bears  the  same  rela- 
tion to  the  minor  storm  and  to  the  fair-weather  breeze.  The 
waves  created  by  the  great  storm  not  only  lift  more  detritus  from 


Digitized  by 


Google 


628  Recent  Literature,  fJ^ly* 

each  unit  of  the  littoral  zone,  but  they  act  upon  a  broader  zone 
and  they  are  competent  to  move  larger  masses/* 
^    Under  the  head  of  littoral  deposition  the  origin  of  embankments, 
spits,  bars,  hooks,  loops,  wave-built  terraces,  V-terraces,  V-bars 
and  of  dunes  is  discussed. 

The  third  section  is  devoted  to  the  distribution  of  wave- 
wrought  shore  features ;  a  fourth  section  to  stream  work  and 
deltas.  In  a  fifth  section  ice  work  and  shore  walls  on  lakes  are 
described.  After  referring  briefly  in  section  six  to  the  effects  of 
submergence  and  emergence  on  the  phenomena  under  considera- 
tion, attention  is  called  in  the  seventh  section  to  the  discrimina- 
tion of  shore  features,  under  the  head  of  cliffs,  fault  scarps,  ter- 
races, fault  terraces,  etc.,  and  ridges,  the  latter  being  contrasted 
with  moraines  and  osars.  Fig.  2  gives  a  good  idea  of  the  remark- 
able fault-scarps  at  Farmington,  Utah.  The  eighth  and  last  sec- 
tion relates  to  the  recognition  of  ancient  shores. 

The  essay  is  upon  a  subject  of  very  general  interest,  every 
geologist  having  his  attention  drawn  to  the  phenomena  which  the 
author  explains.  A  similar  work  based  on  sea-shores  would  be 
of  still  wider  interest  and  importance,  though  some  attention  is 
given  to  the  subject  in  our  leading  text-books  on  geology. 
Recent  Books  and  Pamphlets. 

Naetlin^t  — . — Descriptions  of  three  species  of  fossil  fishes  of  the  genera  Gingly- 
mostoma,  Odontaspis  and  Squatina.  Ext.  Proc.  Gesell.  naturforschender 
Freunde.,  Feb.,  1886.     From  ihe  author. 

Putnam,  C.  E. — Elephant  pipes  and  inscribed  tablets  in  the  Museum  of  Davenport, 
Iowa.     1886.    From  the  author. 

Dugist  E, — Metamorphoses  d'une  Corydalis.  Ext.  du  Bull.  d.  1.  Soc  Zool.  de 
France,  1885. 

Pootf,  A,  ^.— Regla  Basalt  and  el  Chico.  Naturalist's  Leisure  Hour,  April,  1886. 
From  the  author. 

Frazer,  P. — The  work  of  the  International  Congress  of  Geologists  and  its  Com- 
miitees  1886. 

A  new  application  of  the  principle  of  composite  photography  to  the  identifica- 
tion of  handwriting.     Rep.  Jour.  Franklin  Inst.,  1886.     Both  from  the  author. 

Waliing,  H.  F. — To]X)graphic  surveys  of  States.  Read  bef.  Boston  Soc.  Civil  Eng., 
Feb.,  1886.    From  the  author. 

Roger,  O. — Kleine  palilontologische  Mittheilungen.    From  the  author. 

Renevier^  E — Resultats  scientifiques  du  Congr&s  Giologique  international  de  Ber- 
lin.    Lausanne,  1886.     From  the  author. 

Van  Beneden,  P.  /. — Les  C^tac^s  des  mers  d' Europe.  Bruxelles,  1885.  From  the 
author. 

JVinchfll,  yf.— Science  and  the  Slate.     Rep.  from  «•  The  Forum." 

—Sources  of  trend  and  crustal  surplusage  in  mountain  structure.  Ext.  Proc. 
Amer.  Assoc.  Adv.  Sci.,  Vol.  xxxiv,  1885. 

—Ditto  ditto  from  the  Amer.  Jour.  Science. 

•• Thoughts  on  science  teaching.   From  the  Fortnightly  Index,  July  12,  1884.   All 

from  the  author. 

BouUnger,  G,  A. — A  reply  to  M.  de  Batta's  Remarks  on  Rana  temporaria,  Ann. 
and  Mag.  Nat.  Hist.,  1886. 

.^—Description  of  a  new  frog  of  the  genus  Megalophrys.  Ext.  Proc.  Zool.  Soc, 
1885.     Both  from  the  author. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


1 886.]  Geography  ana  Travels,  629 

Shufeldty  R,  ^—Outlines  for  a  museum  of  anatomy.    Department  of-  the  Interior, 
Washington,  1885. 

The  skeleton  of  Geococcyx.     From  the  Journal  of  Anatomy  and  Physiology, 

London,  Jan.,  1886.    Both  from  the  author. 
Scudder^  S.  ff, — Nomenclator  2^dlogicus.     Bull.  U.  S.  National  Museum,  No.  19, 

Washington,  1882-1884. 
Systematische  Uebersicht  der  fossilen  Myriopoden,  Arachnoiden  und  Insekten. 

1885.    Both  from  the  author. 
Lydekker^  R. — Catalogue  of  the  fossil  Mammalia  in  the  British  Museum.    Part  11. 

Ungulata  Artiodactyla.    London,  1885. 
On  the  occurrence  of  the  crocodilian  genus  Tomistoma  in  theMiocene  of 

MalU. 

GENERAL  NOTES. 
GEOGRAPHY   AND   TRAVELS.* 

Asia. — Tong-king, — ^The  April  number  of  the  Proceedings  of 
the  Royal  Geographical  Society  contains  a  map  of  Tong-king, 
accompanied  by  an  article  upon  the  hill  region  which  lies  beyond 
the  delta  of  the  Song-coi.  The  writer  (Mr.  I.  G.  Scott)  states  that 
though  the  Song-coi  is  a  noble-looking  river,  boats  drawing  over 
fifteen  feet  cannot  ascend  its  Cua  Cam  mouth  to  Haiphong,  while 
boats  drawing  six  feet  have  difficulty  in  reaching  Ha-noi.  There 
are  four  principal  mouths,  of  which  the  Cua  Cam  is  the  most 
northern,  but  it  seems  probable  that  the  Cua  Dai  (the  most  south- 
ern) will  shortly  be  made  use  of  for  deep-sea  ships.  The 
provinces  of  Kwung-yen,  Lang-son,  Cao-bang,  Thai-nguyen  and 
Tuyen-kwan  form  the  plateau  region,  north  of  the  Song-coi 
delta.  This  is  a  land  of  rounded,  grassy  hills,  without  prominent 
peaks. 

The  delta  is  rapidly  extending.  When  Ha-noi  was  built  by  the 
Chinese  in  the  eighth  century,  it  was  a  sea-port,  but  is  now  a  hun- 
dred miles  inland.  Two  centuries  ago  Hung-yen  was  on  the 
co^st,  and  was  the  site  of  the  Dutch  and  Portuguese  factories.  It 
is  now  thirty  miles  inland.  Our  author  declares  that  Lang-son  is, 
geographically  and  ethnographically,  Chinese.  It  is  on  the 
Chinese  slope  and  is  separated  from  the  rest  of  Tong-king  by  a 
barren  mountain  belt  fifty  miles  in  width.  Some  remarkable 
cave- temples  exist  near  the  town. 

The  Survey  of  Japan, — During  the  last  five  years  the  National 
Survey  of  Japan  has  been  steadily  progressing  under  the  super- 
intendence of  Dr.  Naumann,  who  has  now  left  the  task  to  be 
carried  out  by  the  Japanese  he  has  trained.  An  account  of  the  work 
performed  maybe  found  in  Nature  (April  29th,  1886).  The  sur- 
vey was  based  mainly  on  economical  considerations,  and  started 
with  topographical,  geological  and  agronomical  departments.  A 
chemical  section  was  added.  The  existence  of  Devonian,  Carbon- 
iferous, Triassic,  Jurassic,  Cretaceous  and  Tertiary  rocks   was 

*  This  department  is  edited  by  W.  N.  Logkington,  Philadelphia. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


630  General  Notes.  [July* 

proved  by  well-characterized  fossils.  Radiolarian  slates,  probably 
older  than  the  Carboniferous  limestone,  occur  in  almost  every  part 
of  the  archipelago.  The  Japanese  island  chain  is  one  of  the  finest 
examples  of  a  mountain  range  of  unilateral  structure. 

Asiatic  News, — ^The  Russian  Trans-Caspian  railway  was  by  the 
end  of  last  year  opened  as  far  as  Ghiaurs.  From  this  spot  to 
Merv  the  necessary  earthworks  were  completed.  From  thence  to 
Chardjui,  1 18  miles  from  Merv,  the  route  will  be  across  desert.  It 
is  proposed  to  prevent  the  access  of  moving  sand  by  plantations 

along  the  line. ^An  ethnographical  map  of  Asia,  six  and  a  half 

feet  by  four  and  a  half  feet,  showing  the  localities  of  136  divisions 
of  peoples  and  languages,  in  twenty-six  tints  of  color  and  shading, 

has  been  made  by  Herr  Vincent  von  Haardt,  of  Vienna. A 

recent  issue  of  China  Review  contains  an  article,  by  Mr.  C.  Tay- 
lor, upon  the  aborigines  of  Formosa.  Mr.  Taylor  has  resided 
four  years  in  the  south  of  the  island,  and  his  information  regard- 
ing the  Paiwans,  or  people  of  this  part,  is  therefore  derived  from 
intimate  observation.  He  is  also  acquainted  with  the  Ameirs, 
who  have  scattered  themselves  in  small  villages  along  the  east 
coast  down  to  South  Cape.  With  the  Pipohuans,  or  half-castes 
of  the  plains,  and  the  Tipuns,  he  is  only  acquainted  through  in- 
formation obtained  from  stragglers  domiciled  among  the  Paiwans. 
The  report  of  Mr.  G.  Schumacher,  published  by  the  Com- 
mittee of  the  Palestine  Exploration  Fund,  is  full  of  interesting 
details  upon  the  Jaulan  and  Hauran  regions.  The  river  Yarmuk, 
whose  course  marks  the  southern  limit  of  the  Jaulan  basaltic 
region,  receives  from  the  north  several  tributaries,  which  are  here 
for  the  first  time  correctly  mapped.  The  Rukhad,  one  of  these, 
rises  at  the  foot  of  Mt.  Hermon  (Jebel-esh -Sheikh).  Its  tributary, 
the  Wady  Seisun,  falls  517  feet  in  420  yards  by  a  succession  of 
cataracts.  These  rivers  have  their  sources  in  springs,  and  there  are 
clear  indications  of  the  existence  of  large  reservoirs  of  under- 
ground water  in  the  basaltic  and  calcareous  formations. 

Asiatic  Islands  and  Australia,  etc. — Barren  and  Narcoudam, 
two  volcanic  islands  belonging  to  the  Andaman  archipelago,  and 
lying  east  of  the  main  islands,  have  been  surveyed  by  Capt.  Hol- 
day,  of  the  Indian  Survey.  Barren  island  is  circular,  about  two 
miles  across,  and  its  principal  features  are  a  main  crater,  with  axes 
of  one  and  a  half  miles  and  one  mile,  and  an  inner  cone  about 
half  a  mile  across  at  its  base  and  rising  1015  feet  above  the  sea. 
The  inner  cone  bears  upon  its  summit  a  small  crater  from  which 
steam  and  smoke  issue.  The  volcano  is  known  to  have  been 
active  towards  the  end  of  last  century. 

Narcoudam  is  about  two  and  a  half  miles  in  length  and  half  as 
broad.  It  rises  2330  feet  above  the  sea,  and  is  composed  of 
trachytic  lava,  but  no  trace  of  any  crater  was  discovered..  The 
slopes  are  covered  with  dense  forest,  but  no  water  was  found. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


1 886.]  Geography  and  Travels.  631 

Mr.  E.  W.  Birch  has  recently  visited  and  reported  upon  the 
Keeling  or  Coco^  islands.  These  islands,  over  twenty  in  num^ 
ber,  very  narrow  and  thickly  planted  with  cocoa  palms,  surround 
a  lagoon  for  the  most  part  shallow.  The  island  is  evidently 
rising.  The  islands  are  administered  by  an  English  family  named 
Ross,  and  have  a  Malay  population  of  more  than  500.  The 
temperature  is  wonderfully  equable,  varying  in  a  year  only  from 
72°  in  September  to  84°  in  April. 

Mr.  Winnecke  asserts,  as  in  1877,  that  Lake  Eyre  is  a  consid- 
erable depth  below  sea-level.  The  highest  point  along  his  survey 
of  the  route  of  the  overland  telegraph  was  the  Burt  plains,  2532 
feet  .above  sea-level ;  but  the  MacDonnell  ranges,  in  which  these 
plains  are  situated,  rise  several  thousand  feet  higher.  The  Finke 
river,  the  southern  part  of  which  is  now  being  reexplored  by  Mr. 
Lindsay,  is  described  as  the  largest  and  most  important  in  Central 
Australia. 

The  population  of  the  Sandwich  islands  has  increased  from 
57,9&5  in  1878  to  80,578  in  1884,  yet  in  that  time  the  native  race 
has  diminished  from  44,088  to  40,014.  The  census  of  1884 
gave  17,932  Chinese,  9377  Portuguese,  2066  Americans,  128^ 
British,  and  1600  Germans;  the  previous  numbers  (1878)  being 
5916,  436,  1276,  883  and  272  respectively. 

A  new  atlas  of  the  Dutch  East  Indies  has  been  published  at 
the  Hague.  It  contains  a  map  of  the  entire  archipelago,  four 
maps  of  Java  and  Madura,  giving  population,  roads,  etc. ;  maps  of 
parts  of  Java  to  a  still  larger  scale,  and  others  of  Banka,  Billiton, 
Borneo,  Celebes,  Sumbawa,  Timor,  the  Moluccas,  etc. 

Europe. — European  News. — From  the  observations  of  E.  von 
Meydell,  extending  over  a  period  of  eight  to  ten  years,  it  appears 
that  the  waters  of  the  Black  sea  are  subject  to  slight  variations  of 
level  dependent  upon  the  amount;  of  water  brought  down  by  the 
Danube,  Don,  etc.  The  maximum,  nine  to  seventeen  centimeters 
above  mean  water-level,  is  attained  in  May  and  June,  and  is  high^ 
est  in  those  years  in  which  the  rainfall  in  Central  and  Southern 
Russia  is  greatest. New  and  more  precise  levelings  to  ascer- 
tain the  heights  above  the  sea  of  Lakes  Ladoga,  Onega  and  Ilmen 
(Russia)  place  them  at  16,  115  and  59  feet  respectively;   instead 

of,  as  before  believed,  59,  237  and  157  feet. The  population  of 

Prussia  (not  the  German  Empire),  according  to  the  census  of  De- 
cember I,  1885,  was  28,314,032.     In  1880  it  was  27,279,1 1 1. 

••  The  highest  peak  in  Denmark  "  is  a  hill  in  the  forest  of  Ky,  163 
meters  in  height. 

America. — American  News. — A  Swiss  named  Rodt  has 
founded  a  flourishing  colony  in  Juan  Fernandez,  which  he  leases 
from  Chili.  Not  only  agriculture,  but  manufacturing  industries  are 
practiced.  The  colonists  comprise  members  of  most  civilized 
nationalities,  except  Prussians,  who  are  excluded. In  the  Jan- 

VOL.  XX.— HO.  VII.  4? 


Digitized  by 


Google 


632  General  Notes.  [July, 

uary  issue  of  the  Revue  Geographique^  M.  H.  Condreau  gives  an 
account  of  the  manners  of  the  Uapes.  Most  of  the  tribes  of  the 
river  border  have  no  garment  whatever,  but  in  some  tribes  the 
men  wear  a  "calembe  "  of  bark,  and  in  the  villages  lower  down 
the  river  the  men  don  pantaloons  and  the  women  a  chemise  when 
they  are  fulUdressed.  Some  tribes  still  inter  their  dead  in  the 
**  maloca,"   or  hut,  which  the  Tucanas  immediately  abandon  in 

order  to  build  anodier. M.  Thouar  reports  as  the  result  of  his 

last  journey  to  the  rapids  of  the  Pilcomayo,  that  it  is  possible  at 
any  season  of  the  year  to  go  from  the  mouth  of  that  river  at 
Lambone  to  the  mission  of  San  Francisco  de  Solano,  in  Bolivia, 
at  the  very  foot  of  the  Andes.  The  difficulties  caused  by  ac- 
cumulations of  trees  and  the  consequent  formation  of  shallows 
can,  he  believes,  be  overcome. 

Africa. — African  News. — ^The  missionaries  sent  out  by  the 
Basel  Missionary  Society  to  the  Gold  coast  have,  since  1882,  ex- 
plored the  Volta  basin  pretty  thoroughly,  and  the  geographical 
results  obtained  have  been  considerable.  A  map  of  the  routes  is 
published  in  the  April  number  of  the  Proc.  Roy.  Geog.  Society. 

Lieutenants  Kund  and  Tappenbeck  struck  southward  from 

Stanley  pool  in  August  last,  returning  to  Leopoldville  on  Janu- 
ary 27th.  They  crossed  the  Quango,  also  the  Bolombo  or 
Sankuru  and  its  affluents,  and  descended  the  Lukenje  to  Kwa- 
mouth.  It  is  stated  that  they  have  discovered  a  new  river,  the 
Ikata,  which  M.  Wauters  believes  to  be  the  upper  course  of  the 
Miini. ^The  Bulletin  of  the  Soc.  Roy.  de  Geog,  d*Anvers  con- 
tains an  interesting  account  of  an  exploration  upon  the  Senegal, 
from  Futa-Djallon  to  Bambouc,  undertaken  by  M.  E.  Noirot,  who 
seems  everywhere  to  have  met  with  a  good  reception,  and  who  is 
enthusiastic  respecting  the  productions  and  future  commerce  of 

the  Senegal  basin. The  murder  of  the  young  and  enterprising 

French  traveler,  Palat,  at  two  days'  distance  from  Insalah,  is 
alleged  to  be  due  to  the  Senonsian  fraternity.  On  the  other  hand, 
French  journals  are  disposed  to  lay  much  of  the  blame  upon  the 
French  commandant,  whose  treatment  of  the  adventurous  young 
lieutenant  was  such  as  to  make  the  Arabs  believe  him  to  be  in 

disfavor  with  his  own  people. The  members  of  an  expedition 

sent  out  by  the  Geographical  Society  of  Milan  have  been  massa- 
cred by  the  Emir  of  Harrar.     Count  Porro.  the  leader.  Professor 

Sicata,  and  seven  others  were  killed. M.  Barral  and  his  wife, 

who  set  out  from  Obock  to  explore  Abyssinia,  with  the  object  of 
establishing  commercial  relations,  were  murdered  by  the  Danakils 
on  the  borders  of  Shoa. Mr.  R.  Baron  communicates  to  Na- 
ture some  valuable  notes  upon  the  volcanic  phenomena  of  Central 
Madagascar.  In  this  part  there  are  many  extinct  volcanic  cones, 
especially  in  two  localities  situated,  the  one  fifty  to  sixty  miles  west, 
the  other  seventy  to  eighty  niiles   southwest  of  Antanju^arivo. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


1 886.]  Geohgy  and  Palaantoiogy.  63  3 

They  are  scoria  cones,  none  of  them  probably  rising  .4nore  than 
1000  feet  above  their  base.  Many  have  breached  craters,  whence 
floods  of  black  basaltic  lava  have  flowed.  The  almost  perfect 
state  of  preservation^  of  the  cones  and  the  undecomposed  con- 
dition of  the  lava  proves  that  these  volcanoes  must  have  been 

active  in  comparatively  recent  times. Scarcely  a  year  passes 

without  one  or  more  earthquake  shocks  in  Central  Madagascar, 

but  they  are  never  severe  nor  of  long  duration. Cardinal  Mas- 

saja  has  published  at  Rome  a  work  entitled  "  My  'thirty-five  mis- 
sion years  in  Upper  Ethiopia."  Numerous  illustrations  and  a 
good  map  accompany  the  text. 

GEOLOGY  AND  PALiESONTOLGGT. 

The  Fossil  Man  of  Penon,  Mexico. — On  my  return  to  this 
city  after  a  long  absence,  I  read  the  observations  published  in  the 
New  York  Tribune  concerning  my  account  of  the  fossil  man  of 
the  Peiion. 

It  will  give  me  great  pleasure  to  clear  up  the  doubt  expressed  by 
Professor  Newberry  with  regard  to  the  importance  of  the  discov- 
ery of  the  man  of  the  Peiion. 

Professor  Newberry  does  not  believe  in  the  importance  of  the 
discovery,  and  argues  in  this  manner:  "  The  calcareous  bed  in 
which  the  fossil  remains  were  found  must  have  been  modern  tra- 
vertin ;  it  could  not  have  been  deposited  below  the  waters  of  a 
lake,  but  probably  belongs  to  an  aerial  or  superficial  formation, 
since  otherwise  it  would  be  of  equal  thickness  and  uniform  on 
the  bottom  and  on  the  borders  of  the  lake ;  if  the  limestone  is 
siliceous,  it  must  belong  to  a  hydrothermal  deposit" 

It  is  above  all  certain  that  the  limestone  is  not  modern  tra- 
vertin, for  it  does  not  form  concentric  layers  above  the  human 
remains,  nor  over  other  recent  objects,  as  would  be  the  case  were 
it  such.  The  bones  are  sealed  up,  so  to  speak,  in  the  calcareous 
rock,  without  being  in  any  way  coated,  and  were  probably  depos- 
ited while  the  rock  was  yet  soft  and  under  water.  As  the  clear- 
ances and  excavations  at  the  foot  of  the  small  mountain  of  Peiion 
have  been  continued,  I  have  been  able  to  prove  the  persistence  of 
the  facts  indicated  in  my  article  published  in  the  Naturalist, 
August,  1885,  as  well  as  in  a  fuller  account  of  the  same  subject 
published  in  1884  by  Professor  Antonio  del  Castillo  and  by  me. 

The  new  excavations  have  shown  more  clearly  yet  the  three 
formations  of  which  I  have  spoken,  ranged  as  follows : 

(i)  A  superficial  layer  10  centimeters  thick,  formed  of  vege- 
table earth,  containing  lacustrine  shells  and  fragments  of  modern 
pottery. 

(2)  A  layer  of  calcareo-siliceous  tufa,  of  but  slight  hardness, 
with  remains  of  old  pottery,  50  centimeters  thick. 

(3)  Siliceous  limestone,  very 'hard,  in  a  thick  bed,  inclined 
towards  the  north.    Here  are  found  roqts  transformed  into  men- 


Digitized  by 


Google 


634  General  Notes.  Qu'y. 

ilite  and  lacustrine  shells.  It  is  in  this  bed  that  human  remains, 
and  no  others,  have  been  found  The  thickness  of  this  bed  is 
not  yet  known,  as  it  has  only  been  opened  to  a  depth  of  I.2"'- 
The  bed  is  covered  by  a  thin  layer  of  a  limestone  richer  in  quartz, 
a  true  ribbon,  dividing  the  adjacent  formations. 

Not  a  single  modern  object  has  been  found  in  this  bed,  nor  in 
another  similar  one  situated  to  the  south  of  the  mountain,  more 
than  a  meter  thick,  and  resting  on  a  lacustnne  and  turfy  formation. 

Two  miles  northwest  of  Penon  there  is  another  bed  of  sili- 
ceous limestone  at  the  foot  of  the  mountain  chain  of  Guadalupe, 
and  stretching  over  a  great  length.  This  limestone  is  in  compo- 
sition, appearance  and  position,  identical  with  that  of  Peiion,  con- 
taining roots  transformed  into  menillite,  and  in  its  upper  part 
fragments  of  old  pottery.  What  is  most  important  in  this  for- 
mation is  the  existence  cf  elephant  bones  sealed  in  the  hardest  bed^ 
like  that  ofPeflon.  These  bones  have  been  taken  out  on  many 
occasions.  I  have  done  it  myself  in  the  presence  of  the  pro- 
fessors of  the  National  Museum. 

The  distance  from  this  bed  to  that  of  Peiion  is  so  inconsider- 
able, and  the  circumstances  and  physical  character  are  so  similar, 
that  this  bed  and  that  of  Penon  can  be  considered  as  belonging 
to  the  same  geological  horizon,  so  long  as  no  object  indicating 
a  different  horizon  is  found  in  the  latter.  Meanwhile  all  our  ob- 
servations induce  us  to  believe  in  the  contemporaneity  of  the 
man  of  Penon  and  of  the  mammoth  in  the  valley  of  Mexico. 

I  must  now  show  why,  according  to  my  belief,  the  limestone  of 
Peiion  was  once  engulfed  below  the  waters  of  the  lake.  In  the 
first  place,  it  is  evident  that  the  bed  has  been  raised  and  tilted, 
so  as  to  occupy  a  position  diflferent  from  its  primitive  one,  and,  the 
Penon  having  for  an  enormous  number  of  years  been  surrounded 
by  water,  we  must  believe  that  the  calcareous  bed,  which  is  now 
three  meters  above  the  level. of  the  lake,  was  covered  with  water 
during  the  same  interval.  Besides,  it  contains  the  shells  of  Palu- 
dina  and  other  aquatic  species,  and  this  dissipates  all  remaining 
doubt  of  its  former  position  beneath  the  waters  of  the  lake. 

Professor  Newberry  is  correct  in  remarking  that  it  is  very  rarely 
that  lime,  which  in  the  first  instance  is  dissolved  in  water  in  the 
state  of  carbonate,  is  not  precipitated  so  as  to  form  a  uniform 
bed  over  the  bottom  of  the  lake.  This  is  the  ordinary  case,  and 
what  might  h^  expected ;  but  the  deposit  has  only  been  observed 
in  isolated  masses,  and  the  peculiarity  can  be  explained  by  sup- 
posing that  the  bed  has  been  buried  deeply  below  its  actual  sur- 
face and  covered  by  the  modern  deposits  of  the  lake  in  n\any 
places,  though  this  cannot  yet  be  stated  as  a  proved  fact.  The  hy- 
drothermal  origin,  which  I  have  attributed  to  the  limestone  in  the 
article  in  the  Naturalist,  has  been  proved  by  later  observations, 
for  in  many  fissures  of  the  Peiion  rock  thin  veins  are  found  composed 
of  calcareous  matter  in  some  cases,  of  siliceous  ii^i  others,  Resides, 


Digitized  by 


Google 


1 886.]  Geology  and  Palaontology,  63  5 

upon  the  summit  of  the  Guadalupe  mountains  occur  masses  of 
shell-rock  (masses  lavignes)  impregnated  with  silicsous  h'me- 
stone,  which  demonstrates  their  Contemporary  origin.  What  hin- 
ders me  from  believing  that  the  existing  hydrothermal  springs  at 
the  foot  of  the  Penon  can  be  the  origin  of  the  formation  which 
surrounds  the  mountain  is  that  these  springs  form  only  isolated 
and  insignificant  deposits,  which  cannot  spread  out  uniformly 
like  the  limestone  beds ;  at  most  they  could  form  accumulations 
like  those  of  which  Professor  Newberry  speaks,  and  which  are 
characteristic  of  geysers.  The  above-mentioned  springs  were 
probably  the  last  traces  of  the  abundant  eruptions  of  calcareo- 
siliceous  waters  which  formerly  shot  forth  at  the  same  time  with 
lava,  as  at  Peiion  and  at  many  other  points  in  the  valley  of  Mex- 
ico. The  superficial  revetements  are  caused  by  the  solution  and 
precipitation  of  the  materials  which  cover  the  upper  rocks,  of  the 
veins,  or  of  the  alteration  of  the  basalts  of  the  mountain.  We 
must,  therefore,  believe  in  the  importance  of  the  discovery  of  the 
man  of  the  Penon. 

No  one  can  be  more  anxious  than  I  to  base  these  discoveries 
upon  clear  and  well-determined  facts,  as  I  stated  in  my  arti- 
cle in  the  Naturalist.  Professor  Castillo  and  myself 
have  assiduously  studied  the  Peiion  formations,,  and  with  the 
sincerity  which  scientific  truth  exacts  we  will  inform  the  learned 
world  of  later  discoveries.  If  it  should  happen  that  in  the  rocky 
tomb  of  the  man  of  the  Penon  the  remains  of  his  primitive 
weapons  or  the  iron  of  his  conqueror  should  be  found,  we  shall 
doubtless  be  the  first  to  announce  it — Mariano  Barcena, 

On  the  Fossil  Flora  of  the  Laramie  Series  of  Western 
Canada.* — ^The  Laramie  series,  formerly  known  as  the  Lignite  Ter- 
tiary or  Lignitic  group,  occurs  in  Canada,  principally  in  two  large 
areas  west  of  the  looth  meridian  and  east  of  the  Rocky  moun- 
tains, and  stretching  northward  from  the  United  States  boundary. 
These  areas  are  separated  from  each  other  by  a  low  anticlinal  of 
Cretaceous  beds,  over  which  the  Laramie  may  have  extended 
previously  to  the  later  denudation  of  the  region. 

These  areas  may  be  designated — (i)  The  Eastern  or  Souris 
River  and  Wood  Mountain  area;  (2)  the  Western  area,  extending 
along  the  esistern  side  of  the  Rocky  mountains  and  across  the 
upper  waters  of  the  Bow,  Red  Deer,  Battle  and  North  Saskatche- 
wan rivers. 

In  the  southern  part  of  the  district  of  Alberta  it  has  been 
ifound  possible  to  divide  the  Laramie  into  three  parts,  which  have 
been  named  respectively,  in  the  Reports  of  the  Geological  Survey 
of  Canada,  (i)  the  lower  or  St.  Mary  River  division,  (2)  the 
middle  or  Willow  Creek  division,  and  (3)  the  upper  or  Porcupine 

I  Abstract  of  a  paper  read  before  the  Royal  Society  of  Canada,  May,  1886,  by 
Sir  William  Dawson,  LL.D.,  F.R.S. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


636  General  Notes.  [July* 

Hill  division.  Of  these  the  lower  and  upper  contain  fossil  plknts, 
more  especially  the  latter,  and  corresponding  horizons  can  be 
recognized  by  these  in  both  of  the  great  areas  above  referred  to. 
The  flora  of  the  lower  division  has  a  close  alliance  with  that  of 
the  Belly  River  group  of  the  underlying  Cretaceous,  while  that  of 
the  upper  division  is  in  the  main  identical  with  that  of  the  Fort 
Union  group  of  the  United  States  geologists,  as  described  by 
Newberry  and  Lesquereux. 

In  the  Eastern  area  the  lower  beds  of  the  Laramie  rest  on  the 
Fox  Hill  group  of  the  Cretaceous,  and  are  in  turn  unconformably 
overlaid  in  the  Cypress  hills  by  beds  referred,  by  Professor 
Cope  on  the  evidence  of  mammalian  remains,  to  the  White  River 
division  of  the  Miocene  Tertiary.  Thus  the  geological  horizon  of 
the  Laramie  is  fixed  by  its  stratigraphical  relations  as  between 
the  Upper  Cretaceous  and  Lower  Miocene  formations.  The  evi- 
dence of  fossil  remains  accords  with  this  position.  The  Lower 
Laramie  has  aflforded  reptilian  remains  of  Mesozoic  aspect,  asso- 
ciated with  fishes  and  mollusks,  some  of  which  are  of  Eocene 
types,  according  to  Cope  and  Whiteaves,  and  its  flora  is  akin  to 
that  of  the  Upper  Cretaceous.  The  Upper  Laramie  has  aflforded 
a  flora  so  modern  in  aspect  that  it  has  even  been  regarded  as 
Miocene,  though  in  reality  not  later  in  age  than  the  Eocene.  The 
Willow  Creek  or  Middle  Laramie  division  may  therefore  (as  sug- 
gested by  the  author  in  his  memoir  of  last  year  on  the  Western 
Cretaceous)  be  regarded  as  the  transition  from  the  Cretaceous  to 
the  Eocene. 

The  question  of  the  correlation  of  the  Laramie  with  other  for- 
mations has  been  much  complicated  by  the  reference  in  the 
United  States  and  elsewhere,  of  beds  holding  its  flora  to  the 
Miocene  period,  and  these  diflficulties  cannot  as  yet  be  wholly 
overcome,  though  they  are  gradually  being  removed.  In  Canada, 
since  the  plants  began  to  be  collected  and  studied,  there  has  been 
little  doubt  on  the  subject,  and  the  author  now,  as  heretofore, 
holds  to  the  correlation  with  the  Laramie  flora  of  the  so-called 
Miocene  of  Mackenzie  river,  Alaska,  Greenland  and  Spitzbergen, 
and  believes  that  they  should  be  regarded  as  not  newer  than 
Eocene. 

The  greater  part  of  the  paper  is  occupied  with  the  description 
of  the  fossil  plants  of  the  formation,  including  those  collected  in 
the  Eastern  area  by  Dr.  Selwyn  and  Dr.  G.  M.  Dawson,  and 
those  obtained  from  the  Western  area  by  the  latter,  Mr,  Weston, 
Mr.  Tyrrell  and  the  author.  These  include  a  large  number  of 
exogenous  trees,  all  belonging  to  modern  genera,  as  Platanus, 
Corylus,  Populus,  Salix,  Viburnum,  Carya,  Juglans,  etc.  There 
are  also  some  curious  plants  allied  to  the  modern  trapa  or  water 
chestnut  and  coniferous  trees  of  the  genera  Taxodium,  Sequoia 
and  Salisburia,  as  Well  as  some  iferns  and  equisetaceous  plants  of 


Digitized  by 


Google 


1 886.]  Geology  and  Palaontology.  637 

much  interest,  more  especially  in  reference  to  their  geological 
and  geographical  distribution. 

Notes  on  the  Variation  of  certain  Tertiary  Fossils  in 
OVERLYING  Beds.— In  the  Southwestern  Old-tertiary  there  are 
some  high  vertical  exposures,  which  show  different  fossiliferous 
beds  vertically  above  each  other.  One  of  them  is  the  profile 
near  Vicksburg,  described  in  the  Amer.  youm,  of  Science^  xxx, 
1885,  p.  71.  The  **  Higher  Vicksburgian,"  consisting  mainly  of 
reddish  sands,  contains  those  fossils  usually  known  as  Vicks- 
burgian  fossils  ;  the  bed,  "  Lower  Vicksburgian,"  a  dark  grayish 
marl,  contains  a  very  similar  but  not  entirely  identical  and  less 
numerous  fauna ;  both  are  separated  by  about  thirty  feet  of  lime- 
stone. Some  of  the  lower  species  are  not  known  from  the  higher 
bed,  which,  however,  is  at  least  partly  owing  to  different  methods 
of  collecting  in  both  beds.  The  main  number  of  species  of  the. 
lower  bed  occurs  also  in  the  higher  one.  In  most  of  them,  for 
instance,  Buccinum  mississippiense  Conr.,  Sigaretus  mississippiensis 
Conr.,  Pleurotoma  congesta  Conr.,  Murex  mississippiensis  Conr., 
Terebra  divisura  Conr.,  Trochita  trochiforntis  Lea,  Turritella  ccela- 
tura  Conr.,  I  cannot  detect  differences  between  the  forms  in  the 
higher  and  lower  bed ;  but  in  two  cases  at  least  there  occur  dif- 
ferences ;  Cytherea  sobrina  Conr.  from  the  lower  bed  is  in  gen- 
eral longer  than  from  the  higher  bed.  Ten  specimens  of  the 
higher  bed,  taken  without  special  selection,  showed,  if  the  height 
is  put  as  1.00,  a  length  varying  from  1.19  to  1.29,  with  an  average 
length  of  1.23.  Ten  specimens  of  the  lower  bed,  also  taken  with- 
out special  selection,  had  a  length  varying  from  1.24  to  1.33,  with 
an  average  of  1.30.  More  striking  is  the  relation  of  the  two 
forms  of  Ficus  mississippiensis  Conr.,  which  species  in  the  lower 
bed  is  quite  common.  In  the  form  of  the  higher  bed  the  revolv- 
ing lines  are  more  developed.  On  the  end  volutions  of  the  same 
age  and  size  in  both  varieties,  the  higher  variety  shows  one  more 
system  of  revolving  lines.  This  difference  between  the  two  varie- 
ties is  not  very  striking,  but  is  large  and  constant  enough  to  dis- 
tinguish the  forms  of  the  two  beds  without  reference  to  the  litho- 
logical  contents  of  the  shells.  The  following  diagram  represents 
the  plan  of  the  origin  of  the  revolving  lines  as  they  can  be  traced 
along  the  volutions  of  each  form : 


I 

T 


I,  lines  of  the  form  of  the  "  Lower  Vicksburgian  j"  II,  lines  of  the  form  of  the 
"  Higher  Vicksburgian." 


Digitized  by 


Google 


638  General  Notes^  fj^ly* 

The  conclusion  to  be  made  is  that  the  two  species  changed 
somewhat  during  the  time  which  is  represented  by  the  bed  of 
limestone. 

By  the  Geological  Survey  of  Alabama  there  has  been  made 
out,  by  a  series  of  profiles,  that  certain  fossiliferous  Tertiary  beds 
are  successional  in  age,  for  instance,  that  the  Woods  Bluff  beds 
are  older  than  that  of  Hatchitigbee  bluff,  this  again  is  older  than 
the  Lisbon  strata,  which  finally  are  overlaid  by  the  Claihornian. 
In  these  consecutive  beds  we  frequently  find  the  same  species, 
sometimes  without  apparent  change,  sometimes  represented  by 
slight  variations  and  in  some  cases  by  strongly  modified  varia- 
tions. This  material  from  Alabama,  which  I  refer  to,  is  in  the 
collection  of  Mr.  T.  H.  Aldrich. — Otto  Meyer. 

Geological  News. — General, — Capt.  Button,  in  his  memoir  upon 
the  volcanoes  of  the  Pacific  islands,examines  and  rejects  the  follow- 
ing four  theories  of  the  origin  of  volcanic  action  :  (i)  Access  of 
water;  (2)  penetration  of  oxygen;  (3)  mechanical  crushing  through 
the  horizontal  pressure  due  to  the  cooling  of  the  interior;  (4.) 
local  development  of  heat  from  unknown  causes.  Elevatory 
movements  are  by  him  referred  to  expansion  or  to  an  increase  of 
matter,  and ^  the  former  hypothesis  is  accepted  as  agreeing  best 

with  observed  facts. Among  the  samples  of  rocks  collected 

during  the  soundings  of  the  Talisman,  mostly  from  depths  of 
4000  to  5000  meters,  the  older  metaniorphic  rocks  are  more  gen- 
erally represented  than  the  eruptive  series.  There  were  seventy- 
three  specimens  of  limestones,  sixteen  of  arkoses  and  nineteen  of 
sandstones,  the  latter  sometimes  rich  in  remains  of  biotite  and 

muscovite. From  the  collections  of  Lieut.  Giraud  it  appears 

that  the  region  of  Lakes  Tanganyika  and  Nyassa  is  principally 
composed  of  primitive  rocks.  Schistose  rocks,  containing  remains 
of  Lepidosteus,  were  collected  at  Yendive,  south  of  Tanganyika, 
and  at  Mpasa,  north-west  of  Kyassa.  These  are  referred  by  Rey- 
mond  to  the  Upper  Cretaceous  or  Lower  Tertiary  age. 

Pakeozoic. — ^The  occurrence  of  glacial  conditions  in  the  Palaeo- 
zoic era  was  maintained  by  Dr.  W.  T.  Blanford  in  a  recent  com- 
munication to  the  London  Geological  Society.  The  action  of 
ice  was  evident  in  the  Karoo  formation  of  South  Africa,  the 
Gondwana  system  of  India,  and  the  coal  measures  and  associated 
beds  of  Eastern  Australia.  Mr.  R.  Oldham,  the  Rev.  W.  B. 
Clarke  and  others  had  clearly  showed  that  in  Australia  beds, 
containing  Glossopteris,  Phyllotheca  and  Nceggerathiopsis  were 
intercalated  among  marine  beds  and  Carboniferous  fossils.  Abun- 
dance of  smooth  and  striated  boulders  had  beeA  found  by  Mr. 
Oldham  in  the  marine  Carboniferous  beds  north  of  Newcastle, 
N.  S.  W.  Other  boulder  beds  existed  in  the  Talchir  beds  of 
India,  and  also  near  Herat  in  beds  also  containing  Talchir  fossils. 
Dr.  Blanford  considered  it  probable   that   these   boulder-beds 


Digitized  by 


Google 


1 886.]  Geology  and  Falaonioiogy.  ,  639 

marked  approxiraatelj'  the  same  glacial  period,  which  probably 
occurred  towards  the  close  of  the  Palaeozoic,  and  resulted  in  the 
extinction  of  many  of  its  peculiar  forms.  The  peculiar  flora  of 
the  Newcastle  beds  and  of  the  Indian  Damudas  proved  the  exist- 
ence of  botanical  provinces  in  past  ages. 

Tertiary. — M.  Cotteau  has  submitted  to  the  Paris  Acad,  of 
Sciences  a  description  of  the  Eocene  species  of  the  echinid  gen- 
era Sarcella,  Gualtieria,  Echinocardium,  Leiopneustes  and  Brisso- 
spatangus.  Sarcella  sulcata^  peculiar  to  the  Upper  Eocene  beds 
of  Biarritz,  is  remarkable  for  its  large  and  strongly  strobiculated 
tubercles,  the  arrangement  of  its  internal  fasciole  and  the  peculiar 
structure  of  its  ambulacral  areas ;  Leiopneustes  antiquus  has  no 
fascioles;  and  Brissospatangus  canmonti  may  be  known  by  its 
very  excentric  anteriorly  placed  ambulacral  summit  and  its  short, 
transverse  and  widely  separated  anterior  paired  ambulacra,  situated 
in  a  depression.  The  Brissidae  appear  in  the  Cretaceous,  reach  their 

maximum  in  the  Tertiary  and  still  persist  in  most  seas. The 

Cretaceo-Eocene  limestones  of  the  jaulan  and  Hauran  regions, 
described  by  Mr.  G.  Schumacher,  seem  to  have  been  deposited, 
upraised  and  largely  denuded,  before  the  volcanic  lavas  of  the 
district  were  forced  out.  As  this  movement  and  denudation  took 
place  in  the  Miocene  epoch,  the  volcanic  eruptions  may  be  re- 
ferred in  the  main  to  the  succeeding  Pliocene. The  so-called 

delta  of  the  Orinoco,  according  to  A.  Ernst  [Nature^  Feb.,  4th), 
has  not  been  formed  by  the  river.  At  the  end  of  the  Tertiary 
period  a  sudden  subsidence  formed  the  Golfo  Triste,  the  Gulf  of 
Cariaco  and  many  of  the  lagoons  in  the  provinces  of  Cumana 
and  Maturin.  The  southern  branch  is  the  old  river  channel,  but 
-when  the  land  on  the  left  bank  sank  gradually  towards  the  north, 
part  of  the  waters,  following  the  new  slope  of  this  northern 
plane,  cut  into  it  the  various  channels  with  their  connecting 
branches  which,  after  a  slow  and  tortuous  course,  empty  into  the 
sea  between  the  old  mouth  of  the  river  and  the  southern  entrance 
of  the  Golfo  Triste.  At  the  time  of  this  movement  extensive 
tracts  of  land  to  the  north  of  the  mountains  which  run  through 
the  whole  length  of  the  peninsulas  of  Araya  and  Paria  were  also 
submerged  and  thus  the  Sea  of  Carupano  was  formed.  Previous 
to  this  the  South  American  mainland  (as  shown  by  Mr.  Bland  in 
his  investigation  of  the  West  Indian  shell  fauna)  extended  to 
Grenada,  Tobago  and  Trinidad.  Tobago  is  still  within  the  100 
fathom  line.  It  is  evident  that  an  immense  quantity  of  organic 
matter  must  have  been  buried  with  the  sunken  land  to  form  the 
source  of  the  bitumen  and  other  carbo-hydrates  of  the  vicinity. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


640  Central  Notes.  [J^ty* 

MINBRAIiOGT  AND  PBTROaRAPHY.' 

Petrographical  News. — Renard,  in  the  course  of  his  work  on 
the  rocks  collected  by  the  Challenger  m  1874,  has  found  some 
interesting  material  among  the  specimens  collected  from  the  vol- 
canic islands  in  the  Polynesian  group.  Most  of  the  larger  islands 
he  thinks  will  be  found  to  consist  of  crystalline  schists,  which  the 
ancient  and  younger  lavas  have  in  turn  overflowed  and  concealed. 
As  evidence  of  the  fact  that  some  of  the  rocks  found  in  these 
islands  are  of  pre-Tertiary  age,  Renard  describes^  two  slides  from 
Cebu,  one  of  the  Phillippine  group.  One  of  these  consists  of 
porphyritic  crystals  of  olivine,  Baveno  twins  of  B3^ownite  or  lab- 
radorite  and  broken  crystals  of  augite  in  a  microcrystalline 
ground-mass  of  plagioclase,  augite  and  viridite,  possessing  a  well- 
marked  flow  structure.  As  all  the  constituents  are  much  altered, 
with  the  production  of  considerable  epidote,  the  author  supposes 
this  rock  to  be  an  olivine  diabase  or  a  melaphyre.  Under  the  in- 
fluence of  the  gaseous  emanations  from  fumaroles  the  plagioclase 
is  changed  into  a  mixture  of  albite,  saussurite  and  epidote,  the 
bisilicates  into  chlorite  and  pyrite.  Gypsum  associated  with 
pyrite  is  a  frequent  result  of  the  action  of  sulphuric  acid  vapors 
on  both  older  and  young  lavas.  On  the  Island  Malanipa  serpen- 
tine occurs.  This  is  cut  in  all  directions  by  veins  of  chalcedony, 
and  is  obviously  the  result  of  the  decomposition  of  peridotite. 
Quite  a  number  of  slides  of  specimens  gathered  from  the  Moluc- 
cas,' Banda^  and  the  Fiji*  islands  were  examined.  They  prove 
that  the  predominating  rock  on  all  these  islands  is  augite  ande- 
site.  On  the  Island  Ternate,'  which  consists  almost  entirely  of  a 
single  volcanic  peak,  in  addition  to  the  andesite  there  occurs 
basalt.  The  former  rock* is  composed  of  a  glassy  base  with 
numerous  devitrificative  products  and  porphyritic  crystals  of 
zonal  labradorite,  twinned,  pleochroic  augite  with  an  extinc- 
tion of  from  44*^-50^,  and  magnetite.  •  In  the  augite  the 
pleochroism   is  a  +  b  >  c.     By  the   action   of  the   volcanic 

reddish-yellow    greenish 

gases  the  basalt  is  almost  completely  changed  into  a  quartzifer- 
ous  aggregate  in  which  are  occasional  grains  of  augite  and  plagi- 
oclase, and  very  rarely  the  remains  of  olivine.  In  an  altered 
rock  from  Banda^  the  plagioclase  crystals  are  filled  with  cracks 
and  fissures,  into  which  a  colorless  isotropic  substance  has  pene- 
trated, in  many  instances  replacing  entirely  the  feldspar.  A  chem- 
ical analysis  of  the  fresh  unaltered  andesite  from  this  island 
shows  it  to  contain  from  fifty-six  to  fifty-nine  per  cent  of  silica, 
while  the  altered  variety  contains  as  high  as  ninety  per  cent. 

*  Edited  by  W.  S.  Bayley,  Johns  Hopkins  University,  Baltimore,  Md. 
'  Bulletin  de  TAcad.  Roy.  de  Belgique,  III,  2,  p.  95. 
» lb.,  Ill,  2,  p.  105. 
*Ib.,  Ill,  2,  p.  112. 
•lb..  Ill,  2,  p.  156. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


1 886.]  Mineralogy  and  Petrography.  64 1 

Opal  replaces  the  original  constituents  of  the  rock,  first  replacing 
the  feldspar,  then  the  augite  and  finally  the  glass  base.  Occasion- 
ally this  silica  takes  the  form  of  tridymite.  Near  the  port  of 
Kantavu,  on  one  of  the  Fiji*  islands,  quite  a  number  of  horn- 
blende andesites  were  found.  In  a  yellowish  glassy  base,  con- 
taining numerous  microlites  of  feldspar,  augite  and  grains  of  mag- 
netite, large  porphyritic  crystals  of  labradorite,  hornblende  and 
biotite  occur.  The  hornblende  often  possesses  the  two  pinacoids 
well  developed.  In  some  cases  this  mineral  is  surrounded  by  a 
rim  of  small,  colorless  or  very  light-green  augite  crystals,  ar- 
ranged with  their  long  axis  parallel  to  the  long  axis  of  the  horn- 
blende. In  other  cases  the  hornblende  passes  over  into  a  perfect 
pseudomorph  of  brown  biotite,  which  can  be  distinguished  from 
the  original  biotite  by  the  fact  that  the  hexagonal  sections  of  the 
secondary  mineral  are  composed  of  tiny  fibers  lying  parallel  to 
one  of  the  pinacoids  of  the  hornblende  from  which  it, was  derived, 
while  those  of  the  original  biotite  appear  homogeneous.—— 
Fouque  reports^  that  the  rock  of  Gamboa,  on  the  line  of  the 
Panama  canal,  is  an  augitic  labradorite  containing  hornblende. 
The  porphyritic  crystals  of  labradorite,  augite  and  magnetite 
occur  in  a  microlitic  base,  which  has  been  transformed  in  greater 

part  into  chlorite. The  rocks  collected  during  the  cruise  of 

the  Talisman^  in  1883,  have  been  given  to  Michel  Levy  for  exam- 
ination. Two  hundred  and  fifty  slides  of  specimens  collected 
between  the  depths  of  4000-5000  meters  have  been  examined. 
By  far  the  largest  number  of  these  are  of  rocks  of  the  "  old  meta- 

morphic  series." The  igneous  rocks  of  the  ridge  known  as 

Stanner  rock,  near  old  Radnor,  Shropshire,  England,  are  stated 
by  Cole'  to  consist  of  an  acid  series  intrusive  in  a  more  basic 
series.  The  most  highly  crystalline  member  of  the  former  is  a 
"pale  pink-grey  pegmatite,"  passing  through  a  well-defined 
graphic  granite  into  a  micropegmatite  form.  The  less  crystalline 
members  of  the  acid  series  are  felsites  with  well-developed 
spherulitic  structure.  Corroded  quartzes,  surrounded  by  the 
the  "quartz  globulaire"  of  Fouque  and  L^vy,  were  observed  in 
most  of  these  felsites.  The  more  basic  series  is  composed  of 
diabases,  diorites  and  rocks  intermediate  between  these,  with  a 
few  in  which  the  author  thinks  he  has  found  evidence  of  pre- 
viously existing  olivine. Chrustschoflf  has  just  published*  an 

interesting  article  on  "pyrogeous  quartz  and  tridymite."  Inclu- 
sions of  granite  and  quartz  in  the  basalt  of  Striegan  were  par- 
tially dissolved,  and  around  them  a  secondary  crj^stallization  of 
quartz  took  place.     These  new  crystals  are  frequently  bounded 

^  Bulletin  de  TAcad.  Roy.  de  Belgique,  ill,  2,  p.  156. 

'Comptes  Rendus,  cii,  No.  14,  p.  793. 

'Geological  Magazine,  May,  1886,  p.  219. 

'  Mineralogische  und  Petrographische  Mittheilungen,  vii,  p.  295. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


642  General  Notes,  [!"!>'» 

by  crystal  planes.  They  enclose  glass  areas  which  are  derived 
from  original  inclusions,  and  contain  also  fluid  inclusions  with 
movable  bubbles.  Tridymite  is  much  more  rare  under  these  con- 
ditions than  quartz.  It  is  usually  found  lining  cavities  around 
the  periphery  of  glass  particles  or  veins,  and  is  generally  free 
from  inclusions.  The  granitic  feldspar  is  likewise  in  many  cases 
surrounded  by  a  rim  of  "  neogenous"  feldspar,  which  frequently 
builds  around  the  original  irregular  fragment  a  completely  devel- 
oped crystal.  The  newly-formed  feldspar  is  much  less  opaque 
than  that  from  which  it  )vas  derived,  and  contains  fewer  inclu- 
sions. Among  those  that  occur  are  little  fluid  cavities  contain- 
ing movable  bubbles.  A  most  instructive  portion  of  the  paper  is 
that  which  treats  of  the  experiments  which  were  undertaken  by 
the  author  to  explain  the  origin  of  the  secondary  fluid  inclusions, 
and  to  find  the  conditions  under  which  the  silica  separated  out  in 

crystal  form. Pohlman*  has  recently  described  biotite-gneiss, 

quartzite,  olivine-kersantite  and  nepheline-basalt  from  the  north- 
ern part  of  Paraguay.  The  olivine-kersantite  contains,  in  a  dark 
gray  ground-mass,  large  crystals  of  biotite  (meroxan),  perfectly 
fresh  augite  and  flesh- colored  pseudomorphs  of  olivine.  These 
pseudomorphs  consist  of  serpentine,  very  pleochroic  bunches  of 
a  micaceous  mineral,  carbonates  and  iron  oxides.— According 
to  Carl  Ochsenius,^  the  blue  color  of  much  of  the  Strassfurt  salt  is 
not  due  to  sulphur,  but  is  merely  an  optical  effect. 

MiNERALOGicAL  News. — Emmonsite,  a  new  mineral  from  near 
Tombstone,  Arizona,  has  been  described  by  W.  F.  Hillebrand.' 
It  is  of  a  yellowish-green  color,  translucent,  and  occurs  in  crys- 
talline scales  and  patches  in  a  brownish  gangue  composed  of  lead 
carbonate,  quartz  and  a  brown  substance  containing  iron,  tellu-  . 
rium  and  water.  The  mineral  is  probably  monoclinic,  with  a 
good  cleavage  parallel  to  the  clino-pinacoid.  Cleavage  pieces 
show  two  other  directions  of  imperfect  cleavage  nearly  at  right 
angles  to  each  other.  Against  one  of  these  the  extinction  is 
8°-i2®.  Pleochroism  very  slight  Specific  gravity  about  5. 
Afler  allowing  for  impurities  the  mean  of  four  analyses  was  as 
follows : 

Tc  Sc  Fe  H,0 

58.75  0.5.3  14.29  above  3.28 

It  is  most  probably  a  hydrated  ferric  telluride. Twins  of  cin- 
nabar* have  been  found  in  the  recently  discovered  ore  deposits  in 
the  neighborhood  of  Bachmut,  Ekaternioslaw,  South  .Russia. 
The  crystals  are  inter-penetration  twins  with  the  base  the  twin- 
ning plane  and  the  twinning  axis  the  vertical  axis.    The  planes 

^Neaes  Jahrbuch  fUr  Min.,  etc.,  1886,  I,  p.  244. 

•lb.,  p.  177. 

•Proceedings  Colorado  Scientific  Society,  Vol.  Il,  Pt.  i,  1885,  p.  I. 

*Ischermak.     Miner,  u.  Petrogr.  Milth.,  vii,  p.  361. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


1 886.]  Botany.  643 

on  each  crystal  are  R,  2R,  and  the  trapezohedron  ^.   When  the 

4 
tetartohedral  plane  is  on  the  right  edge  of  an  upper  rhombohe- 

dral  face  the  crystal  is  dextro-rotatory. The  jeffersonite  of 

Franklin,  N.  J.,  has  been  investigated  crystallographically  and 
chemically  by  Kloos,  of  Stuttgart.^  In  the  prismatic  zone  only 
00  P  ob  and  00  P  were  found.  The  crystals  were  terminated  by  oP, 
=tP,  2?  ^  and  3P3.  The  pleochroism  is  strong  a  =  honey-yel- 
low, b=  yellow-green,  c=  blue-green.  Absorption  c  >  a.  Sections 
parallel  to  the  clino-pinacoid  gave  an  extinction  of  17°  15'  against 
the  vertical  axis.  Specific  gravity  3.352.  A  chemical  analysis 
yielded : 

SiO,  TiOj  AI,0,  Cr,0,  Fe,0,  FeO  MnO  ZnO 

39.59  1.76  11.20  0.13  5.97  11.31  3.07  0.53 

MgO  CaO  Na,0  K,0  H,0  total 

8.42  12.85  3*3  <  1-95  1*02  loi.ii 

In  the  light  of  this  result  the  author  does  not  feel  justified  in 

assigning  to  this  mineral  any  definite  constitution.     The  small 

amount  of  MnO  would  seem  to  indicate  that  the  mineral  under 

investigation  is  not  a  true  jeffersonite. Brauns^  has  discovered 

a  new  plane  i^  P  00  ^^  manganite  from  near  Oberstein  a.  d.  Nahe. 

In  the  clefts  of  a  piece  of  soapstone  from  Gopfersgriin,  near 

Wunsiedel,  Sandberger*  has  found  uranite  and  torbernite  in  little 
quadratic  tables.  Pseudomorphs  of  arsenio-siderite  after  siderite 
from  Bulach  in  Wiirtemberg  and  greenockite  from  the  clefts  of 
zincblende  from  Brilon,  Westphalia,  and  Neu-Sinka,  in  Sieben- 
biirgen^  were  also  found  and  examined  by  the  same  investigator. 

BOTANY.* 

Figures  of  some  American  Conifers. — Dr.  M.  T.  Masters 
read  a  paper  entitled  "  Contributions  to  the  history  of  certain 
species  of  Conifers  "  before  the  Linnean  Society,  in  January  of 
the  present  year,  in  which  some  American  species  are  critically 
discussed.    They  are  as  follows,  viz : 

Abies  amabilii  Forbes.  This  is  accompanied  with  a  nearly  full-sized  figure  of  the 
cone,  a  photo-engraving  of  a  sterile  branch,  with  half  a  dozen  enlarged  figures  of 
leaves,  leaf-sections,  bracts,  scales  and  seeds. 

Abies  grandis  Lindley.  A  large  double  plate  showing  five  cones,  with  figures  show- 
ing details  of  leaf  and  cone  structure,  illustrate  this  species.  The  variety 
lowiana  (=  Picea  lowiana  Gordon,  Picea  parsonsiana  Barron,  Abies  lomana 
McNab)  is  described  and  figured.  A  second  variety,  pallida^  is  doubtfully  sep- 
arated.    Its  leaves  are  "of  unequal  length,  flat,  and  pale  in  color." 

Abies  concohr  Lindley.  Figures  of  the  cone^  foliage,  leaf-structure,  bracts  and 
scales  illustrate  this  species. 

Abies  subalpina  Cn'gelm.  Full  illustrations  accompany  the  description  of  this 
species. 

*  Ncues  Jahrb.  filr  Min.,  etc.,  1886,  i,  p.  211. 
*Ib.,  p.  252. 

*  lb.,  p.  250. 

*  Edited  by  Professor  Charles  £.  Bessky,  Lincoln,  Nebraska. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


644  General  Notes.  [July* 

Abies  noHlis  Lindley.  The  typical  form  of  this  species  is  illustrated  by  a  large 
double  plate  showing  the  foliage  and  cone,  with  details  of  the  latter.  The  va- 
riety glauca  occurs  in  cultivation.  The  variety  magnifica  (:=  Abies  magnifica 
Murray)  is  illustrated  by  a  large  double  plate  showing  cones  and  foliage.  De- 
tails of  the  leaf  and  cones  are  given  in  wood-cuts. 

Strange  Pollen-tubes  of  Lobelia. — The  pollen-tube  as  fig- 
ured in  the  text-books  and  elsewhere  is  of  nearly  uniform  diameter 
throughout  its  whole  length.  The  lower  portion,  or  that  farthest 
from  the  grain  (or  spore)  is  usually  shown  with  its  contents 
denser  than  elsewhere.  In  the  style  of  the  Lobelia  syphilitica  I 
find  that  the  or^linary  form  of  the  end  of  the  pollen-tube  is  as 
shown  at  a.  Occasionally  the  enlargement  at  the  tip  takes  the 
form  of  nearly  a  perfect  sphere.    A  spade-like  form  met  with  \s 


shown  at  b.  At  c  is  shown  a  pollen-tube  tip  that  is  quite  excep- 
tional. The  end  through  the  thickest  parr  is  fully  four  times  the 
ordinary  diameter  of  the  tube.  A  still  more  irregular  tip  is 
shown  at  d.  The  tube  is  much  swollen  at  the  extremity,  while 
back  from  the  end  are  two  contractions,  after  which  the  tube  is 
attenuated  for  a  distance  upward  and  again  assumes  its  normal 
size.  These  changes  in  size  do  'hot  all  take  place  in  the  same 
plane.  The  tube  twists  in  various  directions  in  the  substance  of 
the  style.  The  extent  to  which  this  variation  from  a  direct  course 
may  proceed  is  seen  at  e^  which  shows  a  portion  of  a  pollen-tube 


Digitized  by 


Google 


1 886.  J  Botany.  645 

probably  only  a  short  distance  behind  the  tip.  The  end  in  this 
case  was  not  found.  The  twisting  increases  the  chances  of  a 
single  tube  not  holding  together  when  subjected  to  the  razor  or 
needles  of  the  investigator. 

All  of  the  parts  of  the  illustration  werQ  drawn  with  a  camera 
liicida — a  Grunow,  which  thus  far  has  proved  itself  among  the 
best.  The  tubes  bed  and  /  hold  the  same  positions  to  each 
other  as  they  did  in  the  conductive  tissue  of  the  style.  This  was 
an  unusually  rich  spot  in  odd  forms.  The  conductive  tissue 
seemed  loose,  and  there  was  no  apparent  cause  for  any  change  of 
direction  or  the  formation  of  enlarged  end.  No  nucleus  was  ob- 
served in  any  of  the  tuber-like  tips.  I  hope  to  cultivate  the  pol- 
len free  from  any  tissue  and  observe  the  results. — B.  D.  Halstedy 
Botanical  Lab.  AgricuL  ColLy  Ames,  Iowa, 

Books  on  Fungi. — ^The  American  student  of  fungi  is  often 
sorely  puzzled  for  want  of  a  systematic  manual  to  aid  him  in  his 
study  and  classification  of  the  multitude  of  species  which  he 
collects  or  might  collect  if  he  could  hope  to  do  anything  with 
them.  The  book  which  has  been  of  most  service  is  probably 
Cook's  Hand-book  of  British  Fungi,  published  about  fifteen  years 
ago,  but  its  descriptions  are  so  imperfect  and  the  system  of  classi- 
fication so  antiquated  that  from  the  first  it  has  been  an  exasper- 
ating book  to  use  or  to  put  into  the  hands  of  students.  Of  American 
books  there  are  none.  We  have  some  local  lists  and  a  good  many 
scattered  papers.  Dr.  Farlow  has  given  us  excellent  monographs 
of  several  genera.  Mr.  Peck  has  likewise  published  many  descrip- 
tions and  a  number  of  monographs.  Mr.  Morgan  has  helped  us 
by  giving  us  his  Mycologic  Flora  of  the  Miami  valley,  Ohio.  Ellis 
and  Everhart  have  published  monographs  of  a  number  of  genera. 
By  securing  complete  sets  of  Grevillea,  the  Torrey  Bulletin,  Bo^ 
tanical  Gazette,  yourncd  of  Mycology,  American  Naturalist  and 
the  proceedings  of  several  scientific  societies,  and  in  addition  the 
reports  and  bulletins  issued  by  various  States  and  colleges,  one 
can  do  something,  but  how  many,  aside  from  the  specialists,  can 
afford  to  supply  themselves  with  all  these  ? 

Two  books  now  publishing  will  do  much  to  help  the  ordinary 
botanist  and  botanical  student  Several  years  ago  Dr.  George 
Winter  began  the  publication  of  a  new  edition  of  the  volume 
"  Die  Pilze "  (fungi)  of  Rabenhorst's  Kryptogamen-Flora  von 
Deutschland,  Oesterreich  und  der  Schweiz.  The  first  book  of 
this  work  was  completed  in  1884.  It  includes  the  Schizomy- 
cetes,  Saccharomycetes  and  Basidiomycetes.  This  latter  class,  in 
accordance  with  Winter's  views,  is  made  to  include  the  Entomoph- 
thoreae,  Ustilagineac  and  Uredineae,  in  addition  to  the  Tremel- 
lineae,  Hymenomycetes  and  Gasteromycetes.  The  second  book 
has  progressed  as  far  as  p.  592,  and  is  thus  far  devoted  to  the 
Ascomycetes.  From  present  indications  this  book  at  least  will 
be  required  for  the  Ascomycetes,  and  a  third  book  will  be  neces- 


Digitized  by 


Google 


646  General  Notes.  [July, 

sary  for  the  three  remaining  classes,  viz.,  Myxomycetes,  Zygomy- 
cetes and  Oomycetes.  The  great  value  of  this  work  lies  in  the 
fact  that  the  descriptions  are  very  full,  and  include  accurate 
measurements. 

In  the  year  1882  P.  A.  Saccardo  began  the  publication  in 
Padua,  Italy,  of  what  is  destined  to  be  one  of  the  great  books  of 
the  century,  the  Sylloge  Fungorum,  designed  to  contain  all  the 
known  fungi  of  the  world.  The  first  and  second  volumes  are 
devoted  to  the  Pyrenomycetes,  of  which  great  group  about  6000 
s|[)ecies  are  described.  The  third  volume,  devoted  to  the  Sphae- 
ropsideae  and  Melanconieac,  appeared  in  1884.  It  contains  de- 
scriptions  of  over  4000  species.  Volume  iv  appeared  in  April  of 
the  present  year.  It  is  devoted  to  the  Hyphomycetes,  and  de- 
scribes over  3500  species. 

The  descriptions  in  Winter's  work  are  in  German,  those  in 
Saccardo's  Sylloge,  in  Latin.  Both  are  full,  although  the  treat- 
ment is  much  more  satisfactory  in  the  former.  Saccardo  merely 
compiles,  and  thus  often  admits  the  same  plant  under  more  than 
one  name,  while  Winter  is  exceedingly  critical.  The  latter  is 
therefore  the  better  guide,  while  the  former,  by  his  liberality  in 
admitting  so  many  descriptions,  makes  these  available  for  the 
critical  study  of  students  everywhere. — Charles  K  Bessey. 

A  Pocket  Manual  of  Botany. — It  would  puzzle  any  one  to 
make  out  just  what  the  publishers  of  the  ordinary  botanical  man- 
uals had  in  mind  when  they  decided  upon  their  type,  paper  and 
binding.  A  manual  ought  to  be  a  field  book.  It  should  be  port- 
able, with  a  size  and  weight  allowing  it  to  be  carried  as  the  com- 
panion of  the  collector  wherever  he  goes.  Every  beginner  in 
systematic  botany  ought  to  carry  his  manual  with  him,  but  it  is 
too  much  to  ask  him  to  carry  a  two-pound  book  in  addition  to 
his  other  burdens,  especially  when  the  book  is  too  big  to  go  into 
any  of  his  pockets.  Nearly  five  years  ago  the  writer  brought 
this  matter  to  the  attention  of  publishers  (Am.  Nat.,  Vol.  xv.  p. 
896)  and  some  favorable  correspondence  resulted  from  it.  But 
we  still  have  the  old-fkshioned  coarse  print,  thick  paper,  broad 
margined,  clumsily  bound  manuals  for  use  in  the  schools  and 
colleges. 

In  the  "Tourists'  edition"^  of  Coulter's  Botany  we  have  the 
nearest  American  approach  to  the  style  of  book  with  which  col- 
lectors and  students  should  be  supplied.  By  the  use  of  thin 
paper  the  thickness  of  the  book  is  reduced  to  considerably  less 
than  an  inch  which,  with  the  flexible  leather  binding,  makes  a 
book  which  can  be  carried  much  more  comfortably  than  could 
the  ordinary  edition.  Had  the  binder  been  instructed  to  trim 
the  pages  so  as  to  leave  a  much  narrower  margin  all  around,  the 
book  would  have  been  much  improved.     In  order  to  test  the 

*  Coulter's   Maliual  of    Rocky   Mountain    Botany.    Tourists*     edition.     Ivison, 
Blakeman,  Taylor  &  Co.,  New  York  and  Chicago,  1885. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


1886.]  Botany.  647 

matter  the  writer  took  his  copy  to  a  binder  and  had  the  margins 
cut  down,  resulting  in  what  is  probably  the  handiest  botanical 
manual  in  the  country.  This  improved  copy  is  now  exactly  seven 
and  three-eighths  inches  long  and  four  and  seven-eighths  wide, 
and  weighs  but  thirteen  ounces.  It  slips  into  an  ordinary  pocket 
with  the  greatest  ease,  and  can  be  carried  by  the  collector  wher- 
ever hie  goes. 

Now  It  must  be  remembered  that  this  reduced  copy  of  the 
•*  Tourists'  edition  "  is  printed  from  the  identical  plates  used  for 
the  large  book,  and  that  apparently  no  attempt  was  made  by  the 
printer  to  reduce  the  size  of  page  by  printing  closer  to  the  inner 
margin,  where  at  least  a  quarter  of  an  inch  might  easily  have 
been  saved.  It  is  probable  that  with  considerable  care  the  width 
of  the  book  might  be  reduced  to  four  and  a  half  inches. 

Until  we  can  have  something  better  let  us  have  thin-paper  edi- 
tions of  Gray's,  Coulter's  and  Chapman's  manuals,  printed  and 
bound  with  narrow  margins  all  around^  and  with  flexible  covers* 
which  project  but  little  if  at  all  beyond  the  pages.  Then  let  our 
publishers  seriously  consider  the  problem  of  giving  us  all  this  at 
a  moderate  cost. 

When  new  editions  of  these  manuals  are  made,  the  publishers 
can  save  much  space  by  the  use  of  thinner  leads,  so  as  to  crowd 
the  matter  closer  upon  the  pages.  In  this  way  not  far  from  sev- 
enty-five pages  might  be  saved,  while  by  the  use  of  smaller  type 
here  and  there  the  saving  might  be  easily  carried  to  a  hundred 
pages.  A  little  book  of  392  pages — ^the  Tourists'  Guide  to  the 
Flora  of  the  Alps — lately  issued  by  an  English  firm,  might  well 
be  taken  as  a  model.  Of  it  a  recent  reviewer  says  :  "  Printed  in  clear 
type  on  thin  paper,  and  bound  in  red  leather  in  pocket-book  form, 
it  weighs  less  than  five  ounces,  and  is  thus  really  suited  for  the 
pocket."  And  yet  this  book  is  sold  for  five  shillings,  that  is,  for 
about  two-fifths  what  is  charged  for  Coulter's  "  Tourist  !"— 
Charles  E.  Bessey. 

A  Cheap  Hand-book  of  Mosses. — One  of  the  neatest  little 
botanical  books  which  has  appeared  for  many  a  day  is  the  Hand- 
book of  Mosses,  by  J.  E.  Bagnall,  and  published  by  the  well- 
known  I^ndon  firm  of  Swan  Sonnenschein  &  Co.  It  is  a  thin 
duodecimo  book  of  about  one  hundred  pages,  contains  thirty-nine 
illustrations,  is  bound  in  cloth  with  tastefully  ornamented  cover, 
and  sells  for  one  English  shilling. 

The  chapters  treat  of  the  following  topics,  viz :  Appliances 
and  material  required  for  the  study;  development;  moss  habitats ; 
classification ;  geographical  distribution  ;  cultivation ;  uses ;  pre- 
paring specimens  for  the  cabinet  and  herbarium.  The  chapter 
on  classification  treats  the  subject  in  a  general  way  only,  giving 
no  more  than  the  characters  of  the  tribes. 

We  wish  it  were  possible  for  American  publishers  to  put  a 
book  of  the  quality,  size  and  price  of  this  one  upon  the  market 

VOL.  XX.— 'im.  Til.  43 


Digitized  by 


Google 


648  General  Notes.  [July, 

Botanical  News.  —  Professor  Seymour's  lecture  before  the 
Minnesota  Horticultural  Society,  in  January  last,  is  a  model  of 
what  such  a  lecture  should  be.  It  deals  plainly  with  a  few  com- 
mon but  imperfectly  understood  fungi  of  the  fruit-garden,  viz., 
the  rusts  of  the  raspberry  and  blackberry  {Caoma  nitens  and 
Phragmidium  rubi-idai)\  the  "double  blossom"  of  the  black- 
berry {Fusisporium  rubi)\  the  raspberry  "cane  rust"  (probably 
Sphaceloma  ampelinuni) ;  and  the  currant  disease  {Septoria  ribis). 
The  lecture,  now  published  in  pamphlet  form,  closes  with  a  few 
well-chosen  remarks  about   the   investigation  of  the   parasitic 

fungi. Professor  Tracy  has  just  published  in  the  eighteenth 

annual  report  of  the  State  Board  of  Agriculture  a  catalogue  of 
the  flora  of  Missouri.  It  includes  phanerogams  and  pterido- 
phytes  only,  and  yet  there  are  enumerated  1749  species.  A  study 
of  the  list  shows  the  State  to  contain  four  well-defined  botanical 
regions :.(i)  The  Mississippi  and  Missouri  river-bottoms ;  (2)  the 
swamp  region  of  the  south-east;  (3)  the  Ozark  region^  south  of 
the  Missouri  river;  (4)  the  prairte  region  oi  the  northern  and 

western  portions  of  the  State. The  Botanical  Club  of  the 

American  Association  for  the  Advancement  of  Science  will  hold 
meetings  in  August  at  Buffalo,  and  will  meet  with  a  warm  recep- 
tion from  the  botanists  and  citizens  of  Buffalo.  Although  the 
arrangements  are  not  yet  completed,  it  can  quite  confidently  be 
announced  that  the  club  will  be  tendered  a  half-day  excursion  to 
some  one  of  the  several  interesting  collecting  grounds  of  that 
vicinity.  The  long  excursion  on  Saturday  will  also  be  arranged 
to  enable  the  botanists  to  have  a  portion  of  the  time  for  collect- 
ing. The  localities  near  the  city  which  have  been  described  by 
Mr.  Day  in  his  catalogue  of  Buffalo  plants  will  prove  as  interest- 
ing to  visiting  botanists  as  those  of  any  city  yet  visited  by  the 
club.  There  will'also  be  tendered  to  the  club,  without  doubt,  an 
evening  reception.  There  will  be  no  lack  of  opportunities  for 
becoming  acquainted  with  one  another.  The  first  meeting  of  the 
club  will  be  held  in  the  room  assigned  to  biology  on  Thursday 
morning  at  9  o'clock,  which  is  the  second  day  of  the  association. 
Subsequent  meetings  will  be  announced  on  the  daily  programme 
of  the  association.  It  is  hoped  that  the  botanists  will  be  out  in 
still  larger  numbers  this  year  than  they  were  last,  or  the 
year  before.  Let  every  teacher  of  botany  arrange  now  to  be 
present  at  the  meetings.  The  secretary  of  the  club  is  J.  C. 
Arthur,  of  Geneva,  N.  Y. 

ENTOMOLOGY. 

Description  of  the  Form  of  the  Female  in  a  Lampvrid 
(Zarhipis  riversi  Horn.) — 

9.  Apterous,  vermiform,  segmented,  retractile,  phosphorescent.  Number  of 
joints,  exclusive  of  the  head,  twelve.  Legs  six,  two  on  each  of  the  three  anterior 
segments,  or  on  those  portions  underneath  representing  the  pro,  meso  and  meta- 
sternum.  Length,  when  extended  in  walking,  two  and  a  quarter  inches^  ai:^4  t)l^ 
width  across  ^he  widest  pa^'t  five-sixteenths  of  an  inch. 


Digitized  by  VjOOQIC 


1 886.  J  Entomology,  649 

Head  coroeotts,  shining  black  and  not  well  defined  and  when  at  rest  hidden 
beneath  the  anterior  segment.  The  prominent  character  of  the  head  consists  of  a 
pair  of  curved  hook-lilce  mandibles  like  those  of  the  male.  Antennae  short,  straight, 
four-jointed ;  the  apical  joint  bristle-like  and  growing  out  from  the  side  of  the  end 
of  the  previous  joint,  which  is  the  largest  and  tubular  in  form. 

Maxillary  palpi  five-jointed,  four  being  nearly  equal  and  bead-like. 

Labial  palpi  appear  two-jointed.  The  antennae  and  palpi  being  short,  stand  stiffly 
out  from  Uieir  base. 

Dorsal  surface  consists  of  twelve  thin  corneous  plates,  the  three  anterior  being 
narrowed  in  front  and  all  having  an  impressed  line  through  the  center.  The  plates 
are  shining,  blackish  brown,  margined  transversely  with  transparent  olive  green, 
and  upon  the  longitudinal  margins  with  opaque  pale  yellow  interspersed  with  olive, 
which  colors  intermixed  obtain  upon  the  sides  and  the  underparts  generally. 

•Spiracles  upon  the  sides  of  the  fourth  to  the  eleventh  segments,  inclusive,  and 

i'nst  below  the  spiracles  on  the  same  segments  is  a  double  fold  forming  a  double 
ateral  ridge.    The  other  segments  bear  but  a  single  fold  and  no  spiracles. 

The  thoracic  region  bearing  the  legs  exhibits  indistinct  sutures  and  folds  present- 
ing but  a  faint  resemblance  to  analogous  parts  in  other  Coleoptera. 

The  le^  are  of  the  type  seen  in  the  female  in  some  Lampyridae  and  are  four- 
jointed  with  a  short  obtuse  tarsal  claw.  The  legs  in  the  larval  stage  of  this  insect 
differ  from  those  in  the  adult  by  being  flattened  on  the  under  side  into  a  ridge  which 
is  strongly  setose,  and  the  claws  of  aM  the  legs  are  twice  as  long,  more  curved,  finer 
and  more  sharply  pointed  than  in  the  fully  grown  insect. 

In  Bull.  Cal.  Acad  Sci.,  11,  5,  p.  71,  April,  1886,  are  to  be  found 
some  references  made  by  me  to  a  large  luminous  larva  of  some 
coleopteron,  and  I  also  gave  an  account  of  its  habits.  This 
luminous  larva,  then  alluded  to,  is  an  earlier  stage  of  the  insect  I 
have  described  above. 

The  larva  fed  all  winter,  and  in  March  sloughed  its  skin 
and  remained  motionless,  coiled  in  a  cell  of  earth  for  three  weeks, 
and  kept  a  uniform  pale-cream  color  without  luminosity,  but 
gradually  the  center  of  the  dorsal  plates  became  darker,  and  in 
the  ratio  of  coloring  so  was  the  reappearance  of  phosphorescent 
li^ht ;  when  fully  restored  in  strength  it  became  very  active  and 
strongly  luminous,  but  it  did  not  eat  In  about  a  week  it  disap- 
peared beneath  the  earth,  and  remained  out  of  sight  for  nearly  a 
month,  and  thinking  it  had  changed  into  the  pupa  state  I  dis- 
turbed it,  and  found  no  change  to  have  taken  place.  I  returned 
it  to  the  jar,  placing  the  coiled  insect  upon  the  top  of  the  earth, 
where  it  lay  motionless  for  two  days.  On  the  morning  of  the 
third  day  I  found  it  had  sloughed  another  skin,  but  this  time  a 
very  thin  covering  of  uniform  pale  brown,  and  the  insect  itself 
haii  disappeared  into  the  earth.  This  last  dormant  stage  must 
represent  its  pupa  state.  I  unearthed  it  again  and  found  it  very 
soon  afterwards  to  assume  great  activity  and  bright  luminosity, 
but  it  would  take  none  of  the  usual  food.  Thinking  a  fresh  sup- 
ply of  earth  to  be  beneficial,  I  removed  the  jar  into  the  garden 
and  emptied  the  earth  by  the  stump  of  a  tree,  and  while  in  this 
act  several  specimens  of  Zarhipis  pitched  upon  the  discarded  earth, 
and  one  specimen  dropped  swiftly  upon  the  until  then  supposed 
larva,  throwing  the  female  into  violent  movements  by  the  sud- 
denness of  the  attack.  The  male  soon  attempted  copulation. 
The  act,  if  it  really  took  place,  is  npt  one  of  adhesioi^  like  ths^t 


Digitized  by 


Google 


6so  General  Notes.  Quly^ 

in  the  Telephoridx.  The  method  was  alike  in  a  number  of  exam- 
ples, the  attraction  of  the  female  was  perfect,  and  through  it  I 
captured  eleven  males. 

The  light  occurs  most  intense  on  the  cross  margins  of  the 
dorsal  plates,  but  the  luminosity  is  also  strong  on  all  the  margins 
as  well  as  along  the  lateral  edges.  Sometimes  the  insect  appears 
checkered  by  being  banded  with  phosphorescence. 

The  eleven  males  attracted  were  not  all  of  the  form  known  as 
Z.  riversi  Horn  ;  some  represent  the  Z.  picvuentris  Lee.  These 
facts  will  cause  some  revision  of  the  genus. 

The  foregoing  statements  can  hardly  be  considered  as  a  perfect 
history  of  this  peculiar  insect,  because  there  are  many  points  not 
yet  worked  out. 

Why  the  larva  should  be  luminous,  and  yet  have  nothing  to 
attract,  and  why  the  adult  $  should  be  luminous,  while  the  ^  is 
not  nocturnal,  but  roams  in  the  sunlight,  are  still  unanswered 
questions.  The  habit  of  the  male  is  to  appear  on  the  wing,  in 
temperate  heat,  from  9  a.  m.  to  4  p.  m.,  but  during  the  hottest 
weather  it  does  not  appear  until  the  sun  is  declining. 

Then  what  are  the  differences  in  the  larval  form  of  the  sexes, 
or,  are  there  any  larval  differences  of  the  sexes  ?  The  answer  to 
these  queries  will  come  after  observation ;  but  the  answer  to  the 
one  concerning  the  luminous  characteristics  of  the  larva  and 
adult  form  may  perhaps  give  way  to  theory  and  it  may  be  sug- 
gested that  the  luminous  quality  is  inherited,  and  though  without 
use  to  this  species  having  a  diurnal  habit,  yet  it  may  be  a  derived 
character  that  only  comes  into  use  when  the  habit  is  nocturnal. 
But  it  must  be  considered  that  the  plumose  antennae  of  the  male 
would  indicate  that  it  seeks  its  mate  by  scent — J.J.  Rivers,  Univ. 
of  CaL,  Berkeley,  Cal. 

History  of  the  Buffalo  Gnat. — The  report  of  the  U.  S.  ento- 
mologist for  1884  contained  an  article  on  the  subject  of  the  South- 
ern buffalo  gnat  (Simulium  sp.  or  spp.)  which  discussed  the  great 
damage  done  to  stock  each  year  along  the  Lower  Mississippi  and 
the  habits  of  the  allied  species  in  this  country  and  in  Europe. 
At  that  time  the  particular  species  concerned  had  not  been  de- 
termined nor  had  the  larvae  and  pupae  been  found.  The  habits 
of  the  insect  in  its  earlier  stages  were  surmised  to  be  similar  to 
those  of  allied  species,  but  as  the  species  that  had  been  studied, 
breed,  as  a  rule,  in  streams  that  are  clear,  rapid  and  rocky,  it  was 
a  question  how  the  insects  bred  in  such  great  quantities  in  the 
low  alluvial  Mississippi  country.  Considering  the  great  damage 
done  by  these  gnats  it  was  also  a  question  of  considerable  im- 
portance, as  its  solution  might  afford  a  means  of  checking  the  in- 
crease of  the  pest.  The  present  spring  Dr.  Riley  has  therefore, 
with  the  aid  of  two  of  his  assistants,  Mr.  F.  M.  Webster  and  Mr. 
Otto  Lugger,  endeavored  to  clear  up  the  mystery  surrounding  this 
pest,  and  has  already  succeeded.     Mr.  Lugger,  whQse  post  has 


Digitized  by 


Google 


1 886."]  Entomology.  651 

been  at  Memphis,  Tenn.,  has  found  the  larvae  and  pups  of  one 
species  of  Simulium,  and  Mr.  Webster,  at  Vicksburg,  has  found 
the  earlier  stages  of  another,  somewhat  larger  specie?.  The 
habits  of  both  species  are  similar,  and  both  have  been  found  to 
breed  in  the  more  swiftly-running  portions  of  the  smaller  creeks 
and  bayous  which  are  permanent  and  do  not  dry  up  in  midsum- 
mer. They  are  found  attached  to  the  masses  of  drift-wood  and 
leaves  which  form  at  points  and  which,  by  impeding  the  streams 
below,  form  a  more  rapid  current  at  the  surface.  The  larvae  and 
pupae  have  been  absolutely  connected  with  their  respective  adults, 
and  a  careful  study  of  the  general  character  of  the  breeding 
places  already  indicates  that  the  increase  of  the  pests  of  late 
years  is  indirectly  due  to  the  crevasses  in  the  levees,  and  that  we 
have  here  another  strong  argument  for  the  preservation  and  care 
of  these  last. 

Larval  Form  of  Polydesmus  canadensis. — While  at  Enter- 
prise, Fla.,  I  found,  April  8th,  under  a  palmetto  log  a  Polydesmus 
canadensis  with  its  body  encircling  a  mass  of  white,  oval  eggs, 
each  about  half  a  millimeter  in  length  and  with  a  thin  chorion. 
They  were  enclosed  in  a  slight  nidus.  Placing  the  eggs  and  the 
myriopod,  with  damp  sand  and  mold,  in  a  close  tin  box,  and 
bringing  them  home,  I  found  the  young  had  hatched  about  the 
9th  of  Sfay.  The  larva,  soon  after  hatching,  is  short  and  thick, 
the  body  composed  of  eight  segments  and  ornamented  with  scat- 
tered, large,  somewhat  club-shaped  spines.  The  antennae  are 
four  jointed.  There  were  only  three  pairs  of  legs,  and  they  were 
appended  to  the  first,  third  and  fourth  segments  respectively, 
there  being  none  on  the  second  segment  behind  the  head.  Length 
of  the  animal  i.2'°'°- 

The  larva  is  essentially  similar  to  that  of  the  European  Poly- 
desmus complanatus,  figured  by  Metschnikoff  {/.eits,  wissen.  ZooL^ 
XXIV,  pi.  XXVI,  fig.  7),  but  apparently  has  one  more  segment. — A. 
S.  Packard. 

Occurrence  of  early  stages  of  Blepharocera.— I  send  you 
by  express  a  small  package  containing  specimens  of  larval  forms 
that  I  collected  last  summer  at  Gilboa,  Schoharie  county,  N.  Y. 
They  were  all  found  in  the  same  situation,  viz.,  on  the  rocks  in  a 
water-fall,  at  the  place  where  the  water  ran  most  swiftly,  generally 
on  the  edge  of  the  rocks.  The  larvae  of  the  black  fly  were  so 
numerous  that  the  edges  of  rock  were  black  with  them.  The 
mode  of  attachment  to  the  rocks  is  by  a  chitinous  ring,  armed  with 
longitudinal  rows  of  hooks.  The  tubercle  on  the  prothorax  is 
also  provided  with  a  similar  disk.  These  disks  served  as  organs 
of  locomotion  as  well  as  of  attachment.  Just  above  the  disk,  at 
the  posterior  extremity  of  the  body,  on  the  dorsal  surface,  there 
is  an  opening  through  which,  in  many  specimens,  a  tufted  organ 
appears,  which  I  do  not  remember  to  have  seen  in  other  larvae. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


6s  2  General  Notes,  fju'y» 

The  intestine  in  the  specimens  is  solidly  packed  with  the  remains 
of  diatoms. 

Of  the  other  specimens  I  send,  the  one  marked  No.  3  seems  to 
be  the  pupal  form  of  No.  2.  They  were  constantly  associated, 
and  I  saw  no  other  forms  near  them  except  the  black-fly  larvse. 
The  mode  of  attachment  'to  the  rocks  is  the  same  in  both,  by 
sucking  disks.  In  No.  3  the  disks  were  on  the  extremities  of  the 
abdominal  segments,  three  on  each  side.  In  most  cases  in  re- 
moving the  specimens  from  the  rock  the  disks  were  separated, 
but  there  is  one  specimen  I  send  in  which  they  are  still  in  situ, 
and  are  very  distinct,  and  I  think  they  are  shown  in  some  of  the 
others. 

The  protuberances  on  the  dorsal  surface  of  the  head  of  No.  3 
I  supposed  to  be  breathing  organs,  as  they  are  composed  of  lam- 
ellae which  the  animal  had  the  power  to  open  and  close.  There 
were  numerous  empty  cases  on  the  rocks,  but  they  seemed  to  be 
only  the  abdominal  disk-bearing  segments,  the  upper  or  anterior 
portion  being  carried  away  by  the  rapid  flow  of  water  as  soon  as 
the  animal  deserted  it. — Fanny  R.  Hitchcock. 

[The  insects  have  been  identified  for  us  by  Dr.  C.  V.  Riley. — 
Eds.] 

Entomological  Notes. — ^The  Ceylon  entomologists  propose  to 
systematically  observe  the  singular  migrations  of  butterflies  in 
that  island.  Volunteers  are  to  watch  for  the  migration  and  send 
a  post-card  bulletin  to  the  editor  of  the  records,  noticing  data, 
direction  of  flight,  of  wind,  the  weather  and  the  species. Pro- 
fessor C.  H.  Fernald's  "  Sphinges  of  New  England"  gives  de- 
scriptions of  the  moths  and  larvae,  the  number  of  species  being 
forty-two.     It  will  prove  to  be  a  very  convenient  manual  of  our 

hawk-moths.' Dr.  Uhler's  Check-list  of  the  Hemiptera  Hetero- 

cera,  published  by  the  Brooklyn  Entomological  Society,  is  a 
timely  publication.  It  is  synonymical,  and  also  gives  the  geo- 
graphical distribution  of  the  species.  Having  been  compiled 
under  difficulties  it  is  not  to  be  wondered  at  that  a  few  species, 
even  some  of  Dr.  Uhler's,  have  been  omitted.    The  number  of 

described  species  is  1448. Mr.  W.  H.  Ashmead  has  published 

the  seventh  of  his  studies  on  the  North  American  Chalcididae. 

From  Professor  F.  M.  Webster  we  have  received  an  essay  on 

horticultural  entomology,  read  before  the  Indiana  Horticultural 
Society. At  the  January  loth  meeting  of  the  London  Zoolog- 
ical Society,  Mr.  H.  J.  Elwes  read  a  paper  on  the  butterflies  of 
the  genus  Parnassius,  with  special  relation  to  the  development, 
functions  and  structure  of    the  chitinous   pouch   found  in  the 

females.     He  had  recognized  twenty-three  species. Before  the 

French  Academy,  J.  Gazagnaire  read  a  paper  on  the  seat  of  the 
organ  of  taste  in  Coleoptera. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


1 886.]  Zoology.  653 

ZOOLOGT. 

Physiological  Selection. — At  a  recent  meeting  of  the  Lin- 
nean  Society,  Mr.  G.  J.  Romanes  read  a  paper  "  On  physiological 
selection :  an  additional  suggestion  on  the  origin  of  species." 
The  author  contended  that  the  theory  of  natural  selection  has 
been  misnamed  a  theory  of  the  origin  of  species.  It  is,  in  truth, 
a  theory  of  the  origin  of  adaptive  structures,  and,  if  unassisted  by 
any  other  principle,  could  not  effect  the  evolution  of  species.  The 
only  other  principle  that  could  here  assist  natural  selection  would 
be  one  that  might  mitigate  the  swamping  effects  of  intercrossing. 
This  may  be  done  by  geographical  barriers  shutting  off  a  portion 
of  a  species  from  the  rest,  and  allowing  that  portion  to  develop 
an  independent  course  of  varietal  history  without  intercrossing 
with  the  garent  form.  It  may  also  be  done  by  portions  of  species 
migrating,  changing  habital  .stations,  &c.  But  it  may  also  be 
done  by  what  the  author  calls  physiological  selection,  or  in  virtue 
of  a  variation  taking  place  in  the  reproductive  system  in  the  di- 
rection of  sterility  (whether  absolute  or  partial)  with  the  parent 
form,  without  impairment  of  fertility  within  the  varietal  form. 
For  instance,  the  season  of  flowering  or  of  pairing  may  be  eithe^ 
advanced  or  retarded  in  a  portion  of  a  species,  when  all  the  indi- 
viduals in  that  portion  (or  new  variety)  would  be  absolutely  sterile 
towards  the  rest  of  the  species,  while  completely  fertile  among 
themselves.  They  would  thus  start  on  an  independent  course- of 
variated  history. — English  Mechanic. 

Mechanics  of  Soaring. — Professor  Hendricks  in  the  Natura- 
list for  June,  imports  into  the  *'  mechanics  of  soaring"  a  momen- 
tary force  which  I  do  not  think  improves  it.  There  is  no  "  mo- 
mentary "  force  concerned  with  any  part  of  the  activity  that  I  am 
aware  of.  The  birds  are  in  the  air  quite  early  in  the  morning, 
and  continue  there  until  nightfall,  all  the  forces  concerned  in  their 
movements  being  active  every  instant  of  the  time. 

The  air  pressures  beneath  the  surface  produced  by  the  normal 
motion  are  constant,  and  the  expansion  of  these  pressures  against 
the  rear  curve  is  constant,  and  this  expansion  gives  the  lateral 
motion.  They  are  both  derived  from  the  gravitating  force  of  the 
mass  of  the  bird.  There  is  no  other  force  operative  upon  the 
bird  in  the  act  of  soaring. 

Mr.  Hendricks  answers  my  "crucial  "  question  in  the  negative; 
for,  "there  is  an  unbalanced  force  which  acts  downwards,  and  par- 
allel with  the  face  of  the  plane,  and  therefore  towards  the  rest." 
But  when  an  equal  force  acting  in  the  opposite  direction  is  op- 
posed to  it,  there  is  no  longer  an  "  unbalanced  "  force  acting,  for 
the  force  is  then  balanced,  and  the  plane  in  equilibrium.  While 
the  plane  is  thus  in  equilibrium  a  force  will  move  it  with  equal 
facility  in  either  direction,  for  to  suppose  otherwise  is  to  suppose 
a  force  active  in  one  direction  which  is  not  active  in  the  other, 


Digitized  by 


Google 


654  General  Notes.  [July^ 

which  is  to  deny  the  equality  of  the  forces  producing  the 
balance. 

Bear  in  mind  that  I  have  carefully  excluded  inertia,  or  in  other 
words,  mass  acceleration,  from  the  problem.  The  birds  have  the 
power  of  flapping;  or  falling  from  higher  to  lower  levels,  to  initiate 
their  movements.  Soaring  has  nothing  to  do  with  acceleration. 
It  deals  with  motions  of  uniformity  only.  Hence  I  am  justified 
in  holding  that  one  or  two  pounds  of  constant  pressure  is  compe* 
tent  to  drive  the  plane  edgeways  looo  feet  per  second  against  air 
friction  only.  As  frfctional  air  resistance  approaches  zero,  a  small 
force  would  move  the  plane  against  it  with  great  velocity.  No 
weight  is  lifted  in  the  upward  motion,  as  the  forces  producing  the 
weight  are  already  employed  to  their  total  value,  as  fully  shown. 

As  the  force  producing  the  lateral  motion  is  derived  from  the 
gravity  of  the  mass,  I  am  also  justified  in  holding  that  «.  soaring 
bird  is  translated  at  right  angles  to  the  gravitating  force,  or  hori- 
zontally, solely  by  the  action  of  that  force.  It  will  be  noticed  that 
I  have  assumed  the  force  derived  from  the  rear  expansion  to  be 
sufficient  to  give  the  lateral  motion.  When  the  wings  of  birds 
are  examined  the  details  of  the  lateral  motion  will  be  found.  My 
concern  in  the  "  mechanism  of  soaring "  was  to  show  that  the 
forces  were  on  hand  in  quantity  sufficient  to  produce  the 
movement. — /.  Lancaster^  Chicago^  IlL^June  §th^  1886. 

LiMULUs  IN  THE  PACIFIC. — My  friend,  Mr.  H.  W.  Turner,  of 
the  U.  S.  Geological  Survey,  sends  me  an  extract  from  the  San 
Francisco  Evening  Bulletin  of  May  29th,  which  says :  "  A  novelty 
on  this  coast  was  captured  off  the  Farallone  islands  last  Wednes- 
day afternoon  by  Captain  Camilio,  who  was  fishing  in  his  smack 
in  that  vicinity.  Nothing  like  the  crustacean  had  ever  been 
seen  on  this  coast  before,  and  the  fishermen  thought  they  had 
made  a  capture  that  was  valuable.  It  was  found,  however,  that 
the  prize  was  only  a  horseshoe  crab,  which  is  very  common  on 
the  Atlantic  coast.  It  is  thought  that  the  crab  must  have  been 
hatched  from  eggs  brought  with  the  lobsters  which  were  liber- 
ated in  these  waters  seven  or  eight  years  ago." — »S.  L.  [Can  this 
have  been  the  Japanese  species  ? — Ed.] 

The  Swim-bladder  of  Fishes. — Charles  Morris  has  published 
in  the  Proceedings  of  the  Philadelphia  Academy,  a  theory  of  the 
origins  of  lungs  and  swim-bladder,  and  an  explanation  of  their 
homologies  and  the  peculiarities  of  their  relative  positions.  He 
imagines  that  the  primitive  fishes,  like  the  sharks,  were  without 
this  organ,  but  that  some  of  them,  venturing  on  land  for  longer 
or  shorter  excursions,  took  in  stomach  and  throatfuls  of  air, 
.  which  procured  a  certain  aeration  of  the  blood.  He  imagines 
that  the  air  held  in  the  throat  finally  produced  a  distension  of  its 
superior  wall,  which  became  later  a  diverticulum  and  still  later 
a  sac  with  a  narrowed  opening.  The  tendency  to  rise  when 
in  the  water  would  ensure  that  this  bag  of  air  should  maintain  its 


Digitized  by 


Google 


i886tj  Zoology.  655 

position  above  the  cesophagus.  In  those  fishes  which  continued 
to  use  air,  as  the  Dipnoi,  the  sac  became  cellular  and  more  com- 
plex. Its  weight  would  then  cause  it  to  sink  below  the  cesopha- 
gus,  as  we  find  it  in  Polypterus.  From  this  stage  the  lung  of  air- 
breathers  was  derived.  In  those  fishes  which  became  most 
exclusivefy  aquatic,  the  bladder  underwent  degeneration  if  it  had 
acquired  cells,  and  if  not,  remained  a  bladder  only.  In  either 
case  the  loss  of  the  connection  with  the  oesophagus  (ductus 
pneumaticus)  is  the  final  stage  in  this  degeneracy. 

This  proposition  of  Mr.  Morris  is  very  plausible,  and  corre- 
sponds with  the  general  course  of  evolution  of  the  skeleton. 

Dr.  Paul  Albrecht  denies  the  homology  of  the  lungs  and  swim- 
bladder  in  a  pamphlet  published  by  Carre,  of  Paris  (1866).  His 
reason  is  that  the  swim*bladder  is  on  the  dorsal  side  of  the 
oesophagus,  while  the  lungs  are  on  the  ventral  side.  *  He  there- 
fore regards  the  swim-bladder  of  Polypterus  as  a  true  lung,  while 
that  of  Lepidosteus  is  a  swim-bladder.  In  support  of  his  view 
that  these  organs  are  respectively  not  homologous,  he  states  that 
Diodon  and  Tetrodon  possess  both  swim-bladder  and  lungs.  The 
latter  he  recognizes  in  the  diverticula  from  the  lower  side  of  the 
oesophagus,  with  which  those  fishes  inflate  themselves.  He  also 
sees  a  rudimental  swim-bladder  in  diverticula  from  the  superior 
side  of  the  oesophagus  which  occur  in  some  animals,  for  instance, 
in  the  pig. 

The  Former  Southern  Limits  of  the  White  or  Polar 
Bear. — In  my  remarks  on  the  occurrence  of  the  white  bear  in 
Labrador,  where  it  is  sometimes  called  the  "water  bear,"  in  dis- 
tinction Trom  the  black  bear,  which  is  very  common  on  that 
coast,  I  then  supposed  that  the  polar  bear  was  a  straggler  from 
Hudson's  and  Baffin's  bays,  rather  by  accident  than  otherwise,  at 
rare  intervals  breeding  so  far  south  as  Labrador.  But  on  look- 
ing over  the  accounts  of  the  early  discoverers  and  navigators,  as 
well  •as  Cartwright's  "Journal,"  I  am  led  to  materially  alter  my 
opinion  and  to  suppose  that  the  former  limits  of  this  creature 
extended  even  possibly  as  £ar  south  as  Casco  bay,  on  the  coast  of 
Maine. 

Whether  there  are  any  notices  of  or  references  to  the  white 
bear  in  the  records  and  sagas  of  the  Norsemen  who  visited  the 
coast  of  Newfoundland  and  Nova  Scotia,  we  are  unable  to  say. 
White  bears  were,  however,  seen  by  the  first  English  navigator 
who  discovered  our  shores,  the  intrepid  Venetian,  John  Cabot, 
then  sailing  under  an  English  flag.  The  following  reference  to 
white  bears  appears  in  an  extract  from  an  inscription  on  the  map 
of  Sebastian  Cabot  in  Hakluyt's  Voyages  (in,  27): 

"In  the  yeere  of  our  Lord  1497  lohn  Cabot,  a  Venetian,  and 
his  Sonne  Sebastian  (with  an  English  fleet  set  out  from  Bristoll) 
discouered  that  which  no  man  before  that  time  had  attempted,  on 
the  24th  of  lune,  about  five  of  the  clocke  early  in  the  morning. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


656  General  Notes.  [July, 

This  land  he  called  Prima  vista,  that  is  to  say,  First  seene, 
because  as  I  suppose  it  was  that  point  whereof  they  had  the  first 
sight  from  sea.  That  Island  which  lieth  out  before  the  land,  he 
called  the  Island  of  S.  lohn  vpon  this  occasion,  as  I  thinke, 
because  it  was  discouered  vpon  the  day  of  lohn  the  Baptist  The 
inhabitants  of  this  Island  vse  to  weare  beast  skinnes,  and  have 
them  in  as  great  estimation  as  we  have  our  finest  garments.  In 
their  warres  they  vse  bowes,  arrowes,  pikes,  darts,  woodden  clubs 
and  slings.  The  soil  is  barren  in  some  places,  and  yieldeth  litle 
fruit,  but  it  is  full  of  white  beares,  and  stagges  far  greater  than 
ours." 

This  account  shows  quite  conclusively  that  John  Cabot's  Prima 
vista  was  some  point  of  land  in  eastern  or  northern  Newfound- 
*  land.  Thp  eminent  geographer,  Dr.  J.  G.  Kohl,  in  his  History  of 
the  Discovery  of  Maine,  seems  fully  persuaded  that  the  landfall 
of  John  Cabot  was  Labrador.  But  if  the  inscription  and  map 
are  genuine,  the  description  of  the  inhabitants  of  the  island,  both 
men  and  beasts,  would  better  apply  to  those  of  the  eastern  or 
southern  coast  of  Newfoundland.  The  human  beings  were  more 
probably  red  Indians  than  Eskimo.  On  the  Labrador  coast  the 
soil  is  "  barren  "  in  all  places,  while  the  "stagges  far  greater  than 
ours"  may  have  been  the  moose,  which  does  not  inhabit  the 
Labrador  coast.  Whether  the  "  white  beares  "  were  the  polar 
bears  or  a  pale  variety  of  the  barren-ground  bear  of  Sir  John 
Richardson  is  somewhat  uncertain.  We  should  have  unhesitat- 
ingly referred  the  creature  to  the  polar  bear,  were  it  not  that  in 
Parmenius'  account  of  Newfoundland,  published  in  1583,  it  is 
said :  "  Bears  also  appear  about  the  fishers*  stages  of  the  countrey, 
and  are  sometimes  killed,  but  they  seeme  to  be  white,  as  I  con- 
lectured  by  their  skinnes,  and  somewhat  lesse  then  ours"  (Ha- 
kluyt). 

The  next  explorer  of  this  coast  was  Cortereal  who,  in  1500, 
landed  on  the  Newfoundland  coast,  at  or  probably  near  Cape 
Race.  In  an  old  Portuguese  map  of  about  the  year  1520  is  a  long 
Latin  inscription,  thus  translated  by  Kohl,  a  part  of  which  we 
copy:  "This country  was  first  discovered  by  Caspar  Cortereal,  a 
Portuguese,  and  he  brought  from  there  wild  and  barbarous  men 
and  white  bears.  There  are  to  be  in  it  plenty  of  animals,  birds 
and  fish."  The  land  from  which  Cortereal  brought  the  white 
bears  was  evidently  the  same  as  that  in  which  he  kidnapped  fifty- 
seven  of  the  aborigines.  These  were  Indians  and  not  Eskimo, 
and  must  have  been  the  inhabitants  either  of  Newfoundland  or  of 
Nova  Scotia,  for  a  person  who  saw  them  in  the  streets  of  Lis- 
bon described  them  "as  tall,  well-built  and  admirably  fit  for 
labor."  That  however  they  were  the  aborigines  of  Newfound- 
land, perhaps  Bethuks,  seems  proved  by  the  fact  that  a  number 
of  white  bears  were  also  captured  and  sent  to  Spain  with  them. 
From  these  facts  it  seems  reasonable  to  infer  that  the  white  or 
polar  bear  was  a  resident  on  the  eastern  coast  of  Newfoundland, 


Digitized  by 


Google 


i886.]  Zoology.  657 

The  next  navigator  to  explore  these  seas  was  Jacques  Cartier, 
who  arrived  May  loth,  1 5  34,  on  the  eastern  coast  of  Newfound- 
land. To  this  observing  seaman  we  owe  our  first  accounts  of 
the  home  of  the  great  auk  or  **  penguin  "  on  the  Island  of  Birds, 
now  Funk  or  Fogo  island,  on  the  northeastern  coast  of  New- 
foundland ;  also  of  the  Bird  rocks  of  the  Gulf  of  St.  Lawrence. 

While  harboring  at  what  is  now  Funk  island  Cartier,  after 
describing  the  great  auks,  tells  us  that  he  saw  a  white  bear.  In 
his  own  language,  done  into  quaint  English  by  Hakluyt:  "And 
albeit  the  sayd  Island  be  14  leagues  from  the  maineland,  not- 
withstanding beares  come  swimming  thither  to  eat  of  the  sayd 
birds :  and  our  men  found  one  there  as  great  as  any  cow,  and  as 
white  as  any  swan,  who  in  their  presence  leapt  into  the  sea.  and 
upon  Whitsun-monday  (following  our  voyage  towards  the  land) 
we  met  her  by  the  way,  swimming  toward  land  as  swiftly  as  we 
could  saile.  So  soone  as  we  saw  her,  we  pursued  her  with  our 
boats,  and  by  maine  strength  tooke  her,  whose  flesh  was  as  goode 
to  be  eaten  as  the  flesh  of  a  calfe  two  yeres  olde." 

From  this  graphic  and  circumstantial  account  we  feel  sure  that 
this  was  the  great  white  or  polar  bear  {Ursus  maritimus) ;  that  it 
reached  its  full  size,  was  not  uncommon  on  the  mainland  (John 
Cabot  says  the  land  was  "full"  of  them),  and  that  it  bred  there,  as 
those  mentioned  by  Parmenius  in  1583  were  probably  young  ones. 

The  white  bear  is  still  occasionally  seen  on  this  coast,  as  Rev. 
Mr.  Harvey  states  -}  "  The  seal  hunters  occasionally  encounter 
the  white  or  polar  bear  on  the  ice  off  the  coast,  and  sometimes 
it  has  been  known  to  land." 

*  Now,  if  in  these  early  times  of  Cabot  and  Cartier  the  eastern 
coast  of  Newfoundland  was  the  habitat  and  breeding  place  of  the 
polar  bear,  it  is  not  unlikely  that  it  occasionally  might  have 
visited,  as  we  know  the  walrus  did,  the  coast  of  Nova  Scotia  and 
of  Maine. 

Our  supposition  is  based  on  the  following  fact^ :  In  an  ancient 
map  of  "  New  France,"  by  the  Italian  Jacomo  di  Gastaldi,  in  about 
the  year  1550,  republished  by  Kohl,  and  which  we  here  present 
of  reduced  size,  what  we  should  consider  as  veritable  white  bears 
are  depicted  as  swimming  in  the  ocean  far  from  the  coast  of  what 
must  have  been  Nova  Scotia,  and  near  to  but  west  of  Sable 
island  or  "Isola  della  rena."  In  the  map  the  bears  areplaced  to 
the  southward  of  "  Terra  de  Nvrvmbega,"  which  evidently  com- 
prised Nova  Scotia  and  Eastern  Maine.  Sable  island  is  an  en- 
larged portion  of  a  broad  band,  intended  to  represent  the  banks 
of  Newfoundland  and  La  Have. 

That  the  animals  represented  are  bears  admits  of  little  doubt ; 
of  the  four  figures  the  lowermost  one  is  a  seal;  it  is  drawn  with- 
out ears,  while  the  three  other  figures  have  large,  drooping  ears, 
like  those  of  a  bear.    At  any  rate,  if  the  locality  was  put  in  at 

I  Halton  and  Harvey's  Newfoundland,  Buston,  1883,  p.  193. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


658  General  Notes,  [July, 

haphazard  by  the  map-drawer,  why  should  white  bears  be  also 
represented,  as  they  seem  to  be  in  the  ocean  off  Isola  de  Demoni. 
The  figures  of  the  black  bear,  as  well  as  of  the  rabbit  and  of  the 
aborigines  are  well  drawn,  and -it  seems  not  unreasonable  to 
infer  that  white  bears  were  actually  seen  and  reported  to  the 
south  and  west  of  Newfoundland. 

That  the  white  bear  may  have  visited  the  coast  of  Maine,  near 
Portland,  is  further  proved  by  the  probable  discovery  by  Mr.  E. 
S.  Morse  of  a  white  bear's  tooth  in  the  shell  heaps  of  Casco  bay. 

Speaking  of  the  bones  of  the  bear  found  in  a  shell  heap  on 
Goose  island,  Casco  bay,  Maine,  the  late  Professor  Wyman 
remarked  in  the  American  Naturalist,  i,  575,  January,  1868: 

"  The  bones  of  the  bear^  though   much   less   numerous,  were 


similarly  broken  up,  and  in  two  instances  had  been  carbonized 
by  contact  with  the  fire.  Among  the  specimens  collected  by 
Mr.  Muse  in  his  first  visit  to  Crouch's  cove  was  the  last  molar 
from  the  lower  jaw.  The  crown  was  somewhat  worn,  but  the 
ridges  were  not  all  effaced ;  it  was  of  small  size,  measuring  0.55 
inch  in  length  and  0.46  in  breadth.  The  average  size  of  eight 
specimens  of  the  same  molar  in  the  black  bear  was :  Length, 
0.60  inch ;  breadth,  0.47,  while  that  of  two  specimens  from  the 
polar  bear  was,  length,  0.54  inch ;  breadth,  0.45.  The  tooth  from 
the  shell  heaps,  therefore,  as  regards  size,  more  closely  resembles 


Digitized  by 


Google 


1 886.]  Zoology.  659 

the  last-mentioned  species,  as  it  does  also  in  the  shape  of  the 
crown — but  it  must  be  unsafe  from  a  single  specimen  of  the 
molar  in  question  to  attempt  to  identify  them.  The  former  exist- 
ence of  the  polar  bear  on  the  coast  of  Maine  is  rendered  quite 
probable  by  the  fact  that  the  tusk  of  a  walrus  has  actually  been 
found  at  Gardiner." 

That  the  white  bear  formerly  was  an  inhabitant  of  Newfound- 
land seems  probable  from  the  facts  we  have  brought  together,  and 
it  is  to  be  hoped  that  the  antiquarians  and  naturalists  of  New- 
foundland will  investigate  the  shell  heaps,  should  such  be  found, 
of  that  island  for  further  facts  bearing  on  this  subject. 

We  will  now  turn  our  attention  to  the  former  presence  of  the 
white  bear  on  the  Labrador  coast,  where  the  settlers  still  call  it 
the  "  water  bear."     We  find  only  in  Cartwright's  Journal  refer- 
ence to  this  creature,  but  this  is  sufficient  to  show  that  it  bred  on 
and  permanently  inhabited  this  coast  from  Belle  isle  or  Chateau 
bay  northward.    A  white  bear  was  killed  in  1769  at  Pitt's  harbor, 
Chateau  bay.    There  is  a  **  White  Bear  Sound  "  on  Cartwright's 
map  just  north  of  Cape  Charles,  near  Battle  island.     Cartwright's 
house  was  to  the  northward  of  Cape  Charles,  in  an  arm  of  Sand- 
wich bay.     In  1770  Cartwright  saw  the  track  of  two  large  white 
bears,  and  the  Eskimo  killed  one  the  same  year  near  his  house. 
In  April,  1772,  the  tracks  of  three  white  bears  were  seen.     In 
April,  1776,  a  white  bear  and  cubs  were  seen  near  Huntington 
island,  and  in  the  following  May  another  was  observed.     White 
bears  were  also  seen  up  the  rivers  leading  into  Sandwich  bay,  and 
onpp.  410-11  Cartwright  describes  the  habits  of  the  white  bear 
in  Labrador,  stating  that  the  young  are  born  in  March,  the  parent 
bringing  forth  usually  one  at  a  time,  sometimes  two. 

While  on  the  coast  of  Labrador  in  the  summers  of  i860  and 
1864,  we  gathered  what  facts  we  could  as  to  the  occurrence  of 
this  animal,  publishing  them  in  the  Proceedings  of  the  Boston 
Society  of  Natural  History  (Vol.  x,  1866,  270),  from  which  we 
take  the  following  extract : 

"At  Square  island,  a  locality  situated  between  Belle  isle  and 
Domino  harbor,  two  cubs  were  captured  and  taken  to  St.  Johns, 
Newfoundland.  At  Domino  harbor  the  skin  of  a  bear  killed 
during  the  preceding  spring  (1863)  was  obtained  by  one  of  our 
party.  An  intelligent  hunter  told  me  that  the  white  bear  was 
not  unfrequently  seen  at  Stag  bay,  near  Roger's  harbor,  which  is 
situated  a  little  more  than  fifty  miles  south  of  Hopedale.  One 
was  killed  there  during  the  preceding  winter  (1863),  and  in  the 
autumn  their  tracks  were  abundant.  They  were  very  shy,  and 
could  not  be  seen  in  the  daytime.  Further  south  they  are  much 
rarer.  The  last  polar  bear  said  to  have  been  seen  in  the  Strait  of 
Belle  isle  was  shot  fifteen  years  ago  (1849),  ^-t  the  settlement  of 
Salmon  bay. — A.  S.  Packard, 

Zoological  News. — General. — A  paper  by  Dr.  Hans  Gadow, 


Digitized  by 


Google 


66o  General  Notes,  U"V» 

upon  the  cloaca  and  copulatory  or^ns  of  the  Amniota,  was  read 
at  the  Royal  Society  on  March  2Sth.  The  derivation  of  the 
sphincter  and  copulatory  muscles  from  skeletal  and  visceral 
muscles  was  followed  up  in  the  Sauropsida  and  Mammalia,  and 
the  modifications  of  the  cloaca  in  the  chief  groups  of  the  Amniota 
were  described.  In  the  latter  respect  Hatteria  comes  nearest 
to  the  Amphibia,  and  Chelonia  is  intermediate  between  ostriches 
and  crocodiles  on  one  hand,  and  the  Monotremes  on  the  other. 
The  peritoneal  canals  are  still  functional  in  crocodiles  and  tor- 
toises, but  rudimentary  in  Hatteria.  Muellerian  ducts  are 
present  in  young  male  crocodiles  and  wolffian  ducts  in  young 
females.  The  conclusion  is  that  the  whole  cloaca  consists  origi- 
nally of  (i)  the  proctodaeum,  or  outermost  epiblastic  anal  cham- 
ber ;  (2)  the  urodaeum,  or  hypoblastic  middle  chamber  or  primitive 
cloaca;  and  (3)  the  coprodaeum,  or  innermost  cloacal  chamber. 
The  urodaeum  is  oldest,  and  the  ventral  urinary  bladder,  as  well 
as  the  dorsal  anal  sacs  (tortoises),  are  differentiations  of  it.  The 
bursa  tabricii  of  birds,  various  hedonic  glands  and  the  copula- 
tory organs  are  derived  from  the  proctodaeum.  The  resem- 
blance of  these  organs  favors  the  phylogenetic  connection  of  the 
Mammalia  with  the  Reptilia. 

Pori/era. — The  keratose  sponges  of  the  Challenger  expedition 
have  been  described  by  N.  Polejaeff,  of  Odessa.  Though  not  deep- 
sea  organisms,  thirty-seven  species  were  collected,  of  which 
twenty-one  are  new. 

Vermes. — Volume  xii  of  the  Challenger  reports  is  on  the  An- 
nelida Polycheta,  and  occupies  over  550  pages.  No  less  than  220 
species  are  described  as  new.  In  many  cases  the  food  has  been 
examined,  and  it  throws  some  light  on  the  food  resources  of  the 
abyssal  depths.  A  large  number  of  forms  occur  in  the  North 
Atlantic.  The  remarkable  new  genus  Buskiella  is  confined  to 
the  abysses,  2000  fathoms  and  more,  of  the  Atlantic,  but  most  of 
the  genera  are  cosmopolitan.  A  great  number  of  species  were 
found  at  Kerguelen,  the  land-locked  bays  of  which  were  rich  in 
annelids.  Australia  and  Japan  furnished  some  peculiar  and  novel 
forms,  while  the  North  Pacific  yielded  but  few  species,  and  the 
majority  of  those  of  the  South  Pacific  came  from  the  Straits  of 
Magellan.  The  greatest  number  of  species  were  taken  at  depths 
under  ten  fathoms.  Between  lOO  and  200  fathoms  the  number 
of  species  was  less  than  between  ten  and  lOO  fathoms,  but  there 
were  more  new  forms,  and  below  these  depths  most  of  the  fewer 
species  found  were  new.  Between  600  and  1000  fathoms,  fourteen 
species  were  found,  all  new  except  two;  depths  between  1000 
and  1200  fathoms  yielded  four  species,  all  new;  while  between 
1200  and  1500  fathoms  more  than  twenty  species  were  collected, 
only  five  of  which  were  before  known,  most  of  them  from  shallower 
waters.  Below  this  all  the  species  found  were  new.  The  major- 
ity of  the  deep-sea  annelids  are  tube- dwellers. Only  twenty- 


Digitized  by 


Google 


1 886.]  Zoology.  66i 

eight  forms  of  Gephyrea  were  collected  by  the  Challenger^  with 
ten  new  species  and  no  new  genera.  Forms  before  known  as 
littoral  were  dredged  from  great  depths.  The  strange  male  of 
Bonellia  vitidis  with  its  curious  segmental  organs  is  figured. 

Mollusca, — Some  500  species  of  lamellibranchs  were  collected 
by  the  Challenger,  The  greatest  depth  was  marked  by  Semele 
profundorum  and  Callocardia  pacifica^  both  found  at  2900  fathoms 
in  the  North  Pacific.  The  report  by  Mr.  E.  A.  Smith  forms  Vol. 
XIII  of  the  series. 

Crustacea, — Mr.  W.  Faxon,  in  his  revision  of  the  Astacidae 
(Mem.  Mus.  Comp.  Anat,  Vol.  x.  No.  4,  Part  i),  enumerates 
fifty-two  species  of  Cambarus  and  fourteen  of  Astacus.  These 
genera  compose  the  sub-family  Potamobiinx.  The  Astacidae  of 
the  southern  hemisphere  forip  the  sub-family  Parastacinae.  All 
the  species  of  Cambarus,  with  one  exception,  are  American ; 
but  the  Astaci  occupy  three  well-separated  areas,    (i)  Western 

North  America ;  (2)  Europe ;  (3)  Eastern  Asia  and  Japan. 

The  first  part  of  M.  F.  E.  Beddard's  "  Report  on  the  Isopoda  " 
of  the  Challenger  expedition  is  occupied  by  the  genus  Serolis, 
of  which  sixteen  species,  nine  of  them  new,  were  collected.  Four 
of  the  species  are  deep-sea  forms,  while  the  remaining  eighteen 

known  kinds  occur  between  five  and  150  fathoms. Fifty-seven 

species  of  Schizopoda,  representing  twenty-one  genera,  are  de- 
scribed and  figured  by  Prof.  G.  O.  Sars  in  his  report  on  the  Schiz- 
opoda of  the  Challenger  expedition.  Forty-six  of  these  are  new. 
Prof.  Sars  regards  these  creatures  as  a  sub-order  of  Decapoda, 
and  recognizes  four  families:  Lophogastridae,  Eucopiidae, ^Eu- 
phausiidae  and  Mysidae.  Nine  species  of  Gnathophaiisia  are 
described,  one  of  them  six  inches  in  length.  Twenty-three  new 
species  of  Euphausiidae  are  described,  and  post-embryonal  stages 
of  several  genera  are  figured,  showing  that  they  are  hatched  as 
true  Nauplii. 

Birds. — One  would  believe  that  the  habits  of  the  European 
cuckoo  are  by  this  time  well  known,  but  Mr.  Seebohm,  in  his  His- 
tory of  British  Birds,  throws  doubt  on  this,  since  he  states  that 
the  usually  received  idea  that  the  young  cuckoo,  soon  after  it  is 
hatched,  ejects  the  eggs  or  young  of  its  foster  parents,  does  not 
rest  on  a  secure  foundation.  Nattire  puts  against  this  the  obser- 
vations of  Mr.  J.  Hancock,  as  recorded  in  the  Natural  History 
Transactions  of  Northumberland  ( 1 866).  On  January  1 7th,  1 884, 
the  nest  of  a  hedge  sparrow  or  hedge  accentor,  containing  four 
eggs  of  the  species,  and  one  cuckoo's  egg,  was  discovered.  On 
the  27th  the  cuckoo's  egg  and  two  of  the  accentor's  eggs  were 
hatched.  On  the  28th,  at  10.30  a.  m.,  the  cuckoo  put  one  of  the 
unhatched  eggs  out  of  the  nest,  and  half  an  hour  later  it  threw 
out  one  of  the  young  accentors,  the  mother  looking  on  quite 
calmly  the  while.    At  i  it  pushed  out  the  second  egg,  and  at 


Digitized  by 


Google 


662  General  Notes.  H^V* 

3*.^o  got  rid  of  the  second  accentor.  In  this  case  poetical  retri- 
bution was  wrought,  for  while  one  of  the  turned-out  accentors 
was  placed  in  a  white-throat's  nest,  and  cared  for  by  its  foster 
parents,  the  young  cuckoo  was  about  a  week  afterwards  found 
dead  at  the  bottom  of  the  nest. 

Mammalia. — Dr.  C.  H.  Merriam  has  reported  to  Science  the  dis- 
covery of  an  Aplodontia,  show'tl  or  mountain  beaver,  which  he 
believes  to  be  sufficiently  distinct  from  the  ordinary  form  to  take 
rank  as  a  new  species.  Eight  examples  were  taken  in  Placer 
county,  Cal.  The  skull  of  this  A.  major  is  much  larger  and  heav- 
ier than  that  of  A,  rufa,  the  occipital  crest  more  highly  developed, 
and  the  zygomatic  arches  more  strongly  convex.  There  are  also 
differences  in  the  color  and  pelage.  A  foetal  pigmy  sperm  whale 
{Kogia  breviceps)  has  been  received  by  the  Smithsonian  Institu- 
tion.    It  is  now  proved  that  this  species  breeds  in  May. 

EMBRTOLOQT.^ 

The  early  Development  of  Julus  terrestris.* — ^The  eggs  of 
y.  ierrestris  are  oval,  white  and  covered  by  a  thick  chitiaous 
chorion  ;  the  nucleus  is  embedded  in  a  mass  of  protoplasm  in  the 
center  of  the  egg.  This  central  mass  of  protoplasm  is  irregular 
in  shape,  but  its  long  axis  corresponds  with  that  of  the  egg.  From 
it  anastomosing  processes  radiate  in  all  directions,  forming  a  net- 
work throughout  the  egg,  in  the  meshes  of  which  the  yolk- 
spherules  are  contained.  The  nucleus  is  not  a  distinct  vesicle, 
but  its  position  is  marked  by  chromatin  granules,  and  there  is  no 
nucleolus. 

On  the  second  day  the  nucleus  and  central  mass  divide  into 
two  parts,  but  this  division  is  not  complete,  the*  two  resulting 
masses  with  their  nuclei  remaining  connected  by  a  network  of 
protoplasm.  The  two  segments  then  again  divide  in  the  same 
incomplete  manner,  so  that  there  are  now  four  segments  connected 
together.  On  the  third  day  the  formation  of  the  blastoderm  begins, 
some  of  the  segmentation  masses  making' their  appearance  on  the 
outside  of  the  ovum  at  different  points,  so  that  the  development 
of  Julus  resembles  that  of  Geophilus  as  worked  out  by  Sograf. 
The  cells  in  the  interior  of  the  yolk  are  the  direct  descendants  of 
the  first  segmentation  masses,  and  constitute  the  hypoblast 

The  fate  of  the  hypoblast  cells  is  various  ;  some  are  employed 
in  the  formation  of  the  mesoblastic  keel,  that  is,  in  the  formation 
of  the  splanchnic  and  somatic  mesoblast.  Another  part  gives 
rise  to  the  hypoblast  of  the  mesenteron,  and  a  third  portion 
remains  in  the  yolk  after  the  mesenteron  is  formed,  and  gives 
rise  to  mesoblast  cells  which  are  employed  in  the  formation  of 
various  muscles  and  the  circulatory  system. 

^  Edited  by  John  A.  Ryi>£R,  Smithsonian  Institution,  Washington,  D.  C. 
*  F.  G.  Heathcote,  M.A.    Proc.  Roy.  Soc.   London,  Vol.  XL,  No.  242,  pp.  73-76. 
(Read  Jan.  21,  1886.) 


Digitized  by 


Google 


i886ij  Embryology.  663 

With  regard  to  the  reteation  of  the  primitive  union  of  the  cells 
of  the  ovum  until  this  stage,  nothing  of  the  sort  has  been  described 
before,  except  by  Sedgwick  in  Peripatus.  The  most  important 
part,  it  seems  to  me,  is  not  the  connection  of  cell  to  cell,  but  of 
layer  to  layer  by  means  of  processes  of  the  cells. 

About  the  middle  of  the  fourth  day  several  of  the  hypoblast 
cells  approach  the  epiblast  in  the  middle  line  of  what  will  even- 
tually be  the  ventral  surface  of  the  embryo.  This  is  the  begin^ 
ning  of  a  mesoblastic  keel  such  as  Balfour  described  for  Agalena* 

The  epiblast  cells  in  the  ventral  middle  line,  after  altering  their 
shape,  increase  by  division  and  take  a  considerable  share  in  the 
formation  of  the  keel.  The  hypoblast  cells  below  them  also 
increase,  and  on  the  fifth  day  the  mesoblastic  keel  is  complete,  in 
the  formation  of  which  both  epiblast  and  hypoblast  have  taken 
part.  The  keel  is  still  present  on  the  sixth  day,  but  the  cells 
composing  it  are  becoming  elongated  in  a  plane  parallel  to  its 
surface.  They  then  spread  out  to  form  two  definite  splanchnic 
and  somatic  layers  of  the  mesoblast  below  the  epiblast.  These 
t/ro  layers  are  connected.  The  keel  disappears  on  the  seventh 
and  eighth  days,  and  on  the  ventral  surface  the  epiblast  cells 
assume  a  columnar  form,  thus  giving  rise  to  the  ventral  plate. 

The  mesoblast  now  becomes  thicker  on  each  side  of  the  median 
line,  both  layers  being  concerned  in  this  thickening,  where  they 
become  indistinguishable.  Outside  the  thickenings,  that  is, 
fiatrther  away  from  the  middle  Ime,  the  two  layers  are  closely 
applied  to  each  other  and  tO  the  epiblast,  as  before.  It  thus 
results  that  the  mesoblast  is  mainly  arranged  in  two  parallel  longi- 
tudinal bands  along  the  ventral  side,  these  bands  being  connected 
across  the  middle  line  by  a  thin  portion  consisting  of  a  single 
layer. 

These  bands  now  begin  to  be  segmented  into  mesoblastic 
somites  from  before  backwards,  their  position  corresponding 
with  that  of  the  future  segments  of  the  body.  There  are  at  first 
eight  somites,  corresponding  with  the  eight  segments  of  the 
embryo  when  hatched.  These  somites  are  at  first  solid ;  after- 
wards a  ca>4ity  appears  in  them. 

Early  on  the  ninth  day  the  stomodaeum  is  formed  as  an  invagi^ 
nation  of  the  epiblast  near  one  end  of  the  ventral  surface.  Shortly 
after  the  formation  of  the  stomodaeum  the  proctodeum  appears  as 
a  shallow  somewhat  wide  invagination  of  the  other  end  of  the 
ventral  surface. 

The  body  segni«nts  now  become  more  apparent,  each  being 
marked  by  a  deep  transverse  furrow  in  the  epiblast  The  hypoblast 
cells  are  still  present  within  the  yolk,  but  are  gradually  becoming 
collected  in  the  ipedian  line,  just  below  the  mesoblastic  bands. 
The  stomodseum  and  proctodeum  become  more  deeply  invagi- 
nated,  extending  a  considerable  distance  into  the  yolk,  and  at  the 

VOL.  XX.~NO.  VII.  44 


Digitized  by 


Google 


664  General  Notes,  D^Jyi 

same  time  the  hypoblast  cells  begin  to  form  the  mesenteron, 
arranging  themselves  around  a  central  lumen. 

On  the  tenth  day  the  ventral  flexure  is  formed  by  a  deepening 
of  the  transverse  furrow  between  the  seventh  and  eighth  segments. 
As  this  furrow  deepens  and  the  embryo  increases  in  size,  the  last 
segment  grows  in  length.  At  the  same  time  the  embryo  curves 
round  toward  the  ventral  surface,  the  end  segment  being  bent 
round  against  the  head.  The  eighth  segment  is  longer  than  the 
others  except  the  head.  Even  as  late  as  the  twelfth  day,  when 
the  nervous  system  is  far  developed  in  other  parts  of  the  body,  in 
the  eighth  segment  the  tissues  are  imperfectly  differentiated,  the 
nerve  cords-not  showing  any  ganglia,  but  lying  on  the  epiblast 
and  not  quite  separated  from  it.  At  a  later  period  of  development 
the  anal  segment  is  constricted  off  from  the  eighth,  while  from 
the  anterior  part  of  the  latter,  the  additional  segments  formed  in 
the  course  of  development  are  derived.  These  additional  seg- 
ments are  therefore  intercalated  between  the  seventh  and  ninth. 

Just  before  the  appearance  of  the  ventral  flexure  the  embryo 
develops  a  cuticular  envelope  over  the  whole  surfece  of  the  body. 
This  is  the  so-called  amnion  of  Newport.  Just  before  the  forma- 
tion of  the  ventral  flexure  the  nervous  system  is  formed.  The 
first  traces  of  this  consist  in  a  thickening  of  the  epiblast  on  each 
side  of  the  middle  line;  this  is  soon  followed  by  the  formation  of 
a  shallow  furrow  between  the  thickened  parts;  this  longitudinal 
furrow  corresponds  with  that  described  by  Metschnikoff  in 
Strongylosoma. 

The  bilobed  cerebral  ganglia  are  formed  first,  and  the  nerve 
cords  are  formed  from  before  backwards,  a  pair  of  ganglia  being 
present  for  each  segment  except  the  last.  The  posterior  por- 
tion of  the  nerve  cords  is  completed  at  a  considerably  later 
stage  of  development.  The  nerve  cords  are  widely  separated,  but 
are  connected  by  a  thin  median  portion.  In  later  embryonic  life 
they  are  closely  approached  to  one  another,  and  almost  form  x)ne 
cord. 

*  On  the  eleventh  day  the  embryo  has  increased  considerably  in 
size.  The  ventral  flexure  is  complete,'  and  the  animal  lies  with 
the  long  end  segment  folded  closely  against  the  rest  of  the  body, 
the  end  of  the  tail  being  against  the  stomodaeum.  The  nervous 
system  is  now  completely  separated  from  the  epiblast,  and  the 
epiblast  has  assumed  the  adult  form.  It  now  separates  a  second 
membrane  like  that  which  is  formed  on  the  tenth  day. 

The  splanchnic  layer  of  mesoblast  covers  the  mesenteron,  the 
stomodaeum  and  proctodaeum. 

Within  the  yolk,  which  is  still  present  in  great  quantity  in  the 
body-cavity,  there  are  present  a  number  of  hypoblast  cells.  These, 
as  has  already  been  mentioned,  give  rise  to  the  circulatory  sys- 
tem and  to  various  muscles.    They  may,  therefore,  be  now  con- 


Digitized  by 


Google 


1 886.  J  Embryology.  665 

sidered  as  mesoblastic  cells  which  have  been  directly  derived 
from  the  hypoblast. 

On  the  twelfth  day  the  Malpighian  tubes  are  formed  as  blind 
outgrowths  of  the  proctodaeum,  the  nervous  system  is  further 
developed,  and  the  first  rudiments  of  the  appendages  begin  to 
appear.    Late  on  this  day  the  animal  is  hatched  with  only  the  * 
rudiments  of  its  appendages. 

An  investigation  of  the  development  of  Geophilus  by  Sograf  ^ 
shows  thai  the  early  cleavage  of  the  egg  of  Chilopods  is  very  sim- 
ilar, not  only  that,  but  even  the  formation  of  the  mesoblastic  bands 
and  coelomic  cavity  is  similar.  Great  numbers  of  cells  also 
remain  in  the  yolk  in  this  form  until  a  late  period  and  apparently 
migrate  outwards,  and  may  possibly  take  a  share  in  forming  cer- 
tain mesoblastic  structures.  There  is,  however,  no  evidence  to 
show  that  the  yolk  lies  immediately  within  the  body-cavity  in 
either  Geophilus  or  Lithobius,  but  rather  within  the  mesenteron, 
so  that  in  this  respect  the  Chilopods  differ  pretty  widely  in 
their  development  from  the  Diplopods,  as  described  by  Heath- 
cote.  It  may  be  that  the  splanchnic  mesoblast  may  indirectly 
acquire  accessions  of  cellular  elements  from  the  underlying  walls 
of  the  mesenteron,  even  in  the  Chilopods,  but  of  this  there  is  no 
'  very  clear  evidence,  except  in  the  case  of  one  of  Sograt's  fig- 
ures. The  Malpighian  tubes  develop  in  the  •  same  man- 
ner in  Geophilus  as  in  Julus ;  and,  while  there  is  no  clearly 
defined  anal  segment  developed  as  in  the  latter,  the  somites  are 
formed  from  behind  forwards  between  the  first-formed  segments 
and  the  terminal  section  of  the  body,  where  the  proctodaeum  is 
invaginated.  The  wall  of  the  mesenteron  is  the  last  structure 
from  which  the  yoll^spherules  disappear  in  the  Chilopods,  and 
finally  the  lumen  of  the  mesenteron  appears  surrounded  by  a  second 
nearly  homogeneous  investment  of  yolk  which  lies  within  the 
hypoblastic  wall  of  the  mesenteron,  and  in  which  free  multipolar 
cells  are  embedded.  There  occurs  a  dehiscence  of  cells  into  the 
coelom  from  the  splanchnic  mesoblast  investing  the  mesenteron. 
These  free  cells  represent  blood  cells.  The  process  is  somewhat 
analogous  to  that  observed  in  embryo  fishes,  in  which  blood  cells 
are  freed  from  the  periblast  of  the  yolk,  the  periblast,  though 
undoubtedly  occupying  the  position  of  the  hypoblast,  has,  on 
account  of  the  peculiar  way  in  which  the  yolk  is  finally  excluded 
from  the  ventral  side  of  the  intestine,'taken  up  the  position  of  a 
splanchnopleure  in  relation  to  the  somatopleure,  which  covers  not 
only  the  viscera  but  also  the  yolk,  so  that  the  latter  in  fishes  may 
be  considered  to  be  intraabdominal,  since  the  periblast  or  what 
represents  the  splanchnopleure,  at  least  in  part,  is  in  many  cases 
a  transitory  structure,  leaving  no  trace  of  itself  in  later  embryonic 
life.    Were  the  lumen  of  the  intestine,  however,  to  originate  in 

^  In  contributions  from  the  Laboratory  of  the  Zoolog.  Museum  in  Moscow,  Vol. 
n,  4to,  1883.    (In  Russian.) 


Digitized  by 


Google 


666  General  NoUs.  [July; 

the  same  way  in  fishes  as  in  Myriopods,  viz.,  as  a  direct  canalicu- 
lar vacuolization  of  the  yolk  passing  through  its  central  longitu- 
dinal diameter,  the  periblast  would  doubtless  then  represent  the 
hypoblast  or  what  it  did  in  very  primitive  fish-like  forms,  while 
externally  it  would  have  been  covered  by  a  true  splanchnopleure 
which  had  been  developed  in  advance  of  the  permanent  hypoblast 
of  the  mesenteron,  though  the  latter  had  been  primarily  derived 
from  the  primitive  hypoblast. 

The  eggs  of  the  Myriapoda,  it  is  to  be  remembered,  represent  a 
very  peculiar  type,  that  is,  they  at  first  have  the  germinal  matter 
concentrated  in  the  center,  but  as  development  proceeds  the 
germinal  matter,  afler  segmentation  into  a  number  of  cells,  is 
repelled  centrifugally  or  to  the  outer  surface  of  the  ovum.  The 
primary  segmentation  therefore  occurs  in  the  center  of  the  egg 
and  not  at  one  side  or  superficially  until  some  progress  in  seg- 
mentation has  been  made  at  the  center  of  the  egg.  This  prob- 
ably characteristic  mode  of  development  seems  to  distinguish,  in 
a  measure,  the  Myriapoda  from  other  Arthropoda,  since  in  no 
other  arthropodous  form  does  the  vitellus  so  constantly  occupy 
a  superficial  position  and  so  completely  invest  the  first  segmenta- 
tion cells,  which  are  then  aggregated  in  a  cluster  at  the  center  of 
the  egg. 

The  Development  of  Agelena  NiEViA.* — In  the  memoir,  the 
place  of  publication  of  which  is  here  cited,  William  A.  Locy  has 
very  carefully  worked  out  the  development  of  the  spider  (Age- 
lena), and  obtained  a  number  of  new  and  important  morphological 
results.  He  finds  that  there  is  at  first  a  peripheral  layer  of 
protoplasm  present,  and  that  the  nucleus  of  the  first  segmentation 
is  central  and  imbedded  in  plasma.  This  firat  nucleus  subdivides 
and  gives  rise  to  new  nuclei,  each  invested  by  plasma.  These 
migrate  to  the  periphery  of  the  egg  and  appropriate  the  peripheral 
layer  of  protoplasm  or  "  blastema."  In  this  way  a  hollow  blasto- 
derm is  formed.  Just  before  the  primitive  cumulus  is  formed  a 
depression  appears  at  the  point  where  the  latter  develops,  and 
ft  appeared  not  improbable  that  this  depression  represents  the 
first  portion  of  the  blastoderm  of  the  spider's  egg  which  becomes 
invaginated.  Later,  and  about  80^  from  the  ^primitive  cumulus, 
a  second  thickening  appears  in  the  blastoderm  ;  this  second  thick- 
ening spreads  rapidly  and  becomes  shield-shaped.  Between  the 
two  the  intervening  blastoderm  then  becomes  thicker,  thus  lead- 
ing to  the  development  of  the  ventral  plate. 

The  protozonites  or  first  indications  of  somites  are  then  formed 
from  the  cephalic  and  caudal  plates.  Two  somites  arise  from 
the  former  and  they  bear  the  chelicerae  and  pedipalpi ;  the  other 
somites  develop  from  the  caudal  plate,  and  give  rise  to  the 
ambulatory  and  rudimentary  pairs  of  appendages.  The  embryo 
still  presents  a  transversely  banded  appearance  in  the  third  as  in 

^  Bull.  Mus.  Comp.  2U>6logy,  xii,No.  3, 1886,  pp.  63-103,  Pis.  X2. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


1886.J  Embryology.  667 

the  preceding  stage.  Sections  show  that  the  cavities  of  the 
limbs  are  prolongations  of  the  cavities  of  the  corresponding  meso- 
dermic  somites.  The  nervous  system  at  first  consists  of  two  rows 
of  ganglia,  one  to  each  somite;  these  are  widely  separated  in  the 
middle  line,  except  in  the  head  and  tail  lobes,  where  those  of 
opposite  sides  are  fused.  The  stomodaeum  arises  as  an  invagi- 
nation between  the  ganglionic  thickenings  of  the  cheliceral 
somites^  and  immediately  below  the  ventral  margin  of  the  cephalic 
plate. 

About  the  time  that  the  ventral  flexure  appears,  or  when  the 
embryo  becomes  folded  upon  itself,  the  proctodaeum,  heart,  lungs, 
trachea,  spinning  glands  and  muscles  develop.  The  chelicerae 
and  pedipalpi  appear  as  postoral  structures,  but  in  the  course  of 
further  development  they  appear  as  preoral  appendages.  At  an 
early  stage  the  proctodaeum  is  enlarged  by  the  outgrowth  of  its 
dorsal  wall ;  from  this  diverticulum  the  so-called  stercoral  pocket 
of  the  adult  is  formed.  The  lateral  nerve  cords  are  finally  ap- 
proximated in  the  middle  line,  and  the  posterior  or  abdominal 
portion  of  the  nervous  system  degenerates.  The  poison  glands 
appear  as  groups  of  enlarged  cells  at  the  bases  of  the  chelicerse. 
The  spinning  glands  develop  from  the  ectoderm  in  the  anal 
region  on  the  ventral  side  of  the  proctodaeum.  The  lungs  arise 
as  infoldings  from  a  large  oval  pair  of  masses  of  cells,  the 
nuclei  of  which  are  arranged  in  parallel  lines.  From  these  cells 
the  lamallae  of  the  lungs  are  formed.  The  heart  remains  open 
below  for  a  time,  communicating  freely  with  the  yolk.  The 
aorta,  at  a  later  period,  is  constricted  off  from  the  mesenteron. 
At  least  two  pairs  of  the  provisional  appendages  on  the  abdomen 
are  modified  into  the  spinning  mammillae.  The  remnant  of  the 
upwardly  flexed  tail  persists  for  some  time  as  a  postanal  knob ; 
its  tip  represents  the  morphological  end  of  the  body. 

The  ^y^%  are  developed  as  invaginations  of  the  ectoderm  (hypo- 
dermis).  The  retinal  involution  beconies  constricted  off  from  the 
ectoderm  entirely,  and  then  lies  just  below  that  portion  of  the 
hypodermis  which  afterwards  becomes  the  vitreous  body.  In  a 
concave  depression,  on  the  surface  of  the  latter,  the  lens  arises  as 
a  lenticular  thickening  of  the  cuticula.  The  mode  in  which  the 
light  traverses  the  eye  is  essentially  similar  to  the  method  in 
which  the  light  reaches  the  percipient  elements  of  the  retina  in 
the  vertebrate  eye. 

Embryology  of  Armadillos. — It  is  a  belief  among  the  people 
of  South  America  that  armadillos  bring  forth  only  male  young. 
Dr.  von  Ihring,  of  San  Paolo,  communicates  to  Cosmos  some  im- 
portant observations  he  has  made  on  this  and  other  points  in  the 
history  of  the  development  of  the  armadillo  Praopus  hybridus. 
He  states  that  all  the  foetuses  taken  from  two  females  presented 
the  external  characters  of  males  only.  He  also  states  that  sev- 
eral  foetuses — six  or  more — ^are  enclosed   in  a  single  chorion, 


Digitized  by 


Google 


668  General  Notes.  [J"ly» 

which  is  surrounded  by  as  many  zonary  placentae  as  there  are 
foetuses,  the  placentae  not,  however,  forming  perfect  zones.  He 
finds  the  ungual  phalanges  at  this  period  to  dii!er  entirely  from 
that  of  the  adult  Instead  of  being  long  and  claw-shaped,  they 
are  wide  and  hoof-shaped,  with  a  trilobate  margin,  as  in  the  ex- 
tinct genus  Gyptodon.  This  is  highly  interesting  as  exhibiting 
the  law  of  acceleration  modifying  that  of  heredity.  The  sexual 
characters  are  probably  like  those  of  the  hyaenas,  in  that  the 
female  fcetus  has  a  clitoris  so  large  as  to  give  her  a  close  resem- 
blance to  the  male. — K  D.  Cope. 

PSYOHOIiOQY. 

Gambetta's  Brain. — ^The  Revue  recently  (November  21st, 
1885)  gave  the  weight  of  Gambetta's  brain,  according  to  M.  A. 
Bloch.  This  weight,  which  was  remarkably  light  (i  160  grammes), 
evidently  ought  to  be  considered  as  an  entirely  secondary  element 
in  a  proper  estimate  of  the  diverse  qualities  of  the  organ.  At  a 
recent  session  of  the  Society  of  Anthropology  (March  18)  Pro- 
fessor Mathias  Duval  communicated  a  very  interesting  report  in 
which  he  brought  out  and  gave  their  due  value  to  certain  struc- 
tural details  of  this  brain — to  certain  characteristic  elements  which 
must  be  regarded  as  far  outweighing  the  simple  consideration  of 
the  gross  weight  of  the  organ.  Compared  with  the  brains  of  in- 
dividuals known  to  have  been  possessed  of  but  little  intelligence, 
and  representing  types  of  reduction  of  the  third  frontal  convolu- 
tion, the  brain  of  Gambetta,  besides  other  peculiarities,  shows  a 
t)T>e  of  extreme  development  of  that  convolution.  This  devel- 
opment is  such  that  not  only  are  the  secondary  convolutions  more 
numerous  and  more  complicated  than  those  of  ordinary  brains, 
but,  besides  this,  the  "  cape  "  is  double. 

This  development  is  evidently  in  favor  of  the  localization  dis- 
covered by  Broca,  who  held  that  the  third  frontal  convolution  was 
the  seat  of  speech.  M.  Mathias  Duval  has  also  pointed  out  the 
two  following  peculiarities,  the  significance  of  which  he  has  not 
been  able  to  determine. 

(i)  The  right  quadrilateral  lobule  is  very  complicated,  and 
is  divided  into  two  parts  by  a  sulcus  which  starts  from  the  occipital 
fissure.  The  lower  of  these  two  parts  is  subdivided  into  many 
secondary  convolutions  by  the  presence  of  a  fissure  with  numer- 
ous branches  arranged  in  star-like  patterns. 

(2)  The  occipital  lobe  is  notably  reduced,  especially  upon 
the  right  side. 

M.  Mathias  Duval  thinks  therefore  that  Gambetta's  brain  should 
be  considered  refined  (^^^«)— -although  the  expression  does  not  ap* 
pear  to  him  scientific — in  the  sense  that  it  preserves,  especially  in 
the  frontal  region,  in  spite  of  the  comph'cation  of  its  folds,  a  regu- 
larity which  may  be  called  schematic. — Revue  Scientifique^  April 
3d,  1886,  p.  444,. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


1886.]  Psychology i  669 

Memory  in  the  Humble  Bee, — ^The  author  removed  a  nest 
containing  numerous  individuals  of  one  of  the  common  humble 
bees  {Bambus  terresiris)  from  its  original  location,  and  carried  it 
to  his  residence,  aboi^t  three  miles  distant  He  further  carefully 
watched  the  place  for  some  time  after  having  captured  all  those 
that  had  flown  to  the  defence  of  their  nest,  and  secured,  it  was  be- 
lieved, the  entire  colony.  These  he  imprisoned  for  several  hours 
in  a  wide-mouthed  bottle,  and  safely  reunited  them  in  their  new 
home.  At  his  house  he  placed  the  tiest,  with  its  inhabitants,  near 
a  window,  and  after  they  had  become  quieted,  made  a  small  en- 
trance. Immediately  they  began  to  fly  out,  and  in  doing  so  must 
have  observed  their  surroundings,  for  in  a  short  time  they  one  by 
one  returned*  The  following  night,  however,  there  was  a  severe 
storm,  and  while  the  inhabitants  of  the  forty  other  colonies  near 
ity  that  had  not  become  accustomed  to  their  surroundings,  were 
not  in  the  least  troubled,  these  bees  escaped,  and  hid  themselves 
somewhere  without  during  the  storm.  Upon  searching  for  them 
early  the  next  morning,  the  queen  was  found  dead  upon  the 
ground,  while  fifty  or  sixty  of  the  workers  were  seen  flying  about 
the  house.  From  time  to  time  one  or  another — ^probably  those 
which  had  flown  out  of  the  entrance  the  day  before — found  the 
opening  and  returned  into  their  nest,  while  the  remainder  after 
flying  about  for  several  hours  gradually  disappeared,  till  not  one 
was  left.  As  it  was  supposed  that  they  had  in  all  probability  re- 
turned to  their  previous  nest,  the  place  was  visited  in  the  after- 
noon, where,  sure  enough,  at  least  fifty  individuals  were  found. 
They  had  thus,  it  will  be  seen,  distinctly  remembered  it,  and  after 
they  had  sought  in  vain  to  find  entrance  to  their  new  home,  they 
had  depended  upon  their  wonderful  sense  of  locality,  and  returned 
thither. 

A  similar  instance  was  observed  with  another  nest,  which  had 
been  removed  a  distance  of  nearly  five  miles,  and  in  which  the 
same  care  had  been  exercised  to  capture  all  the  individuals.  In 
unskillfully  handling  the  box  containing  the  nest  and  bees,  in  its 
new  location,  about  thirty  of  the  workers  escaped,  and  flew  through 
the  open  window.  After  flying  for  a  long  time  about  the  house, 
as  though  in  search  of  their  comrades,  they  likewise  disappeared 
and  returned  to  their  original  nest,  and  again  established  them ; 
selves,  as  was  afterwards  ascertained. 

It  was  frequently  observed  that,  when  nests  have  been  removed 
but  a  short  distance,  the  workers  during  the  first  few  days  after 
their  change,  would  fly  swiftly  in  the  direction  of  their  old  nest, 
when,  discovering  their  mistake,  they  would  change  their  course, 
and  go  to  their  new  home.  It  seemed  evident  that  these  little 
creatures,  through  some  mental  process  or  other,  thus  discovered 
their  changed  circumstances. 

In  order  to  test  further  this  remarkable  sense  of  locality,  the 
author  marked  a  number  of  individuals  with  oil  colors,  and  carried 


Digitized  by 


Google 


670  Genital  Notes.  LJuty. 

them,  enclosed  in  wooden  cases,  a  distance  of  eight  or  nine  miles, 
when  he  allowed  them  to  escape.  Very  many  of  them,  though 
not  all,  found  their  way  back  to  their  nests,  and  as  a  rule  reached 
home  sooner  than  the  author  did  himself.     * 

The  author  noticed  that  at  his  summer  residence,  where  he  had 
kept  numerous  hives  of  these  bees,  the  following  spring  many  in- 
dividuals appeared,  and  seemed  to  be  searching  for  their  previous 
nests ;  but  he  was  unable  to  determine  whether  they  were  individ- 
uals of  the  previous  broods  or  not.  Towards  the  close  of  July, 
1884,  he  obtained  three  nests  of  Bontbus  mastrucatus,  a  large  spe^ 
cies  only  found  in  the  mountains,  and  especially  the  higher  re- 
gions, and  carried  them  to  his  residence  in  the  city,  where  he 
placed  them  in  a  window  of  the  second  story.  The  house  was  en- 
closed by  high  buildings,  with  no  garden  attached,  and  yet  they 
returned  readily  and  directly  from  their  excursions  to  their  nests. 

They  throve,  and  by  the  first  (»f  October  had  increased  to  coa- 
siderable  numbers.  By  the  middle  of  October  they  wholly  disap- 
peared ;  but  in  the  early  part  of  the  following  April,  individuals 
of  this  species  were  observed  flying  about  the  window,  and  as 
soon  as  they  found  an  entrance,  sought  the  remains  of  their  old 
nests,  and  took  up  tljeir  abode.  They  remained  for  a  while,  when 
their  nest  was  accidentally  injured,  and  they  left.  Nothing  more 
was  seen  of  them  till  after  the  author's  return  from  his  summer 
vacation,  in  the  middle  of  September,  when  a  single  female  of  this 
species  made  its  appearance.  In  their  inability  to  obtain  an  en- 
trance through  the  closed  window,  they  had  evidently  built  a  new 
nest  in  the  vicinity,  and  reared  their  broods. 

These  circumstances  indicate  that  the  intellectual  powers  of  the 
humble  bee  are  not  as  slight  as  we  have  been  accustomed  to  be- 
lieve. Here  in  this  case,  from  October  to  April — a  period  of  six 
months — ^had  these  bees  remained  dormant  in  the  ground,  or  hid- 
den in  some  crevice,  and,  upon  regaining  their  activity,  had  not 
only  remembered  the  pl.ice  where  they  were,  but  had  sought  and 
found,  despite  the  many  difficulties,  their  last  year's  nest  That 
these  individuals  were  from  last  year's  brood,  there  was  no  doubt, 
as  throughout  the  province  the  sjjecies  nowhere  else  occurs,  pecu- 
liar as  it  is  to  elevated  and  mountainous  regions. 

The  foregoing  is  from  Science,  April  9th,  1886  (translated  from 
Kosmos\  but  we  do  not  agree  with  the  statement  that  the  brain 
of  the  bee  is  simple ;  on  the  contrary  it  is  only  less  complex  than 
that  of  a  fish. 

The  Vision  of  Birds. — I  have  been  exceedingly  interested,  while 
watchmg  the  wrens,  robins,  and  blue-birds  at  the  time  they  are 
rearing  their  young  broods,  to  note  the  celerity  of  their  movements 
and  the  evident  acuteness  of  their  vision.  They  are  able  to  see 
an  insect  much  furtljer  than  a  person  can  distinguish  one,  and  fly 
as  straight  as  an  arrow  to  the  minute  object  when  it  is  from  fifteen 
to  thirty  feet  distant.    They  seem  to  make  no  mistakes,  bwt  alvv^y§ 


Digitized  by 


Google 


1 886.]  Anthfopology.  671 

±0  secure  the  coveted  prey.  I  have  often  seen  these  birds  dart  down 
into  the  grass  from  those  heights  and  seize  an  insect  with  such  pre- 
cision that  it  must  have  been  plainly  visible  from  where  the  start 
ivas  made.  This  would  indicate  that  they  possess  a  faculty  of 
sight,  developed  by  ages  of  practice,  altogether  above  that  of  the 
human  race,  and  most  useful  in  their  struggle  for  existence.  But 
the  late  Robert  Kennicott  (quoted  by  Baird,  Brewer  and  Ridg- 
•way  in  their  great  work  on  the  Birds  of  North  America)  states 
that  a  pair  of  a  wrens  will  capture  1000  insects  per  day  during 
the  breeding  season,  and  this  fact  of  itself  would  indicate  the 
sharpest  vision  and  wonderful  celerity  of  movement. — Charles 
Aldnch^  Webster  City,  Iowa,   yune  ist,  1886, 

ANTHROPOIiOaY.V 

The  Davenport  Academy  has  just  issued  Vol.  iv  of  its  Pro* 
ceedings,  nearly  the  whole  of  which  is  occupied  with  anthropol- 
ogy. The  papers  of  Dr.  Hoffman  and  Mr.  Holmes  have  been 
some  months  in  print  and  have  been  previously  noticed.  An 
appendix  of  nearly  one  hundred  pages  is  by  the  president  of  the 
academy,  and  entitled  "  Elephant  pipes  and  inscribed  tablets  in 
the  museum  of  the  Academy  of  Natural  Sciences,  Davenport, 
Iowa."  The  contents  of  this  appendix  ma\&  be  tabulated  as 
follows : 

1.  A  defence  of  the  separate  nationality  of  the  Mound-builders  against  the  theory  of 

their  identity  with  modem  Indians. 

2.  A  defence  of  the  genuineness  of  the  three  inscribed  tablets  and  two  elephant 

pipes  in  the  museum  of  the  Academy,  especially  against  the  statements  of  Mr. 
Henshaw  in  his  paper  published  in  the  second  annual  report  of  the  Bureau  of 
Ethnology  and  the  endorsement  of  the  director  of  the  bureau. 

3.  An  argument  against  centralization  of  ethnological  work  in  the  Smithsonian  In- 

stitution and  the  Bureau  of  Ethnology. 

4.  A  series  of  letters  from  friends  of  the  Davenport  Academy  in  sympathy  with  a 

former  vindication. 

5.  Extracts  from  scientific  journals  in  relation  to  the  same  subject. 

Whether  the  Mound- builders  were  succeeded  in  the  Missis- 
sippi valley  by  their  immediate  descendants,  the  Indians  living 
there  when  the  whites  made  their  appearance  three  centuries  and 
more  ago,  is  an  open  question,  though  some  archaeologists  have 
declared  the  argument  closed.  Dr.  Carr,  Dr.  Brinton,  the  direc- 
tor and  the  archaeologist  of  the  Bureau  of  Ethnology,  and  many 
others  are  in  favor  of  the  identity.  Squier  and  Davis,  President 
Putnam  and  many  other  eminent  archaeologists  hold  the  contrary 
vieAr,  maintaining  that  the  Mound-builders  exhibited  traits  of 
civilization  which  set  them  far  above  their  modern  successors  on 
the  same  soil.  The  appendix  to  the  Davenport  Proceedings  is 
an  able  summary  of  the  arguments  in  favor  of  the  higher  civili- 
zation of  the  Mound-builders.  .It  seems  to  us  that  a  comprehen- 
sive review  of  what  can  be  said  for  and  against  this  theory  by 
some  judicial  mind  would  be  exceedingly  timely. 

1  Edited  by  Prof.  Otis  T.  Mason,  National  Museum,  Washington,  D.  C. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


672  GenerallfoUs.  D"Jy. 

Upon  the  second  point  we  can  throw  no  additional  light  The 
Davenport  Academy  is  one  of  the  most  thriving  State  associa- 
tions for  research  and  collection  of  material.  In  some  particulars 
the  museum  vies  even  with  that  of  the  Smithsonian  Institution. 
There  are  in  all  this  vast  treasure  five  objects  which  run  the 
whole  gamut  of  reputation,  from  that  of  base  fraud,  to  the  high- 
est credibility.  President  Putnam  gives  the  history  of  their 
acquisition  as  follows : 

a.  The  discovery  of  two  inscribed  tablets  in  Mound  3,  on  Cook's  farm«  near  Damn. 

port,  by  Jacob  Gass,  L.  H.  WiUrodt  and  H.  S.  Stolzenau,  with  five  other  per- 
sons, Jan,  10,  1877. 

b.  The  discovery  of  another  tablet,  Jan.  30,  1878,  in  Monnd  ii,  on  Cook's  farm,  by 

Jacob  Gass,  John  Hume  and  Charles  £.  Harrison. 

c.  The  discovery,  in  March,  1880,  of  an  elephant  pipe  in  a  mound  on  Hass'  farm, 

in  Louisa  county,  Iowa,  by  A.  blumer,  Jacob  Gass  and  F.  Hass. 

d.  The  obtaining  of  an  elephant  pipe  by  Jacob  Gass  from  a  farmer  in  Louisa eovnty, 

Iowa,  who  found  it  on  his  farm  while  planting  com. 

In  reply  to  the  assertion  that  these  pieces  are  not  genuine,  Mr. 
Putnam  enters  the  most  eloquent  protest,  backed  up  by  Farqu- 
harson,  Pratt  and  J..  D.  Putnam,  who  were  fsimiliar  both  with  the 
finders  and  the  finds.  President  Putnam  commits  himself  to 
belief  in  the  contemporaneity  of  man  and  the  mastodon  in  Amer- 
ica, invoking  the  testimony  of  Koch,  Dickson,  Pourtales,  Dowler, 
Winslow,  Whitney,  Cleu,  Hilgard  and  Fontaine.  This  contem- 
poraneity is  again  a  subject  open  td  discussion,  and  no  doubt  it 
will  receive  the  attention  which  it  deserves. 

The  third  part  of  President  Putnam's  argument,  in  which  the 
Smi^isonian  Institution  and  the  Bureau  of  Ethnology  are  held  to 
be  antagonistic  to  local  societies  of  our  country,  ought  to  have 
been  omitted.  Ninety-one  pages  of  the  volume  containing  Mr. 
Putnam's  argument  were  contributed  by  Dr.  Hoffmann  and  Mr. 
Holmes  of  the  Bureau  of  Ethnology.  On  page  iv  it  is  dis- 
tinctly stated  that  Dr.  Hoflfman  and  the  Bureau  of  Ethnology 
furnished  all  the  illustrations  for  these  papers  without  expense  to 
the  academy.  On  p.  245  we  are  told  that  "  the  special  thanks  of 
the  academy  were  tendered  to  Major  Powell  for  his  courtesy  in 
lecturing,  free  of  charge,  for  its  benefit." 

The  writer  of  this  note,  long  before  his  connection  with  the 
National  Museum,  was  familiar  with  the  intense  desire  of  Profes- 
sor Baird  to  foster  local  scientific  organizations.  He  also,  at 
Major  Powell's  request,  sat  for  several  days  on  a  commission  to 
nominate  anthropological  societies  and  students  throughout  the 
world  to  receive  all  the  publications  of  his  bureau,  in  order  to 
place  them  where  they  would  do  the  most  good.  It  would  be  an 
irreparable  loss  to  anthropological  science  if  by  any  means  this 
bureau  should  be  disestablished  before  Powell,  Pilling,  Mallery, 
Thomas,  Henshaw,  Dorsey,  Gatschet,  Gushing,  the  MindeleflFs, 
Hoffman,    Yarrow,    Boas,   Murdoch    shall    have    finished   the 


Digitized  by 


Google 


1 886.]  Anthropology.  673 

great  work  which  each  has  undertaken,  and  any  one  of  which 
ivould  be  far  too  burdensome  for  .any  scientific  association  in 
America  to  carry. 

Vocabulary  of  Archery. — In  a  former  number  of  the  Natu- 
ralist Mr.  John  Murdoch  kindly  furnished  us  with  a  vocabulary 
of  the  harpoon.  We  give  below  a  vocabulary  of  archery,  hoping 
that  all  who  are  in  sympathy  with  us  in  establishing  accurate 
nomenclature  for  the  various  branches  of  anthropology  will  aid 
in  adopting  these  terms,  or  at  least  will  state  their  objections  if 
they  have  any.  No  claim  whatever  is  made  to  originality  in 
most  of  the  terms.  Dr.  John  Evans,  the  Encyclopaedia  Britan- 
nica.  Professor  Morse,  Mr.  Murdoch,  Hansard  and  others  have 
been  freely  consulted. '  The  list  of  words  given  below  includes 
the  bow,  the  arrow  and  the  arrow-maker's  outfit.  No  discrimi- 
nation is  made  between  ancient  and  modern  archery,  as  it  is  de- 
signed to  include  the  whole  life-history  of  this  species  of  human 
activity  in  the  same  manner  that  a  zoologist  would  monograph 
species  of  animals : 

Archer,  old  French  archur,  Latin  arcarius,  from  arcus^  a  bow,  one  who  shoots 

with  a  bow ;  whence  archery,  shooting  with  the  bow. 
Arm-guard.  The  Japanese,  in  releasing,  revolve  the  bow  in  the  left  hand ;  a  guard  is 

worn  on  the  outer  side  of  the  forearm  to  catch  the  blow  of  the  string. 
Arrow,  a  missile  shot  from  a  bow.    The  possible  parts  are  the  head,  barb-piece, 

foreshaft,  shaft  or  stele,  feathering,  nock,  and  seizings. 
Arrow  cxment,  substance  used  in  fastening  the  arrow-head  to  the  shaft     A  few 

tribes  use  glue  or  cement  in  making  the  sinew-backed  bow. 
Arrow-head,  the  part  of  an  arrow  designed  to  produce  a  wound.    The  parts  of  the 

primitive  stone  arrow-head  are  the  tip  or  apex,  faces,  sides,  base,  shank  or  tang, 

and  facets. 
Arrow-straightener,  a  piece  of  bone,  wood  or  ivory  with  a  perforation  to  serve 

as  a  wrench  in  straightening  arrow-shafts,  barbs,  etc. 
Back  (side),  the  part  of  the  bow  away  from  the  archer. 
Backed,  a  bow  is  backed  when  along  the  outside  are  fastened  strips  of  wood,  sinew 

or  cord  to  increase  the  elasticity. 
Baldric,  the  strap  supportine  a  quiver  or  sheath,  being  worn  over  one  shoulder, 

across  the  breast  and  under  the  opposite  arm ;  generally  much  ornamented. 
Barb-piece,  the  piece  of  ivory,  &c.,  on  some  arrows  attached  to  the  true  head  and 

having  barbs  on  the  sides.    This  should  be  carefully  discriminated  from  the 

foreshaft,  which  has  another  function  altogether. 
Base  of  an  arrow-head,  the  portion  which  fits  into  the  shaft 
Belly  (inside),  the  part  of  a  bow  toward  the  archer,  usually  rounded. 
Bow,  an  elastic  weapon  for  casting  an  arrow  from  a  string.  (See  self-bow,  compound 

bow,  backed  bow,  grafted  bow.) 
Bow.CASE,  a  long  bag  of  wood,  leather  or  cloth,  in  which  the  bow  is  kept  when  not 

in  nse. 
Bow-stave,  the  bow  in  a  rough  state.    Bow-staves  were  an  important  item  of  com* 

merce  prior  to  the  use  of  gunpowder. 
Bow-SHOT,  the  distance  to  which  an  arrow  flies  from  a  bow. 
Bowstring,  the  string  used  in  discharging  a  bow.  The  substances  used,  the  method 

of  treatment  and  of  nocking  are  important  to  notice. 
Bow- WOOD,  the  substances  used  for  bows,  generally  wood,  but  horn,  antler,  bone  and 

metal  have  been  employed. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


6/4  General  Notes.  [July. 

BOWYER,  a  maker  of  bows. 

Bracer  (wrist-guard),  a  contrivanca  for  prolecting  the  archer's  wrist  from  being 

galled  by  his  bowstring. 
Bbacing  (stringing),  bending  the  bow  and  putting  the  eye  of  the  string  in  the  upper 

nock  preparatory  to  shooting.    The  diflferent  methods  of  bracing  throughout  the 

world  form  an  interesting  study. 
BlTTTS,  pyramidal  banks  of  earth  used  formerly  for  targets. 
BUTT-SMAFT,  a  blunt  arrow  for  shooting  at  a  butt,  the  ancient  style  of  Urget. 

Chipper,  the  pointed  implement  of  bone,  antler,  &c.,  used  for  shaping  6int  arrow- 
heads, spear-heads,  &c. 

Cock  FEATHER,  that  feather  of  an  arrow  which  is  uppermost  when  the  bow  is 
drawn. 

Compound  bow,  made  of  two  or  more  pieces  of  wood,  bone,  horn,  antler,  lashed  or 
riveted  together. 

Eye,  the  loop  of  a  bowstring  wliich  passes  over  the  upper  nock  in  bracing. 

Faces,  the  broad,  flattened  portions  of  an  arrow-head. 

Facets,  tHe  little  surfaces  left  by  chipping  out  a  stone  arrow-head. 

Feathertng,  the  strips  of  feather  at  the  butt  of  an  arrow,  including  the  method  of 

seizing  or  fastening. 
Flaking  hammer,  called  also  hammer  stone,  a  stone  used  for  knocking  off  flakes  in 

making  flint  arrow-heads,  &c. 
Fletcher,  an  arrow-maker,  akin  KoJUcke, 
Footing,  a  piece  ot  wood  inserted  in  the  shafhnent  of  an  arrow  at  the  nock. 

FoRESHAPT,  a  piece  of  hard  wood,  bone,  ivory,  antler,  &c.,  at  the  front  end  of  an 

arrow  to  give  weight  and  to  serve  for  the  attachment  of  the  head. 
Graptkd  bow,  a  species  of  compound  bow  formed  of  two  pieces  joined  together  at 

the  handle. 
Grip,  the  part  of  a  bow  grasped  in  the  hand.    The  same  term  should  be  applied  to 

the  corresponding  part  of  swords,  daggers,  &c.,  where  it  is  differentiated  in  any 

manner. 
Guard  (wrist-guard),  a  shield  of  leather  or  other  substance  fastened  to  the  wrist  of 

the  left  hand  to  prevent  injury  from  the  bowstring  (see  bracer). 

Horn,  the  end  of  a  bow  when  made  of  horn. 

Limbs,  the  part  of  a  bow  above  and  below  the  handle  or  grip. 

Nock,  properly  the  notch  in  the  horn  of  a  bow,  but  applied  also  to  the  whole  of  that 
part  on  which  the  string  is  fastened.  Upper  nock,  the  one  held  upward  in 
bracing.  Lower  nock,  ue  one  on  the  ground  in  bracing.  Also  the  notch  in 
the  end  of  an  arrow. 

Nocking,  placing  the  arrow  on  the  string  preparatory  to  shooting. 

Nocking-point,  that  place  on  a  bowstring  where  the  nock  of  the  arrow  is  to  be 

fitted,  often  whipped  with  silk. 
Noose,  the  end  of  a  string  which  occupies  the  lower  horn  of  a  bow. 

Over-arrows,  those  shot  directly  over  the  center  of  the  mark  and  beyond  the 
target. 

Overhand,  shooting  overhand  is  to  shoot  at  the  mark  over  the  bow-hand,  when  the 

head  of  the  arrow  is  drawn  inside  the  bow. 
Packing,  of  leather,  fish-skin  or  other  soft  substance  used  in  binding  the  nocks  and 

the  grip  of  bows. 
Pile,  the  head  of  an  archery  arrow ;  any  arrow-head  may  bear  the  same  name,  in 

which  we  may  have  a  one*pile,  two-pile,  three-pile  arrow,  &c. 
Pitch  I  no-tool,  or  knapping-tool,  a  column  of  antler  or  other  hard  substance  tised 

l>etween  the  hammer  and  the  core  in  knocking  off  flakes  of  stone. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


1 886.]  Microscopy.  675 

Release,  letting  go  the  bowstring  in  shooting.  Professor  £.  S.  Morse  characterize^ 
the  various  releases  as  follows  : 

i«  Primary  release,  thumb  and  first  joint  of  forefinger  pinching  the  arrow 
nock.  • 

2.  Secondary,  thumb  and  second  joint  of  forefinger,  middle  finger,  also  on 

string. 

3.  Tertiary,  thumb  and  three  fingers  on  the  string. 

4.  Mediterranean,  fore  and  middle  finger,  thumb  not  used. 

5.  Mongolian,  thumb  on  string,  with  or  without  thumb-ring. 

Riband,  a  term  applied  Xo  the  stripes  painted  on  arrow-shafts,  generally  around  the 
shaftment.  These  ribands  have  been  called  clan-marks,  ownez^marks,  game 
tallies,  etc. 

Sefin  (see  thumb-ring). 

SBLF.BOW  (simple),  made  of  a  single  piece  of  wood  or  other  material. 

Shaft,  anciently  an  arrow,  but  strictly  the  portion  behind  the  head,  and  in  a  fore. 

shafted  arrow  the  lighter  portion  behind  the  foreshaft. 
ShafT'GROOVes,  furrow  cuts  along  an  arrow-shaft  from  the  head  backward ;  tbey 

have  been  called  blood-grooves  and  lightning-grooves,  but  these  names  are  obi 

jectionable  as  involving  theories. 
Shaftment,  the  part  of  an  arrow  on  which  the  feathering  is  laid. 
Shank,  the  part  of  an  arrow-head  corresponding  to  the  tang  of  the  sword-blade. 
Short-arrows,  those  which  fall  short  of  the  mark. 

Sides,  of  an  arrow-head,  the  sharpened  portions  between  the  apex  and  the  base,  also 
called  the  edges. 

Sinew-backed  bow,  one  ivhose  elasticity  is  increased  by  the  use  of  sinew  along  the 
back,  either  in  a  cable  of  twine,  as  among  the  Eskimos,  or  laid  on  solid  by 
means  of  glue,  as  with  many  tribes  in  Western  United  States. 

Sleight,  the  facility  with  which  an  archer  releases  his  bowstring. 

Stele  (stale,  shaft),  the  wooden  part  of  an  arrow,  an  arrow  without  feather  or  head. 

Target,  a  disk  of  straw  covered  with  canvas,  on  which  are  painted  concentric  rings, 

used  in  archery  as  a  mark  in  lieu  of  the  ancient  butt. 
Thumb- RING,  a  ring  worn  on  the  thumb  in  archery  by  those  peoples  that  use  the 

Mongolian  release ;  called  sefin  by  the  Persians. 
Tip,  a  term  applied  to  the  sharp  apex  of  an  arrow-head. 
Trajectory,  the  curve  which  an  arrow  describes  in  space,  may  be  flat,  high,  &c. 

Weight,  of  a  bow,  the  number  of  pounds  required  to  draw  a  bow  until  the  arrow 
may  stand  between  the  string  and  the  belly,  ascertained  by  suspending  the  bow 
at  its  grip  and  drawing  with  a  spring  scale. 

Whipping  (seizing,  serving),  wrapping  any  part  of  a  bow  or  arrow  with  curd  or  sinew 
regularly  laid  on. 

Wide-arrows,  those  shot  to  the  right  or  the  left  of  the  mark. 

MIOROSOOPY.* 

A  Staining  Dish. — A  convenient  form  of  staining  dish  has 
hitherto  been  a  desideratum ;  at  my  request  the  Educational  Sup- 
ply Co.,  at  6  Hamilton  place,  Boston,  has  undertaken  to  supply 
this  desideratum.  The  new  dish,  shown  of  the  natural  size  in  the 
cut,  is  made  of  clear  glass  with  polished  surfaces ;  it  is  sufficiently 
deep  to  hold  a  considerable  quantity  of  fluid,  while  the  curves 
inside  are  such  that  although  large  sections  lie  nearly  flat,  yet 

*  Edited  by  Dr.  C.  O.  Whitman,  Mus.  Comparative  Zoology,  Cambridge,  Mass. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


676  Scientific  News.  [July, 

when  very  little  fluid  is  used  it  gathers  into  the  center.     The 
dishes,  owing  to  their  vertical  sides,  are  readily  stacked,  while 


the  bevel  is  wide  enough  for  a  label,  which  can  be  easily  seen 
both  when  the  dishes  are  stacked  and  as  they  set  upon  the  table 
singly.    They  are  sold  at  ^2.50  per  dozen. — C/tarles  5.  MinoL 

SCIENTIFIC  NEWS.i 

—  The  new  museum  building  of  Columbia  College,  New  York, 
devotes  its  first  floor  to  chemistry,  the  second  to  mineralogy  and 
metallurgy,  the  third  to  archaeology  and  geological  conference, 
the  fourth  to  engineering  and  museums,  the  fifth  to  geology  and 
palaeontology.  The  building  runs  from  49th  to  50th  street,  forty 
feet  wide,  with  lecture-rooms  adjoining  each  museum.  The 
library  has  been  arranged  and  catalogued,  and  is  lighted  by  elec- 
tricity. The  astronomical  observatory  over  the  library,  in  charge 
of  Professor  J.  K.  Rees,  has  been  equipped  with  telegraphic 
apparatus  and  a  thirteen-inch  equatorial  telescope,  costing  ^20,000, 
given  by  Louis  M.  Rutherford,  which  is  used  for  lunar  researches. 
The  herbarium  has  extensive  rooms,  and  is  one  of  the  largest 
and  most  valuable  in  the  country.  The  geological  museum,  under 
Dr.  J.  S.  Newberry,  has  been  rearranged  and  provided  with  new 
cases,  and  is  now  displayed  at  the  best  advantage.  The  table 
cases  are  ten  by  four  feet  in  size,  and  completely  filled  with  min- 
eral ores  and  products,  making  the  most  varied  collection  of  the 
kind  extant.  Fifteen  wall  cases  are  filled  with  minerals  and  build- 
ing stones.  The  palaeontological  collection  is  arranged  in  twelve 
table  and  sixteen  wall  cases  to  the  best  advantage  for  instruction. 
Here  also  cases  containing  numerous  specimens  of  rocks  and  the 
minerals  which  make  rock,  as  auxiliary  to  the  study  of  lithology. 
There  is  a  large  collection  of  animals  illustrative  of  the  different 
groups  bearing  on  the  study  of  palaeontology.  Among  the 
recent  additions  are  specimens  of  fossil  Saurians  from  the  Jurassic 
rocks  of  Wiirtemberg,  representing  the  Ichthyosaurians  and  Teleo- 
saurians ;  a  fine  specimen  of  the  cave-bear,  etc. 

^  Edited  by  Wm.  IIosea  Ballou,  265  Broadway,  New  York. 


Digitized  by  VjOOQIC 


1 886.]  Scienti^  News.  677 

• 

—  There  is  some  hope  of  having  a  Division  of  Ornithology 
and  Mammalogy  created  in  the  Department  of  Agriculture.  Pro- 
fessor Riley  and  Dr.  Merriam  recently  appeared  before  the  Sen- 
ate sub-committee  on  appropriations  having  in  charge  the  agricul- 
tural appropriation  bill,  and  urged  an  amendment  to  the  House 
bill  creating  such  a  division  and  appropriating  ^15,000  therefor. 
Our  readers  are  aware  that  ornithological  work  was  begun  last 
year  under  the  Division  of  Entomology.  It  was  added  to  Riley's 
others  duties  against  his  wish,  and  he  deserves  the  thanks  of 
ornithologists  for  carrying  out  the  wishes  of  the  Ornithological 
Union  in  appointments  made  under  him.  He  realizes  that  there 
is  much  in  economic  ornithology  which  has  no  bearing  on  ento- 
mology, and  if  the  new  division  is  created,  Professor  Riley  and 
Dr.  Merriam  have  arranged  that  the  former  will  take  charge  of 
that  part  of  the  work  bearing  on  the  food-habits  of  birds  in  rela- 
tion to  insects. 

—  The  seeming  anomaly  is  presented,  by  the  excessive  de- 
mand for  furs,  of  the  extermination  of  large  species  and  the 
increase  of  smaller  ones.  This  is  obviously  due  to  the  fact  that 
large  animals  require  great  space  to  roam  over,  while  the  smaller 
ones  need  but  little  territory,  and  propagate  with  rapidity,  follow 
immigration  and  increase  with  the  population  in  farm  districts. 
Further,  the  increase  of  population  diminishes  the  territory  of 
large  species,  making  them  more  accessible  and  increases  the 
domain  and  support  of  the  smaller  animals.  The  annual  exter- 
mination of  the  beaver  is  about  200,000  animals,  of  the  muskrat 
about  2,150,000,  and  yet  there  is  no  perceptible  diminution  in 
their  numbers.  The  grizzly  and  polar  bears  and  Shetland  seal  are 
nearly  exterminated.  Of  the  last  named  only  200  skins  were 
secured  last  year,  and  the  price  of  cloaks  made  from  them  ad- 
vanced to  ^1200. 

—  The  American  causeway,  or  basaltic  columns,  at  Orange, 
New  Jersey,  is  the  largest  yet  exposed.  The  columns  are  com- 
pressed into  a  mass  750 -feet  long  and  lOO  feet  high,  covering 
fourteen  acres.  The  generality  stand  vertically,  but  some  lie  in 
a  horizontal  plane  and  others  radiate  from  a  common  center.  In- 
teriorly they  are  a  dark-blue  color,  covered  with  an  incrustation 
of  dust  particles.  They  range  in  shape  from  prisms  to  octagons, 
the  pentagons  predominating.  Underneath  is  an  enormous  de- 
posit of  red  sandstone.  The  columns  are  being  quarried  for 
building  blocks  and  micodons. 

—  Candidates  for  apprenticeships  in  the  United  States  Navy 
must  come  within  the  follpwing  measurements : 

Age.  Weight.  Height,  Chest, 

14  to  15  70  lbs.  57  inches.  26  inches. 

15  *«    16  «o    "  59      "  27      " 

16  "    17  90    "  61       "  28      " 

17  "    18  100    "  62      ««  29      " 


Digitized  by 


Google 


6/8  Proceedings  of  ScienHfic  Societies.         Quly,  1886. 

—  Thos,  Edwards,  the  Banff  naturalCst,  so  well  known  from 
Smiles'  biography,  is  dead.  Since  the  publication  of  Smiles' 
work  he  has  enjoyed  a  pension  of  ;^50  per  annum,  and  latterly 
he  has  been  curator  of  Banff  Museum. 

—  A  dromedary  in  Central  park,  N.  Y.,  gave  birth,  on  May  17, 
to  a  calf  weighing  105  pounds.  This  is  said  to  be  the  third  birtli 
of  the  kind  in  the  United  States. 

—  The  morning  glory,  natural  grasses  and  other  species  of 
land  life  rapidly  take  the  place  of  aquatic  plants  in  the  vast  areas 
of  drained  lands  in  sub-tropical  Florida. 

—  The  Chicago  Academy  of  Sciences  has  deposited  its  collec- 
tion in  commodious  quarters  at  the  Exposition  building  on  the 
lake  front. 

PROCEEDINGS  OF  SCIENTIFIC  SOCIETIES, 

Biological  Society  of  Washington,  May  15.  —  Communi- 
cation :  Dr.  C.  Hart  Merriam,  habits  of  the  short-tailed  shrew 
(Blarina). 

May  29. — Communications :  Mr.  John  B.  Smith,  Ant's  nests 
and  their  inhabitants ;  Dr.  T.  H.  Bean,  The  trout  of  North  Amer- 
ica, with  exhibition  of  specimens ;  Mr.  L.  O.  Howard,  On  some 
new  Chalcididae;  Mr.  L.  F.  Ward,  Exhibition  of  a  specimen  of 
the  Palo  la  Cruz  or  Wood  of  the  Cross. 

New  York  Academy  of  Sciences,  May  lo. — A  history  of  the 
society  from  its  beginning  to  the  present  time,  prepared  by  the 
secretary,  was  presented.  It  comprised  the  following  sections  : 
Origin  ;  membership  ;  biographical  sketches  of  prominent  mem- 
bers ;  changes  of  location ;  the  old  Lyceum  building ;  coUec- 
tions ;  library ;  publications ;  change  of  name,  etc.,  etc.  Some 
of  the  old  documents,  books,  etc.,  were  exhibited. 

May  17. — The  following  paper  was  presented  :  Ten  years*  pro- 
gress in  astronomy,  Professor  C.  A.  Young,  of  Princeton  Col- 
lege. 

May  24. — The  subject  of  the  sanitai^  influence  of  vegetation 
in  cities  and  the  importance  of  tree-planting  to  the  health,  beauty 
and  summer  temperature  of  New  York,  with  practical  sugges- 
tions in  relation  thereto,  was  presented  by  Dr.  Stephen  Smith 
and  Professor  D.  S.  Martin. 

May  31. — On  rock-crystal,  its  cutting  in  Japan,  Germany  and 
the  United  States,  with  exhibition  of  crystal  spheres  and  other 
objects  of  transparent  quartz,  including  some  of  the  largest  pieces 
in  this  country,  by  Mr.  George  F.  Kunz. 

Boston  Society  of  Natural  History,  May  19. — Mr.  F,  W. 
Putnam  showed  a  collection  of  implements  and  ornaments  from 
Central  America,  and  remarked  on  the  evidence  they  present  of 
an  early  migration  from  Asia  to  America ;  Dr.  C.  S.  Minot  dis- 
cussed the  origin  of  the  mesoderm. 


Digitized  by  VjOOQIC 


^M^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^W 


V  UT" 


71      -MQO^       AI/^T^^v 


\      V       \  w      \    I     I        1,1./ 


L^^NT/.; ,  ^^  ^; 


''^ 


■^ 


.SINGLE.   llUI«IDB.If9,  99  UCH  I  p.      ^^^ 


^ 


GONTEIMTS. 


:9C^  YEARLY  SUBSCHimON,  i4.ini.  ;i; 


Airrs*   NiSTS  and  thvir   Inhabitants.    JaMm   B. 
Smiik 679 

Gbographical  and  Gbological   Exploration   in 
Brazil.   J<fku  C.  Brantur 687 


Crow  Roosts  and  Roosting  Crows.    Samuel  IV, 


Rhoads  . 


691 


Thb  Wings  OF  Birds.    /.  Lancaster,  .......    701 


Editors'  Tablb. 

Theolotry  on  Evolution. — Illustration  In  U.  S.  Geo- 
logical Survey  Work 708 


-'  RCBNT  LiTBRATURB. 

The  Olden  Timr  Srrics. — Conn's  Evolution  of 
To  day.— -Recent   B00W5  and  Pamphlets 710 

-RNERAL   NOTBS. 

Gfcrraphy  and  Travels.'-' PisXz.  and  the  I.^Iands : 
I'ht  Hill  country  cA  Assam  ;  Mr.  Carles  upon  Corea; 
i>Icv/  Guinta  ;  Asiatic  News.— Africa  :  Madagasc;»r  ; 
Mgeria ;  African  Newt.  —  America :  The  Gran 
O.aco.^-Occan 7'4 


Mintrat^y  and  Peir^rapkf.-—'  Petrographical 
News. — Mincralogical  News. — Mitcenaneous .  .  .  •   723 

Botany,  —  Aids  to  Botanlcing.— A  Broader  Ele- 
mentary Botany. — Watson's  ContriVutions  to  Ameri- 
can Botany,  xiii. — Botany  at  the  Approaching  Meet- 
ing of  the  A.  A.  A  S. — Botanical  News 727 

Entomology,  —  Hubbard's  Insects  Affecting  the 
Orange.— Stridulating  and  Sense-organs  in  Diplopod 
Myriopoda. — Entomological  News  ...    ••,...    730 

Zoology.  —  Geographical  Distribution  of  Pelagic 
Marine  Animals.— Influence  of  High  Pressures  on 
Animal  Tissues.— -Shell  Formation  m  Bivalve  Mol- 
lusks.— Mechanism  of  Opening  of  the  Shell  of  Mus- 
sels.— Abyssal  Decapod  Crastacea  of  Ihe  North  At- 
lantic—The Most  Southern  Salmon. — The  Habits  ot 
Euhlepharis  variegatux  Baird. — The  Sense  Organ  In 
the  Pineal  Gland.— The  Vertebrx  of  Sphenodon.— 
The  Rattlesnake  In  New  England. — Zoological  News  732 

Embryology. — The  Metamorphosis  of  the  Ameri- 
can Lobster,  Ilomarut  americanux  H.  Milne- Ed- 
wards.— The  Monstrosities  observed  amongst  recently 
hatched  Lobsters • 739 

Psycholoery. — A  Curious  Superstition. ^The  Cop- 
pei head  and  other  Snakes 744 

Anthropology.  — Q\\\\A  Growth.— Skull  ot  Adult 
with  Frontal  Suture.— The  Bathekes.  —  The  Nico- 
barese •....    745 


Geology  and  PeUeeontology . — Schlosscr  on  the  Phy- 
Icyeny    of    the    Ungulate    Mammalia.  —  Geological 

M^wj 7x9      PROCBBDINCS  OF  SCIBNTIFIC  SOCIBTIBS 


Scientific  Nbws 7S^ 

....    75a 

Digitized  by  Vj005l^ 


v' 


r 
> 


"  w  ^iannii!!;, 


PECULIARITIES  IN  THE  MANUFACTURE  OF 
JENSEN'S  CRYSTAL  PEPSIN: 

NATURE  OF  THE  IBOTATZONS,  ETC. 


THE  champion  pepsin  of  the  world !  The  only 
pepsin  found  worthy  to  be  imitated !  Even 
the  wealthiest  manufacturing  chemists  could  not 
resist  the  temptation ! 

One  party  used  glue  as  a  cheapening  adulterant 
for  the  production  of  scale  pepsin ;  another  party 
has  now  succeeded  in  flooding  the  market  with 
their  imitations  of  my  scale  pepsin,  owing  to  its 
extreme  cheapness.  This  party  now  declares  (not 
to  the  profession)  that  they  use  sixty  pounds  of  dry 
egg  albumen,  peptonized  by  two  hundred  hogs' 
stomachs.  A  third  party  wrap  their  imitations  in 
an  exsict/ac  simile  of  my  circular,  making  full  use 
of  my  testimonials.  The  great  injury  these  imita- 
tions cause  my  preparations  can  easily  be  under- 
stood. 

The  protection  chiefly  relied  upon  is  through  the 
profession's  vigilance  in  discriminating  between  the 
genuine  and  the  spurious  article.  When  prescrib- 
ing my  pepsin,  most  physicians  now  underline  my 
name  thus,  Jensrn'^;  Crystal  Pepsin,  and  no  mis- 
conception can  excuse  substitutions.  The  great 
reputation  of  this  pepsin  lies  in  that  it  is  a  peptone 
pepsin,  f.  e.f  the  texture  of  the  stomachs  in  which 
the  ferment  is  lodged  is  entirely  dissolved,  thereby 
obtaining  all  the  pepsin.  "WTien  thereto  is  added 
my  recent  improvement  in  precipitating  from  this 
solution  all  of  the  earthy  and  saline  matter,  leaving 
only  the  azotized  constituent,  containing  all  of  the 
peptic  principle,  and  finally,  is  further  concentrated 
by  drying  it  upon  glass  plates  until  brittle  scales 
are  formed,  the  reason  for  its  high  digestive  power 
can  easily  be  understood.  Why  it  surpasses  also 
in  keeping  qualities  all  of  the  former  pepsins,  is 
owing  to  its  scaly  and  brittle  texture,  it  being  the 
only  organic  medicine  in  the  materia  medica  pro- 
duced for  the  market  in  scales. 

It  is  also  perfectly  soluble  upon  the  tongue, 
pleasant  to  the  taste,  and  practically  inodorous. 

Although  it  commands  a  higher  price  than  any 
other  pepsin  in  the  market,  it  is,  nevertheless,  the 
most  .prescribed.  Its  purity  and  solubility,  com- 
bined with  its  great  digestive  power  upon  albumi- 


noids, have  inspired  physicians  of  a  suggestive 
mind  to  try  it  also  as  a  solvent  for  diphtheritic 
membranes  and  coagulated  blood  in  the  bladder. 
The  success  also  of  these  novel  uses  has  already 
become  generally  known  to  the  profession  all  over 
the  world.  Physicians  writing  for  samples  will 
receive  prompt  returns. 

Dr.  Hollman  {Nederl.  Weekbl.^  i8,  p.  272)  reports 
the  case  of  an  old  man,  aged  80  years,  suffering 
from  retention  of  urine,  in  whom  the  introduction 
of  a  catheter  failed  to  produce  the  desired  result. 
It  was  found  that  the  bladder  contained  coagulated 
albuminoid  masses  mixed  with  blood.  A  few  hours 
after  the  injection  of  about  16  grains  of  Dr.  Jensen's 
Pepsin  dissolved  in  water,  a  large  amount  of  a  dark, 
viscid,  fetid  fluid  readily  escaped  by  the  catheter. — 
London  Medical  Record, 

Dr.  Exlwin  Rosenthal,  acting  on  the  suggestion 
of  Dr.  L.  Wolff,  has  used  an  acidulated  concen- 
trated solution  of  pepsin  as  an  application  to  the 
membranes  of  diphtheritic  patients,  for  which  there 
seemed  to  be  no  other  help  than  tracheotomy,  and 
reports  that  it  acted  like  a  charm,  dissolving  the 
membranes,  admitting  a  free  aeration  of  the  blood, 
and  placing  them  soon  on  the  road  to  con^Tdescencc. 
The  solution  he  used  was : 


^- 


M.  S. — Apply  copiously  every  hour  with  a  throat- 
mop. — From  the  Medical  Bulletin. 

Formula  for  Wine  of  Pepsin : 

JJ,    Carl  Jensen's  Pepsin,  gr.  192. 

Sherry  or  Port  Wine,  ?  viss. 

Glycerin  puris,  ?  iss. 

Acid  Tartaric,  gr.  v, 

Sig.  f  3  j.  after  meals.  This  is  three  grains  of 
the  i^epsin  in  each  teaspoonful. 

For  severe  attacks  of  colic  it  has  afforded  preseni 
relief,  after  a  few  doses  have  been  given  in  short 
intervals,  when  other  remedies  have  failed. 


Jensen's  Pepsin, 

3J- 

Acidi  Hydrochloric,  C.  P., 

gtt.  XX. 

Aquae  q.  s.  ft.. 

fi-Si- 

CARL  L.  JENSEN, 

HOlylB   OFIFICE,    2039   <3-I&EE3Sr   Sa?DBE:ET, 

PHILADELPHIA.  Digitized  by  GoOgk 


THE 

AMERICAN    NATURALIST. 

Vol.  XX.— OCTOBER,  1886.— No.  10. 


SOME  DEITIES  AND  DEMONS  OF  THE  NAVAJOS. 

BY  DR.  W.  MATTHEWS,  U.  S.  ARMY. 

THE  great  dry-paintings  of  the  Navajo  priests,  which  I  de- 
scribed in  a  previous  number  of  this  journal  (October,  i885)» 
illustrate,  as  I  then  explained,  the  visions  of  the  prophets.  But 
the  prophets  saw  the  gods  in  their  visions,  hence  the  paintings 
contain  pictures  of  the  gods  with  all  their  hieratic  belongings. 
The  characters  which  perform  in  the  great  dances  conducted  by 
the  priests,  are  representatives  of  the  gods.  In  the  ancient  crea- 
tion-myth of  the  tribe  some  descriptions  of  the  gods  are  incident- 
ally given.  In  the  later  myths,  recounting  the  acts  of  the 
prophets,  more  exact  descriptions  are  to  be  found.  It  is  from 
such  material  as  this — these  oral  traditions,  these  paintings,  these 
ceremonies,  with  their  hundreds  of  songs  and  elaborate  unchange- 
able rituals,  handed  down  from  generation  to  generation  by  word 
of  mouth  and  by  example  only — ^that  the  student  must  evolve  the 
nature  and  scope  of  their  worship. 

In  one  of  the  great  ceremonies,  that  of  the  Kledji  Hathal,  or 
Gaybechy^  there  are,  according  to  the  circumstances,  from  twelve 
to  sixteen  different  supernatural  characters  represented.  Some 
of  these,  like  the  gaybadd^  being  a  nunierous  race  of  divine  ones, 
are  represented  by  many  dancers — men  masked,  dressed  and 
painted  to  represent  gods,  bearing  sacred  wands  and  talismans 
and  symbolizing  in  every  act  and  motion  something  in  the  lives 
of  their  prototypes  ;  living  and  breathing  idols  to  whom  the  sup- 
pliant prays  and  offers  his  sacrifices,  well  knowing  that  he  ad- 
dresses with  reverent  prayers  only  his  own  brother  or  uncle 
masquerading  in  the  panoply  of  divinity. 

vol.,  XX.— NO.  X,  56 


Digitized  by 


Google 


920  Comparative  Studies  upon  the  Glaciation  of    [November, 

seemed  to  be  the  principal  source  of  the  glaciers  which  became 
confluent  to  form  the  great  ice-sheet.  In  its  advance  this  ice- 
sheet  probably  met  and  amalgamated  with  a  number  of  already 
existing  local  glacial  systems,  and  it  was  suggested  that  there 
was  no  necessity  for  assuming  either  an  extraordinary  thickness 
of  ice  at  the  pole  or  great  and  unequal  elevations  and  depressions 
of  land. 

Detailed  studies  made  by  the  author  in  Ireland,  in  1885,  bad 
shown  remarkably  similar  glacial  phenomena. 

The  large  ice-sheet  which  covered  the  greater  part  of  Ireland 
was  composed  of  confluent  glatiers,  while  distinct  and  local  gla- 
cial systems  occurred  in  the  non-glaciated  area.  The  princi{^ 
ice- sheet  resembled  that  of  America  irr  having  for  its  center  a 
great  inland  depression  surrounded  by  a  rim  of  mountains. 

These  appear  to  have  given  rise  to  the  first  glaciers,  which  after 
uniting  poured  outwards  in  all  directions.  Great  lobes  from  this 
ice-sheet  flowed  westward  out  of  the  Shannon  and  out  of  Galway, 
Clew,  Sligo  and  Donegal  bays,  northward  out  of  Loughs  Swilly 
and  Foyle,  and  south-eastward  out  of  Dundalk  and  Dublin  bays, 
while  to  the  south  the  ice-sheet  abutted  against  the  Mullaghareirk, 
Galty  and  Wicklow  mountains  or  died  out  in  the  plains. 

Whether  it  stopped  among  the  mountains  or  in  the  lowlands 
its  edge  was  approximately  outlined  by  unusual  accumulations  of 
drift  and  boulders,  representing  the  terminal  moraines.  As  in 
America,  this  outer  moraine  was  least  distinct  in  the  lowlands, 
and  was  often  bordered  by  an  outer  fringe  of  drift  several  miles 
in  width. 

South  of  an  east  and  west  line  extending  from  Tralee  to  Wex- 
word  is  a  non-glaciated  zone  free  from  drift.  Several  local  sys- 
tems of  glaciers  occur  in  the  south  of  Ireland,  of  which  by  far 
the  most  important  is  that  radiating  from  the  Killarney  mountains, 
covering  an  area  of  2000  square  miles,  and  entitled  to  be  called 
a  local  ice-sheet.  Great  glaciers  from  this  Killarney  ice-sheet 
flowed  out  of  the  fiord-like  parallel  bays  which  indent  the  south- 
western coast  of  Ireland.  At  the  same  time  the  Dingle  moun- 
tains, the  Knockmeal  down  and  Comeragh  niountains,  and  those 
of  Wexford  and  Wicklow,  furnished  small  separate  glaciers,  each 
sharply  defined  by  its  own  moraine. 

No  evidence  of  any  great  marine  submergence  was  discovered, 
although  the  author  had  explored  the  j|p-eater  part  of  Ireland,  and 


Digitized  by  VjOOQ IC 


1 886.]  North  America,  Great  Britain  and  Ireland.  921 

the  eskers  were  held  to  be  phenomena  due  to  the  melting  of  the 
ice  and  the  circulation  of  subglacial  waters.  The  Irish  ice-sheet 
seemed  to  have  been  joined  at  its  north-eastern  corner  by  ice 
coming  from  Scotland  across  the  North  channel.  All  the  evi- 
dence collected  indicates  that  a  mass  of  Scotch  ice,  reinforced  by 
that'of/ Ireland  and  England,  filled  the  Irish  sea,  overriding  the 
Isle  of  Man  and  Anglesey,  and  extending  at  least  as  far  south  as 
Bray  Head,  south  of  Dublin.  A  map  of  the  glaciation  of  Ireland 
was  exhibited  in  which  the  observations  of  the  Irish  geologists 
and  of  the  author  were  combined,  in  which  was  shown  the  central 
sheet,  the  five  local  glacial  systems,  all  the  known  striae,  and  the 
probable  lines  of  movement  as  indicated  by  moraines,  striae  and 
the  transport  of  erratics. 

The  glaciation  of  Wales  was  then  considered.  Wales  was 
shown  to  havfe  supported  three  distinct  and  disconnected  local 
systems  of  glaciers,  while  at  the  same  time  its  extreme  northern 
border  was  touched  by  the  great  ice-lobe  of  the  Irish  sea.  The 
most  extensive  local  glaciers  were  those  radiating  from  the  Snow- 
den  and  Arenig  region,  while  another  set  of  glaciers  radiated 
from  the  Plinlimmon  district  and  the  mountains  of  Cardiganshire, 
and  a  third  system  originated  among  the  Brenockshire  beacons. 
The  glaciers  from  each  of  the^e  centers  transported  purely  local 
boulders  and  formed  well-defined  terminal  moraines.  The  north- 
ern ice-lobe,  bearing  granite  boulders  from  Scotland  and  shells 
and  flints  from  the  bed  of  the  Irish  sea,  invaded  the  northern 
coast  but  did  not  mingle  with  the  Welsh  glaciers.  It  smothered 
Anglesey  and  part  of  Carnarvonshire  on  the  one  side,  and  part  of 
Flintshire  on  the  other,  and  heaped  up  a  terminal  moraine  on  the 
outer  flanks  of  the  North  Welsh  mountains.  This  great  moraine, 
filled  with  far-traveled  northern  erratics,  is  heaped  up  in  hum- 
mocks and  irregular  ridges,  and  is  in  many  places  as  characteris- 
tically developed  as  anywhere  in  America.  It  has  none  of  the 
characters  of  a  sea-beach,  although  often  containing  broken  shells 
brought  from  the  Irish  sea.  It  may  be  followed  from  the  extreme 
end  of  the  Lleyn  peninsula  (where  it  is  full  of  Scotch  granite 
erratics)  in  a  north-easterly  direction  through  Carnarvonshire  past 
Moel  Tryfan  and  along  the  foot  of  the  mountains  east  of  Menai 
strait  to  Bangor,  where  it  goes  out  to  sea,  reappearing  further  east 
at  Conway  and  Colwyn.  It  turns  south-eastward  at  Denbigshire, 
going  p^3t  St.  Asaph  and  Halkin  mountain.    In  Flintshire  it 


Digitized  by 


Google 


922  Comparative  Studies  upon  the  G lactation  of    [November, 

turns  southward  and  is  magnificently  developed  on  the  eastern 
side  of  the  mountains,  at  an  elevation  of  over  looo  feet  between 
Minera  and  Llangollen,  south-west  of  which  place  it  enters  Eng- 
land. There  is  evidence  that  where  the  ice-sheet  abutted  against 
Wales  it  was  about  1350  feet  in  thickness.  This  is  analogous  to  the 
thickness  of  the  ice-sheet  in  Pennsylvania,  where  the  author  had 
previously  shown  that  it  was  about  lOOO  feet  in  thickness  at  its 
extreme  edge  and  2000  feet  thick  at  points  some  eight  miles  back 
from  its  edge.  The  transport  of  erratics  coincides  with  the  direc- 
tion of  striae  in  Wales  as  elsewhere,  and  is  at  right  angles  to  the 
terminal  moraines. 

The  complicated  phenomena  of  the  glaciation  of  England,  the 
subject  of  a  voluminous  literature  and  discordant  views,  had  been 
of  high  interest  to  the  author,  and  had  led  him  to  redouble  his 
efforts  toward  its  solution.  He  had  found  that  it  was  possible 
to  accurately  map  the  glaciated  areas,  to  separate  the  deposits 
made  by  land  ice  from  those  due  to  icebergs  or  to  torrential 
rivers,  and  to  trace  out  a  series  of  terminal  moraines,  both  at  the 
edge  of  the  ice-sheet  and  at  the  edge  of  its  confluent  lobes.  Per- 
haps the  finest  exhibition  of  a  terminal  moraine  in  England  is  in 
the  vicinity  of  Ellesmere,  in  Shropshire.  A  great  mass  of  drift 
several  miles  in  width  and  full  of  erratics  from  Scotland  and 
from  Wales,  is  here  heaped  into  conical  hills  which  enclose 
"kettle  holes"  and  lakes,  and  have  all  the . characters  of  the 
"  kettle  moraines "  of  Wisconsin,  Like  the  latter,  the  Elles- 
mere moraine  here  divides  two  great  lobes  of  ice,  one  coming 
from  Scotland  the  other  from  Wales.  This  moraine  may  be 
traced  continuously  from  Ellesmere  eastward  through  Hadeley, 
Macclesfield,  to  and  along  the  western  (lank  of  the  Pennine  chain, 
marking  throughout  the  southern  edge  of  the  ice-sheet  of  North- 
ern England.  From  Macclesfield  the  same  moraine  was  traced 
northward  past  Stockport  and  Staley  bridge  to  Burnley  and 
thence  to  Skipton  in  Yorkshire.  Northeast  of  Burnley  it  is 
banked  against  the  Boulsworth  hills  up  to  a  height  ol  1300  feet 
in  the  form  of  mounds  and  hummocks.  South  and  east  of  this 
long  moraine  no  signs  of  glaciation  were  discovered,  while  north 
and  west  of  it  there  is  every  evidence  of  a  continuous  ice-sheet 
covering  land  and  sea  alike.  The  striae  and  the  transport  of 
boulders  agree  in  proving  a  southerly  and  south-easterly  (Jirec- 
tion  of  ice-movement  in  Lancashire  and  Cheshire. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


1 886.]         'North  America^  Great  Britain  and  Ireland,  923 

From  Skipton  northward  the  phenomena  are  more  complicated. 
A  tongue  of  ice  surmounted  the  watershed  near  Skipton  and 
protruded  down  the  valley  of  the  Aire  as  far  as  Bingley,  where 
its  terminal  moraine  is  thrown  across  the  valley  like  a  great  dam, 
reminding  one  of  similar  moraine  dams  in  several  Pennsylvania 
valleys.    A  continuous  moraine  was   traced  around  this  Aire 
glacier.    Another  great  glacier,  much  larger  than  this,  descended 
Wensleydale  and  reached  the  plain  of  York.    The  most  complex 
glacial  movements  in  England  occurred  in  the  mountain  region 
about  the  Nine  Standards,  where  local  glaciers  met  and  were 
overpowered  by  the  greater  ice-sheet  coming  down  from  Cumber- 
land.   The  ice-sheet  itself  was  here  divided,  one  portion  going 
southward,  the  other,  in  company  with  local  glaciers  and  laden 
with  the  well-known  boulders  of  the  "  Shap  granite,"  being  forced 
eastward  across  Stainmoor  forest  into  Durham  and  Yorkshire, 
finally  reaching  the  North  sea  at  the  mouth  of  the  Tees.    The 
terminal  moraine  runs  eastward  through  Kirby  Ravensworth  to- 
ward Whitby,  keeping  north  of  the  Cleveland  hills,  and  all  East- 
ern England  and  south  of  Whitby  appears  to  be  non-glaciated. 
On  the  other  hand  all  England  north  of  Stainmoor  forest  and  the 
river  Tees,  except  the  very  highest  points,  was  smothered  in  a 
sea  of  solid  ice. 

There  is  abundant  evidence  to  prove  that  the  ice-lobe  filling 
the  Irish  sea  was  thicker  towards  its  axis  than  at  its  edges, 
and  at  the  north  than  at  its  southern  terminus,  and  that  it 
was  reinforced  by  smaller  tributary  ice-streams  from  both 
England  and  Ireland.  It  may  be  compared  with  the  glacier  of 
the  Hudson  River  valley  in  New  York,  each  having  a  maximum 
thickness  of  something  more  than  3000  feet.  The  erosive  power 
of  the  ice-sheet  was  found  to  be  extremely  slight  at  its  edge  but 
more  powerful  farther  north,  where  its  action  was  continued  for  a 
longer  period.  Towards  its  edge  its  function  was  to  fill  up  ine- 
qualities rather  than  to  level  them  down.  It  was  held  that  most 
glacial  lakes  are  due  to  an  irregular  dumping  of  drift  rather  than 
to'any  scooping  action.  Observations  in  England  and  Switzer- 
land coinciding  with  those  in  America  to  confirm  this  conclusion. 
Numerous  facts  on  both  sides  of  the  Atlantic  indicate  that  the 
upper  portion  of  the  ice-sheet  may  move  in  a  different  direction 
from  its  lower  portion.  It  was  also  shown  that  a  glacier  in  its 
advance  had  the  power  of  raising  stones  from  the  bottom  to  the 


Digitized  by 


Google 


924       Comparative  Studies  upon  the  Glaciation,  etc.    [November, 

top  of  the  ice,  a  fact  due  to  the  retardation  by  friction  of  its 
lower  layers.  The  author  had  observed  the  gradual  upward  pas- 
sage of  sand  and  stones  in  the  Grindenwald  glacier,  and  applied 
the  same  explanation  to  the  broken  shells  and  flint  raised  from 
the  bed  of  the  Irish  sea  to  the  top  of  Moel  Tryfan,  to  Maccles- 
field and  to  Dublin  mountains. 

The  occurrence  of  stratified  deposits  in  connection  with  un- 
doubted moraines  was  shown  to  be  a  common  phenomenon,  and 
instances  of  stratified  moraines  in  Switzerland,  Italy,  America  and 
Wales  were  given.  The  stratification  is  due  to  waters  derived 
from  the  melting  ice,  and  is  not  proof  of  submergence. 

It  was  held  that,  notwithstanding  a  general  opinion  to  the  con- 
trary, there  is  no  evidence  in  Great  Britain  of  any  marine  sub- 
mergence greater  than  about  450  feet.  It  was  expected  that  an 
ice-sheet  advancing  across  a  sea  should  deposit  shell  fragments 
in  its  terminal  moraine. 

The  broad  principle  was  enunciated  that  wherever  in  Great 
Britain  marine  shells  occur  in  glacial  deposits  at  high  levels,  it 
can  be  proved  both  by  striae  and  the  transport  of  erratics  that  the 
ice  advanced  on  to  the  land  from  out  of  the  sea.  The  shells  on 
Three  Rock  mountain,  near  Dublin,  and  in  North  Wales  and 
Macclesfield,  all  from  the  Irish  sea,  the  shells  in  Cumberland 
transported  from  Solway  Firth,  those  on  the  coast  of  Northum- 
berland brought  out  of  the  North  sea,  those  at  Airdree,  in  Scot- 
land, carried  eastward  from  the  bottom  of  the  Clyde,  and  those 
in  Caithness  from  Moray  firth,  were  among  examples  adduced  in 
proof  of  this  principle.  The  improbability  of  a  great  submer- 
gence not  leaving  corresponding  deposits  in  other  parts  of  Eng- 
land was  dwelt  upon. 

It  was  also  held  that  there  was  insufficient  evidence  of  more 
than  one  advance  in  the  ice-sheet,  although  halts  occurred  in  its 
retreat.  The  idea  of  successive  elevations  and  submergence  with 
advances  and  retreats  of  the  ice  was  disputed,  and  the  author 
held  that  much  of  the  supposed  interglacial  drift  was  due  to  sub- 
glacial  water  from  the  melting  ice. 

The  last  portion  of  the  paper  discussed  the  distribution  of 
boulders,  gravels  and  clays  south  of  the  glacial  area.  Much  the 
greater  part  of  England  was  believed  to  have  been  uncovered  by 
land  ice.  The  drift  deposits  in  this  area  were  shown  to  be  the 
result  in  part  of  marine  currents  bearing  icebergs  during  a  sub- 


Digitized  by 


Google 


i8S6.]  Peculiarities  of  the  Local  Drift  of  the  Rocky  Mountains,  925 

mergence  of  some  450  feet.  The  supposed  glacial  drift  about 
Birmingham  and  the  concentration  of  boulders  at  Wolverhamp- 
ton were  regarded  as  due  to  the  former  agent,  while  the  deposits 
at  Cromer  and  the  distribution  of  Lincolnshire  chalk  across 
Southern  England  was  due  to  the  latter.  The  supposed  esker  at 
Hunstanton  was  held  to  be  simply  a  sea-beach,  and  the  London 
drift  deposits  to  be  of  aqueous  origin.  Thus  the  rival  theories 
of  floating  icebergs  and  of  land  glaciers  were  both  true,  the  one 
for  Middle  and  Southern  England,  the  other  for  Scotland,  Wales 
and  the  north  of  England  ;  and  the  line  of  demarkation  was  fixed 
by  great  terminal  moraines. 

The  paper  closed  with  an  acknowledgment  of  indebtedness  to 
the  many  geologists  of  England  and  Ireland  who  had  uniformly 
rendered  most  generous  assistance  during  the  above  investi- 
gation. 

SOME  PECULIARITIES  OF  THE  LOCAL  DRIFT  OF 
TH£  ROCKY  MOUNTAINS.^ 

BY  DR.  THEO.  B.  COMSTOCK. 

ALL  authorities  upon  the  subject  of  the  glacial  deposits  of  the 
Rocky  Mountain  region  agree  in  describing  them  as  local  or 
much  restricted  in  extent.  Some  writers  dismiss  the  matter  with 
this  remark,  leaving  it  to  be  inferred  that  in  other  respects  the 
cliaracter  of  the  drift  is  quite  similar  to  the  well-known  debris  of 
the  Eastern  United  States.  Others  have  been  more  explicit  and 
have  shown  how  special  conditions  of  topography  have  affected 
the  accumulations  in  certain  localities.  In  all  cases  where  the 
details  have  been  given  the  evidence  is  strong  of  excessive  ero- 
sion, but  almost  invariably  the  transportative  eflTects  have  been 
remarkably  slight.  As  a  natural  result  we  meet  with  much  vari- 
ety in  the  gulches  and  gorges  which  can  be  traced  to  such  an 
origin,  while  the  diluvium  of  the  subsequent  melting  period  is 
made  up  of  homogeneous  materials  in  each  instance,  but  wholly 
of  local  detritus.  This  gives  to  many  of  the  unmodified  morainal 
deposits  a  resemblance  to  alluvium  which  is  quite  striking.-  On 
the  other  hand,  in  some  places  (as  notably  near  the  head  of  Wind 
river,  Wyoming)  iceberg  deposits  are  well  simulated  by  the  col- 
lections of  boulders  which  have  evidently  rolled  down  the  steep 

1  Paper  read  befure  the  A.  A.  A.  S.,  Section  £,  Buffalo,  1886. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


926  Some  Peculiarities  of  the  Local  Drifts  etc.     [November. 

slopes  left  in  side-gulcl\es  by  the  retreat  of  the  diminutive  glacien. 
Existing  glaciers  in  the  Wind  River  mountains  and  in  the  San 
Juan  mountains  (S.  W.  Colorado),  enable  us  to  witness  the  actual 
production  of  some  of  these  peculiar  effects  and  to  understand  more 
clearly  how  defragatiot^  has  played  a  very  important  part  in  the 
rough  chiseling  of  mountain  features  in  the  far  West 

The  general  southward  trend  of  the  glacier-cut  canons  is  very 
marked,  although  numerous  side-gulches  follow  more  or  less 
transverse  courses.  In  Northern  Wyoming,  at  the  close  of  the 
Glacial  Period,  the  old  Tertiary  lake  basins  were  still  in  condition 
to  receive  and  assort  the  material  deposited  by  the  melting  ice, 
and  the  greater  part  of  the  drainage  was  easy;  but  in  some 
cases  in  the  interior  of  the  mountain  masses  to  the  northward, 
narrow,  elongated  basins  were  ploughed  out  below  the  general 
drainage,  although  very  few  of  these  now  exist  in  which  an  out- 
let has  not  since  been  made.  In  the  heart  of  the  Wind  River 
mountains  a  remarkable  structure  of  this  kind  is  to  be  seen 
nearly  opposite  old  Camp  Brown,  at  the  head  of  the  North 
fork  of  the  Popo-agie  river,  near  the  base  of  Fremont's  peak. 
Here  two  of  these  deep,  narrow  canons  run  parallelwise  for 
several  miles,  with  small  glaciers  still  acting  upon,  their  shaded 
sides,  the  drainage  from  one  being  to  the  Missouri  tributaries, 
the  other  feeding  affluents  of  the  Colorado  drainage.  In  South- 
ern Colorado  somewhat  similar  features  are  apparent,  but  the 
excessive  folding  and  faulting  of  the  strata  have  very  much  com- 
plicated matters,  so  that  the  results  are  rather  unique.  The  same 
type,  modified  by  lithological  and  structural  conditions,  may  be 
observed  in  the  Gunnison  region  and  about  the  sources  of  the 
Snake  and  Yellowstone  rivers  in  Wyoming,  but  the  special  San 
Juan  features  are  not  repeated  exactly  in  any  other  district  so  far 
as  my  observation  goes.  The  distinctive  peculiarity  lies  in  the 
duplex  character  of  the  erosion ;  that  is  to  say,  there  are  two 
zones  of  glaciation  vertically,  the  upper  largely  representing  the 
transportative  action,  the  lower  being  eroded  without  removal  of 
the  debris  to  any  great  extent.  The  imperfect  drainage  had  fas- 
tened the  ice-sheet  so  that  it  could  move  as  a  unit  only  in  the 
superficial  portion,  while  the  lower  part  acted  like  a  slowly  work- 

1 1  propose  this  term  to  express  the  breaking  or  tearing  down  of  mx««es  of  rock 
from  the  walls  of  gorges,  as  distinguished  irom  the  ordinary  abrading  or  grinding 
action  of  the  glacier. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


1 886.]  Tlie  Mammary  Gland  of  tlu  Elephant.  927 

ing  plough,  which  cut  deeply  but  not  so  extensively  as  the  over- 
riding mass.  In  the  more  elevated  tracts,  therefore,  the  lower 
portion  often  lay  in  grooves  like  culs-de-sac,  and  many  of  these 
exist  to-day,  connected  with  the  main  channels  often  by  reversed 
or  indirect  drainage.  The  lower  limit  of  exportation,  which  de- 
fines the  line  of  junction  of  the  two  layers,  follows  nearly  the 
contour  of  11,000  feet  above  sea-level  (varying  from  io,5Co  feet 
to  1 1,500  feet).  The  side-gulches,  except  where  eroded  by  more 
recent  aqueous  action,  commonly  join  the  main  canons  on  this 
grade.  The  "timber-line"  is  fairly  continuous  with  these  de- 
bouchures, and  I  am  satisfied  that  this  feature  has  been  largely 
instrumental  in  determining  that  sharp  line  of  demarkation.  Un- 
doubtedly the  melting  of  the  ice  in  the  caiions  left  many  side- 
glaciers  discharging  by  "  ice-falls  "  over  the  walls  for  a  long  time 
afterwards,  the  vegetation  growing  up  to  this  limit,  because  the 
land-locked  canons  were  for  a  period  filled  with  water  which 
arranged  more  or  less  of  soil  along  the  sides  of  the  channels. 
This  fact  is  clearly  proven  by  the  occurrence  of  terraces,  in  such 
lacustrine  material,  up  to  a  height  of  1000  feet  above  the  present 
stream  beds  in  places.  The  positions  of  scattered  boulders  in 
the  canons,  and  of  those  imbedded  in  the  deposits  along  the 
walls  afford  further  evidence  of  the  local  transportation  of  mate- 
rial by  floating  masses  of  ice,  which  dropped  their  burdens  upon 
melting. 

The  drift  of  the  Rocky  mountains  thus  possesses  peculiar  in- 
terest, corroborating  the  notion  of  its  intimate  relation  to  the 
glacial  deposits  of  the  east,  and  yet  exhibiting  a  variety  in  detail 
which  may  aid  materially  in  unraveling  obscure  points  in  the  his- 
tory of  other  areas  with  weak  development  of  the  same  condi- 
tions. The  local  character  of  the  effects  has  prevented  many 
from  appreciating  the  really  gigantic  erosion  and  deposition 
which  have  taken  place. 

:o: 

THE  MAMMARY  GLAND  OF  THE  ELEPHANT. 

BY  SPENCER  TROTTER,  M.D. 

IN  studying  any  particular  animal  form  we  are  wont  to  refer 
to  some  other  well-known  type  as  a  basis  for  comparison,  and 
in  this  way  gain  an  idea  of  the  animal's  place  in  life,  its  relations 
to  the  environment  and  to  the  other  beings  among  which  it  lives. 
As  our  studies  extend  and  we  become  nK>re  widely  acquainted  with 


Digitized  by 


Google 


928  Tlte  Mammary  Gland  of  the  Elephant     [November. 

the  many  diverse  forms,  we  quickly  note  any  departure  on  the 
part  of  an  organ  from  its  usual  form  or  position,  and  are  thus  led 
directly  to  enquire  into  the  cause  or  causes  which  brought  about 
the  change.  In  those  mammals  whose  habit  it  is  to  suckle  their 
young  standing,  namely,  the  tJngulata,  any  one  who  has  given 
the  least  thought  to  the  subject  is  aware  that  their  mammary 
glands  are  situated  at  the  posterior  part  of  the  ventral  line,  /.  e^ 
in  the  inguinal  region,  or  groin.  A  striking  exception  to  this  is 
seen  in  the  elephant,  where  these  glands  are  located  anteriorly,  in 
the  pectoro-axillary  spaces. 

The  elephant  holds  a  unique  position  in  nature,  representing 
the  last  of  a  long  ancestral  line  which  attained  its  maximum 
development  in  the  Tertiarj'.  Its  immediate  progenitor  most 
likely  occupied  the  southern  range,  thus  escaping  extinction  in 
the  drift  and  glacial  epochs,  and  carrying  down  to  present  times 
this  highly  interesting  and  peculiar  form.  With  no  relati\'es 
extant,  the  elephant  forms  a  separate  and  distinct  order,  the  Pro- 
boscidia,  but  curiously  enough  possessing  characters  which  ally 
it  with  the  widely  different  Rodentia ;  it  is  herbivorous,  and  in 
general  habit  and  mode  of  life  is  an  ungulate,  in  a  portion  of 
which  order  it  was  usually  assigned  a  place  jn  the  older  nomen- 
clature. 

It  is  as  an  ungulate  or  "  hoofed  animal,"  therefore,  that  the 
elephant  interests  us,  and  from  the  fact  that  like  all  the  species  of 
that  order  the  female  is  in  the  habit  of  suckling  her  young  in  the 
standing  posture  we  are  led  to  ask  ourselves  the  reason  for  the 
striking  exception  in  the  position  of  the  mammary  glands.  It 
will  be  understood  that  I  refer  to  animals  which  give  birth  as  a 
rule  to  one,  or  at  most  two  offspring  at  a  time,  and  which  conse- 
quently have  the  minimum  number  of  glands,  not  to  those  which 
**  litter  "  like  the  hog  family  and  present  a  series  of  glands  run- 
ning along  each  side  of  the  belly  line. 

In  dealing  with  a  subject  of  this  nature  we  enter  one  of  those 
broad  fields  of  philosophic  science  whose  farther  boundary,  if 
indeed  it  have  any,  lies  far  below  our  mental  horizon.  The  rock- 
imbedded  bone  of  the  palaeontologist,  whic6  elsewhere  bears 
such  useful  testimony,  is  comparatively  of  little  value,  and  even 
the  profounder  facts  of  embryology  fail  to  tell  us  why  such 
striking  differences  occur,  and  what  brought  them  about.  It  is  a 
subject  involving  the  underlying  principles  of  tissue  metamor- 


Digitized  by 


Google 


1 886.3  The  Mammary  Gland  of  the  Elephant  929 

phosis  and  nutrition  in  their  broadest    sense;   a   study   vague 
enough  in  the  present,  but  rendered  far  more  so  by  the  lapse  of 
time.     Action  and  reaction  between  organism  and  environment ; 
the  demands  of  increasing  functional  activity  upon  plastic  tissue, 
and  the  effects  of  use  and  disuse^  these  are  the  fundamental  prin- 
ciples involved,  and  we  can  only  surmise  at  the  primitive  condi- 
tion of  affairs  from  the  few  tangible  points  presented  to  us.     By 
attention  to  the  following  facts  we  may  be  able  to  gain  a  few  ideas 
which  will  possibly  throw  some  light  upon  the  subject.     At  the 
anterior  end  of  the  great  arterial  trunk  {aorta)  two  branches  arise 
{sjibclainan)  which  proceed  to  the  fore  limbs.     These,  in  turn, 
give  off  each  a  branch  {internal  mammary)  which  passes  down- 
ward and  backward  along  the  anterior  thoracic  wall.    At  the  pos- 
terior end  of  this  great  trunk  two  other  branches  arise  {iliac), 
proceeding  to  the  hind  limbs,  these  also  giving  off  each  an  artery 
{^superficial  epigastric)  which  runs  forward  in  the  abdominal  wall 
to  anastomose  with  the  terminal  branches  of  the  internal  mam- 
mary, thus  forming  an  arc  on  each  side  of  the  ventral  median 
line  from  neck  to  groin.     This  we  will  call  the  mammary  arc. 
N6w  it  is  evident  that  in  those  mammals  whose  glands  are  situ- 
ated solely  in  the  pectoral  region,  as  in  Primates,  Chiroptera,  ele- 
phant, etc.,  the  internal  mammary  artery  is  the  main  supply  of 
the  gland  ;  while  in  those  in  which  the  structure  is  inguinal,  as  in 
the  horse,  deer,  etc.,  the  superficial  epigastric  is  the  main  blood 
feeder. 

Again,  when  the  glands  are  situated  in  a  row  along  the  under 
surface  of  the  body,  as  in  Carnivora,  Suidae,  etc.,  the  entire  arc 
of  blood- vessels  comes  into  play  as  a  source  of  supply.  We 
have  every  reason  to  believe  that  this  latter  state  of  affairs  was 
the  original  arrangement  of  the  parts,  as  the  lowest  and  most 
ancient  forms  now  extant  present  this  same  condition  correlated 
with  plurality  of  young  at  a  birth,  which  is  also  undoubtedly  a 
primitive  condition.  As  specialization  proceeded  a  reduction  in 
the  number  of  young  at  a  birth  followed,  and  consequently  fewer 
glands  were  used ;  those  only  which  were  the  most  convenient 
to  the  young  animal,  while  the  rest  atrophied  and  finally  disap- 
peared from  'want  of  use.  Whether  the  prototype  of  the  Pro- 
boscidians was  large  or  small,  whether  it  produced  a  number  of 
young  at  a  single  birth,  and  consequently  possessed  a  series  of 
glands  running  along  the  belly,  or  what  its  habits  were  we  cannot 


Digitized  by 


Google 


930  Tlie  Mammary  Gland  of  the  Elephant.     [November, 

say ;  but  the  possibility  of  such  a  condition  having  existed  an 
ho  more  be  denied  than  it  can  be  proved,  and  we  have  good  rea- 
sons in  believing  such  to  have  been  the  case.  We  know  the 
rodents  to  be  a  very  ancient  group,  and  if  the  ancestor  of  the 
Proboscidian  was  allied  to  them  in  any  way  it,  in  all  probability, 
presented  many  points  of  affinity  in  structure  and  habits. 

If  we  take  the  foregoing  in  a  hypothetical  sense,  supposing  the 
ancestral  form  to  have  given  birth  to  a  number  of  young  at  one 
time,  and  to  have  possessed  a  corresponding  number  of  glaa(k 
we  have  yet  to  answer  the  question :  Why  should  the  elephant, 
after  specialization  and  reduction,  present  pectoral  instead  of  in- 
guinal glands  ? 

The  hog  family,  Siiidae,  while  not  a  primitive  form  of  ungulate, 
still  retain  many  ancestral  characters,  among  them  plurality  of 
young  and  gland  structure,  and  we  have  every  reason  to  believe 
that  the  entire  order  sprang  from  a  similarly  low  form ;  yet  they 
all,  after  specialization  and  reduction,  present  inguinal  glands. 

There  may  have  been  many  causes  which  will  never  occur  to 
us  why  the  young  Proboscidian  should  use  the  anterior  pair  of 
glands ;  but  two  of  them  have  occurred  to  me  as  a  feasible,  if  not 
in  our  present  state  of  knowledge,  a  satisfactory  explanation. 

Any  one  whose  eye  is  accustomed  to  take  in  the  animal  fonn 
will  have  noticed  that  in  the  majority  of  hoofed  animals  the  belly 
line  slopes  upward  and  backward  ;  take  the  horse,  deer,  ox, 
camel,  or  any  of  the  large  herbivores  for  example.  Now  the 
reverse  is  true  of  the  elephant,  the  belly  line  sloping  downward 
and  backward,  this  being  in  part  due  to  the  large  pendulous  geni- 
tals in  the  female,  and  in  part  to  the  tremendous  abdominal  viscen 
bagging  down  and  occupying  a  rather  short  space  lengthwise  in 
proportion  to  the  animal's  general  build.  The  young  elephant 
sucking  as  it  does  with  its  mouth,  and  possessing  a  short  and 
comparatively  immobile  neck,  would  find  it  very  inconvenient  if 
the  glands  were  situated  in  the  inguinal  region  with  the  massive 
knees  of  the  mother  in  the  way ;  and  this  difficulty  would  be  still 
more  increased  as  the  young  animal  grew.  As  it  is,  the  nipple 
projects  horizontally  from  the  pectoral  region,  th^  most  conve- 
nient point,  with  nothing  to  interfere ;  and  as  the  early  prototy-pe 
became  more  and  more  specialized,  the  fewer,  and  finally  the  sin- 
gle offspring  resulting  used  this  most  convenient  gland  to  the 
exclusion  of  the  others,  which  have  disappeared  from  want  of 


Digitized  by 


Google 


1 886.]       Is  Littorina  litorea  Introduced  or  Indigenous  ?  93 1 

use  in  the  long  lapse  of  time  before  the  Proboscidian  became 
such. 

Very  different  is  the  case  with  the  arched,  cleanly-cut  inguinal 
space  of  the  female  ungulate,  and  its  long,  flexible-necked  off- 
spring, where  the  mammary  gland  is  carried  so  easily  by  the 
mother,  and  is  so  accessible  to  the  young.  Here  the  anterior 
glands  are  the  ones  that  have  been  discarded. 

These  are  mere  speculations,  for  what  can  we  do  with  such  a 
subject?  Surely  not  discard  it  altogether!  Far  better  attempt 
even  in  the  roughest  way  to  interpret  with  what  little  light  we 
have  from  the  past,  and  fall  wide  the  mark  in  our  conclusions, 
than  to  pass  unnoticed  one  fragment  in  the  great  history  of  life. 


-;o:- 


IS  LITTORINA  LITOREA  INTRODUCED  OR  INDIG- 

GENOUS  ? 

BY  W.  F.  GANONG. 

IT  is  now  nearly  thirty  years  since  LUforina  litorea  (Linn.),  the 
English  periwinkle,  was  first  reported  from  American  waters, 
but  the  question  as  to  whether  it  has  been  recently  introduced  or 
was  an  original  inhabitant  of  our  shores  is  still  unsettled.  This 
moUusk,  though  not  known  by  naturalists  to  occur  upon  the 
coast  of  Acadia  and  New  England  previous  to  its  discovery  at 
Halifax  in  1857  by  John  Willis,  is  at  present  very  abundant  from 
the  Gulf  of  St.  Lawrence  to  Connecticut. 

Professor  Verrill  (Amer.  Jour.  Sci.,  iii,  iv,  p.  133,  1874)  says  of 
it :  •*  It  has  been  supposed  by  several  writers  that  this  shell  (£. 
litorea)  has  been  recently  and  accidentally  introduced  from  Eu- 
rope; but  Dr.  Dawson  informs  me  that  he  collected  it  more  than 
thirty  years  ago  in  the  Gulf  of  St.  Lawrence.  It  is  abundant  at 
Halifax,  and  we  have  other  specimens  from  Kennebunkport,  Me., 
Hampton  Beach,  N.  H.,  and  Provincctown,  Mass.  There  is 
really  no  sufficient  evidence  that  it  was  not  an  inhabitant  of  our 
shores  before  the  advent  of  Europeans,  but  local  in  its  habitats. 
It  may  have  become  more  diffused  in  recent  times  by  commerce, 
or  it  may  have  been  overlooked  formerly  by  collectors." 

The  causes  determining  the  geographical  distribution  of  ani- 
mal and  plant  life  are  a  subject  of  the  greatest  importance  to  nat- 
uralists, and  any  contribution  to  it  has  its  value.    So  peculiar  and 


Digitized  by 


Google 


933      Is  Uttarina  litorea  Introduced  or  Indigenous  t     [November, 

interesting  are  the  known  facts  in  regard  to  the  distribution  and 
spread  in  America  of  the  shell  we  are  considering,  that  an  ia- 
quiry  into  the  nature  of  these  facts,  and  a  search  for  an  explana- 
tion for  them  becomes  a  matter  of  more  than  special  importance. 
The  value  of  the  settlement. of  the  question  as  to  whether  Liit^ 
rina  litorea  has  been  introduced  in  recent  times  or  is  a  native  of 
America,  is  not  limited  to  the  settlement  of  this  &ct  only.  It  has 
a  broader  value  as  well,  inasmuch  as  it  has  a  bearing  upon  the 
science  of  the  distribution  of  animals. 

It  must  be  remembered  that  no  species  of  animal  or  plant  can, 
in  the  strict  sense  of  the  word,  be  indigenous  to  both  Hurope  and 
America.  If  such  were  the  case  it  would  be  necessary  to  sup- 
pose '  that  the  two  independent  lines  of  descent,  either  from  a 
common  near  or  remote  ancestor,  culminating  in  the  species,  had 
followed  precisely  identical  courses  of  development  The  latter 
would  require  precisely  identical  conditions  of  environment — and 
such  we  know  would  not  exist  upon  two  separate  continents. 
Hence  a  shell  which  is  common  to  two  continents  must  in  some 
way  have  been  introduced  from  one  to  another.  It  may  be  intro- 
duced by  the  agency  of  man,  or  by  purely  natural  and  physical 
causes,  such  as  ocean  currents,  etc.  For  want  of  a  better  terra 
t  he  word  indigenous  has  been  used  in  the  present  paper  to  aj^Iy 
to  a  species  introduced  in  past  time  by  ira/2^a/ agencies  and  now 
thoroughly  established  as  a  resident. 

Such  a  species  is  our  so-called  "  native  periwinkle/'  Ultorina 
palliata  (Say).  It  is  common  to  Europe,  Greenland  and  Ameria, 
and  has  existed  for  a  long  time  in  all  three  countries,  being  found 
fossil  in  the  Post-pliocene  of  all  of  them.  It  will  be  presently 
shown  that  this  shell  was  probably  introduced  from  the  continent 
in  which  it  originated  to  the  other  by  way  of  Greenland  and  Ice- 
land, and  by  strictly  natural  agencies.  We  therefore  speak  of  it 
as  indigenous  to  America,  though  whether  its  descent  from  its 
parent  species  took  place  here  or  in  Europe  we  are  unable  to  say. 
But  we  hope  to  be  able  to  show  that  Littorina  litorea  did  not  exist 
in  America  until  introduced  from  Europe  by  man,  and  that  since 
the  beginning  of  the  present  century.   ' 

Mr.  John  Willis,  who  was  the  first  to  announce  its  discovery  in 
America  (Trans.  Nova  Scotia  Inst.  Nat.  Sci.,  Vol.  i),  found  it  at 
Halifax  in  1857.  He  considered  it  to  be  indigenous  to  Nova 
Scotia  chiefly  for  the  reason  that  "  some  of  the  oldest  inhabitants 


Digitized  by 


Google 


1 886.]       Is  Uttorina  Htorea  Introduced  or  Indigenous  ?  933 

have  assured  me  that  they  have  *  often  picked  the  periwinkle,  the 
same  as  the  English  one/  on  the  shores  contiguous  to  Halifax 
when  they  were  only  school-boys." 

The  only  other  evidence  that  has  been  found  to  show  that  the 
shell  was  known  in  Nova  Scotia,  previous  to  1857,  comes  in  a 
private  letter  to  the  writer  from  Mr.  E.  Gilpin,  pf  Halifax.  He 
says :  "  Historical  evidence  in  the  shape  of  old  English  settlers 
shows  it  to  have  been  known  in  the  province  as  far  back  as  1800." 

How  much  reliance  can  be  placed  upon  the  unscientific  evi- 
dence of  old  settlers  is  a  question ;  but  granting  that  they  did 
not  confound  it  with  the  native  form,  and  that  they  actually  saw 
it  previous  to  1857,  nothing  more  is  proved  than  that  the  shell 
existed  in  Nova  Scotia  some  years  before  Willis  found  it.  Simi- 
larly it  may  be  said  of  the  fact  that  Dr.  Dawson  "  collected  it 
more  than  thirty  years  ago  in  the  Gulf  of  St.  Lawrence,"  that  it 
proves  (if  granted)  only  that  thejshell  was  to  be  found  there  ear- 
lier than  any  published  record  shows.  Or  it  may  be  that,  if  intro- 
duced, it  was  introduced  at  more  than  one  point. 

It  is  somewhat  remarkable,  however,  that,  as  will  be  shown 
farther  on.  no  other  collector  found  this  conspicuous  shell  in  the 
gulf  until  after  1870,  although  Dr.  Dawson  must  have  found  it  at 
least  as  early  as  1844.  We  know  that  it  increases  with  great 
rapidity  wherever  introduced.  Why  then,  if  it  existed  there,  did 
it  not  increase  sufficiently  to  enable  some  other  collector  to  find 
it  ?  None  of  the  lists  of  Bell,  Whiteaves  or  Dr.  Dawson  him- 
self mention  it  until  after  1870.  It  is  to  be  regretted  that  we 
have  not  some  record  of  Dr.  Dawson's  discovery  of  the  shell  so 
far  back,  besides  the  note  by  Professor  Verrill  who  doubtless 
writes  from  memory. 

If  this  shell  be  indigenous  to  our  shores,  it  must  have  been 
confined,  previous  to  say  1850,  exclusively  to  the  Nova  Scotia 
coast.  That  this  must  be  so  is  shown  as  well  by  other  facts  as 
by  the  many  lists  we  have  of  New  England  and  Gulf  of  St.  Law- 
rence shells,  all  of  which  mention  the  native  periwinkles,  L,  pal- 
liata,  L.  rudis}  L,  tenebrosa}  while  Z.  litorea  never  appears.  That 
the  latter  could  have  been  present  but  "  overlooked  by  collectors  " 
is  altogether  out  of  the  question.  It  is  a  much  larger  and  more 
conspicuous  shell  than  the  native  forms,  has  the  same  habitats, 
and  wherever  it  occurs  at  all  occurs  abundantly. 

^  For  convenience  we  will  consider  these  two  to  be  distinct  species,  although  they 
are  probably  varieties  of  the  same  species. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


934      Js  Utiorina  litorea  Introduced  or  Indigenous  f    [November, 

Among  the  many  lists  of  New  England  shells  which  might  be 
named,  the  following  have  been  selected  : 

Gould's '<  Invertebrata  of  Mass./'  1st  ed.  (1841),  mentions  Z.  paiUaia^  mdh  tad 

ienebrosa  but  not  litorea, 
Mighers  list  of  the  shells  of  Maine^  (1843)  mentions  L.palliata^  rudis  and  iat- 

brosa  as  occurring  "  in  the  greatest  profusion/'  but  L,  litorea  is  not  in  the  list 
Reed's  '<  CaUlogue  of  the  Shells  of  Mass."<  (1845)  mentions  the  same  three  bntsot 

litorea, 
Russell's  *'  Retrospect  of  some  of  the  Shells  found  in  Essex  county,  Mass."*  (1S51), 

mentions  the  same  three  but  not  litorea. 
Tuft's  "  List  of  Shells  collected  at  Swampscott  Lynn  and  vicinity"  (iSSj")  menticas 

the  same  three  as  abundant,  but  not  litorea, 
Stimpson's  "  List  of  the  marine  Invertebrates  of  Grand  Manan  "  (1854)  mentidGS 

L.  palliata  (=  L,  littoralis)  an()  L.  rudis,  but  not  Z.  litorea. 
Tuft's  "Catalogue  of  Shells  in  the  State  cabinet  [of  Mass.]"  (1859)  mentions  the 

same  three  but  not  litorea. 

Nor  has  it  been  reported  until  quite  recently  from  the  Gulf  of 
St  Lawrence. 

Dr.  Dawson's  *<  A  week  in  Gasp6  *'«  (1858)  mentions  Z.  rudis  and  /Z.  palUata^  bst 

not  Z.  litorea.    If  Dr.  Dawson  found  it  in  the  Gulf  of  Lawrence  **  thirty  y»is 

ago/'  it  must  have  been  at  some  other  point. 
Robert  Bell's  <*  List  of  the  Mollusca  of  Eastern  Canada"^  (1859}  mentions  L,p^' 

liata  only. 
J.  F.  Whitcavcs'  "  On  the  marine  Mollusca  of  Eastern  Canada  "•  (1869)  maidotis 

Z.  palliata  {littoralis),  L,  rudis  and  L,  tenebrosa,  but  not  Z.  litorea. 

Although  the  evidence  of  these  lists  is  only  negative,  their 
combined  force  is  so  strong  (even  had  we  no  other  evidence)  that 
they  practically  prove  that  the  shell  did  not  exist  upon  the  New 
England  coast,  and  probably  not  in  the  Gulf  of  St  Lawrence, 
previous  to  the  middle  of  the  present  century.  Since  1857  its 
spread  has  been  phenomenally  rapid.  A  paper,  by  A.  F.  Gray, 
in  Science  News  for  1879,  gives  many  localities  which  it  had 
come  to  inhabit  upon  the  New  England  coast,  and  the  known 
facts  of  its  spread  are  thus  summarized  by  Professor  Verrill  -J 

"  It  is  well  known  to  American  conchologists  that  this  com- 
mon European  species  has  become  well  established  upon  the  New- 
England  coast  within  ten  or  twelve  years,  appearing  first  upon 

*  Boston  Jour.  Nat.  Hist.,  i v. 

'  See  for  this  as  well  as  other  lists,  Binney's  **  Bibliography  of  American  Conchol- 

ogy,"  Smithsonian,  Vol.  I, 
'Jour.  Essex  county  Nat  Hist.  Soc,  I. 

*  Can.  Nat.,  ill,  321. 
*Can.  Nat.,  iv,  197. 

*  Can.  Nat.,  ii,  iv^  48.     See  also  Can.  Nat.,  ii,  iv,  270. 
'  Am.  Jour.  Sci.,  iii,  XX,  251. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


1 886.]       Is  IMtarina  Uiorea  Introduced  or  Indigenous  ?  93  5 

the  coast  of  Maine  about  1868;  Dr.  Dawson,  however,  states  that 
he  collected  it  on  the  shores  of  Nova  Scotia  at  a  much  earlier 
date.  I  wish  at  present  merely  to  put  on  record  some  additional 
data  as  to  its  recent  progress  along  the  coast.  In  1873  it  was 
collected  in  abundance  at  Saco,  Maine,  by  the  U.  S.  Fish  Com- 
mission, and  was  found  sparingly  at  Peake's  island,  Casco  bay. 
In  1872  it  was  very  rare  at  Provincetown,  Mass.,  but  in  1875  it 
was  common  there.  In  1875  it  was  collected  by  the  writer  at 
Barnstable,  Mass.,  on  the  shores  of  Cape  Cod  bay,  in  large  quan- 
tities. In  1879  it  had  become  exceedingly  abundant  at  Province- 
town.  In  1875  our  parties  found  two  specimens  only  on  the 
southern  shores  of  Cape  Cod,  at  Wood's  Holl,  but  in  1876  it  was 
found  to  be  common  there,  and  is  now  very  abundant.  The  first 
specimen  found  so  far  westward  as  New  Haven  was  obtained  by 
Professor  S.  I.  Smith  during  the  past  winter  [*79-8o].  Other  sol- 
itary specimens  have  since  been  obtained  here  by  E.  A.  Andrews 
and  by  J.  H.  Emerton.  It  is  at  present  exceedingly  abundant  at 
Newport,  R.  I." 

It  is  spreading  into  the  Gulf  of  St.  Lawrence,  too,  finding  prob- 
ably a  congenial  habitat  in  the  warmer  water  of  Northumberland 
straits,  which  contain  so  many  southern  forms.  J.  F.  Whiteaves 
found  it  at  Souris  and  Charlottetown,  P.  E.  I.,  in  1873.^ 

Do  not  these  facts  afford  an  exceedingly  strong  argument  that 
the  shell  has  been  introduced?  Its  rapid  increase  southward 
shows  that  a  favorable  habitat  was  there  waiting  for  it — ^a  much 
more  favorable  one  than  the  Npva  Scotia  coast.  The  conditions 
which  determine  its  spread  were  here  at  work  a  century  ago,  but 
it  was  not  found  anywhere  in  New  England. 

As  has  already  been  pointed  out,  no  species  of  animal  or  plant 
can  be  truly  indigenous  to  the  two  continents.  It  must  either 
have  originated  in  one  and  spread  to  the  other,  or  it  must  have 
originated  at  some  other  point  and  spread  to  both.  A  shell  such 
as  we  are  considering,  which  is  at  present  common  to  both  con- 
tinents must  either  have  been  introduced  from  one  to  the  other 
by  man's  agency,  or  by  purely  natural  means.  If  it  can  be  shown 
that  the  natural  means  did  not  operate  in  this  case,  it  would  prove 
that  man  must  have  introduced  it ;  and  the  stronger  the  proba- 
bility of  the  former,  the  stronger  will  be  that  of  the  latter. 

Winds  or  the  agency  of  birds,  so  active  in  the  distribution  of 

plants,  could  hardly  operate  upon  a  shell  or  its  young.     Ocean 

currents  seem  to  be  the  only  method  of  conveyance.     But  by  no 

means  could  either  L.  litorea  or  Z.  palliata  directly  cross  the  At- 

^  Report  on  deep-sea  dredging  operations  in  the  Gulf  of  St.  Lawrence. 

VOL.  XX.— NO.  XI.  ^ 


Digitized  by 


Google 


936      h  LUtarina  lUarea  Introduced  or  Indigenous  t    [November, 

lantic  in  such  a  way — ^they  must  have  come,  if  they  came  by  nat- 
ural means  at  all,  by  way  of  Iceland,  Greenland  and  Labrador. 

This  we  find  actually  was  the  case  with  L,  peUliata,  Where  it 
originated  the  writer  does  not  know,  nor  does  it  matter  in  the 
present  connection,  but  certain  it  is  that  it  is  now  common  to 
England,^  Greenland/  Labrador,^  Acadia  and  New  England 
And  not  only  does  it  exist  in  these  places  now,  but  it  has  for  a 
long  time  past,  for  it  is  found  fossil  in  Post-pliocene  deposits  in 
England,  in  Southern  Greenland'  (Z.  gronlandica  =  Z.  pcdtiaid) 
and  in  Canada,  though  not  actually  in  Acadia.  Dawson  reports 
it  from  the  Post-pliocene  of  Gaspe,^  and  Lyell  from  Beauport^ 
We  may  hence  conclude  that  L.  palUata  is,  in  the  sense  in 
which  we  have  used  the  word,  indigenous  to  America. 

But  as  to  Z.  Htorea,  not  only  does  the  latest  and  best  list  of 
Greenland  shells^  make  no  mention  of  its  occurrence  there,  nor 
does  Packard  in  a  list  of  the  shells  of  Labrador'  (though  he  men- 
tions L.  palliata  and  Z.  rudis  as  "  abundant  "  and  "  not  uncom- 
mon "),  but  no  trace  of  it  has  as  yet  been  reported  from  any  Post- 
pliocene  deposits  of  Greenland,  Labrador,  Canada  or  New  Eng- 
land. It  is  a  shell  much  more  likely  to  be  preserved  in  such  de- 
posits than  L.  palliata,  being  much  larger  and  stouter — ^though 
neither,  from  their  rock- loving  nature,  stand  as  much  chance  of 
being  preserved  as  sand  or  mud-inhabiting  species.  All  of  these 
&cts  tend  to  show  that  Z.  litorea  was  not  introduced  from  one 
continent  to  the  other  either  at  the  same  time  or  by  the  same 
means  as  Z.  palliata,  and  that  if  by  any  unknown  agency  what- 
soever Z.  litorea  had  reached  America,  it  must  have  been  con- 
fined to  Nova  Scotia  alone  until  the  middle  of  the  present 
century. 

But  we  have  another  source  of  information  about  the  shells 
which  lived  upon  our  coast  before  the  advent  of  the  Europeans. 
In  the  Indian  shell-heaps  along  the  coast  of  Maine  and  New 
Brunswick,  most  of  the  edible  mollusks  of  the  coast  are  found 
among  the  heaps  of  clam-shells.  Dr.  Wyman  reports*  that  in  a 
shell-hefip  at  Crouch's  cove,  Casco  bay,  Maine,  Littorina  paUiaiA 

*  Forbes  and  Hanley's  British  Mollusca,  Vol.  ill. 

'  Manual  and  instructions  for  the  Arctic  expedition.    London,  1876. 
•Packard,  Mem.  Bost.  Nat.  Hist.  Soc.,  Vol.  i. 
«  Can.  Nat.,  11,  408. 
•Can.  Nat.,  I,  345. 

•  AM.  Nat.,  Vol,  I,  No.  fi,  |868. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


1 886.]       Is  Littarina  litorea  Introduced  or  Indigenous  f  937 

was  found  along  with  such  species  as  Purpura  lapillus,  Natica 
heros,  Buccinum  undatum,  Nassa  obsoleta^  Nassa  trivittata^  etc., 
but  he  makes  no  mention  of  L.  litorea.  Mr.  G.  F.  Matthew,  in 
his  account^  of  investigations  into  an  undisturbed  shell-heap  on 
the  shore  of  Passamaquoddy  bay,  New  Brunswick,  after  men- 
tioning the  occurrence  of  several  littoral  species,  says :  "  The 
rock  periwinkle  {JJUtorina  rudis)  is  occasionally  found  *  *  * 
but  the  common  European  periwinkle  {Littorina  litorea),  now  so 
common  on  this  coast,  is  entirely  wanting."  In  a  private  letter 
to  the  writer  the  same  gentleman  says :  "  I  have  seen  no  trace  of 
L.  litorea  in  any  shell-heap."  That  the  Indians  would  have  col- 
lected the  smaller  native  periwinkle  and  other  small  littoral  spe- 
cies, and  not  the  larger  English  one,  were  the  latter  present,  is  in- 
conceivable, no  matter  whether  the  former  had  been  collected  for 
food  or  only  accidentally  introduced  into  the  shell-heaps.  The 
same  causes  should  have  introduced  Z.  litorea  if  it  had  existed  at 
these  places.  Again  the  conclusion  is  forced  upon  us  that  if  the 
shell  existed  in  America  at  the  time  of  the  formation  of  the  shell- 
heaps,  it  must  have  been  confined  to  Nova  Scotia.  We  have  no 
published  lists  of  shells  from  the  Nova  Scotia  shell-heaps,  nor 
has  the  writer  been  able  to  find  by  private  inquiry  any  satisfac- 
tory account  of  them. 

All  of  the  facts  that  we  have  so  far  mentioned  in  connection 
with  this  shell  show  that  if  it  existed  at  all  in  America  previous 
to  the  present  century,  it  must  have  been  confined  to  the  coast  of 
Nova  Scotia.  There  are  other  general  considerations  which  show 
that  in  all  probability  it  did  not  exist  there.  One  of  these  we 
have  already  mentioned — the  fact  that  it  was  not  introduced  in 
the  same  way  as  L.  palliata,  by  way  of  Greenland,  and  therefore 
was  probably  not  naturally  introduced  into  America  at  all. 
'  Many  undoubtedly  European  species  of  both  animals  and 
plant  could  be  named  which,  upon  their  artificial  or  accidental 
introduction  into  this  country,  have  driven  out  and  well-nigh 
exterminated  closely-allied  native  species.  Everywhere  upon  the 
coast  of  Nova  Scotia  as  well  as  that  of  the  rest  of  Acadia  and  New 
England,  L.  litorea  is  doing  precisely  this,  driving  out  the  native 
L.  palliata.  Everywhere  the  native  form  gives  way  before  it  and 
becomes  rare,  just  in  proportion  as  the  English  form  becomes 
abundant.    This  fact  of  itself  gives  us  strong  a  priori  ground3 

»  Bull.  N.  8.  Nat,  Hist.  Soc,  in,  1884. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


938     Is  JJttarina  litarea  Introduced  or  Indigenous  f     [November, 

for  believing  the  shell  to  have  been  recently  and  accidentally  in- 
troduced, but  it  acquires  additional  force  taken  in  connection 
with  other  facts  which  point  to  the  same  conclusion. 

But  granting  for  a  moment  that  the  shell  did  exist  in  Nova 
Scotia  previous  to  this  century — where  it  must  have  been  coo- 
fined  if  it  was  in  America  at  all — what  an  anomalous  condition  of 
life  we  have.  At  present,  as  we  follow  its  progress  southward, 
we  find  it  growing  more  and  more  abundant.  The  writer  has 
very  frequently  noticed  its  distribution  on  the  Southern  New 
Brunswick  coast,  but  it  there  occurs  in  nothing  like  the  profusion 
in  which  he  has  seen  it  at  Nahant,  Mass.,  or  Newport,  R.  I.  In 
these  two  places,  and  they  are  like  other  localities  in  these  two 
States  in  this  respect,  it  literally  covers  the  rocks,  the  native  spe- 
cies becoming  4:omparatively  rare.  What  is  the  meaning  of  the 
fact  that  it  becomes  more  abundant  southward  ?  Can  it  mean 
anything  else  than  that  (within  certain  limits)  as  it  goes  south  it 
meets  with  a  more  and  more  congenial  habitat  ?  If  this  be  so. 
and  we  can  see  no  other  conclusion,  it  shows  that  Z.  Uiorea 
thrives  better  in  warmer  water  than  that  of  the  coasts  of  Nova 
Scotia  and  New  Brunswick,  and  therefore  that  the  natural  honoe 
of  the  species,  or  the  place  where  it  originated  was  in  warmer 
water  than  that  of  Acadia.  This  conclusion  is  strengthened  by 
the  fact  of  its  non-occurrence  in  Greenland  or  Labrador,  to  both 
of  which  places  it  should  have  been  carried  by  the  same  agencies 
which  took  L,  palliata  there.  The  latter  is  certainly  a  more 
northern  species  than  the  former,  and  it  may  be  that  the  condi- 
tions of  life  in  these  two  places  are  altogether  unsuited  to  the 
more  southern  L,  litorea^  in  which  case  it  could  certainly  not 
have  been  carried  from  one  continent  the  other  by  way  of  Green- 
land. If  then  Z.  litorea  existed  upon  the  Nova  Scotia  coast  as 
(in  the  sense  in  which  we  are  using  the  word)  an  indigenous  spd- 
pies,  it  was  existing  without  spreading  under  comparatively  un- 
fiivorable  conditions  of  temperature,  etc.,  while  favorable  condi- 
tions were  waiting  for  it  not  far  to  the  southward.  Surely  the 
agencies  which  took  it  from  one  continent  to  the  other  (if  natu- 
rally introduced)  could  have  carried  it  to  the  New  England  coast 
Is  it  not  more  natural  to  suppose,  what  so  many  of  the  facts  in- 
dicate, that  the  warmer  waters  in  which  it  thrives  the  best  are 
like  those  of  its  home,  and  that  its  home  is  in  the  waters  of  the 
English  coast,  which  we  knpw  to  be  so  much  warmer  than  those 
of  Nova  Spotia  ? 


Digitized  by 


Google 


1 886.]       Is  Littarina  litorea  Introduced  or  Indigenous  f  939 

But  again,  what  is  the  meaning  of  its  wonderfully  rapid  spread, 
and  why,  if  it  existed  in  Nova  Scotia  previous  to  say  1850,  did  it 
not  begin  to  spread  before  ?  Its  spreading  as  rapidly  as  it  has, 
shows  that  it  was  only  waiting  for  the  opportunity  to  take  advan- 
tage of  it,  but  why,  if  it  is  indigenous,  did  it  not  begin  to  spread 
sooner?  Surely  the  same  causes  which  have  carried  it  south 
since  1850  were  in  operation  before.  If  they  were  natural,  such 
as  currents,  etc.,  they  certainly  have  been  present  substantially 
unchanged  for  centuries.  Professor  Verrill  suggests  that  it  may 
have  existed  formerly  in  Nova  Scotia,  but  have  **  become  more 
diffused  in  recent  times  by  commerce."  But  surely  there  was 
commerce  between  Nova  Scotia  and  New  England  before  1 868 
(in  which  year  it  was  first  reported  from  Maine),  and  enough  of 
it  to  satisfy  the  most  exacting  demands  of  this  theory.  In  all 
probability  the  rapid  diffusion  of  the  shell  since  1857  is  in  a 
measure  due  to  both  of  these  causes,  but  the  feet  that  they  did 
not  have  a  like  effect  before,  seems  very  strongly  to  show  that 
the  shell  was  not  in  Nova  Scotia  for  them  to  spread.  The  waters 
which  bathe  the  Atlantic  coast  of  Nova  Scotia  are  carried  by  the 
strong  Fundy  tides  across  to  the  New  Brunswick  and  Maine 
coasts,  and  if  currents  had  anything  to  do  with  carrying  Z.  palli- 
ata  from  one  continent  to  Greenland  and  thence  to  the  other,  it 
should  have  carried  the  free-swimming  embryos  of  its  ally,  L, 
litorea^  from  the  Nova  Scotia  to  the  New  England  coast. 

But  granting  again  for  a  moment  that  L,  litorea  has  existed  in 
Nova  Scotia  for  an  indefinitely  long  time  as  an  indigenous  species, 
we  have  it  existing  under  conditions  very  different  from  those  in 
which  it  thrives  in  England,  having,  as  has  been  shown,  no  con- 
nection with  the  latter,  and  yet  retaining  its  specific  identity.  It 
is  possible  for  a  species  to  keep  its  identity  in  widely  separated 
localities,  where  the  conditions  of  life  are  not  precisely  the  Same, 
only  by  a  continuous  intercourse  between  the  different  localities. 
This  is  in  all  probability  the  case  with  L,  palliata^  for  we  find  it 
ranging  freely  around  the  North  Atlantic  in  England,  Greenland,* 
Labrador,  Acadia  and  New  England,  and  the  agencies  which 
carried  it  from  one  land  to  the  other  have  in  all  probability  been 
in  operation  ever  since.  But  with  Z.  litorea  the  case  is  differ- 
ent; if  it  existed  in  Nova  Scotia  it  must  have  been  cut  off  from 
all  communication  with  England,  and  that  it  should  retain  its 

^  We  have  found  no  list  of  the  shells  of  Iceland. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


940     J^  Littarina  liiorea  ItUroduced  or  Indigenous  f    f  November, 

specific  identity  under  such  conditions  is  altogether  inconceiv- 
able. 

We  have  not  been  able  to  present  any  direct  proof  that  L.  Sio- 
rea  did  not  exist  in  Nova  Scotia  before  the  present  century.  The 
testimony  of  the  numerous  lists  (by  independent  observers,  who 
could  not  have  overlooked  the  shell  had  it  been  present)  of  shells 
on  the  coast  of  New  England  and  New  Brunswick  in  none  d 
which. occurs  any  mention  of  Z.  litorea,  the  testimony  of  its 
absence  from  the  Post-pliocene  deposits  of  other  parts  of  Canada 
where  Z.  palliata  (along  with  which  it  always  exists)  has  been 
found,  the  testimony  of  the  Indian  shell-heaps,  into  which  iX. 
would  certainly  have  been  carried  by  the  same  means  or  for  the 
same  purpose  as  was  L,  palliata^  all  of  these  combined  afford 
almost  absolute  proof  that  the  shell  did  not  exist  on  the  Atlantic 
coast  of  America  outside  of  Nova  Scotia.  If  these  same  tests 
could  be  applied  directly  to  Nova  Scotia  the  question  would  be 
settled  as  to  whether  it  occurred  there.  An  early  list  of  the 
shells  of  that  Province,  or  careful  investigations  into  its  Post-plio- 
cene deposits  and  Indian  shell-heaps,  would  practically  remove 
all  doubt  one  way  or  the  other.  But  the  former  does  not  exist 
and  the  latter  has  not  been  made. 

It  must  have  existed  in  Nova  Scotia,  if  at  all.  But  at  the  same 
time  its  absence  from  Greenland  and  Labrador,  where,  in  accord- 
ance with  what  we  know  of  the  geographical  distribution  of  ani- 
mals, it  ought  to  occur  along  with  Z.  paUiata  if  it  is  indigenous ; 
the  extreme  improbability  of  its  remaining  in  such  a  small  area 
without  spreading,  with  causes  in  existence  tending  to  carry  it 
frofn  a  less  favorable  to  a  more  favorable  habitat ;  and  the  impos- 
sibility of  the  species  remaining  isolated  from  the  parent  stock  in 
England  for  an  indefinitely  long  time,  and  yet  in  spite  of  quite  a 
differently  conditioned  habitat  remaining  specifically  identical  with 
it,  all  of  these  facts  tend  to  show  that  it  did  not  exist  even  in 
Nova  Scotia.  Is  not  the  conclusion  warranted  then,  that  IMto- 
rina  litorea  is  not  indigenous  to  America,  but  has  been  recently 
and  artificially  introduced  from  Europe  ? 


Digitized  by  VjOOQIC 


i886.]  On  Lemurine  Reversion  in  Human  Dentition.  941 

ON  LEMURINE  REVERSION  IN  HUMAN  DENTITION. 

BY   E.    D.   COPE. 

DESCRIPTIONS  of  the  molar  teeth  of  man,  given  by  anato- 
mists, differ  in  important  respects.  Thus  F.  Cuvier  (Dents 
des  Mammifers)  states  that  while  the  crown  of  the  first  superior 
true  molar  consists  of  four  tubercles,  those^of  the  second  and 
third  superior  true  molars  consist  of  but  three  tubercles.  In  the 
American  edition  of  "Sharpey  and  Quain's  Anatomy  "  it  is  stated 
that  the  crowns  of  the  superior  true  molars  of  man  consist  of 
four  tubercles,  and  the  same  statement  is  made  in  Allen's  late 
work  on  human  anatomy. 

My  observations  having  shown  me  that  both  of  these  descrip- 
tions apply  correctly  to  certain  types  of  dentition,  I  determined 
to  examine  for  myself  to  ascertain,  if  possible,  the  extent  and 
value  of  the  variations  thus  indicated.     My  interest  in  the  subject 
had  been  especially  stimulated  by  the  researches  among  the  ex- 
tinct  Mammalia  and  the  results  which  I  had  derived  from  them. 
These  are  in  brief  as  follows :  First,  the  quadritubercular  type  of 
mblar  crown  illustrated  by  the  first  superior  true  molar  of  man 
belongs  to  the  primitive  form  from  which  all  the  crested  upper 
(lophodont)  molars  of  the  hoofed  placental  mammals  have  been 
derived;   and  second,  this  quadritubercular  type  of  molar  has 
itself  been  derived  from  a  still  earlier  tritubercular  crown  by  the 
addition  of  a  cusp  at  the  posterior  internal  part  of  it     This  tri- 
tubercular molar  in  the  upper  series  has  given  origin  directly  to 
the  superior  sectorial  teeth  of  the  Creodonta  and  Carnivora.     In 
the  inferfor  series  I  have  shown  that  in  known  placental  Mam- 
malia, at  least,  the  primitive  molar  crown  is  quinquetubercular  or 
tritubercular  with  a  posterior  heel ;  that  this  form  gave  origin 
to  the  inferior  sectorial  tooth  of  Carnivora  by  modification;  and 
to  the  quadritubercular  type,  corresponding  to  the  superior  quad- 
ritubercular crown,  by  a  loss  of  the  anterior  inner  angle  and  cusp. 
And  from  the  quinque  and  quadritubercular  types  of  lower  molar 
crown  the  various  specialized  types  of  the  ungulates  have  been 
derived. 

Considerable  significance,  therefore,  attaches  to  the  question  as 
to  whether  the  superior  true  molars  of  Homo  sapiens  arc  quad- 
ritubercular or  tritubercular.  The  inferior  molars  are  also  either 
quadritubercular  or  quinquetubercular,  but  less  significance  at- 
taches to  this  modification  than  to  that  of  the  superior  true  molars* 


Digitized  by 


Google 


942         On  Lemurine  Reversion  in  Human  Dentition.  [November, 

This  is  owing  to  two  facts,  viz.,  the  fifth  tubercle  is  not  the  as- 
terior  inner  which  completes  the  anterior  triangle  of  the  primitive 
inferior  molar,  but  is  a  median  posterior,  such  as  is  not  uncom- 
mon in  Mammalia  of  Puerco  and  Eocene  age ;  and  second,  be- 
cause this  tubercle  is  of  quite  small  size  and  is,  therefore,  more 
liable  to  variation  from  insignificant  causes. 

tn  the  nearest  allfes  of  man,  the  anthropoid  apes,  the  superior 
true  molars  are  quadritubercular,  the  posterior  internal  tubercle 
of  the  last  or  third  molar  being  usually  smaller  than  in  the  other 
molars  in  the  chimpanzee.  The  inferior  molars  are  quinquetu- 
bercular  in  the  human  sense,  the  gorilla  not  infrequently  adding 
a  sixth  lobe  on  the  external  posterior  margin  of  the  crown.  The 
molars  of  both  series  are  quadritubercular,  with  an  occasional 
posterior  fifth  in  the  inferior  molars,  in  the  Semnopithecidae  and 
Cebidae,  excepting  the  genus  Pithecia  of  the  latter,  where  the  su- 
perior molars  are  tritubercular.  The  superior  molars  of  the  Ha- 
palidae  are  tritubercular.  In  the  LeVnuridae  the  second  and  third, 
and  frequently  the  first  superior  true  molars,  are  tritubercular.  In 
the  Tarsiida!  the  superior  true  molars  are  tritubercular  through- 
out. The  superior  molars  of  the  extinct  lemuroids  differ  like 
those  of  the  recent  forms.  Thus  in  Adapis  and  its  allies  they 
are  quadritubercular,  but  in  Nccrolemur  they  are  tritubercular. 
In  Chriacus  (whose  reference  to  the  Lemuroidea  is  uncertain) 
they  are  tritubercular,  as  is  the  case  also  with  Indrodon.  In 
Anaptomorphus  they  are  of  the  true  tritubercular  type.  This  is 
the  genus  of  Lemuroidea,  which  in  its  dental  character  most 
nearly  approaches  the  anthropoid  apes  and  man,  as  I  have  else- 
where ^  pointed  out.  The  formula  is  1. 1 ;  C.  | ;  Pm.  \\  M.  |. 
The  canines  are  small  and  there  is  no  diastema  in  either  jaw. 

It  may  be  readily  seen  in  consideration  of  these  &cts  that  the 
appearance  of  tritubercular  superior  molars  in  the  genus  Homo 
constitutes  a  reversion  to  the  lemurs,  and  not  to  the  anthropoid 
apes  or  to  the  monkeys  proper.  And  among  lemurs  the  rever- 
sion is  most  probably  to  that  type  which  presents  the  closest  re- 
semblance to  Homo  in  other  parts  of  the  dentition.  The  genus 
which  answers  most  nearly  to  this  requirement  among  those  at 
present  known  is  Anaptomorphus. 

In  studying  the  dentition  of  man,  I  have  examined  the  crania 

» Report  U.  S.  Geol.  Survey  Terrs.  F.  V.  Haydpn.  Vol.  ill,  1885,  p.  245,  PI.  xxive, 
fig.  I,  and  Fl.  xxv,  fig.  10;  and  American  Natusalist,  1885,  p.  466,  fig.  12. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


1 886.]  On  Lemurine  Reversion  in  Human  Dentition.  943 

contained  in  the  following*  five  collections :  those  of  the  Academy 
of  Natijral  Sciences  of  Philadelphia;  of  the  Army  Medical  Mu- 
seum of  Washington;  of  the  College  of  Physicians  of  Phila- 
delphia ;  of  the  University  of  Pennsylvania,  and  of  my  own  mu- 
seum. The  first  of  these  is  especially  valuable  on  account  of  the 
negro,  Egyptian  and  Hindoo  crania  it  contains.  My  acknowledg- 
ments are  due  to  the  Board  of  Curators,  of  which  Professor  Leidy 
is  chairman,  for  the  opportunity  of  studying  it  The  collection  of 
the  Army  Medical  Museum  at  Washington  is  especially  import- 
ant on  account  of  the  Kanakas,  Esquimaux,  Peruvians  and  North 
American  Indians  which  it  possesses.  I  am  under  great  obliga- 
tions to  its  distinguished  director,  Dr.  J.  S.  Billings,  for  the  facili- 
ties which  he  placed  at  my  disposal.  The  museum  of  the  Phila- 
delphia College  of  Physicians  contains  the  collection  made  by  the 
late  Professor  Hyrtle,  of  Vienna,  of  crania  of  Eastern  and  Medi- 
terranean Europeans.  In  this  department  it  is  unrivaled,  and  I 
am  greatly  indebted  to  the  council  of  the  college,  and  its  curator 
Dr.  Guy  Hinsdale,  for  the  opportunity  of  examining  it.  Some 
French  skulls  in  the  University  of  Pennsylvania  were  of  value  in 
the  investigation.  My  own  collection,  though  small,  contains  a 
number  of  Maoris,  Australians,  Tahitians  and  North  American 
Indians,  which  have  proved  to  be  of  importance.  Of  English 
and  Anglo-American  crania  I  have  been  able  to  examine  but  few 
of  what  might  be  termed  the  thoroughly  amalgamated  race.  Of 
the  latter  there  are  probably  many  crania  in  the  war  collection  of 
the  Army  Medical  Museum,  but  how  free  the  race  of  each  may 
be  from  foreign  intermixture,  of  course,  it  is  impossible  to  know. 
In  selecting  such  as  are  supposed  to  be  ''stock  Americans,"  those 
of  persons  with  English  names  have  been  preferred,  although 
many  now  true  Americans  are  of  German  ancestry.  In  order  to 
increase  the  list  of  this  class  of  examinations,  I  have  imposed  on 
the  forbearance  of  my  friends  by  frequent  inspections  of  their 
dentitions  in  ore  aperto. 

I  suspect  that  the  characters  thus  obtained  will  prove  of  im- 
portance in  a  zoological  and  ethnological  sense.  They  have  been 
already  found  to  be  of  great  fixity,  and  hence  significance,  in  the 
lower  Mammalia.  The  only  reason  why  they  should  be  less  so 
in  man  is  that  the  modification  in  reverting  to  the  tritubercular 
molar  is  a  process  of  degeneracy,  and  may  be  hence  supposed  to 
be  less  regular  in  its  action  than  was  the  opposite  process  of 


Digitized  by 


Google 


944         On  Lemurine  Reversion  in  Human  Dentition.   [November, 

building  up,  or  addition  of  the  posterior  internal  cusp.  Some 
justification  for  a  light  estimate  of  its  value  may  be  found  in  the 
following  tables.  But  it  must  be  r^niembered  that  it  is  not  alwap 
possible  to  determine  exactly  the  race  of  the  person  represented 
by  a  skull  even  when  care  in  its  identification  has  been  exercised. 
Emigration  and  war  have  constantly  rendered  races  impure,  asd 
transplantation  on  a  large  scale  has  in  some  parts  of  the  earth 
produced  hybrid  races.  The  results  of  a  study  of  human  crania 
are  sure  to  be  more  or  less  vitiated  by  these  circumstances.  We 
obtain  averages  rather  than  exact  definitions.  Nevertheless  the 
extremes  of  the  series  of  variations  are  likely  to  be  found  to  be 
characteristic  of  established  forms  of  man,  and  will  thus  justify 
my  belief  in  the  value  of  the  characters  presented.  To  ascertain 
the  relation  of  these  variations  to  the  races  is  the  object  of  the 
present  enquiry. 

The  cause  of  the  tritubercular  reversion  belongs  to  the  class  of 
agencies  active  in  evolution  of  organic  types  of  whose  real  nature 
we  know  little.  It  can  not  be  said  to  be  due  to  a  contraction  of 
the  maxillary  arcade,  for  the  Esquimaux  and  some  other  peoples 
which  display  the  tritubercular  dentition  are  not  deficient  in  this 
respect  Tritubercular  molars  do  not  require  less  length  than  the 
quadritubercular,  for  the  external  width  of  the  crown  is  the  same 
in  both  cases.  They  require  less  material,  however,  than  a 
quadritubercular  crown,  since  a  triangle  is  smaller  than  a  square 
drawn  on  the  same  base  line ;  however  in  some  men  of  the  lower 
races  who  present  the  tritubercular  molars,  their  outline  is  nearly 
square.  The  hypothesis  advanced^  to  account  for  the  reduction 
of  the  number  and  quality  of  human  teeth  observed  in  the  higher 
races,  as  well  as  for  the  replacement  of  the  prognathous  jaw  by 
the  orthognathous,  is  that  such  changes  are  due  to  a  transference 
of  material  and  of  growth-energy  from  these  parts  to  the  superior 
part  of  the  skull  and  its  contents.  The  relative  superiority  of  the 
dimensions  of  these  latter  parts  in  the  higher  races  is  supposed  to 
account  for  the  reduction  of  size  of  the  jaws. 

In  the  following  tables  the  tubercular  formulae  are  represented  by 
numbers.  Only  the  last  three,  or  the  true  molars,  in  each  jaw  arc  con- 
sidered. Tubercles  of  reduced  size  are  represented  by  fractions. 
Thus  —^  indicates  that  each  superior  molar  is  quadritubercular, 
and  each  inferior  molar  quinquetubercular.  This  represents  the 
extreme  of  the  series  represented  by  the   lowest  races.     The 

» PftMseeds.  Amcr.  Philos.  Soc.,  187 1,  p.  252. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


1886] 


On  Lemurine  Reversion  in  Human  Dentition, 


945 


formula  t-2i^  indicates  that  the  true  molars  have  four,  three  and 
three  tubercles  respectively,  and  that  the  inferior  true  molars  have 
four  each.  This  represents  the  extreme  common  among  the 
higher  races. 

For  clearer  understanding  of  these  characters  they  are  ar- 
ranged in  the  form  of  a  table.  Only  the  principal  races  are  rep- 
resented, and  hybrids,  when  determinable,  are  omitted.^  The 
characters  of  the  superior  molar  teeth  only  are  referred  to.  These 
are  classified  under  four  heads,  viz.,  first,  tubercles  4 — ^4 — ^4 ; 
second,  tubercles  4 — ^4 — 3J^  or  4 — 3J^ — 3^;  third,  tubercles 
4 — 3  J^ — 3  ;  fourth,  tubercles  4 — 3'— 3.  As  already  remarked,  the 
extreme  types  of  the  series  give  the  most  precise  indications  of 
race,  while  the  intermediate  conditions  have  a  various  range. 

In  the  first  table  the  most  obvious  results  are,  that  only  the 


Totals 


Europeans  and  Europeo-Americans . 


? 


a 


& 


Esquimanx  and  Chuktchi 
Hindus 


Chinese  and  Japanese 

N.  American  Indians 

Peruyians 

Negroes  and  Egyptians ^ 

Australians  and  Micronesians "^ 

••Malays"  (?Nigrilo6) ^ 


« 


T     T   'J.'  ^     T 
-  TTT  ^ 


•a 
3 


three  lowest  races  present  four   tubercles  on  all  the  superior 
molars,  and  that  of  those  with  tritubercular  second  and  third 
^  Mttlattoes,  Mestizoes,  Half-breed  Indians,  Gypsies,  etc.,  are  omitted. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


94^         On  Lemurine  Reversion  iu  Human  Dentition.    [November, 

molars,  Europeans  and  their  American  descendants  greatly  jkc- 
dominate.  Also  that  of  uncivih'zed  races  the  Malays  and  Negroes 
never,  and  Micronesians  very  rarely,  present  this  type  of  denti- 
tion, while  in  the  Esquimaux  it  considerably  predominates. 

I  now  give  a  table  of  the  characters  of  the  superior  molars  in 
the  Europeans  and  Europeo-Americans  examined.  The  number 
is  not  sufficient  for  final  conclusions ;  nevertheless  there  are  some 
indications  of  value.  Some  of  the  one  hundred  and  nineteen 
dentitions  examined  are  referred  with  doubt  to  their  respective 

Totals •*  o  00          -^  \o 

Europeo-Americans *o  w  to         w  o 

French *•  -  "^ 

Germans  and  Scandinavians «  ro  to        oo  *o 

Greeks  and  Italians to  to  r^         «o  t^ 

Western  Asiatics **  «  <♦ 

SUvs M  «  u^        ^o  - 

Majyar •*  *• 

Lapps  and  Finns ^ 


^ 

? 

? 

? 

to 

1 

r 

^ 

? 

^ 

T 

i 

T 

i 

races.  Thus  the  Europeo- Americans  may  have  been  in  many 
instances  immigrants,  as  many  such  left  their  bones  on  the  battle- 
fields of  the  American  Civil  war.  where  many  of  the  crania  were 
picked  up.  The  supposed  Germans  are  largely  Austrians,  so 
that  some  of  them  may  be  more  or  less  Slavic  or  Majyar. 

As  results  we  have  the  following :  The  tritubercular  dentition 
appears  in  eleven  out  of  twenty-five  Slavs ;  in  seven  out  of 
twenty-three  Greeks  and  Italians ;  in  six  out  of  twenty-two  Ger- 
mans and  Scandinavians ;  in  six  out  of  eight  French,  and  in 
twenty  out  of  thirty  Europeo- Americans.    The  only  great  race 


Digitized  by 


Google 


1 886.]         On  Lenturine  Reversion  in  Human  Dentition,  94.7 

which  presents  a  similar  high  percentage  of  tritubercular  molars 
is  the  Esquimaux,  where  they  occur  in  nineteen  out  of  twenty- 
eight  dentitions.  The  tendency  is  most  marked  in  Slavs,  French 
and  Europeo-Americans,  and  is  least  marked  in  Greeks  and 
Italians,  and  in  Germans.  These  two  subraces  stand  in  the  series 
between  the  intermediate  type  of  the  North  American  Indians 
and  the  other  Europeans.     I  have  seen  no  English  dentitions. 

It  is  important  to  remember  in  this  connection  that  the  dis- 
tinguished ethnologist  and  archaeologist,  W.  Boyd  Dawkins,  af- 
firms that  the  earliest  inhabitants  of  Britain  and  some  other  parts 
of  Europe  were  Elsquimaux.  He  refers  especially  to  the  men  of 
the  caves,  whose  implements  and  arts  he  declares  to  be  identical 
with  those  used  by  the  Esquimaux  of  the  present  day.^  -As  it  is 
evident  that  the  lemurine  or  tritubercular  reversion  commenced 
with  the  Esquimaux,  it  may  be  that  in  some  instances  at  least  its 
appearance  in  men  of  Anglo-Saxon  and  other  European  races  is 
due  to  inheritance  alone.  But  it  is  reasonable  to  suppose  that  in 
this  case,  as  in  other  evolutions,  the  cause  which  produced  this 
modification  of  the  Esquimaux  dentition  is  still  active,  and  its 
frequent  appearance  in  the  most  civilized  races  may  be  due  to 
this  cause  as  well.  The  progressive  character  of  the  French  den- 
tition in  this  respect  is  in  broad  contrast  with  the  primitive  char- 
acter of  that  of  Italians  and  Greeks.  The  characters  seen  in  the 
latter  go  far  towards  sustaining  Professor  Huxley's  hypothesis 
that  the  dark  Mediterranean  subraces  consist  of  a  mixture  of 
Egyptian  with  the  Indo-European  stock. 

In  conclusion  it  may  be  stated  that  the  tritubercular  superior 
molars  of  man  constitute  a  reversion  to  the  dentition  of  the 
Lemuridae  of  the  Eocene  period  of  the  family  of  Anaptomorphidae. 
And  second,  that  this  reversion  is  principally  seen  among  Esqui- 
maux and  the  Slavic,  French  and  American  branches  of  the 
European  race. 

1  Early  Man  in  Britain,  1880,  p.  233. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


948  Editors"  Table.    '  [November, 

EDITORS'  TABLE. 

EDITORS :   A.  S.  PACKARD  AND  E.  D.  COPE. 

The  statement  is  often  made  that  teaching  and  original 

investigation  are  incompatible.  This  is  not  so;  further,  we  main- 
tain that  he  who  is  engaged  in  advanced  studies  in  any  department 
of  science  is  far  better  adapted  for  fulfilling  the  functions  of  an 
instructor,  at  least  in  a  college,  than  he  who  is  content  to  allow 
others  to  make  his  discoveries  for  him.  An  instructor,  to  be 
thoroughly  qualified  to  instruct,  should  keep  himself  thoroughly 
posted  on  all  the  recent  discoveries  in  his  province.  Unless  he  be 
an  original  investigator  he  will  fail  to  do  so.  He  will  rest  content 
with  the  text-books  and  the  little  he  can  assimilate  by  reading 
abstracts  and  reviews  in  the  semi-popular  scientific  journals ;  he 
will  lack  that  enthusiasm  without  which  no  good  results  can  be 
expected  from^the  student.  The  original  investigator  has  that 
enthusiasm.  Without  it  he  could  not  be  compelled  to  go  through 
all  that  drudgery  which  is  necessary  to  produce  good  results. 
The  student  in  coming  into  his  presence  is  at  once  inspired  to 
work,  and  to  be  thorough  in  his  work.  The  original  investigator 
is  forced  to  keep  up  with  the  times,  (ie  must  keep  himself  posted 
as  to  what  is  going  on  the  whole  world  over,  in  order  that  he  may 
not  waste  his  time  and  energies  in  doing  what  has  already  been  thor- 
oughly performed.  He  goes  to  the  bottom  of  his  subject  and  his 
pupils  may  rely  upon  what  he  says ;  it  will  be  the  expression  of  the 
most  recent  opinion  and' will  be  authoritative  so  &r  as  it  lies  in  his 
special  line.  It  may  be  said  he  will  be  narrow,  and  that  he  will 
have  an  exaggerated  idea  of  the  importance  of  the  subject  of  his 
own  chosen  field.  To  a  certain  extent  this  is  true,  but  not  so  far 
as  one  would  at  first  think.  All  departments  of  any  science  are 
interdependent,  and  he  who  is  specially  engaged  in  one  line  is 
obliged  to  keep  track  of  what  is  being  done  in  the  others,  for  he 
must  turn  in  every  direction  for  hints  and  comparisons.  Some 
peculiar  qualities  of  some  substance  described  in  tlie  papers  of 
some  chemical  journal  may  give  the  physicist  just  the  points  he 
needs  to  make  some  experiment  a  success.  Some  feature  in  the 
structure  of  a  sea  anemone  may  throw  light  on  some  problem  in 
the  development  or  the  diseases  of  man.  The  original  investigator 
is  forced  to  explore  every  corner  and  keeps  his  mind  stored  with 
the  latest  discoveries,  while  his  uninvestigating  colleague  sees 
only  what  chance  throws  in  his  way.  Which  one,  other  things 
being  equal,  will  make  the  better  instructor  ? 


Digitized  by 


Google 


1 886.]  Recent  Literature,  949 

RECENT  LITERATURE. 

Milne's  Earthquakes*. — ^This  is  a  very  timely  work  in  view  of 
the  recent  earthquake  at  Charleston.  For  this  reason  we  shall 
for  the  use  of  our  readers,  abstract  some  of  the  leading  points 
relating  to  earthquakes  and  their  causes,  which  seem  generally 
accepted  and  to  accor^l  with  observed  facts.  While  it  is  estimated 
that  several  earthquakes  occur  daily  throughout  the  world,  refer- 
ence is  also  made  to  the  smaller  movements  called  ''  earth  tre- 
mors," which  occur  so  constantly  that  ''it  would  appear  that  the 
ground  on  which  we  dwell  is  incessantly  in  a  state  of  tremulous 
motion."  A  typical  earthquake,  however,  consists  of  •'  a  series  of 
small  tremors  succeeded  by  a  shock,  or  series  of  shocks,  separated 
by  more  or  less  irregular  vibrations  of  the  ground."  After  dis- 
cussing seismoscopes,  instruments  which  are  so  constructed  as 
to  move  at  the  time  of  ah  earthquake  and  leave  a  record  of  the 
motion,  as  well  as  seismographs,  or  record-receivers,  earthquake 
motion  is  discussed  theoretically,  Mallet's  and  Abbot's  results 
being  given  as  well  as  the  results  obtained  by  the  author  in 
Japan. 

A  single  shock  is,  as  Mallet  states,  an  impossibility.  His 
statement  is  quoted  as  follows :  "  The  almost  universal  succession 
of  phenomena  recorded  in  earthquakes  is,  first  a  trembling,  then 
a  severe  shock,  or  several  in  quick  succession,  and  then  a  trem- 
bling gradually  but  rapidly  becoming  insensible." 

As  the  results  of  observations  on  the  velocity  of  propagation  of 
an  earthquake  it  appears  that  in  the  Tokio  earthquake  of  October 
25,  i88i,the  disturbance  must  have  traveled  between  Yokohama 
and  Tokio  at  the  rate  of  ^^oo  feet  per  second,  but  from  Hakodate 
to  Tokio  at  a  velocity  of  10,219  feet  per  second.  Thus  Milne 
concludes  from  his  own  observations  and  those  on  the  Lisbon  and 
other  earthquakes,  that : 

1.  Different  earthquakes,  although  they  may  travel  across  the 
same  country,  have  very  variable  velocities,  varying  between  sev- 
eral hundreds  and  several  thousands  of  feet  per  second. 

2.  The  same  earthquake  travels  more  quickly  across  districts 
near  to  its  origin  than  it  does  across  districts  which  are  far  re- 
moved. 

3.  The  greater  the  intensity  of  the  shock  the  greater  is  the 
velocity. 

Multiplied  observations  show  that  however  chaotic  at  first  sight 
appears  the  ruin  produced  by  earthquakes  there  is  in  many  cases 
**  more  or  less  law  governing  the  positions  of  bodies  which  have 
fallen,  the  direction  and  positions  of  cracks  in  walls, and  the  various 
other  phenomena  which  result  from  such  destructive  disturbances." 

>  Earthquakes  and  other  Earth  Movements,  By  John  Milne,  professor  of  mining 
and  geology  in  the  Imperial  College  of  Engineering,  Tokio,  Japan.  With  thirty^eight 
figures.     New  York,  O.  Appleton  &  Co,     1886.     i2mo.,  pp.  363. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


950  Recent  Literature.  [November, 

Darwin  tells  us  that  in  the  earthquake  at  Concepcion,  in  i835,the 
walls  which  ranged  S.  W.  by  W.  and  N.  E.  by  E.  stood  better 
than  those  which  ranged  N.  W.  by  N.  and  S.  E.  by  S.,  the  undu- 
lations coming  from  the  S.  W.  In  Caraccas,  "the  city  of  earth- 
quakes/' it  is  said  that  every  house  has  its  laga  secure,  or  safe 
side,  where  the  inhabitants  place  their  fragile  property.  Thxskga 
secure  is  the  north  side,  and  it  was  chosen  because  about  two  out 
of  every  three  destructive  shocks  traversed  the  city  from  west  to 
east,  so  that  the  walls  in  these  sides  of  a  building  have  been  stricken 
broadside  on." 


Fig.  I. — The  Cathedral  at  Patemo,  struck  obliquely  by  the  Neopolitan  earthquake 
of  1857. 

Special  districts  also,  in  an  earthquake  country,  are  free  from 
shocks,  since  Milne  tells  us  that  even  in  a  country  like  Japan, 
where  there  are  on  the  average  at  least  two  earthquakes  per  day, 
it  is  possible  to  choose  a  place  to  build  in  as  free  from  earthquakes 
as  Great  Britain.  Caverns,  wells,  quarries,  moats  and  the  prox- 
imity to  ravines  and  canons  protect  a  small  region  from  the  severe 
shocks  of  earthquakes. 

Seismic  disturbances  in  the  ocean  are  discussed  in  the  ninth 
chapter.     Among  the  most  striking  examples  is  that  of  Iquique, 


Digitized  by 


Google 


1 886.]  Recent  Literature.  95 1 

Peru.  The  sea-wave  of  the  Iquique  earthquake  of  May  9,  1877, 
like  many  of  its  predecessors,  was  felt  across  the  basin  of  the  whole 
Pacific,  from  New  Zealand  in  the  south  to  Japan  and  Kamschatka 
in  the  north,  and  but  for  the  intervention  of  the  Eurasian  and 
American  continents  would  have  made  itself  appreciable  over  the 
whole  of  our  globe.  At  places  on  the  South  American  coast  it 
has  been  stated  that  the  height  of  the  waves  varied^  from  twenty 
to  eighty  feet.  At  the  Samoa  islands  the  heights  varied  from  six 
to  twelve  feet.  In  New  Zealand  the  sea  rose  and  fell  from  three 
to  twenty  feet.  In  Australia  the^ heights  to  which  the  water  oscil- 
lated were  similar  to  those  observed  in  New  Zealand.  In  Japan 
it  rose  and  fell  from  five  to  ten  feet.  In  this  latter  country  the 
phenomena  of  sea-waves  which  follow  a  destructive  earthquake 
on  the  South  American  coast  are  so  well  known  that  old  residents 
have  written  to  the  papers  announcing  the  probability  of  such 
occurrences  having  taken  place  some  twenty-five  hours  previously 
in  South  America.  In  this  way  news  of  great  calamities  has  been 
anticipated,  details  of  which  only  arrived  some  weeks  subse- 
quently. Just  as  the  destructive  earthquakes  of  South  America 
haver  announced  themselves,  in  Japan ;  in  a  like  manner,  the  de- 
structive eaithquakes  of  Japan  have  announced  themselves  upon 
the  tide  gauges  of  California. 

Similarly,  but  not  so  frequently,  disturbances  shake  the  other 
oceans  of  the  world.  For  example,  the  great  earthquake  of  Lisbon 
propagated  waves  to  the  coasts  of  America,  taking  on  their  jour- 
ney nine  and  a  half  hours. 

The  complete  set  of  phenomena  which  may  accompany  a  vio- 
lent sub-marine  explosion  is  as  follows  (p.  174) : 

By  the  initial  impulse  of  explosion  or  lifting  of  the  ground,  a 
"  great  sea-wave  "  is  generated,  which  travels  shorewards  with  a 
velocity  dependent  upon  its  size  and  the  depth  of  the  oc  an;  at 
the  same  instant  a  **  sound-wave  "  may  be  produced  in  the  air, 
which  travels  at  a  quicker  rate  than  the  "  great  sea-wave."  A 
third  wave  which  is  produced  is  an  "earth-wave,"  which  will 
reach  the  shore  with  a  velocity  dependent  on  the  intensity  of  the 
impulse  and  the  elasticity  of  the  rocks  through  which  it  is  propa- 
gated. This  latter,  which  travels  the  fastest,  may  carry  on  its 
back  a  small  "  forced  sea-wave."  On  reaching  the  shore  and 
passinc:  inland,  this  "  earth-wave  "  will  cause  a  slight  recession  of 
the  water  as  the  "  forced  sea-wave  "  slips  from  its  back. 

As  these  "  forced  sea-waves  "  travel  they  will  give  blows  to 
ships  beneath  which  they  may  pass,  being  transmitted  from  the 
bottom  of  the  ocean  to  the  bottom  of  the  ships  like  sound  -waves 
in  water.  At  the  time  of  small  earthquakes,  produced,  for  exam- 
ple, by  the  explosions  of  small  quantities  of  water  entering  vol- 
canic fissures,  or  by  the  sudden  condensation  of  steam  from  such 
a  fissure  entering  the  ocean,  aqueous  sound-waves  are  produced 

▼OL.   XX. — MO.   XI.  63 


Digitized  by 


Google 


952  Recent  LUetature,  [November, 

which  cause  the  rattling  and  vibrating  jars  so  often  noticed  on 
board  ships. 

But  out  of  15.000  earthquakes  observed  on  coast  lines,  only  124 
were  accompanied  by  sea-waves.  Out  of  1098  recorded  on  the 
west  coast  of  South  America  only  nineteen  are  said  to  have  been 
accompanied  by  sea-waves ;  but  from  additional  facts  stated,  almost 
every  severe  earthquake  on  that  coast  has  been  accompanied  by 
considerable  agitation  in  the  neighboring  sea. 

"  On  April  2, 1 85 1 ,  when  many  towns  in  Chili  were  destroyed,  the 
sea  was  not  disturbed.  At  the  time  of  the  great  earthquake  of 
New  Zealand  (June  23,  1855),  altnough  all  the  shocks  came  from 
the  sea,  yet  there  was  no  flood.  The  small  shock  of  February  14, 
however,  was  accompanied  by  a  motion  in  the  sea."  To  these 
facts,  taken  from  Fuchs'  work,  our  author  adds  the  fact  that  the 


Fig.  2. — Stud  mill  at  Hay  wards,  California,  swung  completely  over. 

greater  number  of  disturbances  which  are  felt  in  the  northeastern 
part  of  Japan,  although  they  emanate  from  beneath  the  sea,  do 
not  produce  any  visible  sea-waves.  They  are,  however,  sufficient 
to  cause  a  vibratory  motion  on  board  ships  situated  near  their 
origin. 

It  has  been  long  known  by  physicists  that  the  velocity  with 
which  a  given  wave  is  propagated  along  a  trough  of  uniform 
depth,  holds  a  relation  to  the  depth  of  the  trough ;  hence  calcula- 
tions of  the  average  depths  of  the  Pacific,  dependent  on  the  veloc- 
ity with  which  earthquake  waves  have  been  propagated,  have 
been  made  by  many  investigators,  but  Milne  thinks  these  are 
open  to  criticisms  in  consequence  of  the  writer  hdving  assumed 
that  the  wave  originated  on  a  coast  line,  when  the  evidence  clearly 
showed  that  it  originated  some  distance  out  at  sea.  As  an  exam- 
ple of  such  calculations  we  copy  Milne's  account  of  the  wave  of 
1868: 

"  yp  August  Hi  1868,  a  sea- wav?  ruined  many  pities  pa  tbc 


Digitized  by 


Google 


1 8 86.]  Recent  Literature,  953 

South  American  coast,  and  25,000  lives  were  lost.  This  wave, 
like  all  the  others,  traveled  the  length  and  breadth  of  the  Pacific. 

"  In  Japan,  at  Hokodate,  it  was  observed  by  Captain  T.  B. 
Blakiston,  R.  A.,  who  very  kindly  gave  me  the  following  account : 

"  On  August  15,  at  10.30  a.m.,  a  series  of  bores  or  tidal-waves 
commenced,  and  lasted  until  3  p.m.  In  ten  minutes  there  was  a 
difference  in  the  sea  level  often  feet,  the  water  rising  above  high- 
water  and  falling  below  low-water  mark  with  great  rapidity.  The 
ordinary  tide  is  only  two  and  a  half  to  three  feet.     The  disturb- 


FiG.  3. — Church  of  St.  Augustine,  Manilla.     Earthquakes  of  July  18-20.  1880. 

ance  producing  these  waves  originated  between  Iquique  and 
Arica,  in  about  lat.  i8°28'  S.  at  about  5  p.m.,  on  August  13.  In 
Greenwich  time  this  would  be  about  13  h.  9  m.  40  s.,  August  13. 
The  arrival  of  the  wave  at  Hakodate  in  Greenwich  time  would  be 
about  14  h.  7  m.  6  s.,  August  14;  that  is  to  say,  the  wave  took 
about  24  h.  57  m.  to  travel  about  8700  miles,  which  gives  us  an 
average  rate  of  about  5 1 1  feet  per  second.  These  waves  were  felt 
all  pver  th^  Pacifig.     A^  the  Chathan)  islands  they  rushed  in  with 


Digitized  by 


Google 


954  Recent  Literature.  [November, 

such  violence  that  whole  settlements  were  destroyed.  At  the 
Sandwich  islands  the  sea  oscillated  at  intervals  often  minutes  for 
three  days." 

Comparing  this  wave  with  the  one  of  1877  we  see  that  one 
reached  Hakodate  with  a  velocity  of  5 1 1  feet  per  second,  whilst 
the  other  traveled  the  same  distance  at  $  12  feet  per  second 

Other  practical  problems  are  the  determination  of  earthquake 
origins  and  the  depth  of  an  earthquake  centrum,  discussed  in 
Chapters  x  and  xi.  From  Mallet's  calculations  the  greatest 
possible  depth  of  any  earthquake  shock  is  limited  to  about 
thirty  geographical  miles,  but  Milne  adds  that  the  origin  of 
the  Owen's  Valley  earthquake  of  March,  1872,  was  estimated 
(Amer.  Jour.  Sc,  1872)  as  being  at  least  fifty  miles  below  the 
surface. 

Under  the  head  of  distribution  of  earthquakes  in  space  and 
time,   reference  is  made  to  a  map  which  does  not  appear  in  our 


Fig.  4.-«r- Webber  House,  San  Francisco,  Oct.  21,  1868,  shoeing  the  effect  pn^ 
duced  on  an  end  building. 

copy  of  the  book.  As  an  example  of  the  vast  area  over  which  an 
earthquake  is  sensible,  that  of  Lisbon  in  1755  is  given,  which  was 
felt  over  an  area  of  3300  miles  long  and  2700  miles  wide,  "  but  in 
the  form  of  tremors  and  pulsations  it  may  have  shaken  the  whole 
globe/'  Earthquakes  chiefly  occur  in  volcanic  and  mountainous 
regions.  "  Looking  at  the  broad  features  of  the  globe,  we  see  on 
its  surface  many  vast  depressions.  Some  of  these  saucer-like  hol- 
lows form  land  surfaces,  as  in  Central  Asia.  The  majority  of 
these,  however,  are  occupied  by  the  oceans.  Active  volcanoes 
chiefly  occur  near  the  rim  of  the  hollows  which  have  the  steepest 
slopes.  The  majority  of  earthquakes  probably  have  their  origin 
on  or  near  the  bottom  of  these  slopes." 

As  to  the  frequency  of  earthquakes  Kluge*s  estimate  of  4620 
bptwe^H  the  ye^rs  185Q  and  ^857,  averaging  nearly  two  a  day,  is 


Digitized  by 


Google 


1 886.]  Recent  Literature.  -955 

thought  by  our  author  to  be  much  below  the  truth,  as  there  may 
be  perhaps  ten  and  perhaps  one  hundred,  it  being  impossible  to 
state  the  number  definitely. 

Milne  concludes,  after  a  leng^thy  discussion  of  the  facts,  that  the 
majority  of  earthquakes  are  due  to  explosive  efforts  at  volcanic 
foci.  "  The  greater  number  of  these  explosions  take  place  beneath 
the  sea,  and  are  probably  due  to  the  admission  of  water  through 
fissures  to  the  heated  rocks  beneath*  A  small  number  of  earth- 
quakes originate  at  actual  volcanoes.  Some  earthquakes  are  pro- 
duced by  the  sudden  fracture  of  rocky  strata  or  the  production  of 
faults.  This  may  be  attributable  to  stresses  brought  about  by 
elevatory  pressure.  Lastly  we  have  earthquakes  due  to  the  col- 
lapse of  underground  excavations." 

The  work  concludes  with  brief  chapters  on  earth  tremors,  earth 
pulsations  and  earth  oscillations. 

Wheeler's  Report  upon  the  Third  International  Geo- 
graphical Congress. — "  Better  late  than  never  "  is  the  adage 
which  enters  the  mind  upon  reading  that  the  congress,  the  pro- 
ceedings of  whicif  are  here  reported,  was  held  at  Venice,  Italy, 
during  the  last  half  of  the  calendar  year  1881.  As  these  geograph- 
ical congresses  are  heldr  every  five  years,  this  volume  just  escapes 
being  mistaken  for  a  forecast  of  the  foilrth  congress.  Represent- 
atives from  twenty-nine  nationalities,  embracing  three-fourths  of 
the  earth's  inhabitants,  were  present.  The  question  of  a  common 
initial  meridian  and  uniform  standard  time  seems  to  have  been  the 
most  prominent  matter  brought  before  the  attention  of  the  assem- 
bled geographers  and  explorers,  but  votes  were  taken  upon  forty- 
seven  questions.  Among  these  were  the  exact  trigonometrical 
determination  of  the  position  of  light-houses,  the  establishment  of 
subordinate  meteorological  stations  to  connect  polar  stations  with 
those  in  middle  latitudes ;  the  desirability  of  registering  the  super- 
ficial temperature  of  the  soil;  the  compilation  of  a  universal  pho- 
netic alphabet;  the  representation  of  mountains  (in  elementary 
atlases)  by  level  curves ;  the  fixation  of  a  universal  scheme  of 
coloration  for  different  heights,  depths,  and  kinds  of  soil,  and  the 
preparation  of  lists  of  the  explorers  of  each  country.  The  Ex- 
hibition was  held  in  seventy-four  rooms  in  the  royal  palace,  and 
was  attended  by  about  1 50,000  visitors. 

The  principal  part  of  the  volume  is  occupied  with  an  account 
of  the  Government  Land  and  Marine  Surveys  of  the  World,  com- 
mencing with  a  summary  of  the  origin,  organization,  administra- 
tion, functions,  history,  and  progress  of  these  surveys,  with  lists 
of  the  general  and  special  topographic  maps  published,  etc.  Capt. 
Wheeler  states  that  in  all  the  older  civilized  countries  the  topo- 
graphic survey  is  the  principal  one,  and  that  in  all  large  and  well 
organized  Governments  it  has  been  continuously  maintained  under 
military  administration.     No  such  survey  now  exists  in  the  United 


Digitized  by 


Google 


956  Recent  Literature.  [November, 

States.  The  topographic  and  geological  surveys  of  the  various 
countries  are  next  taken  up  separately,  commencing  with  Great 
Britain  and  its  colonies.  In  Asia  only  one  independent  country, 
Japan,  seems  to  have  topographic  and  geologic  surveys.  Those 
which  were  inaugurated  by  Brazil,  the  United  States  of  Colombia, 
Ecuador,  Peru,  Costa  Rica,  San  Salvador,  Guatemala,  and  Mexico 
were  all  stopped  at  the  date  of  the  writing  of  the  report.  The 
maps  include  one  of  the  world,  showing  the  areas  which  have  been 
trigonometrically  surveyed,  a  more  detailed  map  of  the  European 
surveys,  and  another  of  the  United  States,  and  several  sections 
from  the  topographic  maps  of  various  European  countries.  The 
advantages  of  the  various  methods  of  representing  relief  can  be 
studied  by  comparing  the  hachures  illuminated  by  oblique  light 
of  the  Swiss  atlas  with  those  illuminated  by  vertical  light  of  that 
of  Russia,  and  both  with  the  system  of  curves  adopted  in  the 
Spanish  survey.  The  section  from  Siegfried's  atlas  of  Switzerland 
gives  the  slighter  elevations  in  curves,  the  higher  in  hachures,  and 
fulfills  its  purpose  admirably.  In  the  maps  of  Saxony  curves  and 
crayon  shading  are  used,  while  in  that  of  France  five  colors  are 
used  in  combination  with  contour  lines.  There  is  unfortunately 
a  lack  of  references  to  enable  one  unversed  in  all  the  varieties  of 
topographic  representation  to  understand  them.  The  necessity 
of  a  consensus  on  the  subject  is  evident 

The  Morphogeny  of  the  Vertebral  Column  in  the  Amni- 
OTA.* — In  this  brochure  of  thirty  pages  Dr.  Baur  gives  a  historical 
review  of  the  opinions  of  anatomists  as  to  the  homologies  of  the 
vertebral  segments,  which  are  most  easily  distinguished  among 
the  Rhachitomous  Batrachia.  There  have  been  three  diflferent 
views  on  this  subject,  those  of  von  Meyer,  Cope  and  Gaudry. 
The  opinion  of  Gaudry  has  been  supported  by  Fritsch  and  Lydck- 
ker.  Von  Meyer  regarded  the  intercentrum  in  Archegosaurus 
as  an  inferior  vertebral  arch,  corresponding  below,  to  the  neural 
arch  above.  Cope  believed  it  to  be  a  distinct  body,  intercalated 
between  the  true  centra,  which  he  regarded  as  represented  by  the 
two  pleurocentra.  Gaudry  thought  that  the  pleurocentra  and  inter- 
centrum together  form  a  centrum,  and  he  therefore  names  Cope's 
intercentrum  "  hypocentrum."  Dr.  Baur  shows  Cope's  view  to 
be  the  correct  one  on  various  grounds.  Among  these  is  the 
double  bilateral  origin  of  the  true  centrum  in  Vertebra,  as  shown 
by  Miiller,  Roseberg,  Albrecht  and  Froriep. 

Die  Classen  u.  Ordnungen  des  Thierreichs  in  Wort  u. 
Bild;  von  J.  G.  Bronn ;  Reptilien,  fortgesetzt  von  Dr.  C.  K. 
Hoffman. — This  important  publication  is  progressing  in  its  various 
departments,  and  bids  fair  to  reach  an  early  completion.  Many 
of  its  departments  are  contributed  by  able  naturalists.     The  de- 

^Ueberdie  Morphogeniedtr  WirbehauU  dir  Amnioien.  Von  Dr.  Baur.  Biolc^isches 
CeiUralbUtt,  August,  1885. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


1 886.  ]  Recent  IjUetatute^  95 7 

partment  of  Reptilia  is  represented  by  a  considerable  amount  of 
matter  contributed  by  Dr.  Hoffmann.  The  anatomical  portion  of 
this  work  is  quite  thorough,  and  forms  a  valuable  text-book  of  the 
subject.  We  cannot  say  as  much  for  the  systematic  portion.  This 
has  been  written  on  the  principle  of  inserting  everything  without 
criticism.  There  has  been  no  consideration  of  evidence  as  to  a 
correct  representation  of  nature,  and  the  least  expressive  models 
have  often  been  selected.  No  attention  has  been  paid  to  questions 
of  synonyms ;  hence  the  same  genus  often  appears  under  different 
names,  occasionally  attributed  to  the  wrong  author.  This  portion 
of  the  work  should  have  been  confided  to  a  more  competent 
person. 

Recent  Books  and  Pamphlets. 

Smithy  S,  I. — Report  on  the  decapod  Crustacea  of  the  Albatross  dredgings  off  the 

the  east  coast  of  the  U.  S.  A.  in  1884,     Washington,  1886.     From  the  author. 
Hauer,  F.  R,  von — Annalen  des  K.   K.   Naturhistorischen  Hofmuseums,  Blind   I, 

Nos.  2,  3.     Wien,  1886,     From  the  editor. 
Forbes^  S,  A. — Bulletin  of  the  Illinois  State  Laboratory  of  Natural  History.    Studies 

on  the  contagious  diseases  of  insects.     1886.     From  the  author. 
Wacksmuih^  C,  and  Springer^  K — Revision  of  the  Palseocrinoidea.     Part  ill.  The 

classification  and  relations  of  the  brachiate  Crinoids,  etc.     Phila.,  1886.     From 

the  authors. 
Packard,  A.  5.— ZoOlogy  for  Colleges,    sth  edition.     H.  Holt  &  Co.,  New  York, 

1886.     $3.00. 

Briefer  Zodlogy.     3d  edition.     H.  Holt  &  Co.,  New  York,  1886.    ^1.40. 

Parker,  IV,  N, — Elements  of  the  comparative  anatomy  of  Vertebrates,  adapted  from 

the  German  of  Professor  R.  Wiedersheim.     Macmillan  &  Co.,  •1886.    From  the 

author. 
Lyman,  B.  5. — A  geological  trip  to  Yesso  in  1874.     From  the  amthon 
Soselli,  E, — II  Contrasto  fra  TAmore   e  la   Bellezza.     Milano,   1886.     From  the 

author. 
Dawson,  J.  fV, — Handbook  of  Zoology.    Montreal,  1886.     From  the  author. 
Walker^  J,  Af.,  Mrs. — Letters  from  a  mother  to  a  mother  on  children's  teeth.    1885. 

From  the  author. 
Herrick,  C,  L. — Bull,  of  the  Denison  Scientific  Laboratories.     The  Evening  Gros. 

beak;  Metamorphosis  and  morphology  of  certain  Phyllopods;  Notes  on  Amer- 
ican Rotifers.     From  the  author. 
Merriman,  Af, — Rep.  of  the  progress  of  the  geodetic  triangulation  of  Pennsylvania. 

1885.     From  the  author. 
Mell,  P.  H, — Rep.  of  the  Alabama  weather  service,  Aug.  1886.     From  the  author. 
Pilsbry,  H,  A, — Description   of  a  new   Hydrobia.     Rep.  Davenport  A.  N.  S.,  Vol. 

V.     From  the  author. 
Parker,  W,  K, — On  the  structure  and  development  of  the  skull  in  the  Mammnlia. 

Part  II.  Edentata.     Part  ill.  Insecttvora.     From   Philos.  Trans.  R.  S.,  1885. 

From  the  author. 
Errera,  Z.— >  Sur  Pexistence  du  glycogene  dans  la  levure   de  biere.     From  the 

author. 
Schlosser,  M. — Pal&ontologische  Notizen.    Ueber  der  Creodonta.    From  the  author. 
Lesley,  J,  P, — ^The  ongin  and  distribution  of  the  Delaware  and  Chester  Kaolin  de. 

posits. ' 

Report  on  the  Cornwall  iron  ore  mines.     1886. 

— — 7R9-§urvey  of  the  Pittsburg  coal  regions.     All  from  the  author. 

Ashbumer,  C.  A.,  Hill,  F.  A.,  and  Lewis,  H,  C, — ^Notes  on  the  Quatemaigr .geology 

of  the  Wyoming- Lackawanna  valley. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


958  Recent  Literature.  [November, 

Aihhutntr^  C,  ^.—Second  rep.  of  prog,  in  the  anthracite  coal  regions.  Part  ii. 

Report  on  the  Wyoming  valley  limestone  beds.     Both  from  the  author. 

ffeilprin.  A, — Fossils  of  the  Wyoming  valley  limestone. 

Lesquereux,  L, — The  vegetable  origin  of  coal.    From  the  author. 

Jasirowt  y. — On  small  differences  of  sensation.     Nat.  Acad.  Sci.,  Vol.  ill.     Frnn 

the  author. 
Sargtnt^  F.  Z. — Guide  to  the  recognition  of  the  princl^  orders  of  Cryptogams. 

Cambridge,  1886,  C.  W.  Sever.     From  the  publisher. 
Lydekker^  R. — Catalogue  of  the  fossil  Mammalia  in  the  British '  Museum,  Pnrt  in, 

1886.    From  the  trustees  Brit  Mus. 
Riliy,  C.  K— The  mulberry  silkworm.     1886.    Bull.  U.  S.  Dept  Agric. 

Report  of  the  entomologist.     1886.    U.  S.  Dept.  Agric. 

Rep.  on  the  cotton-worm  and  boILworm,     1885.    All  from  the  author. 

Smithscnian  /ffj/.— -Annual  report  of  the  board  of  regents,  1884. 

Baur^  G. —  Ueber  die  Morphogenie   der  Wirbelsflule  der  Amnioten.     From  the 

author. 
Hall,  G.  S,,  and  /asirow, /, — Studies  of  rhythm.     From  the  authors. 
Da//,  H^.  //,-~Ust  of  marine  MoUusca.    Bull.  U.  S.  Geol.  Surr.,  No.  24.   From  the 

author. 
Barnes,  P. — The  present  technical  condition  of   the  steel  industry  of  the  U.  & 

Bull.  U.  S.  Geol.  Surv.,  No.  25.     From  the  author. 
Howe,  H.  A/.— Copper  smelting.     Bull.   U.  S.   Geol.   Snrv.,  No.  26.     From  the 

author. 

Kedtie,!.  H. — Solar  heat,  gravitation  and  sun  spots.     S.  C.  Griggs  &  Co.,  Chicago, 

1806.    From  the  publishers. 
ComstocJk,  T.  ^.— The  geology  and  vein-structure  of  S.  W.  Colorado.     Ext.  Trans. 

A.  Min.  Eng.,  1886.    From  the  author. 
Crosby,  W,  O, — Notes  on  joint  structure. 

—Colors  of  soils.     Ext  P.  Bost  S.  N.  H.,  1885.     From  the  author. 
Lang/ey,  S.  P, — On  hitherto  unrecognized  wave-lengths.    Ext  Amer.  Jour.   Sd., 

1886.     From  the  author. 
Smith,  £,  A.,  A/drich,  T,  ff.,  and  Meyer,  O,  — Geological  Survey  of   Alabama. 

1886.     From  O.  Meyer. 
Hunt,    T,   S* —  A  natural  system  of  mineralogy.     Boston,  Cassino.     From   the 

author. 
Newton,  H,  A, — Meteorites,  meteors  and  shooting  stars.    Science  Supplement,  Aug., 

1886.     From  the  author. 
Morse,  E,  S. — Ancient  and  modem  methods  of  arr^w  release. 
Bou/enger,  G.  A,  —  Description  of  a  new  Gecko  of  the  genus  Nephrums.    Ext. 

Ann.  and  Mag.  N.  H.,  1886. 

Description  of  a  new  iguanoid  lizard.     Ext.  P.  Z.  S.,  1886. 

Remarks  on  specimens  of  Rana  arva/is,    Ext.  P.  Z.  S.,  1886.    All  from  the 

author. 
Lutken,  C. — Antikritiske  Bemaerkninger  i  Anledning  af  Kaempe-Dovendyr-Slaeg- 

ten  Coelodon.     1886.    From  the  author. 
Conn,  H,  W, — Life-history  of  Thalassema.     Stud.  Biol.  Lab.  Johns  Hopk.  Univ., 

1886.     From  the  author. 
Lampert,  JC. — Die  Holothurien  von  SUd-Geoigien,  1886.     From  the  author. 
Jatnes,  y.  F. — On  a  recent  synonym  in  the  paheontology  of  the  Cincinnati  group. 

The  geology  of  Cincinnati.    Ext.  Cin.  Soc.  N.  H.,  1886.   Both  from  the  author. 

Ca//,  £,,  and  Pi/sbry,  H,  A, — On  Pyrgulopsis,  a  new  rissoid  mollusk.     Ext.  Proc. 

Dav.  A.  N.  H.,  Vol.  v.    From  the  authora. 
Swan,  C,  H.,  et  a/--Comparative  size  of  metric  and  old  units  with  referendb  to  con- 

veAieace.    i88d. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


1 886,]  Recent  Literature.  9S9 

EvemtanHy  B.  W. — A  list  of  tbe  fishes  of  Rockville,  Franklin  county,  Ind. 

List  of  fishes  collected  in  Harvey  and  Conley  counties,  Kansas. 

A  list  of  the  birds  observed  in  Ventura  county,  Cal.     All  from  the  author. 

U.  S.  Fish  Commission — Report  for  1883.     Washington,  1885. 

Peirce,  C.  Al— -Function,  its  evolution  and  influence.     1886.     From  the  author. 

£vermann,  B,  IV.,  and  Meek^  S.  E. — A  revision   of  the  American   species  of  the 

genus  Genres.     Repr.  P.  A.  N.  S.  Phila.,  1 886.     From  the  authors. 
Putnam,  F,  IV.,  et  a/— Eighteenth  and  nineteenth  annual  reports  of  the  Peabody 

Museum  of  Amer.  Archaeology  and  Ethnology,  1886.     From  the  curator. 
Rokon^  J,  v.,  and  Ziitel^  K.  A.  v. — Ueber  Conodonten.     A.  d.  Sitz.   d.  k.  bayr. 

Akad.  d.  Wiss.,  Munchen,  1886.    From  the  author. 
Marshall,  M.,  Nard,  Af.,  and  Beard,  y.,  et  a/— Studies  from  the  Biological  Labora- 
tories of  the  Ovirens  College.     Manchester,  England,  1886.     From   Professor 

Marshall. 
Monks,  Miss — ^The  trap-door  spider.  Ext.  report  Historical  Soc.  S.  California,  i886. 

From  the  author. 
Potts,  E. — Fresh- water  sponges  from  Newfoundland.   Ext  P.  A.  N.  S.  Phila.,  1886. 

From  the  author. 
Leclerq,/. — La  Terre  des  Merveilles.     Paris,  1886.    From  the  author. 
Pelseneer,  ^. — Notice  sur  mollusques  recueillis  par  M.  le  Capitaine  Storms  dans  la 

region  du  Tanganyka.     Ext.  Bull.  d.  Mus.  Roy.  Belg.,  1886. 
Trouessart,  M. — Sur  la  presence  de  Ricins  dans  le  tuyau  des  plumes  des  Oiseaux. 

Ext.  Comptes  Rendus,  1886.     From  the  author. 
Eigenmann,  C.  H. — A  review  of  the  American  Gasterosteidse.  *   Ext.  P.  A.  N.  S. 

Phila.,  1886.     From  the  author. 
Wolterstorff,  W. — Ueber  fossile  FrOsche  insbesondere  das  genus  Palseobatrachus. 

Sep.  a.  d.  Jahr.  d.  Naturwiss.  Vereins,  Magdeburg,  1885.     From  the  author. 
IVUl,  L, —  Oogenetische  Studien.     i.  Die  Entstehung  des   Eies  von  Colymbetes 

fuscus.     Sep.-abd.  a.   Zeits.  f.  Wissensch.   Zool.,  Leipzig,  1886.     From  the 

author. 
Schlosser,  M. — Beitrflge  zur  Kenntniss  der  Stammgeschichte  der  Hufthiere  und  Ver* 

sucheiner  S3rstematik  der  Paar-  und  Unpaarhufer.     Munchen,  1886.     From  the 

author. 
Albrecht^  P. — Sur  la  place  morphologique  de  I'hoipme  dans  la  s^rie  des  mammif&res, 

1886.     Frdm  the  author. 
"  Herr  Paul  Albrecht  zum  letzten  Male."  Aus  d.  Sitz.  d.  Wttrzburger  Phys.-med. 

GestU.,  1886. 
^— Vogelschnabel  and  Sftugethterlippe  aus  d.  Fortschritte  der  Medicin.     1886. 

Ueber  die  morphologische  Bedeutung  von  Penischists,  Epi-  und  Hypospadia. 

Ueber  den  morphologischen  Werth  Uberzahliger  Finger  und  Zehen.     Sep.^bd. 

a.  d.  Centralblatt  fur  Chirurgie,  1886. 
— ^Ueber  den  morphologischen  Sitz  der  Hasenscharten  Kieferspalte.     A.  d.  Bio- 

logischen  Centralblatt,  1886. 
Ueber  die  Vorderflosse  von  Protopterus  annectens.     Sitz.  d.  k.  preus  Ak.  d. 

Wissensch.    AH  from  the  author. 
Wiley,  H.  W. — ^The  economical  aspect  of  agricultural  chemistry.    Address  delivered 

before  the  A.  A.  A.  S.,  Buffalo,  1886. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


960  General  Notes.  [November, 

GENERAL  NOTES. 
QEOaRAPHY   AND   TRAVELS.' 

General. — In  a  recent  number  of  the  Mittheilungen  of  the 
Geographical  Society  of  Vienna,  Dr.  Penck  takes  issue  with  the 
usually  accepted  proportions  of  land  and  water  (i  to  2.76),  assert* 
ing  that  the  unknown  regions  around  the  poles  are  too  extensive 
to  permit  of  any  reasonable  approach  to  accuracy  in  this  respect 

M.  Rambaud  gives  the  extent  and  population  of  the  French 
colonies,  or  rather  possessions.  Including  Tonkin  and  Mada- 
gascar, these  comprise  about  1,800,000  square  kilometers,  and 
about  twenty-four  and  a  half  millions  of  people.  In  this  total  the 
population  of  the  French  Congo  possessions  is  not  included,  and 
Tonkin  is  credited  with  only  12,000.000  of  inhabitants.  The  com- 
merce with  these  colonies  was,  in  1883,  about  91 5,000,000  of  francs. 

Major  Feilden.  naturalist  of  the  Arctic  expedition  of  1S75-76, 
has  given  in  his  adhesion  to  the  belief  that  through  the  secular  cool- 
ing of  our  planet  the  poles  became  first  fitted  for  the  rec4>tion  of 
life ;  that  in  Palaeozoic  times  the  north  pole  possessed  a  climate 
at  least  as  warm  as  that  now  experienced  at  the  equator,  and  that 
during  the  Miocene  period  the  temperature,  though  gradually 
cooling,  supported  a  flora  which  spread  southwards. 

America. — TheXingu, — Petermann's  Mittheilungen  (Nos.  5  and 
6)  contains  a  full  account,  with  maps,  of  the  German  Xingu  expe- 
dition of  1884.  The  Xingu  is  formed  by  the  union  of  three  large 
rivers :  the  Kuliseii,  the  Ronuro  and  the  Batovy,  the  last  of  which 
falls  into  the  Ronuro  a  little  above  its  confluence  with  the  Kali- 
seii,  which  may  be  considered  the  main  stream.  The  expedition 
descended  the  Batovy,  which  flows  in  numerous  bends  through  a 
flat  country,  but  is  intersected  by  many  rocky  strata  forming 
rapids.  After  the  confluence  the  Xingu  flows  through  a  level 
country  till  it  reaches  10°  S.  lat.  Here  it  enters  granite  hills  and 
forms  the  Martius  cataract.  From  10°  to  3^  the  Xingu  receives 
only  two  important  affluents,  both  from  the  left.  At  3°  40'  begins 
the  great  bend  of  the  Xingu,  the  cataracts  upon  which  were  explored 
by  Prince  Adalbert  of  Prussia  in  1842-43.  Within  this  bend  the 
river  falls  260  feet.  At  its  confluence  with  the  Amazons  the* 
Xingu  is  a  mighty  stream  nearly  five  miles  wide.  The  different 
branches  of  the  Xingu  are  inhabited  by  no  less  than  eighteen  dif- 
ferent Indian  tribes,  though  the  total  population  does  not  exceed 
2,000.  The  Suya  Indians  live  in  beehive-shaped  houses  with  a 
diameter  of  thirty-three  feet. 

American  Ntsvs, — Lake  Tahoe  is  dethroned  from  its  position 
as  the  deepest  lake  upon  the  continent.  Captain  Dutton  having 
found  a  depth  of  1996  feet  in  Crater  lake,  Oregon.  The  aver- 
age depth  is  about  1 490  feet.     The  shores  of  this  lake  are  very 

^  Tkis  department  is  edited  by  W.  N.  Lockington,  Philadelphia. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


1 886.]  Geography  aitd  Travels  961 

precipitous,  and  the  same  rapid  descent  continues  below  the 
water,  so  that  depths  of  fifteen  to  eighteen  hundred  feet  are  found 
all  around  the  margin.     It  had  been  previously  sounded  by  Capt. 

G.  M.  Wheeler,  U.  S.  Engineers. M.  Charnay  has,  during  his 

last  season  of  exploration  in  Yucatan,  discovered  the  remains  of 
a  town  called  Ek  Balam,  or  the  city  of  the  black  tiger.  Also, 
upon  an  island  about  eight  leagues  north  of  Campeachy,  he  found 
a  Maya  burial  ground  which  had  never  before  been  visited  by  a 
man  of  science. 

Africa. — Mozambique, — ^The  Portuguese  are  aiding  to  fill  up 
some  of  the  gaps  upon  the  map  of  Africa.  An  expedition  to  the 
gold  mines  of  Marica,  worked  at  a  time  of  which  no  records  have 
reached  us,  has  resulted  not  only  in  the  formation  of  a  new  town, 
Villa  Gouveia,  but  in  theexploration  of  the  lower  course  of  the  Aru- 
angua  or  Pungue,  which  proves  to  be  navigable  for  a  considerable 
distance,  as  are  also  the  Revue  and  fiuzi,  the  conjoined  streams 
of  whicji  enter  the  ocean  slightly  to  the  south  of  the  Pungue. 
There  appears  to  be  a  channel  connecting  the  Pungue  with  the 
Inhandue,  the  tributary  of  the  Zambezi  upon  which  the  new  town 
is  situated.  Lake  Sungue,  which  varies  much  in  size  according 
to  the  season,  discharges  by  the  Urema  into  the  Pungue,  while 
the  Mucua  connects  it  with  the  Zangue  or  lower  course  of  the 
Inhandue. 

A  tolerably  full  description  of  the  Comoro  islands  is  contained 
in  the  Revue  Scientifique  (August  7).  The  religion  is  Moham- 
medan, and  the  people  a  mixture  of  Arabs  and  Caffres,  with  Mad- 
agascans,  etc.  The  largest  island,  Great  Comoro  or  Angazia,  has 
a  superficies  of  1 100  kilometers.  Moheli  is  the  smallest  but  most 
fertile  of  the  group;  Anjouan  has  the  best  harbor  and  is  most  fre- 
quented by  Europeans,  and  Mayotte,  or  Mahore,  the  most  south- 
ern and^western  of  the  archipelago,  belongs  to  France. 

Petermann's  Mittheilungen  (July)  contains  an  account  of  the  Ger- 
man expedition  of  1884-85  to  Angra  Pequefia,  or  Luderitzland. 
The  immediate  neighborhood  of  the  settlement  is  described  as  a 
dreary  spot  where  there  is  scarcely  any  living  thing  but  snakes 
and  lizards.  A  short  distance  to  the  north  are  extensive  dunes 
I'eaching  a  height  of  500  meters.  The  interior  does  not  appear  to 
be  much  better.  River  beds  are  dry  even  in  winter.  Snakes,  scor- 
pions and  beetles  seem  to  have  been  the  most  noticeable  objects. 
Aus  and  Gubub,  east  of  i6®  E.  long,  and  about  26°  40'  S.  lat.,  are 
the  highest  points  of  this  part  of  Africa,  the  level  falling  to  the 
south  towards  Orange  river.  /The  scenery  here  consists  entirely 
of  barren  table-mountain,  between  which  and  the  ocean  extends  a 
broad  sandy  plateau.  Further  to  the  south  a  grassy  region  was 
found.  Dr.  Pohle  reports  an  entirely  negative  result;  the  want  of 
rain-fall  and  lack  of  drinking  water  unfit  the  district  for  colonization ; 
minerals  are  few,  and  vegetation  is  so  scarce  that  man  and  beast 
c6uld  scarcely  be  Ice^t  a'live!   -       -•        •• 

It  has  been  proven  that  workable  deposits  of  petroleum  exist 


Digitized  by 


Google 


962  General  Notes.  [November, 

on  the  Egyptian  shore  of  the  Red  sea.  The  material,  which  has 
lost  its  more  volatile  components,  is  found  at  the  level  of  the  sea 
upon  piercing  the  recent  coral  formation  of  the  foreshore.  CoL 
Ardagh  believes  that  the  source  of  the  petroleum  is  in  the  older 
limestone  beneath  the  coral. 

M.  Aubry,  during  his  visit  to  Shoa  in  1883-84,  surveyed  the 
source  of  the  Hawash  and  its  course  for  about  190  miles,  and  also 
surveyed  the  Mugueur,  a  tributary  of  the  Blue  Nile. 

Europe. — Surveys  in  the  Pyrenees, — Recent  surveys  in  the  Pyre- 
nees, by  M.  Schrader,  aided  by  the  explorations  of  Dr.  Jaubemat, 
have  proved  the  existence  of  a  lake,  the  largest  on  the  northern 
slope  of  the  Pyrenees,  in  a  gap  between  two  chains  of  peaks,  which, 
approached  from  opposite  sides,  had  previously  been  supposed  to 
be  identical.  M.  Schrader  states  that  on  the  south  and  south-east 
of  the  Aran  valley  are  several  ranges,  nearly  10,000  feet  high,  that 
*  are  unnoted  on  any  geographical  map.  The  Aran  valley  is  trib- 
utary to  the  Garonne. 

Asia. — Burmah. — ^The  August  issue  of  the  Proceedings  of  the 
Burmah  Geographical  Society  contains  an  interesting  account  of 
Burmah,  the  country  and  people,  by  Mr.  J.  A.  Bryce.  The  topog- 
raphy of  the  region,  the  physical  and  other  characteristics  of  the 
races  which  inhabit  it,  the  productions  and  climate,  and  the  present 
status  of  the  various  nationalties,  are  discussed.  Mr.  Bryce  fears 
that  the  Burman,  in  spite  of  that  vigor  which  has  enabled  him  to 
continue  dominant  for  two  thousand  years,  will  succumb  to  the 
more  energetic  Shans  and  Kakhyens  (Singphos),  now  that  his 
empire  has  been  put  an  end  to  by  the  British.  The  Burmese 
occupy  the  upper  part  of  the  Irawadi  delta,  the  upper  valley  of 
the  Sittang,  a  narrow  space  on  each  side  of  the  Irawadi  in  Upper 
Burmah,  and  the  Moo  valley,  between  the  Irawadi  and  the 
Kyendwin.  The  Talaings  still  form  the  bulk  of  the  population 
in  the  delta  of  the  Irawadi  and  Sittang.  The  Talaings  are  smaller, 
plumper,  fairer  and  less  hard-featured  than  the  Burmese,  while 
the  Shans  are  bigger  and  stouter  than  the  dominant  race.  Mr. 
Bryce  puts  the  total  population  at  seven  and  a  half  millions,  about 
half  of  them  Burmese. 

7he  Drying  up  of  Siberian  Lakes,  —  The  rapid  drying  up  of 
the  lakes  of  the  Aral-Caspian  region  is  not  limited  to  the 
two  great  lakes  which  give  their  names  to  it  M.  Yadrintseff, 
in  the  Izvestia  of  the  St.  Petersburg  Geographical  Society, 
gives  two  maps,  one  representing  a  group  of  Siberian  lakes, 
according  to  a  survey  made  in  1784,  the  other  giving  the 
same  lakes  as  they  appeared  in  181 3, 1820,  1850.  i860,  and  finally 
in  1880.  The  group  consisted  of  three  large  lakes,  Tchany 
(the  largest),  Sumy,  and  Abyshkan,  and  the  small  lake  Moloki, 
between  Abyshkan  and  Tchany.  The  latter  lake  has  greatly 
dwindled  since  1784.    Lake  Moloki  has  diminished  from  twenty 


Digitized  by 


Google 


1 886.]  Geology  and  Palaantotogy.  963 

miles  in  length  to  three ;  and  Lake  Abyshkan,  in  the  early  part  of 
the  century  forty  miles  from  north  to  south  and  seventeen  from 
east  to  west,  is  reduced  to  three  small  ponds,  the  largest  scarcely 
a  mile  and  a  half  wide.  Another  lake,  Tchebakly,  which  in  1784 
was  forty  miles  by  thirty,  is  also  now  reduced  to  three  ponds,  the 
largest  less  than  two  miles  across. 

Among  the  results  of  the  New  Zealand  earthquake  are  the  addi- 
tion of  300  feet  to  the  height  of  Mount  Tarawera, and  the  subsidence 
of  the  beautiful  Lake  Rotomahana,  which  is  transformed  into  an 
expanse  of  seething  mud.  Its  renowned  terraces  are  reported  to 
be  destroyed.  Large  areas  are  covered  with  volcanic  dust  and 
mud.  Lake  Rotomahana  was  the  wonderland  of  the  volcanic 
belt  of  the  North  island,  as  it  was  surrounded  with  terraces  of 
silica  from  which  issued  hot  springs  and  geysers. 

The  Transcaspian  railway  was,  on  the  14th  day  of  July,  opened 
for  traffic  as  far  as  Merv.  The  entire  length  of  the  line  to  Sam- 
arcand  will  be  1335  versts,  or  890  miles.  Three  hundred  versts 
of  this  is  in  Bokharan  territory.  Between  Michailovsk,  on  the 
Caspian,  and  Samarcand,  there  are  in  all  sixty-three  stations,  sev- 
eral of  which  have  to  be  supplied  with  water  by  pipe-lines  or 
water-:trains,  while  others  are  provided  with  artesian  wells. 

Mr.  H.  O.  Forbes  has  returned  to  New  South  Wales.  He  was 
unable  to  ascend  the  Owen  Stanley  range,  but  reached  a  point 
sixty-five  miles  from  Port  Moresby. 

GEOLOGY  AND  PAZJEONTOLOGY. 

A  Remarkable  Extinct  Geyser  Basin  in  S.  W.  Colorado.^ — 
In  many  features  the  Yellowstone  National  Park  region  is  closely 
paralleled  by  several  other  districts.  In  its  geography,  and  to  a 
large  degree  in  its  geognosy,  it  does  not  materially  differ  from 
a  portion  of  the  country  adjacent  to  the  elevated  "pinnacle," 
which  parts  the  waters  of  the  Rio  Grande,  the  Arkansas  and  the 
Colorado.  As  early  as  1879,  my  own  femiliarity  with  the  former 
area  led  me  to  the  detection  of  traces  in  Southern  Colorado  of 
the  same  action  which  has  marked  the  later  stages  of  volcanic 
decadence  in  the  park.  Afterwards,  from  month  to  month,  evi- 
dences of  this  nature  multiplied  from  further  researches,  until  in 
1882  it  was  safe  to  announce  that  a  considerable  portion  of  the 
San  Juan  mining  region  is  covered  by  the  deposits  from  ancient 
thermal  springs.^  At  this  time  the  peculiar  bonanzas  of  the  Red 
Mountain  district  began  to  receive  attention,  and  the  predictions 
of  the  writer,  based  upon  the  foregoing  conclusions,  were  invari- 
ably verified  in  the  exploitation  of  the  mines.  But  the  develop- 
ment of  the  ore-bodies  and  much  more  detailed  examination  of 

^Read  before  Section  E.,  A.  A.  A.  S.,  Buffalo  Meeting,  1886. 

'  Notes  on  the  geology  and  mineralogy  of  San  Juan  county,  Colorado,  by  Theo.  B. 
Comstock.  Published  in  Trans.  American  Institute  of  Mining  Engineers,  Vol.  xi, 
pp.  165-191  {^wUh  map). 


Digitized  by 


Google 


964  General  Notes.  [November, 

the  area  in  question,  revealed  other  and  more  interesting  facts 
concerning  the  growth  of  the  lodes  in  this  restricted  area.  It 
soon  became  evident  that  the  extremely  peculiar  topography  of 
the  country  at  the  head  of  Red  creek,  in  Ouray  county,  could  have 
been  produced  only  by  the  accumulative  action  of  numerous  enor- 
mous geysers,  far  more  effective  than  those  to-day  at  work  in  the 
Yellowstone  Park,  though  occupying,  perhaps,  a  less  extensive 
basin.  Probably,  however,  not  a  little  of  the  area  over  which  the 
hot  spring  deposits  can  be  traced,  may  have  been  the  seat  of  im- 
portant geysers.  In  fact,  there  are  reasons  for  making  this  state- 
ment  more  definite,  but.  it  will  be  best  to  confine  ourselves  to 
what  can  be  clearly  described  in  a  few  words,  without  considera- 
tion of  nice  structural  details. 

The  upper  valley  of  Red  creek  is  thickly  studded  with  mounds 
of  varying  size,  but  not  widely  different  in  form.  All  these  are 
more  or  less  closely  connected  with  the  present  (or  compara- 
tively recent)  local  drainage,  which  is  also  bounded  at  irregular 
intervals  by  dry  pits  and  pools  of  cold  water  quite  similar  to  the 
bowls  of  existing  hot  springs  in  other  localities.  The  remarkable 
characteristics  of  this  basin  are  the  number  and  the  magnitude  of 
the  mounds  and  the  total  absence  of  active  thermal  springs,  not- 
withstanding the  existence  of  such  in  localities  not  far  distant,  as 
at  Ouray.  The  altitude  of  the  district  is  from  about  9500  feet  to 
12,000  feet,  whereas  few,  if  any,  of  the  present  hot  water  bowls 
are  known  above  6500  feet,  hereabouts. 

The  canon  of  Red  creek  is  undoubtedly  not  one  wholly  of 
aqueous  erosion,  but  the  drainage  has  been  induced  in  part  by 
seismic  action,  modified  in  an  interesting  manner  by  glacial  scor- 
ings and  subsequent  diluvial  deposition.  The  Red  Mountain 
geyser  area,  as  we  may  designate  this  tract,  is  now  topograph- 
ically restricted,  as  here  indicated,  almost  wholly  to  the  upper 
portion  of  this  interesting  canon,  but  it  may  t>e  really  separated 
into  three  well-marked  basins,  which  formerly  fed  as  many  sepa- 
rate affluents  of  the  main  stream.  Two  of  these  are  proven  to  be 
metalliferous,  while  the  third  is  almost  unexplored,  though  giving 
indications  of  similar  character,  but  less  promising  perhaps. 

The  geyser  areas  do  not  seem  to  extend  beyond  the  region  of 
maximum  intensity  of  the  volcanic  action  in  the  rhyolytic 
period,  and  the  ore-bodies  all  furnish  evidence  of  secondary  re- 
actions taking  place  in  the  line  of  a  prominent  fault-fissure  of  that 
age.  All  along  this  course  over  a  considerable  breadth  of  terri- 
tory, the  remains  of  extinct  thermal  springs  are  (recognizably) 
most  abundant,  but  the  geyser  character  is  not  noticeable  &r 
towards  the  north  or  south  of  Red  peak. 

The  transformations  in  the  vein  material,  the  aggregation  of 
the  ores  into  bonanzas  (as  at  the  Yankee  Girl,  Alaska  and  Old 
Lout  mines,  among  others)  with  the  very  remarkable  distribution 
of  minerals  in  I  he  lodes,  are  but  a  few  of  the  intensely  interesting 


Digitized  by 


Google 


l886.]  Geology  and  Palmoniology,  965 

details  which  can  be  there  studied  to  the  best  advantage.  Much 
that  is  there  revealed  has  already  thrown  new  light  upon  the 
origin  and  life-history  of  metalliferous  deposits,  but  I  cannot  now 
touch  upon  these  topics.^  The  gigantic  geyser-mounds  are  in 
themselves  of  marked  interest,  not  only  from  their  great  size  and 
external  configurations,  but  also  on  account  of  their  internal 
structure  as  proven  by  the  excavations  made  in  some  of  them  for 
mining  purposes.  The  American  Belle,  Grand  Prize  and  other 
mines  were  opened  directly  in  mounds  of  this  nature,  and  (as  in 
many  other  cases  where  only  ordinary  thermal  springs  probably 
existed)  caverns  were  invariably  entered  after  passing  through  an 
outer  shell  of  considerable  thickness.  In  nearly  all  of  these  some 
connection  with  the  surface  was  traceable  by  following  the  tracks 
of  woodchucks,  which  had  utilized  the  passages  as  domiciles. 
In  the  caverns,  which  are  sometimes  of  large  dimensions,  there  is 
usually  a  deposit  of  sulphuretted  ores,  with  allied  minerals,  with 
a  very  considerable  amount  of  yellow  and  red  material  resulting 
from  its  oxidation  and  the  production  of  carbonates. 

No  doubt  much  valuable  information  bearing  directly  upon  the 
life-history  of  the  geyser  may  yet  be  gathered  from  detailed 
studies  in  this  district.  But  little  real  exploration  underground 
has  yet  been  accomplished,  and  that  small  amount  is  but  par- 
tially known  to  those  who  can  make  the  best  use  of  it  for  scien- 
tific purposes.  All  that  the  writer  has  yet  observed  agrees  in  most 
essentials  with  what  may  be  seen  in  the  extinct  subterranean 
passages  at  Gardiner's  river,  Wyoming,  except  that  the  metal- 
liferous deposits  and  the  geyseritic  relics  are  peculiar  to  the  Red 
Mountain  area. — Dr.  Theo,  B,  Cotnstock^  Champaign^  Illinois. 

ScHLOSSER  ON  Creodonta  AND  Phenacodus.* — Dr.  Schlosser 
has  attacked  the  problem  of  the  Creodonta  with  his  accus- 
tomed skill,  and  has  thrown  the  additional  light  of  his  exten- 
sive acquaintance  with  mammalian  anatomy  on  the  subject. 
His  opinion  of  the  affinities  of  the  group  are  as  follows: 
He  regards  the  Creodonta,  with  Cope,  as  a  sub-order,  but  not 
lik^  him,  of  an  order  Bunotheria,  but  rather  with  Lydekker, 
of  the  order  Carnivora.  He  does  not  regard  them  as  an- 
cestral to  the  Carnivora,  but  as  having  had  a  common  ancestor 
with  that  order.  This  common  ancestor  he  derives  frpm  hy- 
pothetical Marsupialia  with  numerous  temporary  teeth.  He  ex- 
cludes from  the   Creodonta  the  Hyxnodontidae  and  Miacidae, 

^  The  writer  has  announced  these  discoveries  and  given  some  of  his  own  conclu- 
sions in  a  series  of  articles  puplished  in  the  Engineering  and  Mining  Journal,  1882- 
S4  inclusive,  (**  Distribution  of  San  Juan  county  Ores");  in  a  further  series  in  the 
Same  journal,  1884-86,  now  running  ("  Metallurgy  of  San  Juan  county  Ores  ");  also 
in  the  paper  previously  quoted  in  Trans.  Am.  Inst.  M.  E.,  and  at  greater  length  in 
the  same  Transactions,  May,  1886  (•*  Geology  and  Vein-Structure  of  S.  W.  Col ," 
with  four  maps). 

'  Ueber  das  Verhaltniss  der  Cope*schen  Creodonta  zu  den  iibrigen  Fleischfressem ; 
Morphologisches  Jahrbuch  1886,  p.  287,  von  Dr.  Max.  Schlosser. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


966  Genital  Notes.  [November, 

regarding  both  as  true  Carnivora;  the  former  on  account^  of  the 
supposed  scapholunar  bone  reported  by  Gervais,  the  latter  on  ac- 
count of  the  single  flesh-tooth.  He  restricts  the  Creodonta  to  those 
forms  which  have  two  flesh- teeth,  if  any.  From  the  Leptictidae 
he  excludes  the  genera  Leptictis,  Mesodectes,  and  Ictops,  placing 
them  in  the  Insectivora.  He  therefore  changes  the  name  Leptic- 
tidae  to  Proviverridae.  Schlosser  does  not  agree  to  the  intro- 
duction to  the  Creodonta  by  Cope  of  the  tritubercular  &milies 
usually  referred  to  the  Insectivora,  viz.,  the  Talpidae,  Chryso- 
chlorididas,  Centetidae,  Mythomyidae.  and  Tupaeidae ;  but  he  does 
not  give  his  reasons  for  this  view. 

The  following  remarks  may  be  made  on  the  above  positions  of 
Dr.  Schlosser.  The  supposition  that  Hyaenodon  possesses  a 
scapholunar  bone  has  been  shown  by  Professor  Scott  to  be  an  error, 
so  that  this  form  must  be  retained  in  the  Creodonta,  to  which  it  is 
connected  by  Pterodon.  Specimens  of  Miacidae  in  the  Princeton 
Museum  show  that  this  family  also  possessed  no  scapholunar 
bone.  This,  together  with  the  non-trochlear  astragalus  which  I 
have  described,  shows  that  the  Miacidae  must  also  be  referred  to 
the  Creodonta.  These  points  admitted,  it  becomes  much  easier  to 
believe  that  the  Carnivora  are  the  descendents 'of  Creodonta, 
through  the  Miacidae.  (The  supposed  connection  between  Oxyae- 
nidae  and  Felidae  I  denied  in  my  last  phylogeny  in  the  article  on 
Creodonta  in  the  American  Naturalist  for  1884.)  The  exclu- 
sion of  the  three  genera  above  named  from  the  Leptictidae,  (Pro* 
viverridae)  has  little  significance,  until  the  reasons  for  separating 
the  Creodonta  from  the  tritubercular  Insectivora  can  be  shown. 

Dr.  Schlosser's  representation  ol  my  phylogenetic  views  is  very 
inaccurate,  owing  to  a  misunderstanding  of  the  dates  of  publica- 
tion of  my  respective  papers.  The  oldest  of  these  is  the  Vol.  iii. 
Report  U.  S.  Geol.  Survey  Terrs.,  sent  to  press  in  1879,  ^^^ 
not  issued  until  February,  1885.  The  next  in  point  of  date  are  the 
illustrated  papers  on  extinct  Vertebrata,  issued  at  various  times  in 
the  American  Naturalist.  My  latest  phylogenetic  opinions, 
delivered  from  fuller  material  and  more  mature  reflection,  were 
published  in  a  paper  on  the  "  Evolution  of  the  Vertebrata,  Pro- 
gressive and  Retrogressive,"  in  the  February,  March  and  April 
numbers  of  the  American  Naturalist  for  1885.  In  the  last  of 
these  papers  the  Lemuroidea  are  separated  from  the  Bunotheria 
and  placed  in  the  Taxeopoda  near  the  Condylarthra,  to  which 
they  are  allied.  This  does  not  include  the  Mesodonta  (Pelyco- 
dus),  which  being  unguiculate,  remains  with  the  Bunotheria.  In 
the  above  paper  all  are  derived  from  carnivorous  Marsupialia, 
in  accordance  with  the  view  of  Haeckel's  "  Schopfungsge- 
schichte." 

Dr.  Schlosser  generously  acknowledges,  in  another  page,  the 
prior  indication  of  the  ancestry  of  the  Phenacodus  and  Hyraco- 
therium  of  the  horse  line  to  his  own,  by  Dr.  J.  L.  Wortman  in  the 


Digitized  by 


Google 


1 886.]  Geology  and  Paleontology,  967 

Revue  Scientifique,  Vol.  xxxi,  p.  705.  But  these  relations  had 
been  previously  pointed  out  by  myself;  that  of  Hyracotherium 
in  the  Palaeontology  of  the  Report  of  the  Survey  W.  of  the  looth 
meridian  in  1877;  and  that  of  the  Phenacodus  in  the  Proceeds. 
Amer.  Philos.  Soc.,  1881,  p.  178.* — R  D.  Cope. 

DoLLO  ON  Extinct  Tortoises.* -r  The  distinguished  Belgian 
anatomist,  M.  Louis  Dollo,  has  recently  published  two  important 
papers  on  extinct  tortoises  from  the  Eocene  formations  of  Bel- 
gium. The  theme  which  gave  rise  to  the  first  of  these,  is  the  de- 
scription of  a  new  genus  and  species  of  Chelydridae,  Fsiudo- 
trionyx  delheidi  DoUo.  In  preparing  to  do  this,  the  author  re- 
views the  classification  of  the  Testudinata  in  an  extremely 
able  manner.  He  adopts  the  system  of  Cope  in  the  main, 
and  in  giving  his  reasons  for  doing  so  makes  an  important 
contribution  to  the  subject.  He  differs  in  some  details  from  the 
author  of  that  system.  Thus  he  separates  Eurysternum  from 
the  Chelydridae  as  type  of  a  distinct  family,  because  it  possesses 
a  fontanelle  of  the  plastron ;  a  character  which  the  reviewer  does 
not  regard  as  of  family  value.  He  also  unites  the  Proplcuridai 
with  the  Cheloniidx,  but  as  we  shall  see,  he  reestablishes  it  as  a 
sub-family  in  the  second  paper  quoted,  without  apparently  being 
aware  of  the  fact. 

M.  Dollo  somehow  supposes  that  the  author  of  the  system  he 
adopts  regards  the  plastron  of  the  Testudinata  as  homologous 
with  the  sternum  of  other  Vertebrata,  and  also  that  the  names  he 
employs  for  the  elements  of  the  plastron  are  original  with  him. 
This  is  an  error.  The  terms  "  postabdominal/'  etc.,  were  introduced 
by  the  distinguished  English  anatomist,  W.  K.  Parker,  and  the  au- 
thor criticised  by  M.  Dollo,  has  stated  in  one  of  his  papers,  on 
which  I  cannot  at  this  moment  place  my  hand,  that  he  adopts  the 
Views  as  to  the  homologies  of  the  plastron,  held  by  that  authority. 
But  M.  Dollo  thinks  that  the  names  Dactylosterna,  Clidosterna 
and  Lysosterna  imply  the  erroneous  homology  with  the  sternum, 
and  should  therefore  be  charged.  He  then  names  thesedivisions 
Dactyloplastra,  etc.  Now  names  ought  not  to  be  changed  without 
better  reasons  than  those  offered  by  M.  Dollo,  for  the  well-known 
opprobrium  scientue  is  the  multitude  of  names.  Those  in  question 
were  not  given  under  an  erroneous  idea,  but  the  word  "  sterna  " 
was  used  figuratively,  just  as  it  is  in  many  genera  of  the  order. 
As  well  might  M.  Dollo  change  the  generic  names  Eury- 
sternum, Pleurosternum,  etc.,  into  Euryplastron,  Pleuroplastron, 
etc.     And  this  our  author  has  not  yet  done. 

The  plates  called  intergular  by  me  in  Baena  appear  to  me  to  be 
homologous  with  the  corresponding  plates  in  Pleurodira, although 

*  Also  in  Naturalist  for  1881,  p.  1017. 

'  Premiere  note  sur  les  Cheloniens  du  Bruxellien  de  la  Belgique;  (Bull.  Mus. 
Roy.  Belgique  1886,  p.  75).  Premier  Note  s.  1.  Cheloniens  Landeniens  de  la  Bel- 
gique; (1.  c.  1886,  p.  129). 

VOt,  XX.— NO.  XI.  64 


Digitized  by 


Google 


968  General  I^otes.  [November, 

M.  Dollo  thinks  not  and  finds  occasion  for  the  creation  of  a  new 
name.  Adocus,  another  Cryptodire  genus,  has  a  single  one  well 
developed. 

In  his  second  article  M.  Dollo  separates  certain  species  re- 
ferred by  Professor  Owen  to  the  genus  Chelonia,  as  representa- 
tives of  another  genus  which  he  names  Pachyrhynchus.  It  ]5 
characterized  by  the  underroofing  of  the  posterior  nares,  and  by 
the  great  extent  of  the  mandibular  symphysis.  He  regards  this 
character  as  requiring  the  creation  of  a  sub-family  of  the 
Cheloniidae,  the  Pachyrhynchinae.  The  present  writer  has, 
however,  described  the  same  characters  in  two  genera 
referred  by  him  to  the  Propleuridae  (Euclastes  and  Lyto- 
loma)  and  has  referred  to  one  of  the  European  species  {^Chebru 
planimentum  Owen — Pachyrhynchinae  Dollo)  as  presenting  this 
character.*  M.  Dollo's  genus  is  probably  one  of  the  Americaa 
forms,  and  his  Pachyrhynchinae  is  the  Propleuridae  Cope.  M. 
Dollo's  family  characters  are,  however,  better  than  those  given 
by  Cope. — E,  D,  Cope. 

Geological  News. — General. — M.  Steinman  recently  gave  to 
the  Swiss  Society  of  Natural  Sciences  an  account  of  his  explora- 
tions in  the  Southern  Cordillera.  The  fossil  fauna  and  flora  are 
almost  identical  with  those  of  European  formations.  The  Upper 
Trias,  Rhaetian,   Lias,  Jurassic  and  Cretaceous  are  well  repre- 

rented. Montpellier-le-Vieux,  a  city  of  eroded  rocks,  situated 

twelve  kilometers  from  Millau,  in  the  department  of  Aveyron, 
France,  seems,  according  to  a  note  of  M.  E.  A.  Martel,  to  be  in 
some  respects  even  more  wonderful  than  the  Garden  of  the  Gods 
or  Monument  Park.  A  mass  of  rocks,  sixty  to  eighty  meters  high, 
simulates  an  embattled  donjon,  and  is  called  the  citadel.  Around 
this,  five  depressions,  100  to  124  meters  deep,  seem  in  one  spot  to 
form  an  amphitheater,  in  another  a  necropolis,  in  another  part  air 
open  plaza,  and  s^ain  a  city  with  narrow  streets,  obelisks,  gates, 
etc.,  recalling  Pompeii,  Karnac  or  Persepolis.  The  whole  is  sur- 
rounded by  a  rocky  wall  exteriorly,  100  to  150  meters  high; 
ravines  passing  through  the  talus  of  this  simulate  ditches,  and 
outside  of  all  this  many  groups  of  ruined  rocks  constitute  a 

ceinture  of  detached  forts. J.  Stirling  has  recently  contributed 

to  the  Linnean  Society  of  New  South  Wales  a  paper  on  further 
evidences  of  glaciation  in  the  Australian  Alps.  The  author  and 
Dr.  Lendenfeld  found  erratics,  perched  blocks,  smoothed  surfaces 
and  old  moraines  upon  Mount  Bogong,  the  highest  mountain  in 
Victoria. 

Silurian. — M.  Hebert,  who  has  for  a  considerable  period  been 
occupied  with  the  study  of  the  most  ancient  sedimentary  rocks 
of  the  northwest  of  France,  has  come  to  the  conclusion,  that  io 
Northern  Brittany  and  Western  Normandy  the  vertical  slates 
(phyllades)  of  Saint  Lo  are  at  the  base,  while  upon  them  lie  the 

^  Transactipns  American  Philosophical  Society,  1870,  pp.  146-8. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


1 886.]  Geology  and  Palaontology.  969 

almost  horizontal  purple  conglomerates,  schists  and  red  sand- 
stones.  W.  S.  Ford  (Amer.  Jour.  Sci.  June,   1886)  describes 

Obolella  desiderata  Billings,  under  the  name  of  Billingsia,  on  ac- 
count of  peculiarities  of  the  ventral  valve  which  he  considers 

generic. A.  M.  Seely  (Amer.  Jour.  Sci.,  July)  describes  three 

new  species  of  sponges  of  the  genus  Strophochetus,  and  notes 
the  distribution  of  the  genus  through  the  Middle  Chazy. Pro- 
fessor N.  S.  Shaler  contributes  to  the  same  issue  an  account  of 
the  geology  of  Cobscook  Bay  district,  Maine.  The  uppermost 
beds  of  the  series  contain  fossils  which  he  refers  to  the  Devonian, 
possibly  to  the  Ohio  shale.  Below  these  are  beds  which  seem  to 
belong  to  the  Niagara  and  Clinton  horizons,  while  the  most 
numerous  list  of  fossils  seems  to  be  of  Lower  Helderberg  horizon. 
The  series  is  less  rich  in  organic  forms  than  that  of  the  St.  Law- 
rence or  of  Central  New  York.  The  land  area  of  this  fiord  region 
is  principally  occupied  by  intrusive  volcanic  rocks. 

Tertiary. — M.  Cotteau,  in  his  last  memoir  upon  fossil  Echini, 

enumerates  fifteen  species  of  Brissopsis. Mr.  Clement  Reid 

has  recently  studied  the  PKocene  deposits  at  Diest  and  Antwerp, 
after  which  he  examined  the  deposit  of  ironstone  at  Lenham, 
England,  the  fossils  in  which  were,  in  1857,  referred  to  the  Plio- 
cene by  Professor  Prestwich.  The  examination  resulted  in  a 
thorough  confirmation  of  Professor  Prestwich's  identification, 
which  had  been  disputed.  There  is  not  a  single  Eocene  species  ; 
with  two  or  three  exceptions  all  are  known  Pliocene  forms,  but 
many  are  represented  by  species  now  living  in  the  Mediterranean. 

Dr.  Otto  Meyer  contributes  to  the  Amer.  Jour.  Sci.,  July, 

1886,  some  observations  on  the  Tertiary  and  Grand  Gulf  strata  of 
Mississippi.  His  conclusions  are  (i)  that  in  no  place  can  Grand 
Gulf  strata  be  seen  in  superposition  over  the  marine  Tertiary ;  (2) 
•that  there  are  two  places  where  strata  undistinguishable  from 
Grand  Gulf  can  be  seen  overlaid  by  marine  Tertiary;  (3)  that  the 
Grand  Gulf  formation  is  mainly  not  marine;  (4)  that  a  thick  and 
extended  marine  green-sand  formation  with  a  Claibornian  fauna, 
approaching  the  Jacksonian,  is  found  in  Eastern  Mississippi. 

Post-tertiary. — M.  A.  Gaudry  recently  exhibited  to  the  Paris 
Academy  of  Sciences  a  reindeer's  antler  pierced  with  a  large  hole, 
and  covered  with  well-executed  carvings.  One  face  shows  two 
seals,  a  fish  (salmon  or  trout)  and  three  twigs  of  plants.  One  of 
the  seals  seems  to  be  P,  vitulina.  On  the  other  face  are  two  eel- 
like slender  animal  figures,  three  indeterminable  animals  (alike) 
and  an  insect.  This  fragment  of  the  reindeer  age  was  discovered 
by  M.  Poignon  in  the  Montgaudier  caves,  department  of  Cha- 

vente. A  valuable  paper  upon  the  post-Tertiary  elevation  of 

the  Sierra  Nevada,  as  shown  by  the  river  beds,  has  been  con- 
tributed by  Professor  Jos.  LcConte  to  the  American  Journal  of 
Science.     The  caiions  of  California,  c^it  far  belpw  the  ai)cient 


Digitized  by 


Google 


970  Girnral  Notes,  [November, 

river-beds,  are  correlated  with  the  features  of  the  plateau  region 
to  prove  a  great  elevation  which  was  permanent,  while  the  drift 
and  river  deposits  of  the  eastern  region  prove  subsidence  after 
Tertiary  times. 

BOTANY.* 

How  SHALL  Botany  be  taught  in  Agricultural  Colleges?— 
Numerous  factors  enter  into  the  problem,  such  as  the  size  of  the 
class,  the  age  and  preparation  of  the  students,  the  season  of  the 
year,  the  length  of  the  college  term,  the  probability  of  subsequent 
study,  the  means  of  illustrations  which  can  be  commanded  and 
many  other  similar  considerations.  All  of  those  factors  arc  so 
different  and  so  variously  combined,  that  a  method,  which  on  the 
whole  might  be  the  best  in  some  particular  case,  might  not  be 
the  best  in  any  other  case  whatever. 

Roughly  classified,  we  may  make  out  three  different  methods  of 
teaching  botany  now  in  vogue;  these  may  be  termed  the  text- 
book method,  the  lecture  method  and  the  laboratory  method. 

It  is  fashionable  now-a-days  to  decry  the  text-book  method  as 
altogether  out  of  date,  but  in  the  hands  of  a  competent  teacher  a 
good  text-book  is  a  most  valuable  aid.  The  lecture  method  is 
necessary  in  very  large  classes,  but  satisfactory  results  are  rarely 
reached,  even  with  the  aid  of  copious  means  of  illustration  and  a 
fairly  good  work  of  reference  in  the  hands  of  the  student.  Nor  is 
the  laboratory  method,  pure  and  simple,  altogether  free  from  ob- 
jection. Left  largely  to  himself  to  find  out  important  fects  in  re- 
gard to  the  specimens  he  is  given  to  study,  the  student  is  sure  to 
go  astray  and  waste  much  time,  a  loss  needless  and  inexcusable. 

A  judicious  combination  of  the  methods  named  would  in  all 
probability  secure  the  best  results  in  a  majority  of  cases. 

Let  me  suppose  the  class  to  number  from  thirty  to  forty,  com- 
posed of  young  men  of  average  attainments  and  abilit>'',  and  that 
from  three  to  five  hours  per  week  for  a  year  is  to  be  given  to  the 
subject.  A  desirable  time  for  beginning  the  work  of  instruction 
is  at  the  opening  of  the  winter  term,  which  in  most  colleges  is 
soon  after  New  Year's.  For  the  first  term  the  object  is  to  gain  a 
general  view  of  plants  and  plant-life.  The  basis  of  the  instruction 
should  be  lectures  or  talks,  occupying  a  part  of  the  hour,  which 
the  teacher  can  vary  according  to  the  needs  of  the  class.  An  ex- 
cellent accompanying  text-book  is  Bessey's  Essentials  of  Botany, 
from  which  pages  may  be  occasionally  assigned  as  a  lesson  to  be 
carefully  learned.  Every  subject  taken  up  should  be  copiously 
illustrated  with  specimens  which  the  student  is  to  see  and  exam- 
ine for  himself.  Occasional  days  are  to  be  set  aside  for  careful 
reviews  of  subjects  already  studied,  and  from  time  to  time  oppor- 
uhity  should  be  afforded  for  the  examination  of  specimens  under- 
the  microscope. 

>  Edited  bj  Professor  Charles  E.  Bsssxy,  Lincoln,  Nebraska. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


1 886.]  Botany.  971 

The  special  advantage  of  this  method  of  instruction  here  sug- 
gested is  two-fold :  First,  its  flexibility ;  and  second,  the  opportu- 
nity it  affords  for  the  effective  use  of  the  black-board.  Fiorures 
and  diagrams,  drawn  before  the  class,  in  which  various  phases  of 
development  can  be  shown,  are  far  more  valuable  than  any  text- 
book figure,  or  previously  prepared  diagram.  Nor  should  the  ad- 
vantage of  giving  out  suitable  topics  or  problems  for  the  members 
of  the  class  to  examine  and  report  upon,  be  overlooked.  The 
skillful  teacher  will  find  no  difficulty  in  assigning  appropriate 
subjects,  which  will  require  independent  observation  and  thought 
on  the  part  of  the  student. 

A  term's  work  of  this  kind  should  give  such  a  comprehensive 
view  of  plants  as  to  make  subsequent  studies  to  the  highest  degree 
valuable  and  effective. 

A  second  term  may  be  devoted  mainly  to  the  higher  plants. 
By  this  time  the  spring  has  so  far  advanced  that  an  abundance  of 
material  for  all  sorts  of  works  may  be  obtained.  The  basis  of 
instruction  may  still  be  in  the  form  of  familiar  lectures,  but  Gray's 
Lessons  may  be  used  and  carefully  studied.  The  instruction 
should  be  so  planned  that  the  work  in  class-room  and  out  shall 
require  a  large  amount  of  observation  and  study  of  plants  them- 
selves. Some  time  may  be  devoted  to  the  identification  of  species, 
not  that  the  name  of  the  plant  is  the  object  sought,  but  that  the 
work  in  question  cannot  help  but  increase  the  knowledge  of  the 
student  in  regard  to  the  structure  of  plants,  their  differences  and 
resemblances.  A  special  study  of  particular  subjects  may  be  made, 
such  as  pollination,  and  the  variations  in  structure  and  develop- 
ment relating  thereto.  .  Certain  natural  orders  may  be  more  care- 
fully studied,  and  written  descriptions  and  figures  of  some  species 
or  genera,  made  from  the  student's  own  observation,  may  be  re- 
quired. Some  work  also  in  the  preparation  of  herbarium  speci- 
mens, if  thoroughly  well  done,  is  always  profitable. 

A  third  term  may  be  given  to  questions  relating  to  the  physi- 
ology of  plants.  I  do  not  know  of  any  subject  more  important  to 
an  agricultural  student  than  this.  The  instruction  here  must  be 
largely  in  the  form  of  lectures.  Goodale's  Physiological  Botany 
is  a  most  admirable  work.  It  is  perhaps  too  comprehensive  to  be 
used  as  a  text-book  in  ordinary  classes,  but  would  be  serviceable 
as  a  work  of  reference.  Some  well  arranged  laboratory  work  in 
the  histology  of  plants  is  very  desirable  as  a  part  of  the  instruction 
in  the  subject  now  under  consideration.  A  special  effort  should 
be  made  on  the  part  of  the  teacher  to  illustrate  his  instruction 
with  as  many  experiments  as  possible.  Many  of  these  must  be 
commenced  long  before  they  are  needed  for  use  in  the  class-room. 
One  actual  experiment  which  the  class  can  see,  is  worth  a  large 
number  of  mere  descriptions  of  experiments.  Nor  is  it  difficult  to 
devise,  in  a  fairly  equipped  laboratory,  especially  if  a  greenhouse 
is  also  available,  a  large  number  of  experiments,  which  the  student 


Digitized  by 


Google 


972  GenercU  Notes.  [November, 

can  himself  conduct,  make  his  own  observation  and  prepare  a  report 
of  the  results. 

To  my  mind  the  scheme  which  I  have  here  outlined  rather  than 
described,  suggests  at  least  a  desirable  method  of  teaching  botany 
under  the  limitations  named.  It  is  capable  of  a  great  deal  of 
modification  as  circumstances  demand,  and  in  the  hands  of  a 
skillful  teacher  is  likely  to  produce  satisfactory  results.  In  case 
the  instructions  end  with  the  year,  the  student  has  acquired 
as  large  and  useful  a  knowledge  of  plants  as  could  reasonably  be 
expected ;  and  if  he  is  to  continue  his  studies  further,  he  has  an 
excellent  foundation  for  thorough  work  in  special  subjects. 

I  think  we  are  all  agreed  there  is  no  royal  road  to  learning; 
and  I  am  sure  that  to  no  subject  is  this  truth  more  applicable  thiui 
to  botany.  And  in  conclusion  I  would  suggest  that  the  value  of 
any  method  of  instruction  may  be  tested,  first,  by  the  extent  and 
accuracy  of  observation  which  it  calls  forth  on  the  part  of  the 
student,  and  second,  and  chiefly,  by  the  amount  of  earnest  and 
thorough  work  which  it  leads  him  to  do. — Professor  A.  N.  lyentiss, 
in  American  Horticulturist 

Botanical  News. — A  most  important  paper  is  now  in  course  of 
publication  in  the  Journal  of  the  Linnean  Society,  beginning  with 
the  first  number  of  Vol.  xxiii.  It  is  an  "  Enumeration  of  all  the 
plants  known  from  China  proper,  Formosa,  Hainan,  the  Corea, 
the  Luchu  archipelago,  and  the  island  of  Hong  Kong,  together 
with  their  distribution  and  synonymy,"  and  will  bear  the  title  of 
"  Index  Florae  Sinensis."  It  is  the  joint  work  of  Francis  B. 
Forbes  and  William  B.  Hemsley.  Already  one  hundred  and 
sixty  pages  have  appeared,  covering  the  enumeration  from  Ran- 
unculaceae  to  Leguminosae.  A  fine  map  of  the  region  accom- 
panies the  work. Thomas  Morong's  paper  on  the  *'  Naiadaceac 

in  the  Torrey  Herbarium,"  published  in  the  September  number  of 
the  Torrey  Bulletin,  is  a  most  useful  one.  It  enumerates  seventy- 
three  species,  of  which  Potamogeton  wrightii^  Zannichellia  indua 
and  Zostera  marina  L.,  var.  {?)  latifotia  are  described  for  the  first 

time. In  the  same  journal  Dr.  Vasey  publishes  a  synopsis  of 

the  genus  Paspalum  which  will  prove  valuable  to  graminologists. 
Twenty-six  species  are  described. ^A  late  number  of  the  Gar- 
dener's Chronicle  (Sept  4)  contains  an  excellent  wood-cut  of  the 
nut-pine  of  Colorado  {Pinus  eduiis)  from  a  drawing  by  Sir  J.  D. 

Hooker.     It  is  accompanied  by  a  short  descriptive  note. The 

September  Botanical  Gazette  is  an  "Association  number,"  con- 
taining articles  on  the  botany  of  the  recent  meeting  of  the 
American  Association  for  the  Advancement  of  Science,  the  Bo- 
tanical Club  of  the  association,  with  an  installment  of  the  papers, 
and  numerous  notes  and  notelets. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


1 886.]  Entomology.  973 

BNTOMOLOaY. 

Kraepelin  on  the  Organs  of  Smell  in  Arthropods.* — 
To  Leydig  it  was  first  given  to  make  a  decided  step  in  ad- 
vance. In  different  writings*  had  this  naturalist  busied  himself 
with  the  integumental  structures  of  Arthropods,  and  declared 
Erichson's  view  as  to  the  olfactory  nature  of  the  antennal  pits  as 
the  truest,  before  he,  in  his  careful  work  on  the  olfactory  and 
auditory  organs  of  crabs  and  insects  (14),  gave  excellent  repre- 
sentations of  the  numerous  anatomical  details  which  he  had  se- 
lected from  his  extensive  researches  in  all  groups  of  Arthropods. 
Besides  the  pits  which  were  found  to  exist  in  Crustacea,  Scolo- 
pendrae.  beetles,  Hymenoptera,  Diptera,  Orthoptera,  Neuroptera 
and  Hemiptera,  and  which  had  only  thus  far  been  regarded  as 
sense-organs,  Leydig  first  calls  attention  to  the  widely-distributed 
pegs  and  teeth,  also  considering  them  as  sense-organs.  "  Olfac- 
tory teeth,"  occurring  as  pale  pegs,  perforated  at  the  end,  on  the 
surface  of  the  antennae  of  Crustacea,*  Myriopoda,  Hymenoptera, 
Lepidoptera,  Coleoptera,  are  easily  distinguished,  and  besides  the 
"  olfactory  pegs  "  of  the  palpi,  may  be  claimed  as  organs  of  smell. 
The  nerve-end  apparatus  first  discovered  by  Hicks  in  the  halteres 
and  wings,  Leydig  thinks  should  be  ranked  as  organs  of  hearing. 

Regarding  the  Crustacea,  Leydig,  in  his  latest  work.*  gave  a 
lasting  explanation  of  the  nature  of  the  pale  peg  or  cylinder  on 
the  end  of  the  antennae  which  he  found  in  new  groups  of  this 
class,  which  was  adopted  by  a  large  number  of  naturalists.  Thus 
Claus,*  in  his  different  essays,  expressed  the  view  that  these  Ley- 
digian  organs  had  the  function  "  of  making  sensible  slight  changes 
in  the  chemico-physical  condition  of  the  water."  Indeed,  irt  his 
later  essays*  he  without  hesitation  calls  the  structures  in  ques- 
tion "olfactory  teeth,"  while  he  at  the  same  time  offers  a  series 
of  anatomical  data  on  the  finer  structure  of  the  same.     Entirely 

^  Translated  by  A.  S.  Packard.    Concluded  from  p.  894. 

'  Leydig:  Zum  feineren  Bau  der  Arthropoden,  MiiUer's  Archiv,  1855,  376-480; 
Zur  Anaiomie  der  Insekten,  Archiv  fiir  Anatomie,  1859,  pp.  35-89  and  149-183; 
Lehrbuch  der  Histologie,  1857,  220. 

*  These  pegs,  as  occurring  in  Asellus  and  Daphnlds,  had  already  been  well  de- 
scribed, in  i860,  in  his  monograph  "  Naturgeschichte  der  Daphiden/'  Tttbingen, 
i860p  without,  however,  a  discussion  of  the  question  whether  they  were  olfactory 
organs. 

*  Liydig:  Ueber  Amphipoden  und  Isopoden,  Zeits.  f.  w.  Zoologie,  xxx,  187JS, 
225-274. 

^  ClaMu  :  Ueber  die  Organization  und  Verwandtschaft  der  Copepoden,  Wilrzburg, 
1862,  19;  Die  freilebenden  Copepoden,  Leipzig,  1863,  55. 

*  Claus  :  Entwicklung,  Organization  und  Systemat.  Stellung  der  Arguliden.  Zeit. 
f.  w.  Zool.,  1875.  ^"i*  Kenntniss  der  Organizanon  und  des  feineren  Baues  der 
Daphniden,  etc.  Zeits.  f.  w.  Zool.,  1876.  Zur  Kenntniss  des  Baues,  und  der  Or. 
ganization  der  Polyphemiden.  Dcnkschr.  d.  Wiener  Akad.  wiss.  Math.  Naturw. 
Classe,  1877,  xxxvii,  245.     Der  Organismus  der  Phronimiden,  Wien,  1879,  10. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


974  General  Notes.   .  [Noyembcr, 

in  the  same  direction  do  Sars,^  Weismann,'  Rougemont/  Gam- 
roth,^  Hoek,*  Haller*  and  others  more  or  less  decide  upon  the 
olfactory  nature  of  the  organ  of  Leydig. 

Jourdain  (40)  does  not  accept  this  opinion,  and  Wrzesniowsld' 
adopted  the  views  of  Milne-Edward  and  La  Valette.  The 
"  calceoli ''  of  Amphipoda  might  be  regarded  as  organs  of  smell. 

There  was  still  some  opposition  to  Leydig's  opinion  that  ia 
the  insects  the  sense  of  smell  is  localized  in  the  antennae  (teeth 
and  pits),  and  here  the  work  of  Hensen*  might  be  mentioned, 
whicli  in  1 860  had  a  decided  influence  upon  the  conclusion  of  some 
inquiries. 

Thus  Landois  (15)  denied  that  the  antenna  had  the  sense  of 
smell,  and  declared  that  the  pits  in  the  antennae  of  the  stag  beetle 
were  auditory  organs.  In  like  manner  Paasch( 1 6)  rejected  Lcy- 
dig's  conclusion,  while  he  sought  to  again  reinstate  the  old  opin- 
ion of  Rosenthal  as  to  the  olfactory  nature  of  the  frontal  cavity 
of  the  Diptera.  In  spite  of  the  exact  observations  and  interesting 
anatomical  discoveries  of  Forel*  in  ants,  made  in  1874,  there ap 
pearcd  the  great  work  of  WolflTon  the  olfactory  organs  of  bees, 
in  whicli  this  observer,  with  much  skill  and  acuteness,  sought  to 
give  a  basis  for  the  hypothesis  of  Kirby  and  Spence  that  the  seat 
of  the  sense  of  smell  lay  in  the  soft  palatine  skin  of  the  labnim 
within  the  mouth.  Joseph  (18),  two  years  later,  drew  attention 
to  the  stigmata  as  ol&ctory  organs,  referring  to  the  olfectory  gir- 
dle, and  ForeP**  sought  by  an  occasional  criticism  of  Wolff  *s  con- 
clusions to  prove  experimentally  the  olfactory  function  of  the 
antennae  ;  but  Graber,^  in  his  much-read  book  on  insects,  defend- 
ed the  Wolffian  "  nose  "  in  the  most  determined  way,  and  denied 
to  the  antemiae  their  so  often  vindicated  faculty  of  smell.  In  1879 
Berte  (52)  thought  he  had  observed  in  the  antenna  of  the  flea  a 
distinct  auditory  organ,  and  Lubbock^  considered  the  organs  of 

'^Sars:  Ilistoire  naturelle  des  Cnistac6s  d'eau  douce  de  Norvige,  ChmtJania. 
1867. 

'  Weismann  :  U«ber  den  Ban  und  dcr  Lebenscischeinungen  der  Leptodota  bya. 
lina,  Zeits.  f.  w.  Zool.,  xxiv. 

'  Rougemmtt:  Naturgeschichte  des  Gammarus  puteanus,  Mflncheii,  1875,  9. 

^  Gamroth  :  Beitiflge  zur  Kenntniss  der  Naturgeschichte  der  Caprellen,  Zeits.  f.  w. 
Zool.,  XXXI.  1878. 

*  Hoek  :  Carcinologisches  in  Tydschr.  d,  Md.  Dierk.  Vereen.  Deel,  lY,  102, 

*  Haller:  Der  I^madipodes  filirormes.  2^its.  f.  w.  2^].,  XXXHI,  l88o»  368. 

*  Wrtkmicwski  :  Vorl.  Mittheilung  fiber  eiuige  Amphipoden.  Zool.  Anzeiger, 
466,  1879. 

f  Hensm  :  Das  Geh&ror^an  der  Decapoden.  Zeitv.  f.  w.  Zool.  xiii,  1863.  Das 
Geh&rorgan  Ton  Locnsta.     Zeits.  f.  w.  Zool.  xvi,  1886. 

*  Forel :  Les  Fourmis  de  la  Suisse.  Neue  Denkschr.  Allg.  Schwelz.  Gesellsch.  f. 
d.  ges.  Naturw.  xxvi,  1874.  118,  144. 

>^  For  el:  Der  Giftapparat  u.  d.  Anal-drilsen  der  Ameisen.  Zeits.  f.  w.  Zool.  xxx. 
Suppl.  60. 

"  Graber:     Die  Insckten,  MQnchen,  1877. 

^*  Lubbock  :  On  some  points  in  the  anatomy  of  ants.  Monthly  Micr.  Joam.,  1SS7, 
121-142. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


1 886.]  Entomology.  975 

Forel  in  the  antennae  of  ants  as  a  "  microscopic  stethoscope."  In 
1879  Graber  described  a  new  otocyst-Uke  sense-organ  in  the  anten- 
nae of  flies  (20)  which  was  accompanied  by  a  complete  list  of  all  the 
conceivable  forms  of  auditory  organs  in  Arthropods.  In  this  work 
Graber  described  in  Musca  and  other  Diptera  closed  otocysts 
with  otoliths  and  auditory  hairs,  as  Lespe  had  previously  done. 
But  Paul  Mayer,  in  two  essays  (21,  53)  refuted  this  view  in  a  criti- 
cism of  the  opinion  of  Berte,  referring  the  "  otocysts  with  oto- 
liths "  to  the  well-known  antennal  pits  into  which  tracheae  might 
pass.  Mayer  did  not  decide  on  the  function  of  the  hairs  which 
extend  to  the  bottom  of  the  pits ;  while  in  the  most  recent  re- 
search, that  of  Hauser  (22),  the  author  again  energetically  con- 
tended for  the  olfactory  function  of  the  antennae.  Both  through 
physiological  experiments  and  detailed  anatomical  investigations 
Hauser  sought  to  prove  his  hypothesis  as  Pierret,  Erichson,  Slater, 
and  others  had  done  before  him,  besides  working  from  a  Darwinian 
point  of  view.  In  a  purely  anatomical  aspect,  especially  promi- 
nent are  his  discovery  of  the  singularly  formed  nerve-rods  in  the 
pits  and  peg-like  teeth  of  the  Hymenoptera  and  their  develop- 
ment, as  well  as  the  assertion  that  numerous  hairs  in  the  pits  de- 
scribed by  Leydig,  Meyer,  etc.,  should  be  considered  as  direct 
terminations  of  nervous  fibers  passing  into  the  pits.  In  the  pits  he 
farther,  with  Erichson,  notices  a  serous  fluid,  which  may  serve  as 
a  medium  for  the  perception  of  smells.  Among  the  latest  arti- 
cles on  this  subject  are  those  of  Kunckel  and  Gazagnaire  (41) 
which  are  entire  anatomical,  while  the  latest  treatise  of  Graber  on 
the  organs  of  hearing  in  insects^  opposes  Hick's  theory  of  the 
olfactory  function  of  the  nerve-end  apparatus  in  the  halters,  wings, 
etc.,  and  argues  for  the  auditory  nature  of  these  structures.  Fin- 
ally, experimental  researches  by  Voges  on  the  seat  of  the  olfactory 
organs  are  only  known  to  the  writer  by  a  notice  in  the  "  Tag- 
lichen  Rundschau."*  According  to  this  observer  the  sense  of 
smell  is  not  localized,  but  spread  over  the  whole  body. 

CoxAL  Glands  in  Spiders  and  perhaps  Insects. — Professor 
P.  Bertkau  reports  that  in  a  specimen  of  Atypus  he  has  been  able 
to  find  a  distinct  eflferentduct  for  the  coxal  gland  ;  it  is  surround- 
ed by  the  same  fibrous  plexus  as  the  gland  itself;'  in  six  other 
specimens  the  duct  was  not  to  be  found,  though  the  orifice  was 
seen.  This  rare  phenomenon  may  either  be  explained  by  sup- 
posing that  there  was  an  abnormal  retention  of  an  organ  which  is 
in  other  cases  absorbed,  or,  it  may  be  suggested,  that  in  adult 
examples  the  efferent  duct  is  regenerated  from  time  to  time,  in 
which  case  the  coxal  gland  would  not  be  a  rudimentary  organ, 
but  one  that  is  intermittently  functional ;  the  constant  presence 
of  the  orifice  is  an  argument  in  favor  of  the  latter  hypothesis.     It 

'^Graber:     Ueber  die  Chordotonalen  Sinnesorg^nc  der  Insekten.     Archiv.  f.  mi- 
krusk.   Anat.xx,  506-640.  xxi,  65-145.  1881,  1882. 
*Tlgliche  Rundschau.  Zeitung  fiir  Nichtpolitiker,  1882,  September  (?). 


Digitized  by 


Google 


9/6  General  Notes.  [November, 

is  important  to  note  that  the  orifice  appears  on  two  segments,  for 
this  indicates  a  repetition  of  the  glandular  organ,  and  is  pro  tanb 
a  support  to  the  view  of  Ray  Lankester,  that  the  coxal  glands  o( 
Arachnids  and  of  Limulus,  are  the  homologues  of  the  segmental 
organs  of  Peripatus.  The  author  suggests  that  the  gland  at  the 
sides  of  the  prothorax  of  Anisomorphus  buprestoides^  and  those 
found  by  Scudder  in  the  Phasmidas,  are  possibly  representatives 
of  the  same  gland.  In  Mantis  religiosa  there  is  a  coiled  gland  at 
the  hinder  side  of  the  fore  leg. — jfourn,  Roy,  Micr.  Sac,^  yunt, 
1886. 

Heart  of  Insects. — Miss  Olga  Poletajura  finds  that  the  heart 
of  Bombus  is  composed  of  five  separate  tubes,  which  form  the 
chambers  of  the  organ,  and  that  the  most  anterior  of  these  is  con- 
tinued into  the  aorta«  Each  tube  narrows  anteriorly  so  as  to  have 
the  appearance  of  a  truncated  cone,  while  the  walls  become  thin- 
ner ;  posteriorly  it  enlarges  ;  the  anterior  end  passes  into  the  pos- 
terior in  front,  and  each  anterior  end  is  so  flattened  laterally  as  to 
form  a  vertical  cleft ;  the  cardiac  tubes  are  thus  only  united  with 
one  another  at  two  points ;  the  free  portion  forms  a  duct  (ostium] 
by  which  the  blood  from  the  abdomen  enters  the  heart ;  the  inter 
nal  surface  of  the  anterior  tube,  and  the  external  surface  of  the 
posterior  form  pouch-like  safety-valves  which  regulate  the  move- 
ment of  the  blood.  The  heart  of  Cimbex  is  formed  in  essentially 
the  same  way  as  that  of  Bombus.  The  writer  points  out  the  dif- 
ferences between  the  accounts  now  given  and  those  of  such  en- 
tomologists as  Strauss,  Newport,  and  Graber,  and  describes  the 
mode  by  which  the  heart  appears  to  perform  its  function  ;  con- 
trary to  the  opinion  of  Strauss,  the  first  chamber  does  not  func- 
tion alone,  as  the  propelling  agent  and  the  ostia  are  not  perfectly 
closed,  so  that  part  of  the  blood  does  return  to  the  abdominal 
cavity. — ZooL  Anzeig,^  ix  (1886),  pp.  13-5. 

Migrations  of  the  Ajax  Butterfly. — During  the  fore  part 
of  June,  1886,  unusual  numbers  of  the  Ajax  butterfly  (PapUio 
ajax)  migrated  through  this  city.  Since  the  only  feeding  places 
accessible  to  them  in  Chicago  at  this  point  are  scattered  lots 
where  a  few  bunches  of  clover  or  dandelion  make  up  the  principal 
flowering  plants,  the  butterflies  made  few  if  any  stops  at  these, 
but  flew  along  the  streets  near  the  ground  at  a  rapid  rate  north- 
ward, and  it  was  with  considerable  difficulty  that  a  single  speci- 
men was  secured.  On  June  12th  a  visit  was  made  at  Wood  Lawn, 
111.,  a  few  miles  south  of  Chicago,  where  the  butterflies  were  found 
quite  as  plentiful,  and  showed  the  same  uneasiness  in  their  flight 
In  a  cleared  grassy  spot  in  the  woods  near  at  hand,  white  clover 
had  spread  its  blossoms  in  broad  patches  where  occasionally  a 
butterfly  would  make  a  hasty  stop,  which,  however,  was  only  for 
a  moment,  when  its  form  would  again  be  seen  disappearing 
through  the  woods.    One  of  these  specimens,  after  many  futile 


Digitized  by 


Google 


1 886.]  Zoology.  977 

attempts  was  caught,  but  was  badly  spoiled  and  thrown  away, 
ivhich,  by  mere  chance,  fell  on  the  ground  with  its  wings  extend- 
ed. A  few  minutes  later  it  was  noticed  that  the  insects  that  flew 
by  were  sensibly  attracted  by  this  dead  insect,  which  they  endeav- 
ored to  make  known  by  their  occasionally  alighting  directly 
upon  the  dead  body  of  their  fellow. 

Thus  noticing  the  decoying  effects  of  the  insect,  a  number  after 
being  chloroformed  were  set  apart  as  decoys  pinned  upon  the  ends 
of  twigs  which  were  stuck  in  the  ground.  The  effect  was 
quite  remarkable ;  hardly  a  single  butterfly  would  pass  the  sight 
vrithout  alighting  among  them,  and-became  an  easy  prey  to  the 
net.  In  this  way  a  large  number  of  beautiful  specimens  were 
taken  which  would  otherwise  have  been  quite  difficult  to  capture. 
— Joseph  L.  Hancock. 

Entomological  Notes. — At  the  June  meeting  of  the  Entomolog- 
ical Society  of  Washington,  Mr.  Lugger  mentioned  the  fact  that 
the  seeds  of  the  hard  maple,  so  numerous  in  the  Smithsonian 
grounds,  were  this  year  uniformly  sterile.  He  attributed  this 
phenomenon  to  the  inclement  weather  during  the  flowering  sea- 
son, which  prevented  bees  from  visiting  the  flowers.  He  also 
farther  described  the  mode  of  fertilization  of  the  common  lady's- 

slipper  (Cypripedium  acaule)  by  a  species  of  Andrena. Mr. 

Lugger  also  remarked  that  a  few  specimens  of  the  Euro- 
pean Aphodius  erraticus  were  first  found  by  him  in  1878 
near  Baltimore.  Since  that  time  the  species  has  spread 
and  is  now  so  common  that  it  has  actually  replaced  the 
formerly  common  Aphodius  fitneiarius, Mr.  J.  B.  Smith  de- 
scribes and  figures,  in  Entomologia  Americana  (No.  4),  the  scent- 
organs  of  LeucarcHa  acraa  and  PytrarcHa  isabella,  which  are  thrust 
out  between  the  7th  and  8th  segments  of  the  abdomen  of  those 
moths.  Similar  organs  have  been  observed  by  Morrison  in 
Agrotis  plecia  and  Euplexia  lucipara^  and  Dr.  Riley  has  observed 
them  in  Aletia  xylina. 

ZOOLOGY. 

Classification  of  Sponges. — Professor  W.  J.  Sollas  (Scientif. 
Proc.  Roy.  Dublin  Socy.,  v.  1886)  thus  arranges  the  sponges : 

Class  I.     Plethospongiae. 

Sub-clas4     I.     Hexactinellida. 

Sub-class    II.     Dcsmospongiae. 

Sub>clas5  III.     Myxospongise. 
Class  II.     Calcispongiae. 

The  great  majority  of  the  sponges,  as  will  be  seen,  belong  to 
the  Desmospongiae.  The  Myxospongiae  are  not  regarded  as  a 
degenerate  group.  Sollas  resents  (Zool.  Anzeiger,  1886)  the 
imputation  of  Heider  that  his  peculiar  gastrulas  of  sponges  were 
merely  shriveled  blast ulx. 


Digitized  by  VjOOQIC 


978  General  Notes.  [November, 

New  Fresh -water  Ccelenterate. — Dr.  Ussow  describes 
(Ann.  and  Mag.  Nat.  Hist,  xviii,  p.  no,  pi.  iv,  1886)  anew 
fresh-water  Ccelenterate  from  the  rivers  of  Russia.  It  is  a  Hy- 
dromedusa,  but  differs  so  from  all  others  that  it  is  made  the  type 
of  a  new  genus,  Polypodium.  The  young  stages  are  remarkable 
in  that  they  are  passed  as  parasites  in  the  eggs  of  the  sterlet, 
about  one-fifth  of  the  eggs  being  thus  infected.  This  stage  is 
described  as  a  cylindrical  spiral  twisted  tube  with  numerous 
lateral  buds.  This  feeds  upon  the  yolk  granules  which  are  taken 
up  by  the  ectodermal  cells  and  are  thence  passed  to  the  endoder- 
mal  ones.  From  this  is  developed  the  free  stage,  which  is  more 
like  a  normal  Hydromedusa  and  is  provided  with  six,  twelve  or 
twenty-four  tentarcles,  but  lacks  an  umbrella.  The  perfect  kx 
sexual  stage  is  not  known.    A  full  paper  is  promised  soon. 

Nervous  System  of  the  Sea-urchin. — M.  H.  Pronho  states 
that  if  one  suitably  treats  a  portion  of  the  integument  which 
covers  the  test  of  Echinus  acutus  with  chloride  of  gold  or  citric 
acid,  numerous  bluish  lines  connected  by  frequent  anastomoses 
will  become  apparent;  the  appearance  forcibly  recalls  that  figured 
by  Professor  Loven  of  the  peripheral  nervous  system  of  Brissop- 
sis  iyrifera.  Examined  under  a  power  of  500,  the  plexus  will  be 
found  to  consist  of  a  large  number  of  fibrils,  and  some  of  the 
principal  bundles  will  be  seen  passing  towards  the  spines  and 
adjacent  pedicellariae.  The  fibrils  of  which  this  plexus  is  formed 
are  identical  with  those  of  the  tentacular  and  ambulacra!  nerves, 
and  each  is  continuous  with  the  fiber  from  the  ambulacral  nerve 
which  emerges  from  one  of  the  tentacular  pores ;  the  plexus  lies 
between  the  external  epithelium  and  a  layer  of  connective  tissue 
which  sends  off  a  number  of  connective  bands  through  the 
meshes  of  the  nervous  plexus  to  support  the  epithelium.  At  the 
base  of  each  spine  there  is  a  relatively  well-developed  nervous 
ring.  The  cellular  elements  of  the  plexus  are  very  difficult  to 
detect  in  the  plexus,  but  they  are  very  numerous  and  easy  to  see 
in  the  nerve-ring ;  the  author  does  not,  however,  agree  with  M. 
Romanes  in  his  description  of  these  elements.  M.  Pronho  has 
also  been  able  to  make  out  a  nervous  genital  ring,  which  con- 
nects the  five  genital  glands  with  one  another  and,  by  means  of 
the  five  ambulacral  trunks,  with  the  peribuccal  nervous  pentagon. 
— Comptes  Rendus,  cii  (1886),  pp,  444.-6. 

The  Crustacean  Carapax. — There  seems  to  be  a  certain  fatal- 
ity connected  with  some  scientific  facts.  Away  back  in  1834  the 
late  Henri  Milne-Edwards  had  a  conception  of  the  true  morphol- 
ogy of  the  crustacean  carapax,  and  eighteen  years  later  James  D. 
Dana  still  further  elaborated  the  matter.  But.  notwithstanding 
the  weight  of  their  authority,  their  views  failed  to  gain  general 
acceptance  and  almost  every  text-book*  to-day  states  that  the 

'  Dana's  view  was  adopted  by  Packard  twenty  years  ago,  and  is  taught  ia  bis  text- 
books and  lectures. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


1 886.]  Zoology,  979 

carapax  of  crabs  and  lobsters  represents  the  coalesced  terga  of 
all  the  cephalic  and  thoracic  segments,  and  a  line  crossing  it  is 
pointed  out  as  the  suture  dividing  the  head  from  the  thorax — ^the 
cervical  suture.  This  view  is  wholly  erroneous  and  has  arisen 
from  an  attempt  to  trace  homologies  where  none  exist.  Dr. 
Howard  Ayers  (Bulletin  Essex  Institute,  Vol  xvii,  pp.  49-59,  pis. 
ii-irr,  1886)  has  recently  restated  the  problem  and  the  evidence 
to  show  that  the  carapax  is  in  reality  to  be  regarded  as  the  coal- 
esced terga  of  the  antennal  and  mandibulary  segments,  and  that 
the  "  cervical  suture "  merely  indicates  the  line  between  them. 
His  presentation  of  the  case  should  be  conclusive.  He  further 
shows  that  the  parts  regarded  by  Milne-Edwards  as  episterna 
are  in  reality  portions  of  the  sternum  cut  off  by  the  appearance  of 
false  sutures. 

Development  of  Phyllopods. — Claus,  in  the  last  Heft  of  the 
sixth  volume  of  the  Arbeiten  zool.  Inst.,  Wien,  gives  an  account, 
illustrated  with  twelve  plates,  of  the  structure  and  development  of 
the  Phyllopod  genera  Branchipus  and  Artemia,  which  supple- 
ments his  former  paper  published  in  Gottingen,  1873.  He  dis- 
cusses the  segmentation  and  development  of  the  body  during 
metamorphosis,  the  segmentation  of  the  mesoderm  and  the  differ- 
entiation of  the  ectodermal  and  mesodermal  organs,  the  formation 
of  regions  and  the  number  of  segments,  integument,  connective 
tissue  and  fat  bodies,  muscles,  nervous  system  and  sense  organs 
(including  the  median  and  lateral  eyes),  the  alimentary  and  excre- 
tory organs,  heart,  circulation  and  respiration,  and  the  sexual  or- 
gans, thus  giving  a  monographic  treatment  of  the  development  of 
the  group. 

The  Ribs  of  Sphenodon  (Hatteria). — Cope*  has  shown  that 
in  some  of  the  Pelycosauria  the  capitulum  of  the  two-headed  ribs 
is  attached  to  the  intercentrum. 

The  question  arose  immediately:  Is  it  not  probable  that  the 
living  Sphenodon  with  so  many  characters  common  to  the 
Permian  Pelycosauria  shows  the  same  condition  ? 

The  ribs  of  Sphenodon  are  described  by  Owen,  Gunther  and 
Albrecht  None  ot  these  authors  speak  about  ribs  connected  with 
the  intercentrum  (hypapophysis),  but  they  have  observed  two- 
headed  ribs  in  the  cervicals. 

Owen^  says :  "  The  fourth  vertebra  has  a  short  pleurapophysis 
on  each  side  with  a  bifurcate  proximal  end  articulated  by  a  broad 
tubercle  to  the  diapophysis  and  by  a  slender  neck  and  head  to  a 

'  Cope,  E.  D.  Description  of  Extinct  Batrachia  and  Reptilia  from  the  Permian 
formations  of  Texas.  Palaeontol.  Bull.  N9.  29,  p.  518.  Amer.  Philos.  Soc,  April  5, 
1878. 

The  Relations  between  the  Theromorphous  Reptiles  and  the  Monotreme  Mam- 
malia. Proc.  Amer.  Assoc.  Advanc,  Sc,  Vol.  xxxiii,  Philadelphia  meeting,  Sep- 
tember, 1884. 

'  Descriptire  Catalogue  of  the  Osteological  Series  contained  in  the  Museum  of  the 
Royal  College  of  Surgeons  of  England.    Vol.  i.  London,  1853,  p.  142. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


980  General  Notes.  [November. 

ruditnental  parapophysis,  but  this  is  very  feebly  marked  off  from 
the  diapophysis.  In  the  fifth  vertebra  the  parapophysis  and  dia- 
pophysis  form  together  an  oblique  ridge,  chiefly  extended  verti- 
cally, and  to  which  the  expanded  head  of  the  pleurapophyas 
articulates  by  a  single  surface." 

Giinther*  says :  "  In  one  example  the  pleurapophysis  of  die 
fourth  vertebra  is  not  bifurcate,  the  lower  branch  being  replaced 
by  a  ligament,  and  no  trace  of  a  parapophysis  can  be  distin- 
guished." 

Albrecht*  says :  "  Quatriime  vertebre  cervicale. — Diapophyses 
bien  developpees  et  separees  par  une  echancrure  d'un  rudiment 
de  parapophyse.  Tuberosite  de  la  cote  egalement  bien  devel- 
oppee  et  separee  aussi  par  une  echancrure  du  col  de  la  4*  cote 
cervicale.  La  diapophyse  articule  avec  la  tuberosite  de  la  ditecote, 
tandis  que  le  rudiment  de  parapophyse  est  reuni  par  un  ligament 
au  col.  Nous  avons  done  ici  une  combinaison  des  cas  de  Owen 
et  de  Giinther." 

According  to  all  these  authors  the  first  rib  appears  on  the 
fourth  vertebra. 

My  own  examinations  made  on  two  alcoholic  specimens  of 
Sphenodon,  show  the  following : 

First  vertebra  (atlas).  —  Single  headed  ligamentous  ribs  con- 
nected with  the  distal  part  of  first  intercentrum  (between  occipital 
condyle  and  atlas). 

Second  vertebra  (axis).  —  Two-headed  ligamentous  ribs.  Ca- 
pitulum  connected  with  distal  part  of  second  intercentrum  (be- 
tween atlas  and  axis);  tuberculum  connected  with  a  small 
diapophysis  of  the  vertebra. 

Third  vertebra. — First  specimen,  two-headed  ligamentous  ribs; 
second  specimen,  two-headed  osseous  ribs.  Capitulum  ligamen- 
tous connected  with  small  process  (parapophysis)  on  the  posterior 
lateral  part  of  third  intercentrum,  tuberculum  connected  with  dia- 
pophysis. 

Fourth  vertebra, — Two-headed  osseous  ribs.  Capitulum  well  de- 
veloped but  not  entirely  ossified,  the  proximal  ligatmntous  part 
connected  with  the  process  (parapophysis)  of  fourth  intercentrum, 
tuberculum  attached  to  the  well-developed  diapophysis. 

Fifth  vertebra. — One-headed  osseous  ribs.  Capitular  part  rudi- 
mentary and  ligamentous^  connected  with  fifth  intercentrum,  tuber- 
culum well  developed,  attached  to  a  short  but  broad  diapophysis. 

All  the  other  cervical  and  dorsal  vertebrae  show  the  same  condi- 
tion as  the  fifth  cervical. 

Albrecht'  believes  that  the  diapophysis   of  the  fifth  and  the 

^  Giinther,  A.  Contribution  to  the  Anatomy  of  Ilatteria  (Rhynchocephalos 
Owen).     Philos.  Trans.,  Part  I,  for  1867,  p.  11. 

'  Albrechr,  P.  Note  sur  la  ordsence  d'un  rudiment  de  Proatlas  sur  an  exempUire 
de  Hatteria punctata  Gray.  Bull.  Mus.  Roy.  d*Hist.  Nat.  6clg.,Tome  I,  1883,  pp. 
X90-191. 

'  Albrecbt,  loc.  cit,  p.  190. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


1 886.]  Zoology.  981 

following  vertebrae  represents  a  paradiapophysis  and  the  head 
of  the  rib  a  capitido-tuberculum.  I  believe  that  the  diapophysis 
consists  o( diapophysis  only,  and  that  the  head  of  the  rib  repre- 
sents only  the  tuberculum/ the capitulum  being  distinct  but  liga* 
mentous. 

The  living  Sphenodon  shows  therefore  in  principle  the  same 
condition  of  the  rib-articulation  as  the  Permian  Pelycosauria. 
But  there  are  still  other  Sauropsida  which  have  some  of  the  ribs 
connected  with  the  intercenirutn.  In  all  Crocodilia  and  Dinosauria 
the  first  rib  of  the  atlas  is  attached  to  the  inttrcentrum  between 
the  occipital  condyle  and  the  atlas.  The  same  condition  can  be 
found  in  birds,  where  this  first  rib  has  become  ligamentous,  and 
probably  in  all  Sauropsida  with  ribs  connected  with  the  Atlas. 

I  do  not  doubt  that  the  Ornithosauria  show  the  same  condition, 
since  L.  v.  Ammon'  has  shown  that  the  cervical  ribs  of  Rham- 
phorhynchus  are  like  those  of  the  crocodile. —Z^r.  G.  Baur,  YcUe 
College  Museum^  l^ew  Haven^  Q,^  Sept.  ip,  1886. 

Birds  killed  by  electric  light  towers  at  Decatur,  III. — I 
enclose  a  slip  cut  from  the  Decatur  Republican  of  last  evening; 
also  a  list  of  birds  brought  to  me  yesterday  by  boys  from  different 
parts  of  the  city,  as  determined  by  Professor  J.  H.  Coonradt  of 
our  High  school.  Some  of  them  are  seldom  seen  in  this  neigh- 
borhood, so  far  as  my  observation  goes.  Indeed,  most  of  them 
are  rarely  noticed  in  the  city  this  time  of  the  year.  I  think  none 
were  found  under  the  lamps  this  morning.  From  the  numbers  I 
saw  and  heard  of  yesterday  I  should  think  it  probable  that  a  thou- 
sand birds  were  killed  around  the  electric  light  towers  which  light 
our  town.  I  suppose  this  is  not  an  unusual  occurrence,  but  as  the 
numbers  were  so  great  I  thought  possibly  you  would  like  to  make 
a  note  of  it.  ' 

Following  is  the  list  of  the  birds  killed  by  the  electric  light 
towers :  Redstart  {Setophaga  ruticiUa),  red-breasted  grosbeak  {Go- 
niaphea  ludoTnciand),  indigo  bird  {Cyanospiza  cyanea),  black  and 
yellow  warbler  {Dendraca  maculosa)^  house- wren  {Troglodytes 
adon),  Maryland  yellow-throat  {Geothlypis  trichas),  Acadian  fly- 
catcher {Empidonax  acadicus),  scarlet  tanager  {Pyranga  rubra) 
cat- bird  (GcUeoscoptes  carolinensis).  olive-backed  thrush  {Turdus 
swaifisont), — E.  A.  Gastman,  Decatur,  III,,  Sept.  2p,  1886. 

Zoological  News. — General, — M.  Zarondnoi  (Bull.  Mosc.  Soc. 
Nat.)  enumerates  184  species  of  birds  in  the  Trans-Caspian  fauna. 
He  divides  the  district  into  three  sub-regions,  (i)  the  Kara-Kum 
desert,  (2)  the  Akhal-Tekke  oasis.  {3)  the  mountains.  The  first 
district  has  a  pretty  well  furnished  flora,  spite  of  its  immense 

*The  same  condition  exists  in  the  Lacertilia,  Pythonomorpha,  and  Ophidia. 

^  Ammon  L.  v.  Ueber  das  in  der  Sammlung  des  Kef^ensburgtr  naturwissenschaft. 
lichen  Vereins  auf  bewahrte  Skelett  einer  langschwaenzigen  Flugeidechse  Rhamphor- 
hynchus  longicaudatus,  Corrtspondenzblatt  des  naturwi^enscbaiilich.  Vereins  in  Re- 
gensburg,  38  Jahrgang,  1884,  p.  155. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


982  General  Not^s,  [November, 

sandy  plain  and  salt  clays.  The  reptiles  of  this  sub-region,  which 
extends  into  the  Akhal-Tekke  oasis,  are,  of  lizards,  two  species  of 
Phrynocephalus,  Agama  sanguinoUnta  and  Varanus  scincus;  a 
Testudo,  and  the  snake  Naja  oxiana.  This  oasis  has  a  most  mo- 
notonous landscape,  but  is  pretty  well  furnished  with  insects, 
among  them  Julodis  (3  sp.)  several  kinds  of  Ateuchus  and  Copris, 
and  numerous  Melanosomata.  Jackals,  and  on  the  banks  of  the 
few  rivers  the  wild  cat  and  the  Lagomys  occur.  The  summer  in 
this  oasis  is  very  hot;  40  Celsius  in  the  shade  is  not  uncommon. 
The  summer  molting  of  the  birds  is  by  our  author  attributed  to 
this  great  heat.  The  lark  has  parts  of  its  body  quite  bare  at  that 
season.  The  bulk  of  the  birds  of  the  oasis  during  the  summer 
belong  to  the  Aral-Caspian  fauna,  but  others  come  from  the  moun- 
tains, following  the  rivers.  Griffons,  ravens,  swifts  and  swallows 
live  in  the  mountains,  but  descend  to  the  plain  to  hunt.  In  the 
valleys  of  the  mountains  the  leopard  and  the  cheetah  are  rare, 
Hycena  striata  is  occasional,  and  Eliobius  talpinus,  several  species 
of  Erinaceus  and  Platycercomys  and  Hystrix  hirsutirosiris  arc 
common.  The  dreadful  Vipera  euftatica  is  a  source  of  continual 
danger  during  the  grape  harvest  of  the  forested  upper  valleys. 

Protozoa. — Gruber  has  been  studying  the  phenomena  of  conju- 
gation as  presented  by  Paramecium,  and  states  that  not  only  is 
there  a  union  of  the  nuclei,  but  that  the  nucleoli  "come  into  in- 
timate contact,  copulate  with  each  other."  He  claims  that  the 
act  has  not  only  a  sexual  function  but  it  plays  a  part  in  rejuvenes- 
cence, and  that  there  is  an  exchange  of  protoplasm  between  the 
nucleoli. 

Rhizopoda, — Mr.  Whitelegge  enumerates  twenty-four  species  of 
Rhizopoda  in  New  South  Wales,  mostly  identical  with  those  found 
in  Europe,  America  and  India.  The  list  includes  Pelomyxa  p€tlus- 
tris,  Rhaphidiophrys  elegans^  Clathrulina  elegans^  and  Biamyxa 
vagans. 

Ccelenterates. — Mr.  G.  H.  Fowler  (Quart.  Jour.  Mic.  Soc.)  de- 
scribes the  anatomy  of  two  species  of  madrepores.  M,  durtnilei, 
has  four  features  in  common  with  the  Alcyonaria:  (i)  a  tendency 
to  absence  of  polyps  on  the  ventral  side  of  the  branches ;  (2)  the 
very  definite  orientation  of  the  polyps ;  (3)  the  diflerentiation  of 

the  mesenteries;   (4)  the  distinct  dimorphism. Nothing  has 

hitherto  been  known  of  the  development  of  the  Cubomedusa^ 
Haacke  publishes  in  the  Zool.  Anzeiger  (ix,  p.  554)  some  notes 
on  the  development  of  an  Australian  Charybdea  in  which  he  shows 
that  Haeckel  was  probably  correct  in  his  supposition  that  there 
was  an  alternation  of  generations  in  these  forms.  He  also  g^Ves 
notes  upon  the  development  of  the  sense  organs  and  phacellae  and 
states  that  the  velar  canals  are  at  first  unbranched.  The  umbrella 
at  first  is  pyramidal,  much  like  that  of  the  Scyphostoma  forms, 
and  only  later  does  it  attain  the  cubical  form  characteristic  of  the 


Digitized  by 


Google 


1 886.]  Zoology.  983 

adult W.  L.  Sclater  describes  (Proc.  Zool.  Soc,  1886)  a  fifth 

species  of  deep-sea  coral  of  the  genus  Stephanotrochus.  It  comes 
from  the  British  seas  and  was  dredged  at  a  depth  of  570  fathoms. 
Some  notes  are  given  of  its  anatomy. 

Vermes. — Mr.  W.  B.  Benham  (Quart.  Jour.  Mic.  Soc.)  first  gives 
a  condensed  historical  review  of  the  various  works  on  earthworms, 
and  a  chronological  record  of  the  discovery  of  new  facts ;  then 
briefly  enumerates  and  describes  all  known  earthworms;  then 
takes  the  various  organs  in  order,  and  points  out  their  variations, 
and  lastly  describes  some  new  species.  Among  these  is  Micro- 
choeta  rappi  from  South  Africa,  a  worm  three  feet  six  inches  lon$^, 
and  therefore  comparable  with  Antaeus  and  Titanus  from  South 
America.  Another  species  of  Microchaeta  from  Natal  follows,  and 
is  succeeded  by  Urobenus  (i  sp.),  Diachaeta  (i  sp.),  and  Trigaster 

(l  sp.)  all  new  genera. Mr.  Weldon  contributes  to  the  same 

journal  an  account  of  Dinophilus  gigas^  found  at  Penzance,  En- 
gland. Three  species  of  the  genus  were  previously  known. 
Dinophilus  is  stated  on  the  one  hand  to  be  related  to  the  Arch- 
annelids,  while  on  the  other  it  retains  many  features  characteristic 
of  the  common  ancestor  of  these  groups,  in  which  Mr.  Weldon 
includes  Crustacea,  MoUusca  and  Rotifera,  as  well  as  Chaetopoda 
and  Gephyrea.    The  relations  of  the  body  cavity,  excretory  system 

and  pharynx  point  to  a  Turbellarian  origin. ^The  tapeworm, 

Tania  filtcoUis^  has  been  known  as  a  parasite  of  the  sticklebacks 
(Gasterosteus).  Dr.  Leidy  now  reports  it  from  specimens  of  Amia 
from  North  Carolina,  though  there  is  some  doubt  as  to  whether  it 

was  really  parasitic  in  these  fishes. E.  A.  Rau  reports  four  cases 

of  trichinosis  at  Bethlehem,  Pa.,  in  the  early  part  of  the  present 
year,  two  of  which  resulted  fatally.     All  were  caused  by  eating 

from  the  same  infected  pork. Kennel,  in  the  last  "Heft"  of 

**  Semper's  Arbeiten/'  completes  his  account  of  the  development 
of  Peripatus.  He  differs  greatly  on  many  points  from  Sedgwick's 
account  of  the  embryology  of  the  species  of.  the  same  genus  from 
the  Cape  of  Good  Hope. 

Arthropoda, — ^J.  J.  Q  uelch  has  announced  (Nature,  July  29, 1 886)  ' 
that  a  Peripatus,  apparently  P,  edwardsii,  is  found  in  the  Deme- 
rara  division  of  British  Guiana.  An  example  which,  when  not 
elongated,  is  about  three  and  a  half  inches  long,  has  thirty-one 
pairs  of  feet,  the  last  three  of  which  it  rarely  puts  to  the  ground 
except  when  it  goes  backward.  It  frequently  discharges  a  viscid 
secretion  when  handled.     Mr.  Im  Thurm  previously  found  small 

specimens  in  Essequibo. According  to  observations  made  by 

M.  G.  St.  Remy  upon  the  brains  of  Scolopendra  morsitans  and 
some  other  myriapods,  the  Myriapod  brain  is  simple  and  ap- 
proaches that  of  Crustacea. M.  Trouessart  (Comptes  Rendus, 

July,  1866)  notes  the  presence,  within  the  upper  part  of  the  shaft 
of  the  feathers  of  a  curlew  shot  in  the  winter,  of  several  Mallophaga 
of  the  genus  Colpocephalum.    The  hole  by  which  these  insects 

vol..  xz.— jio.  XX.  6s 


Digitized  by 


Google 


984  General  Notes.  [November, 

entered  was  placed  upon  the  lower  side  of  the  feather,  in  the  furrov, 
about  two  centimeters  from  the  upper  umbilicus.  The  insects  were 
dead,  and  were  accompanied  by  the  empty  shells  of  the  eggs  they 
had  laid,  with  a  few  ova  which  still  contained  embryos.  A  hole 
about  five  millimeters  from  the  lower  umbilicus  was  apparently 
the  outlet  of  the  l&rvae.  The  interior  of  the  soft  portion  of  the 
feather  had  been  devoured.  It  is  not  yet  ascertained  what  con- 
ditions determine  these  devourers  of  feathers  to  seek  refuge  within 
the  quill.  Acarida:,  Syringophilus  and  other  genera  have  before 
been  found  within  the  shaft,  but  these  seem  to  enter  by  the  upper 

umbilicus. Houssay  has  been  studying  the  arterial  system  of 

the  scorpion  (Comptes  Rendus,  Aug.  2,  1886,  p.  354).  The  gr^t- 
est  interest  centers  in  his  description  of  the  sternal  artery  which 
ensheathes  the  nervous  cord  almost  exactly  as  it  does  in  llimulus, 
thus  affording  additional  evidence  in  favor  of  the  view  held  by  Van 
Beneden,  Lankester  and  Kingsley,  that  the  king  crab  is  closely 

related  to  the  spiders. ^Winckler  having  recently  announced 

that  he  had  found  a  heart  in  the  Gamasid  mites,  and  that  it  could 
be  studied  through  the  transparent  integument  of  the  living  ani- 
mal ;   Kramer  calls  attention  to  the  fact  that  he  announced  the 

same  in  the  Archiv.fiir  Naturgeschichte  for  1876. Brady  gives 

a  list  (Proc.  Zool.  Soc,  1886)  of  all  the  known  Entomostraca  of 

South  Australia,  and  adds  several  new  species  to  the  number. 

Beddard,  in  the  same  journal,  completes  his  preliminary  account 

of   the    Challenger    Isopoda. Frenzel  thinks    the    "  Mittel- 

darmdruse  "  (the  so-called  liver)  of  the  Crustacea  has  the  function 
of  a  digestive  gland  which  shows  in  its  physiological  action,  great 

similarity  to  the  pancreas  of  the  Vertebrata. ^Another  "  fossil 

myriapod  "  must  go,  it  having  been  discovered  that  "  Trichiulus  " 
was  based  upon  a  fern. 

Mollusca, — M.  Th.Barrois  gives  in  his  thesis  before  the  Faculty 
of  Sciences  of  Paris  an  account  of  the  foot-glands  and  aquiferous 
pores  of  the  lamellibranchs.  There  is  great  variety  in  the  byssus- 
forming  apparatus,  but  Catdium  edule  furnishes  a  good  typical 
example.  The  byssus  is  a  glandular  product,  and  does  not  con- 
sist of  dried  or  chitinized  muscular  fibers.  C,  edule  has  a  simple 
byssus  of  one  filament,  while  Lima,  Pinna,  and  Avicula  have 
many.  In  Area  the  filaments  are  united  into  a  mass,  and  Anomia 
has  a  similar  mass  which  is  encrusted  with  calcareous  salts,  so  as 
to  appear  as  an  ossicle.  M.  Barrois  describes  the  muscles  of  the 
byssus ;  the  cavity  of  the  byssus,  which  receives  the  secretion ; 
the  glands  of  the  cavity ;  the  byssal  canal ;  the  groove,  and  the 
glands  of  the  groove.  In  some  species  every  ve.stige  of  the  byssal 
apparatus  has  disappeared  {Solen  ensis,  etc.),  while  other  forms 
show  a  partial  disappearance.  The  mucous  glands  are  sometimes 
scattered  over  the  foot,  but  more  often  they  arc  localized  in  the 
free  anterior  extremity;  while  in  Lima,Pecten,  and  Anomia  they 
discharge  into  a  furrow.    It  has  often  been  argued  that  the  rapid 


Digitized  by 


Google 


1 886.]  Zoology.  985 

increase  and  diminution  of  size  observable  in  the  foot  must  be 
caused  by  the  presence  of  aquiferous  pores  which  permit  water  to 
enter  into  the  circulation,  but  M.  Barrois  has  searched  in  vain  for 

such  pores, M.  Giard  has  discovered  a  new  species  of  Ento- 

niscus  (£.  masnadis)  upon  a  female  Carcinus  ntanas  obtained  at 
Wimereux.     It  was  situated  upon  the  left  side  of  the  animal,  in 

the  midst  of  the  hepatic  caeca. The  question  why  the  scallop, 

Pecten,  Is  so  abundantly  supplied  with  eyes  has  often  been  asked 
and  has  never  received  a  satisfactory  answer.  Dr.  Benjamin 
Sharp  now  states  that  these  organs  are  really  phosphorescent  and 
that  as  the  production  of  light  would  be  of  advantage  to  the  ani- 
mal this  may  possibly  explain  their  abundance. W.  D.  Hart- 
man  adds  new  difficulties  for  the  students  of  conchology  by  de- 
scribing several  more  "  species"  of  the  much-abused  genus  Partula 
of  the  South  Seas.  There  is  now  not  much  choice  between  Par- 
tula or  Achatina  and  our  own  Unio. Heilprin  reports  a  re- 
markable instance  of  vitality  in  a  marine  mollusk.  Specimens  of 
Jlyanassa  obsvUia  lived  for  a  year  removed  from  salt-water,  and 
for  several  months  of  this  time  they  were  placed  in  close  proximity 
to  a  heated  wall  where  certainly  the  conditions  were  not  favorable 
for  them. 

Fishes. — Dr.  Paul  Albrecht,  formerly  of  Brussels  but  now  of 
Hamburg,  notes  the  occurrence,  in  an  example  of  Protopterus 
annectens  in  the  Konigsberg  Museum,  of  a  pectoral  member  (the 
right),  which  is  forked  at  the  distal  extremity.  Above  this  di- 
vided fin  are  two  small  outer  gills,  while  there  is  but  one  above 
the  left  pectoral.     Dr.  Albrecht  considers  the  dorsal  division  as 

the  ulna,  the  ventral  as  the  radius. H.  H.  Giglioli  sends  to 

Nature  an  account  of  the  capture  of  a  specimen  ol  Mullus  barba- 
tus  which  by  some  means  had  become  tightly  encased  in  a  large 
colony  of  Pyrosoma  atlanticum.  The  head  of  the  fish  had  reached 
the  bottom  of  the  social  cylinder,  and  only  about  a  fourth  of  its 
length  projected  posteriorly.     It  was  taken  alive. 

Reptiles, — Messrs.  Mitsukuri  and  Ishikawa  (Quart.  Jour.  Mic. 
Soc.)  report  as  a  general  result  of  their  studies  of  the  formation  of 
the  germinal  layers  in  the  Chelonia,  that*  the  development  of 
the  Reptilia  harmonizes  completely  with  that  of  Batrachia. 

Birds, — Some  remarkable  birds  of  paradise  have  been  recently 
described  by  Dr.  Finsch  and  Dr.  Meyer  (Zeitsch.  Ges.  Orn.  11,  pp. 
369-391).  Among  them  is  Paradisornis  tudolphi  with  blue  wings 
and  blue  flank-plumes.  These  novelties  were  discovered  by  Mr. 
Hunstein  in  the  Astrolabe  range  of  New  Zealand.  Mr.  Forbes 
has  since  collected  most  of  Mr.  Hunstein's  species,  and  also  a 
Melithreptes  and  a  Pseudogerygone  which  seem  to  be  new. 
Mr.  Forbes'  birds  of  paradise,  gathered  in  the  rainy  season,  show 

the    molts   and  changes  of  plumage  of  these  birds. M.  M. 

Charbonnel-Salle  and  Phisalix  have  studied  the  so-called  "  milk  " 


Digitized  by 


Google 


986  General  Notes,  [November, 

with  which  pigeons  feed  their  young  and  find  that  it  is  n(^a 
glandular  secretion  (as  is  the  material  with  which  the  Callocalia 
constructs  its  edible  nests),  but  is  a  formation  of  modified  epithe- 
lial cells.  This  material  is  produced  in  the  cesophagus  of  both 
the  male  and  the  female  parents  until  about  the  twentieth  day 
after  the  eggs  have  hatched. 

EMBRTOLOGY.i 

Why  do  certain  Fish  Ova  Float  ? — In  a  recent  paper,  by  2 
Mr.  Prince  (Ann.  and  Mag.  Nat.  History,  1886),  his  readers  axe 
informed  that  the  buoyancy  of  certain  fish  ova  is  not  due  to  the 
presence  of  drops  of  oil  in  the  yolk  as  supposed  by  Ryder,  or 
words  to  that  effect  Had  my  conclusions  not  been  so  summa- 
rily disposed  of  by  one  whose  information  is  clearly  not  veiy 
accurate  or  extensive,  the  writer  would  not  trouble  himself  to 
reconsider  the  subject  of  the  buoyancy  of  fish  ova.  In  my  Embfv- 
ography  of  Osseous  Fishes  (p.  1 18),  I  have  stated  that  "  the  buoy- 
ancy of  the  cod's  egg  is  undoubtedly  due  to  the  diminished 
specific  gravity  of  the  protoplasmic  matter  of  the  vitellus,  and  not 
to  the  presence  of  any  oils.  In  this  respect  it  represents  an  unique 
type  of  the  buoyant  ovum."  This  statement,  published  in  1884, 
but  written  in  1 882,  is  essentially  the  same  as  that  of  Mr.  Prince, 
published  in  1886.    Comment  is  unnecessary. 

There  are  several  types  of  buoyant  ova.  These  are:  (i)  Those 
in  which  the  specific  gravity  of  the  yolk  is  diminished,  as  in  the 
egg  of  the  cod ;  (2)  those  in  which  large  oil-drops  in  an  eccen- 
tric position  aid  in  causing  the  eggs  to  float;  (3)  those  in  which 
a  very  large  oil-drop  caused  the  ovum  to  float  even  in  fresh 
water. 

These  three  categories  are  also,  in  all  probability,  connected  by 
intermediate  kinds ;  that  is,  amongst  forms  of  the  second  series 
there  are  some  which  are  buoyant  in  water  with  as  low  a  specific 
gravity  as  1.014,  while  others  are  not  buoyant  in  water  of  less 
specific  gravity  than  1.025,  while  those  in  which  the  proportion 
of  oil  to  plasma  is  very  great,  or  about  as  i  to  7,  are  buoyant  in 
water  with  a  specific  gravity  of  very  nearly  i.ooo,  or  in  that  which 
is  fresh. 

As  a  rule,  the  buoyant  ovum  has  the  oil  gathered  into  a  single 
drop  embedded  in  the  vitellus  nearly  opposite  the  germinal  disk; 
there  seem  to  be  few  exceptions  to  this  rule.  There  are  also  but 
very  few  species  known  which  have  buoyant  ova  without  an  oil 
drop,  and  these  are  buoyant  only  in  water  of  rather  high  specific 
gravity.  Furthermore,  as  a  rule,  fish  ova  which  are  buoyant  are 
not  adhesive,  but  float  about  near  the  surface  singly ;  the  most 
noteworthy  exception  to  this  rule  is  presented  by  the  great  pelagic 
egg-ribbons  of  Lophius. 

1  Edited  hy  John  A.  Rydek,  Biological  Department,  Univ.  of  Pemuu,  Philadd- 
phia.  Pa. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


1 886.]  Embryology,  987 

The  great  majority  of  species  of  both  fresh  and  salt  water  fishes, 
which  have  heavy,  subsident  ova  containing  oil,  have  their  eggs 
provided  with  thick,  heavy  membranes,  which  are  adherent  to 
each  other  or  to  foreign  bodies,  or  to  both.  Furthermore,  their 
^gg-niemhranes  are  usually  adhesive,  with  the  oil-drops  scattered 
beneath  the  surface  of  the  vitellus,  or  aggregated  in  a  flat,  dis- 
coidal  group  beneath  or  alongside  of  the  germinal  disk,  and  not 
very  transparent  The  whole  egg  is  also  usually  more  or  less* 
colored  or  granular.  The  egg-membranes  of  those  species  which 
have  buoyant  ova  are,  on  the  other  hand,  characteristically  thin 
and  delicate,  so  that  it  is  difficult,  if  not  impossible,  to  make  out 
the  presence  of  pore  canals,  while  the  whole  egg  is,  as  a  rule,  re- 
markably transparent 

These  characteristics  seem  to  show  that  the  buoyant  ovum  is  a 
very  well-defined  and  specialized  type,  which  has  been  developed 
in  the  course  of  the  struggle  for  existence  to  serve  a  very  useful 
purpose  ill  insuring  the  protection  and  survival  of  the  embryo  dur- 
ing the  hatching  period. 

There  are  fresh-water  forms,  also,  which  have  buoyant  ova,  as 
in  the  case  of  Macropodus  venustus,  in  which  the  proportional  vol- 
ume of  the  oil-drop  is  greater  than  in  any  other  known  type.  The 
oil  in  this  case  when  liberated  at  once  floats  at  the  surface,  as  does 
the  egg  when  entire,  while  the  plasma  of  the  germ  and  vitellus  at 
once  sinks.  This  fact,  it  seems  to  me,  finally  and  conclusively 
proves  that  the  pelagic  or  buoyant  habit  of  many  fish  ova  is  due 
to  the  presence  of  oil  aggregated,  as  a  rule,  at  the  vegetative  pole 
of  the  vitellus  in  the  form  of  a  single  drop.  The  other  conditions 
are  (i)  that  the  egg  be  free  and  not  adhesive,  with  a  thin  mem- 
brane, and  (2)  that  it  be  immersed  in  water  having  a  greater  density 
than  1. 014.  The  one  notable  exception  to  the  last  part  of  this 
general  statement,  viz.,  Macropodus,*  it  seems  to  me,  serves  to 
show  that  the  presence  of  oil  is  very  important,  and  may  excep- 
tionally be  the  sole  cause  of  the  buoyancy  of  the  egg. — John  A, 
Ryder. 

The  Origin  of  the  Pigment-cells  which  invest  the  Oil- 
drop  IN  Pelagic  Fish  Embryos. — During  the  past  summer,  in 
observing  the  development  of  the  common  mackerel,  Scomber 
scomber^  I  noticed  that  pigment  cells  began  to  appear  on  the  in- 
nermost side  of  the  oil-drop  before  the  tail  of  the  embryo  had  be- 
come prominent  Noting  the  condition  of  the  oil-drop,  and  its 
relation  to  the  surrounding  structure,  it  was  noticed  that  a  thick 
layer  of  protoplasm  invested  it  This  investing  layer  of  proto- 
plasm, it  was  also  observed,  was  absolutely  continuous,  with  the 
layer  of  periblast  enveloping  the  yolk.  Consequently,  the  only 
source  from  whence  the  nuclei  of  the  pigment  cell  surrounding 

*  For  an  opportunity  to  study  the  development  of  this  fonn,  I  am  indebted  to  my 
friend  Wm.  P.  Seal. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


938  General  Notes.  [November, 

the  oil-drop  could  have  been  derived  was  the  periblast.  That 
layer  being  hypoblastic,  so  far  as  its  morphological  relations  are 
concerned,  it  follows  that  the  pigment  cells  which  are  developed 
around  the  oil-drop  in  Scomber,  Scomberomorus,  Chaetodipterus, 
etc.,  arise  from  the  hypoblast. — John  A.  Ryder, 

Life  History  of  Thalassema.^ — This  very  useful  memoir 
ideals  with  a  type,  the  phyletic  history  of  which  is  very  obscure. 
The  author  concludes  that  Thalassema  is  an  Annelid  in  which 
simultaneously  with  the  lengthening  of  the  alimentary  canal,  there 
has  been  a  suppression  of  metameric  segmentation.  The  ova  are 
developed  from  free  plastids,  which  become  detached  from  the 
peritoneum,  and  float  about  in  the  perivisceral  fluid,  in  which  they 
grow  to  maturity.  The  eggs  when  discharged  are  buoyant ;  un- 
dergo a  total  and  equal  segmentation,  accompanied  by  the  expul- 
sion of  two  polar  globules;  the  first  one  of  these  finally  undergo- 
ing subdivision  into  two.  An  invaginate  gastrula  is  formed,  which 
elongates  as  the  stomach  is  formed ;  the  latter  is  then  subdivided 
by  three  constrictions,  bends  upon  itself,  and  finally  unites  with 
the  body-wall,  and  the  anus  breaks  through  at  a  point  correspond- 
ing  to  one  end  of  the  blastopore,  which  has,  in  the  meantime,  be- 
come elongated.  The  embryo,  at  first  covered  by  cilia,  finally 
developes  preoral,  postoral  and  perianal  ciliary  girdles,  and  thus 
becomes  a  trochosphere.  The  ectoderm  opposite  the  gastrula 
mouth  becomes  thickened  to  form  the  beginning  of  the  nervous 
system,  the  second  part  of  which  is  developed  later  as  a  ventral 
ectodermal  thickening,  occupying  the  position  of  the  closed  lips 
of  the  lengthened  blastopore.  The  muscular  system  arises  from 
two  mesodermal  bands  near  the  anus,  which  grow  forward  and 
become  segmented.  In  the  course  of  further  growth  the  segmen- 
tation disappears,  the  preoral  lobe  becomes  filled  with  muscular 
tissue,  the  seta^  appear  as  mesodermal  organs,  the  anal  pouches 
arise  as  ectodermal  invaginations,  and  finally  admit,  through  their 
internal  openings,  a  large  quantity  of  water  into  the  body  cavity, 
which  causes  the  animal  to  increase  much  in  size. 

The  larva  finally  finds  its  permanent  home  in  some  cavity  in  a 
sand-dollar  shell.  Here,  by  means  of  its  preoral  lobe,  which  has 
now  become  long,  flexible  and  muscular,  and  by  the  aid  of  secre- 
tions from  dermal  glands,  it  arranges  for  itself  rough  chambers  in 
the  sand  with  which  the  shell  is  filled.  In  this  chamber  it  re- 
mains a  prisoner.  Here  it  grows  to  maturity,  completely  secure 
from  external  attack.  Its  only  means  of  communication  with  the 
exterior  is  through  the  small  oral  opening  of  the  sand-dollar  shell, 
and  through  this  it  must  obtain  all  its  food  and  cast  its  sexual 
products  when  mature. 

The  speculations  of  the  author  as  to  the  origin  of  irregular  scg-- 

^  H.  W.  Conn.  Studies  from  the  Biolog.  Lab.  Johns  Hopkins  Univ^ty,  III,  No, 
7, pp.  35»-H0i,  pi?.  3^x-xxin,  1886, 


Digitized  by 


Google 


1 886.]  Btysiology.  gig 

mentation  (on  pagje  370  and  inff'a)  do  not  seem  to  the  reviewer 
to  be  borne  out  by  the  facts.  On  page  373  he  says :  "  The  object 
of  food-yolk,  as  is  well  known,  is  to  enable  the  young  to  abbre- 
viate its  development  by  having  its  food  supplied,  and  being  con- 
sequently able  to  skip  some  of  its  ancestral  stages."  Instead  of 
this  being  the  fact,  exactly  the  reverse  is  true,  as  has  been  shown 
by  Balfour,  Cunningham  and  myself.— /^A/f  A,  Ryder. 

PHYSIOIX>aY. 

Some  Notes  on  Recalcification  of  Human  Teeth.* — -The 
extent  to  which  human  development  depends  upon  the  proper 
utilization  of  food  is  such  that  any  fact  bearing  upon  the  success 
of  this  process  becomes  of  paramount  importance. 

Living  in  a  section  of  country  where  diet  and  drink  are  unusu- 
ally deficient  in  calcific  elements,  my  attention  was  many  years 
ago  called  to  the  analogous  condition  of  the  teeth  of  children  in 
that  region,  which,  as  a  rule,  are  characterized  by  a  correspond- 
ing deficiency  in  calcific  elements. 

Rapid  and  remarkable  changes  also  occur  in  the  condition  of 
the  teeth  of  adults — almost  in  direct  ratio  to  their  changes  of  en- 
vironment in  this  respect.  The  "  baker's  bread  "  and  other  food 
products  in  most  general  use  by  the  inhabitants  of  the  region  near 
the  Gulf  of  Mexico,  and  more  especially  by  the  inhabitants  of 
cities,  are  largely  divested  of  calcific  elements,  while  the  water 
used  for  potable  purposes  is  almost  exclusively  rain  w^ter,  which, 
though  a  good  solvent,  contains  no  mineral  elements. 

The  wonderful  power  of  adaptation  possessed  by  our  race  is 
such  that  people,  living  in  this  region  for  a  number  of  generations, 
acquire  the  power  of  appropriating,  from  the  meager  supply  thus 
furnished,  the  necessary  elements  to  produce  fairly  good  teeth ;  but 
the  very  large  number  of  residents,  not  natives  of  this  section, 
whose  early  life  and  the  life  of  their  ancestors,  has  been  spent  in 
regions  where  calcific  elements  were  more  abundant,  and  whose 
constitutional  habit  was  accustomed  to  that  abundance,  are  not 
able  to  assimilate,  out  of  this  meager  supply,  the  requisite  propor- 
tion of  limesalts. 

The  function  of  nutrition  being  dual  in  its  character — removing 
effete  and  worn-out  material  on  the  one  hand,  while  supplyinjj 
the  elements  to  maintain  the  integrity  of  the  tissues  on  the  other 
— the  calcific  elements,  which  form  the  inorganic  basis  of  tooth- 
substance,  and  which  rendered  the  teeth  hard  and  firm,  are  car- 
ried away,  while  the  supply  to  rebuild,  being  deficient  in  quantity, 
the  corresponding  amount  is  not  restored,  the  teeth  in  conse- 
quence soon  become  decalcified  and  softened,  falling  an  easy  prey 
to  unfavorable  conditions. 

^Read  before  Sections  F  and  il  in  joint  sessioq,  Buffalo  Meeting  A.  A.  A.  S,, 
August,  1886, 


Digitized  by 


Google 


990  General  Notes.  [November, 

The  fact  of  decalcification  has  long  been  recognized  in  the  pro- 
verb concerning  mothers  :  "  For  every  child  a  tooth,"  not,  how- 
ever, that  the  material  of  the  mother's  tooth  is  absolutely  taken 
away  to  build  up  those  of  the  child,  as  was  once  taught,  but  that 
the  increased  demand  for  building  material  not  being  met  ivith 
increased  supplies  sufficient  to  meet  the  demands  of  both  mother 
and  child,  the  teeth  of  the  former  suffer  the  consequences  of  lack 
of  supplies. 

The  rapid  decalcification  thus  occurring,  is  not  a  breaking 
down  of  the  organic  structure,  and,  if  the  material  necessaiy 
to  recalci^^,  is  provided  in  a  form  which  nature  can  appropriate, 
this  softening  may  be  prevented,  or  teeth  which  are  already  soft- 
ened may  be  rendered  hard  and  durable. 

Observing  these  phenomena — this  softening  of  teeth  in  persons 
coming  from  regions  where  good  teeth  are  the  rule,  and  the  re- 
calcification  following  their  return  to  their  old  homes — -led  me  to 
investigate  the  relations  between  environment  and  the  develop- 
ment of  teeth. 

A  careful  observation  of  these  phenomena  not  only  showed  the 
utter  fallacy  of  the  old  dictum^  that  the  teeth  were  subject  to  no 
changes  after  maturity,  but  also  showed  that  there  must  be  a  sys- 
tem of  circulation  throughout  the  entire  substance  of  the  tooth, 
making  this  action  of  the  nutrient  function  possible  during  the 
whole  life  of  the  tooth. 

The  fact  of  decalcification  and  recalcification,  and  continued 
nutrient  action  during  life,  being  established  by  long  observation, 
suggested  the  study  of  the  best  modes  or  methods  of  aiding 
nature  in  the  work  of  recalcification. 

Any  possible  change  from  ordinary  diet,  was  found,  as  a 
rule,  entirely  inadequate ;  the  natural  suggestion  of  the  direct  ad- 
ministration of  the  phosphates — the  chief  inorganic  elements  in 
tooth  substance — also  proved  entirely  unsatisfactory,  and  led  to 
the  recognition  of  the  truth  that  **  nature  will  not  take  the  ele- 
ments from  any  ready-made  source,  but  must  elaborate  her  own 
pabulum." 

Notingthatthe  recalcification  observed  in  the  teeth  of  those  visit- 
ing favorable  regions  was  not  due  to  the  use  of  lime  in  the  shape  of 
phosphates,  and  that  the  difference  between  the  nutrient  elements 
of  these  same  people,  whether  in  the  mountains  or  'in  the  low- 
lands, lay  more  largely  in  th6  water  they  drank  than  in  the  food 
they  ate,  suggested  the  administration  of  aqua  calcis ;  and  this 
was  followed  by  results  as  eminently  gratifying  as  the  use  of  the 
phosphates  had  proved  unsatisfactory. 

A  new  preparation  of  lime,  in  the  form  of  a  syrup  of  calcis,  of 
much  greater  strength  than  the  aqua  calcis,  and  proportionately 
more  prompt  in  its  action  and  effects,  has  proved  still  more  grati- 
fying in  its  results. 

An  extended  experience  of  many  years  has  proved  that  by  this 


Digitized  by 


Google 


1 886.]  Anikropolo^.  99 1 

means  it  is  not  only  possible  to  restore  soft,  decalcified  teeth  of  all 
ages,  but  to  prevent  their  decalcification,  and  also  to  forestall  de- 
fective calcification  of  children's  teeth,  and  even  to  improve  the 
original  type ;  so  that  we  are  now  able  to  overcome  not  only  bad 
environment  but  even  bad  heredity  also. 

Running  pasi passu  with  my  study  and  observations  on  the  in- 
vestigations of  the  microscopical  histologists,  the  discoveries  of 
McQuillen,  S.  P.  Cutler,  Carl  Heitzman,  Bodecker,  Frank  Ab- 
bott, A.  H.  Thompson  and  others,  have  demonstrated  the  exist- 
ence of  the  system  of  nutrition,  which,  reasoning  a  posteriori^  I 
assumed  and  announced  many  years  ago. 

The  living  fibrillar  radiating  through  the  dentinal  tubuli ;  the 
osmotic  action  between  cementum  and  dentine,  and  dentine,  and 
enamel,  and  vice  versa^  the  circulating  currents  through  the  areas 
of  living  matter  between  the  enamel  rods  and  prisms  are,  to-day, 
admitted  histological  facts,  demonstrated  by  the  microscope. 

The  tooth  is  raised  to  the  dignity  of  a  living  organ,  with  a  cir- 
culating system,  carrying  pabulum  to  all  its  parts  to  supply  the 
hunger  of  its  needy  tissues. 

A  knowledge  of  these  facts,  and  of  the  best  methods  of  supply- 
ing material  to  maintain  the  integrity  of  the  dental  tissues,  or  of 
restoring  those  whose  integrity  has  been  impaired,  is  destined  to 
have  a  far  more  important  bearing  upon  human  welfare  than  any 
degree  of  skill  in  operative  or  prosthetic  oral  surgery.—:/,  i?. 
Walker,  D,DS. 

ANTHBOPOIiOGT.^ 

FoLK-LORE.— The  study  of  folk-lore  may  now  be  said  to  have 
passed  through  the  collector  stage  and  to  have  begun  to  assume 
the  shape  of  a  science.  It  was  very  much  so  with  stone  imple- 
ments. Not  many  years  ago  a  man  who  had  a  large  collection  of 
arrow-heads  and  such  things  was  called  an  archaeologist  But 
we  now  call  by  that*  name  the  men  who  utilize  these  things  to 
spell  out  the  history  of  human  industry  and  invention.  Folk- 
lore is  to  human  knowledge,  belief,  literature,  what  the  stone  age 
is  to  the  iron  age.  At  first  a  folk-lorist  was  a  man  who  collected 
songs,  tales,  legends,  sayings,  or  who  recorded  the  customs  of 
agraphio  peoples ;  he  is  now  one  who  arranges  these  in  order  to 
find  their  law  of  being. 

The  folklorists  of  England  have  been  wrestling  for  the  last 
three  years  with  the  following  questions  : 

1.  The  definition,  the  inclusions  and  exclusions  of  the  term  folk- lore. 

2.  The  establishment  of  classific  concepts  for  the  material  included.     It  is  very  easy 

to  say,  put  things  together  that  are  alike ;  but  it  is  most  difficult  to  settle  upon 
that  characteristic  of  likeness  which  will  combine  our  examples  into  what  may 
be  called  natural  genera,  species  etc.  Connected  with  this  idea  of  classific  con- 
cepts is  the  associated  one  of  terminology. 
4.  The  anatomy  of  tales,  customs,  practices,  etc.,  and  the  invention  of  a  glossary  of 
their  organic  parts,  their  dramatis  persona,  their  essential  incidents. 

'  Edited  by  Prof.  Otis  T.  Mason,  National  Museum,  Washington,  D.  C. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


992  General  Notes.  [November, 

In  Vol.  in  of  the  Folk-lore  Journal  (pp.  1-16),  Mr.  G.  L. 
Gomme  undertakes  to  answer  these  questions.  He  had  pre- 
viously (in  Vol.  n,  pp.  285,  311)  advocated  a  systematic  effort  of 
folk-lorists  in  the  same  direction.  A  few  definitions  are  given  be- 
low to  indicate  the  mental  drift  of  the.  gentlemen  interested  : 

"  Folk-lore  is  anthropology  dealing  with  primitive  man  "  (Al- 
fred Nutt). 

"  Folk-lore  is  anthropology  dealing  with  the  psychological  phe- 
nomena of  uncivilized  man  (meaning  unlettered  as  well  as  sav- 
age), and  embraces  both  folk- thought  and  folk- wont  (practice)" 
(E.  Sidney  Hartland,  Folk-1.  J.,  11,  340). 

"  That  portion  of  anthropology  which  deals  with  the  psycho- 
logical phenomena  of  primitive  man"  (C.  Staniland  Wake,  Folk-L 

J.,  ".  345). 

"  Folk-lore  is  the  unwritten  learning  of  the  people.  Folk-lore 
is  not  a  science,  it  is  the  thing  itself.  One  of  the  chief  objects  of 
the  collection  and  arrangement  of  the  facts  of  folk-lore  is  to  gen- 
eralize and  philosophize,  but  the  generalizations  which  we  arrive 
at  will  not  be  folk-lore  "  (Henry  B.  Wheatley,  Folk-1.  J.,  11,  347). 

"  Folk-lore  deals  primarily  with  the  survival  of  primitive  cus- 
toms and  beliefs  among  civilized  races,  and  is  comparable  with, 
not  identical  with,  the  living  primitive  customs  and  beliefs  of  sav- 
age races.  The  sanction  back  of  folk-lore  is  tradition.  Folk- 
lore is  the  science  which  treats  of  the  survivals  of  archaic  beliefs 
and  customs  in  modern  ages"  (G.  L.  Gomme,  1.  c.  in,  14). 

"  Folk-lore, '  the  folk's  learning,'  all  that  the  folk  believe  or 
practice  on  the  authority  of  inherited  tradition,  and  not  on  the 
authority  of  written  records  "  (Charlotte  S.  Burne,  Folk-L  J.,  in, 
103. 

"  Folk-lore  is  the  science  which  has  for  its  object  the  study  of 
indifferentiated  or  anonymous  humanity,  from  an  epoch  which 
may  be  considered  its  infancy  down  to  our  own  day  "  (Antonio 
Machado  y  Alvarez,  Folk-I.  J.,  111,  113).  [Tlfis  whole  essay  must 
be  read.     One  cannot  afford  to  omit  a  sentence.! 

"  Folk-lore  is  knowledge  of  folk-life,  or  the  life  of  the  uncul- 
tured classes,  as  distinguished  from  culture-lore,  knowledge  of 
individualized  life,  the  life  of  the  cultured  classes;  and  the  gen- 
eralizations arising  from  these  two  knowledges,  or  the  scfences  of 
folk-life  and  of  culture-life  are  complementary  and  mutually  cor- 
rective divisions  of  the  same  mental  and  moral  sciences,  the  his- 
torical sciences,  namely,  or  mental  development  and  of  civil  prog- 
ress" (T.  S.  Stuart  Glennie,  Folk-1.  J.,  iv,  75). 

We  come  now  to  the  second  series  of  questions,  the  subject  of 
classific  concepts,  the  study  of  "  What  should  go  where/'  as  Miss 
Charlotte  S.  Burne  happily  puts  it. 

Mn  E.  Sidney  Hartland  divides  folk-lore  into  two  departments, 
folk-thought  and  folk-practice^  or  still  httttr  folk-wont.  I  like  folk- 
wont  better^  for  the  reason  that  folk-lore  does  not  so  much  include 


Digitized  by 


Google 


1 886.]  Anihfopology.  '  993 

practice.  For  instance,  I  may  tell  you  how  an  arrow-maker  or 
potter  produces  his  wares,  and  do  it  so  graphically  that  a  me- 
chanic may  counterfeit  them.  But  I  have  omitted  the  thousand 
and  one  dispensables  which  the  lowly  artisan  considered  indis- 
pensable,  leaving  them  for  the  folk-lorist  to  glean. 

Folk-lore  is  thus  divided : 

I.  Folk-thought. 

1.  Tales  of  all  kinds,  sagas  (world-god,  hero,  elf,  ghost-sagas,   etc.),  nursery 

tales,  drolls,  cumulative  tales,  apologues. 

2.  Folk-songs;  3.  Weather-lore;   4.   Proverbs;   5.   Local  and  personal  saws 

and  prophecies ;  6.  Riddles ;  7.  Folk-speech. 

II.  Folk-wont. 

1.  Worship,  every  practice  designed  to  propitiate  the  powers  influencing  man's 

destiny. 

2.  Folk-law;  3.  Folk-leechcraft ;  4.  Games;  5.  Folk-craft. 

Mr.  Gomme  gives  the  following  scheme : 

1 .  Traditional  narratives  : 

(a)  Folk-tales. 

(b)  Hero-tales. 

(c)  Ballads  and  songs. 

(d)  Place  legends. 

2.  Traditional  cmtoms  : 

(a)  Local  customs. 

(b)  Festival  customs. 

(c)  Ceremonial  customs. 

(d)  Games. 

3.  Superstitions  and  belitfi  : 

(a)  Witchcraft 

(b;  Astrology. 

(c)  Supersiitions,  practices  and  fancies. 

4.  Folk-speech:  • 

(a)  Popular  sayings. 

(b)  Popular  nomenclature. 

(c)  Proverbs. 

(d)  Jingle  rhymes,  riddles,  etc. 

This  is  amended  by  Miss  Charlotte  S.  Burne  as  follows  : 

Group  I.  Traditional  narratives  : 
Qass  a.  Folk-tales. 

•*    b.  Hero-tales. 

"    c.  Ballads  and  songs. 

"    d.  Place  legends  and  traditions. 
Group  2.  Superstitions t  beliefs  and  practices  : 
Class  a.  Goblindom. 

"    b.  Witchcraft. 

"     c.  Astrology. 

"    d.  Superstitions  connected  with'material  tfdngtf« 


Digitized  by 


Google 


994 


General  Notes. 


[November, 


Group  3.   Traditumal  customs  : 
Class  a.  Local  customs. 

"     b.  Festival  customs. 

"     c.  Ceremonial  customs. 

*•    d.  Games. 
Group  4.  Folk'Sayings : 

Class  a.  Jingles,  nursery  rhymes,  riddles,  etc. 

««     b.  Proverbs. 

"    c.  Old  saws,  rhymed  and  unrhyraed. 

*'    d.  Nick-names,  place  rhymes  and  sajrings,  folk-etymology. 

Mr.  J.  S.  Stuart  Glennie  divides  the  study  of  man's  history  into 
that  of  folk-life  and  of  culture-life.  The  classification  of  folk-lore  is 
identical  with  the  psychological  elements  of  folk-life,  correspond- 
ing (A)  with  the  most  general  facts  of  human  consciousness :  (i> 
An  external  world,  (2)  other  beings,  (3)  an  ancestral  world;  (B) 
and  with  the  most  general  facts  of  human  faculty:  (i)  Imagina- 
tion, (2)  affection,  (3)  memory.  Corresponding  with  these  facts 
of  consciousness  and  of  faculty,  the  three  psychological  elements 
of  folk-life  are  (i)  folk-beliefs,  (2)  folk-passions,  (3)  folk-traditions; 
and  the  expression  of  these  are  to  be  found  in  (i)  customs,  (2)  say- 
ings, (3)  poesy.  Folk-customs,  as  expressive  of  folk-life,  may  be 
more  especially  expressive  of  folk-beliefs,  or  of  folk-passions,  or 
of  folk-traditions ;  and  hence  folk-customs  may  be  classified  as 
(1)  festivals,  (2)  ceremonies,  (3)  usages  (religious,  sexual  and  so- 
cial). Folk-sayings  may  be  classified  as  (i)  recipes  (ma^cal, 
medical  and  technical) ;  (2)  saws  (proverbs,  tests,  riddles)  (3),  fore- 
casts (omens,  weather  signs  and  auguries).  Folk-poesy  may  be 
classified  as  (i)  stories,  (2)  songs  (mythological,  affectionai  and 
historical),  and  (3)  sagas. 

Elements  of  Folk-life  and  Subjects  of  Folk.lorb. 

I.  Folk-beliefs.    II.  Folk-passions.     III.  Folk-traditiaiiSw 

The  Expressions  of  Folk-lifb  and  Records  of  Folk-lors. 


(i)  Religions. 

(2) 
(3 

Sexual. 

Social. 

'<0 

Religious. 

(^ 

Sexual. 

1(3 

Social. 

(I 

Religious. 

(2 

Sexual. 

1(3 

Social. 

II.  Folk-sayings: 

1.  Recipfs. 

(1)  Magical. 

(2)  MedicaL 

(3)  Technical. 

2.  Saws. 

(1)  Proverbs. 

(2)  Teste. 

(3)  Riddles. 

3.  Forecasts. 

(1)  Omens. 

(2)  Auguries. 

(3)  Weather- 
signs. 


1,  Folk-customs :     ,  IL  Folk-saytftgs:  111.  Folk~poay: 

I.  Stories. 

1.  Festivals.      \  (2)  Sexual.  (i)  Magical.         •      2.  Songs. 

(I)  Mythotog. 

icaL 

2.  Ceremonies  \  [2]  Sexual.  2.  Saws.  (2)  Afiection- 

al. 

„  ^  , (3)  Histori- 

3.  Usages.         \  (2)  Sexual.  J3)  Riddles.     J  caL 

3*  Sagas. 

Folk-music. 

(1)  Meters. 

(2)  Melo> 
dies. 

(3)  Instru- 
ments. 

We  are  not  prepared  to  accept  Mr.  Glennie's  dictum  that  folk- 
lore is  our  lore  about  the  folk,  tor  that  would  really  be  culture- 


Digitized  by 


Google 


1 886.]  Anthropology.  993 

lore,  according  to  his  own  definition.  Several  of  the  gentlemen 
have  wisely  started  their  study  with  the  two  inquiries,  who  are 
the  folk,  and  what  is  lore?  Seiior  Alvarez  remarks,  "The  word 
folk^  German  volk^  Latin  vulgus,  Italian  volgo^  Spanish  vulgo, 
signifies  not  the  whole  of  humanity,  but  a  portion  of  the  human 
race,  who  possess  a  series  of  common  signs,  and  are  really  anony- 
mous in  contradistinction  from  that  other  series  of  men  who  pos- 
sess a  notable  personality."  He  would  include  practically  all  sav- 
ages and  the  untutored  herd  of  civilized  society. 

It  is  very  certain  that  what  constitutes  the  knowings,  the  say- 
ings and  the  ways  or  wonts  of  the  untutored,  the  unthinking  and 
the  unprogressive  among  us  remind  us  much  of  savagery.  It  is 
also  very  certain  that  each  age  of  the  world,  each  gradus  of  so- 
ciety resembles  the  geological  ages ;  that  is,  each  one,  in  addi- 
tion to  all  that  it  has  added  of  new  embraces,  includes  much  of  all 
the  antecedent  ages,  grades  or  epochs.  The  folk-lorists  are,  there- 
fore, altogether  scientific  in  collecting  the  lore  of  savages  en  masse, 
the  lore  of  barbaric  and  civilized  peoples,  so  far  as  they  are  sur- 
vivals  of  times  not  their  own. 

Practically,  therefore,  what  do  the  folk-lorists  wish  us  to  col- 
lectf  and  how  shall  we  name  and  classify  our  material  after  it  is 
gathered  ?  Just  at  this  writing  we  are  inclined  to  use  Miss  Burners 
modification  of  Mr.  Gomme's  scheme. 

For  the  filing  of  tales  the  folklore  society  has  adopted  a  scheme, 
with  printed  headings,  as  follows : 

1.  Generic  name  of  story  (not  to  be  filled  up). 

2.  Specific  name. 

3.  Dramatis  personse. 

4.  Thread  of  story. 

5.  Incidental  circumstances. 

6.  Where  published. 

7.  Nature  of  collection,     (i)  Original  or  translation. 

(2)  If  oral,  state  narrator's  name. 

(3)  Other  particulars. 

9.  Special  points  noted  by  the  editor  of  the  above. 

(Signed) . 

Arrow  release. — ^This  term  applies  to  the  actions  of  an  archer 
in  discharging  the  arrow  from  a  bow.  To  this  topic  Professor  E. 
S.  Morse  has  given  more  attention  than  any  one  else,  and  has 
published  thereon  a  monograph  in  the  Bulletin  of  the  Essex  In- 
stitute (xvii.  1885)  on  purpose  to  secure  further  material  for  a 
more  extended  memoir  on  the  subject  The  readers  of  this  jour- 
nal who  have  noted  the  methods  of  arrow  release  in  any  part  of 
the  world  should  send  their  information  to  Professor  Morse,  in 
Salem. 

As  an  example  of  diversity  in  these  matters.  Professor  Morse 
says :  In  the  English  practice  the  bow  must  be  grasped  firmly ; 


Digitized  by 


Google 


996  General  Notes.  [November, 

in  the  Japanese,  loosely. '  In  both  cases  it  is  held  vertically,  but 
in  the  English  method  the  arrow  rests  on  the  left  of  the  bow, 
while  in  the  Japanese  it  is  placed  on  the  right  The  English 
wristguard  is  worn  on  the  inner  and  lower  part  of  the  arm ;  the 
Japanese  need  none,  as  they  fling  the  bow  half  round  at  the  mo- 
ment of  release.  The  English  archer  grasps  his  bow  in  the  mid- 
dle ;  the  Japanese  near  its  lower  third.  In  the  English  method 
the  string  is  drawn  with  the  tips  of  the  first  three  fingers ;  in  the 
Japanese  the  string  is  drawn  back  by  the  bent  thumb. 

The  methods  of  release  characterized  are  as  follows  : 

1.  Frimary, — The  nock  of  the  arrow  is  grasped  between  the  end 
of  the  straightened  thumb  and  the  first  and  second  joints  of  the 
bent  forefinger.  It  is  practiced  by  children  universally,  and  by 
the  Ainos,  Demeraras,  Utes,  Navajos,  Chippewas,  Micmacs,  Pe- 
nobscots. 

2.  Secondary. — ^The  nock  of  the  arrow  is  grasped  with  the 
straightened  thumb  and  bent  forefinger,  while  the  ends  of  the  sec- 
ond and  third  fingers  are  brought  to  bear  on  the  string  to  assist 
in  drawing.  It  is  practiced  by  Zuiiis,  Chippewas  of  Wisconsin, 
Ottowas. 

3.  Tertiary, — In  this  release  the  forefinger,  instead  of  being  bent, 
is  nearly  straight,  with  its  tip,  as  well  as  the  tip?  of  the  second 
and  third  fingers,  pressing  or  pulling  on  the  string,  the  thumb,  as 
in  the  primary  and  secondary  release,  active  in  assisting  in  pinch- 
ing the  arrow  and  pulling  it  back.  It  is  practiced  by  Sioux,  Arapa- 
hos,  Cheyennes,  Assiniboins,  Comanches,  Crows,  Blackfeet,  Nava- 
jos, Siamese,  Great  Andamanese. 

4.  Mediterranean, — The  string  is  drawn  back  with  the  tips  of 
the  first,  second  and  third  fingers,  the  balls  of  the  fingers  clinging 
to  the  string,  with  the  terminal  joints  of  the  fingers  slightly  flexed. 
The  arrow  is  lightly  held  between  the  first  and  second  fingers,  the 
thumb  straight  and  inactive.  Practiced  by  nations  around  the 
Mediterranean  by  modern  archers,  Flemish  (using  first  and  second 
finger  only),  Eskimos,  Little  Andamanese. 

5.  Mongolian. — In  this  release  the  string  is  drawn  by  the  flexed 
thumb  bent  over  the  string,  the  end  of  the  forefinger  assisting  in 
holding  the  thumb  in  position.  The  thumb  is  protected  by  a 
guard  of  some  kind.  It  is  practiced  by  Manchus,  Chinese,  Ko- 
reans, Japanese,  Turks,  Persians. 

The  latter  half  of  Professor  Morse's  pamphlet  is  devoted  to  the 
examination  of  ancient  monuments,  etc.,  in  order  to  ascertain  the 
methods  of  release  practiced  in  Assyria,  Egypt,  Greece  and  other 
states.  This  portion  of  the  paper  has  yielded  to  the  author  re- 
sults by  no  means  commensurate  with  his  pains,  because  the 
ancient  sculptors  were  not  aware  that  their  accuracy  would  be 
scrutinized  thousands  of  years  hence. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


1 886.]  Anthropology.  997 

The  Origin  of  Languages. — The  vice-presidential  address  of 
the  Hon.  Horatio  Hale  before  Section  H  of  the  American  Asso- 
ciation at  Buffalo  was  upon  the  origin  of  languages  and  the  an- 
tiquity of  speaking  man.  It  contains  views  so  original  and  novel 
that  it  is  eminently  proper  to  present  a  condensed  scheme  of  the 
argument 

I.  Among  the  puzzling  questions  in  anthropology  which  we 
are  bound  to  notice  are  these  two:  When  did  linguistic  stocks 
originate  ?  When  did  man  acquire  the  faculty  of  speech  ?  It  will 
be  seen  that  the  origin  of  languages  and  the  origin  of  language 
are  two  very  different  questions. 

Mr.  Hale,  rejecting  the  old  theories  which  rely  upon  time,  the 
dispersion  of  a  monosyllabic  parent  stock,  the  dispersion  of  speech- 
less man  and  the  origination  of  languages  in  different  centers, 
avers  that  the  origin  of  linguistic  stocks  is  to  be  found  in  what 
may  be  called  the  language- making  instincts  of  very  young  chil- 
dren. To  insure  the  creation  of  a  speech  which  shall  be  the  par- 
ent of  a  new  linguistic  stock,  all  that  is  needed  is  that  two  or 
more  young  children  should  be  placed  by  themselves  in  a  condi- 
tion where  they  will  be  entirely,  or  in  a  large  degree,  free  from 
the  presence  and  influence  of  their  elders,  and  that  they  should 
continue  in  this  condition  long  enough  to  grow  up,  to  form  a 
household,  and  to  have  descendants  to  whom  they  can  communi- 
cate their  new  speech.  This  theory  is  elaborated  with  great  care 
and  the  multiplicity  of  stocks  in  California  made  by  a  camping- 
ground  of  the  argument 

The  second  part  of  the  argument  is  also  accompanied  with  the 
revival  of  startling  doctrines,  namely,  that  while  the  antiquity  of 
man  is  incalculable  the  speaking  man  is  of  recent  origin,  having 
occupied  this  planet  at  most  not  over  ten  thousand  years.  "  If 
we  are  willing  to  give  the  name  of  man  to  a  half  brutish  being, 
incapable  of  speech,  we  must  allow  to  this  being  an  existence  of 
vast  and  as  yet  undefined  duration,  shared  with  the  mammoth, 
the  woolly  rhinoceros,  and  other  extinct  animals.  But  if  we  term 
the  beings  of  that  race  the  precursors  of  man,  and  restrict  the 
name  of  men  to  the  members  of  the  speaking  race  that  followed 
them,  then  the  first  appearance  of  man,  properly  so  styled,  must 
be  dated  at  about  six  thousand  or  ten  thousand  years  ago.  And 
this  man  who  thus  appeared  was  not  a  being  of  feeble  powers,  a 
dull-witted  savage.  He  possessed  and  manifested  from  the  first 
intellectual  faculties — intellectual  faculties  of  the  highest  order — 
such  as  none  of  his  descendants  have  surpassed.  His  speech,  we 
may  be  sure,  was  not  a  mere  mumble  of  disjointed  sounds ;  it 
was  a  full,  expressive,  well-organized  speech,  complete  in  all  its 
parts.  The  first  men  spoke  because  they  possessed  along  with 
the  vocal  organs  the  cerebral  faculty  of  speech ;  "  that  faculty  was 
an  instinct  of  the  mind,  as  irresistible  as  any  other  instinct" 


Digitized  by 


Google 


998  Scientific  News.  [November, 

SCIENTIFIC  NEWS.^ 

—  The  French  Association  for  the  Advancement  of  Science  held 
its  session  this  year  at  Nancy.  Thirty-two  savans  contributed 
papers  upon  engineerings  and  mathematics,  forty-four  upon  physics 
and  chemistry,  fifty-eight  upon  the  natural  sciences,  and  fifty-nine 
on  economics,  some  contributing  several  papers.  The  Revue 
Scientifique  (Aug.  14)  prints  in  full  the  address  of  the  president, 
M.  Friedel,  upon  the  progress  of  chemistry  and  mineralogy ;  that 
of  M.  E.  Collignon,  secretary,  upon  the  history  of  the  association 
during  the  year;  that  of  M.  A.  VoUand,  mayor  of  Nancy,  and  that 
of  M.  E.  Galante,  treasurer,  upon  the  finances  of  the  association. 
From  the  first  of  these  discourses  it  appears  that  spinel,  corun- 
dum, and  rubies  have  been  manufactured  artificially,  and  that  the 
false  rubies  are  not  infrequent  in  the  market  The  last  meeting, 
held  at  Grenoble,  received  a  total  of  342  communications,  166  of 
which  were  upon  the  natural  sciences.  Fourteen  members  were 
lost  by  death  during  the  year,  including  MM.  Bouquet,  Bouley, 
Jamin,  Robin  and  Dechambre.  The  number  of  associates  is  kept 
up  to  three  thousand  eight  hundred. 

Among  the  papers  read  in  the  natural  history  section  were 
those  of  M.  Cartailhac,  on  sepulchres  of  the  stone  ^e,  etc. ;  of  M. 
Chatin,  on  the  flora  of  Paris  and  Dauphine ;  of  F.  Lataste,  on  the 
dentary  system  of  Hyrax;  of  Manouvrier,  on  the  delimitation  of 
anthropology;  of  Mortillet,  on  criminal  anthropology,  and  of 
Testut,  on  "  microcephales."  A  number  of  distinguished  for- 
eigners were  present  at  the  meeting.  M.  Cartailhac  drew  atten- 
tion to  the  prevalence  of  burial  after  decomposition  of  the  soft 
parts.  In  the  reindeer  age  this  was  usual.  In  Spain  the  body  of 
the  late  king  lies  in  "  el  putrido  "  until  the  death  of  his  successor. 
An  interesting  discussion  on  wheat  production  took  place  in  the 
agricultural  section.  The  wheat  growers  of  Europe  regard  with 
anxiety  the  increase  of  the  wheat  production  of  Hindostan.  Some 
interesting  excursions  were  taken,  one  to  a  spot  upon  German 
soil  was  frustrated  by  the  ignorant  iussiness  of  the  local  German 
authorities.  The  next  meeting  of  the  association  will  be  held  at 
Toulouse,  that  of  1888  at  Gran,  Algeria. 

—  The  new  Gogebic  Iron  range  is  located  parallel  with  the 
shore  of  Lake  Superior  and  about  forty  miles  distant,  equi-ex- 
po^ed  in  Michigan  and  Wisconsin.  There  are  two  veins  running 
very  near  to  each  other  that  average  25  to  160  feet  in  width  and 
are  of  unknown  depth.  The  ore  is  all  within  the  Bessemer  limit, 
varying  about  five  per  cent  at  the  surface  but  assuming  an  equality 
below.  The  veins  head  nearly  south  at  an  angle  of  thirty  degrees 
from  the  perpendicular.  The  quality  averages  sixty-seven  per  cent 
pure  hematite  and  is  soft  and  crumbling.    The  opening  of  the  range 

^  Edited  by  Wm.  Hosea  Ballou,  265  Broadway,  New  York. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


1 885.]  Proceedings  of  Scientific  Societies.  999 

has  caused  an  unprecedented  migration,  I5,cxx)  settlers  havinp; 
located  there  during  fifteen  months.  The  range  has  been  exposed 
for  nearly  sixty  miles,  cropping  out  on  the  surface  of  the  moun- 
tains and  disappearing  to  250  feet  below  in  the  valleys.  The 
depth  of  the  ore  in  the  valleys  is  explained  by  its  soft  texture, 
the  water  having  swept  it  away,  after  which  soil  filled  in  and  cov- 
ered it 

—  Messrs.  J.  B.  Lippincott  Company  have  in  press  a  "  Manual 
of  North  American  Birds,"  by  the  eminent  ornithologist.  Profes- 
sor Robert  Ridgway,  curator,  Department  of  Birds,  Smithsonian 
Institution,  Washington,  D.  C.  The  work  is  to  contain  some 435 
illustrations  suitably  executed,  and  will  conform  to  the  geograph- 
ical limits,  classification,  numeration  and  nomenclature  adopted  by 
the  American  Ornithological  Union.  We  doubt  not  it  will  be  one 
of  the  most  important,  thorough  and  original  contributions  to  the 
literature  of  the  subject  which  has  ever  appeared,  and  presume 
that  naturalists  and  sportsmen  alike  will  find  in  it  an  invaluable  aid. 

—  The  output  of  the  iron  ore  mines  of  the  Lake  Superior  re- 
gion will  be  about  3,000000  tons  for  the  season  of  1886,  or  one- 
third  larger  than  in  any  other  past  year. 

PROCEEDINGS  OF  SCIENTIFIC  SOCIETIES. 

American  Philosophical  Society,  Dec.  18,  1885. — Professor 
Cope  presented  for  the  Transactions  "A  Chemical  Study  of  Yucca 
angustifolia''  by  Miss  H.  C.  de  S.  Abbott. 

Jan.  I,  1886. — Professor  Allen  made  a  communication  on  the 
result  of  experiments  on  electric  light  used  in  photographing  ani- 
mals in  motion. 

Professor  Cope  presented  a  paper  on  the  Intercentrum  of  the 
Terrestrial  Vertebrata;  also  another  by  Dr.  Alfredo  Duges,  ot 
Guanajuato,  entitled  "Sur  le  Rhinocheilus  antonii. 

Jan.  15. — Mr.  Lesley  read  a  paper  on  the  evident  Bedouin  ori- 
gin of  the  Shedi  deity  in  the  Hebrew  Scriptures,  commonly  trans- 
lated "  the  Almighty."  He  drew  the  conclusion  that  it  bore  a 
manifest  relationship  to  the  deity  Seti  introduced  into  Egypt  and 
Palestine  from  Arabia. 

Mr.  Lesley  also  communicated  a  revision  of  the  section  of  the 
Le  Roy  (Chemung)  beds  in  Bradford  county,  giving  additions  to 
the  list  of  its  fossils,  and  extending  it  downward  nearly  350  feet, 
to  include  a  rich  horizon. 

Mr.  Ashburner  made  a  communication  showing  the  course  of 
the  barometer  during  the  storm  of  Jan.  8th. 

Dr.  Persifor  Frazer  spoke  upon  the  application  of  composite 
photography  to  handwriting. 

Dr.  H.  Allen  exhibited  an  example  of  Chl^mydophorus  trun- 
catus, 

VOL.  XX— NO.  XI.  66 


Digitized  by 


Google 


1000  F^'oceedings  of  Scientific  Societies.    [November,  1886. 

Feb.  5. — Professor  Cope  presented  a  paper  on  the  structure 
and  affinities  of  Amphiuma. 

A  paper  from  Dr.  HoflTman  on  Indian  tribal  names,  and  another, 
by  Professor  A.  S.  Packard,  on  the  discovery  of  thoracic  feet  in  a 
carboniferous  Phyllocarida,  were  presented  for  publication. 

Dr.  Horn  exhibited  sketches  and  anatomical  details  of  Chryso- 
bothris. 

Feb.  19. — A  paper  from  Professor  S.  C.  Branner^  entitled  "The 
glaciation  of  the  Wyoming  and  Lackawanna  valleys,"  was  pre- 
sented. 

Professor  Cope  presented  a  paper  on  two  new  species  of  three- 
toed  horses  from  the  Upper  Miocene,  with  notes  on  the  fauna  of 
the  Ticholeptus  beds. 

March  19. — Dr.  Brinton  presented  two  papers  by  Dr.  W.  S. 
Hoffman,  one  on  the  Selish  language,  and  another  on  the  Wait- 
shumni  dialect. 

Dr.  Horn  explained  the  process  among  the  Piutes  of  sweeten- 
ing acorn  meal  by  percolation  with  water,  so  as  to  render  the 
product  edible. 

Lieut.  Wyckoff  made  a  verbal  communication  on  the  action  of 
heavy  vegetable  or  fish  oils  in  reducing  heavy  combing  waves  to 
long  swells. 

.  Philadelphia  Academy  of  Natural  Sciences,  July  i, 
1886. — Dr.  Horn  exhibited  a  pair  of  a  species  of  beetle  the 
female  of  which  had  before  been  unknown.  The  female  never 
passed  the  larval  condition,  and  had  been  described  as  the  larva 
of  an  insect  of  another  family.  It  is  among  Coleoptera  the  only 
known  case  of  a  fertile  larval  female.  The  female  grub  is  two 
inches  long,  and  its  segments  emit  a  green  phosphorescence  along 
their  margins.  The  specimen  had  been  sent  from  S.  Carolina. 
An  allied  form  occurs  in  California. 

Dr.  Leidy  described  a  number  of  parasitic  worms  from  the 
rabbit,  meadow-lark,  etc.,  etc. 

Dr.  G.  A.  KcEnig  placed  on  record  the  identification  of  Stro- 
meyerite  from  Zacatecas.  The  Mexicans  call  it  "plata  azul."  It 
consists  of  one  molecule  of  sulphide  of  silver  to  one  of  sulphide 
of  copper.     Quartz  is  the  usual  gangue  of  this  mineral. 

Aug.  5. — Dr.  Horn  showed  a  fragment  of  the  palm  Washing- 
tonia  filifera  containing  a  larva  of  a  beetle  (Dinapate)  recently 
described  by  him. 

Mr.  L.  Woolman  recorded  the  discovery  by  him  of  a  belt  of 
Oriskany  sandstone  near  Pennsville,  Lycoming  county,  Pa.  This 
belt  is  unmarked  in  the  surveys.  The  stone  was  used  for  build- 
ing, and  contained  Spirifer  arenoides,  S.  arrectus  and  Rensellaria 
ovoides. 

J.  C.  Arthur,  of  Geneva,  New  York,  presented  a  paper  on  the 
history  and  biology  of  the  pear  blight. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


,> 

r 


VAOB. 
^K  SCALLOr  AMD  ITS  FiSHBBT.  Emiii  IngtTt^U  •   .  XOM 

PRR-MBTAMORPHISM    AMD    VULCANUM.       TktO.  B, 
ComtUek 1006 

>ic  Maxima,  or  Psriods  of  Numrical  Varia- 
tions XM  Anw ALS.    L,  P.  GrtUacap  .......  1009 

HR  Pbabodt  Musbvm's  Exploratiomb  im  Ohio.   F. 
W.  Putnam 10x7 

N  Intrrrsting  Conmrctxng  Grmvsop  Chordata. 
[Illustrated.]    E,  D,  Cc/t loa; 

D I  TORS*  Tablr. 
The  Function  of  the  American  Nftturallst xoja 

KCHNT  LlTKRATVKR. 

Smiih'B  Aibaircts  Cn«tacc«.— Sedgwick  and  Wil- 
''on's  Biology.— Whitfield's  Brachiopoda  and  Lamelii- 
branchiau  of  New  Jersey.— Recent  Books  and  Pam- 
Vhlets 1039 

RNSRAL  NOTRS. 

GfogTt^J^  and  Traveh.^  America :  The  Ruins 
of  Copan,  RIG  ;  American  News.— Europe  and  Asia  : 
Lake  Leman;  The  Pamir.— Pacific  Islands  :  Captam 
Bridges'  Cruises  ;  The  N?w  Zealand  Earthquake.— 
Alrica:  African  Nrws 1037 

Geolozyttnd  /»((i/«w»/#/fl!i;y.— Notice  of  Geological 
Investigations  along  the  eastern  shore  of  I.ake  Cham* 


plain,  made  by  'Professor  H.  M.  Seeley  and  Prest. 
Esra  Brainard.— The  Veins  of  Southwestern  Colo- 
fRdo.—  A  giant  Armadillo  from  the  Miocene  of  Kan> 
SRR.— Gcok>gical  News 104X 

Mineralogy  and  Pttrography.  —  New  Books.— 
Mineralogical  News.— Petrographical  News 1047 

BoUny.—1^  Wind  and  the  Tree-tops.— A  Hybrid 
K^^.—Ruppia  marilima  L.  in  Nebraska.— The 
Roughness  of  ceruin  Uredospores.— Another  **  Tum- 
ble-weed."—Botanical  News Z05X 

Entomology. ^K  remarkable  case  of  Longevity  iu  a 
Longicom  Beetle  {Ehuria  ^nadrigtminata) 1055 

Zoology  — Leptodora  in  America.— Blood  of  Inver- 
tebrates.—The  Byssal  Organ  in  Lamellibranchs.— On 
the  class  Podostomata,  a  group  embracing  the  Meros- 
tomata  and  Trilobites.— Oyster  Culture.— Echlno- 
derm  Development.— The  BraxzR  Exhibition  at  Paris. 
—Zoological  News 1057 

Anthropology.^ K\xfXTaX\9S\.  Medicine  Men.— The 
Iconographic  Encyclopaedia 1067 

Microscofy,  —  Revolving  Automatic  Microtome 
[llluitrmtHl].— Embryograph  for  tise  with  Zeiss  Mi- 
croscopes [Illutrated] >o7t 

SCIRMTIPIC   NrWS XO74 

Procrrdings  op  SciRMTiPic  SociRTiRrT^.^*  ^^.^1.^076 

Digitized  by  VjOOSi^  L^' 


c 


,'i 


r 


MCfTAr^LA    JBr   f^TAVITT   >r. 


PECULIARITIES  IN  THE  MANUFACTURE  T)F 
JENSEN'S  CRYSTAL  PEPSIN : 

NATURE  OF  TH£  IMITATIONS,  ETC. 


THE  champion  pepsin  of  the  world!  The  only  ' 
pepsin  found  worthy  to  be  imitated!  liven  I 
the  wealthiest  manufacturing  chemists  could  not  i 
resist  the  temptation !  '  l 

One  party  used  glue  as  a  cheapening  adulterant 
for  the  production  of  scale  pepsin;  another  party] 
has  now  succeeded   in  flooding  tiie   market  with  i 
their  imitations  of  my   scale  pepsin,  owing  to  its  i 
extreme  cheapness.     This  party  now  declares  ^.not 
to  the  profession)  that  they  use  sixty  pounds  of  dry 
egg  albumen,  peptonized   by  two   hundred   hogs 
stomachs.     A  third  party  wrap  their  imitations  in 
an  exact yi;^  simile  of  my  circular,  making  full  use 
of  my  testimonials.    The  great  injury  these  imita- 
tions cause  my  preparations  can  easily  be  under- 
stood. 

The  protection  chiefly  relied  upon  is  through  the 
professions  vigilance  in  discriminating  between  the 
genuine  and  the  spurious  article.  When  prescrib- 
ing my  pepsin,  most  physicians  now  underline  my 
name  thus,  Jknskn's  Crystal  Pepsin,  and  no  mis- 
conception can  excuse  substitutions.  The  great 
reputation  of  this  pepsin  lies  in  that  it  is  a  peptone 
pepsin,  ».  ^.,  the  texture  of  the  stomachs  in  which 
the  ferment  is  lodged  is  entirely  dissolved,  thereby 
obtaining  all  the  pcp->in.  Wlien  thereto  is  added 
my  recent  improvement  in  precipitating  from  this 
solution  all  of  the  earthy  and  saline  matter,  leaving 
only  the  azoti/ed  constituent,  containing  all  of  the 
peptic  principle,  antl  liiially.  is  further  concentrated 
by  drying  it  upon  glass  plates  until  brittle  scales 
are  formed,  the  reason  for  its  high  digestive  power 
can  easily  be  understood.  Wliy  it  surpasses  also 
in  keeping  qualities  all  of  the  former  pepsins,  is 
owing  to  its  scaly  and  brittle  texture,  it  being  the 
only  organic  medicine  in  the  materia  medica  pro- 
duced for  the  market  in  scales. 


noids,  have   inspired   physicians     of  a   su.  r  - 
mind  to  try  it  also  as  a  feolvent   for  dii'i 
membranes  and  coagulated  blood   in  ihi;  \.-' 
The  success  also  of  these  novel   ustss  has  :: : 
become  generally  known  to  tf»e  profession  .. 
the  world.      Physicians   writing   for   samj'.tj 
receive  prompt  returns. 

Dr.  HoUman  {Nedt-rl.  IVeekbL,  18.  p.  272'  -- 
*he  case  of  an  old  man,  aged   So  years,  s. '" 
from  retention  of  urine,  in  whom  the  :n*r.>:- 
of  a  catheter  failed  to  produce   the  dc*sirei:  r 
It  was  found  that  the  bladder  contained  c^uc 
albuminoid  masses  mixed  with  blood.     A  f--* 
after  the  injection  of  about  16  grains  of  Dr.  1-  - 
Pepsin  dissolved  in  water,  a  large  amount  of  ^ 
viscid,  fetid  fluid  readily  c;>caped  by  the  ca:!  *•. 
London  Medical  Record. 

Dr.  Edwin  Rosenthal,  acting  on   the  suiii' 
ol  Dr.  L.  Wolff,  has  used  an  aciduliiec  c  ■ 
trated  solution  of  pepsin  as   an   applicat- on  * 
membranes  of  diphtlieritic  patients,  for  wh :<.:.  t 
seemed  to  be  no  other  help  than  trachevJi  rr  . 
reports  that  it  acted  tike  a   ch^ixni,  dissn);    1^ 
membranes,  admitting  a  free  aiiration  oft':-'  . 
and  placing  them  soon  on  the  road  to  convale^- 
The  solution  he  used  wa&: 

ft,     Jensen's  Pepsin,  ^^  •. 

Acidi  Hydrochloric,  C.  P.,  s-:i.  ^ 


It   is   also   perfectly   soluble   upon   the   tongue,  \ 
pleasant  to  the  taste,  and  practically  inodorous.         ! 

Although  it   commands  a  higher  price  than  any 
other  pep.sin  in  the  market,  it  is,  nevertheless,  the  1 
most   prescnln'd.     Its  purity  and  solubility,  com- 
bined with  its  great  digestive  power  upon  albumi- 


Aquic-q.  s.  ft.,  ri.  ^ 

M.  S. — Apply  copiously  every  hour  with  a  : 
mop. — From  the  Medical  Bulietin. 

Formula  for  Wine  of  Pepsin: 

g.     Carl  Jensen's  Pepsin,  o- 

Sherry  or  Port  Wine,  r  , 

•   •   '  o 

Glycerin  puris. 
Acid  Tartaric, 


Sig.  f  3  j.  after  meals.      This  is   three  g:  1  - 
the  pepsin  in  each  te.ispoonful. 

For  severe  attacks  of  colic  it  h;is  afford ei  -- 
relief,  after  a  few  doses  have   been  criven   n 
intervals,  when  other  rem  tidies  have  failed. 


CARL  L.  JENSEN 


ECOIVCB   OFir>iCE,    2039   O-REiBlSr    SOTiaiEJET. 


PHILADELPHIA. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


THE 

AMERICAN    NATURALIST. 

Vol.  XX.— DECEMBER,  1886.— No.  12. 


THE  SCALLOP  AND  ITS  FISHERY. 

BY   ERNEST   INGERSOLL. 

THOUGH  it  had  long  previously  been  enjoyed  by  the  shore^ 
towns  in  New  England,  the  introduction  of  the  scallop  as  an 
edible  into  the  New  York  markets  is  as  recent  as  1858  or  '59. 
Now  the  annual  product  of  the  fishery,  which  is  restricted  in  area 
and  subject  to  much  variation,  amounts  to  something  like  75,000 
gallons  in  all,  worth  from  twenty*five  to  thirty  thousand  dollars 
at  first  cost ;  and  New  York  receives  and  dispenses  about  threes- 
fourths. 

The  species  of  scallop  in  questtoil  Ls  Pecten  irradians^  which  is 
common  in  suitable  places  all  along  our  coast.  Besides  this  there 
are  half  a  dozen  other  varieties,  living  at  more  or  less  depths,  in 
the  western  Atlantic,  one  of  which,  the  great  Pecten  tenuicostattiS 
of  the  coast  of  Maine  and  the  Bay  ot  Fundy,  was  formerly  highly 
valued  by  the  people  of  that  region,  but  now  is  too  scarce  to  ap* 
pear  on  the  tables  of  even  "  the  rich  "  except  at  rare  intervals. 

The  fishery  and  methods  of  preparation  for  market  of  our  scal- 
lops present  several  features  of  general  interest,  and  I  believe  that 
in  my  study  of  the  matter,  a  few  years  ago,  as  an  agent  of  the 
Census  Bureau,  I  was  able  to  learn  some  new  and  suggestive 
particulars  as  to  the  habits  of  the  mollusk. 

Though  occurring  in  a  scattered  way  far  to  the  northward,  it  is 
only  between  Cape  Cod  and  New  Jersey  that  any  commercial 
scallop-fishery  exists,  save  at  a  few  points  on  the  Southern  coast^ 
as  at  Morehead  City,  N.  C,  for  a  small  local  trade.  Even  along 
this  limited  extent  the  fishing  is  not  continuous,  but  can  be  fol- 
lowed with  regularity  only  in  restricted  areas  of  Buzzard's  bay, 
Mass.,   Narragansett  bay,  R.  I.,  in  Peconic  bay  at  the  eastern 

VOL.  XX—- NO.  XII.  67 


Digitized  by 


Google 


1002  The  Scallop  and  its  Fishery.  [December, 

• 

end  of  Long  Island,  and  at  a  few  minor  points  on  the  New  Jersey  • 
coast.  Long  Island  sound,  New  York  bay,  Sandy  Hook  and 
much  of  the  Jersey  shore,  have  been  so  thoroughly  depopulated 
that  any  fishery  for  scallops  there  has  been  abandoned.  .  Occa- 
sionally a  supply  appears  at  this  or  that  point,  but  uncertainly 
and  temporarily.  I  was  told,  for  example,  by  the  oyster-planters 
on  the  north  shore  of  Long  Island,  that  scallops  were  tolerably 
plentiful  there  (particularly  at  Northport)  once  in  five  years.  Such 
a  statement  is  puzzling,  and  leads  to  a  study  of  the  habits  of  the 
scallop  in  search  of  an  explanation. 

The  proper  hom^:  of  this  species  {P,  irradians)  seems  to  be  in 
fiairly  deep  water  on  a  firm  bottom — either  sand  or  tough  mud; 
yet  in  many  localities  grassy  beds  (/.  ^.,  eel-grass — Zostera)  are 
resorted  to  by  it,  especially  when  young.  The  general  habits 
and  behavior  of  our  American  scallops,  such  as  living  in  com- 
panies or  "schools,"  moving  about  and  darting  to  the  surface o( 
the  water  by  a  quick  opening  and  shutting  of  the  shells,  to  sink 
down  again  along  an  inclined  plane  forward,  are  &miliar  to  all 
readers  of  natural  histories,  and  closely  similar  to  those  of  the 
European  "  St.  Jacob's  shells." 

The  spawn  of  our  scallop  is  thrown  out  in  early  summer,  and 
so  much  of  it  as  becomes  fertilized  and  is  able,  "catches"  or 
"  sets  "  on  stones,  sea-weeds  and  other  firm  supports,  from  the 
sheltered  tide-pools  down  to  a  considerable  depth.  By  the  middle 
of  July  this  "  seed  "  is  about  as  large  as  the  head  of  a  lead  pencil, 
and  it  does  not  drop  from  its  support  for  two  weeks  or  more 
The  growth  is  so  very  rapid  that  the  young  scallops  have  attained 
about  half  their  size  by  the  time  cold  weather  checks  their  ad- 
vancement. 

In  November  the  young  scallops,  spawned  the  previous  June, 
will  be  found  in  great  numbers  all  along  the  clean  shores  of  Nar- 
ragansett  bay  from  an  inch  to  an  inch  and  a  half  in  diameter,  and 
moving  about  very  actively.  Where  eel-grass  grows  in  great 
quantities,  however,  the  young  keep  among  it,  clinging  to  the 
stalks  until  by  their  weight  they  bend  them  down  to  the  bottom 
or  break  them  oflT,  and  are  swept  away  with  the  grass  when  it 
goes  adrift  in  the  fall.  Should  such  a  tenanted  raft  of  sea-weed 
drift  into  a  bay  and  rest  there,  as  frequently  occurs  in  Long 
Island  sound,  that  spot  will  be  colonized  with  scallops,  even  where 
none  had  existed  before. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


i886.]  The  Scallop  and  its  Fishery,  1003 

Great  numbers,  however,  forsake  the  protection  of  the  eel-grass, 
when  old  enough,  and  go  "  dancing  "  about  the  neighborhood 
till  they  hit  upon  the  right  kind  of  bottom,  when  they  come  to 
anchor,  and  stay  there  unless  driven  away  by  extraordinary 
winter  storms.  Under  such  an  accident  thousands  of  bushels 
may  sometimes  be  driven  upon  the  beach,  where  all  are  pretty 
sure  to  die  by  freezing.  .  Referring  to  this  point  a  Sag  Harbor 
man  told  me  that  if  possible,  when  driven  before  a  storm,  they 
will  work  to  windward,  and  he  assured  me  that  he  had  seen  them 
swimming  in  schools  ten  feet  deep.  These  movements  are  all 
within  narrow  limits,  however,  for  the  restricted  bounds  of  the 
fishing-grounds  are  pretty  nearly  the  same  from  year  to  year, 
though  often  it  is  impossible  to  see  why  the  scallops  should  not 
extend  their  range.  The  young  are  far  more  active  and  swift 
than  the  older  mollusks.  Late  in  the  fall,  however,  there  is  re- 
ported to  be  a  regular  migration  of  adult  scallops  toward  the 
shore,  whereupon  the  fishing  begins ;  but  this  statement  is  not 
well  substantiated,  I  fear. 

The  size  of  the  young  scallops  is  little  increased  during  the 
colder  months,  but  in  the  spring  a  new  period  of  speedy  growth 
begins  and  maturity  is  said  to  be  reached  within  a  year.  At  any 
rate  these  mollusks  will  produce  spawn  in  the  June  following 
their  birth,  and  are  ready  for  market  the  subsequent  autumn. 
The  rapidity  with  which  they  enlarge  their  bulk,  but  more  espe- 
cially their  fatness,  or  proportion  of  flesh  to  shell,  is  remarkable. 
Thus  a  bushel  of  these  mollusks  will  yield  only  about  two  quarts 
of  "  meats  "  in  October,  whereas  a  bushel  from  the  same  locality 
at  Christmas  will  turn  out  a  gallon. 

The  fishermen  believe  that  scallops  never  spawn  but  once,  and 
die  before  they  reach  the  age  of  three  years.  I  am  not  at  all  sure 
this  is  a  fact  to  the  extent  alleged,  but  if  so  it  presents  a  case 
where  the  generations  follow  one  another  so  closely  that  there 
are  never  two  ranks  or  generations  in  condition  to  reproduce  at 
once  (except  in  rare  individual  instances),  since  all,  or  nearly  all, 
of  the  old  ones  die  before  the  young  become  mature  enough  to 
spawn.  If  such  a  state  of  afiairs  exist,  of  course  any  catastrophe, 
such  as  a  destructive  winter  gale  or  the  freezing  over  for  a  long 
period  of  the  water  wherein  they  lie.  by  killing  all  the  tender 
young  in  a  district,  will  exterminate  the  breed  there,  since  even 
if  the  older  ones  survive  such  a  shock  they  would  not  live  long 


Digitized  by 


Google 


T004  Tlie  Scallop  and  its  Fishery.  [December. 

enough,  or  at  any  rate  be  unable  to  spawn  again,  and  so  fail  to 
start  a  new  generation. 

Similarly  an  unusual  attack  by  natural  enemies,  or  excessive 
dredging  by  men,  might  in  one  season  extirpate  the  scallops  of  a 
whole  bed  or  bay.  To  its  active  powers  of  movement  and  its 
migratory  habits,  the  scallop  must  mainly  trust  for  preservation  as 
a  race,  and  to  the  fortuitous  drifting  in  of  young  upon  rafts  of 
sea-weed  most  depleted  localities  chiefly  look  for  rehabilitation. 

Whatever  the  explanation,  the  supply  has  certainly  decreased 
along  our  coast  during  the  past  thirty  years,  even  though  at  cer- 
tain points — as  in  the  Peconics — there  seems  no  diminution.  The 
huge,  smooth-shelled  Pecten  tenuicostatus  of  the  North,  as  big  as 
a  fruit  plate,  which  formerly  abounded  on  the  coast  of  Maine,  has 
now  become  so  rare  as  to  be  a  prize  in  the  cabinet  of  the  conchol- 
ogist  rather  than  an  edible  commodity — a  result  unquestionably 
due  to  over- greedy  catching,  and  an  effective  reply  to  those  meo 
who  told  me  that  they  thought  the  more  the  scallop  beds  were 
raked  the  more  plentiful  the  mollusks  became.  Long  Island 
sound  no  longer  affords  profitable  fishing,  and  the  depletion  there 
IS  attributed  by  the  local  fishermen  to  the  fact  that  in  culling  their 
dredge-loads  the  little  ones  were  not  thrown  back.  The  same 
story  belongs  to  New  York  bay  and  much  of  the  New  Jersey 
coast.  The  irregularity  in  respect  to  plenitude,  and  also  of  the 
size  and  fatness  of  these  mollusks  in  the  three  localities— Buz- 
zard's bay,  Cowesett  bay  (R.  I.)  and  Long  Island — where  they 
are  still  regularly  taken,  is  steadily  complained  of. 

Scallops  are  caught  by  hand-dredging  from  small  sail-boats. 
The  dredges  are  about  thirty  inches  in  width,  have  a  scraper-blade 
upon  the  bottom,  and  in  favorable  weather  several  may  be  thrown 
over  from  each  boat.  In  shoal  water  an  iron-framed  dip-net  is 
sometimes  used  on  calm  days.  It  is  pretty  hard  work,  and  en- 
tails exposure  to  very  severe  weather. 

The  only  edible  part  of  the  scallop  is  the  squarish  mass  of  muscle 
(the  adductor)  which  holds  the  shells  together,  and  this  partis 
skillfully  cut  out  by  "  openers,"  who  have  their  houses  at  the  land- 
ing places  where  the  dredgers  take  their  cargoes  to  be  sold.  It 
is  the  buyer,  not  the  dredger,  who  "opens"  or  "cuts  out"  the 
meat  and  prepares  it  for  market.  In  some  places  men  ;jlone  are 
employed  in  this  work — at  others  women  and  girls  for  the  most 
part,  and  they  will  earn  from  eighty  cents  to  §1,25  a  day.    The 


Digitized  by 


Google 


1 886  ]  The  Scallop  and  its  Fishery.  1005 

work  is  performed  with  great  dexterity.  The  motions  of  an  ex- 
pert opener  are  but  three  after  the  scallop  is  in  hand.  The  bivalve 
is  taken  in  the  left  hand,  palm  up,  with  the  hinges  of  the  scal- 
lop toward  the  opener's  body.  The  knife — a  simple  piece  of 
steel  ground  sharp,  and  with  one  end  stuck  in  a  wooden  handle 
— is  inserted  in  the  opening  of  the  shell  furthest  from  the  breast. 
The  upper  '*  eye  "  is  severed  through  by  this  movement.  A  flirt 
at  the  same  moment  throws  off  the  upper  shell.  The  second  mo- 
tion cuts  the  lower  fastenings  of  the  eye  to  the  upper  shell  and 
takes  the  soft  and  useless  rim  off.  The  last  motion  pitches  the 
shell  into  one  barrel  and  the  soft  and  slimy  rim  into  another, 
while  the  eye  is  thrown  into  a  basin  of  yellow  stoneware  holding 
a  gallon.  They  are  then  poured  from  the  basin  into  a  large  col- 
lander,  thoroughly  washed,  placed  in  clean  boxes  and  shipped 
to  New  York  and  Brooklyn.  As  little  fresh  water  or  ice  is 
placed  in  contact  with  the  "  meats  "  as  possible,  as  it  is  thought 
detrimental  to  their  firmness  and  flavor.  As  this  is  altogether  a 
winter  operation,  the  help  of  ice  in  transportation  is  not  usually 
needed. 

There  is,  or  ought  to  be,  no  waste  in  the  scallop  fisherj'.  On 
Long  Island  the  refuse  is  taken  by  the  farmers  as  manure.  These 
sea-faring  agriculturists  have  always  been  accustomed  to  replen- 
ish their  half-exhausted  lands  with  the  scrapings  of  the  beach 
and  with  the  menhaden  and  other  seine- fish  which  could  be 
caught  plentifully  enough  for  the  purpose  in  the  offing — much 
to  the  disgust  of  every  stranger  who  found  himself  to  leeward  of 
their  fields.  This  demand  failing,  there  is  always  sale  for  the 
refuse  to  the  regular  fertilizer-factories  scattered  along  the  shore. 

The  shells  are  preferred  above  all  others  by  the  oyster-planters 
as  "stools"  or  "  cultch  "  to  spread  upon  their  deep-water  plant- 
ing beds  as  objects  upon  which  the  oyster-spawn  may  "  set "  and 
grow.  This  wise  preference  is  due  to  the  fragility  of  the  scallop- 
shell,  permitting  it  to  break  into  pieces  under  the  strain  of  a 
growing  cluster  of  oysters,  each  one  of  which  will  be  benefited 
by  the  separation,  which  frees  it  from  the  crowding  of  its  fellows 
and  gives  it  room  to  expand  by  itself  into  comely  and  valuable 
rotundity,  instead  of  remaining  a  strap-shaped  distorted  member 
of  a  coalescent  group.  All  their  shells,  therefore,  can  easily  be 
sold  by  the  openers  to  the  oystermen  at  fron^  three  to  five  cents 
a  bushel, 


Digitized  by 


Google 


iOo6  Super-Mitamorphism  and  Vulcanism.      [December, 

The  scallop  fishery  is  of  small  moment  in  the  United  States  be- 
side the  production  for  market  of  oysters  and  clams,  and  the 
statistics  (for  which  I  am  chiefly  responsible)  are  meager,  and  not 
later  than  1881,  though  I  doubt  whether  this  year's  figures  would 
show  much  difference  from  the  status  of  five  years  ago. 

Briefly  summarized,  these  show  that  about  250  men  (and  for  a 
short  season  at  New  Suffolk,  Long  Island,  about  470  women  and 
children,  according  to  Fred.  Mather),  are  engaged  in  either  catch- 
ing or  preparing  scallops,  using  boats  and  apparatus  worth  per- 
haps j$20,000. 

The  total  product  is  from  70,000  to  75,000  gallons  of  the  edible 
part,  as  marketed,  worth  at  first  hand  from  ^25,000  to  ^30,000. 
About  one-half  of  this  comes  from  Peconic  bay,  and  more  than 
half  the  remainder  from  Greenwich,  Long  Island. 


SUPER-METAMORPHISM  AND  VULCANISM.* 

BY  THEO.  B.  COMSTOCK. 

IF  it  be  true  that  metamorphism  has  converted  Archaean  sedi- 
mentary strata  into  the  crystalline  condition  in  which  those 
beds  now  usually  exist,  there  can  be  little  doubt  that  some  igne- 
ous rocks  have  had  a  similar  origin.  We  can  not  detect  the 
direct  evidence  of  such  previous  condition  in  the  thoroughly 
fused  masses,  but  there  is  in  many  cases  no  real  proof  to  the  con- 
trary, to  say  the  least.  Now,  if  these  simple  postulates  be  admit- 
ted, how  can  we  consistently  deny  the  possibility — nay,  the  prob- 
ability— of  the  occurrence  of  all  degrees  of  metamorphism  from 
the  simple  baking  to  the  melting  effects  ?  Geologists  have  com- 
monly supposed  that  a  well-defined  zone  of  metamorphism  has 
existed  over  the  earth  involving  just  so  much  of  the  sub-stratum 
of  the  crust,  never  passing  the  boundary  set  by  the  lowest  mem- 
ber of  the  Palaeozoic  series.  This  view  does  not  comport  with 
the  very  gradual  transitions  observable  in  all  other  natural  pro- 
ducts, nor  can  it  be  reconciled  with  the  numerous  facts  which  go 
to  prove  that  the  great  geologic  agents  of  the  past  are  active  now 
as  then,  in  kind  if  not  in  degree. 

Really,  then,  it  would  be  marvelous  if  extended  study  of  geo- 
logical history  should  not  reveal  fluctuations  of  the  metamorphic 
zone,  above  and  below  the  arbitrary  stratigraphic  boundary 
adopted  in  the  early  days  of  our  young  science. 

^  Abstract  of  two  papers  read  before  Section  E,  A.  A.  A,  S.,  Bqfl^lo,  188  3. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


1 886.]  Sitper-Metamorphism  and  Vulcanism.  1007 

Without  arguing  this  point  further,  I  desire  to  present  here 
some  facts  which  seem  to  indicate  that  true  Palaeozoic  strata  have 
in  one  region  (S.  W.  Colorado)  become  involved  in  the  zone  of 
metamorphism ;  that  is  to  say,  super-metamarphism  has  oc- 
curred. All  along  the  Rocky  Mountain  chain  to  the  north- 
ward the  Silurian  beds  are  recognizable,  although  I  have  seen 
them  very  much  baked  in  portions  of  Northwestern  Wyoming. 
The  same  succession  of  strata  from  top  to  bottom  of  the  Palaeo- 
zoic is  discernible  southward,  as  a  rule,  until  we  strike  the  great 
loop  of  the  continental  divide  in  the  San  Juan  mining  region, 
where  the  sedimentary  formations  skirt  the  base  of  the  Quartzite 
mountains  of  Hayden's  survey.  Here  the  Carboniferous  and 
the  underlying  Devonian  are  well  represented,  and  insignificant 
remnants  of  supposed  Silurian  strata  occur  in  situ.  In  some  cases 
these  last-mentioned  rocks  shade  down  gradually  from  the  un- 
modified sediments  to  the  completely  metamorphosed  layers,  and 
occasionally  the  Devonian  limestone  is  so  intimately  connected 
with  the  subjacent  granite  as  to  form  a  continuous  block  of  the 
two  rocks  welded  together  into  one  mass.  Beneath  the  granites 
is  a  vast  formation  of  quartzite,  and  the  whole  section  studied  by 
itself  and  in  connection  with  the  succession  of  strata  in  the 
adjoining  country,  seems  to .  me  wholly  inexplicable  upon  any 
other  theory  than  that  of  super-metamorphism,  involving  a  con- 
siderable thickness  of  the  early  Palaeozoic  beds,  including  nearly 
all  of  the  Silurian  formation. 

This  idea,  although  worked  out  independently  by  myself,  was, 
I  find,  entertained  some  years  ago  by  Dr.  Endlich,  who  passed 
rapidly  over  a  part  of  the  region  in  1874.  The  importance  of  the 
fact,  if  such  it  be,  of  this  super-metamorphism  appears  very  evi- 
dent when  we  come  to  study  the  history  of  vulcanism  in  Colo- 
rado and  Wyoming.  From  observations  by  the  writer  in  the  lat- 
ter area,  in  1873,  there  seems  no  doubt  that  very  similar  condi- 
tions have  existed  in  that  great  focus  of  eruption,  although  the 
results  have  been  there  much  obscured  by  the  lava  flows  and  less 
disclosed  by  subsequent  erosion. 

Referring  to  the  preceding  remarks  on  super-metamorphism, 
we  may  understand  how,  with  a  crust  offering  excessive  resistance, 
the  igneous  fusion  may  be  longer  continued  than  in  the  case  of  a 
volcanic  eruption  like  those  of  the  early  Tertiary  in  the  West  or 
the  Hawaiian  initial  outflows,  all  of  the  andesitic  type.  Von 
Richthofen's  series,  as  exen^plified  in  the  order  of  succession  of 


Digitized  by 


Google 


I008  Super- Metamorphism  and  Vulcanism,     [December, 

the  lavas  of  the  Western  United  States  is,  in  the  rough,  of  such 
wide  application  that  we  must  expect  to  discover  more  than  a 
mere  accidental  cause.  The  occurrence  of  only  one  type  of  lava, 
as  andesite,  trachyte,  rhyolite,  or  basalt,  may  be  readily  explained 
as  due  to  the  overcoming  of  the  resistance  to  outflow  at  one  or 
other  stage  of  the  process  of  fusion.  So,  in  certain  wide  areas, 
it  might  be  possible  for  all  of  Richthofen's  types  to  be  ejected 
from  as  many  distinct  orographic  centers.  But  in  Wyoming  and 
Colorado  two  great  districts  have  the  old  volcanic  vents  so  re- 
lated to  each  other,  in  the  several  flows,  that  one  can  not  avoid 
the  conclusion  that  each  field  has  been  the  seat  of  one  long-con- 
tinued period  of  activity  marked  by  successive  epochs  of  erup- 
tion. Thirteen  years  of  study  in  these  regions  have  revealed 
many  facts  bearing  upon  these  questions.  Having  elsewhere  out- 
lined a  plausible  theory  of  vulcanism,^  based  upon  these  and  gen- 
eral information  gleaned  from  the  West  Indies  in  merely  travers- 
ing that  region,  together  with  the  published  accounts  of  leading 
authorities,  I  shall  not  here  attempt  a  discussion  of  it,  but  confine 
myself  to  a  simple  statement  of  its  main  points. 

In  brief,  then,  it  seems  evident  that  the  earliest  volcanic  out- 
flows came  out  through  lines  of  least  resistance  in  the  axes  of 
folds  in  the  strata.  In  cases  where  these  lines  coincide  with  the 
major  folds  and  the  lines  of  maximum  tension,  the  outflow  will 
be  andesitic  or  basaltic,  i,  ^.,  bctsic.  If  the  tension  be  not  suffi- 
cient to  overcome  the  resistance,  more  acidic  material  will  be 
formed  at  the  top  of  the  magma,  under  the  folds,  and  this  may 
burst  forth  as  trachyte,  or  Anally  as  rhyolite,  provided  that  the 
resistance  is  not  sooner  overcome.  Basalt  comes  last  as  the  deep- 
seated,  heavier  portion  of  the  magma,  and  in  some  cases  this  fol- 
lows andesite  without  the  intervening  trachyte  and  rhyolite. 

In  the  San  Juan  mining  region  and  in  the  Yellowstone  Park 
area,  the  necessary  conditions  for  the  successive  ejections  have 
been  brought  about  by  a  somewhat  complicated  series  of  foldings, 
cross-foldings  and  faults,  accompanied  by  an  elastic  crust  of  sili- 
ceous material.  The  subject  is  one  which  can  be  studied  in  these 
regions  to  great  advantage,  but  we  are  only  beginning  to  under- 
stand how  simple  is  the  problem  which  nature  has  solved  with 
much  variety  of  detail  to  suit  changing  conditions  of  environment. 

*  The  Geology  and  Vcin-structure  of  Southwestern  Colorado.  By  Theo.  B.  Com- 
stock.  Transactions  Institute  of  Mining  Engineer*,  Lieihlehem  meeting,  May,  iSSo 
(4  mat  h).     Kejirint,  pp.  24-29,  et  seq. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


1 886.]  Zoic  Maxima,  or  Periods  of  Nuntetu'.al  variations,  etc,  1009 

ZOIC   MAXIMA,  OR  PERIODS  OF  NUMERICAL 
VARIATIONS  IN  ANIMALS. 

BY  L.  P.  GRATACAP. 

NO  feature,  perhaps,  in  his  geological  and  field  study  affords 
the  palaeontologist  more  interesting  material  for  his  specula- 
tions on  the  conditions  of  the  past,  in  its  zoological  bearings, 
than  the  irregular  distribution  of  organic  remains  in  the  fossil- 
bearing  rocks.  Not  only  in  the  same  geological  horizon  will  he 
find  striking  variations  in  the  abundance  in  which  the  fossils  occur, 
as  he  passes  from  layer  to  layer  of  contiguous  and  often  of  the  same 
beds,  but  he  soon  discovers  the  important  fact  that  localities  are 
distinguished  by  peculiar  fossils,  that  a  limited  range  circum- 
scribes the  lateral  as  well  as  the  vertical  diffusion  of  a  species,  as 
far  as  regards  numerical  concentration,  and  that  again  points  or 
limited  areas  present,  in  overflowing  numbers,  representatives  of 
an  organism  which,  generally  occurring  throughout  a  wide  geo- 
graphical range,  are  at  these  points  illustrated  in  crowded  and 
exuberant  colonies. 

The  well-known ^5A  bids,  located  by  Newberry  and  Worthen  in 
the  Lower  Carboniferous  limestone  of  Illinois,  are  examples  of  the 
first  case  mentioned,  the  remarkable  localization  of  forms  in  Wis- 
consin, instanced  by  Chamberlain  and  by  him  denominated  as  evi- 
dences of  "  colonial  tendencies,"  is  an  example  of  the  second,  as 
also  to  some  extent,  though  these  are  perhaps  in  the  main  in- 
stances of  a  different  class  of  facts,  the  faunal  stations  of  Williams 
so  admirably  depicted  in  the  papers  on  the  "  Fossil  Faunas  of  the 
Upper  Devonian,"*  while  the  interrupted  display  of  the  same 
species  in  the  same  line  of  outcrop  in  respect  to  the  relative  num- 
bers of  specimens  to  be  seen  or  their  local  disappearance  when 
the  area  examined  has  any  considerable  extent,  corresponding  to 
a  beach  line  of  miles  in  length,  illustrates  the  third  class  of  facts 
which  we  refer  to,  as  the  diminishment  westward  from  Genesee  of 
Pentamefus  in  the  Clinton  rocks  of  New  York. 

Associated  with  these  familiar  facts  is  the  closely  related  one 
of  the  contrasted  size  of  the  same  fossil  species  in  different  parts 
of  the  same  formation,  a  difference  of  size  not  always  explicable 
on  the  mere  assumption  of  favorable  or  unfavorable  environment, 
of  which  perhaps  the  Spergen  Hill  fossils  afford  a  very  pertinent 

>  Bulletin  L'.  S.  Gcol.  burv..  No.  3. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


lOio  Zoic  Maxima,  or  Periods  of  [December, 

• 

illustration,  for,  as  pointed  out  by  Professor  Whitfield,*  the  dtmtn- 
utive  fossils  of  some  molluscous  species  found  at  Spergen  hill 
became,  at  Paynter's  hill,  a  little  over  a  mile  west  of  the  former 
locality,  much  larger,  while  the  Bellerophon  and  Euomphalus  of 
the  Ellettsville,  Ind.,  beds,  greatly  exceed  in  size  the  same  spe- 
cies from  Spergen  hill,  and  in  a  less  striking  way  collectors  have 
become  familiar  with  certain  localities  where  certain  fossils  as- 
sume an  unusual  or  handsome  size  contrasting  with  their  depau- 
perate appearance  elsewhere. 

A  great  deal  of  instructive  and  careful  study  has  been  expended 
in  recent  years,  since  the  advance  of  research  has  made  natural- 
ists better  acquainted  with  the  oscillatory  character  of  faunal 
populations,  upon  the  perplexing  question  of  the  contemporaneity 
and  succession  of  fossil  fauniis,  and  Barrande,  Etheridge,  Hall, 
Hull  and  Gosselet  abroad,  and  Williams,  Walcott,  Call,  Clarke 
and  Matthews  at  hon^e,  have  pointed  out  some  of  the  details  of 
their  results  in  this  investigation,  and  haye  already  familiarized 
the  scientific  world  with  the  iniportant  conception  that  varietal 
faunas  or  modification  of  a  central  or  controlling  animal  facies,  or 
even  sharply  contrasted  zoological  aggregations  of  species  may 
belong  to  the  same  epoch  and  be  laid  down  in  the  neighborhood 
of  each  other  on  the  same  oceanic  or  lake  flooring. 

Our  intention  here  was  not  to  discuss  the  variations  of  specific 
forms  in  the  fossil-bearing  rocks  as  throwing  light  upon  the  syn- 
chronous existence  of  different  faunas,  their  succession,  retreat, 
reappearance  and  fusion.  It  is  undoubted  that  these  assumptions 
explain  and  are  indeed  the  chief  explanations  to  be  offered  for 
the  varying  character  of  near-lying  fossil  groups ;  but  we  wish  to 
urge  upon  the  consideration  of  palaeontologists  the  necessity  of 
allowing — as  far  as  regards  the  instances  of  fossil  distribution  cited 
above,  viz.,  the  greater  or  less  prevalence  at  near  horizons  or  beds 
or  along  the  horizontal  extension  of  the  same  bed  of  the  same 
fauna  or  species — for  those  irregularities  of  production  of  life, 
which  cause  in  our  present  seas  different  years  to  become  dis- 
tinguished for  a  phenomenal  abundance  of  certain  forms,  as 
others  to  claim  a  distinction  for  the  abnormal  decrease  or  disap- 
pearance of  the  same  forms  over  the  same  geographical  area. 
Thus  a' given  spot  on  a  coast  line,  always  yielding  a  particular 
species,  may  in  one  season  become  the  abode  of  numbers  of  these 

>  Bulletin  Amer.  Mus.  Nat.  Hist.,  Vol.  I,  No.  3. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


1 886.]  Numerical  variations  in  Animals,  lOf  \ 

same  animals  out  of  all  proportion  to  its  ordinary  census  of  occu- 
pation^ and  in  another  season  pass,  by  an  abrupt  change  or  per- 
haps through  a  rferieff  of  less  violent  alternations,  to  a  condition 
of  comparative  or  actual  denudation  of  these  residents.  The 
work  of  the  Fish  Commission  has  made  us  familiar  with  facts  of 
much  wider  import,  when  large  sections  of  the  oceanic  basin 
have  become  depopulated.  This  latter  case  appears  to  be  catas- 
trophic in  its  causes,  but  comes  within  the  scope  of  our  sugges- 
tion as  to  the  fluctuating  fertility  of  a  species.  And  the  fact  be- 
comes sometimes  apparent  that  in  a  restricted  region  command- 
ing a  more  or  less  fixed  supply  of  nourishment  the  size  of  the 
animals  will  increase  in  the  years  of  decreased  fertility,  and  cor- 
respondingly diminish  in  the  seasons  of  enhanced  productivity,  a 
relation  not  unnatural. 

To  what  extent  we  may  parallelize  these  two  classes  of  facts, 
the  one  dealing  with  the  changing  abundance  of  fossil  shells  or 
remains,  either  vertically  or  horizontally  distributed  in  beds  of 
the  same  age,  and  the  other  exhibiting  the  varying  numbers,  in 
separated  seasons,  of  contemporaneous  animals  along  our  sea- 
boards, or  in  our  fresh-water  lakes,  or  even,  so  far  as  we  can  de- 
termine, in  the  pelagic  areas,  is  not  at  first,  or  in  all  cases  equally 
easy  to  determine.  But  it  is  possible  to  review  some  considera- 
tions bearing  upon  the  general  question. 

The  observations  which  may  be  adduced  as  bearing  on  this 
question  are  necessarily  widely  scattered,  and  when  found  are  for 
the  most  part  concerned  with  those  forms  of  life  which  subserve 
some  industrial  or  economic  uses,  or  with  those  in  close  relation 
with  the  former,  as,  for  instance,  the  recorded  irruptions  of  sXzx- 
fishes  {Asterias  fordesii)  amd  "drills"  {Uroscdpinx  cinerea)  indif- 
ferent years  upon  our  oyster  beds.  In  classifying,  however,  the 
efficient  causes  which  effect  these  variations  of  animal  populous- 
ness,  without  entrenching  upon  ground  more  or  less 'speculative, 
we  may  say  that  the  changing  abundance  of  animal  forms  in 
different  years  or  localities  arises  mainly  from  : 

1st  Opportunity  for  or  difficulty  in  obtaining  fecundation. 

2d.  Constitution,  rate  of  growth,  habits,  etc.,  of  organism. 

3d.  Character  of  habitat  in  relation  to  bottom. 

4th.  Phenomenal  influences,  as  cataclysms,  poisoned  or  heated 
waters,  storms,  destruction  by  enemies. 

/.  Opportunity  for  or  difficulty  in  obtaining  fecundation. — That 


Digitized  by 


Google 


IOI2  Zoic  Maxima,  or  Periods  of  [December, 

this  has  an  important  influence  in  securing  a  great  or  small 
representation  of  the  marine  animals  in  modern  seas  is  un- 
questioned, though  it  is  always,  of  course/a  variable  function  of 
the  more  or  less  rapid  and  safe  methods  nature  uses  for  their 
multiplication.  Dr.  Brooks  says  '}  **  The  most  critical  time  in  the 
life  of  the  American  oyster  is  undoubtedly  the  time  when  the 
egg  is  discharged  into  the  water  to  be  fertilized,  for  the  chance 
that  each  egg  which  floats  out  into  the  ocean  to  shift:  for  itself 
will  immediately  meet  with  a  male  cell,  is  VGxy  slight,  and  it  is 
essential  that  the  egg  should  be  fertilized  very  quickly,  for  the 
unfertilized  egg  is  destroyed  by  the  sea  water  in  a  very  short 
time." 

Tryon  has  suggested  that  the  swimming  species  of  Cephalo- 
poda may  experience  some  difficulty  in  effecting  sexual  union,* 
and  the  observations  of  Steenstrup  upon  the  many  different  ways 
adopted  in  this  group  of  MoUusca  for  fertilization,  justify  the  in- 
ference that  under  unfavorable  circumstances  individuals  of  the 
same  group  may  not  encounter  each  other,  and  the  chances  for 
the  fruitage  of  the  same  genera  be  diminished  in  exact  ratio  to 
the  opposite  plan  pursued  by  its  congeners  for  their  fecundation. 
With  some  of  the  gastropods  sexual  union  is  effected  directly, 
and  no  danger  is  incurred  from  the  exigencies  of  the  unprotected 
female  ovum  searching  for  the  spermatic  vesicles  in  the  water. 
This  establishes  a  safeguard  which  favors  the  multiplication  of 
those  prosobranchiates  which  possess  it,  but  in  other  groups 
(Trochus,  Scutibranchs,  Cyclobranchs)  the  male  elements  are  dis- 
charged into  the  water,  and  are  then  taken  into  the  uterus.  This 
introduces  a  risk  which  must  increase  or  lessen  according  to  the 
presence  or  absence  of  predatory  flshes  who  devour  the  spat,  the 
favorable  stillness  of  the  water  or  its  temperature,  or  chemical 
condition,  which  if  abnormal  would  destroy  the  germs. 

Professor  Morse'  has  described  the  difficulty,  arising  at  a  rocky 
point  at  Eastport,  Maine,  of  the  larger  males  of  Buccinum  unda- 
turn  securing  contact  with  the  diminutive  females  secreted  in  the 
narrow  apertures  and  crevices  of  the  ledge,  a  state  of  things 
which  at  first  would  have  a  tendency  to  reduce  the  number  of  the 
individuals  until  a  sufficient  number  of  small  males  were  evolved 

'  Bull.  U.  S.  National  Mus.,  No.  27,  p.  210. 

*  Manual  of  Conchology,  Vol.  i,  p.  42. 

•J*roc.  Boston  Soc.  Nat.  Hist.,  Vol.  xvin,  p.  284. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


1 886.]  •    Nhfnerical  voriations  in  Animals.  1013 

to  maintain  the  most  complete  generative  activity,  though  this 
very  contraction  of  size  might  diminish  vitality,  disarrange  the 
seminal  function  and  result  in  sterility. 

The  orders  of  Cladocera,  Copepoda  and  Ostracoda  will,  in  this 
respect,  be  favorably  placed  in  comparison  witli  other  crustacean 
groups,  as  in  these  tribes  fertilization  of  the  female  lasts  during 
her  lifetime,  or  at  least  a  season,  and  in  some  cases  the  young 
females  are  born  fertilized  from  the  impregnated  mother.  Thus 
favorable  conditions  with  these  groups  gain  a  predominating  in- 
fluence, as  they  fortify  and  assist  an  already  preexistent  advan- 
tageous arrangement  for  security  of  fecundation. 

Amongst  fishes  advantage  will  be  given  to  those  whose  spawn- 
ing season  is  most  extended,  as  with  cod,  with  which,  according 
to  the  observations  of  Professor  Sars,  it  extends  over  nine  con- 
secutive months,  "a  period  exceeding  that  required  by  any  other 
species  of  which  we  have  any  knowledge."^  These  are  not  only 
more  likely,  with  equal  vitality,  to  produce  a  larger  number  of  in- 
dividuals, but  they  are  absolutely  favored,  by  the  greater  extension 
of  time,  to  escape  variable  inimical  circumstances,  which  latter, 
being  limited  in  duration,  might,  if  coincident  with  the  shorter 
period  of  other  fishes,  greatly  impair  the  prospects  of  successful 
fecundation.  The  longer  period  of  the  cod  renders  its  partial  or 
entire  escape  from  such  disasters  more  probable.  The  spawning 
season  for  an  individual  of  shad,  salmon,  or  white  fish  is  only  a 
few  days.  But  the  likelihood  of  impregnation  seems  to  be  dimin- 
ished 6n  spawning  grounds  where  strong  currents  are  found,  or 
during  storms,  as  immense  numbers  of  the  eggs  are  driven  on 
the  shores,  or  are  so  diffused  and  distributed  as  not  to  meet  the 
milt  of  the  male,  and  as  the  egg  of  the  cod  quickly  loses  its 
vitality,  great  numbers  perish.  Under  very  favorable  circum- 
stances such  conditions  for  impregnation  might  prevail  as  would 
result  in  an  enormous  excess  of  individuals  produced,  whilst  an 
opposite  state  of  affairs  would  reduce  the  production  to  a  mini- 
mum. Again,  an  insufficient  supply  of  males  would  greatly  mod- 
ify the  results  of  fecundation,  as  the  extraordinary  fertility  in 
eggs  of  the  female  amongst  fish  necessitates  the  presence  of  sev- 
eral males  to  accomplish  their  fertilization.  Eggs  of  fish  which 
are  of  such  a  gravity  as  not  to  rise  to  the  surface,  unlike  those  of 
the  cod  and  mackerel,  come  less  in  contact  with  the  destructive 

*  Bull.  U.  S.  Fish  Commission,  Part  v. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


10I4  Zoic  Maxima^  or  Periods  of        •     [December, 

agencies  of  the  surface,  and  increase  their  likelihood  of  fecunda- 
tion by  the  longer  possible  period  thus  secured  for  a  greater 
number. 

Such  fish  as  spawn  in  rivers  or  in  the  later  seasons,  as  early 
summer,  may  be  in  some  instances,  or  most,  more  likely  to  per- 
petuate a  greater  number  of  offspring  than  their  congeners  whose 
eggs  in  the  ocean  are  exposed  to  greater  risks  of  destruction  or 
at  seasons  when  storms  are  prevalent,  though  this  consideration 
is  again  modified  by  the  possible  presence  in  either  case  of  more 
numerous  enemies. 

//.  Constitution,  rate  of  growth,  habits,  etc.,  of  an  orgamsm.— 
It  is  obvious  that  conditions  (avorable  for  the  preservation  and 
maturization  of  individuals  will  prevail  when  these  conditions 
harmonize  with  the  habit  and  life-history  of  the  organism,  and 
that  the  reverse  will  ensue  when  they  do  not,  and  other  things 
being  equal  we  may  expect  those  species  to  predominate  at  a 
locality  whose  habits,  life -history,  etc.,  are  either  best  adapted  to 
the  conditions  of  that  locality  over  its  competitors,  or  are  of  such 
a  character  as  to  withstand  conditions  which,  generally  unfavora- 
ble to  all  forms  of  life,  are  met  by  it  with  better  safeguards  and 
greater  resistance. 

Under  unfavorable  conditions'  the  longer  time  in  which  the 
young  of  a  marine  shell  are  free  before  attachment,  the  less 
chance  for  a  survival  of  a  great  number,  and  at  such  a  time  a 
selection  would  be  effected  in  favor  of  those  species  whose  spat 
most  quickly  came  to  rest,  and  these  would  subsequently  become 
phenomenally  frequent. 

Again,  the  power  of  an  organism  to  endure  change  of  temper- 
ature, as  compared  with  others  less  able  to  survive  variation  in 
this  respect,  obviously  works  in  its  favor,  and  may  lead  to  an 
apparent  excess  of  individuals.  As  Semper  says,*  "  a  small  &I1 
in  temperature  may  be  as  injurious  to  one  animal  as  a  great  fall 
to  another,  while  a  third  species  may  be  wholly  unaffected  by 
either."  Mobius  has  designated  animals  under  this  regard  as 
eufythermal  and  stenothermal,  as  they  are  qualified  to  endure 
great  or  small  variations  of  temperature.  This  will  also  have  an 
important  influence  on  size,  as  Mobius  has  shown  that  the  same 
species  of  moUusk  living  on  the  coast  of  Greenland  or  in  the  Bal- 
tic was  in  the  former  case  large,  in  the  latter  dwarfed,  and  he  at- 

>  Aniinfil  Life,  p.  105. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


1 886.]  .  Numerical  variations  in  Animals,  1015 

tributed  it  to  the  variable  temperature  in  the  latter  locality.  Rate 
of  growth  as  it  is  rapid  or  slow,  continuous  or  periodic,  will  affect 
the  numerical  display  of  a  species.  Thus  Pecien  irradians  grows 
very  quickly,  stops  in  winter,  beginning  again  when  the  scallops 
are  one  year  old,  and  on  the  whole  this  irregularity  may  be  re- 
garded as  tending  to  diminish  numbers.  Power  of  locomotion 
again  assists  its  possessors  to  escape  from  unfavorable  surround- 
ings or  from  enemies.  Swarming  or  migratory  habits,  as  with 
lobsters,  affect  the  numerical  proportion  of  the  species  at  a  given 
point  in  certain  seasons,  but  probably  has  little  influence  on  the 
fertility  or  abundance  of  individuals.  Those  animals,  as  crusta- 
ceans, which  cast  their  integuments,  are  exposed  to  accidents 
during  their  exposed  period,  and  should  they  then  be  subjected 
to  especially  destructive  influences  would  suffer  great  numerical 
depletion. 

///.  Character  of  habitat  in  relation  to  bottom,  temperature, 
depths  isolation,  salinity  and  supply  of  food, — The  overwhelming 
importance  of  these  very  variable  factors  upon  the  numerical  ex- 
hibit of  a  species  is  most  evident,  and  has,  from  many  points  of 
view,  been  emphasized  by  naturalists.  Thus  the  nature  of  the 
bottom  exercises  a  predisposing  selective  influence  upon  mollus- 
cous distribution.  It  is  well  known  that  oysters  are  killed  in  the 
mud,  that  the  round  clam  affects  sandy  and  muddy  shores,  the 
edible  *muscle  flourishes  in  a  variety  of  positions  and  surround- 
ings, that  the  Purpura  loves  rocky  headlands,  and  so  on  indefi- 
nitely. The  temperature  of  the  water  exercises  an  accelerating 
or  retarding  influence  upon  the  growth  and  spawning  of  both 
shells  and  crustaceans  according  to  their  nature  in  this  respect, 
and  the  increase  or  decrease  of  heat.  In  the  matter  of  living  at 
different  depths,  animals  vary  extremely,  and  the  sudden  settling 
of  a  shore  or  even  rapid  secular  change  would  tend  to  destroy 
the  classes  of  shallow-water  loving  organisms.  Isolation  permits 
close  interbreeding,  subjects  the  species  to  more  uniform  condi- 
tions, and  if  it  diminishes  the  volume  of  water  seriously  modifies 
the  size,  as  shown  with  Lymnaea  by  Semper  and  Hilger,  while  of 
course  it  induces  peculiarities  of  local  development.  Salinity 
varies  in  sea  water  and  enclosed  areas  of  the  ocean,  and  distinctly 
modifies  the  abundance  of  animal  life.  The  character  of  the 
supply  of  food  and  its  abundance  is  an  obvious  element  of  great 
importance  in  the  production  of  sea  animals. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


ioi6        Zoic  Maxima^  or  Periods  of  NutPterical^  etc,     [December, 

IV,  Phenomenal  influences^  as  cataclysms,  poisoned  or  heated 
waters^  storms^  shocks,  destruction  by  enemies. — It  is  enough  to 
mention  these  to  suggest  their  frequent  occurrence.  But  the 
eflfect  of  these  in  geological  time  has  been,  doubtless  in  some 
case,  to  produce  deposits  of  animal  forms  in  sudden  abundance, 
as  when  a  fauna  by  their  action  has  almost  simultaneously  dis- 
appeared. Thus  Dr.  Newberry  has  suggested  that  the  fish  beds 
of  Illinois  afford  evidence  of  a  wholesale  destruction  of  fish  life, 
possibly  through  submarine  explosion,  diffusion  of  poisoned 
vapors,  etc.,  while  the  phenomenal  disappearance  of  animal  life 
from  the  Atlantic,  as  shown  by  the  observations  of  the  Fish 
Commission  in  1881,  is  a  modern  instance  of  a  widely  extended 
catastrophic  obliteration  of  animal  forms. 

Zoic  Maxima, — It  is  evident  that  if  all  the  above  conditions 
were  favorably  conjoined  for  some  reasons,  in  accordance  with 
the  needs  of  any  special  organism  or  any  group  of  organisms, 
that  these  would  attain  probably  an  unusual  fertility,  and  that 
if  passing  such  a  climax  as  this  the  succeeding  years  would  de- 
velop conditions  in  the  same  way,  as  strikingly  unfavorable,  we 
would  have  in  the  marine  deposits,  accumulated  during  these 
years,  two  contrasted  beds  of  respectively  rich  and  barren  con- 
tents connected  or  graded  into  each  other  by  intervening  beds  of 
diminishing  productivity  in  shell  remains.  But  if  after  a  period 
of  phenomenal  activity  and  success  in  the  production  oC  forms 
such  as  instanced,  a  disaster,  such  as  those  we  have  suggested 
under  the  fourth  heading,  took  place,  then  we  would  have  a  bed 
gradually  reached  through  lower  beds  of  increasing  numerical 
strength  until  it  crowned  the  series  as  a  climacteric  to  be  suc- 
ceeded by  later  layers  quite  devoid  of  animal  remains. 

These  periods,  when  all  the  conditions  are  most  favorable  for 
animal  multiplication,  we  designate  as  Zoic  Maxima;  and  as 
they  are  in  accordance  with  the  requirements  of  the  greatest 
number  of  specific  forms  we  call  them  Pan-zoic  Maxima  ;  or  as 
they  are  so  combined  as  to  exert  a  selective  influence,  permitting 
the  preponderance  of  one  or  a  few  species,  or  directly  contribu- 
ting to  the  propagation  of  this  one  species  both  in  numbers  and 
in  size,  we  call  them  Sol-zoic  Maxima. 

It  is  certainly  true  and  known  that  such  Zoic  Maxima,  both 
in  their  general  and  restricted  manifestations;  are  known  in  our 
contemporaneous  faunas.  It  is  probable  that  the  varying  abund- 
ance of  fossil  remains  in  the  beds  of  fossil- bearing  rocks  are  due 
to  similar  causes. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


1 886.]         The  Pcabody  Museum's  Explorations  in  Ohio.  1017 

THE   PEABODY   MUSEUM'S   EXPLORATIONS    IN 

OHIO. 

BY  F.  W.  PUTNAM. 

I  CAN  truly  say  a  new  chapter  has  been  added  to  our  archaeo- 
logical work  in  the  valley  of  the  Little  Miami.  First,  you 
must  know  that  our  camp  is  pitched  by  the  side  of  the  great  pile 
of  earth  we  turned  over  in  our  explorations  of  the  group  of  altar 
mounds  on  the  land  of  Mr.  Michael  Turner.  We  have  been 
working,  with  occasional  necessary  intermissions,  on  this  and  the 
adjoining  farm  of  Mr.  Benjamin  Marriott  for  the  past  five 
years,  and  this  is  the  place  where  we  have  discovered  so  much  of 
interest  within  the  great  earthwork  of  which  the  following  is  a 
sketch : 

A  hill  through  which  two  ditches,  thirty  feet  deep,  had  been 
cut,  separated  the  hill  into  three  parts.  Around  the  central  por- 
tion a  wall  of  earth  had  been  raised,  making  a  perfect  circle  550 
feet  in  diameter.  In  this  inclosure  was  a  large  mound,  and  near 
it  a  small  one.  These  mounds  proved  of  great  interest,  particu- 
larly the  large  one,  with  its  stone  wall  four  feet  high,  surrounding 
an  altar  of  burnt  clay.  We  found  several  human  skeletons  in  the 
clay  outside  of  the  stone  wall  and  two  others  on  the  wall,  with 
various  objects  made  of  copper,  shell  and  stone.  The  earth  taken 
from  the  ditches  was  used  to  make  the  graded  way  from  the  top 
of  the  hill  to  the  level  land  below.  This  graded  way  connects 
with  an  embankment  of  earth,  somewhat  oval  in  shape  and  1500 
feet  in  its  greatest  diameter,  in  which  are  two  openings.  Oppo- 
site the  northern  opening  is  an  earth  circle  300  feet  in  diameter, 
and  in  this  i5  a  small  mound  which  we  have  not  yet  explored. 
Opposite  tl\.e  eastern  opening  is  a  mound  nine  feet  high.  It  was 
on  this  mound  that  we  began  our  work  at  this  place  five  years 
ago.  At  the  foot  of  the  graded  way  is  a  small  circle  inclosing  a 
burial  mound.  North  of  this  circle  were  two  other  burial 
mounds,  and  east  of  it  was  the  great  group  of  altar  mounds, 
around  each  of  which  was  a  wall  of  stones  four  feet  high,  built 
below  the  surrounding  level  of  the  field.  These  mounds  con- 
tained from  one  to  seven  altars,  formed  of  clay,  on  which  fierce 
fires  had  been  made.  If  was  in  two  of  the  basins  of  the  altars  in 
the  mounds  that  I  found  the  immense  number  of  ornaments  of 
various  kinds,  particularly  of  copper,  the  60,000  pearls,  shell- 
beads  and  other  objects,  also  the  wonderful  little  figures  of  terra 


K. — NO.    XII. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


ioi8       The  Peabody  Museum's  Explorations  in  Ohio.  [December, 

cotta  representing  men  and  women.  All  these  objects  had  been 
thrown  into  the  fires  upon  the  altars,  evidently  as  sacrifices  or 
burnt  offerings  during  an  important  ceremony.  The  thirty-seven 
pits  with  the  singular  tubes  or  "  flues"  connected  with  them;  the 
concrete  layer  of  gravel  and  iron  over  them ;  the  singular  struc- 
ture of  the  great  mound,  a  hundred  feet  in  diameter  and  twenty 
feet  high;  the  great  pit  containing  the  many  skulls,  some  of 
which  had  holes  drilled  in  them,  arranged  around  two  skeletons 
placed  in  ashes,  all  serve  to  show  that  connected  with  this  group 
of  mounds  were  extensive  ceremonies  of  the  deepest  import  to 
the  people. 

These  extensive  earthworks,  made  on  such  an  elaborate  scale, 
and  containing  evidence  of  the  wealth  of  the  builders  as  well  as 
of  the  ceremonial  character  of  the  works  themselves,  necessarily 
lead  to  the  conclusion  that  there  must  have  been  a  large  number 
of  people  connected  with  their  construction.     The  beautiful  loca- 
tion of  this  group  of  earthworks  on  the  level  second  terrace 
which  extends  for  miles  in  the  fertile  valley,  and  is  surrounded 
by  hills  from  which  flow  never-failing  springs,  indicate  that  in  this 
region  there  must  have  been  a  large  population;  yet  the  few 
human  remains  which  we  found  in  the  mounds  within  and  with- 
out the  encircling  wall  are  not  sufficient  to  meet  the   require- 
ments.    Such  remains  were  probably  those  of  distinguished  per- 
sons, buried  with  special  honors;  but  where  were  the  other  dead? 
Then  the  many  altars,  or  basins  of  burned  clay,  which  evidently 
had  been  used  over  and  over  again,  and  were,  with  two  excep- 
tions, empty  when  the  mounds  were  erected  over  them,  are  indi- 
cations of  cremation,  and  yet  where  were  the  burnt  hUman  re- 
mains?    Cremation  in  open  fires  will,  necessarily,  leave  many 
fragments  of  calcined  bones  with  the  ashes,  unless  such  remains 
are  burnt  over  and  over  again,  and  special  pains  taken  to  reduce 
all  to  ashes,  and  yet  we  had   found,  in  a  niche  of  the  stone  wall 
about  the  large  altar  mound,  the  burnt  bones  and  ashes  of  but 
one  individual.     If  these  altars  were  the  places  where  cremation 
took  place,  what  then  had  become  of  the  remains  ?     These  were 
questions  which  Dr.  Metz  and  myself  often  asked  of  each  other, 
and  we  felt  confident  that  somewhere  near  by  there  must  be  a 
general  burial  place  for  the  common  dead,  and  many  a  hunt  was 
made  for  surf  ice  indications.     On  the  north  and   south  sides  of 
Mr.  Turner's  b^rn,  ^nd  west  of  the  large  circle,  are  two  scarcely 


Digitized  by 


Google 


1 886.]         The  Peabody  Museum's  Explorations  in  Ohio.  1019 

perceptible  ridges,  similar  to  other  slight  irregularities  here  and 
there  over  the  field.  Owing  to  the  cultivating  of  this  place  for 
many  years  and  to  the  tramping  of  cattle  in  the  barnyard,  these 
ridges  have  been  more  or  less  worn  down,  and  a  few  water-worn 
stones  have  been  exposed  on  the  surface.  These  were  first  no- 
ticed by  Dr.  Metz  about  a  year  ago.  As  soon  as  our  camp  was 
pitched  we  took  a  look  at  these  water-worn  stones.  They  were 
fragments  of  limestone  filled  with  fossils  of  the  Silurian  age 
lying  on  a  deposit  of  gravel  over  which,  long  ago,  had  flowed 
the  waters  of  the  Little  Miami.  What  more  could  these  stones 
have  said,  had  they  been  endowed  with  speech,  than  that  which 
was  evident  to  our  eyes:  "  We  were  long  ago  brought  here  by 
men."  Here,  then,  was  something  more  to  be  revealed  in  con- 
nection with  the  history  of  these  great  earthworks  of  an  ancient 
race,  and  here  we  would  dig  a  trench  on  the  morrow.  We  started 
our  trench  sixty  feet  west  from  the  wall  of  the  circle,  and  well 
outside  of  the  slightly  elevated  portion,  which,  we  were  afterward 
told  by  Mr.  Snyder  who  remembers  the  place  fifty  years  ago, 
was  formerly  much  more  marked,  and  had  the  appearance  of  a 
long  low  mound.  Digging  down  to  the  hard  pan,  we  carried  our 
trench  westward  for  about  ten  feet,  when  we  came  to  three  large 
water-wqrn  stones  regularly  arranged,  side  by  side,  in  the  gravel 
hard  pan. 

It  is  necessary  to  fully  understand  the  character  of  the  earth  in 
which  we  were  working  in  order  to  appreciate  the  labors  of  the 
ancient  people  at. this  place,  and  I  may  well  add  our  own  in 
making  these  researches.  First,  the  surface  consists  of  a  few 
inches  of  dark  soil  overlying  from  eight  to  ten  inches  of  clay. 
Under  this  clay  is  a  layer  of  coarse  gravel  containing  many  peb- 
bles, some  of  considerable  size,  but  all  colored  and  firmly  ce- 
mented by  an  amount  of  iron  which,  from  some  natural  cause,  is 
far  in  excess  of  that  in  the  gravel  all  about.  This  iron-cemented 
gravel  forms  an  irregular  layer  of  from  one  to  four  feet  in  depth, 
and  under  it  is  a  loose,  uncolored  gravel  mixed  with  sand  which, 
judging  from  a  pit  near  by,  is  certainly  thirty  feet  in  depth,  and 
probably. much  more.  It  may  be  that  this  is  part  of  the  great 
terminal  glacial  moraine  which  Professor  Wright  has  been  tracing 
across  the  State  of  Ohio.  In  this  iron  gravel  the  stones  we  found 
were  imbedded.  On  cleaning  off  these  stones  we  found  that 
there  were  others  at  right  angles  to  them,  and  soon  we  made  out 


Digitized  by 


Google 


I020       The  Peabody  Museum* s  Explorations  in  Ohio.   [December, 

that  we  had  at  last  discovered  a  grave.     Would  it  prove  to  have 
any  connection  with  the  people  who  built  the  earthworks  and  the 
altar  mounds  ?     Our  hopes  were  great,  and  they  were  soon  to  be 
realized  as  far  as  one  grave  could  tell  its  story.     On  carefully 
removing  the  earth  from  the  eastern  end  of  the  grave,  close  to 
the  stone,  we  discovered  the  toe  bones  of  a  human  skeleton,  and 
after  several  hours  of  the  hardest  kind  of  trowel  digging,  we  had 
the  satisfaction  of  exposing  the  skeleton  Ij'ing  at  full  length  on 
its  back.     Its  skull,  slightly  turned  to  the  right,  rested  on  a  flat 
stone  at  the  western  end  of  the  grave.     On  the  left  side  of  the 
skull  was  a  large  sea-shell  of  the  genus  Busycon,  from  which  the 
central  portion  had  been  removed,  a  common  method  of  making 
vessels  among  the  various  peoples  of  America,  and  often  found 
in  burial  mounds  and  graves  from  the  Gulf  States  to  Michigan. 
With  the  bones  of  the  neck  were  several  shell  beads,  also  of  a 
common  form,  and  as  widely  distributed  over  the  country  as  the 
Busycon  shells.     The  arms  were  extended  at  full  length  along 
each  side,  and  inclosed  by  the  bones  of  each  hand,  resting  on  the 
hips  was  a  spool-shaped  ornament  (which  our  explorations  have 
proved  to  be  ear  ornaments)  made  of  copper,  and   like  those 
found  with  several  of  the  skeletons  in  the  mounds  of  this  group. 
We  have  at  the  museum  ear  ornaments  of  this  character  from 
burial  mounds  in  various  parts  of  Ohio  and  west  to  the  Missis- 
sippi in  Illinois,  and  from  Central  Tennessee,  but  I  have  never 
found  them  in  any  of  the  several  thousand   stone  graves  of  the 
Cumberland  valley  which  I  have  explored,  nor  have  we  found  a 
trace  of  them  among  the  several  thousand  graves  associated  with 
the  singular  ash  pits  in  the  cemeteries  which  we  have  explored  in 
the  Little  Miami  valley,  nor  with  the  skeletons  buried   in   the 
stone  mounds  nor  in  many  of  the  simple  burial  mounds  of  Ohio. 
They  seem  to  be  particularly  associated  with  the  remains  of  a 
people  who  practiced  cremation  to  some  extent,  and  who  built 
many  of  the  great  earthworks  of  the  Ohio  valley.     That  it  is  an 
ancient  form  of  ornament,  made  from  native  copper,  there  can  be 
no  doubt,  although  they  may  have  been  made  also  by  the  de- 
scendants or  conquerors  of  this  people  in  later  times ;  and  it  is 
not  at  all  improbable  that  the  form  of  the  ornament  may  have 
survived  to  the  time  of  contact  of  the  "  red  race"  with  the  white. 
I  can  only  say  that  in  all  the  recent  Indian  graves  I  have  opened 
or  know  about,  this  peculiar  character  of  ornament  has  not  been 


Digitized  by 


Google 


1 886.]         The  Peabody  Museum's  Explorations  in  Ohio.  1021 

found ;  and  if  they  were  ever  made  by  the  whites  and  furnished 
to  the  Indians,  I  have  never  happened  to  find  any  that  showed 
evidence  of  the  fact.  We  have  certainly  found  them  under  such 
conditions  in  Ohio  that  they  must  have  been  buried  with  their 
owners  long  before  the  discovery  of  America.  Then  again,  all 
we  have  found  have  been  made  by  hammering  pieces  of  native 
copper,  and  not  by  casting  the  metal. 

By  the  side  of  the  right  tibia  of  the  skeleton  in  the  grave  was  a 
copper  pin,  a  wooden  bead  covered  with  thin  copper,  a  few  long, 
slender  flakes  of  flint,  and  a  fragment  of  some  kind  of  an  orna- 
ment made  of  shell.  These  long  flint  knives  are  of  the  same 
shape  and  character  as  the  well  known  obsidian  flakes  from  Mex- 
ico, and  we  have  found  them,  as  a  rule,  associated  with  copper 
car  ornaments  like  those  in  this  grave.  They  are  sharp  edged, 
and  are  as  good  knives  as  the  Mexican  flakes.  While  speaking 
of  them  in  general  terms  as  flint,  they  are  in  reality  flakes  struck 
from  several  varieties  of  stones,  many  of  them  being  of  a  bright 
red  jasper  and  others  of  chalcedony.  The  wooden  bead  covered 
with  copper  is  of  the  same  character  as  others  we  have  taken  from 
the  burial  mounds  in  which  we  have  found  the  copper  ear  orna- 
ments. Close  to  the  right  hand  and  hip,  but  two  inches  above 
them,  and  covering  a  space  a  foot  in  diameter,  were  a  mass  of 
fragments  of  burnt  human  bones,  with  bits  of  charcoal  mixed 
with  ashes.  These  remains  of  a  cremated  body  had  been  gathered 
from  the  place  where  it  had  been  burnt,  brought  to  this  grave  and 
placed  by  the  side  of  the  body  at  the  time  it  was  laid  in  the  grave. 
The  close  contact  of  the  remains  to  the  finger  bones  of  the  skele- 
ton, which  were  not  disturbed,  was  sufficient  evidence  of  this. 
Here,  then,  in  one  grave,  we  had  found  the  evidence  associating 
it  with  the  altar  mounds  and  the  rest  of  the  earthworks  about,  in- 
dependently of  the  fact  that  the  grave  itself  was  within  the  earth 
wall  surrounding  all  the  other  works.  We  had  found  evidently 
the  burial  place  of  the  people,  and  this  was  abundantly  confirmed 
as  our  work  progressed. 

We  have  now  for  two  weeks  been  engaged  in  exploring  this 
burial  place,  and  during  this  time  we  have  discovered  eighteen 
graves,  four  large  deep  pits,  and  several  holes  dug  in  the  gravel, 
as  well  as  places  where  there  had  been  fires,  and  numerous  other 
interesting  facts,  many  of  which  by  themselves  would  be  trivial, 
but  which,  when  they  are  all   put  together,  will  give  a  far  better 


Digitized  by 


Google 


i 


I022       The  Peabody  Musatm*s  Explorations  in  Ohio.  [December, 

idea  of  the  customs  and  woiks  of  the  people  who  made  the  great 
cajtl/woiks  in  Ohio  than  it  has  beep  possible  heretofore  to  obtain. 
All  other  txplorations  in  the  State  have  been  fragmentary.  No 
other  syj-tcn-atic  work  has  been  attempted,  and  hence  we  ha^^e 
had  plenty  of  theories  built  upon  partial  facts.  We  have  much 
to  do  before  the  exploration  is  completed  even  of  this  single 
group. 

To  give  a  detailed    account  of  all  we  have  found    during 
these  two  weeks  would,  I  fear,  draw  too  much  on  the  patience, 
and  I  shall  only  call  attention  now  to  a  few  of  the   more  in- 
teresting points.     Individuality  had  its  exemplification  in  this  old 
cemetery,  the  same  as  it  has  in  our  modern  ones,  and  the  modifi- 
cations are  so  great  that  no  two  of  the  graves  thus  far  discovered 
are  alike.     In  one  instance  there  were  no  stones  about  the  skele- 
ton ;  in  another  a  carefully  built  wall  had   been  made  of  long, 
nariow,  flat  stones,  and  a  regular  wall,  four  layers  high,  had  been 
made  in  the  same  way  that  a  mason   lays  bricks,  but   without 
mortar.     In  some  graves  flat  stones  were  placed  at  the  bottom ; 
in  others  the  skeleton  was   firmly  imbedded  in  the  gravel,  while 
in  one  the  body  had  been  placed  on  a  thin  layer  of  clay  placed 
over  the  gravel.     In  one  grave  there  were  two  skeletons,  one  ex- 
tended at  full  length  on  its  back  and  the  other  crowded  into  the 
grave  by  the  side  of  the  right   leg   of  the   first.      A  child  was 
placed  in  a  small  circular  grave,  the  body  having  been  so  arranged 
that  the  head  and  the  feet  were  not  far  apart.     Most  of  the  graves 
were  comparatively  shallow,  extending  from  six  inches  to  a  foot 
into  the  Idyer  of  gravel.    The  deeper  the  grave  the  better  the  con- 
dition of  the  skeleton.  One  grave  was  dug  to  the  depth  of  nearly 
four  feet  in  the  gravel,  and  was  seven  feet  long  by  four  in  width. 
At  the  bottom  was  a  pavement  of  flat  stones,  fourty-nine  in  num* 
ber.     On  these  stones  the  body  had  been  extended,  and  the  grave 
had  been  filled  up  with  over  three  hundred  stones,  all  of  which 
had  been  brought  from  the  river  bed,  nearly  a  quarter  of  a  mile 
distant.     Over  these  stones  six  inches  of  gravel  had  been  placed, 
around  and  over  which  other  stones  had  been  regularly  arranged. 
The  free  percolation  of  water  through  the  stones  had  filled  up  the 
grave  and  caused  the  skeleton  to  decay,  only  a  few  fragments  be- 
ing left.     The  graves  were  not  covered  with   large  stones,  as  \s 
the  case  with  the  stone  graves  of  Tennessee,  and  there  is  but  lit- 
tle in  common  between  the  two.      Another  class  of  graves  were 


Digitized  by 


Google 


1 886.]         TIte  Peabody  Museum's  Explorations  in  Ohio,  1023 

basin-shaped,  small  in  size,  and  carefully  made  of  flat  stones.  In 
them  we  found  burnt  human  bones  and  ashes.  In  one  was  a  pipe 
carved  from  stone  which  had  been  burnt  with  the  body,  and  in 
another  were  fragments  of  a  burnt  copper  ornament. 

I  must  give  an  account  of  the  graves  which  were  of  particular 
interest. 

Grave  No.  5  in  our  notebook  was  six  feet  six  inches  long,  two^ 
feet  nine  inches  wide,  and  one  foot  eight  inches  deep,  measured 
from  top  of  the  stones.  It  was  made  with  care,  and  the  stones 
were  carefully  placed  so  as  to  form  a  substantial  wall.  The  bot- 
tom was  completely  covered  by  four  large,  flat  stones,  on  which 
the  skeleton  lay  on  its  back.  The  skull  was  at  the  east  end  of 
the  grave.  When  the  body  was  put  in  the  grave  the  knees  were 
drawn  up,  the  left  hand  rested  on  the  body,  and  the  right  was  laid 
straight  along  the  side.  The  result  was  that  the  bones  of  the  left 
hand  were  found  in  close  contact  with  the  upper  ends  of  the  tibiae, 
which  had  fallen  down  between  the  femora.  In  the  bones  of  each 
hand  was  a  copp>er  ear  ornament  like  those  I  have  mentioned. 
In  the  corner  of  the  grave,  near  the  bones  of  the  left  foot,  was  a 
large  sea  shell,  from  which  the  central  portion  had  been  cut  away. 
Near  this  was  a  little  cup  carved  out  of  stone,  two  canine  teeth  of 
a  bear,  each  with  lateral  perforations,  and  in  each  tooth  was  the 
chalky  remnant  of  a  large  pearl.  Close  to  them  was  a  large  crys- 
tal of  galena,  and  a  knife  made  of  a  long  flake  of  flint.  On  the 
same  side  of  the  grave,  nearly  opposite  to  the  shoulder  and  partly 
under  the  side  stones,  were  eight  of  the  copper  ear  ornaments  in 
a  bunch,  and  under  them  a  long  bone  point.  We. did  not  dis- 
cover them  until  we  had  taken  out  the  skeleton  and  began  to  re- 
move the  stones,  for  it  is  our  rule  always  to  remove  everything 
placed  by  human  hands,  and  to  turn  over  every  inch  of  dirt  pre- 
viously disturbed.  On  taking  up  the  flat  stones,  which  were 
firmly  imbedded  in  the  gravel,  and  had  their  edges  covered  by  the 
side  stones,  we  found  the  following  articles,  which  must  have 
been  placed  where  we  found  them  before  the  stones  had  been  put 
down.  Under  the  second  stone  (there  was  nothing  under  the 
first)  near  the  center  was  a  copper  bead  and  small  thin  pieces  of 
iron,  probably  meteoric,  but  it  has  not  yet  been  analyzed,  and  it 
may  prove  to  be  bog  iron  which  has  formed  in  that  place.  As 
we  have  found  several  ornaments  made  of  meteoric  iron  on  the 
altars  of  the  mounds  in  this  group,  as  well  as  two  good-sized 


Digitized  by 


Google 


I024        The  Peabody  Museum*s  Explorations  in  Ofuo.  [December, 

pieces  of  an  iron  meteorite,  I  strongly  suspect  that  this  iron  will 
prove  to  be  the  same.  Under  the  third  stone,  were  two  disks  or 
halves  of  a  copper  ear  ornament.  These  were  several  inches 
apart,  and  must  have  been  so  placed  when  the  stone  was  put 
down.  Near  these  was  a  wooden  bead,  with  a  thin  covering  of 
copper.  Under  the  next,  or  fourth  stone,  were  several  of  the  long 
flint  flakes  or  knives,  and  eight  inches  from  the  edge  of  the  stone 
was  a  small  copper  celt.  These  deposits,  under  the  stones  of 
which  the  body  was  to  be  placed,  certainly  suggest  the  offerings 
of  friends  at  the  time  the  grave  was  prepared,  and  the  various 
other  objects  placed  in  the  grave  with  the  body  can,  with  equal 
reason,  be  looked  upon  as  the  property  of  the  deceased,  or  as 
friendly  ofTerings.  At  all  events  they  are  important  as  proof  that 
the  individuals  buried  here  belonged  to  the  people  who  built  the 
mounds,  as  these  several  objects  are  of  the  same  character  as  the 
many  we  have  found  on  the  altars,  and  with  the  few  skeletons  in 
the  burial  mounds  of  the  group. 

Grave  15  of  our  notes  was  remarkable  for  the  care  with  which 
the  walls,  sixteen  inches  high  at  the  head  and  foot,  were  made  of 
four  layers  of  flat  stones,  while  along  the  sides,  in  the  clay  above 
the  gravel  layer,  were  simply  a  row  of  stones.  The  skeleton  was 
lying  firmly  imbedded  in  the  gravel,  extended  at  full  length  on 
its  back,  with  the  skull  at  the  west  end  of  the  grave,  while  the 
toe  bones  were  against  the  opposite  stones.  The  skeleton  thus 
extended  the  full  length  of  the  grave,  which  was  six  feet  three 
inches.  As  with  nearly  all  the  adult  skeletons,  there  was  a  cop- 
per ear  ornament  in  the  bones  of  each  hand.  On  the  breast  bone 
was  a  copper  band.  At  the  neck  were  two  shell  beads,  and  near 
the  left  shoulder  was  a  flake  knife.  A  few  inches  from  the  left 
foot  were  about  twenty  of  the  long  flake  knives,  carefully  laid 
together,  as  if  they  had  been  wrapped  in  a  piece  of  skin  or  cloth 
when  placed  in  the  grave. 

With  two  other  skeletons  we  found  celts  made  of  soft  coal. 
These  were  perfectly  made,  with  fine  smooth  edges  and  polished 
surfaces,  in  exact  imitation  of  the  ordinary  stone  celt  or  hatchet; 
but  as  they  would  have  been  worthless  for  the  uses  to  which  stone 
celts  were  put,  it  is  likely  that  they  were  ornamental  or  cere- 
monial objects. 

I  will  allude  only  to  one  more  grave.  No.  18  of  our  notes.  This 
was  marked  by  a  mass  of  gravel  a  little  over  seven  feet  long  and 


Digitized  by 


Google 


1 886.]         The  Peabody  Museum* s  Explorations  in  Ohio.  1025 

nearly  three  feet  in  width,  around  the  edges  of  which  were  small 
stones,  eight  to  twelve  inches  long.  This  mass  stood  up  eight 
inches  from  the  gravel  layer  under  the  clay.  Removing  these 
stones  and  gravel,  we  found  loose  gravel  filling  a  pit  just  seven 
feet  long  and  three  feet  four  inches  wide.  At  the  depth  of  two 
feet  we  came  to  hard  undisturbed  gravel,  and  on  this  was  a  hu- 
man skeleton  extended  at  full  length  on  its  back,  with  the  skull 
at  the  south-east  end  of  the  grave.  The  bones  were  firmly  imbed- 
ded in  the  gravel,  and  so  dry  that  great  care  was  necessary  in  re- 
moving this  matrix.  However,  after  six  hours  of  unremitted 
labor  with  srtiall  trowel  and  brush,  they  and  the  several  objects 
associated  with  them  were  all  uncovered  and  left  in  place,  even 
to  the  finger  and  toe  bones,  and  a  photograph  was  taken  showing 
everything  in  place.  In  each  hand  was  one  of  the  copper  ear  orna- 
ments of  the  kind  I  have  referred  to  so  often.  The  finger  bones 
were  so  arranged  as  to  show  that  these  ornaments  had  been 
clasped  in  the  hands  at  the  time  of  the  burial  of  the  body.  An- 
other of  these  ornaments  was  on  the  neck  bones  in  contact  with 
the  under  jaw.  On  each  side  of  the  copper  ornament  was  a  canine 
tooth  of  a  bear,  with  the  lateral  perforations.  Partly  over  the 
bear's  tooth,  on  the  left  side,  was  a  piece  of  native  copper,  which 
had  been  hammered  roughly  into  a  flat,  thick,  irregular  sheet. 
This  is  without  holes,  and  is  probably  an  unfinished  ornament. 
Above  this,  and  close  to  the  skull,  was  a  small  copper  cone,  like 
many  found  on  the  altar  of  the  great  mound.  Near  the  right 
shoulder  was  a  large  sea  shell,  like  the  others  I  have  mentioned. 
This  skeleton,  as  it  lay  in  the  grave,  measured  five  feet  ten  inches 
from  the  top  of  the  skull  to  the  tip  of  the  great  toe,  and  the  in- 
dividual was  not  far  from  five  feet  four  inches  in  height  when 
living.  With  the  exception  of  a  portion  of  the  sacrum,  which  had 
entirely  disappeared,  this  skeleton  was  taken  out  in  a  perfect  con- 
dition. The  decay  of  the  sacrum  was  owing,  probably,  to  the 
fact  that  a  small  round  stone  had  fallen  in  such  a  way  as  to 
allow  water  to  percolate  around  it. 

This  skeleton  is  a  good  illustration  of  the  absurdity  of  the 
common  notion  that  as  soon  as  skeletons  which  have  long  been 
buried  are  exposed  to  the  air  they  fall  to  dust.  I  always  have  a 
quiet  laugh  when  I  read  notices  of  that  kind,  and  you  may  put 
all  such  accounts  down  to  the  inexperienced  and  clumsy  work 
of  the  person  removing  the  skeleton.     The  fact  is  that  it  requires 


Digitized  by 


Google 


1026       The  Peabody  Museum* s  Explorations  in  Oltio,  [December, 

great  care  to  remove  the  earth  from  about  the  bones,  and  very 
few  persons  will  take  the  time  to  do  it  properly.  As  soon  as  a 
bone  is  uncovered  most  persons  attempt  to  remove  it  at  once, 
and  of  course  it  goes  to  pieces.  Now  if  a  skeleton  is  in  dry  earth 
or  gravel,  and  is  very  dry  and  crumbling,  the  proper  mode  of 
procedure  is  to  uncover  the  bones  with  great  care,  loosening  the 
earth  with  the  point  of  a  small  flat  trowel  and  removing  it  from 
the  bones  by  means  of  a  small  broom,  or  clothes  brush,  then  let 
the  moist  air  come  in  contact  with  the  bone,  or,  if  the  air  is 
very  dry  and  hot,  sprinkle  the  bones  with  water  and  let  them 
absorb  all  they  will.  In  this  way  the  particles  of  bone  swell  and 
interlock,  and  after  a  while  the  bone  can  be  safely  taken  up  by 
avoiding  force  in  removing  it  from  the  earth.  In  case  the  bones 
are  in  wet  clay  or  earth  the  matrix  must  be  removed  with  great 
care.  In  such  cases  the  bones  are  soft  and  spongy  and  they  must 
be  allowed  to  remain  in  place  until  they  have  dried  off;  but  they 
must  not  be  exposed  to  the  full  heat  of  the  sun,  otherwise  they 
will  crack  and  splinter  as  they  dry.  Of  course  instances  often 
occur  where  we  find  only  minute  fragments  of  a  skeleton  in  a 
grave,  all  the  rest  having  passed  through  a  chemical  change  and 
been  reduced  to  its  earthly  particles;  but  that  every  bone  found 
in  a  grave  can  be  preserved  by  using  proper  care  I  know  from 
long  experience  to  be  the  case.  I  may  also  call  attention  to  the 
fact  that  the  state  of  perfection  of  the  skeleton,  outside  of  certain 
limits,  is  not  evidence,  by  itself,  of  the  antiquity  of  the  bones,  as 
the  conditions  of  burial,  as  well  as  the  character  of  the  bones 
must  be  taken  into  account. 

In  our  exploration  of  this  burial  place  we  found  three  large 
pits  which  were  covered  with  gravel  and  stones,  like  the  grave  I 
have  just  described.  These  pits  had  been  dug  through  the  com- 
pact iron-cemented  gravel  Ijelow  the  clay,  even  to  the  depth  of 
five  feet,  and  all  the  material  taken  from  them  had  been  carried 
away.  The  pits  were  then  filled  with  ashes  and  burned  earth, 
and  covered  with  several  inches  of  gravel  and  stones,  like  a 
grave.  The  sides  of  the  pit  were  not  burned,  so  it  is  evident  that 
the  ashes  were  not  from  fires  on  the  spot.  There  were  several 
places  uncovered  by  our  excavations  near  these  pits  or  gra\'es 
where  fires  had  been  made  on  the  clay  or  gravel,  but  the  ashes 
had  been  removed,  and  hence  it  is  probable  that  they  had  been 
put  in  these  carefully  marked  pits.  But  what  had  become  of  the 
gravel  taken  from  them  ? 


Digitized  by 


Google 


1 886.]       An  Interesting  Connecting  Genus  of  Chordata,         1027 

It  is  to  be  remembered  that  in  the  great  mound  of  the  group 
of  altar  mounds  there  was  a  layer  of  gravel  two  or  three  inches 
thick,  which  we  have  called  the  concrete  layer.  This  gravel  was 
cemented  by  a  large  amount  of  iron,  and  it  has  been  a  puzzle 
where  the  iron  came  from.  It  was  far  too  great  in  amount  to 
have  been  derived  from  the  clay  in  the  mound  above,  and  be- 
sides, the  gravel  of  the  same  layer,  about  the  edges,  was  loose 
and  light  without  any  mixture  of  iron.  Now  this  iron  gravel 
from  the  burial  place  is  of  the  same  character  as  that  forming  the 
concrete  layer  in  the  mound,  and  it  therefore  seems  probable  that 
these  pits  must  have  been  dug  for  the  purpose  of  obtaining  it 
As  this  gravel  had  been  used  during  the  extensive  ceremonies 
which  must  have  taken  place  at  the  time  the  mound  was  con- 
structed, the  very  place  from  which  it  was  taken  seems  to  have 
been  held  sacred  and  the  pits  therefore  filled  with  burnt  material, 
covered  over  and  marked  in  the  same  manner  as  some  of  the 
graves.  This  again  is  further  evidence  of  the  connection  of  the 
burial  place  and  the  ceremonies  which  took  place  there  with  the 
altar  mounds.  The  more  we  examine  into  the  details  of  this 
wonderful  group  of  ancient  works,  the  more  interesting  and  in- 
structive they  become.  We  have  already  spread  before  us  the 
outlines  of  a  grand  picture  of  the  singular  ceremonies  connected 
with  the  religious  and  mortuary  customs  of  a  strange  people. 
There  are  still  some  touches  to  be  given  before  the  picture  is 
complete,  but  it  is  more  perfect  than  any  other  that  has  been 
drawn,  and  as  our  work  goes  on  we  may  yet  be  able  to  fill  it  out, 
and  finally  present  it  as  a  perfect  whole. —  The  Boston  Herald. 


-:o:- 


AN  INTERESTING   CONNECTING    GENUS   OF 
CHORDATA. 

BY  E.  D.  COPE. 

IT  is  well  known  that  the  only  orifice  in  the  cranial  parts  of  the 
carapace  in  those  so-called  fishes  of  the  Old  Red  sandstone, 
Pterichthys  and  Bothriolepis,  is  single  and  median,  and  is  trans- 
versely placed,  so  as  to  cover  the  space  occupied  by  the  orbits 
and  the  interorbital  region  in  such  Vertebrata  as  have  the  eyes 
superior  and  close  together.  In  the  genus  Cephalaspis,  which 
has  been  also  supposed  to  be  a  fish,  two  orbits  and  an  interspace 
occupy  about  the  corresponding  position  in  the  cranial  buckler. 


Digitized  by  VjOOQIC 


I028     An  Interesting  Connecting  Genus  of  Chordaia,   [December, 

There  is  found,  lying  in  the  median  orifice  of  Bothriolepis,  a  b>ny 
valve,  which  is  quite  free  all  round.  This  has  been  supposed  to 
represent  the  interorbital  part  of  the  carapace,  and  the  uncovered 
parts  of  the  orifice,  at  each  of  its  extremities,  have  been  supposed 
to  be  the  orbits.  An  examination  of  numerous  specimens  of 
Bothriolepis  canadensis  Whiteayes,  has  lead  me  to  oppose  this  lat- 
ter view.  I  have,  on  the  contrary,  considered  the  entire  orifice  to 
be  probably  homologous  with  the  "  nasal  pouch  "  of  the  lampreys, 
and  the  mouth  of  the  Tunicata  and  of  the  invertebrates.*  This 
character,  together  with  the  absence  of  lower  jaw,  would  refer  the 
genus  to  the  Marsipobranchii  or  class  of  lampreys,  or  to  the  Tu- 
nicata. From  its  considerable  resemblance  in  the  carapace  to  the 
tunicate  Chelysoma,  and  m  the  lateral  arms,  to  Appendicularia,  I 
referred  Bothriolepis  provisionally  to  that  class. 

The  Cephalaspidida^  are  more  like  fishes  than  the  Pterichthyi- 
das,  in  that  they  have  a  distinct  head  and  distinct  orbits.  They 
have,  however,  no  lower  jaw,  and  thus  approach,  if  they  do  not 
enter,  the  Marsipobranchii.  But  they  have  no  nasal  pouch  or 
nostrils,  as  has  been  observed  by  Dr.  Lankester.  This  character 
separates  them  widely  from  either  fishes  or  Marsipobranchii.  It 
also  gives  color  to  the  supposition  that  the  orbits  in  this  family 
represent  the  extremities  of  the  median  orifice  of  Bothriolepis. 

A  highly  interesting  specimen,  which  I  owe  to  the  kindness  of 
my  friend,  R.  D.  Lacoe,  of  Pittston,  Pennsylvania,  throws  consid- 
erable light  on  this  subject.  It  consists  of  the  cast  of  the  cranial 
and  nuchal  buckler  of  a  vertebrate  allied  to,  but  different  from, 
the  families  above  mentioned.  The  fact  that  it  is  derived  from  a 
higher  geological  horizon  than  any  of  them,  that  is,  from  the 
coal  measures,  adds  to  its  interest.  Besides  the  typical  specimen 
other  portions  of  a  probable  body-buckler  are  in  my  possession. 

The  characteristic  peculiarity  of  this  form  consists  in  the  fact 
that  it  combines  the  presence  of  orbits  similar  to  those  of  Ceph- 
alaspis,  with  a  median  orifice  between  them,  in  the  position  of 
that  of  Bothriolepis.  And  this  median  orifice  is  divided  into  two 
equal  parts  by  a  narrow  longitudinal  septum.  The  parts  are  well 
preserved  in  the  specimen,  and  perfectly  distinct.  The  two  me- 
dian orifices  perforate  the  middle  of  the  region  which  is  occupied 

1  Amj£Rican  Naturalist,  1885,  p.  289. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


1 886.]       An  Interesting  Connecting  Genus  of  Chordata,  1029 

by  the  plate  of  Bothriolepis,  but  differing  from  it  in  being  contin- 
uous anteriorly  and  posteriorly  with  the  rest  of  the  buckler. 

This  structure  makes  it  probable  that  the  median  orifice  of  the 
Pterichlhyidae  represents  both  protostome  (nares)  and  orbits,  and 
that  these  orifices  have  become  differentiated  in  later  forms.    The 
protostome  in  Bothriolepis  is  covered  by  a  probably  movable 
valve.     That  the  organ  of  smell  should  have  been  differentiated 
from  a  primitive  mouth  is  altogether  reasonable  in  view  of  the 
close  relationship  subsisting  between  these  senses  ;  but  that  the 
sense  of  sight  should  have  had  a  common  orifice  is  not  to  be  antici- 
pated.    The     recent    re- 
markable discovery  of  a 
rudimental  eye  in  the  pi- 
neal gland  of  lizards  does 
not  throw  much  light  on 
the    subject,    since    true 
eyes   coexist   with    it   in 
those    animals,   and    the 

median  eyes  of  the  Pter-    I  \ 

ichthyidae    had    left    the  >' 

field  long  before  the  ad- 
vent of  Reptilia,  in  a  phy- 
logenetic  sense.  From  a 
chronological  point  of 
view  it  is  not  unlikely 
that  the  present  new  ge- 
nus   brings    such   forms      ^  ,^  ^.  ^  '    .  . 

.  ,  riG.    I. — Mycterops    ordinaius    Cope.     Cranial 

closer       together,       Smce  and  nuchal  buckler  from  above,  %  nalural  size. 

there  is  little  doubt  but  that  the  Pelycosauria  of  the  Permian 
possessed  large  pineal  eyes. 

The  new  genus  here  referred  to  may  be  named  Mycterops,  and 
the  single  species  which  thus  far  represents  it  may  be  called  Myc- 
terops ordinatus.     The  generic  character  is  as  follows  : 

Cranial  buckler  undivided,  terminating  in  an  acute  spine-like 
process  at  each  postero-external  angle,  which  is  directed  back- 
wards, and  without  articulations.  The  space  between  these  spines, 
occupied  by  a  large  undivided  shield,  separated  by  a  transverse 
suture  from  the  cranial  buckler. 

The  species  characters  are  as  follows : 

Muzzle  broadly  rounded.     Orbits  semicircular  or  widely  cres- 


Digitized  by 


Google 


1030     An  Interesting  Connecting  Genus  of  Chordata,   [December, 

centic,  the  flat  or  concave  border  inwards ;  the  long  diameter  an- 
teroposterior. Nares  close  together,  each  with  a  subquadrate 
outline,  and  separated  from  the  orbit  by  a  space  a  little  greater 
than  its  own  diameter.  Their  borders  are  slightly  elevated,  «pe- 
cailly  above  a  shallow  groove  that  connects  the  orbits  behind 
them.  Nuchal  plate  twice  as  wide  as  long,  its  posterior  outline  a 
little  convex,  its  posterior  external  angle  reached  by  the  acute 
apex  of  the  cephalic  spine«  The  median  anterior  border  of  the 
cephalic  buckler  is  damaged  so  as  not  to  give  its  exact  outline, 
.  but  the  muzzle  was  probably  broadly  rounded.  The  lateral  bor- 
ders are  nearly  straight,  and  they  diverge  to  near  the  base  of  the 
spine.  The  external  border  of  the  latter  is  gently  convex,  and 
turns  inwards  posteriorly.  The  surface  is  marked  by  longi- 
tudinal lines  of  flat  tubercles,  or  raised  areas,  which  are  separated 
by  narrow  grooves,  and  have  various  lengths.  Those  on  the 
head  are  usually  as  wide  as  long;  while  those  on  the  nape  are 
generally  much  longer  than  wide.  Those  near  the  borders  are 
always  broken  up,  and  those  at  the  side  and  in  front  of  the  orbits 
are  irregularly  distributed.  Cephalic  border  and  spine  smooth. 
The  size  varies.  The  type  specimen  has  the  head  as  large  as  a 
fully-grown  Amiurus  catus,  but  parts  of  others  indicate  individ- 
uals approaching  double  that  size. 

Returning  to  the  presentation  of  the  systematic  relations  of 
this  form,  it  may  be  observed  that  in  spite  of  its  resemblances 
to  the  Pterichthyidae  and  the  Cephalaspididae,  it  must  be  dis- 
tinctly separated  from  both  families.  Supposing  it  to  possess 
a  ventral  plastron  like  that  of  the  former  and  Coccosteus. 
which  is  probable,  we  must  not  attach  too  much  importance 
to  the  fact.  It  was  on  the  presence  of  the  carapace  and 
plastron  of  these  forms  that  Owen  established  his  order  of 
Placoganoids.  But  this  character  constitutes  no  greater  bond 
than  the  possession  of  scales  by  many  fishes;  and  equally  hetero- 
geneous elements  are  embraced  in  Professor  Owen's  division. 
Thus  Coccosteus  and  Dinichthys  have  well-developed  cranium 
with  distinct  mandibular  and  scapular  arch.  None  of  the  ele- 
ments of  a  cranium  are  distinguishable  in  the  Pterichthyidae  and 
Cephalaspidae,  and  neither  of  them  possesses  a  lower  jaw  or  scap- 
ular arch.^  Mycterops  must  be  associated  with  the  latter.  But 
it  differs  from  both  in  the  characters  of  its  orbits  and  nares,  and 

'  A  pectoral  limb  has  been  observed  in  Cephala^^pis,  but  no  scapular  arch. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


1 886.]        An  Interesting  Connecting  Genus  of  Chordata,         103 1 

must  be  kept  well  apart  from  them  on  this  account.  The  rela- 
tions of  all  these  forms  to  known  types  may  be  tentatively  repre- 
sented in  the  following  scheme : 

Class  TUNICATA. 
Order  Antiarciia.     Vent  posterior;  ?  mouth  as  well  as protostome  present. 
Fam.  BothriolepidiJa,     Caudal  region  absorbed. 
Fam.  PUrichihyida.     Caudal  region  present. 

Class  AGNATHA.    Without  lower  jaw  or  scapular  arch. 
Subclass  Arrhina.    No  nares. 
Fam.  Cephalaspididce. 

Subclass  M0NORRHINA  (Marsipobranchii).    A  single  median  nareal  orifice. 
Order  IIyperoarti  (Myxinidaj). 
Order  Hyperotreti  (Peiromyzontidae). 

Subclass  DiPLORRHiNA.     Two  median  nareal  orifices. 
Fam.  Mycteropida,     Cephalic  and  ventral  bucklers. 
Class  PISCES. 

Subclass  I.   HOLOCEPHALI. 

«♦        2.  Dipnoi. 

•*        3.  Selachii, 

"  4.  Telf.ostomi. 
Order  Placoganoidei.  The  structure  of  the  fins  of  this  order  being  unknown 
it  cannot  be  referred  to  either  of  the  three  primary  divisions  (Crossoptery- 
gia,  Chrondostei  and  Actinopteri)  with  certainty.  Supposing  it  to  belong 
to  the  last  named,  it  agrees  best  with  the  Isospondyli,  but  apparently  differs 
in  the  lack  of  some  ot  the  elements  of  the  suspensorium  of  the  lower  jaw. 
There  is  no  sufficient  evidence  of  affinity  to  the  Nematognathi,  which  is 
probably  a  modem  group. 

The  Mycteropidae  then  occupy  a  position  between  the  Anti- 
archa  and  Marsipobranchii  (Monorrhina)  on  the  one  hand  and  the 
fishes  on  the  other.  They  would,  with  the  latter,  enter  the 
"  cladus  "  Amphirhina  of  Haeckel,  if  that  division  be  regarded  as 
defined  by  the  presence  of  two  nareal  orifices.  But  this  disposi- 
tion of  them  would  violate  truer  affinities  to  the  orders  without 
lower  jaw  and  scapular  arch,  for  which  the  term  Agnatha 
(Haeckel)  may  be  retained.  As  compared  with  Cephalaspididae, 
Mycterops  approaches  nearest  to  Didymaspis  Lankester,  The 
Mycteropidae  may  be  regarded  as  descendants  of  the  Pterichthy- 
didae,  and  ancestors  of  the  Placoganoidei.  Since  the  latter  occur 
earlier  in  geological  time  (Devonian)  than  the  Mycteropidae  (Car- 
boniferous), we  may  suppose  that  Mycterops  is  a  descendant  of  a 
Silurian  or  Devonian  type  with  a  single  median  nostril,  which 
will  be  a  family  of  Monorrhina.  From  this  hypothetical  family 
the  Arrhina  (Cephalaspididae,  etc.)  and  the  Marsipobranchii  (1am- 
phreys)  may  then  be  regarded  as  descendants.  The  former  lost 
nares  by  degeneracy ;  the  latter  are  degenerate  in  other  respects. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


1032  Recent  Literature.  [December, 

EDITORS'  TABLE. 

editors:  a.  s.  Packard  and  e.  d.  cope. 

The  editors  of  the  American  Naturalist  wish  to  call 

the  attention  of  American  students  to  the  fact  that  their  pages 
are  open  for  the  prompt  pubhcation  of  summaries  of  the  results 
of  original  investigation,  which  for  any  reason  it  may  be  deemed 
desirable  to  place  on  record  before  the  issuance  of  the  completed 
account.  Looked  at  merely  as  a  means  of  securing  priority,  pre- 
liminary communications  are  not  over  praiseworthy.  The  credit 
of  making  a  discovery  should  not  be  the  sole  end  of  investigation, 
and  an  attempt  to  hurry  into  print  so  as  to  forestall  some  other 
worker  in  the  same  line  is  not  highly  meritorious.  The  student 
of  science  should  have  a  higher  aim ;  and  happily  quarrels  for 
priority  are  far  less  frequent  than  they  have  been  in  years  past, 
thus  indicating  that  a  higher  end  has  been  sought.  Preliminary 
communications  have  another  value  than  the  mere  anticipation  of 
another.  They  place  before  others,  working  in  the  same  line,  an 
outline  of  the  results  at  the  earliest  possible  moment,  and  thus 
often  furnish  invaluable  assistance.  Fully  as  great  is  their  value 
to  the  student  working  in  another  line.  The  completed  paper  is 
usually  long  and  frequently  prolix,  so  that  it  is  a  severe  drain 
upon  the  time  to  wade  through  it  for  the  facts  desired.  The  pre- 
liminary communication,  on  the  other  hand,  is  usually  short  and 
concise ;  it  contains  only  the  more  salient  facts  and  omits  the 
larger  part  of  the  speculations.  In  this  way  it  becomes  more 
easily  available  for  reference,  while  it  does  not  withdraw  from  the 
value  of  the  more  detailed  article.  From  these  two  points  ot 
view  the  preliminary  communication  is  valuable  and  deserves  en- 
couragement. 

RECENT  LITERATURE. 

Smith's  "Albatross"  Crustacea.* — The  dredgings  of  the 
U.  S.  Fish  Commission  steamer  Albatross  are  turning  up  a  won- 
derful deep-sea  fauna,  and  placing  the  work  done  by  American 
students  in  this  direction  at  least  on  a  par  with  that  done  in  Eu- 
rope. In  the  present  paper  107  species  of  decapods  are  recorded 
as  having  been  taken  in  the  collections  of  1883  and  1884,  and  of 
these  but  two  are  described  as  new  in  the  present  paper.     Novel- 

*  Sidrify  I.  Smith'' s  Report  on  the  xtecapod  Crustacea  of  the  "  Albatross'*'*  dredgings 
off  the  east  coast  of  the  United  States  during  the  summer  and  autumn  vf  1884.  Kcp. 
U.  S.  Fikh  Commis.  for  1885,  pp.  loi,  20  plaies,  1886. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


1 886.]  Recent  Literature.  1033 

ties  are,  however,  but  a  slight  test  of  the  value  of  any  contribu- 
tion to  science,  and  the  present  instance  is  no  exception.  The 
principal  feature  of  this  paper  is  the  extent  to  which  it  increases 
our  knowledge  of  the  bathymetrical  distribution  of  the  forms 
enumerated,  and  points  out  the  coincidences  between  depth  of 
occurrence  and  points  of  structure.  These  lists  record  forty- 
three  species  as  coming  from  below  the  1000  fathom  line,  while 
twenty-two  were  taken  from  a  depth  greater  than  2000  fathoms. 
The  greatest  depth  recorded  is  2949  fathoms,  and  from  a  single 
station  of  this  depth,  about  350  miles  east  of  the  mouth  of  the 
Chesapeake  the  trawl  brought  up  Acanthephyra  agassizii^  A.  brevi- 
rostris^  Notostomus  vescus,  Hymenodara  glacialis^  Parapasipltae 
sulcatifrons,  Hepomadus  ttner  and  Sergestes  mollis.  Of  the  per- 
tinence of  the  first  of  these  to  these  great  depths  some  doubt  is 
expressed,  as  at  another  time  one  was  caught  swimming  at  the 
surface.     All  of  these  forms  it  is  to  be  noted  are  macrurous. 

Some  of  the  deep-sea  forms  are  colorless,  but  most  are  of  some 
bright  shade  of  red  or  orange.  Their  eyes  have  undergone  a 
careful  superficial  examination.  In  some  the  black  pigment,  the 
corneal  facets  and  the  like  are  much  as  in  shallow-water  forms, 
except  that  occasionally  the  eyes  are  smaller.  In  Munidopsis  and 
Pentacheles  the  visual  elements  are  apparently  lacking,  while  in 
others  the  pigment  is  light  colored  and  the  visual  elements  are 
reduced  in  number.  In  some  of  the  deep-water  shrimps  there  is 
a  curious  accessory  organ  borne  on  the  e)^e-stalks  which  may  be 
phosphorescent  in  its  nature.  It  certainly  deserves  careful  histo- 
logical examination  at  competent  hands.  In  the  eggs,  too,  a 
peculiarity  is  noticed.  Among  the  shallow-water  decapods  the 
eggs  are  usually  so  small  that  it  is  a  matter  of  some  difficulty  to 
cut  sections  of  them,  but  in  these  deep-water  forms  they  attain  a 
very  considerable  size,  those  of  Parapasiphae  sulcatifrons  having 
a  diameter  fifteen  times  those  of  the  common  soft-shelled  crab, 
Neptunus  hastatus. 

We  have  a  little  fault  to  find  with  the  pjesent  paper.  The 
first  is  that  which  is  found  in  all  of  the  Fish  Commission  publi- 
cations, but  which  here  is  not  as  bad  as  in  embryological  work — 
the  use  of  process  cuts.  We  notice  a  tendency  to  the  creation 
of  new  families  which  hardly  seems  to  be  warranted.  Until  we 
know  more  of  the  morphology  of  the  crustacean  gill  it  hardly  seems 
advisable  to  make  gill-structure  alone  the  basis  of  forming  higher 
groups  and  separating  widely  species  which  are  in  all  other  re- 
spects closely  allied. 

Sedgwick  and  Wilson's  Biology.* — ^We  have  several  guides  to 
laboratory  work  in  biology,  but  the  great  feult  with  all  is  that 
they  stick  too  closely  to  the  anatomical  and  developmental  sides 

1  General  Biology.  By  William  T.  Sedgwick  and  Edmund  B.  Wilson.  New 
York,  H.  Holt  &  Co.     pp.  vil  +  193.     1886. 

VOU  XX— NO.  XII.  ^ 


Digitized  by 


Google 


1034  Recent  LUitature,  [December, 

and  almost  entirely  ignore  the  ph)^iological  aspect  of  animals 
and  plants.  A  student  has  gained  a  valuable  fact  when  he  has 
learned  the  name  and  structure  of  any  organ,  but  until  he  knows 
its  function  and  the  method  in  which  it  is  performed  his  knowl- 
edge regarding  it  is  incomplete.  The  present  hand-book  aims  to 
teach  the  physiological  as  well  as  the  morphological  side,  and 
thus  fills  a  place  which  no  other  work  in  the  English  language 
does.  It  is,  we  understand,  but  a  portion  of  what  is  intended,  and 
this  fact  should  be  borne  in  mind  in  the  following  account  Still 
in  its  present  condition  it  is  admirably  adapted  for  grounding 
students  in  biology.  There  are  numerous  exercises  for  the  labo- 
ratory, and  the  directions  for  these  are  excellent ;  they  tell  the 
student  what  to  do,  but  leave  him  to  describe  the  results,  thus 
giving  the  instructor  a  test  of  the  student's  progress. 

The  first  three  chapters  are  devoted  to  the  phenomena  of  life 
and  the  study  of  organic  matter,  then  follows  a  chapter  on  the 
cell,  after  which  comes  the  study  of  special  forms.  Of  the^ 
there  are  two,  the  fern — Pteris,  and  the  earth-worm  ;  and  we 
agree  with  the  authors  in  regarding  these  two  forms  as  well 
adapted  for  study  by  the  beginner  as  any.  The  book  is  well 
illustrated,  most  of  the  cuts  being  original,  and  though  made 
by  photo  process  they  are  usually  clear  and  free  from  broken 
lines.  A  rather  careful  examination  of  the  book  reveals  but  little 
which  calls  for  adverse  criticism.  On  p.  123  it  is  stated  that  "all 
the  organs  of  the  body  are  originally  developed  from  the  walls 
of"  the  coelom  of  the  earth-worm,  which  is  not  true  in  the  sense 
in  which  it  will  ordinarily  be  understood.  Again  one  might 
criticise  the  use  of  "  ectoblast  "  and  "entoblast"  (p.  178)  for  the 
inner  and  outer  germ  layers.  Several  other  terms  have  priority, 
and  it  seems  needless  to  multiply  terms  for  each  stage  in  the  de- 
velopment of  the  organism.  To  be  consistent  the  authors  should 
replace  the  the  term  archenteron  on  p.  149  (not  on  148)  by  me- 
senteron.  The  proofreading  has  been  very  well  done,  and  the 
typographical  errors  rare.  The  printer  is,  however,  to  be  criti- 
cised, as  he  has  used  a  badly  worn  font  of  type,  and  broken  and 
battered  letters  are  much  too  common.  With  the  exception  of 
these  few  points  and  a  few  of  like  character  we  have  nothing  but 
praise  for  the  book. 

Whitfield's  Brachiopoda  and  Lamellibranchiata  of  New 
Jersey.* — This  quarto  volume  is  occupied  with  the  Brachiopoda 
and  Lamellibranchiata  of  the  Raritan  clays  and  greensand  maris. 
Only  three  genera  of  Brachiopoda,  Terebratula,  Terebratulina  and 
Terebratella,  occur  in  New  Jersey,  and  only  two  species,  Tere- 
braiula  harlani  and  Terebratella  plicata,  are  at  all  abundant.  The 
plastic  clays,  some  of  the  layers  of  which  yield  large  numbers  of 

*  Whitfield's  Brachiopoda  and  LameUibranchiaia  of  the  Raritan  clays  and  £retn- 
sand  marls  of  New  Jersey,  By  R.  J.  Whitfield.  T.  L.  Murphy,  Stale  printing 
office,  Trenton,  N.  J. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


i886.]  •  Recent  Literatun.  1035 

plant  remains,  furnish  five  species  of  lamellibranchs,  three  of 
which  are  new.  The  lower  marl  beds  are  much  richer,  and  from 
them  Mr.  Whitfield  describes  a  new  Pecten,  an  Amusium,  a 
Camptohectes  and  a  Modiola,  besides  founding  two  new  genera. 
New  species  of  Inoccramus,  Civota,  Axinea,  Nucula,  Nuculana, 
Trigonia,  Gouldia,  Lucina,  Diceras  and  several  other  genera  are 
also  described.  To  the  fauna  of  the  middle  marls  are  added  a 
Gryphaea,  two  species  of  Idonearca  and*  a  Modtola;  an  Ostrea,  a 
Modiola,  a  Cardita,  two  Crassatellae  and  one  species  each  of  Crio- 
cardium,  Petricola,  Veleda,  Caryatis  and  Periplomya  are  added  to 
the  beds  at  the  base  of  the  upper  marls,  while  fifteen  new  species 
enrich  that  of  the  Eocene  marls.  The  concluding  chapter  con- 
tains an  account  of  the  Unionidae  from  the  clays  at  Fish  House,. 
Camden  county,  two  new  species  are  described.  There  are  thir- 
ty-five full-page  illustrations  and  a  map. 

Recent  Books  and  Pamphlets. 

Preitwich^  /. — On  underground  temperatures,  etc.    From  the  Proc.  Roy.  Soc.  Lon- 
don, 1886. 

Oil  the  agency  of  water  in  volcanic  eruptions.     1886.     Both  from  the  author. 

Woodward^  A.  S. — On  the  relations  of  the  mandibular  and  hyoid  arches  in  a  Creta- 
ceous shark.     Ext.  P.  Z.  S.»  London.  1886.     From  the  author. 

BauTf  G. — Ueber  das  Archipterygium  und  die  Entwickelung  des  Cheiropterygium 
aus  dem  Ichthyopterygium. 

Ueber  die  KanHle  im  Humerus  der  Amnioten.     Both  from  the  author. 

Manigauit,  G,  ^.— The  Black  Whale  captured  in   Charleston  harbor  Jan.,  1880. 
Proc.  Elliott  Soc.     From  the  author. 

Frazer^  P. — Report  of  the  American  Committee  of  the  International  Congress  of 
Geologists.     Ext.  P.  A.  A.  A.  S.,  Aug.,  1886.     From  the  author. 

Boetiger,  O, — Diagnoses  Reptilium  Novorum.    Sep.-abd.  a.  d.  Zool.  Anz.,  No.  231, 
1886. 

— ~  Zur  Kenntniss  der  Neritinen  Chinas.     Ext.  Jahrb.  d.  Deut.  Malak.  Gess.,  1886. 
Both  from  the  author. 

Marshall,  W, — Ueber  die  Kn5chemen  Sch&delhocker  der  V5gel.     Haarlem,  1872. 
Fiom  the  author. 

Lechty    W. — Ueber  einige  siidbrasilianische   Hesperomys-Arten.     Sep.-abd.  a.   d. 
Zool.  Jahrb.,  1 886.     From  the  author. 

IValcott,  C.  D. — Classification  of  the  Cambrian  system  of  N.  America.     Ext.  Amer. 
Jour.  Sci.,  Aug.,  1886.     From  the  author. 

Minot,  C,  S. — Notes  on  histological  technique.     From  the  author. 

Call,  E.y  and  Pilsbry,  H,  A, — On  Pyrgulopsis,  a  new  genus  of  Rissoid  mollusk,  with 
descriptions  of  two  new  forms.     From  E.  Call. 

Call,   E, — On   certain  Recent  Quaternary  and   New  fresh-water  MoUusca.     Rep. 
Davenport  Acad.  Nat.  Sci..  Vol.  v,  1886.     From  the  author. 

Hennessy,  H. — On  the  fluid  state  of  bodies  composing  our  planetary  system.     Proc. 
Roy.  Irish  Acad.,  1886.     From  the  author. 

Ryder,  J.  A. — An  exposition  of  the  principles  of  a  rational  system  of  oyster-culture. 
Ext.  Rep.  Fish  Com.,  1886. 

—On  the  development  of  viviparous  osseous  fishes  and  of  the  Atlantic  salmon. 
Proc.  U.  S.  Nat.  Mus.,  1885. 

On  the  development  of  osseous  fishes.     Ext.  Ann.  Rep.  Com.  Fish,  and  Fish- 
eries, 1886. 
The  development  of  the  Mud-minnow,  etc 


Digitized  by  VjOOQIC 


1036  Recent  Literature.  [December, 

Ryder ^  J,  A. — The  development  of  Patella,  etc. 

The  early  development  of  Julus  ierreitris^  etc. 

The  metamorphosis  of  the  American  lobster,  etc.    Amer.  Nat  Extras,  June, 

July,  August,  Sept. 
On  the  value  of  the  fin-rays  and  their  characteristics  of  development    Proc  U. 

S.  Nat.  Mus.,  1886.     All  from  the  author. 

Walker^  H*  D, — The  gape. worm  of  fowls  {Syngamus  trackealis),  the  earth-worm  its 

original  host.     Ext.  Bull.  Buff.  Soc.  Nat.  Sci.     From  the  author. 
Crantf  Miss  A, — On  a  brachiopdd  of  the  genus  Atretia,  named  in  MS.  by  the  bte 

Dr.  T.  Davidson.     P.  Z.  S.,  1886.     From  the  author. 
Proc.  Roy,  Soc. — Obituary  notice  of  Thomas  Davidson,  LL.D. 
Eigenmann^  C,  H. — A  review  of  the  American  Gasterosteidse.    Ext  Proc  P.  A.  N 

S.,   1886.     From  the  author. 
Eigenmann,  C  H,,,  and  For  dice,  M,  IV. — A  catalogue  of  the  fishes  of  Beau  Blos- 
som creek,  Merton  county,  Ind^     Ext  idem.     From  the  authors. 
IVo&dward,  A. — A  new  locality  for  Haphphragmium  cassis^  a  rare  Foraminifer.  N. 

Y.  Micros.  Soc.,  1886.     From  the  author. 
Gaudry,  A, — Sur  au  bois  de  Renne,  om^  de  gravures,  decouvert  k  Montgaudier. 

Comptes  Rendus,  July,  1886. 
Sur  TAge  de  la  Faune  de  Pikermi,  du  L^beron  et  de  Maragha.     ExL  Bull,  d 

1.  Soc.  Geol.,  1886. 

Sur  un  nouveau  genre  de  Reptile  trouv6  dans  le  Permicn  d'Autnn. 

Albrecktt  P, — Epiphyses  entre  Toccipital  et  le  sph^nolde  chez  rhomme. 

Os  trigone  du  pied  chez  I'homme. 

Epihallux  chez  Thomme, 

Backhouse^  J. — On  a  mandible  of  Macherodus  from  the  Foster  bed.     Ext.  Qoar. 

Journ.  Geol.  Soc,  1886.     From  the  author. 
Lydekker^  R, — Note  on  some  Vertebrata  from  the  Red  Crag.   Ext.  Quar.  Jour.  Geol. 

Soc.,  Aug.,  1886.     From  the  author. 
Siwalik  Mammalia.     Supplement  I.  Pala:ontologica  Indica,   1886.      Both  froa 

the  author. 
Stowell,  T,  B, — The  trigeminus  nerve  in  the  domestic  cat.    Amer.  Pliilos.  Soc., 

1886.     From  the  author. 
Pelsener,  P. — Notice  sur  les  crustac^s  d^capodes  du  msestrichtien  du  Limboorg.  Ext. 

Bull.  Mus.  Roy.  Belg.,  1886.     From  the  author. 
Brown,  71 — Manual  of  the  New  Zealand  Coleoptera.     1886.     From  the  author. 
Osbom,  H.  F, — The  origin  of  the  corpus  callosum.     1886.     From  the  author. 
Morris,  C, — Reverse  vision.     Proc.  P.  A.  N.  S.,  1886.     From  the  author. 
Evermann^  B,  IV,,  and  Meek,  S,  E. — A  revision  of  the  American  species  of  the 

genus  Gerres.     P.  A.  N.  S.,  1886.     From  the  author. 
Hoernes,  R. — Table  des  Matier^s  du  Manuel  de  Paliontologie,  tradoit  par  L.  Dollo- 

Librarid  F.  Savy.     Paris.     From  the  publisher. 
Doih,  Z. — Note  sur  les  ligaments  ossifies  des  Dinosauriens  de  Bemissart.     Ext 

Arch.  d.  Biol.,  Gand,  1886. 

Dollo,  M.  L, — Noticd  sur  les  Reptiles  et  Batraciens  recuellis,  par  M.  Storms  dans  la. 

Region  du  Tanganyka.     Ext.  Bull.  Mus.  Roy.  Belg.,  1886.     From  the  author. 
—Premiere  note  sur  les  Cheloniens  Landeniens  (Eocene  Inferieur)  de  la  Belgique. 

Ext  Bull.  Mus.  Roy.  Belg.,  1886.    Both  from  the  author. 

Shufeldt,  R,  W. — On  injuries  of  the  beak  in  birds,  and  methods  of  repair.  Ext. 
Jour.  Comp.  Med.,  1886.     From  the  author. 

Nat,  Acad,  Sci, — Report  for  the  year  1885.  Washington,  1886.  From  the  depart- 
ment. 

Ask  burner,  C.  A,,  and  Hill,  F,  A. — Report  on  the  Bemice  coal  basin. 

Notes  on  the  Mahoopany  coal  field. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


1 886.]  Geography  and  Ttavels.  1037 

AskbumeTt  C,  A. — Borings  for  oil. 

LesUy^J.  P, — Pressure,  quantity,  composition  and  fuel  value  of  rock«£^. 

Carll^J,  R — Preliminary  report  on  oil  and  gas.  The  last  five,  advanced  copies  from 
the  Rep.  Geol.  Surv.  Penna.     From  the  survey. 

fVU/iams,  A, — Mineral  products  of  the  U.  S.     1885. 

Dunwoody,  Jf.  H.  C. — Monthly  weather  review,  1886.     From  the  U.  S.  War  Dept. 

Selwyn^  A,  R.  C. — Descriptive  catalogue  of  a  collection  of  the  economic  minerals  of 
Canada.    Colonial  and  Indian  Exhibition,  1886.     From  the  author. 

Clarke^  F,  W, — Work  done  in  the  division  of  chemistry  and  physics  1884-5.  Bull. 
U.  S.  Geol.  Surv.,  No.  27. 

Williams^  G.  H. — Gabbros  and  the  assDciated  Hornblende  rocks.  Bull.  U.  S.  Geol. 
Surv.,  No.  28. 

Whittle.  A. — Presh- water  Invertebrates  of  the  N,  American  Jurassic.  Bull.  U.  S. 
Geol.  Surv.,  No.  29. 

Cope^  E.  Z>.— The  Origin  of  the  Fittest.  8vo.  D.  Applcton  &'Co.  From  the  pub- 
lisher. 

:o: 

GENERAL  NOTES. 
GEOGRAPHY   AND   TRAVELS.* 

America. — The  Ruins  of  Copan,  etc. — A.  P.  Maudsley  (Proc. 
Roy.  Geog.  Soc,  Sept.)  has  a  lengthy  article  upon  the  ruins  and 
site  of  Quirigua  and  Copan.  Central  America,  the  result  of  ex- 
plorations carried  on  in  1883  and  1884.  At  Quirigua  the  chief  in- 
terest centers  in  thirteen  large  carved  monoliths  which  seem  to  have 
once  adorned  one  of  the  principal  plazas  of  the  Pueblo.  These  ruins 
are  twenty-five  to  thirty  miles  northwest  of  Copan.  The  account 
gives  the  earliest  authentic  description  of  the  ruins,  that  of  Diego 
de  Palacio,  written  in  1576.  Mr.  Maudsley  maintains  that  almost 
all  the  so-called  pyramids  of  Copan  are  the  raised  foundations 
which  supported  roofed  buildings,  probably  temples ;  and  that 
the  long  heaps  of  stones  which  have  been  taken  for  city  walls  are 
really  the  remains  of  single- chambered  stone- roofed  houses  which 
were  raised  on  foundations  only  a  few  feet  high.  The  group  of 
terraces  which  seem  to  have  supported  the  principal  edifices  was 
cleared  by  the  explorer,  whose  account  is  accompanied  by  plans 
and  sketches.  The  largest  mass  occupies  an  area  nearly  equal  to 
that  of  the  great  pyramid  at  Ghizeh,  and  is  built  of  a  rubble  of 
rough  blocks  of  stone  and  mud  with  binding  internal  walls  of 
faced  stone  and  cement,  and  an  outer  casing  of  well-worked  stone, 
often  elaborately  sculptured.  The  stone  casing  is  usually  in  great 
steps,  some  of  which  are  eight  feet  in  breadth  and  height.  Al- 
though no  roofed  buildings  now  remain,  stones  cut  to  a  bevel, 
such  as  would  be  suitable  for  the  construction  of  horizontal  arches 
like  those  of  Tikal,  were  found.  Our  author  maintains  that  Copan, 
Quirigua,  Palenque,  Tikal  and  the  ruin  on  the  river  Usumacinta 
were  abandoned  before  the  Spanish  discovery  of  America.  Pala- 
cio's  letter  shows  them  to  have  been  ruins  in  1576,  and  proves 
that  the  Indians  then  living  had  no  knowledge  of  the  builders,  and 
were   themselves  without  skill  to   execute  such   works.      Mr. 

*  This  department  is  edited  by  W.  N.  Lockington,  Philadelphia. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


1038  General  NoUs.  [December, 

Maudsley  describes  the  ruins  of  a  town  which  he  beUeves  to  have 
been  the  Chacujal  of  Cortez.  Here  the  houses  are  of  the  same 
long  and  narrow  form  but  were  roofed  with  thatch,  and  are  of  in- 
ferior construction. 

American  News. — Up  to  August  27,  fifty-three  sheets  of  the 
general  topographical  atlas  of  the  United  States  have  been  pub- 
lished. The  forces  of  the  Geological  Survey  are  at  work  in  Massa- 
chusetts, Northern  Virginia,  Central  Arizona,  and  in  the  gold 

region  around   Oreville. Two  topographic  parties  and  one 

hydrographic  party  are,  according  to  "  Science,"  at  work  on  the 
re-survey  of  San  Francisco  bay.  The  Coast  Survey  is  also  at 
work  on  the  transcontinental  arc,  with  telegraphic  longitude 
parties  at  Salt  lake  and  Ogden. 

Europe  and  Asia. — Lake  Leman, — From  a  paper  read  by  Pro- 
fessor Forel  before  the  Association  of  Swiss  Geographical 
Societies,  it  appears  that  there  are  two  parts  in  I^ke  Leman,  one 
small  and  shallow,  the  other  large,  deep  and  Alpine  in  its  char- 
acter. The  two  are  separated  by  the  Yvoise  bank  or  bar,  which 
is  really  a  glacial  moraine,  as  shown  by  the  flints  dredged  up. 
Knowledge  of  the  central  portion  of  the  lake  is  still  very  incom- 
plete. The  fragments  of  rock,  sometimes  brought  up  from  a  depth 
of  sixty-one  metres,  are  covered  with  moss  of  a  beautiful  green — 
a  fact  that  seems  to  show  that  light  penetrates  to  that  depth.  It 
has  been  discovered  that  the  river  Rhone  flows  in  a  sub-lacustrine 
ravine. 

The  Pamir. — The  last  issue  of  the  Izvestia  of  the  Russian 
Geographical  Society  contains  a  map  of  the  upper  course  of  the 
Amu-Daria  between  the  36th  and  41st  degrees  of  latitude,  and  the 
66th  and  76th  degrees  of  longitude.  The  whole  of  the  Pamir  ap- 
pears on  this  map  according  to  the  recent  surveys  and  barometric 
levelings  of  the  Pamir  expedition,  while  a  number  of  other  sur- 
veys are  taken  into  account 

M.  Krendowsky  (Memoirs  Kharkufl"  Soc.  of  Naturalists)  de- 
votes a  paper  to  the  estuaries  of  the  Bug,  Dnieper,  and  other 
smaller  ones  in  the  neighborhood  of  Kherson  and  Odessa.  He 
gives  the  character  and  geological  history  of  these  estuaries, 
which  are  now  shut  ofl'from  the  sea  by  their  sand-bars,  and  have 
become  mere  elongated  salt  lakes. 

The  Geographical  and  Statistical  Dictionary  of  the  Russian 
Empire,  commenced  more  than  twenty  years  ago,  is  just  com- 
pleted. Its  great  value,  says  Nature,  is  in  the  excellent  geograph- 
ical descriptions  of  the  localities  treated,  including  not  only  each 
separate  government  of  Russia,  Siberia,  Turkestan  and  the  Cau- 
casus, but  of  the  seas  that  border  Russia,  and  of  their  islands.  The 
geology,  fauna  and  flora  have  also  received  much  attention,  and 
there  is  a  complete  bibliography.  An  appendix  is  promised, 
giving  descriptions  of  regions  such  as  the  Thian-Shan,  Ferganah^ 


Digitized  by 


Google 


1 886.]  Geography  and  Travels.  1039 

and  Transbaikalia,  which  were  much  explored  during  the  publi-       %. 
lication  oi  the  dictionary. 

Pacific  Islands. — Captain  Bridges'  Cruises, — Captain  C.  Bridges' 
notes  upon  cruises  among  the  Pacific  islands  (Proc.  Roy.  Geog.  Soc, 
Sept.)  give  a  good  idea  of  the  present  condition  of  the  islands 
visited.  In  the  southern  section  of  the  New  Hebrides  the  tem- 
perature ranges  from  62°  in  July  and  August,  to  about  92°  in 
January  and  February.  The  natives  of  Aneiteum  are  devout 
Christians.  Among  the  Melanesians  of  these  islands,  communi- 
ties of  Polynesians  preserve  themselves  distinct.  The  staple  pro- 
duct is  copra,  the  dried  pulp  of  the  coco-nut,  and  several  white 
traders  are  engaged  in  procuring  it.  On  Sandwich  or  Vate,  the 
women  shave  their  heads  completely,  while  on  Espiritu-Santo 
they  leave  a  ridge  of  hair  from  poll  to  forehead.  The  houses  are 
neat  and  clean ;  on  some  islands  the  unmarried  men  sleep  in  a 
special  house. 

The  people  of  the  Solomon  isles  are  good  seamen.  Their 
canoes,  except  as  New  Britain  and  New  Ireland  are  approached, 
have  no  outriggers.  The  New  Britain  people  go  quite  naked, 
and  lack  the  vigor  of  the  Solomon  islanders.  They  are  the  only 
cannibals  of  the  region  who  are  not  ashamed  of  their  cannibalism. 
It  is  not  etiquette  in  New  Britain  to  ask  a  man  his  name,  it  should 
be  asked  of  some  one  else.  Captain  Bridges  mentions  a  curious 
mode  of  shark- catching  practiced  by  the  Kingsmill  islanders. 
They  tow  from  a  canoe  a  large  line  with  an  open  noose.  Through 
the  centre  of  the  noose  is  passed  a  small  line  with  a  bait  on  the 
end.  As  the  shark  follows  the  bait,  it  is  hauled  in,  until  at  last 
the  fish  has  his  head  in  the  noose,  which  is  quickly  tightened. 
The  people  of  the  Ell  ice  islands  are  all  Episcopalian  Christians, 
while  those  of  the  Gilbert  islands  are  partly  Christianized. 

The  Marshall  island  men  are  tall,  the  women  singularly  short. 
The  dress  of  the  latter  consists  of  two  ornamented  mats  tied 
around  the  hips  so  as  to  resemble  somewhat  a  sleeveless  and  low- 
necked  gown.  On  these  islands  and  some  of  the  Carolines  the 
women  tattoo  the  hand  and  fore-arm  in  such  a  way  that  they  ap- 
pear covered  with  open-worked  mitts.  The  money  of  Yap  (Car- 
olines) is  in  the  form  of  disks  of  arragonite,  like  great  grindstones. 
They  are  quarried  in  the  Pelew  islands,  and  some  pieces  weigh 
three  tons.  The  people  of  Nicguor  and  Greenwich  islands,  two 
low  atolls  of  the  Carolines,  are  almost  gigantic,  and  are  now  ruled 
by  queens.  In  the  Pelew  islands  the  younger  men  have  large 
**  club-houses."  Women  may  not  enter  the  club-house  of  their 
own  village,  but  may  without  losing  caste  visit  that  of  the  next. 
The  constitutional  government  of  Tonga  seems  to  be  a  success. 
Most  of  the  Tongans  are  now  fearless  horsemen,  though  many 
can  remember  the  time  when  there  was  not  a  horse  in  the  Archi- 
pelago.  The  people  of  the  Louisiades  are  in  physique  and  knowl- 


Digitized  by 


Google 


1040  General  Notes.  [December, 

edge  of  the  arts  inferior  to  both  the  light  and  dark  races  of  S. 
E.  New  Guinea.  The  peculiarity  of  macrodontism,  u  e.,  the  ex- 
tension of  one  tooth  over  the  space  usually  occupied  by  two  or 
three,  was  noticed  among  the  men  of  Rossel  island.  While  in 
the  south  of  New  Guinea  the  natives  are  in  the  stone  age,  in  the 
north  they  use  shell  implements. 

TTte  New  Zealand  Earthquake, — Dr.  Hector's  preliminary  re- 
port upon  the  recent  volcanic  eruption  in  New  Zealand  enable 
some  idea  to  be  formed  of  the  magnitude  of  this  convulsion  of 
nature.  The  outbreak  commenced  at  half-past  two  on  the  morning 
of  June  loth.byan  eruption  from  the  top  of  Wahanga,  the  northern- 
most summit  of  theTarawera  range.  This  was  in  a  few  minutes  fol- 
lowed by  a  more  violent  outburst  from  the  summit  of  Ruawahia, 
the  central  peak  of  the  same  range,  and  this  was  shortly  afterwards 
followed  by  a  terrific  explosion  from  the  south  end  of  Tarawera 
itself.  For  two  hours  vast  quantities  of  steam,  pumice-dust  and 
stones  were  poured  out.  A  great  crack  or  fissure  was  formed 
along  the  east  face  of  the  mountain,  and  Mr.  Percy  Smith  reports 
that  the  whole  east  end  was  blown  away,  the  debris  covering  the 
country  for  many  miles.  Up  to  this  time  the  earthquake  shocks 
which  occurred  were  not  very  violent,  but  about  4  a.  m.  came  a 
powerful  earthshock,  attendant  on  the  outburst  of  an  immense 
volume  of  steam  from  the  site  of  Rotomahana  lake.  By  6  a.  m. 
the  period  of  active  eruption  had  passed ;  but  the  town  and 
vicinity  of  Wairoa  were  smothered  in  the  mud  condensed  from 
the  cloud  of  steam  and  solid  matter  thrown  up  from  Rotomahana. 

The  formerly  abrupt  sides  of  Tarawera  are  now  everywhere 
softened  by  great  slope  deposits  of  material  ejected  from  a  range 
of  volcanic  vents,  seven  of  which  were  in  a  mild  state  of  eruption 
when  visited  by  Dr.  Hector.  From  the  south-western  extremity 
of  Mt.  Tarawera  a  great  fissure  runs  south-westward  for  some 
seven  miles.  The  eastern  side  of  this  has  a  nearly  straight  wall, 
but  the  western  is  very  irregular  and  is  continually  altered  by 
the  falling  in  of  its  walls  as  they  are  undermined  by  the  action 
of  seven  powerful  geysers  which  at  irregular  intervals  throw  up 
great  volumes  of  boiling  water,  stones  and  mud  to  a  height  of 
600  to  800  feet.  Lake  Rotomahana^  has  disappeared  in  this 
chaos.  The  largest  mud  geyser  occupies  the  site  of  the  Pink 
terrace,  another  that  of  the  White  terrace.  At  its  north- 
ern end  this  fissure  commences  in  a  great  rent  2000  feet 
deep,  500  wide,  and  300  deep  on  the  side  of  Tarawera, 
and  the  southern  end  is  a  bold  semicircular  escarpment. 
No  fissure  or  fault  seems  to  continue  beyond  the  depressed 
portion,  which  seems  to  be  entirely  due  to  the*  removal 
of  material.  One  mud  geyser,  about  a  mile  south  of  the  Pink 
terrace,  is  on  comparatively  high  ground,  and  has  built  up  for 
itself  a  mound  which  was  several  hundred  feet  high  a  few  days 
after  the  chief  eruption. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


1 886.]  Geology  and  PcUaontology,  104 1 

All  the  fragments  found  seem  to  be  of  local  rock,  though 
eye  witnesses  state  that  they  reached  the  ground  in  a  partially 
incandescent  state.  Dr.  Hector  concludes  the  eruption  to  have 
been  a  purely  hydro-thermal  phenomenon  on  a  gigantic  scale, 
but  quite  local  in  character. 

Africa. — African  News. — Lieut.  E.  Gleerup,  a  Swede  in  the  ser- 
vice of  the  Congo  Free  State,  has  recently  crossed  Africa  from  the 
Congo  to  Zanzibar.  He  had  been  left  for  nearly  a  year  without 
supplies  at  the  remote  station  at  the  seventh  cataract  of  the  Stan- 
ley falls,  and  finally  left  for  Europe  by  the  aid  of  funds  furnished 
by  Tippoo  Sib,  the  rich  Arab  trader.  The  journey  to  the  east 
coast  occupied  six  months. Reports  by  the  late  Sir  P.  Scratch- 
ley,  British  Special  Commissioner  to  New  Guinea,  gives  a  de- 
scription of  the  characteristics  of  the  natives  of  different  portions 
of  the  coast  of  British  New  Guinea.  The  littoral  seems  to  be 
well  inhabited,  except  some  portions  of  the  north-east  coast.  Two 
rivers,  the  Davadava  and  Hadava  were  discovered  in  Milne  bay, 

the  latter  river  a  large   one. Dr.  Paulitschke  writes,  in  the 

Mittheilungen  of  the  Geographical  Society  of  Vienna,  upon  the 
two  hydrographic  problems  of  the  Somali  peninsula,  that  of  the 
Upper  Webi,  and  that  of  the  Juba.  ,  He  believes  that  we  must 
seek  the  source  of  the  Webi  in  one  of  the  lakes  of  Gurage. 

aBOLOGY  AND  PATiJ^ONTOLOG-Y. 

Notice  of  Geological  Investigations  along  the  eastern 
SHORE  OF  Lake  Champlain  made  by  Professor  H.  M.  Seely  and 
Prest.  Ezra  Brainard. — In  this  paper  is  announced  the  discov- 
ery of  quite  an  extensive  new  fauna  in  limestones,  apparently  of 
the  age  of  the  Birdseye  limestone  of  the  New  York  series,  near 
the  mouth  of  the  Otter  creek,  Lake  Champlain,  which  is  of  much 
interest  owing  to  the  fact  that  only  about  fifteen  species  of  fossils 
have  hitherto  been  known  from  the  formation.  The  new  forms 
described  in  the  paper  from  this  one  bed  are  fifteen  in  number, 
comprising  one  Brachiopod,  six  Gasteropods  and  nine  Cephalo- 
pods.  One  of  the  Gasteropods  has  given  reasons  for  the  estab- 
lishment of  a  new  genus,  Lophospira,  with  Murchisonia  bicincta 
Hall,  and  M.  helicteres  Salter,  as  the  types.  The  bed  of  limestone 
in  question  is  associated  in  the  vicinity  with  recognized  Chazy, 
Birdseye  and  Black  River  limestones,  and  holds  a  position  con-' 
siderably  above  the  Maclurea  beds  of  the  Chazy  close  by.  A 
close  comparison  of  the  fossils  shows  a  much  nearer  relation  with 
the  form  of  the  Birdseye  and  Black  River  than  with  the  Chazy; 
the  known  species  being  principally  from  the  Birdseye.  Ortho- 
^ras  bilineaturn  Hall,  Maclurea  affinis  Billings  and  M.  logani 
Murch.,  Asapkus  canalis  Conrad,  Bathyurus  extans  Hall,  Harpes 
ottawaensis  Billings  and  Illama  crassicauda  (Wahl.)  Hall.  The 
Asaphus  is  known  in  the  Chazy  as  well  as  in  the  Birdseye,  and 


Digitized  by 


Google 


1042  General  Notes.  [December, 

the  Harpes  was  described  originally  from  the  Trenton.  About 
the  specific  identity  of  the  latter  there  is  yet  some  doubt 

Besides  the  fossils  already  mentioned,  the  {>aper  also  includes 
descriptions  of  another  new  genus  of  gastero{>od — Calaurops 
(a  shephed's  crook),  for  a  form  collected  in  a  bed  some  twenty- 
five  or  thirty  feet  below  and  just  above  the  Maclurea  bed,  having 
the  form  of  a  Euomphalus  in  the  inner  coils,  but  afterward  be- 
coming deflected  in  a  straight  line  to  the  extent  of  six  inches. 
Also  two  Trilobites  and  a  Cyrtoceras  from  the  Birdseye  of  Isle  La 
Motti. 

Since  the  meeting  at  Buffalo  and  during  the  week  previous,  the 
author  of  the  paper,  in  conjunction  with  the  persons  named  in 
the  title  of  the  paper,  have  made  other  collections  at  the  same 
locality,  which  has  resulted  in  the  discovery  and  determination  of 
several  other  species,  the  descriptions  of  which  are  nearly  ready 
for  the  press,  and  illustrations  of  them  for  the  engraver.  The 
fauna  of  the  Birdseye  limestone  at  that  locality  is  known  now 
to  consist  of  the  following  group  of  fossils  : 


Genus  Orthis 

species 

resembling  0.  pei 

Streptorhynchus 

f« 

new. 

Leptsena 

(( 

«« 

Triplesia  ? 

« 

? 

Maclurea 

<< 

affinis  and  logani 

Euomphalus 

<f 

new. 

Helicotoraa  ? 

(f 

«( 

Ilolopea 

(( 

«( 

Subulites  ? 

i< 

« 

MurchisoDia 

i( 

fi 

f< 

<f 

gracilis  Hall  ? 

Lcphospira 

(( 

new. 

Clisospira 

(< 

If 

Ecculiomphalus 

i( 

If 

Tryblidium  ?  or  a  new  genus,  3  species,  new. 
Bellerophon     i  species,  new. 
Orthoceras      2      "  " 

•*  I       *«        bilineatum  Hall. 

«  I       "        ? 

Piloceras  i      *•        new. 

Gomphoceras  2      "  " 

Cyrtoceras        2      "  " 

Nautilus  2       "  " 

Lituites  3      "  " 

Crustacea : 
Genus  Ribiera  I  species,  new. 
Asaphus  canalis  Conrad. 
Batbyurus  extans  Hall. 
Harpes  ottawaensis  Billings  ? 
Am  phi  on  I  species,  new. 

Giving  a  total  of  forty  recognized  species  in  a  condition  suita- 


Digitized  by 


Google 


1 886.]  Geology  and  Palaontology.  1045 

ble  for  description  and  illustration,  of  which  the  new  ones  are 
shortly  to  appear  in  a  Bulletin  of  the  Am.  Mus.  Natural  History, 
with  a  description  of  the  geology  of  the  region  by  Professors 
Seely  and  Brainard.— /?.  P.  Whitfield. 

The  Veins  of  Southwestern  Colorado.^ — It  is  quite  impos- 
sible to  thoroughly  understand  the  complicated  vein-structure  of 
the  San  Juan  region  without  an  intimate  knowledge  of  the  geo- 
logical history.  The  details  of  the  stratigraphy  are  very  interest- 
ing, but  we  cannot  stop  to  review  them  here.  Suffice  it  to  say 
that  the  succession  of  the- strata,  aside  from  local  features  of  little 
importance  for  our  present  purpose,  is  much  the  same  as  in  typi- 
cal sections  from  ihe  Rocky  mountains  through  Wyoming  and 
Northern  Colorado. 

The  real  vein-history  begins  with  the  close  of  the  Cretaceous 
age,  when  the  great  folds  took  place  which  afterwards  became  the 
seat  of  volcanic  action.  I  must  refer  to  the  previous  papers  read 
at  this  meeting  of  the  Association  for  much  of  what  might 
properly  be  brought  into  discussion  here,  and  we  may  at  once 
proceed  to  a  brief  description  of  the  veins  and  their  arrange- 
ment 

In  the  period  of  the  andesitic  outflows  the  country  comprising 
the  great  San  Juan  Central  area  was  so  situated  that  the  lavas  did 
not  cover  it,  and  much  of  this  material  did  not  reach  the  surface, 
but  it  was  forced  in  between  the  limestone  and  other  rocks  as  in- 
trusive masses.  The  general  course  of  the  fissures  was  along  the 
primary  longitudinal  folds  (N.  18°  E.),  and  the  veins  were  pro- 
duced in  fault  crevices.  Owing  to  the  greater  age  of  the  depos- 
its and  their  frequent  intrusive  character,  there  is  considerable 
variety  in  the  mineral  contents  and  in  the  cross-sections  of  the 
veins.  The  earliest  appear  to  be  those  of  the  La  Plata  district, 
with  those  of  the  Rico  tract  and  the  Summit  district  originating, 
perhaps,  somewhat  later.  The  first  named  are  characterized  by 
the  abundance  of  gold,  both  free  and  in  tellurides  and  similar 
compounds ;  the  Rico  area  is  peculiar  from  its  close  relationship 
to  the  Carboniferous  limestones,  resulting  in  the  formation  of  car- 
bonated ores,  though  in  other  respects  this  belt  is  very  near  the 
La  Plata  tract  in  its  genesis;  the  Summit  district  is  widely  sepa- 
rated from  these  two  basins,  and  has  been  the  seat  of  much  sec- 
ondary action,  so  that  the  date  of  its  initial  stages  in  vein-forma- 
tion is  difficult  to  determine,  but  with  results  similar  to  those  of 
the  latest  epoch.  I  am  strongly  of  the  opinion  that  the  genesis 
was  but  little,  if  any,  later  than  that  of  the  other  two  sets. 

In  the  Central  San  Juan  area  the  complexity  is  very  great,  and 
yet  the  distribution  of  the  veins  may  be  brought  into  order  in  a 
beautiful  system  with  surprising  regularity  in  the  grouping. 
There  are  six  radial  zones  passing  out  from  Red  peak  (the  geyser 

1  Paper  read  before  Section  E,  A.  A.  A.  S.,  Buffalo,  1886. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


1044  General  NcUt.  '  [December, 

basin  described  at  the  Buflfalo  meeting  in  another  paper)  and  ex- 
tending as  far  as  the  confines  of  a  depressed  area  which  was 
caused  by  faulting  in  the  trachytic  period.  These  zones  are  tra- 
versed by  central,  nearly  vertical  veins  {^^  parent  fissures ^^  as  I 
have  elsewhere  styled  them),  bounded  upon  each  side  by  veins 
convergfing  laterally  and  from  above  downwards.  The  mid-ribs 
are  free-gold  bearing,  and  they  represent  three  trends  intersecting 
near  Red  peak.  These  trends  are  about  N.  %cP  E-,  N.  38®  E. 
and  N.  38®  W.  The  zones  vary  in  width,  but  between  each  two 
there  is  a  barren  belt  of  greater  or  less  breadth.  Beginning  at 
the  north  we  have  (i)  the  arsenical  zone,  characterized  by  miner- 
als carrying  high  percentages  of  arsenic  ;  (2)  the  bismuth  zone ; 
{l)  tht  galena-gray  copper  zone;  (4)  the  antimonicd  zone,  practi- 
cally the  prolongation  south-westward  of  the  arsenical  wedge; 
(5)  the  argentiferous-galena  zone,  opposite  the  bismuth  wedge, 
and  '6)  the  sulphuret  zone,  a  wide  area  with  few  veins,  but  these 
rich  and  carrying  true  silver  minerals  (sulphides)  largely. 

The  faults  and  the  vein-filling  appear  to  have  occurred  subse- 
quently to  the  trachytic  ejections  but  prior  to  the  rhyolitic  period. 
The  evidence  is  that  the  gradual  elevation  of  the  Red  peak  focus 
caused  the  subsidence  and  faulting  along  the  edges  and  across 
two  of  the  three  stated  radii  of  the  depressed  area,  but  that  the 
deposition  of  the  veins  along  the  arsenical-antimonial  trend  was 
later  than  the  rhyolitic  period,  or  in  its  closing  stages.  After  this 
the  veins  of  the  Red  Mountain  area  were  much  modified  by  the 
secondary  action  of  hot  springs  and  geysers. 

I  have  given  here  the  mere  outline  of  the  facts,  and  but  a  small 
part  of  what  has  been  put  into  other  publications,  but  minute 
details  can  not  be  presented  in  this  place. 

It  is,  however,  important  to  note  that  much  material  has  been 
collected  bearing  more  or  less  directly  upon  the  source  of  the 
vein-stuff,  and  that  the  conclusion  is  imperative  that  local  segre- 
gation from  the  volcanic  rocks  is  wholly  untenable.  The  idea 
that  the  veins  in  the  volcanics  have  been  derived  from  preexisting 
ore-deposits  in  the  subjacent  metamorphics  is  quite  as  wide  of 
the  facts,  and  there  can  be  no  doubt  of  the  d^ep-seated  origin  of 
the  lodes  at  a  period  coincident  with  the  igneous  action. — T.  B. 
Comstock. 

A  GIANT  Armadillo  from  the  Miocene  of  Kansas. — ^The 
museum  of  the  University  of  Kansas,  at  Lawrence,  contains  a 
portion  of  the  dermal  skeleton  of  an  armadillo,  probably  of  the 
family  Glyptodontidae,  from  the  Loup  Fork  formation  of  that 
State.  I  owe  the  opportunity  of  examining  and  describing  it  to 
my  friend,  Professor  Francis  Snow,  of  that  institution.  The 
species  appears  to  belong  to  a  genus  distinct  from  those  known 
to  belong  to  the  Glyptodontidae,  which  I  shall  call  Caryoderma. 
Its  peculiarity  consists  in  the  fact  that  a  portion  of  the  carapace 


Digitized  by 


Google 


1 886.]  Geology  and  Palaontology,  1 045 

is  represented  by  osseous  nuclei  only,  which  do  not  articulate 
with  each  other.  The  scuta  belonging  to  the  tail  are  distinct 
from  each  other,  and  not  coossified  as  in  Daedicurus.  The  species 
may  be  named  and  described  as  follows : 

Caryoderma  snovianunt  Cope,  sp.  nov. — The  dermal  scuta  may 
be  arranged  in  four  classes.  First,  the  smallest,  which  are  sub- 
quadrate  in  outline,  and  flat ;  one  of  the  flat  faces,  probably  the  in- 
ternal, smaller  than  the  opposite  one,  and  more  spongy.  Six  of 
these;  the  largest  15™°*  in  width.  Second,  larger  scuta,  sub- 
hexagonal  or  pentagonal,  or  oval,  with  the  dense  smooth  exter- 
nal &ce  rising  towards  and  produced  beyond  one  of  the  borders 
of  the  base  as  a  flat  more  or  less  angular  cornice.  This  cornice 
is  separated  from  the  border  of  the  basal  part  of  the  bone  by  a 
rabbet  or  open  groove.  Inferior  surface  perforated  by  foramina. 
Edges  finely  rugose.  Of  this  type  there  are  seven  scuta.  Dimen- 
sions of  largest,  length  32™"^,  width  35™°^.  The  third  type  resem- 
bles the  second,  but  the  cornice  is  represented  by  a  conical  ele- 
vation which  does  not  project  beyond  the  edge  of  the  base,  but 
stands  above  or  within  it.  Inferior  surface  more  or  less  concave. 
Size  of  largest,  length  40°^,  width  ss"""";  of  smallest,  15°^°^  by 
j^mm^  Four  large  and  three  small.  The  fourth  kind  of  dermal 
bone  is  an  acute  cone  with  a  small  convex  base,  more  or  less  ob- 
liquely truncated.  Four  of  these,  two  large  and  two  small. 
Measurements  of  former,  base  28°^°"  by  22°"°^,  total  elevation 
32"°^;  measurement  of  smaller  kind,  base  15°^  by  11'°"',  total 
elevation  22°^. 

It  is  probable  that  the  third  kind  of  plate  belongs  to  the  tail, 
where  they  enter  into  the  composition  of  the  annuli,  as  in  Glyp- 
todon  and  Hoplophorus.  Processes  resembling  the  fpurth  kind 
are  found  on  the  superior  middle  line  of  the  tail  in  Hoplophorus^ 
and  also  along  the  inferior  edge  of  the  carapace. 

An  ungual  phalange  is  of  interesting  form.  It  is  hoof-like, 
longer  than  wide,  and  squarely  truncate  at  the  extremity  without 
notch.  The  superior  surface  is  convex  in  transverse  section,  and 
straight  in  profile,  which  rises  behind.  The  inferior  face  is  flat 
for  the  distal  two-thirds ;  the  proximal  two-thirds  rising  to  the 
articular  surface.  The  latter  is  not  wider  than  the  distal  extrem- 
ity, the  surface  expanding  and  forming  a  shoulder  one-quarter  the 
length  distad  of  it.  Articular  surface  concave  vertically,  a  little 
convex  transversely.  Total  length  of  phalange  32°^,  greatest 
width  24°^,  greatest  depth  17°^;  width  of  extremity  h™"';  of 
articular  facet  15°^°*. 

The  discovery  of  this  form  in  the  Loup  Fork  bed  of  Kansas  is 
of  much  interest  on  several  accounts.  First,  it  is  the  first  time 
this  group  of  Edentata  has  been  discovered  north  of  the  valley  of 
Mexico.  Secondly,  as  belonging  to  an  earlier  epoch  than  the 
Pampean  Glyptodontidae  of  South  America,  Caryoderma  stands 
in  the  position  of  ancestor.    Thirdly,  the  rudimental   character 


Digitized  by 


Google 


1046  General  Notes.  [December. 

of  some  of  the  segments  of  the  carapace  shows  the  latter  to  have 
been  undeveloped,  which  is  further  consistent  with  a  relation 
ancestral  to  the  other  armadillos.  It  is  probably  a  case  of  persist- 
ence, however,  for  since  the  Miocene  beds  of  the  Parana  have 
been  shown  by  Ameghino  to  contain  ancestral  Gl3rptodontid£. 
the  North  American  ancestors  of  these  are  to  be  sought  ia  beds 
earlier  than  the  Loup  Fork.  The  species  was  discovered  by  Mr. 
Charles  H.  Sternberg,  in  Northern  Kansas.  It  is  respectfully 
dedicated  to  Professor  F.  H.  Snow,  of  the  university  of  that  State. 

Geological  News. — General. — In  these  days  of  earthquake 
theories  that  of  M.  De  Montessus  (Rev.  Scient.,  1886,  369)  is 
worthy  of  notice.  He  starts  by  enumerating  the  three  chief  the- 
ories of  the  constitution  of  the  earth:  (l)  A  central  fluid  nucleus 
with  a  more  or  less  thick  crust ;  (2)  a  central  solid  nucleus  and  a 
solid  crust  separated  by  a  spherical  liquid  ring  ;  (3)  a  solid  inte- 
rior with  chambers  filled  with  fluid.  Postulating  the  correctness 
of  the  first  theory,  which  prevails  in  France  and  holds  its  own  in 
other  countries,  he  then  gives,  as  the  result  of  calculations  made 
upon  4943  shocks,  the  statement  that  earthquakes  are  more  fre- 
quent when  the  moon  is  on  the  meridian  than  when  it  is  at  right 
angles  with  it.  From  this  he  passes  to  the  feict  that  were  the 
ocean  composed  of  a  dense  fluid,  like  mercury,  the  tides  would 
consist  of  an  actual  transport  of  matter  following  the  moon's 
course.  May  not  such  tides  take  place  below  the  earth's  crust  ? 
Capt.  Boulanger,  in  1880,  dared  to  doubt  that  the  earth  moved  as 
a  whole,  so  that  the  velocity  of  every  point  is  proportional  to  its 
distance  from  the  center.  The  patient  study  of  the  sun  spots  has 
proved  that  there  is  in  the  sun's  matter  an  internal  and  external 
circulation  quite  different  from  that  which  would  result  from  a 
rotation  in  every  point  proportionate  to  the  radius.  Vortex  mo- 
tions, according  to  M.  Faye's  law,  must  be  produced  in  fluids  the 
layers  of  which  are  in  movement  with  slightly  differing  veloci- 
ties. Add  these  vortex  movements  to  the  subterranean  lunar 
tides,  and  M.  Montessus*  earthquake  theory  is  outlined. 

Palaeozoic, — Professor  Ed.  Hull,  Mr.  Mellard  Reade  and  others 
in  Britain,  with  Mr.  Crosby  in  America,  maintain  that  in  Palaeo- 
zoic times  the  North  Atlantic  and  the  North  American  continent 
in  the  main  changed  places.  In  the  words  of  the  first  of  these : 
**  If  it  be  allowed  as  a  general  principle  that  the  originating  lands 
lay  in  the  direction  towards  which  the  sediments  thicken,  and 
opposite  to  that  in  which  the  limestones  are  most  developed,  the 
conclusion  is  inevitable  that  the  Atlantic  was,  in  the  main^  a  land 
surface  in  Palaeozoic  times." 

Permian. — M.  Alb.  Gaudry  describes  Haplodus  baylei,  a  reptile 
from  the  Permian  beds  of  Telots,  near  Autun  (France).  The 
name  is  derived  from  Greek  words  which  signify  the  close  adhe- 
sion of  the  teeth  to  the  maxillaries.    Three  other  types  of  rep- 


Digitized  by 


Google 


1 886.]  Mineralogy  and  Petrography.  1 047 

tiles,  Actinodon,  Protriton  and  Stereorachis,  are  now  known  from 
these  beds. 

Secondary, — The  central  region  of  Tunis,  according  to  M.  Rol- 
land,  consists  in  great  part  of  a  mass  of  senonian  beds  with  lime- 
stones yielding  inocerami  and  cephalopods.  This  mass  is  here 
and  there  capped  by  nummulitic  beds.  These  beds  are  found  all 
around  the  Mediterranean  region,  but  those  of  Algiers  and  Tunis 
are  characterized  by  peculiar  species. M.  Thomas  has  discov- 
ered beds  of  phosphate  of  lime  in  Tunis.  In  the  south-west  are 
rich  and  very  extensive  Eocene  deposits,  while  near  Feriana  there 
is  a  small  bed  of  Cretaceous  age.  In  the  Albian  marls  of  Con- 
stantine,  in  Algeria,  there  are  notable  Cretaceous  beds  of  this 
mineral. 

Quattmary, — M.  Reviere,  who  at  the  meeting  of  the  French 
Assoc.  Adv.  Sci.  at  Grenoble,  in  1885,  gave  a  list  of  171  shells 
discovered  in  the  grottoes  of  Meudon,  has  this  year  descrit>ed  the 
fishes  and  birds.  The  few  fishes  found  are  principally  those  of 
fresh  water,  which  seems  inexplicable  among  peoples  living  on 
the  shore  of  a  sea  so  rich  in  fishes  as  the  Mediterranean.  The 
vertebra  of  a  salmon,  a  fish  of  the  northern  rivers,  was  found, 
and  speaks  of  the  migrations  of  these  Quaternary  peoples. 

MINBRAIiOO-Y  AND  PBTROa-RAPHY.^ 

New  Books. — ^The  third  part  of  Professor  von  Cumbers  "  Ge- 
ologie  von  Bayem"*  has  just  been  received.  Although  not  yet 
completed,  enough  of  the  first  volume  has  already  appeared  to 
show  that  the  work  in  its  entirety  will  fill  a  long  felt  want.  In 
this  volume  the  author  proposes  to  set  forth  the  .principles  of 
geology  as  generally  accepted  at  the  present  time,  devoting  quite 
a  considerable  portion  of  the  book  to  the  microscopical  character- 
istics of  rocks,  and  to  the  truths  which  the  microscope  reveals,  as 
well  as  to  the  theories  to  which  the  use  of  this  instrument  has 
given  rise.  That  portion  of  the  book  which  has  already  appeared 
is  well  illustrated  by  nearly  four  hundred  photo-engravings.  Most 
of  these  illustrations  are  taken  from  localities  in  Bavaria.  The 
author,  however,  has  not  hesitated  to  draw  on  any  source  that 
would  serve  his  purposes  better  than  those  at  hand  in  his  own 
country.  The  result  is  a  most  satisfactory  text-book  of  geology, 
in  which  all  the  most  modern  methods  of  geological  research  are 
described,  and  the  results  to  which  each  leads  carefully  given. 
The  subject  of  metamorphism  has  received  considerable  attention 
and  also  the  theories  relating  to  "  petrogenesis,"  or  the  origin  of 
rocks.  The  second  volume  will  be  devoted  to  a  description  of  the 
geology  of  Bavaria. The  first  of  a  series  of  monographs  on  edu- 

^  Edited  by  Dr.  W.  S.  Baylky,  Madison,  Wisconsin. 

» Geologie  von  Bayern.  Bd.  I,  Lief,  i,  ii,  ill,  Grundziige  der  Geologic.  Dr.  K.  W. 
von  GUinbel.     Cassel,  1884-6. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


I 


1048  General  Notes.  [December, 

cation  has  recently  been  published  by  Heath  &  Co.,  of  Boston.' 
It  is  a  neat  little  book  of  thirty- five  pages,  intended  pnmarily  to 
call  the  attention  of  teachers  to  the  rise  and  development  of  the 
youngest  branch  of  geological  science,  and  to  the  methods  which 
are  made  use  of  in  it.  A  very  large  amount  of  information  relat- 
ing to  the  history  of  petrography  is  embraced  within  the  first 
twenty-five  {>ages  of  this  little  volume.  The  next  five  pages  con- 
tain a  list  of  the  most  important  works  devoted  to  the  subject  and 
the  periodicals  in  which  petrographical  articles  are  published.  In 
the  remaining  pages  the  methods  made  use  of  in  the  preparation 
of  thin  sections  are  described  and  the  names  of  reliable  dealers 
in  the  instruments  and  materials  used,  with  the  cost  of  these» 
given. 

MiNERALOGiCAL  News. — PtiloUte^  is  a  new  mineral,  described  by 
Cross  and  Eakins,  from  Colorado.  It  occurs  in  the  cavities  of  a 
vesicular  augite-andesite  found  as  fragments  in  the  conglomerates 
of  Green  and  Table  mountains,  in  JefTerson  county.  It  forms 
delicate  tufts  and  spongy  masses  composed  of  short  hair-like 
needles  which  are  usually  deposited  upon  chalcedony  in  the  por« 
of  the  rock.  Under  the  microscope  these  needles  are  seen  to  be 
colorless,  transparent  prisms  about  .001°^  in  diameter,  terminated 
by  a  basal  plane.  Their  extinction  is  parallel  to  the  prismatic 
axis.  An  analysis  of  the  purified  material  yielded  Mr.  Elakins 
the  following  result  : 

SiO,        A1,0,        GaO        KjO        Na,0        H,0 
70.35        11.90         3.87        2.83         0.77         10.18 

This  corresponds  to  the  formula  Ro  AI2O,,  ioSi02-f  sHjO.  The 
mineral  is  interesting  as  being  the  hydrated  form  of  the  most 
acid  anhydride  known  among  the  silicates,  with  the  exception  of 

the  rare  mineral  milarite. A  pseudomorph  of  limonite  after 

pyrite'  recently  found  in  Baltimore  county,  Maryland,  con- 
tains six  of  the  seven  possible  crystallographic  forms  of  the 
regular  system.    The  forms  actually  observed  are  O,  00  Ooo , 

r^]'  [^]'  ^^^'  ^"^  3^'   ^^^  ^^^  **^  ^"^y  ^^^  planes  of  the 

forms  f-  -  j,  2O2,  and  3O  are  developed  in  each  octant  imparts  to 

the  crystal  an  orthorhombic  symmetry. ^The  turquoise    from 

Los  Cerillos,  New  Mexico,  has  been  studied  chemically  and 
microscopically  by  Messrs.  Clark  and  Diller,*  of  the  United  States 
Geological  Survey.  It  occurs  imbedded  in  a  fine-grained  red 
orthocUse   rock  with  a    microgranitic  structure,  sometimes  in 

1  Modem  Petrography.     An  account  of  the  application  of  the  microscope  to  the 
study  of  Geology,  by  G.  H.  Williams,  1886. 
«  Whitman  Cross  and  L.  G.  Eakins.    Amer.  Jour.  Sci.,  xxxn.,  Aug.,  1886,  p.  117. 

*  On  a  remarkable  crystal  of  pyrite  from  Baltimore  county,  Md.     Geo.  H.  Wil- 
liams.    Johns  Hopkins  Univ.  Circulars,  No.  52,  1886. 

*  Amer.  Jour.  Sci.,  xxxii.,  Sep.,  1886,  p.  211. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


1 886.]  Mineralogy  and  Petrography,  1049 

nodules,  but  more  frequently  in  seams  and  veins.  In  color  it 
ranges  from  sky-blue,  through  greenish- blue,  to  dark-green. 
Analyses  of  specimens  of  these  three  varieties  yielded: 

Bright  blue.        Greenish  blue.        Dark  green. 


H,0 

19.80 

19.60 

18.49 

^''^» 

ii 

;  39.53 

.  36.88 
2.40. 

37.88 
4.07 

31-96 

32.86 

2863 

6.30 

75" 

6.56 

SiO, 

I. IS 

.16 

4.20 

CaO 

.13 

.38 

Upon  comparing  these  results  with  those  obtained  by  other  in- 
vestigators, the  authors  conclude  that  normal  turquoise  can  be 
represented  by  the  formula  AI2  HPO4  (OH)4.  The  various  colors 
which  it  possesses  are  probably  due  to  the  admixture  of  a  copper 
molecule  2CuO  P2O5  4H2O.  The  presence  of  iron  salts  would 
tend  to  give  a  greenish  tinge  to  the  mineral.  Under  the  micro- 
scope it  was  seen  to  be  composed  of  minute  grains  or  short  thick 
fibers,  weakly  doubly  refracting,  with  a  high  refractive  index. 
The  extinction  was  parallel  to  the  long  axes  of  the  fibers.  A 
consideration  of  the  arrangement  of  the  fibers  in  the  veins,  the 
composition  of  the  rock  in  which  the  mineral  is  found,  and  its  as- 
sociation with  epidote,  lead  the  authors  to  the  supposition  that  it 
may  have  been  derived  from  apatite.^ 

Petrographical  News, — ^The  gabbros  occurring  near  Balti- 
more, and  the  hornblende  rocks  associated  with  them  have  been 
made  the  subject  of  a  bulletin  of  the  U.  S.  Geological  Survey.^ 
The  treatment  of  these  rocks  by  the  author  is  very  thorough. 
The  paper  opens  with  an  introduction  calling  attention  to  the  fact 
that  eruptive  rocks  may,  under  the  influence  of  heat  and  press- 
ure, become  schistose  and  in  their  characteristics  very  like  the 
crystalline  schists  which  have  been  derived  by  the  alteration  of 
aqueous  formations.  The  main  portion  of  the  work  is  devoted 
to  the  tracing  of  hypersthene  gabbro  into  a  schistose  rock,  called 
by  the  author  gabbro-diorite.  The  massive  gabbro  consist  essen- 
tially of  a  fine  to  coarse  grained  mixture  of  bytownite,  light-green 
diallage  and  hypersthene  in  varying  proportions.  In  addition 
to  these  there  are  also  contained  in  the  gabbro  a  little  yellowish- 
brown  hornblende,  strongly  pleochroic  and  full  of  minute  black 
inclusions,^  some  magnetite  and  in  a  few  instances  considerable 
apatite.  By  alteration  of  the  diallage  and  hypersthene  into  a 
fibrous  hornblende  the  gabbro  passes  gradually  into  a  schistose 
rock,  containing  in  addition  to  the  plagioclase  and  hornblende  a 
considerable  amount  of  epidote  and  some  garnet,  apatite,  rutile, 
sphene,  etc.  In  the  case  of  the  alteration  of  hypersthene  the 
author  supposes  a   reaction  to  have  taken  place  between  this 

1  Cf.  American  Naturalist,  January,  1886,  p.  61. 

>  Dr.  G.  H.  Williams,  Bulletin  of  the  U.  S.  Geol.  Survey,  No.  28. 

*  Cf.  American  Naturalist  Notes,  March,  1886,  p.  275. 

YOU  XX.— HO.  XII.  70 


Digitized  by 


Google 


I  OS  o  General  Notes.  [December, 

mineral  and  the  feldspar  of  the  rock,  the  latter  supplying  the 
former  with  the  necessary  al  iminum  required  to  build  up  the 
hornblende  molecule.  In  addition  to  the  two  rocks  mentioned, 
there  are  in  the  same  region  olivine-bronzite-gabbros,  feldspathic 
peridotites  and  Iherzolites.  In  some  of  these  rocks  the  feldspar 
has  undergone  a  rather  unu^al  alteration,  viz.,  into  scolecite. 
Other  rocks,  composed  entirely  of  bronzite  or  hypersthene  with 
or  without  diallage,  are  mentioned  and  briefly  described.  These 
olivine  and  pyroxenic  rocks  have  given  rise  to  much  of  the  serpen- 
tine so  generally  found  in  their  neighborhood. In  the  August 

number  of  the  American  Journal  of  Science,  Mr.  J.  S.  Diller^  has 
an  article  on  the  peridotite  of  Elliott  county,  Kentucky.  This 
rock,  according  to  the  author,  occurs  in  well-marked  dykes  cut- 
ting Carboniferous  sandstones  and  shales.  A  microscopic  ex- 
amination shows  it  to  consist  of  olivine  and  pyrope,  with  a  small 
amount  of  ilmenite  as  primary  constituents,  and  serpentine,  dolo- 
mite, magnetite  and  octahedrite  as  secondary  minerals.  The  in- 
teresting fact  is  noted  that  around  the  garnet  a  reactionary  rim 
exists  analogous  to  the  kelyphite^  of  Schrauf  Instead  of  am- 
phibole,  however,  the  fibrous  mineral Jn  the  rim  is  biotite.  From 
a  comparison  of  the  composition  of  the  peridotite  and  the  inter- 
sected sandstones  and  shales  and  the  discovery  of  both  endo- 
morphous  and  exomorphous  changes  (mica  and  spilosite  in  the 
shales,  and  a  variolitic  structure  in  the  peridotite)  in  the  neigh- 
borhood of  their  contact,  the  author  concludes  that  the  peridotite 

is  without  doubt  an  intrusive  mass  and  eruptive  in  its  origin. 

Mr.  Geo.  F.  Becker^  has  replied  to  the  article  of  Messrs.  Hague 
and  Iddings*  on  crystallization  in  the  igneous  rocks  of  the 
Washoe  district.  The  author  of  the  present  paper  denies  the  valid- 
it  y  of  many  of  the  results  of  Messrs.  Hague  and  Iddings,  and 
claims  that  a  second  visit  to  the  Washoe  region  and  a  reexamin- 
ation of  the  rocks  collected  there  have  established  him  flrmly  in 
the  belief  that  the  granitoid  and  the  glassy  rocks  are  of  entirely 
distinct  eruptions,  which  took  place  at  two  different  periods  re- 
mote from  each  other,  and  that  in  many  cases  minute  differences 
of  chemical  composition  have  produced  effects  greater  than  mod- 
erate differences  in  the  depths  at  which  the  rocks  cooled.  He 
moreover  claims  that  a  mere  study  of  the  slides  and  hand  speci- 
mens is  not  sufficient  to  overthrow  his  own  theory  of  the  succes- 
sion of  rocks  in  the  vicinity  of  the  Comstoek  lode. Profes- 
sor R.  D.  Irving,  of  the  United  States  Geological  Survey,  in  an 
article  in  the  American  Journal  of  Science,^  maintains  that  the 
iron  ores  and  the  associated  jaspery  schists  of  the  Lake  Supe- 

*  Amcr.  Jour.  Sci.  xxxii,  Aug.,  *86,  p.  122. 

*  Cf.  American  Naturalist  Notes,  Feb.,  1886,  p.  161. 

*  Bulletin  6,  California  Academy  of  Sciences,  p.  93. 
^Cf.  American  Naturalist  Notes,  Dec,  1885,  p.  121 6. 

^  Origin  of  the  ferruginous  schists  and  iron  ores  of  the  Lake  Superior  region. 
Amcr.  Jour.  Sci.,  xxxil.,  Oct.,  '86,  p.  255. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


1 886.]  Botany.  J051 

rior  region  were  derived  from  an  original  iron  carbonate  which 
was  interbedded  with  carbonaceous  shales  which  were  them- 
selves often  impregnated  with  the  same  mineral.  By  a  process 
of  silicification  these  cafbonate-bearing  layers  were  transformed 
into  the  various  kinds  of  ferruginous  rocks  now  met  with  in 
this  region.  In  some  cases  silicifying  waters  decomposed  the 
iron  carbonate  in  place,  producing  tremolite  or  actinolite  and 
magnetite,  which  with  the  excess  of  silica  remaining  formed  the 
actinolitic  schists  so  frequently  found  associated  with  the  iron 
ores.  In  other  cases  direct  oxidation  of  the  carbonate  gave  rise 
to  bodies  of  hematite.  In  still  other  cases  during  the  silicifica- 
tion of  the  rocks  and  the  decomposition  of  the  carbonate,  the  iron 
was  removed  by  leaching  and  deposited  in  other  places  as  it  be- 
came oxidized.  The  jasper  is  supposed  to  be  secondary  and  to 
have  been  deposited  upon  the  removal  of  the  iron  carbonate  in 
the  process  of  silicification.  The  various  theories  which  have 
heretofore  been  put  forward  to  account  for  these  interbedded  iron 
and  jasper  layers  are  all  in  turn  examined  and  pronounced  in- 
sufficient to  explain  the  phenomena  met  with  everywhere  in  the 
study  of  the  region. 

BOTANY.* 

The  Wind  and  the  Tree-tops. — Since  1875  the  writer  has 
observed,  in  various  parts  of  the  country,  156  instances  of  injury 
to  the  trunks  or  branches  of  trees  by  wind. 

Of  all  ordinary  trees  the  common  red  maple  appears  to  suffer 
most  in  hard  winds,  and  the  whole  156  observed  cases  of  injury 
were  confined  to  the  various  species  of  deciduous  trees.  The 
writer  has  seen  hundreds  of  long-leaf  pines  in  Georgia  and  Flor- 
ida that  had  been  blown  up  by  the  roots,  but  not  one  injured  in 
trunk  or  branch  while  the  tree  was  yet  standing.  Also  close  in- 
quiry in  Iowa  and  a  whole  summer's  observation  among  the 
white  pines  of  Tennessee  failed  to  reveal  a  single  case  in  which  a 
tree  of  that  species  was  injured  by  the  wind.  Of  the  156  ob- 
served instances  of  injury  sixty-one  per  cent  were  limbs  split  off 
at  the  crotch. 

The  crotches  of  a  tree  are  its  weak  points.  Nature  recognizes 
this  fact  and  guards  against  the  weakness  by  swelling  out  the 
wood  about  the  points  of  branching.  Notably  is  this  true  of  the 
white  pine.  In  a  large  tree  of  this  species  the  limbs  come  out  in 
regular  whorls  about  two  feet  apart.  Midway  between  each  two 
successive  whorls  the  central  axis  of  the  tree  has  a  minimum 
size.  Above  and  below  this  point  of  least  circumference  the 
trunk  gradually  swells  out  to  support  the  successive  sets  of 
branches. 

In  sixty  per  cent  of  the  observed  injuries  the  trunk  divided 
into  two  or  more  large  nearly  equal  branches,  and  one  of  these 

^  Edited  by  Professor  Charles  E.  Bessey,  Lincoln,  Nebraska. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


1052  General  Notes.  [December, 

was  the  injured  member.  These  large  limbs,  swaying  in  a  hard 
wind,  act  as  great  levers,  and  are  frequently  not  sufficiently  sup- 
ported at  the  crotch. 

The  meaning  of  all  this  is  that  a  tree  of  which  the  trunk 
habitually  divides  into  large  nearly. equal  branches  is  much  more 
liable  to  be  injured  by  the  wind  than  one  having  a  strong  central 
axis  with  many  small  limbs  as,  for  example,  the  white  pine. 

Thus  the  accumulated  effects  of  the  wind  have  undoubtedly 
been  to  develop  excurrent  forms  of  tree-top.  But  the  question 
naturally  arises  why  pines,  spruces,  etc.,  have  this  form  in  greater 
perfection  than  other  trees.  Well,  in  the  first  place  deciduous 
trees  are  usually  injured  by  the  wind  only  while  in  foliage  during 
the  summer  months ;  but  evergreens,  being  always  in  foliage,  are 
practically  exposed  to  the  action  of  the  wind  for  at  least  twice  as 
great  a  time  each  year  as  are  maples,  elms,  etc.  Then  too,  ac- 
cording to  palaeontology,  the  cone -bearing  evergreens  came  into 
existence  many  thousands,  perhaps  millions,  of  years  before  any 
tree  that  annually  sheds  its  leaves.  Thus  the  coniferous  evergreens 
have  had  a  vastly  longer  time  in  which  to  accumulate  the  effects 
of  the  wind  and  develop  an  excurrent  form  of  top  than  have  de- 
ciduous trees. — B.  /^  Hoyt^  Manchester,  Iowa. 

A  Hybrid  Apple. — Recently  a  student  brought  me  a  "  Ben 
Davis"  apple  characteristically  marked  throughout  a  little  less 
than  three-fourths  of  its  surface,  the  remainder  (a  wide  crimson 
streak  from  stem  to  calyx)  having  undoubted  marks  of  the 
"  Jonathan "  variety.  The  tree  from  which  it  came  is  a  "  Ben 
Davis,"  and  a  "  Jonathan  "  tree  stands  within  a  distance  of  sev- 
eral rods.  Upon  cutting  the  apple  it  was  found  that  the  hybridi- 
zation was  confined  to  two  carpels,  and  that  the  development  of 
the  flesh  of  these  and  the  corresponding  calyx-segments  had  been 
somewhat  greater  longitudinally  and  considerably  less  trans- 
versely than  for  the  remaining  carpels.  Upon  tasting  the  flesh  of 
the  "  Jonathan  "  part  of  the  apple  it  was  found  to  differ  quite  per- 
ceptibly from  that  of  the  "  Ben  Davis  "  part. 

It  is  probable  that  we  have  in  this  apple  an  example  of  the  im- 
mediate effect  of  the  pollen  upon  the  fruit  In  this  case  the 
"  Jonathan  "  pollen  affected  the  fruit  (a)  by  changing  the  color  of 
the  skin,  (b)  by  causing  the  hybrid  segments  to  grow  longer  and 
narrower,  thus  approximating  nearer  to  the  "Jonathan"  form, 
and  (c)  by  changing  the  taste  bf  the  flesh. — Charles  E,  Bessey. 

RuppiA  MARITIMA  L.  IN  NEBRASKA. — This  maritime  plant  has 
lately  been  brought  to  me  from  a  pond  near  one  of  the  many  salt 
springs  which  occur  in  the  vicinity  of  Lincoln.  The  species  is 
not  recorded  in  the  catalogues  of  the  Western  State  floras,  viz., 
Minnesota  (Upham),  Iowa  (Arthur),  Missouri  (Tracy),  Kansas 
(Carruth) ;  nor  does  it  occur  in  the  East,  away  from  the  seaside, 
with  but  a  single  exception.     It  is  not  found  in  the  flora  of  In- 


Digitized  by 


Google 


1 886.]  Botany.  1053 

diana  (Coulter  and  Barnes),  Cincinnati  (James),  Michigan 
(Wheeler  and  Smith),  Ohio  (Beardslee)  Buffalo  (Day),  Cayuga, 
N.  Y.  (Dudley),  nor  even  of  Washington,  D.  C.  (Ward).'  It  was 
discovered  many  years  ago  in  Oneida  county,  N.  Y.,  by  Paine, 
who  says  of  it:  "  This  plant  and  its  companion  [^Naias  major]  are 
new  to  the  interior,  having  been  known  hitherto  as  exclusively 
maritime  "  (Eighteenth  Ann.  Rep.  of  the  Regents  of  the  Univ.  of 
the  State  of  New  York  on  the  State  Cabinet  of  Nat.  Hist.,  p. 
133). 

In  Frank  Tweedy's  "  Flora  of  the  Yellowstone  National  Park," 
Ruppia  maritifpta  is  said  to  be  **  common  in  the  sluggish  streams 
and  water-holes  of  the  hot-spring  and  geyser  areas  "  (p.  66),  and 
elsewhere  (p.  20)  the  statement  is  made  that  it  "  has  been  ob- 
served in  situations  where  the  water  had  a  temperature  of  90^ 
Fahrenheit" 

The  occurrence  of  this  little  plant  in  these  widely  separated 
localities  is,  to  say  the  least,  very  interesting.  From  the  sea- 
coast  to  the  Oneida  county,  N.  Y.,  station  is  fully  150  miles, 
thence  to  the  Nebraska  station  is  iioo  miles,  and  from  the  latter 
point  to  the  National  park  is  700  miles.  The  distance  from  the 
Nebraska  station  to  the  Gulf  of  Mexico  is  about  800  miles. — 
Charles  E.  Bessey. 

The  Roughness  of  certain  Uredospores. — Recently  while 
examining  the  uredospores  of  Puccinia  coronata^  a  common  rust 
of  the  oat,  a  student  in  my  laboratory  complained  of  the  difficulty 
he  had  in  making  out  the  prickly  [stachlig]  surface  of  the  spore- 
wall.  The  spores  had  been  mounted  in  water  in  the  usual  way, 
and  it  was  with  the  utmost  difficulty  that  any  roughness  of  the 
surface  could  be  made  out,  and  when  made  out  it  was  so  faint  as 
to  warrant  the  remark  that  **  a  character  so  difficult  to  be  ob- 
served and  so  likely  to  be  overlooked  should  not  be  made  use  of 
in  descriptions."  The  spores,  in  fact,  appeared  in  most  posi- 
tions to  be  perfectly  smooth.  The  suggestion  was  made  to  ex- 
amine them  mounted  dry,  when  lo !  the  prickles  appeared  with 
the  greatest  distinctness.  This  hint  may  be  worth  remembering 
in  much  of  our  work  in  botanical  laboratories.  —  Chatles  E. 
Bessey. 

Another  "  Tumble-weed." — While  riding  through  Phelps  and 
Kearney  counties,  in  South-central  Nebraska,  my  attention  was 
called  to  gj*eat  masses  of  some  much-branched,  white- woolly 
plant  which  occupied  the  ditches  by  the  side  of  the  railway.  Its 
appearance  was  so  odd  and  so  different  from  anything  I  had  ever 
seen  that  I  could  not  conceive  what  it  could  be.  A  fortunate 
stop  of  the  train  outside  the  limits  of  a  town  allowed  me  to 
secure  specimens,  which  upon  examination  proved  to  be  Psoralea 
tenuiflora  Pursh.  The  leaves  had  fallen  and  the  naked  branches, 
in  drying,  had  diverged  still  more  than  in  life,  giving  to  the  plant 


Digitized  by 


Google 


I054  General  Notes.  [December, 

an  appearance  quite  different  from  that  which  it  bears  when  grow- 
ing. Tl\e  mode  of  detachment  is  the  usual  one  of  the  formatioa 
of  a  joint  at  one  of  the  lower  intemodes.  In  some  cases  two 
such  joints  were  observed.  The  break  at  the  joint  is  smooth  and 
even,  and  reminds  one  of  the  separation  of  a  leaf  from  its  twig. 

It  may  be  well  to  say  that  the  plant  under  consideration  is 
densely  silk)-  woolly  in  every  part  excepting  its  principal  s'cms. 
It  is  certainly  not  "  minutely  hoary  pubescent  when  young,"  as 
described  in  the  manuals  (Gray,  Man.,  p.  129;  Coulter,  Man.,  p. 
56).  On  account  of  the  loss  of  leaves  it  is  impossible  to  deter- 
mine whether  this  may  not  be*  the  variety  obtusUoba  of  Watson 
(Bib.  Index  N.  A.  Bot,  p.  255).  If  so  this  is  a  much  more 
northerly  range  than  this  variety  of  the  species  was  sup|x>sed  to 
possess.  In  all  cases  but  one  the  variety  is  .said  to  be  a  native  of 
Texas.  Creutzfeldt  collected  it  in  "Kansas"  in  1853  (Pacific 
Railroad  Report,  2,  p.  1 26),  and  from  the  date  of  its  collection 
(June)  it  must  have  been  found  in  Eastern  Kansas.  Carruth, 
however,  does  not  record  it  in  his  catalogue  of  Kansas  plants 
(Trans.  Kan.  Academy  of  Sciences,  Vol.  v). — Charles  E,  Bessey. 

Botanical  News. — The  October  Journal  of  Botany  contains 
a  paper,  by  Baron  F.  von  Mueller,  on  "  New  Vacciniaceac  from 
New  Guinea."  A  new  genus  is  described  under  the  name  Catan- 
thera.  It  contains  one  species,  C.  lysipetala  Mueller,  which  ap- 
pears to  have  affinities  with  Oxycoccus,  though  strangely  it  shows 
relationship  alwish  the  toClethreae  and  Fyrolaceae.  It  is  an  epi- 
phyte.  In  the  same  journal  James  Britten  contributes  an  arti- 
cle on  "  The  nomenclature  of  some  Proteaceae,"  in  which  the 
question  of  priority  of  Salisbury's  names  in  the  Proteads  and 
other  groups  of  plants  is  discussed.  He  says :  '*  I  am  of  opinion 
that  there  was  a  tacit  understanding  on  the  part  of  the  botanical 
leaders  of  the  period,  including  Brown,  Banks  and  Smith,  that 
Salisbury's  work  and  names  should,  as  far  as  possible,  be  ignored, 
not  only  on  account  of  their  strong  antipathy  to  the  man  himself, 
but  also,  in  Smith's  case  at  least,  to  the  views  of  classification 
which  Salisbury  promulgated ;"  an  outrageous  proceeding  if  true, 

as  it  appears  to  be. Dr.  Newberry  gives  additional  reasons,  in 

the  October  Torrey  Bulletin,  for  regarding  Pinus  monopkylla  as 
but  a  variety  of  P.  eduiis.  He  says :  "  In  the  Rocky  mountains 
all  are  two-leaved ;  in  some  arid  portions  of  Nevada  the  tree  is 
dwarfed  to  half  its  normal  size,  and  all  the  leaves  are  single.  Mid- 
way between  these  districts,  in  Southern  Utah,  may  be  found  thou- 
sands of  trees  in  which  the  leaves  are  half  double,  half  single." 

Dr.  Gray's  Memorandum  of  a  revision  of  the  N.  A.  violets,  in  the 
Botanical  Gazette,  indicates  certain  interesting  changes  of  arrange- 
ment and  nomenclature.  Viola  delphinifolia  Nutt.  becomes  V. 
pedati/era  Don. ;  V^  cucullala  Ait.  var.  palmata  becomes  V.  pal- 
mata  L.,  while  V,  cucullata  Ait.  is  considered  to  be  "  an  entire- 
leaved  variety  of  the  Linnaean  V,  palmata,**   The  suggestion  that 


Digitized  by 


Google 


1 886.]  Entomology.  1055 

V.  pedatifida  Don.  is  "  probably  only  a  marked  geographical  va- 
riety of  that  species  [  V,  palmata  L.]  with  all  the  leaves  finely  dis- 
sected," is  worthy  of  further  attention.  In  the  Mississippi  val- 
ley, where  the  three  forms  all  grow,  often  quite  near  one  another, 
their  relations  could  be  well  expressed  by  considering  V,  pedat- 
ifera  one  extreme  and  V,  cucullata  the  other,  with  V,  palmata  as 
an  intermediate  form.  However,  it  will  not  do  to  consider  the 
intermediate  form,  which  is  far  less  common  than  the  others, 
as  the  type  of  the  species.     It  is  simply  an  intermediate  form, 

and  not  a  very  constant  one  either. L.  H.  Bailey's  Preliminary 

synopsis  of  N.  A,  Carices  (Proc  Am.  Ac.  Arts  and  Sciences) 
came  to  hand  late  in  October.  It  contains  notices  of  289  species 
including,  in  addition  to  the  strictly  North  American  species, 
those  of  Mexico,  Central  America  and  Greenland. 

ENTOMOLOGY. 

A  Remarkable  Case  of  Longevity  in  a  Longicorn  Beetle 
(Eburia  quadrigeminata). — On  the  i  ith  of  July,  1886, 1  caught 
at  sugar,  which  had  been  placed  upon  apple  trees  for  the  purpose 
of  attracting  moths,  a  light  brown  long-horned  beetle,  marked 
with  ivory  yellow  spots  on  the  elytra.  My  attention  was  par- 
ticularly attracted  at  this  time  to  the  insect  on  account  of  a  pecu- 
liar creaking  sound  which  it  began  as  soon  as  I  picked  it  up.  I 
had  no  difficulty  in  finding  that  the  sound  was  produced  by  the 
rubbing  of  the  posterior  margin  of  the  prothorax  upon  the  anterior 
margin  of  the  mesothorax.  The  same  sound  could  be  made  after 
the  insect  was  dead,  by  working  backward  and  forward  its  head 
and  prothorax.  Several  days  after  this  occurrence  I  captured  a 
specimen,  similar  to  the  first,  upon  the  clothes  of  a  friend,  but  it 
disappeared  before  I  reached  home.  On  the  17th  of  July  I  found 
a  third  specimen  oti  a  tree  but  a  few  feet  distant  from  that  upon 
which  I  discovered  the  first  specimen ;  this  individual  was  also 
evidently  attracted  by  the  sugar.  Five  days  later,  July  22, 1886, 
another  specimen  came  into  my  posession  under  much  more  re- 
markable circumstances.  Dr.  Boyd,  of  Dublin,  Wayne  county, 
Ind.,  called  my  attention  as  I  was  walking  along  the  street,  and 
at  once  proceeded  to  remove  two  small  corks  with  which  he  had 
closed  two  openings  in  the  door- sill  of  his  office.  He  then  re- 
quested me  to  explain  what  had  made  the  tunnels  that  evidently 
extended  some  distance  into  the  sill.  In  reply  to  my  questions, 
he  stated  that  his  attention  had  been  called  to  the  freshly  made 
openings  early  in  the  morning;  at  that  time  the  holes  were  much 
smaller,  and  were  ragged  around  the  edges.  These  rough  edges 
he  had  smoothed  with  a  knife  so  he  could  stop  them  tightly  with 
corks.  A  short  time  after  he  made  the  discovery  mentioned,  his 
attention  was  attracted  by  a  buzzing  noise  which  came  from  one 
of  the  tunnels.  This  he  put  an  end  to  by  pouring  chloroform  into 
the  opening,  and  then   plugging  it  up  with  a  cork.      There  had 


Digitized  by  VjOOQIC 


I  OS  6  General  Notes.  [  December, 

been  no  sound  of  life  from  the  other  tunnel,  but  he  had  closed  it 
in  the  same  manner.  Upon  hearing  this  I  removed  the  cork  from 
the  tunnel  where  the  sound  had  been  heard,  and  in  a  moment 
dragged  out  by  its  antennae  a  beetle,  similar  to  those  whose  finding  I 
have  already  described.   This  beetle  is  Eburia  quadrigeminata  Say. 

Mr.  Thomas,  in  the  "  Sixth  Report  of  the  Illinois  State  En- 
tomologist" describes  the  imago  as  follows:  Eburia  quadrigem- 
inata,  "  Body,  entirely  pale  yellowish-brown ;  antennae  hardly 
more  obviously  hairy  on  the  basal  joints  than  on  the  others; 
thorax,  with  two  black  tubercles  above,  rather  before  the  middle, 
placed  transversely,  and  a  short  spine  each  side  on  the  middle  of 
the  length  of  the  thorax ;  elytra,  rather  paler  than  thorax,  each 
with  two  double,  somewhat  elevated,  bright-yellow,  abbreviated 
very  short  lines ;  the  two  members  of  the  basal  spot  equal,  the 
other  spot  is  placed  on  the  middle,  the  inner  member  is  shorter 
than  the  exterior  one ;  tip,  two  spined,  the  exterior  spine  the 
longest;  intermediate  and  posterior  thighs,  two  spined  at  tip,  the 
inner  spine  rather  longest."  Mr.  Thomas  also  states  that  the  in- 
sect is  from  three-fourths  to  an  inch  in  length,  and  that  its  larva 
lives  and  bores  in  the  honey  locust  {Gleditschia  triacanthus  Linn), 
and  from  this  fact  it  gets  its  name  of   the  honey  locust  borer. 

A  closer  examination  of  the  tunnels  in  Dr.  Boyd's  doorstep 
showed  that  the  external  openings  were  in  the  middle  of  the 
length  and  breadth  of  an  ash  door-sill  and  about  four  inches  dis- 
tant from  each  other.  The  size  of  the  tunnels  increased  rapidly 
within  until  the  diameter  was  three  or  more  times  as  great  as  at 
the  exit.  They  extended  downward  and  backward  respectively 
three  and  four  inches.  The  sill  was  of  painted  ash  and  it,  as  well 
as  the  whole  building,  rested  directly  upon  a  solid  brick  founda- 
tion. After  having  completed  the  above  observations,  I  did  not 
hesitate  long  in  coming  to  the  conclusion  tltat  the  eggs  which 
had  produced  this  beetle  and  its  fellow,  that  had  made  good  its 
escape,  were  laid  in  the  green  wood  in  the  tree.  In  response  to 
my  questions.  Dr.  Boyd  made  the  statement  that  the  building  was 
erected  in  the  Spring  of  1867.  This  would  make  these  insects 
not  less  than  nineteen,  and  probably  twenty  or  more,  years  old, 
since  the  timber  was  dry  when  put  into  the  house.  Upon  investi- 
gation I  find  that  Professor  Packard  in  his  "  Insects  Injurious  to 
Forest  and  Shade  Trees,"  makes  no  mention  of  this  beetle,  but 
that  he  has  recorded  two  cases  of  unusual  longevity  in  beetles 
which  will  be  of  interest  in  this  connection.  In  both  instances 
these  beetles  have  belonged  to  the  family  Cerambycidae  or  Ion- 
gicorns.  The  first  mentioned  case  was  that  of  a  specimen  of 
Monohammus  confusor  Kirby,  the  common  longicorn  pine-borer, 
which  Mr.  A.  C.  Goodell,  of  Salem,  Mass.,  presented  to  the 
Peabody  Academy  of  Science.  Mr.  Goodell  took  the  insect  from 
a  bureau  that  had  been  in  the  house  for  fifteen  years  and  was  new 
when  bought. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


!886.j  Zoology.  1057 

An  account  of  the  other  case  I  give  in  the  words  of  Dr.  Fitch: 
"The  wood  of  the  apple  tree  was  formerly  highly  valued  for  cabi- 
net work  in  this  country.  In  1786  a  son  of  General  Isaac  Put- 
man,  residing  in  Williamstown,  Mass.,  had  a  table  made  from  one 
of  his  apple  trees.  Many  years  afterwards  the  gnawing  of  an  in- 
sect was  heard  in  one  of  the  leaves  of  this  table,  which  noise  con- 
tinued for  a  year  or  two,  when  a  large  long-horned  beetle  made 
its  exit  therefrom.  Subsequently  the  same  noise  was  heard 
again  and  another  insect,  and  afterwards  a  third,  all  of  the  same 
kind,  issued  from  this  table-leaf;  the  first  one  coming  out  twenty 
and  the  last  one  twenty-eight  years  after  the  trunk  was  cut 
down."  The  proof  of  the  identity  of  these  beetles  is  not  com- 
plete, but  Professor  Packard  thinks  they  were  Cerasphoms  balte- 
atus. 

I  find  that  Eburia  quadrigetninata  is  not  given  in  Hubbard  and 
Schwarz's  "  List  of  Coleoptera  found  in  the  Lake  Superior  re- 
gion," nor  in  the  "  Contribution  to  a  list  of  Celeoptera  of  the 
Lower  Peninsula  of  Michigan,"  by  the  same  authors.  But  in 
Schwarz's  "  List  of  species "  of  Coleoptera  found  in  Florida, 
Eburia  quadrigeminaia  is  mentioned  as  being  "not  rare  on  sugared 
trees  in  June."  It  is  not  given  in  LeConte's  "  List  of  species  of 
Eastern  New  Mexico,"  but  it  is  mentioned  in  his  "  List  of  species 
of  Kansas  and  Nebraska."  In  his  ''New  species  of  North  Amer- 
ican Coleoptera,"  he  refers  to  it  as  **  the  ordinary*  quadrigetninata 
of  the  Southern  States  and  the  Mississippi  valley."  Thus,  while 
it  is  a  common  enough  insect  over  a  large  territory,  no  other  case 
of  its  remarkable  longevity  seems  to  have  been  recorded.  On 
comparing  it  with  the  other  specimens  in  my  collection,  the  only 
decided  points  of  difference  are  the  smaller  size  of  the  lateral 
spines  of  the  prothorax  and  the  terminal  spines  of  the  elytra ;  and 
the  longer  antennae  which,  not  exceeding  the  length  of  the  body 
in  the  other  specimens,  are  in  this  one  one  and  a* half  times  as 
long. — Jerome  M'Neil^  Indiana  University ^  Vet,  26, 1886, 

ZOOLOGY.* 

Leptodora  in  America. — It  may  interest  tho'se  of  your  readers 
who  collect  fresh-water  Entomostraca  to  know  that  perhaps  the 
most  elegant  and  remarkable  of  that  interesting  group,  Leptodora 
hyaiina^  Lillj.,  is  much  more  abundant  and  easily  obtainable  than 
is  implied  by  a  note  on  page  896  of  your  last  issue.  First  dredged 
by  Professor  S.  I.  Smith,  in  Lake  Superior,  in  1871,  it  was  next 
found  by  me  in  June,  1877.  in  the  Illinois  river  at  Peoria,  as  re- 
ported in  1878,  in  Bull.  2,  Vol.  i,  of  the  Illinois  State  Laboratory 
of  National  History,  p.  88.  In  the  same  bulletin  I  recorded  its 
occurrence  in  the  food  oi  Dorysotna  cepedianutn,  Polyodonjohum, 
and  Hyodon  tergisus^  all  from  the  Illinois   river.     In  our  Bull.  3, 

^  Inyertebrftta  edited  by  J.  S.  Kingsley,  Sc.D.,  Maiden,  Mass. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


1058  General  Notes,  [ December, 

published  in  1880,  it  is  reported  as  eaten  by  young  Marom  in- 
terrupta  and  Micropierus  pallidus^  and  again  by  Dorysoma.  In 
the  American  Naturalist  for  August,  1882,  it  is  further  report- 
ed from  both  ends  of  Lake  Michigan  and  from  numerous  small 
lakes — one  only  half  a  mile  wide  and  not  over  twenty  feet  deep. 
In  this  lake,  I  remember,  it  was  rather  abundant.  In  Cedar  lake, 
in  Northern  Illinois,  we  took  it  at  night  with  Corethra  larvae,  but 
we  made  our  most  notable  haul  of  this  species  in  Mendola  lake, 
at  Madison,  Winconsin,  where  we  captured  hundreds  in  the  tow- 
ing net  on  a  bright  summer  day  in  1885.  ft  may  be  expect- 
ingly  sought  wherever,  in  permanent  and  rather  deep  water,  suf- 
ficient numbers  of  the  smaller  soft-bodied  Entomostraca  occur 
to  give  it  a  fair  chance  for  prey.  It  is  not  a  swift  swimmer,  and 
its  food  must  be  abundant. — 5.  A.  Forbes, 

Blood  of  Invertebrates. — Dr.  Howell,  in  Johns  Hopkins 
"  Studies,'*  describes  the  blood  of  the  king-crab,  soft-shell  crab, 
and  a  species  of  holothurian.  In  Limulus  the  blood  is  alkaline, 
quickly  coagulating.  It  contains  fine  albumens  which  coagulate  at 
diflFerent  temperatures  but  which  all  belong  to  the  globulin  group. 
They  resemble  but  are  not  identical  with  paraglobulin.  Copula- 
tion in  the  blood  of  Limulus  results  by  the  union  of  the  corpuscles, 
and  the  existence  of  a  coagulative  ferment  has  not  yet  been 
proved.  The  fibrin  is  much  like  that  of  mammals  in  its  solubility. 
Haemocyanin  certainly  contains  copper.  In  Neptunus  (=  Calli- 
nectes),  the  blood  is  alkaline  but  coagulates  less  quickly  than 
that  of  Limulus.  It  contains  two  albumens  to  be  classed  among 
the  globulins,  and  the  coagulation  is  more  complete  than  in  the 
king-crab.  The  fibrin  is  very  different  from  that  of  Limulus,  and 
of  it  Dr.  Howell  says:  "  The  difference  seems  to  me  to  be  too 
wide  to  suppose  any  close  relationship  between  the  two  forms, 
especially  as  they  have  the  same  general  environments ;  but  un- 
til a  series  of  similar  observations  is  made  on  the  scorpion  or 
some  arachnid,  we  will  not  have  sufficient  evidence  to  make  any 
just  inferences  with  regard  to  the  relationship  of  these  forms — 
that  is,  from  the  standpoint  here  assumed."  In  the  holothurian, 
which  was  identified  as  Thyonella  gemmata,  two  kinds  of  cor- 
puscles were  recognized,  a  red,  haemoglobin-bearing  nucleated 
oval  form  and  a  spherical  white  nucleated  form  Coagulation 
was  occasioned  by  the  fusion  of  the  white  corpuscles,  the  red  not 
taking  part  in  the'  formation  of  a  coagulum  except  as  they  were 
entangled  in  the  meshes  of  the  other. 

In  another  article  in  the  same  publication  Dr.  Howell  notices 
the  existence  of  haemoglobin  in  this  holothurian,  the  second  dis- 
covery of  this  element  of  the  blood  in  any  echinoderm.  It 
coagulates  at  a  lower  temperature  (56°-6o®  C.)  than  that  of  verte- 
brates, and  is  precipitated  by  a  one  per  cent  solution  of  acetic 
acid.     Foettinger's  observations  on  the  existence  of  haemoglobin 


Digitized  by 


Google 


1 886.]  Zoology.  1059 

in  the  aquiferous  system  of  Ophiactis  (Bull.  Acad.  Roy.  Belgique, 
II,  xlix,  p.  402, 1880)  appear  to  have  escaped  Dr.  Horrell's  notice. 

The  Byssal  Organ  in  Lemellibranchs.^ — The  first  portion  of 
Dr.  Barrois'  article  is  a  very  full  description  of  the  byssal  organs 
or  its  remains  in  forms  from  almost  every  family,  twenty-one  in 
all,  and  in  forty-nine  species  of  lamellibranchs..  There  is  also 
a  historical  resume  of  the  subject,  description  of  additional  glands, 
and  a  discussion  of  the  homologous  organs  in  gasteropods. 

In  Cardium  edule  the  organ  is  described  in  full  and  others  are 
compared  with  it.  Its  parts  are:  i.  "The  cavity  of  thebyssus," 
a  large  space  in  the  center  of  the  keel  of  the  hatchet-shaped 
foot.  2.  '^The  canal  of  the  byssus^"  opening  on  the  surface  by  a 
pore.  3.  "The  byssus,"  a  hyaline  thread  running  out  from  the 
cavity  through  the  canal.  4.  "  Byssal  glands,''  glandular  cells 
lying  below  the  epithelium  and  opening  separately  into  the 
cavity.  5.  "The  groove"  running  forward  from  the  canal  along 
the  margin  of  the  foot  to  the  anterior  end.  6.  "  Glandular  cells 
of  the  groove  "  opening  into  it  among  the  epithelium  cells.  The 
epithelium  is  everywhere  perfectly  continuous  and  in  the  cavity 
is  thrown  into  numerous  lamellar  folds. 

Various  departures  from  the  plan  are  described  and  figured ; 
there  may  be  no  functional  byssus  but  the  other  parts  may  all 
be  present,  or  the  groove,  or  the  glands,  or  even  the  cavity  may 
be  wanting,  or  there  may  be  in  the  adult  no  trace  of  any  of  the 
organs.  In  the  same  family  or  even  genus  wide  variations  may 
occur.  Thus  Tapes  virginea  has  no  functional  byssus,  the  cavity^ 
glands  and  lamellae  are  present,  while  in  Venus  rudis  and  others 
of  the  family  no  trace  of  the  apparatus  remains.  In  Anomia 
ephippium  the  ossicle  by  which  the  animal  is  attached  is  a  true 
byssus,  formed  in  a  cavity  lined  with  lamellae,  a  precisely  similar 
one  being  present  in  the  foot  ofArca  teiragona.  The  anomalies 
of  its  relation  to  the  parts  of  the  body  are  explained  by  the 
lateral  attachment  of  the  creature.  The  ''cornet'*  of  Anomia^ 
with  its  groove  leading  to  the  byssal  cavity,  is  similar  to  the 
muciparous  gland  on  the  anterior  part  of  the  foot  of  Pecten  maxi- 
mus.  In  Unio  and  Anodonta  a  cavity  in  the  keel  of  the  foot  is  the 
only  remains  of  the  byssal  organ  in  the  adult.  This,  doubtless 
the  water  pore  of  Kollniann,  Griesback  and  others,  is  lined 
with  continuous  epithelium.  It  is  to  be  regretted  that  lack  of 
material  has  prevented  research  into  the  embryonic  condition  of 
many  of  the  retrograde  forms. 

Barrois  also  describes  as  characteristic  of  the  lamellibranchs 
special  muciparous  glands  in  the  anterior  portion  of  the  foot ; 
these  in  some  cases  line  the  inside  of  a  cavity,  e.  g.^  Pecten 
maximus,  in  other  cases  the  organ  being  everted  they  line  the 

^  Les  Glandes  da  Pied  et  les  Pores  Aquiferes  chez  les  LamelUbranches — Par  le  Dr. 
lb.  Barrois,  Lille,  1885,  pp.  160,  pi.  x. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


lo6o  General  Notes.  [December, 

outer  surface  under  the  epithelium  of  a  pedunculated  club-shaped 
body  e,  g,^  Liicina  lactea.  The  view  that  the  byssus  of  the 
lamellibranchs  is  homologous  with  the  gastropod  operculum  is 
rejected  on  anatomical  and  histological  grounds,  and  the  mud- 
parous  byssiparous  glands  are  thought  to  correspond  with  the 
*'  Lippen-driisen  "  and  "  Fusshohledriisen  "  of  Carriere,  the  one 
Upon  the  fore-end  of  the  gastropod  foot,  the  other  upon  the  creep- 
ing surface. 

The  second  portion  of  the  work  is  a  full  historical  and  critical 
review  of  the  "water- pore"  controversy.  No  new  observations 
of  importance  are  recorded  and  the  position  maintained  by  the 
writer  is  the  same  as  already  represented  in  this  journal  (see  Vol. 
in,  p.  iyi),^Henry  Leslie  Osbo^n,  Purdue  Univ.,  Lafayette,  Ind. 

On  the  class  Podostomata,  a  group  embracing  the  Merosto- 
MATA  AND  Trilobites. — In  a  paper  read  before  the  National  Acad, 
of  Sciences  we  have  endeavored,  by  giving  the  history  of  the 
Xiphosura,  Poecilopoda  and  Gigantostraca,  to  show  that  while 
the  name  Xiphosura  should  be  retained  for  the  suborder  of  which 
Limulus  is  the  type,  the  ndxats  Poscilopoda  and  Gigantostraca 
have  been  applied  in  such  different  senses,  that  they  can  not  well 
be  retained  for  the  Merostomata  and  Trilobita  taken  together  in 
the  sense  we  advocate.  We  have  therefore  proposed  the  term 
Podostomata  for  this  class  of  Arthropoda.  It  is  derived  from 
ffo6c,  ro^oc,  foot ;  and  (rr<5/tia,  mouth,  in  allusion  to  the  feet-like  or 
ambulatory  nature  of  the  cephalic  appendages  which  surround  the 
mouth  in  a  manner  characteristic  of  the  group. 

The  class  Podostomata  may  be  defined  as  a  group  of  marine 
arthropods  in  which  the  cephalic  (Limulus)  or  cephalothoracic 
(trilobites)  appendages  are  in  the  form  of  legs,  i.  e.,  ambulatory 
appendages,  usually  ending  in  forceps  or  larger  claws  (chelae), 
which  in  the  sole  living  representative  of  the  class  are  arranged 
in  an  incomplete  circle  around  the  mouth ;  the  basal  joint  of  each 
leg  is  spiny,  so  as  to  aid  in  the  retention  and  partial  mastica- 
tion of  the  food.  No  functional  antennae,  mandibles  or  maxillae. 
Eyes  both  compound  and  simple.  Respiration  by  branchiae  at- 
tached to  the  abdominal  appendages  which  are  broad  and  lamel- 
late in  Merostomata,  and  cylindrical  with  narrow  gills  in  Trilo- 
bita. The  brain  supplying  nerves  to  the  eyes  alone ;  the  nerves 
to  the  cephalic  or  cephalothoracic  appendages  originating  firom 
an  oesophageal  ring;  the  ventral  cord  ensheathed  by  a  ventral 
arterial  system  more  perfectly  developed  than  in  insects  or  scor- 
pions; coxa]  glands  highly  developed;  with  no  external  opening 
in  the  adult  The  class  differs  from  the  Arachnida,  among  other 
characters,  in  having  no  functional  cheliceres  ("  mandibles  ")  or 
pedipalps  ("maxillae") ;  in  the  cephalic  appendages  either  ending 
in  larger  claws  or  forceps,  or  in  being  simple,  the  terminal  joint 
not  bearing  a  pair  of  minute  claws  or  ungues  like  those  of  Arach- 


Digitized  by 


Google 


1 886.]  Zoology.  1061 

nida  and  Tnsecta,  enabling  their  possessors  to  climb  as  well 
as  walk.  Fodostomata  have  no  urinary  tubes.  Limulus 
undergoes  a  slight  metamorphosis,  while  in  trilobites  the  adult 
differs  from  the  larva  in  having  a  greater  number  of  thoracic 
segments. 

From  the  Crustacea  the  Fodostomata  differ  in  the  lack  of 
functional  antennae,  and  mouth-parts ;  in  the  compound  eyes  hav- 
ing no  rods  or  cones,  in  the  brain  innervating  the  eyes  (compound 
and  simple)  alone;  in  the  shape  of  the  head  and  pygidium  or 
abdominal  shield,  and  in  the  arterial  coat  enveloping  the  central 
nervous  cord. 

The  Fodostomata  are  divided  into  two  orders : 

(  Xiphosura, 

I.  MerostomtUa^  with  three  saborders :  \  Symiphosura, 

\Eurypterida, 

II.  Trilobita, 

—A.  S,  Packard. 

Oyster  Culture. — Dr.  J.  A.  Ryder  has  a  paper  on  this  subject 
in  the  Report  of  the  U.  S.  Fish  Commission,  detailing  the  con- 
struction of  apparatus  for  the  artificial  culture  of  oysters  which, 
from  a  theoretical  standpoint,  certainly  seems  practical.  His 
plans  have  been  outlined  in  this  magazine,  and  hence  need  not 
be  repeated.  One  of  the  points  brought  out  is  that  Lankester's 
beautifully  illustrated  paper  on  green  oysters  (Quart.  J.  M.  S. 
XXVI,  pp.  71-94,  pi.  VII,  1885)  contains  hardly  an  addition  to  our 
knowledge  of  this  phenomenon,  besides  the  conferring  of  the 
name  marennin  on  the  coloring  matter  absorbed.  Almost  every 
point  made  was  previously  published  by  Fuysegur,  Descaine  or 
Ryder  from  two  to  five  years  before. 

EcHiNODERM  DEVELOPMENT. — Fcwkcs  has  somc  observations 
on  the  development  of  Ophiopholis  and  Echinarachnius.  He 
shows  that  in  the  former  genus  the  endoderm  arises  by  an  invag- 
ination, but  he  cannot  state  the  relations  the  blastopore  bears 
to  either  mouth  or  anus  of  the  pluteus.  The  mesoderm  arises 
symmetrically  either  side  the  blastopore  and  apparently  is  of  the 
nature  of  mesenchym,  though  not  so  stated.  Nothing  is  given 
concerning  the  development  of  the  mesothelial  tissues.  Aposto- 
lides  who  has  previously  studied  the  development  of  Ophiurans 
comes  in  for  some  apparently  merited  criticisms.  In  the  sand- 
dollar,  Echinarachnius,  the  early  development  is  much  the  same. 
The  pluteus  is  compared  with  that  of  Strongylocentrotus,  from 
which  it  differs  in  the  presence  of  large  pigment-spots  on  each 
arm  and  the  absence  of  "  ciliated  epaulettes."  The  whole  of  the 
pluteus  is  absorbed  in  the  young  sand-dollar,  which  has  a  very 
different  appearance  from  the  adult.  The  development  presents 
but  slight  differences  from  other  echinoderms. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


io62  General  Notes.  [December, 

The  Brazza  Exhibition  at  Paris. — ^An  exhibition  of  the  con- 
tents of  eighty  boxes  brought  from  the  French  possessions  on 
the  Congo,  by  M.  de  Brazza,  was  opened  June  30,  of  this  year, 
in  the  orangery  of  the  museum.  Two  species  of  chimpanzee. 
Troglodytes  tschego  and  T.  aubryi;  Colobus  guereza  (not  before 
known)  from  West  Africa;  a  new  species  of  Colobus  (C,  thoUous 
M.  Edw.);  a  new  Cercopithecus  (C.  brazza,  M.  Edw.);  Cerc(h 
cebus  agilis  M.  E.  (nov.  sp.),  and  a  single  form  of  lemur,  Galago 
dentid^,  are  among  the  mammals  of  the  region.  HypsignaAus 
tnonstrosus  (the  title  of  a  very  large  and  hideous  bat) ;  and  Anom- 
alums  erythronotus  are  also  curiosities.  Antelopes  do  not 
abound  on  the  Congo,  but  Tragelaphus grains  inhabits  the  marshes 
which  border  the  river,  and  A.  maxwelli  also  occurs.  The  ^ui&lo 
is  Bubalus  equinoxialis,  smaller  than  B.  caffer,  but  equally  re- 
doubtable. Birds  of  prey  were  well  represented  in  the  collection, 
which  contained  also  numerous  cuckoos,  among  which  Centropus 
savorgnani  and  Coccystes  brazzce  (Oustalet)  are  new  to  science. 
There  was  also  a  new  swjillow  (Phedina  brazztB),  Most  groups 
of  African  birds  were  well  represented,  but  novelties  do  not  ap- 
pear to  abound.  Among  the  snakes  were  a  new  Heterolepis  and 
a  Microsoma.  The  collection  of  fishes  added  a  Polypterus  (P. 
retropinnis  L.  Vail.)  of  small  size ;  and  contained  no  less  than 
twenty-three  species  of  Characinidae,  several  of  which  are  new. 
It  is  a  surprise  to  find  this  family,  the  headquarters  of  which  is  in 
South  America,  so  abundant  in  West  Africa.  HydrocyonforskaUi 
reaches  a  length  of  two  meters.  Cyprinidae  were  less  numerous, 
among  them  were  Opsaridium  fascialum  L.  Vail.,  resembling  a 
sardine,  and  Labeo  coubie^  which  grows  to  the  length  of  a  meter. 
Among  fourteen  species  of  Siluridae  Doumea  scaphyrhyrukura  is 
new.  No  less  than  thirteen  species  of  Mormyridae  were  repre- 
sented. Acanthopteri  are  rare  in  the  Congo  region,  but  a  few 
Chromidae  occur,  among  them  Acanthochromis  regularis  and  A. 
setninudus  L.  Vail.  A  species  of  flying  fish,  somewhat  different 
from  Pantodon  bucholzi  Peters,  was  among  the  curiosities.  The 
fish  are  greatly  infested  with  parasites. 

Among  the  fresh  water  Crustacea  M.  Milne-Edwards  has  found 
five  new  species  of  Thelphusidae. 

Among  insects  the  Coleoptera,  and  especially  the  Cetoniadac, 
were  best  represented.  Of  the  few  molluscan  specimens  two 
species  of  Pharaonia  seem  to  be  new.  There  were  many  new 
species  and  some  new  genera  of  plants  ;  while  the  ethnographical 
collection  contained  a  very  large  number  of  objects,  fetishes,  pot- 
tery, pipes,  iron  and  copper  implements,  articles  in  wood  and 
ivory,  etc.  Two  human  skulls  from  Rio  San  Benito  are  remark- 
ably dolichocephalic. 

Zoological  News. — Protozoa. — Lankestcr  reports  in  Nature 
(Sept.  2)  the  rediscovery  of  Archer's  Chlamydomyxa  which  has 


Digitized  by 


Google 


1 886.]  Zoology.  1063 

not  been  seen  since  its  original  description  twelve  years  ago.  He 
found  it  encysted  in  Sphagnum,  and  after  a  short  delay  it  threw 
out  its  protoplasmic  filaments  and  presented  an  appearance  which 
leads  Professor  Lankester  **  to  admit  that  it  is  lesi  closely  related 
to  Cienkowski's  Labyrinthula  than  I  had  previously  supposed." 

Astrorhiza  angulosa  a  foraminifer  dredged  by  the  Challenger 

in  a  depth  of  one  thousand  fathoms,  seventy  miles  east  of  the 
Azores,  has  been  reported  from  the  older  Tertiary  rocks  of  Vic- 
toria, Australia. 

Sponges. — Dr.  R.  von  Lendenfeld  described  the  nervous  sys- 
tem of  several  sponges  at  the  recent  meeting  of  the  British  As- 
sociation for  the  advancement  of  Science.  He  called  attention  to 
the  fact  that  in  the  sponges  the  most  important  organs  are  meso- 
dermal (this  is  the  case  with  the  nerve  cells)  while  in  the  Coelen- 
terates  proper  they  are  ecto-  or  ento-dermal.  On  the  basis  of 
this  he  proposes  to  divide  the  coelenterates  of  Claus  into  Coelen- 
terata-Mesodermalia  or  sponges  and  Coelenterata-Epithelaria  or 
coelenterates  proper.  It  would  seem  as  if  these  facts  were  an 
argument  in  favor  of  the  view  that  the  coelenterates  of  Claus  was 
not  a  natural  group,  a  view  for  which  there  are  many  other 
reasons  for  adopting. 

Coelenterates, — Haddon  states  that  his  species  Halcampa  an- 
dresii  is  not  valid  but   must  stand  as  a  synonym  of  H.  chrysan- 

ihellum  (Peach)   Dana. G.  Y.   Dixon  gives   some  notes  on 

Edwardsia  timida  wijth  a  colored  plate  showing  the  entire 
animal  and  some  of  the  details.  He  regards  E.  harasii  and  E. 
timida  as   synonymous.       His  paper  and  that  of  Haddon   are 

in  Vol.  V.  of  the  Proceedings  of  the  Royal  Dublin  Society. 

At  the  meeting  of  the  British  Association,  Dr.  von  Lenden- 
feld described  the  development  of  Phyllorhiza  punctata  of  Aus- 
tralia. The  ephyra  has  eight  marginal  sense  bodies ;  at  the  next 
stage  it  has  twenty-four,  then  sixteen,  while  the  adult  has  only 

eight. The  same  author  further  stated  that  Crambessa  masaica 

goes  up  the  Australian  rivers  at  the  breeding  season  to  deposit 
its  young,  just  as  does  the  salmon.  This  species  has  remarkably 
changed  its  color  at  Port  Jackson  within  fifty  years.  At  that 
time  it  was  blue,  but  now  is  superseded  by  a  brown  variety.  At 
Port  PhiUip,  only  a  few  hundred  miles   to  the  south,   the  blue 

variety  still  persists. Dr.  C.  A.  MacMunn  has  a  paper  on  the 

chromatology  of  certain  Actinias  in  the  176th  volume  of  the 
Philosophical  Transactions.  The  observations  were  made  by 
means  of  the  micro-spectroscope  and  show  the  existence  of  a 
respiratory  coloring  matter  allied  to  haemogolbin  and  of  a  bili- 
verdin  which  is  probably  concerned  in  excretion.  Concerning 
the  "yellow  cells"  the  author  states  that  the  fact  that  they  appear 
to  cause  a  suppression  of  those  pigments  which  in  other  Actineae 
appear  to  discharge  a  respiratory  function  is  an  argument  in 
fdvor  of  their  being   regarded   as  symbiotic  algae.       Maseley's 


Digitized  by 


Google 


1064  General  Notes.  [December, 

actinochrome  is  regarded  as  decorative  and  is  always  confined  to 
the  tentacles.  Another  pigment  is  found  in  the  eye  spots  which 
has  a  spectrum  bearing  some  resemblance  to  that  of  a  red  pig- 
ment found  in  the  eyes  of  certain  insects. Hickson  has  ob- 
tained the  early  stages  of  Tubipora.  It  is  regularly  holoblasdc 
and  there  is  an  invaginate  gastrula.  He  has  also  made  some 
observations  on  a  species  of  Clavularia  from  Celebes  which  go  to 
show  that  this  genus  is  closely  allied  to  the  fossil  Syi  ingopora, 

thus  adding  to  5ie  evidence  that  the  latter  is  an  Alcyonarian 

The  absence  of  special  buds  or  gonophores  to  contain  the  sexual 
products  of  Hydra  is  by  Professor  A.  M.  Marshall  regarded 
as  a  highly  modified  character  due  to  the  influence  of  fresh  water. 
In  Cordylophora,  the  other  fresh-water  genus,  the  ova  develop  in 
a  zone  of  germination  round  the  necks  of  the  zooids,  before  either 
the  gonophore  or  the  branch  on  which  it  will  be  borne  is  de- 
veloped. Afterwards  the  ova  migrate  into  the  gonophore. 
Evidently  Cordylophora  is  in  course  of  suffering  a  transformation 
into  sexual  conditions  like  those  of  Hydra.  The  normal 
Hydroida  are  bisexual  and  develop  Medusae. 

Echinoderms, — According  to  recent  researches  by  R.  Koehler, 
the  circulatory  system  of  the  ophiurans  is  much  like  that  of  the 
Echinoidea,  the  same  relations  being  found  in  the  madrep>onc 
gland,  the  rings  around  the  mouth  and  the  branches  arising 
from  them. 

Worms, — ^A.  Giard  described  a  new  Rhabdoccele,  Fecampia 
erythrocephalay  at  the  meeting  of  the  Academy  of  Sciences  of 
Paris,  September  13.  It  is  parasitic  and  forms  a  cocoon.  Atten- 
tion was  called  to  the  fact  that  it  resembles  a  parasite  found  by 
Lang  in  the  foot  of  the  moUusk,  Tethys,  which  will  probably  also 

be  found  to   form  a  cocoon. Professor  W.  C.  Mcintosh,  in 

Nature,  of  September  16,  thinks  that  Phoronis  and  Actinotrocha 
are  more  abundant  on  the  British  coasts  than  the  records  would 

indicate. G.    Fritsch,   in  the  Sitzungsberichte  of  the  Berlin 

Academy  (Jan.  28,  1886,  p.  99),  describes  and  figures  the  parasites 
of  the  electrical  cat-fish  Malapterurus.  The  novelties  are  Ccrcdlo- 
bothriuni  solidum,  nov.  gen.  et.  sp.,  Tcenia  malapteruti  and  a  nema- 
tode,   Trichosomum   papillosum, Schoyen    describes,   in    the 

Christiania  Forhandlingar  for  1885,  a  new  species  of  trematode, 
Tylenchus  hordei,  which  forms  galls  on  the  roots  of  grass  in  which 

the  eggs  are  deposited Dieffenbach,  has  an  anatomical  and 

systematical .  paper  on  Oligochaete  worms  in  the  Bericht  of  the 
Oberhessichen  Gesellschaft  for  1886.  He  describes  the  anatomy 
of  Lumbriculus  variegatus  and  of  the  Tubificidae,  and  has  notes 
upon  the  Naids.  A  new  genus,  Pseudolumbriculus,  and  two  new 
species,  Ps.  claparedianus  and  Pachydrilus  lumosus  are  described. 
Sluiter  has  a  paper  on  the  Gephyreans  of  the  Malay  archi- 
pelago in  the  Tijdschrift  of  the  Dutch  East  India  Society,  Vol. 
XIV  (1886).    The  paper  enumerates  thirty  species  as  known  from 


,  Digitized  by 


Google 


1 886.]  Zoology.  1065 

that  region,  of  which  thirteen  are  now  described  for  the  first  time. 

Some  anatomical  and  histological  notes  are  given. Bell  calls 

attention  to  the  fagt  that  in  the  land  planarians  the  form  of  the 
head  is  very  variable  and  cannot  be  used,  as  is  often  done,  as  a 
basis  of  generic  division.     He  also  states  that  Bipalium  is  sensitive 

to  light,  and  if  the  light  be  too  strong  the  specimen  is  killed. 

Collet  describes  (Proc.  Zool.  Socy.,  1 886)  a  new  species  of  Echino- 
rhynchus  (-£  ruber)  from  Rudolphi's  rorqual  {Balanoptera  bore- 
a/is).  He  suggests  that  its  early  stages  may  be  passed  in  Eu-- 
phausia  inermis^  one  of  the  Thysanopoda. 

MoUusks, — Mr.  George  W.  Shrubsole  Qournal  of  Conchology, 
V,  66,  1886)  has  some  notes  on  erosion  of  fresh- water  shells.  He 
noticed  that  in  specimens  of  Planorbis  living  in  the  Trent  canal, 
the  shell  was  entire,  but  after  being  kept  for  three  months  in 
water  from  the  River  Dee  considerable  erosion  had  taken  place. 
This  suggested  that  the  character  of  the  water  might  have  a 
prominent  place  in  the  erosion,  and  analysis  showed  that  the 
water  of  the  Trent  canal  contained  about  three  times  as  much 
lime  in  solution  as  that  from  the  River  Dee.  The  fact  that 
erosion  did  not  set  in  at  once  is  explained  by  the  existence  of 

the  epidermis. Mr.  Edgar  A.  Smith  states  that  the  genera 

Turtonia  and  Cyanium  are  distinct,  the  latter  genus  possessing 
an  internal  cartilage.    Jeffreys  had  previously  united  them. 

Brachiopods, — Miss  Agnes  Crane  '  describes  (Proc.  Zool.  Soc, 
London,  1886)  a  new  species  of  brachiopod  {Atretiafrazieri)  from 
Port  Stephens,  New  South  Wales. 

Arachnida, — G.  Saint-Remy,  at  the  meeting  of  the  Paris 
Academy,  Sept.  20,  presented  the  results  of  his  studies  of  the 
brain  of  the  spider  based  upon  the  genera  Tegenaria,  Epeira  and 
Phalangium.  The  brains  of  these  forms  have  the  same  general 
plan  of  organization  as  that  of  the  scorpion,  on  which  a  report 
had  previously  been  made. ^Adolph  Horn  describes  the  poi- 
son apparatus  of  twenty-one  species  of  spiders  in  the  Bericht  of 
the  Oberhessichen  Gesellschaft  for  1886.  The  poison  glands 
consist  of  two  elongate  cylindrical  coecal  sacs  enveloped  in  con- 
nective tissue  and  spirally  arranged  muscles.  Their  ducts  termi- 
nate near  the  tips  of  the  mandibles. Grassi  describes  a  new 

arachnid  in  the  Bulletin  of  the  Italian  Entomological  Society 
(Vol.  XVII,  1886)  under  the  name  Kcsnenia  mtrabilis.  He  regards 
it  as  the  type  of  a  new  order,  Microthelyphonida.  In  general 
appearance  the  form  stands  nearest  the  thelyphonids,  as  the  name 
indicates.  Grassi  points  out  twenty-four  points  in  which  it  differs 
from  the  whip  scorpions. 

Ascidians, — Sluiter  describes  fourteen  new  species  of  ascidians 
from  Billiton  island.  For  one  of  them  a  new  genus,  Styeloides, 
is  proposed. 

Crustacea, — Professor  C.  L.  Herrick  gives  (Bull.  Denison  Univ.) 

VOL.    XX. — NO.    XII.  71 


Digitized  by 


Google 


io66 


General  Notes. 


[December, 


an  account  of  various  stages  in  the  development  and  points  in  the 
morphology  of  Umnetis  gauldii  and  Chirocephalus  hoimani,  two 
phyllopodous  Crustacea.     He  also  describes  Nyocryptus  setifer,  a 

mud-living  cladocerous  crustacean. Packard  describes  (Proc. 

Philos.  Soc,  XXIII,  380)  the  feet  in  Cryptozoe,  a  new  genus  of 
fossil  Phyllocaridan  crustacean,  allied  to  Nebalia.  The  figures  are 
too  poor  to  show  any  detail,  but  the  feet,  according  to  the  text, 
are  much  like  those  of  Nebalia.  Nothing  had  been  known  of 
the  nature  of  the  feet  in  the  fossil  forms  before. 

Vertebrates, — The  "  Segmental  value  of  the  cranial  nerves  "  is 
treated  of  histologically  and  argumentatively  by  Professor  A. 
Milnes  Marshall,  in  Vol.  i  of  Studies  from  the  Biol.  Laboratories 
of  Owens  College.  The  following  table  expresses  the  results 
arrived  at : 


Segment, 


Nerve. 


I       Visceral  cleft. 


Visceral  arek. 


I.  Prseoral         |      I.  Olfactory 


Olfactory 


{III.  Oculo-motor 
IV.  Trochlear 


V  Lachrymal 


3.  Oral 


I      V.  Trigeminal 


Buccal 


Maxillary. 


4.  Postoral 


(  VII 

tvi. 


VII.  Facial 
Abducent 


Spiracular  or 
hyomandibular 


Mandibular. 
'Hyoid. 


I      IX.  Glossopharyngeal  |      ist  branchial 


xst  Braochial. 


X.  Vagus,  1st  branch  |      2d 


2d 


7- 

«« 

«< 

2d 

« 

1      3d 

« 

8. 

«*             1 

«< 

3d 

U 

1     4th 

<l 

9- 

u                    1 

«< 

4ih 

<« 

1    s«i> 

«< 

10. 

"          1 

«< 

5th 

*' 

6th 

«< 

II. 

«(                   1 

<( 

6th 

"      1 

7th 

•< 

3d 


4th 


5th 


6th 


The  vagus  supplies  the  six  posterior  branchial  clefts  in  the  Marsi- 
pobranchii  and  Notidanus,  and  is  therefore  considered  equivalent 
to  at  least  six  segmental  nerves.  The  xith,  or  spinal  accessory, 
and  the  xiith,  or  hypoglossal  nerves  are  not  constant  as  cranial 
nerves  througHout  the  vertebrate  series,  and  are  not  dealt  with  in 

this  paper. By  a  study  of  the  branchial  sense-organs  of  Ich- 

thyopsida,  Dr.  J.  £eard  endeavors  to  work  out  the  same  problem. 
He  also  finds  eleven  head-segments  in  sharks,  but  they  differ  from 
those  of  Professor  Marshall,  since  the  radix  longa  of  the  ciliary 
ganglion  and  the  auditory  are  ranked  as  segmental  nerves,  the 

facial  is  allowed  two  segments,  and  the  vagus  four  only. ^To 

the  first  volume  of  Studies  from  the  Biological  Laboratories  of 
Owens  College,  Professor  A.  Milnes  Marshall  contributes  some 
observations  on  the  cranial  nerves  of  Scyllium,  He  does  not 
attempt  to  determine  the  homologies  between  the  nerves  of  Scyl- 
lium and  those  of  higher  vertebrates,  preferring  to  wait  for  more 


Digitized  by 


Google 


1 886.]  Anthropology,  1067 

positive  evidence. Those  interested  in  nervous  anatomy  may 

find  an  exhaustive  article  on  the  central  nervous  system  of  the 
baleen  whales,  by  G.  A.  Guldberp^,  in  the  Forhandlingar  of  the 
Scientific  Society  of  Christiania  for   1885,  published  during  the 

present  year. G.  Fritsch  describes  the  histology  of  the  skin 

and  the  lateral-line  organ  of  the  electric  cat-fish  in  the  Sitzungs- 
berichte  of  the  Berlin  Academy  of  Science  for  April,  1886. 

ANTHROPOLOQT.i 

Australian  Medicine  Men. — In  one  respect  it  is. unfortunate 
that  the  sorcerers  among  savages  should  be  called  "  medicine 
men,"  they  are  not  merely  practitioners  of  medicine.  Further- 
more, all  savage  tribes  have  arrived  at  a  certain  stage  of  empiri- 
cal medicine  and  know  the  healing  and  poisoning  qualities  of 
certain  minerals  and  plants.  The  dawn  of  medicine,  as  of  all  else 
which  we  believe  and  practice,  was  in  the  day  of  the  primitive 
savage. 

We  are  concerned  here  with  the  doctor  or  medicine  man,  who. 
in  Australia,  Africa  or  America,  relies  upon  his  influence  and 
power  over  the  spirit  world  to  work  cure  or  to  save  life. 

In  our  own  country  patient  study  is  revealing  much  concerning 
this  important  class.  Major  Powell  and  several  other  gentlemen 
of  the  Bureau  of  Ethnology  have  paid  personal  attention  to 
them.  We  are  indebted  to  the  London  Anthropological  Insti- 
tute for  the  publication  of  important  papers  upon  the  **  Blackfel- 
low  Doctors  "  of  Australia,  notably  that  of  Mr.  A.  W.  Howitt,  in 
Vol.  XVI,  pp.  23-58.  Thfe  men  and  women  who  in  lower  tribes 
stand  for  the  clergy  as  distinguished  from  the  laity,  or  uninitiated, 
are  variously  styled  doctors,  wizards  or  witches,  sorcerers,  seers 
or  prophets,  mediums,  soothsayers,  necromancers,  rain-makers 
(better  weather-makers),  magicians,  augurs,  fortune-tellers,  en- 
chanters, priests,  personators,  diviners,  etc. 

Now  these  can  readibly  be  divided  into  two  classes  or  func- 
tions, viz..  those  who  see  into,  understand  and  reveal  the  spirit 
world;  and  those  who  have  more  or  less  control  over  it,  compel- 
ling it  to  do  their  bidding. 

The  medicine  man.  doctor,  sorcerer,  wizard,  fetish  man  are  all 
of  the  latter  class.  Whatever  disease  and  death  may  be,  whether 
merely  the  person  or  spirit  of  some  noxious  thing  or  an  inde- 
pendently existing  spirit,  one  of  the  powerful  charmers  can  in- 
duce or  compel  it  to  do  his  bidding,  either  by  direct  command  or 
by  some  diplomatic  action  called  magic. 

In  the  collection  of  material  for  a  scientific  investigation  of 
this  class  of  persons,  I  have  found  it  convenient  to  adopt  the  fol- 
lowing questions : 

1.  What  are  the  actors  called  and  what  social  rank  do  ihey  hold, 

2.  By  what  rites  or  initiations  do  they  attain  to  the  privileges  of  their  class. 

*  Edited  by  Prof,  Otis  T.  Mason,  National  Museum,  Washing) on,  D.  C. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


io68  General  Notes.  [December, 

3.  What  do  they  profess  to  do  ?    What  are  they  believed  to  be  able  to  do  ?  That  is, 

to  which  class  above  named  do  they  claim  to  belong  ? 

4.  What  do  they  actually  perform  ?    What  is  their  mode  of  treatment?     Do  they 

sing,  dance,  ga  into  ecstasy,  suck  the  wound,  spit  out  the  disease  in  the  fonn  d 
a  bone,  stone,  &c.  ?  That  is,  not  what  they  claim  to  do,  but  what  do  they  actu- 
ally ?  What  dress,  paraphernalia,  implements  and  dramatic  performances  da 
they  res'^rt  to  ?    What  fees  do  they  charge  ? 

5.  What  is  the  area  of  their  operation,  both  in  the  spirit  and  in  the  mundane  worid  ? 

Some  cause,  others  cure  disease.  Some  have  influence  in  one  sphere,  otheis  in 
other  spheres  of  spirits.  Again,  some  opeiate  on  the  sick,  others  on  the  con- 
jured, lovers,  lost  cattle,  epilepsy,  etc. 

6.  Folk-lore,  beliefs  and  customs  of  the  folk  in  view  of  the  foregoing  subjects  of  in- 

quiry. 

Thanks  to  the  efforts  of  Mr.  Howitt  and  others  we  are  able  to 
answer  some  of  these  questions  concerning  the  Australians.  ^  I 
have  adopted,"  says  this  author,  "  the  term  medicine  men  as  a 
convenient  title  for  this  memoir,  but  the  term  *  doctor '  or  *  black- 
fellow  doctor'  is  always  used  in  Australia  for  those  men  in  a 
native  tribe  who  profess  to  have  supernatural  powers.  The  doc- 
tors are  magicians  or  wizards.  I  may  roughly  define  doctors  as 
men  who  profess  to  extract  from  the  human  body  foreign  sub- 
stances which,  according  to  aboriginal  belief  have  been  placed 
there  by  the  magic  of  other  doctors,  wizards  or  supernatural 
beings,  such  as  the  Prewin  of  the  Kumai,  or  Ngarang  of  the 
Woiworung," 

The  social  relations  of  these  blackfellow  doctors  to  the  com- 
munity varies  from  tribe  to  tribe.  In  some  tribes  the  head  man 
need  not  be  a  wizard,  but  is  either  a  very  brave  man  or  a  man  of 
influence.  Among  the  Muning  tribe  the  gontmera  is  both  head 
man  and  sorcerer  combined.  He  is  the  biambian^  or  master  of 
his  local  group.  The  oldest  gommera  is  the  bambian  of  the  other 
gotnmeras.  He  must  be  gray  bearded,  speak  several  dialects  and 
**  bring  things  out  of  himself." 

Avast  deal  of  mystery  surrounds  the  education  of  the  doctors. 
Mr.  Howitt  narrates  at  full  length,  pp.  49-52,  the  story  of  his  own 
initiation  told  by  one  of  his  friends. 

As  said,  the  doctor  and  wizard  are  associated  in  function. 
They  profess  to  project  a  quartz  crystal  or  black  stone  against  or 
into  their  victim  or  into  their  own  bodies,  to  cause  magical  things 
to  enter  a  victim  by  burying  them  in  his  tracks,  and  on  the  other 
hand  to  annul  the  power  of  these  introjections.  These  same 
clergy  claim  to  know  and  to  compel  or  restrain  the  weather 
(meteoroscopy  or  meteorocracy),  to  fly  through  the  air,  to  meta- 
morphose themselves  into  animals,  to  be  invisible  and  to  render 
persons  and  things  invisible,  to  talk  and  associate  with  ghosts 
and  familiars,  to  abstract  a  man's  fat,  to  discover  the  causes  of 
death,  disease  or  evil  fortune,  and  finally  to  produce  a  distant 
effect  upon  a  person  by  performing'  it  upon  a  part  of  him  or 
something  he  has  touched  or  held. 

There  comes  out  in  this  study  the  very  best  interpretation  of 


Digitized  by 


Google 


1 886.]  Anthropology.  1069 

the  synecdochical  sorcery  and  medicine.  Why  should  a  piece  of 
the  man  or  of  something  he  has  touched  be  burned  with  the 
thorn,  burr  or  thing  that  is  to  do  the  fatal  action  ?  Why  simply 
to  give  the  spirit  of  this  hurtful  thing  the  scent  of  the  man,  just 
as  hunters  train  young  dogs  by  allowing  them  to  smell  a  piece  of 
the  hide  of  the  animal  they  wish  to  be  caught. 

As  to  the  actual  performances,  dress  and  implements  of  the 
doctors,  Mr.  Howitt  is  very  explicit. 

All  doctors  carry  rock  crystals  and  use  them  in  their  practice. 
Some  diseases,  such  as  rheumatism,  are  supposed  to  proceed  from 
rock  crystals.  Indeed  the  afflicted  can  feel  the  little  stones  in  the 
affected  part.  The  doctor  frequently  sucks  the  part  in  pain,  ex- 
pelling a  foreign  body,  a  mouthful  of  wind  or  a  quantity  of  blood. 
He  manipulates  and  squeezes  the  patient,  singing  charms  and 
performing  innumerable  mysterious  actions. 

In  producing  a  spell  the  doctors  often  fasten  the  fatal  object  to  the 
end  of  a  throwing  stick  with  hawk  feathers  and  some  human  or  kan- 
garoo fat,  and  stick  the  weapon  slanting  in  the  ground  before  the 
fire.  It  falls  down.  The  wizard  has  meanwhile  sung  his  charms 
and  the  spell  is  completed.  Again  the  pounded  flesh  of  a  dead 
man  is  mixed  with  tobacco,  or  the  cones  of  the  Casuarina  quadti- 
valvis  are  thrown  into  the  fire  so  that  their  spirits  or  little  seconds 
may  get  under  his  eyelids  and  produce  granulation. 

A  powerful  magical  implement  is  ih^yulo,  an  implement  twelve 
inches  long  made  of  the  leg  bone  of  a  kangaroo,  pointed,  having 
attached  to  it  a  long  cord  of  twisted  sinews,  thirty-six  inches 
long,  ending  in  a  loop.  It  is  used  by  the  wizard  for  binding  their 
victims  from  whom  they  wish  to  take  the  kidney  fat.  Watching 
until  the  victim  sleeps  he  creeps  up,  passes  the  bone  under  his 
knees,  around  his  neck  and  through  the  looped  end  of  the  cord. 
It  is  also  pointed  at  people  and  is  supposed  to  cause  death  by 
entering  into  them.  The  wizard  was  supposed  to  swing  the  yulo 
around  his  head  and  sling  it  at  his  victim. 

From  Mr.  Howitt's  language  we  would  suppose  they  really  take 
the  fat  from  the  dead  and  eat  it,  and  that  he  really  binds  his  living 
victim  with  the  yulo,  or  knocks  him  down  with  the  brepent,  sits 
astride  his  chest,  cuts  open  the  right  side  below  the  ribs,  extracts 
his  fat,  brings  the  cut  edges  of  the  wound  together,  and  bites 
them  to  make  them  join  so  that  no  scar  will  be  visible. 

We  will  close  this  note  with  allusion  to  the  j/^«;m,  a  song  of 
elopement  sung  by  a  class  of  wizards  called  BunjU  yenjin^  whose 
occupation  is  to  aid  in  the  elopement  of  young  couples.  When 
a  young  man  wanted  a  girl  whom  he  could  not  obtain  from  her 
parents,  he  employed  one  of  these  professionals.  The  latter 
would  lie  near  the  camp  with  the  youth  and  his  companions  and 
sing  a  song,  the  others  joining  in  the  chorus.  When  he  thought 
his  spell  strong  enough  he  ceased,  and  the  young  folks,  nem,  con. 
would  take  to  the  bush  together. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


1070  General  Notes.  [December, 

The  Iconographic  ENCYCLOPiEDiA. — The  second  volume  of 
this  publication  is  based  on  von  Eye's  Culturgeschichte,  but  has 
a  chapter  on  Prehistoric  Archaeology,  by  Professor  Daniel  G. 
Brinton,  which  doubles  the  value  of  the  original  work.  We  have 
no  hesitation  in  placing  this  article  at  the  head  of  all  compendi- 
ums  upon  this  subject     The  method  of  treatment  is  historical. 

The  introductory  chapter  is  devoted  to  a  sketch  of  the  science 
and  the  methods  and  problems  which  have  for  the  past  quarter  ri 
a  century  engaged  the  minds  of  archaeologists.  The  characteris- 
tics and  art  productions  of  the  European  age  of  stone  in  its  two 
periods,  the  palaeolithic  and  the  neolithic ;  the  age  of  bronze  and 
the  age  of  iron  are  treated  in  the  first  fifty  pages. 

The  prehistoric  archaeology  of  the  western  hemisphere  is 
treated  under  the  following  analysis: 

I.  Palaeolithic  period. 

1.  The  Palaeolithic  period  of  North  America. 

2.  The  Palaeolithic  period  of  South  America. 

Concluding  remarks  on  the  Palaeolithic  period. 

II.  Neolithic  period. 

A.  Archaeology  of  the  United  States. 

1.  Art  in  stone. 

2.  Pottery. 

3.  Bone. 

4.  Shell. 

5.  Metals. . 

6.  Other  ancient  remains. 

B.  Archeology  of  Mexico  and  Central  America. 

1.  Art  in  stone. 

2.  Metals. 

3.  Pottery. 

4.  Bone  and  Shell. 

5.  Paper. 

C.  Archaeology  of  the  Andean  nations. 

1.  Art  in  stone. 

2.  Art  in  bone,  shell  and  wood. 

3.  Metals. 

4.  Pottery. 

5.  Other  arts. 

D.  Archaeology  of  Southern  and  Eastern  South  America  and  the  West  todies. 

1 .  Art  in  stone. 

2.  Pottery. 

3.  Metals,  bones  and  shell. 

General  observations  on  American  art. 

It  is  marvelous  to  see  how  much  Dr.  Brinton  has  crowded  into 
such  a  small  space.  No  one  is  expected  to  say  everything  in  an 
encyclopaedic  article.  The  only  improvement  we  could  suggest 
would  have  been  to  give  with  each  paragraph  a  reference  to  the 
most  distinguished  treatise  on  that  topic.    This  would  have  done 


Digitized  by 


Google 


1 886.  J  Microscopy,  107 1 

little  more  than  to  fill  out  the  closing  lines,  and  would  have  made 
the  paper  little  longer.  It  will  probably  be  a  long  time  before  any 
other  author  half  so  qualified  as  Dr.  Brinton  will  try  to  cover  the 
whole  ground  of  American  archaeology. 

MIOROSOOPY.* 

Revolving  Automatic  Microtome. — The  microtome  repre- 
sented in  the  accompanying  cut  is  the  invention  of  Adam  Pfeifer, 
mechanic  and  instrument-maker  to  the  Biological  Laboratory  of 
the  Johns  Hopkins  University. 

The  machine  is  designed  to  save  time  and  labor  in  the  prepa- 
ration of  series  of  sections,  and  to  attain  at  the  same  time  the 
greatest  uniformit}'  in  the  thickness  of  the  sections. 

The  mechanism  is  very  simple.  The  frame  (Fig.  B)  contains 
a  horizontal  screw  beneath  the  sliding  carriage  (C).  The  car- 
riage carries  the  knife  (AT).  This  carriage  is  moved  forward  by 
turning  of  screw.  Two  arms  of  the  frame  support  the  axis  (/) 
of  the  revolving  wheel  {E\  to  which  the  imbedded  object  is 
attached.  The  knife  (AT)  is  clamped  in  an  upright  position  on 
the  arms  rising  from  the  sliding  carriage,  so  that  the  edge  of  the 
knife  is  in  the  same  horizontal  plane  with  the  center  of  the  axis 
(/).  Thus,  as  the  sliding  carriage  is  moved  by  the  screw,  so  the 
knife  is  moved  to  or  from  the  revolving  object.  The  carriage 
slides  by  means  of  grooves  on  raised  tracks  of  the  frame,  and  is 
not  directl^*  connected  with  the  screw,  but  is  simply  pushed  by 
nut  (A^).  This  arrangement  makes  it  impossible  that  any  slight 
eccentricity  of  the  screw  should  cause  a  jolting  of  the  carriage. 

The  head  of  the  screw  is  a  solid  wheel  (iW)  at  the  end  of  the 
frame,  and  has  250  ratchet-teeth  on  its  circumference.  The  screw 
has  twenty  threads  to  the  inch  (=  .025*").  The  knife,  therefore, 
is  moved  an  inch  by  twenty  revolutions  of  the  screw ;  and  as 
there  are  250  teeth  to  the   revolution,  each    tooth    represents 

i^  =  3-~  inch  (.005-). 

The  handle  (0)  turns  the  axis  (y),  to  which  is  attached  the 
wheel  (£).  This  wheel  is  four  inches  in  diameter,  and  to  it  is 
fastened  the  clamp  which  holds  the  object  to  be  cut.  The  axis 
also  carries  a  fly-wheel  and  an  adjustable  eccentric  wheel  (  ^K), 
which  is  figured  apart  in  a  corner  of  the  illustration.  This  eccen- 
tric moves  a  lever  (Z),  the  long  arm  of  which  is  connected  with 
the  small  chain  {D),  The  chain  lifts  a  small  lever*  (//'),  which 
works  by  means  of  a  catch  (/)  on  the  teeth  of  the  screw-head, 
causing  the  screw  to  revolve.  The  small  lever  is  steadied  and 
pulled  back  to  its  place  by  a  spiral  spring  (P),  while  another 
spring-catch  underneath  the  frame  prevents  the  ratchet-wheel 
from  turning  back.     By  properly  adjusting  the  eccentric  wheel 

*  Edited  by  Dr.  C.  O.  Whitman,  Mus.  Comparative  Zodlogy,  Cambridge.  Mass. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


1072  General  Notes,  [December, 

the  levers  may  be  made  to  act  so  that  the  catch  (/)  will  take  any 
desired  number  of  teeth  by  every  revolution  of  the  object  Th« 
knife  moves  only  during  that  part  of  the  revolution  when  the  ob- 
ject is  not  in  contact  with  the  knife.  The  ribbon  of  sections 
slides  downward  from  the  knife  and  is  caught  on  a  piece  of  paper 
placed  upon  the  table. 

The  wheel  holding  the  object,  as  well  as  the  razor,  can  be 
moved  so  that  almost  all  parts  of  the  edge  of  the  razor  can  be 
used. 


The  frame  bed  of  the  microtome  is  made  of  iron,  the  screw  of 
steel,  and  all  the  rest  is  brass.  Any  ordinary  microtome  knife  or 
razor  may  be  used. 

The  machine  has  been  in  use  for  a  year  and  gives  the  greatest 
satisfaction.  It  can  be  used  with  great  rapidity,  but  so  far  the  best 
results  have  been  obtained  at  a  rate  of  not  over  a  hundred  sec- 
tions to  the  minute.  The  only  possible  error  in  a  revolving 
microtome  of  this  kind  is  theoretical — namely,  that  owing  to  the 
circular  motion  of  the  object,  each  section  is  part  of  a  hollow 


Digitized  by 


Google 


1 886.]  Microscopy.  1073 

cylinder.  But  in  reality,  with  objects  of  ordinary  size,  this  error 
is  not  apparent,  and  even  under  a  high  magnifying  power  there  is 
no  perceptible  difference  between  sections  cut  by  this  microtome 
and  those  cut  by  ordinary  sHde  microtomes. 

Embryograph  for  use  with  Zeiss  Microscopes. — This  piece 
of  apparatus,  which  is  the  work  of  Adam  Pfeifer,  the  instrument- 


maker  of  the  Biological  Laboratory  of  the  Johns  Hopkins  Uni- 
versity, renders  the  Zeiss-Oberhausen  camera  available  for  draw- 
ing objects  under  very  low  magnifying  powers.  It  consists,  first, 
of  a  collar  fitted  to  the  arm  of  the  microscope,  and  furnished  with 
a  short  draw-tube,  which  can  be  placed  with  the  objective  either 
above  or  below  the  arm  ;  and  second,  of  a  vertical  rod,  supported 


Digitized  by 


Google 


1074  Scientific  Neivs.  [December. 

on  an  arm  which  is  clamped  under  the  collar  of  the  draw-tube. 
and  carries  a  second  movable  arm  resting  in  a  collar  to  support 
the  camera.  This  arm  is  held  in  place,  by  a  thumb-screw,  and  it 
may  be  set  at  any  point  on  the  vertical  rod.  When  the  Zeiss  aja. 
objective  is  used,  and  the  camera  is  lowered  as  much  as  possible, 
an  image  magnified  about  three  diameters  is  projected  on  to  the 
paper,  and  any  amplification  greater  than  three  diameters  may  be 
obtained  by  varying  the  height  of  the  camera,  and  by  the  use  of 
the  higher  objectives. 

SCIENTIFIC  NEWS.^ 

—  One  of  the  most  remarkable  salt  formations  in  the  world  is 
located  on  the  Isle  of  Petit  Anse,  Southwestern  Louisiana,  125 
miles  due  west  from  New  Orleans.  It  is  owned  by  the  Avery 
family.  This  singular  salt  deposit  is  sufficiently  unknown  to 
bear  the  light  of  a  more  thorough  investigation  than  it  has  had 
The  deposit  is  pure  crystal  salt.  So  far  as  it  has  been  traced, 
there  are  150  acres  of  unknown  depth,  explored  140  feet  down. 
The  surface  of  the  bed  undulates  from  one  foot  above  to  six  be- 
low tide-level.  The  earth  covering  the  salt  ranges  from  ten  to 
twenty-three  feet  in  depth,  but  one  hill  rises  183  feet  above, 
showing  that  an- after- formation  took  place.  On  the  top  of  the 
salt,  beneath  the  earth,  have  been  found  the  remains  of  the  mas- 
todon, mammoth  sloth,  horse  {kquus  fraUrnus),  tusks  and 
bones  intermixed  with  Indian  relics  such  as  arrow  and  spear 
points,  tomahawk  heads,  paint  pots,  mortar  and  pestle  and  pot- 
tery of  all  kinds.  The  dip  of  the  salt  is  eight  degrees.  There 
is  a  deposit  of  pink  sandstone  quite  decomposed,  a  coal  forma- 
tion thirteen  to  seventeen  feet  thick  and  seventy-two  per  cent 
carbon,  the  lignite  cropping  out  a  hundred  feet  above  the  sea. 
Over  the  salt  come  pink  and  yellow  clay  beds,  then  the  sand- 
stone and  then  the  clay,  each  stratum  trending  towards  the 
north.  There  are  also  sulphur  springs.  The  salt  is  a  con- 
glomerate mass  of  crystallizations,  which  in  the  mine  look  like 
dark  salt,  but  when  exposed  to  the  light  are  seen  to  be  white. 
By  analyses  the  salt  is  99iVir  P^""  cent  pure ;  the  remaining  55  is 
made  up  of  sulphate  and  chloride  of  calcium.  The  position 
of  the  sale  shows  it  to  be  older  than  the  coal  and  sandstone 
which  lie  above  it,  and  also  the  mastodon  and  contemporary  pre- 
historic mammals.  The  deposit  was  discovered  in  1862  while  a 
well  was  being  excavated.  It  was  seized  by  Jefferson  Davis  and 
afterward  by  Admiral  Farragut.  It  is  now  worked  by  a  New 
York  concern  which  pays  the  Averys  ^5000  per  month  royalty. 
To  show  the  value  of  land  here,  it  may  be  stated  that  a  single 
acre,  on  which  grow  little  peppers,  yields  a  clear  profit  of  ^10,- 
000  per  year  on  the  well-known  Tobasco  table  sauce. 
*  Edited  by  Wm.  Hosea  Ballou,  265  Broadway,  New  York, 


Digitized  by 


Google 


i886.]  Scientific  News.  1075 

—  Dr.  Isaac  Lea,  the  distinguished  conchologist  of  Philadel- 
phia died  recently  at  an  advanced  age.  He  was  born  in  Phila- 
delphia, and  during  his  earlier  life  was  engaged  in  business 
as  a  bookseller.  His  interest  is  science  was  however  always  great, 
and  he  retired  from  business  early  with  a  competence,  and  devot- 
ed himself  to  his  favorite  pursuit.     His  specialty  was  conchology, 

^  and  in  this  field  his  publications,  on  both  recent  and  extinct  forms, 
are  numerous  and  well  known.  He  was  for  several  years  presi- 
dent of  the  Academy  of  Natural  Sciences  of  Philadelphia,  and  was 
an  honorary  member  of  the  numerous  illustrious  societies,  includ- 
ing the  most  important  scientific  bodies  of  England.  France,  Ger- 
many, Italy,  Switzerland,  Austria,  Belgium,  Greece,  India  and 
Russia.  He  entertained  200  members  of  the  British  Association 
at  his  Long  Branch  villa  in  1884. 

—  The  "hog  mice  "  referred  to  by  Mr.  Aldrich  in  "A  curious 
superstition,"  on  p.  744  of  the  present  volume,  are  apparently  the 
shrews,  concerning  which  superstitions  of  the  same  character 
were  formerly  common  in  England.  References  to  the  belief 
that  these  animals  would  cause  injury  to  the  foot  of  man  or  beast 
over  which  they  passed,  may  be  found  in  Bell's  "  British  Quad- 
rupeds," and  White's  "  Natural  History  of  Selborne,"  where  may 
also  be  found  some  curious  remedies  for  the  lameness  resulting. — 
/.  5.  K. 

—  At  the  recent  meeting  of  the  British  Association  for  the 
Advancement  of  Science  at  Birmingham,  the  following  appropria- 
tions for  biological  research  were  made :  Lymphatic  system, 
£2$\  Naples  zoological  station,  ;^ioo;  Plymouth  biological  sta- 
tion, £$0 ;  Granton  biological  station,  £j$  ;  Zoological  Record, 

;^ioo;  flora  of  China,  ;^75  ;  flora  and  fauna  of  the  Cameroons. 
£7S\  Migration  of  birds.  ;if  30;  British  marine  area,  ;^ 5.  The 
number  attending  the  meeting  was  about  2500. 

—  One  will  have  to  go  far  to  find  a  more  delicious  bit  of  non- 
sense than  is  contained  in  the  following  title  of  an  article  which 
appears  in  one  of  the  scientific  journals :  "  The  identification  of 
the  British  inch  as  the  unit  of  measure  of  the  Mound-builders  of 
the  Ohio  valley."  The  publication  committee  must  have  been 
napping  when  this  article  was  accepted. 

—  Dr.  Baur,  of  the  Yale  College  Peabody  Museum  narrowly 
escaped  serious  injury  recently  by  the  explosion  of  a  decomposed 
ostrich  egg.  The  sudden  escape  of  the  confined  gas  knocked  him 
senseless,  but  as  the  egg  was  wrapped  in  a  cloth  his  eyes  happily 
escaped  injury.  That  the  doctor  had  to  submit  to  a  disinfection 
afterwards  will  surprise  no  one. 

—  The  species  of  tree  moss,  Ursea  barbata^  grows  to  a  consider- 
able length  on  the  south  shore  of  Lake  Superior.    Specimens  re- 


Digitized  by 


Google 


ro76  Proceedings  of  Scientific  Societies.         [December, 

cently  added  to  the  collection  at  the  Northwestern  University, 
Evanston,  were  four  feet  long.  The  moss  trails  from  the  limbs 
a  la  the  parasitic  "  Spanish  moss  "  of  the  South.  It  is  of  a  beau- 
tiful pea-green  color. 

—  The  streams  penetrating  the  Gogebic  Iron  range,  near  the 
south  shore  of  Lake  Superior,  are  so  black  with  discoloration 
from  the  ore.  that  fish  can  not  live  in  them.  This  is  particularly 
true  of  the  Montreal  river,  the  northern  State  line  between  Wis- 
consin and  Michigan. 

—  Professor  Henry  L.  Osborne,  of  Lafayette,  Indiana,  has 
taken  the  position  of  editor  of  the  American  Monthly  Micro- 
scopical Journal,  during  the  absence  of  Mr.  Hitchcock  in  Japan 
We  look  for  an  improvement  in  the  journal. 

—  Mr.  J.  A.  McNiel,  of  Binghampton.  N.  Y.,  offers  for  sale 
forty  pieces  of  pottery  in  one-half  bbl.,  seventy-five  pieces  pottery 
and  fifty  stone  implements  in  bbl.  These  are  far  above  the  aver- 
age in  style  and  desirability. 

—  The  k.  k.  Naturhistorischen  Hof-museum  in  Vienna  has 
begun  the  publication  of  its  annals,  the  first  and  second  numbers 
of  Vol.  I  having  appeared. 

—  A  single  gill-net  in  use  among  the  Apostle  islands,  in  Lake 
Superior,  is  three  miles  long  and  requires  an  entire  day  to  empty 
and  set  it. 

—  A  portrait  of  Hermann  Schlegel,  of  Leiden,  may  be  found 
in  the  Altenburg  Mittheilungen  for  1886. 


PROCEEDINGS  OF  SCIENTIFIC  SOCIETIES. 

The  National  Academy  op  Sciences  held  its  autumn  meet- 
ing at  Boston,  Mass.,  commencing  November  9.  The  following 
papers  were  read : 

November  9th: 

The  solar-Lunar  spectrum,  by  S.  P.  Langley;  A  basis  of  chemistry,  by  T.  Steny 
Hunt ;  On  lemurine  reversion  in  human  dentition,  by  E.  D.  Cope :  On  .th  col- 
umella auris  of  the  tailed  Batrachia,  by  E.  D.  Cope ;  Change  in  Mya  since  the 
Pliocene,  by  Edward  S.  Morse  ;  The  Cave  Fauna  of  North  America,  with  remarks 
on  the  anatomy  and  origin  of  blind  forms,  by  A.  S.  Packard. 

November  loth : 

Primitive  forms  of  Cephalopoda,  by  Alpheus  Hyatt ;  A  case  of  evolution  in  the  migra- 
tion of  forms,  by  Alpheus  Hyatt ;  Lituites  of  the  limestones  of  Phillipsburg,  Canada, 
by  Alpheus  Hyatt ;  A  chart  of  the  stars  in  the  group  Prsesepe,  by  C.  H.  F.  Peters; 
A  catalogue  of  stars  from  positions  in  various  astronomical  periodicals,  by  C.  H. 
F.  Peters ;  A  catalogue  of  bright  lines  observed  in  the  atmosphere  of  fi  Lyrx,  bf 
O.  T.  Sherman ;  On  the  relative  motions  of  the  Pleiades  group  deduced  from 
measurements  made  with  the  K5nigsberg  and  Yale  College  heliometers,  by  W.  L. 
Elktn. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


1 886.]  Proceedings  of  Scientific  Societies.  1077 

November  nth: 

Archaeological  explorations  in  the  Little  Miami  valley,  Ohio,  conducted  by  F.  W. 
Putnam  and  C.  L.  Metz,  by  F.  W.  Putnam;  Draper  memorial  photographs,  by 
F.  C.  Pickering ;  Some  observations  with  Pritchard's  wedge  photometer,  by  C.  A. 
Young ;  The  question  of  barometer  exposure,  by  C.  Abbe ;  On  the  construction 
of  new  tables  of  Saturn,  by  G.  W.  Hill ;  On  the  relation  of  the  Green  Mountain 
rocks  to  the  Taconic,  by  R.  Pumpelly ;  Hardness  and  chemical  indifference  in 
solids,  by  T.  Sterry  Hunt ;  On  wind  as  a  seed-carrier  in  relation  to  one  of  the  most 
difficult  problems  in  geographical  distribution,  by  Alfred  Russell  Wallace. 

The  sessions  were  held  in  the  Institute  of  Technology.  On 
Wednesday  evening,  November  loth,  the  academy  was  enter- 
tained at  the  house  of  General  Francis  Walker,  president  of  the 
institute. 

Biological  Society  of  Washington,  Oct  30.  1886. — Com- 
munications :  Mr.  Wm.  H.  Seaman,  Notes  on  MarsUia  quadrifolia; 
Dr.  Theo.  Gill,  The  characteristics  of  taeniosomous  fishes. 

Nov.  13. — Communications:  Dr.  Filip  Trybom,  of  Stockholm, 
Recent  progress  in  zoology  in  Sweden ;  Mr.  J.  W.  Chickering,  Jr., 
Travels  in  Alaska ;  Mr.  Wm.  H.  Dall,  Historical  notes  on  the  de- 
partment of  the  U.  S.  National  Museum. 

New  York  Academy  of  Sciences,  Oct  18,  1886. — The  follow- 
ing paper  was  read :  Earthquakes :  what  is  known  and  believed 
about  them  by  geologists,  by  Professor  John  S.  Newberry. 

Oct  25. — ^The  following  paper  was  read :  Notes  on  the  geology 
of  Block  island  and  Nantucket,  by  Mr.  F.  J.  H.  Merrill. 

Nov.  I. — ^The  subject  of  earthquakes  and  volcanic  action 
formed  the  basis  of  a  discussion,  supplementary  to  the  paper  of 
Oct  18. 

Nov.  8. — ^The  following  paper  was  presented:  A  limit  to  the 
height  of  atmosphere,  by  Dr.  Henry  A.  Mott 

Nov.  15. — The  following  paper  was  presented:  Recent  investi- 
gations on  the  mitigration  of  pathogenic  Bacteria  (with  illustra- 
tions by  the  lantern  and  microscope),  by  Mr.  C.  E.  Pellew. 

Nov.  29. — Professor  Albert  R.  Leeds,  of  the  Stevens  Institute 
of  Technology,  read  his  paper  on  the  purification  of  water  supplies, 
announced  for  the  22d,  and  unavoidably  postponed. 

Boston  Society  of  Natural  History,  Oct.  6,  1886. — At  the 
first  meeting  after  the  summer  vacation,  Professor  W.  O.  Crosby 
described  the  geology  of  the  region  known  as  "  Paradise,"  near 
Newport,  R.  I.  It  had  previously  been  studied  by  several  geolo- 
gists, the  latest  being  Mr.  Dale.  The  chief  points  brought  out 
were  that  the  middle  ridges  of  the  region  were  not  stratified 
rocks  .as  they  had  usually  been  regarded,  but  intrusion  veins. 
This  fact  necessarily  changed  the  veins  of  the  axes  of  the  stratified 
slates  forming  the  outer  ridges. 

Professor  Wm.  T.  Sedgwick  exhibited  some  apparatus  recently 
devised  at  the  Institute  of  Technology  for  elementary  teaching 


Digitized  by 


Googk 


1078  Proceedings  of  Scientific  Societies.         [Dec.,  1886. 

of  some  facts  in  human  physiology.  There  were  models  to  show 
the  various  proportions  of  water,  proteids,  fats,  etc.,  in  the  human 
body,  and  in  the  daily  income  and  out^o.  Then  in  bottles  were 
shown  the  relative  proportions  of  the  same  constituents  in  milk, 
butter,  meal,  etc.;  while  charts  illustrated  the  comparative  food 
value  of  twenty-five  cents'  worth  of  some  forty  common  food 
stuffs.  Incidentally  it  was  brought  out  that  the  p>orIc  and  beans 
for  which  Boston  is  so  celebrated,  was  a  natural  dish  and  one 
which  could  hardly  be  excelled  for  nutritious  qualities,  while  oleo- 
margarine is  a  benefit  to  all  mankind,  the  farmers  excepted.  The 
apparatus  will  doubtless  prove  of  great  value  in  conveying  to 
pupils  in  our  common  schools  a  knowledge  of  just  those  principles 
of  physiology  which  will  be  of  the  most  value  in  after  life. 

Oct.  20. — Mr.  S.  H.  Scudder  described  the  mode  of  life  of  a 
fossil  beetle. 

Nov.  3 — Mr.  James  H.  Emerton  described  the  anatomical 
changes  undergone  by  the  milkweed  butterfly  in  its  chrysalis 
stage ;  and  also  spoke  of  the  flying  spiders  on  Boston  common. 

Nov.  17. — Dr.  George  L.  Goodale  reviewed  recent  investiga- 
tions relative  to  the  absorption  of  coloring  matter  by  living  vege- 
table cells. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


INDEX  TO  VOLUME  XX. 


Abies  amabilisy  643. 
grandi,  64V 
concolor.  643. 
nobilis,  644. 
subalpina,  643. 
Abietina.  placenu  of,  167. 
Abnaki  dialect,  89. 
Achaenodon,  995. 
Achnanthes  linearis,  380. 
Achomtes,  300. 

Acronycta,  darkening  of  the  hairs  of  before  pu- 
pation, 8x3. 
Adana,  265. 

Africa.  63^,  7;  7.  7x8,  798»  7»»  878,  880. 
Agassiz,  Louis,  life  of,  145. 
Agdena  naevia,  development  of,  666. 
Agnatha,  1031. 

Agricultural  experiments,  botanical  value  of,  65. 
Aiax  butterfly,  migrations  of,  976. 
Akhyrlash  ruins,  xsa 
Alaskan  explorations,  xsx. 
Alaakaite.oo. 
Aldrich,  C,  a  curious  superstition,  74^ 

instance  of  individual  variation,  807. 
vision  of  birds,  670. 
Alligator  darwini,  289,  990,  399. 

misslssippiensis,  391. 
Allen,  Harrison,  on  the  tarsus  of  bats,  X75. 

on  the  types  of  tooth  structure 
in  Mammalia,  995. 
Alphabets,  the  world's,  353. 
Alps,  glaciers  in.  881. 
Amaraftthus  retroflexus,  766. 
America,  631,  7x8,  997,  878. 
Amoebae,  reproduction  by  spores  in,  753. 
Amblystoma  punctatum,  X9j  30. 
American  Ornithologist  Union,  309. 
Philosophical  Society,  903. 
Amnion,  origin  of  the,  X79. 
Anatomy,  myriapod,  895. 
Anculosa  dissimilis,  jk. 
Andesite,  definition  ot,  x6o. 
Animal  torms,  development  of,  X53. 
Animals,  geographical  distribution  of  pelagic  ma- 
rine, 7^. 
Animal  traits,  757. 

AnthropologicafSociety  of  Washington,  X95. 
Anthropometry,  905. 
Antiarcna,  X03X. 

Ants'  nests  and  their  inhabitants,  679. 
Antwerp,  zoological  gardens  of,  900. 
Anurida  maritima.  development  of,  999. 
Aphodius  erraticus,  977. 
Apium  graveolens  L.,  6ox. 

paluktre,  605 
Appalachian  Mountain  Club,  sxo,  330,  490,  583. 
Aralo-Caspian  basin,  876. 
Archegosaurus.  77, 
Archaeological  frauds.  9x0. 
ArcluBoIogy,  American,  some  points  in,  193. 
Archery,  vocabulary  of,  673. 
Armadillo,  embryology  or,  667. 
Arrhina.  xo3r. 
Arrow  release,  995. 

Arthropods,  organ  of  smell  in,  889, 973. 
Ash  tree,  rust  of^  806. 
Aquatic  respiration  in  turtles,  333. 
Asa  Gray  vase,  the,  63. 
Aspidonectes  spirifer,  333. 
Asia,  6ap.  630,  797,  798,  876,  877. 

and  the  islands,  7x4. 
Asiatic  islands,  630. 
Asuchus  pachyptu,  173. 
Attacus  cecropia,  9a. 
Atkinson,  G.  F.,  a  new  trap-door  spider,  584. 


Atypus  piceus,  387. 

Auclxenia,  6xa. 

Aurelia  aurita,  tmusual  abundance  of,  8x6. 

Australia,  630. 

Australian  Pyradilina^  387. 

Alps,  glaciation  in,  968. 

medicine  men,  X067. 

Bacterium,  new  speciea,  68. 

Ballostoma,  17X. 

Ballou,  W.  H..  the  flood  rock  explosion,  137. 

Baltimore  oriole,  98. 

Batdces,  750. 

Batrachian  intercentrum,  76. 

Bathyurus,  X56. 

Bathyopsis,  996. 

Bats,  tarsus  of,  X75. 

Baur,  G.,  the  intercentrum  of  living  Reptilia, 

the   oldest   tarsus   (Archegoiaurus), 

X73- 
the  proatlas,  atlas  and  axis   of  the 

Crocodilia,  988. 


the  ribs  of  Sphenodon,  999, 
^      -ome  notes  on  bird  migrations, 
8x7.^ 


Beal,  F.  E.  L.,  some  notes 


twigs  killed  by  telephone  wires, 

Beal,  W.  J.,  can  varieties  of  apples  be  distin- 
guished by  their  flowers?  163. 
Bear,  former  southern  limit  of  white,  655. 
Bee,  memory  in  the  humble,  669. 
Beetle,  female  of,  xooo. 

large,  blind,  wood«boriag,  754. 
Belgium,  geological  survey  of,  57. 
Belted  king-fisher,  38. 

Bennett,  A.  W.,  internal  spore  formation  in  dia- 
toms, aeo. 
symbiosis  between  a  fungus  and 
the  roots  of  flowering  plants, 
379. 
Bessey,  C.  E.,  a  broader  elemenUry  botany,  738. 
adventitious  inflorescence  of^  Cus- 

cuta  glomerata,  378. 
a  pocket  manual  of  botaay,  646. 
books  on  funsi,  645. 
Bower  and  Vines'  Practical  Bot- 
any, 143, 
Coulter's  Rocky  Mounuin  Bot- 

GoocUe's  VegeUble  Physiology, 

the  nest  of  the  ash  tree,  806. 
Biological  Society  of  Washington,  309.  4x3,  580. 
Biotite,  754. 
Birds,  66x,  738. 

of  Eouador. 
.  of  Sulu  islands,  X78. 

killed  by  electric  light  towers,  98X. 

male,  caring  for  their  eggs  and  young,  903. 

minations  of,  817. 

of  Papua,  Moluccas  and  Shoa,  83x. 

vision  of,  670. 

wings  ot,  70X. 
Bison,  X77. 

Black-t)m>ated  bunting,  38. 
Blepharocera,  occurrence  of  eariy  stages  of,  651. 
Blind,  dreams  of,  904. 
Blowtube  in  the  u.  S.,  X9B. 
Blue-bird,  38. 

winged  teal.  38. 
Bones,  limb,  changes  in  lorm  of,  753. 
Borneo,  196. 
Bomia  transitionis,  803. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


1080 


Index  to  Vol  XX. 


Botukal  labonlerici  in  the  U.  S.,  aBi. 
nan.  6481 

work  of  the  A.  A.  A.  S.,  886. 
BotanisioK.  aids  to,  737. 
Botany,  abroader  dcmentary,  738. 

American,    Watson's  contributions   to, 

739. 
a  pocket  numtial  of,  646. 
at  the  apiwt»aching  meeting  of  the  A.  A. 

A.  S.p  7^. 
how  shall  be  taught  in  agricuUwal  col* 
leges,  970. 
Bothriolepididse,  xoxt, 
Boulder  mosaics  in  Dakota,  i. 
Brachiopods,  903. 
Brachycantha  ursina.  68z. 
Brain,  Gambetu's,  668 
myriaood,  983. 
Branner,  J.  C,  geographical  and  geological  expe- 
dition in  Braril,  687. 
Brazil,  anthropology  in,  831. 
boundarir  of,  15s. 
geography  and  geology  of,  687. 
Brasta  exhibition  at  Paris,  zoos. 
Brent,  C,  notes  on  the  CEcodomus  of  Trinidad, 

Breyena  borinensis,  69. 

Brissospatangus  cammonti,  639. 

Broad>wingea  thrush,  37. 

Brown  thrush,  37. 

Bruce,  A.  T..  observations  on  the  embryology  of 


spiders,  835. 
Tal<        

BurmahT  zoology  ot,  963, 


Buffalo  and  Chicago,  8^. 

gnat,  history  of,  650. 


Byssal  organ  in  I^amellibranchs  by  Barrob,  Z059. 

Calcite,  63. 

California,  cations  of,  969. 

Hitteil's  history  of,  871. 

Calocampa  cincritia,  168. 

Cambrian  of  North  America,  by  Walcott,  800. 

Camelidc,  phytogeny  of,  6zx. 

Camelus,  6za. 

Campbell,  J.  T.,  causes  of  forest  rotation,  851. 

Campodea,  300. 

Canada,  western  fossil  flora  of,  6^5. 

Canals  in  Plioplatecarpus  marshi,  804. 

Capello  and  Ivens'  journey,  153. 

Carapax,  crustacean,  978. 

Carcinus  moenas,  Z7a. 

Caries  in  tooth  of  Mastodon  floridanus,  753. 

Carboniferous  insects,  68. 

Cariacus  dolichopsis,  49. 

Caryoderma  snovianum,  1045. 

Castilleia  affinus,  768. 

Castoroides,  39. 

Cat-bird,  37. 

Catocala,   peculiar   subcutaneous  organs  in  the 
Caterpillar  of,  813. 

Cecidomyia  pox,  306. 

Cement.  751. 

Cephalaspididae,  4031. 

Cephalic  appendages  of  Mollusca,  397. 

Cetunia  hirtipes,  68x. 

Charina,  393. 

Chelydosaurus,  76. 

Chenopodium  album,  768. 
fremonti,  768. 

Chewinck,  38. 

Chia*ting,  53. 

Chimnev  swift,  38. 

China,  Mr.  Hosie's  travels  in,  51. 

Chipmunk,  a  new  sub-species,  336. 

Chipping  sparrow,  38. 

Chironectes  variegatus,  179. 

Cincinnati  Society  of  Natural  Hmory,  330. 

Cinnyris  mediocns,  178. 

Circulation  in  ganglion  cells,  186. 

Circulatory  system  of  echinoderms,  177. 

Claims  of  France  in  Bnuil,  151. 

Clark,  H.  L.,  the  preparatory  stages  of  Calo- 
campa, 168. 


Comstock, 


Claypole.  E.  W.,  Buffalo  and  Chicago,  or  "  What 

might  have  been,"  856. 
CUff-swallow,  38. 
Coagulation  of  the  Mood,  coadiriont  which  dcser- 

mine,  80. 
Cobscook  bay,  geology  of,  969. 
Coelenterate,  new  fresh-water,  978. 
Coelogenvs  taczanowski.  179. 
Color  in  leaves,  change  of,  753. 
Comandra  pallida,  768. 
Commerce,  ancient,  90B. 
Comoro  islands,  o6z. 

Comparative  studies  upon  the  glaoatioa  of  North 
America,  Great  Britain  and  Ireland,  9x0. 

k,  T.  B.,  a  remarkable  extinct  Gcysex 
basin  in  S.  W.Cokmdo,  ^3. 
local  drilt  of  Rocky  mountains, 

935. 
supermetamorphhm  and  vnl- 

canism,  1000. 
the  veins  of  S.  W.  Cokwado, 
Z043- 
Con^o,  880. 

Conifers,  figures  of  some  American,  643. 
Conjugatiop,  {Aenomena  of,  98*. 
Conor  bis,  754. 
Cope,  £.  1).,  an  extraordinary  human  dentition, 

corrections  of  notes  on  Dmoccrata, 

*«•    .  ,^     , 

connecting  genus  of  Chordata,  1037. 
Dollo  on  extina  tortoises,  967. 
embryology  of  armadillos,  667. 
giant  Armadillo  tzom  the  Miocene 

of  Kansas,  1045. 
lemurine  reversion  in  human  denti- 
tion, 941. 
phylogeny  of  theCamelidx.  6ti. 
bchloaser  on  Creodonta  and  Phena- 

codus,  965. 
ScMosser  on  the  nhylogeny  of  the 

ungulate  Mammalia,  719* 
material  conditions  of  memory,  83. 
the  batrachian  intercentrum,  76. 
the  copperhead  and  other  snakes, 

744« 
the  habits  of  Eublepharis  variegat  us 

Baird,  735. 
the  intercentnim  in  Sphenodon,  173. 
the  sternum  of  the  Dinosauria.  153. 
three  problematical  genera  of  Mexi- 
can Boaetorm  snakes,  293. 
Copper  river,  153. 
Coral,  deep-sea,  98^. 

Cordillera,  exploraaons  in  the  Southern,  968. 
Corundum,  rubies  and  spinel,  manu&cture   cf, 

998. 
Coscinodiscus  pimctulatus,  380. 
Cow-bird,  38. 
Crania  of  Nq^roes,  3x3. 
Crater  lake,  960. 

CrawfordsvtUe  Scientific  Society,  330. 
Creodonta,  965. 
Cretaceous,  733. 

the  English,  366. 
Cricotus,  76,  77. 

Crinoids,  discovery  of  stems  of,  88$. 
Crocodiles,  fossil,  nistory  of,  884. 
Crocodilus  americanus,  391. 
ebertsi,  390, 993. 
Crow  blackbird,  sS. 
Crows,  roosting,  691, 777. 
Crusucea,  66r. 

abyssal  decapod  of  the  North  Atlantic 

bver  of,  984. 

of  Minnesota,  156. 

of  the  Black  sea,  x  73. 
Cubomedusae,  development  of,  988. 
Cucuyo,  luminous  organs  ot  Mexican,  808. 
Cryptozoon  problematlcum,  156. 
Cuscuta  glomerata,  378. 
Cypselus  andicok,  178. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


Index  to  Vol  XX. 


1081 


Dall  on  masks,  310. 

Dandelion,  5. 

DasylepCus  lucasii.  68. 

De  Braisa  on  the  Conga,  363. 

Decapoda,  eyes  of  abys«tl,  003. 

dred^d  bv  the  ''^Albatross/'  893. 
Delaware,  shoaling  of,  754. 
Devitrification  of  glass,  276. 
Diatoms,  754. 

genera  of,  754. 
Diclonius  roirabilts,  153.  isc 
Diego  Garcia,  coral  atoll  of,  799. 
Diemyctyhu  miniatus,  33. 

▼iridescens,  xft  19. 
Dimmock,  G.,  Sphsmlaria  in  America,  73. 
Dinophilus  gigas,  983. 
•Dtnichthys,  1030. 
Dinosauria,  sternum  of,  153. 
Diplorhina,  lojt. 
Diplovertebron,  76. 
Dish,  a  suining,  675. 

Doriey,  J.  O.,  migrations  of  Siouan  tribes,  sit. 
Dorsey  on  Omaha  sociology,  3x0. 
Dreams  of  the  blind,  904. 

Earthquake  of  New  Zealand,  results  of,  963. 

in  North  America,  869. 
Earthquakes,  94^. 

onginof,  8oa. 
recent  in  United  States,  883. 
Earthworms,  983. 
Eburia  quadrigeminata,  1055. 
Echidna  hystrix,  179,  731. 
Echinoderms,  heart  of,  823. 
Echidnophaga  ambulans,  731. 
Ecitons,  I3Q.  ' 

Edwards,  C.  L.,  the  relations  of   the  pectoral 

muscles  of  birds  to  the  power  of  flight,  35. 
Elephant,  remains  of,  835. 
Elephas  indicus,  44. 
melitenvis,  60. 
primigenius,  49,  835. 
Embryograph,  1073. 
Embryology  of  Limulus,  998. 
Enteropneusta,  unsegmented  condition  of,  833. 
Epithelium,    hair-like    processes   on   glandular, 

815. 
Equilien,  Jurassic  beds  of,  885. 
Equus  fratemus,  49. 
Eriphia  spirifrons,  173. 
Etcnatius,  613. 

Eskimo,  parts  of  harpoons  of,  838. 
of  Point  Barrow,  199,  593. 
Etched  figures  in  minerals,  158. 
Ethnology^  annual  report  x 881-3,  309. 
Eublephans  variegatus,  habiu  of,  73s. 
Eucalyptus  marginata,  136. 

rostrata,  136. 
Europe,  611,  8S1. 
Furypterioa,  39. 
Evermann,  Barton  W.,  the  yellow-billed  magpie, 

607. 
Eye,  arthropod,  863. 

compound,  the  function  of,  203. 

Fauna,  Trans-Caspian,  98X. 

Field-sparrow,  33. 

Fiji,  nanga  custom  or  909. 

Fish,  mortality  of  at  Lake  Mille  Lac,  Minn.,  896. 

ova,  085. 

remains  at  Weehawken,  N.  J.,  343. 

hooks,  Califomian  and  Polynesian,  833. 
Fishhawk,  the  torture  of.  333. 
Fishes,  fresh- water  of  Italian  expedition,  833. 

swim-bladder  of,  654. 
Fison,  Lorimer,  the  Fijian  nanga  custom,  909. 
Fissures,  human  cerebral,  90T. 
Flight,  organs  of,  815. 

Flora,  iossil,  of  the  Laramie  series  of  Western 
Canada,  635. 
of  Martha's  Vineyard  and  Nantucket,  753. 
Florida,  Heilprin's  collecting  tour  in«9X7. 
Flood  Rock  explosion,  93. 


Foente,  A.  F.,  fertilisation  of  Teucrium   cana* 

dense,  66. 
Folk4ore.  90X. 

Forbes,  S  A.,  Leptodora  in  America,  1057. 
Forest  rotation,  causes  of,  8sx. 
Formation  of  starch  in  vine  leaves,  165. 
Formica  pensylvanica,  684. 
Fossil  flora  of  N.  W.  Canada,  157. 
FoasUs,  Lower  Silurian^  803. 

Tertiary,  variation  of  in  overlying  beds, 
637. 
Fourteenth  annual  report  of  the   Geology  and 

Natural  History  Survey  of  Indiana,  49. 
Fowl,  domestication  of  wild,  830. 
Fowb,  gapes  in.  898. 
Fox  sparrow^  38. 
Frencn  colonies,  060. 

Fritsch,  Anton,  the  vertebra  of  Sphenodon,  736. 
Fundulus  heteroclitus,  development  of,  834. 
Fungi,  books  on,  645. 
ttink*honi,  804. 

Gabbroj  Wiidschinau,  163. 

Gage,  S.  H.  and  S.  P.,  aquatic  respiration  in 

Bott-thelled  turtles,  333. 
Galleria  mellonella.  169. 
Gambetta's  brain,  608. 
Games,  Indian  children's,  908. 
Ganong,  W.  F.,  Littorina  litorea,  931. 
Gardner,  J.  S.,  the  English  Cretaceous,  366. 
Game^  afteratlon  of.  tot. 

Gastman,  E.  A.,  birds  killed  by  electric  light  tow- 
ers at  Decatur,  III.,  981. 
Gatschet,  A.  S.,  an  important  contribution  to  Cal* 
ifomia  folk-lore,  194. 
Kiche  grammar,  19$. 
lacustrtan     antiquities    of    Dr. 

Gross,  313. 
recent  articles  of  Dr.  Tschudi, 

3«3. 
supplement  to  the  grammar  of 
the  Cakchiquel  language,  313. 
Gecko  verticillatus,  174. 

Geographical  Congress,  third  international,  955. 
Geological  formations,  arrangement  of,  97. 

extinction,  29. 
Geologists,  third  international  Congress  of,  59. 
Gephyrea,  method  of  killing,  315. 
German  annexations,  363. 
Gcvser  basin,  extinct,  in  Colorado,  963. 
Gilbert's  topographic  features  of  lake  shores,  636. 
Gingko,  88. 
Gillman,  Henry,   skull    of    adult   with   frontal 

suture,  748. 
Glaciers  of  United  States.  03. 
Gland,  sense  organ  in  the  pineal,  736. 
Glandular  and  vaso-motor  fibers  of  the  chorda 

tympani,  83. 
Gogebic  iron  ran^e,  998. 
Goldfinch.  American,  33. 
Gomphotherium,  6t8. 

sternbergti,6i9. 
Goose,  tame,  39. 

wild,  33,  89. 
Gordius  verrucosus,  178. 
Granite,  variolitic,  375. 
Granoptiyre,  x6o. 
Graptolites,  39. 

organiiation  of,  156. 
Gratacap,  L.  P.,  fish  remains  and  tracks  in  Tri- 
assic  rocks  at  Weehawken,  N. 
J-,a43- 
zoic  maxima,  Z099. 
Great  Britain,  Carboniferous  formation  of,  885. 
Grenacher*s  methods  of  preparing  the  arthropod 

eye,  89. 
Grosbeak,  rose-breasted,  s8. 
Growth,  child,  745. 
Gutral.  Leon,  the  Bathekes,  750. 
Gundlachia  meekiana,  75. 
Gymnura,  99^, 

Hadrosaurus  foulkei,  \}y 
Halitherium,  species  of,  t58,8o4 
HaUer's  macerating  fluid,  3x6. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


1082 


Index  to  Vol  XX. 


Habted,  B.  D.,  ttimnge  poUen-tubci  of  LobtUa, 

^• 
Hancock,  J.  L.,  migntioia  of  the  Ajax  buttcHly, 

976. 
Haano't  Toyase,  263. 
Haplodus  baylel,  1046. 
Harriostonite,  377. 
Hartman's  anthropoid  apes.  353. 
Hendrick's,  J.  E.,  note  on  tne  problem  of  soaxing 

birds,  •04. 
Heredity,  Bambeke  on,  819. 
Hicks,  L.  E.,  the  Permian  in  Nebraska,  881. 
Himaayan  peaks,  height  of,  149. 
Hinds,  Clara,  B.,  child  growth,  745. 
Holder,  J.  B. ,  some  moot  points  in  Amer.  archae* 

otogy,  192. 
HoUnes  on  prehistoric  textile  fabrics,  3xx. 
Holomeniscus,  6i«. 

H<Hnan]s  americanus,  H.  MUne-Edwards,  739. 
Homotoma,  283. 

Homaday's  Two  vears  in  the  jungle,  4a. 
Hornblende  meuoomorpha,  i6x. 
Howell.  W.  H.,  investigations  on  the  respiratory 
center.  M4. 
OB  the  blood  of  Invcrtebiates, 
1058. 
Horison,  geological,  733* 
Hudson's  bay,  258. 
Hybridism,  75a. 
Hydrophobia,  03. 
Hymenoptera,  the  sexes  in,  7a. 
Hjrperoarti,  1031. 
Hyperotreti,  1031. 
Hypcrsthene«ndesite,  x6t. 
Hyncotherium  cuspidatum,  995. 
▼enticohim,  6x6. 

Iguanodon  bemlssartenais,  153. 
PboBolite  in  inclusion,  x6x. 
Index,  cephalic,  906. 
India,  forest  area  of,  5a. 

trigonometrical  survey  of,  50. 
Indiana  Academy  of  Sciences,  xoo,  3x8. 
Indian  children's  games,  908. 
forest  survey,  X5X. 
local  names,  87. 
Indians,  manu£scturc  of  bows  and  arrows  among, 

83a. 
IngersoU,  the  scallop  fishery,  xooa. 
Injection-mass  to  be  used  cold,  3x4. 

natural,3i3. 
InsectB,the  eye  0C7X*  88, 90. 

genesis  of  color  in,  8x4. 
heart  of,  976. 

new  arrangement  of  the  orders  of,  808. 
Intelligence  of  anthropoid  apes.  106. 

of  animals,  Menauit  s,  308. 
of  the  dog.  Sir  J.  Lubbock  on  the, 
188. 
International  scological  congress.  94. 
Isolating  the  oioptiTc  layers  of  the  compound  eye, 

91. 
Ithygrammodon  camdoides,  6x4. 

Japan,  leeches  of,  816,  895. 

survey  of,  609. 
Japanese  homes  and  their  surroundixup,  788. 
Tulus  terrestris,  carlv  development  ot;  66a* 
Juice,  gastric,  injecung  of,  753. 
Jurassic  crinoids  of  France,  59. 
echini  of  France,  59. 

Kalahari.  Farini's  journey  in,  878. 

Kalkowsxy's  Elemente  der  Lithologie,  378. 

Kamptia,  150. 

Kane  B  lumdbook  of  European  butterflies,  158. 

Kashmir,  149. 

Kassai,  53. 

Kelyphite,  x6x. 

King-bird,  a8. 

King,  F.  H.,  chemical  and  mechanical  erosion  in 

mountain  building,  53. 
Kingsley,  J.  S.,  the  arthropod  eye,  863. 
Kola  peninsula,  a6x. 


Laboratory  appliances,  some,  9x0. 
Lactuca  angustiana,  931. 
nigra,  23X. 
romana,  331. 
scapiola,  333. 
Lake  Moeria,  53. 
Lamcllibrandu,  foot-glands  and  aqoiferoos  ponsi 

61,984. 
Lampyria,  description  of  the  form  of  a  ftmaH^  ia 

a.  648. 
Lancaster,  I.,  animal  traits.  756. 

mechanics  of  soaiii^,  653. 
the  torture  of  the  fish-hawk,  333. 
the  wings  of  Inrds,  70X. 
Languages,  origin  of,  997. 
Langille  s  Our  birds  and  their  haunts,  359. 
Lea,  Isaac,  necrology,  X075. 
Leeches,  895. 
Lena,  exploration  on,  797. 
Leontodonjpalustre,  6. 
Lepidocyrtis,  300. 
Lepidoptera  in  America,  896. 

method  of  bUachlng  wings  of,  304. 
morphology  of,  X69. 
Lq;>idostemon  polystccum,  17ft. 
Leptodora  hyauna,  X057. 
Lettuce,  a  study  of,  330. 
Leucarctia  acrma.  scent  organs  of,  077. 
Lewis,  H.  CarvtU,  glaciation  of  North  Amciica, 

Great  Britain  and  Ireland,  9x9. 
lichanura,  393. 

Light,  penetration  of,  into  deep>«ca  water,  751. 
Limnohyus,  396. 
limulus  m  the  Padfic,  654. 
Linnsan  Society,  20^. 
Littorina  litorea,  is  it  introduced  or   iiMiigenoos, 

%*• 
palliata,933. 

Lobdia,  Strang  pouen-tubes  ol,  6f4. 

Lobster,  American,  metamoiphosia  of,  739. 

molting  of,  173. 

nervous  physiology  of,  896. 
Lockington,  W.  N.,  notes  on  the  soological  gar- 
dens at  Antwerp  and  London,  900. 
Locust  honey,  seeds  of,  754. 

seventeen-year,  754. 
London,  soological  gardens  of,  900. 
Longevity  of  ants,  X70. 
Loxocemus,  393. 
Lumbricus  glacialis,  754. 


Macerating  mixture,  3x5. 
MachiliSf  300. 

Bladoskw,  G.,  luminous  organs  ot  Mexican  Cn- 
cuyo,  808. 
WiUacal  on  PsyUidm,  383. 
Madrepora  durvillei,  083. 
Maspie,  yellow-billeo,  607. 
MaUophaga  infeathers  of  a  curiew,  983. 
Mammalia,  663. 

tooth  structure  of,  395. 
Mammals,  739. 
Manatees,  spedmens  of  in  European  musenou, 

903-  « 

Man,  andent  Egyptian  classification  of  the  races 
of,  834. 
fossil  of  PeSon,  633. 
Man.  E.  H.,  the  Nicobaurese,  750. 
Manihot  glaziovii,  67. 

Mark,  E.L.,  some  laboratoiv  appliances,  9x0. 
Marshall  on  sonnental  value  of    brain  nerves, 

X066. 
Mason,  O.  T.,  resemblances  in  arts  widdy  sepa- 
rated, 
the  Eskimos  of  Point  Barrow,  197. 
Mastodon.  36, 37,  886. 

americanus,  49. 
floridanus,  755. 
Mather,  Fred*,  domestication  of  wild  fowl,  820. 
Matthews,  W.,  on  Navajo  weaving.  310. 

Navajo  names  for  plants,  767. 
some  ddties  and   demons  of  the 
Navajos,  841. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


Index  to  Vol.  XX. 


1088 


Megalonyz,  ^7. 

jeffersoni,  49. 
M^atherium,  37. 
MeucoDg,  the.  366. 

Mebnerpes  eiythrocephalus,  8x8.  , 

Melanesia,  languages  of,  90a. 
Memory,  the  material  conditions  of,  83. 
Merriam,  C.  H.,  a  new  sifb-species  of  the  eastern 

chipmunk,  336. 
Mesonyx,  396. 

Meteor  which  fell  near  Qaysville,  Pa.,  835. 
Mexico,  fossil  man  of  Penon,  in,  633. 
Mice,  8ax. 

Microchaeta  rappi,  983. 
Microchemicaf  reactions,  63. 
Microlite,  61. 
Microscopy,  675. 

Microtome,  revolving  automatic,  1071. 
Miller,  G.  B.,  the  post-mortem  imbibition  of  poi- 

son,  xoa. 
Minot,  C.  S.,  a  staining  dish,  675. 
Mississippi,  Tertiary  and  Grand  Gulf  strata  of, 

969. 
Modem  Tuni«,  363. 
MoUusca,  66x. 

Mollusks,  shell  formation  in  bivalve,  733. 
MoUusk,  vitality  in  a  marine,  985. 
Monachus,  396. 
Monocloniut  crassus,  153. 
Monorhina,  xoii. 
Montpellier-le-Vieux,  968. 

Moms,  Chas.,  the  relation  of  mind  and  matter, 
10. 
the  making  of  man,  493. 
Mosses,  cheap  hand*hook  of.  647. 
Mountain  chains,  lifting  of,  8oa. 
Mount  O-mei,  5a. 
Mouth,  (jpMtnila,  953. 
Mozambique,  exploratioxu  In,  961. 
Mud-hen,  or  coot,  37. 
Mud-minnow,  development  of,  833. 
Mullus  barbatus,  98<. 

Murdoch,  J.  A.,  a  few  legendary  fragments  from 

the  Point  Barrow  Eskimos,  593. 

the  parts  of  Eskimo  harpoons, 

838. 

Muscicapa  johnstoni,  X78. 

Muscles  during  cadaveric  rigidity,  are  they  dead 

or  alive?  8x. 
Museum,  Peabody,  907. 
Mussels,  mechanism  of  opening  of  the  shell  of, 

Mjra  arenaria,  131. 
Mycologic  flora  of  Missouri,  167. 
Mycterops  ordinatus,  X038. 
Mylodon,  37. 
Myriapod  anatomy,  895. 

Myriapoda,  stridulating  and  sense-organs  in  diplo- 
po!d,  13X. 

National  Academy  of  Sciences,  90,  49X,  580. 
Navajos,  deities  and  demons  of,  841. 
Navicula  ostrearia,  398. 
Nectarinia  johnstoni,  178. 
Nematois  metallicus,  X09. 
Neoplagiaulax  molestus,  451. 
New  Chang,  X5x. 
New  Guinea,  7x6. 

Otto  Finsch's  travels  in.  53. 
New  Jersey,  report  of  State  geologut  for  X884, 

New  York  Academy  of  Sciences,  xoo,  3x0,  330, 

58X. 
Nicobarese,  750. 
Ning-yuan,  s'* 

Nomenclature,  anthropological,  838. 
Notidanus,  884. 

Notodontian  caterpillar,  fluid  of,  8xx. 
Nuthatch,  white-bellied,  a8. 

Obolella  desideraU,  969. 
Ocean,  7x9. 

the  bed  of  the,  57. 


CEcodomus,  or  leaf-cutting  ants,  133. 
Ogadayn,  53. 
Oolite,  inferior,  804. 

Orange.  Hubbard's  insects  affecting  the,  730. 
Orchard  oriole,  38. 

Orgyia,  an  eversible  "gland**  in  the  larva  of,  814. 
Onnces,  defense  of  in  sponges,  754. 
Oriskany  sandstone,  xooo. 
Orizaba,  volcano  of,  xaa. 
Omithosaurs,  39. 
'  Owens  College,  studies  from  the  biological  iabo- 

ralories  of,  874. 
Owl,  screech,  37. 
Oxus,  the,  365. 
Oyster,  green  coloring  of  the,  398. 

Packard,  A.  S.,  an  eversible  "gland"  in  the 
larva  of  Orgyia,  8x4. 
ascent  of  Popocatepetl,  155. 
on  the  class  Podostomata,  X09. 
discovery  of  lamellar  thoracic 

feet  in  Philocarida,  X55. 
flights  of  insects,  X70. 
fluid  ejected  by  larva  of  Loch- 

maeus  tessella,  8ia. 
geological  extinction  and  some 

of  its  apparent  causes,  36. 
the  class  Podostomata,  xo6o. 
Palaeoblauina  diivillei,  f B. 
PalsBodyctyoptera,  69. 
Palseopnonus  nuncius,  37X. 
osbomi,  370. 
PaUeoniscus  latus,  345.  ^ 

Palaeosyops,  3o6. 
Pala:ozoic,  638. 
Palauchenia,  6x3. 
Palani  hills,  365. 
Palestine,  rocks  constituting  the  mass  of  the  hiUs 

of,  885. 
Palumbus  arquatrix,  178. 
Panj-nad,  X49. 

Pantolestes  brachystorous,  6x8. 
Paradisomis  rudolphi,  985. 
Parapagurus  pilosimanus,  833. 
Parsnip,  wild,  poisonous  effects  of,  753. 
Peak  of  St.  Thomas,  363. 
Pear  blight  bacteria,  x66. 
Pecten,  eyes  of,  085. 
Pectis  angustifolia,  769. 

Pectoral  muscles,  relation  to  power  of  flight,  35. 
Pelagic  fish  embryos,  pigment  cells  of,  997. 
Peridotites,  375. 
Peripaius,  X7Q,  x8x.  183, 983. 
balfouri,  398. 
capensis,  398. 
Permian  beds,  803. 

in  Nebraska,  88  x. 
Peronospora  viticola,  X65 
Petrochelidon  ruficolHs,  178. 
Petrographical  News,  640 
Pewee,  wood,  33. 
Phacolite,  x6x. 
Phaffenblot,  5. 
Phalloideae,  8o4« 
Phenacodus,  965. 

pnnuBvus,  6x5. 
Phlogopite,  377. 
Phthanocoris  occidentalis,  69. 
Phyllocarida,  lamellar  thoracic  feet  in,  155. 
Phyllopods,  development  of,  979. 
Phylogeny  of  the  Camelidae,  6x1. 

of  the  embiYo,  special,  80. 

of  the  ungulate  Mammalia,  Schlosser, 

Pigeon,  38. 

Pigeons,  milk  of,  985. 

Pike,  Nicolas,  some  notes  on  the  life-history  of 

the  common  newt,  X7. 
Pilite  kersantite,  x6x. 

Pilsbiy,  H.  A.,  notes  on  Eastern  Iowa  shells,  75. 
Ptnarochroa  hypospadia,  178. 
Placoganoidei,  1031 . 
Plant-pigments,  distribution  of,  810. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


1084 


rndex  to  Vol.  XX. 


Pkatt,  Nbvi^o  names  for,  767. 

of  North  America,  catalogue  of,  64. 
production  of  male  and  fniale,  166. 
Plateau's  experiments  on  vision,  69. 
Platygonns  compressus,  49 
Pliauchenia,  613. 
Pliocene,  733. 

deposits  at  Diest  and  Antwerp,  969. 
Pliolophtu  vintonius,  195. 
Plorer,  protracted  fli^c  of  a  golden,  898. 
Poa  nemoralis,  galls  on,  ao6. 
Poebrotherium  labiatum,  611. 

Tilaoni,  614,  619. 
Podocoryne,  development  of,  916. 
Pogonomjrrmex  occidenulis,  110. 
Poiydesmus  canadensis,  larval  form  of,  651. 
Pomatiopsis  lapidaria,  75. 
Poi>OGatepett,  volcano  of,  109. 
Ponfera,  660. 
Porphyiitic  hyperite,  976. 

of  its  apparenrcauses,  39. 
larval  form  of  Polydesmns  can- 
adensis, 651. 
a  new  arrangement  of  the  order 

of  inaectt,  808. 
the  former  southern  limit  of  the 

wliite  or  polar  bear,  655. 
the  molting  of  the  lobster,  173. 
the  rattlesnake  in    New    Eng- 
land, 736. 
sense  of  smell  in  insects,  trans- 
lation  of   Rraepclin's  work, 

unusual  abundance  of  AureUa 
auriu,  8x6. 

Portuguese  authority,  extension  of,  53. 

protectorate  of  Dahomey,  364. 

Potaneri'sjoumey  in  N.  W  China,  150. 

Poulton,  E.  B.,  the  darkening  of  the  hairs  of  the 
larva  of  Acronycta  before  pupa- 
tion,  813. 
the  distribution  of  derived  plant- 
pigments  in  certain  larvae,  810. 

Pratincola  axillaris,  178. 

Prentiss,  A.  N.,  how  shall  botany  be  uught  in 
agricultural  colleges,  870. 

Prestwichia  eriensts,  156. 

Proatlas,  etc.,  of  the  Crocodtlia.  388. 

Procamelus,  6xa. 

occidentalus,  613,  631,  633. 

Proscorpius  osbomei,  369, 373,  374. 

Protauchenia,  613. 

Proteus  anguineus,  821. 

Protoiabis  transmontanus,  6jo. 

Protophasmida.  69. 

Protoplasm,  living  and  dead,  73. 

Pseuaoneuroptera.  60. 

Pseudotrionyx  delherdi,  885. 

Psoralea  tenuiflora,  1053. 

Psyche  helix,  169. 

Psyllidc,  383. 

Psyllop«is,  383,  384. 

Pterichthyidae,  1031. 

Puccinia  coronata,  X053. 

veronica-anagallidis,  167. 

Pupa,  loss  of  weight  in  freshly  found,  8x4. 

Purple  martin.  28. 

Putnam,  F.  w  ,  Peabody  Museum's  explorations 
in  Ohio,  10x7. 

Pyragynte,  63. 

Pyrenees,  surveys  in,  963. 

Pyrgula  scaiariformis,  75. 

Pyroxene,  a  new,  277. 

Pyrarctica  Isabella,  scent  organs  o(,  977. 

Pythonomorpha,  39 

8uail,  38. 
uarti,  60. 

Rainfidl,  absorption  of  in  Texas,  755. 
Rana  temporaria,  178. 
Rattlesnake  in  New  England,  736. 
Ray,  P.  H.,  manufacture  of  bows  and  arrows 
among  tne  Nauno  and  Kanuck  Indians,  839. 


,8«7. 

Red  sea,  petroleum  deposits  of,  961. 
Reindeer  age,  fragment  of^  969. 
Reptiles,  738. 
Respiratory  center,  recent  investigatioiis  < 


ihe. 


Rhachito 


litomi,  76. 
Rhamphobates,  43. 
Rhea  americana,  398. 

nucrorhyncha,  398. 
Rhinoceros  maaritanicus,  60. 
Rhinocola,  a8i. 

Rhlzopoda  in  New  Sooth  Wales,  983. 
Rhoads,  S.  N.,  crow  roosu  and  roosting  cxows. 

Rivets,  J.  J.,  description  of  the  form  of  the  fie- 

male  in  a  Lampyrid,  648. 
Rivers  of  the  Punjab,  148. 
Robin,  a8. 
Rocks,  sedimentary,   of   Southwestern    France, 

Rocay  mountains,  l«ical  drift  of.  935. 
Roseobush's  Mikroskopische  Pnysiographie,  397. 
Ruppia  maritima,  1053. 
Russia,  steppes  of,  881. 

Ryder,  J.,  development  of  the  mud-minnow,  ftz3. 
devdopment  of  the  toad-fishj^7. 
life-history  of  Thalasscma,  98B. 
on  ovster  culture,  xo6t. 
the  development  of  Fundnlus  hetexoc- 

litus,  834. 
the    metamorphosis  of  the  American 
•      lobster,  Homarus    americanos    H. 
Milne-Edwaids,  739. 
the  origin  of  the  Amnion,  179. 
the  origin  of  the  pigment-cells  wfaidi 
invest  the  bile-drop  in  Pelagic  fish 
embryos,  987. 
the  unpaired  fins  of  Selachians,  14a. 
why  do  certain  fish  ova  float?  986. 

Saginoptens  problematicus,  754. 

Salmon,  the  most  southern,  735. 

Sandstones,  yellow,  nit  Scodand,  803. 

Sankani,  51. 

Sarcella  sulcata,  639. 

Sarracenia  courtii,  383. 

Savoyanne,  88. 

Schneck,  J.,  longevity  of  turtles,  897 

Science,  organization  of,  at  the  national  capital, 

634. 
Scorpion's  sting,  antidote  of,  173. 
Sciuxus  striatus,  3«6. 

(Tamias)  nysteri,  341. 
Scorpion,  arterial  system  of^  083. 
Sea-urchm  nervous  system  of,  978. 
Selachiaxis,  unpaired  fins  of,  Z42. 
Selection,  physiological,  653. 
Sensibility  toward  light,  two  kinds  of,  185. 
Sesia  scoliiformis,  169. 
Sheep,  new  species,  751. 
Shell  formation  in  bivalve  mollusks,  733. 
Shells,  fossils,  755. 
Shrike,  loggerhead,  83. 
Siberian  lake,  drying  up  of,  963. 
Silene  lacinitfa,  768. 
Simiasatyms,  nesting  of,  44. 

wurmbii,  44,  45. 
Siouan  tribes,  mimtions  of,  azz. 
Skull,  human,  748. 
Smell,  delicac^  of  the  sense  of,  836. 
sense  of  in  insects,  889, 073. 
Smith,  J.  B.,  ants'  nests  ana  their  inhaUcaats, 

679. 
Snake,  black,  903. 
Snakes,  coppierhead  and  other,  744. 
Snow-bird,  38. 
Soaring,  mechanics  of,  653. 
Society  of  Naturalisu  E.  U.  S.,  307. 
Solenopsis  xylonL  683. 
Somali  land,  F.  E.  L.  James'  travds  in,  53. 
SouMparrow,  37. 
SouUiem  India,  364. 
Sparrow,  Whit^throated,  s8. 
Sphaeridia  of  Echini,  397. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


Index  to  Vol.  XX. 


1085 


Sphcru  laria  bombi,  73. 
Sphenodon,  Intercentrum  of«  775. 


ribs  of,  979. 
vertebra  of,  736. 


Sphenosaurus,  76,  77. 
Sphvrophicus,  varim,  8x8. 
Spider,  new  trap-door|  584. 


Spiden,  coxal  glands  m,  075. 

observations  on  the  embryology  of,  825. 
Sponges,  classification  of,  977. 
Steams,  R.  £.  C.,  the  Teredo,  or  shipvorm,  131 . 
Stephanite,  60. 
Sockbridge,  H.  £.,  protracted  flight  of  a  golden 

plover.  898. 
Stone  Baargefdd,  961. 

plummets,  85. 
Stones,  precious,  of  the  U.  S.  A.,  169. 
Sterility  of  seeds  of  hard  maple,  977. 
Stxau,  comparison  of,  753. 
Stromeyerite  from  Zacatecas,  xcoo. 
Study  of  plants  in  winter,  65. 
Sturtevant,  E.  L.,  a  study  of  nrden  lettuce,  930. 

a  study  of  the  dandelion,  5. 

history  of  celery,  599. 
Summer  warbler,  98. 

Superior,  Lake,  output  of  iron  ore  mines  of,  999. 
Superstition,  a  curious,  744. 
Survey,  U.  S.  geological,  709. 

Taenia  filicollis,  083. 

Tamias  striatus  lysteri,  249. 

Tanager,  scarlet,  28. 

Tapinosoma,  sessile,  686. 

Teal,  green-winged,  28. 

Teeth,  human,  recalcification  of,  989. 

Teloxys  comutum,  768. 

Terai,  51. 

Teredo^  131. 

avails,  235. 
Tertiary,  639. 

deposits,  residue  of,  886. 

fossils,  variation  of  in  overiying   beds, 
635. 
Teucrium  canadense,  66. 
Thaiassema,  life-history  of,  988. 
Thelphusa,  depressa,  s^. 
llilinkit  nouns  and  vertM,  87. 
Thomas'  notes  on  Maya  manuscripts,  309. 
Thompson's  bibliography  of  Protozoa,  259. 
Thorell,  T.,  on  Proacorpius  osbomei,  269. 
Thrush,  brown,  27. 

oUve-backed,  28. 
Tinea, 169. 

Tineola  biselliella,  169. 
Tin  in  the  Black  hills,  274. 
Tinoceras  stenops,  3x6. 
Tissues,  influence  of  high  pressures  on  animal. 

Titmouse,  28. 


Toad-flsh.  development  of.  77. 

Todd,  J.  £.,  boulder  mosaics  in  Dakota,  i. 

Tomocerus,  300. 

Tongues,  Turki.  798. 

Tooth,  mandibular,  in  Mysorex  varius,  903. 

of  Craspcdodon  lonzeeiuu.  804. 
Torrey's  birds  in  the  bush,  145. 

Tortoises,  899. 

extinct,  967. 
Tranacaspian  railway,  963. 
Trisenia  mirabilis,  yao. 
Trilobites,  38,  39. 
Trioza,  983,  984. 

Trotter,  S.,  mammary  gland  of  elephant,  997. 
Tunicaca.  1031 . 
Turtle,  ascension,  899. 
Turtles,  longevity  of,  897. 
Twiffi  killed  by  telephone  wires,  806. 

Uintatherium  lacustre,  X55. 
Usaramo,  964. 

Variation,  individual,  807. 

spontaneous  occurrence  of,  753. 
Vegetable  nhysiology,  Goodale,  45. 

Vertebral  s^ments,  homologies  of,  956. 

Vtreo,  red-eyed,  28. 

Viscera,  reproduction  of  in  feather  stars,  894. 

Wainad,  the,  964. 

Walker,  J.  R.,  some  notes  on  recalcification  of 

human  teeth,  989. 
Washburn,  F.  L.,  mortality  of  Ibh  at  Lake  Mille 

Lac,  Minn.,  896. 
Wave  action  on  coasts,  261. 
West  India,  stone  implements  of,  908. 
Wheat,  the  drying  of,  64. 
Whitman,  C.  O.,  osmic  acid  and  Mcrkel's  fluid 

for  developing  nascent   histological    distinc> 

tions,  900. 
Whitmee  on  Polynesia,  86. 
Wissman's  expedition,  262. 
Witlaczil  on  Coccida»,  987. 
Woodpecker,  golden-winged,  98. 

red-headed,  98. 
Wood's  nature  teachings,  46.  « 

World,  government  land  and  marine  surveys  of. 

Worms,  738. 
Wren,  house,  97. 

Xenylla,  300. 
Xingu,  the,  960. 

Yellow-throat,  Maryland,  97. 

Zaglossa  bruijni,  X70. 

Zonotrichia,  elbicolUs,  8x8. 

Zoology,  Packards's  first  lessons  in,  873. 


The  numbers  of  the  Naturalist  for  1886  were  Issued  at  the  fol- 
lowlncr  dates :  January,  Dec.  239, 1885 ;  Februsjy,  Jan.  28,  1886 ; 
March,  Feb.  26th;  April,  March  23d;  May,  April  24th;  June, 
June  1st;  July,  ?;  Ausrust,  ?;  September,  ?;  October,  Oct  18th; 
November,  Nov.  23d;  December,  Dec.  29th. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


Digitized  by 


Google 


The  American  Naturalist. 

THE  TWENTY-FIRST  YEAR! 


1079 


The  American  Naturalist; 

A  Popular  lllmtnited  Magazine  of  Natural  Hiatory  and  Travel. 


ANNOUNCEMENT  FOR  1887.    VOLUME  XXI. 

This  journal  of  popular  Natural  Science  is  published  by  Messrs.  McCalla  &  Stav£LY,  Phila- 
Iphia,  Pa.,  under  the  editorial  management  uf  Dr.  A.  S.  Packard  and  Prof.  E.  D.  Cope,  with 
e  assistance  of  eminent  men  of  science.  The  typographical  dress  and  illustrations,  which  have 
retofore  given  character  to  this  magazine  will  be  sustained,  and  it  will  be  of  a  thoroughly  pop- 
ar  nature,  so  as  to  interest  the  general  reader  as  well  as  the  young  naturalist.  It  will  continue 
be  a  journal  of  science  education  and  for  the  use  of  science-teachers. 

The  later  volumes  were  double  the  size  of  the  earlier  volumes ;  and  for  variety,  interest  and 
rshness  of  scientific  news,  it  is  claimed  that  the  Naturalist  is  wUhoui  a  rival. 
Each  number  of  the  Naturalist  contains  carefully  written  original  articles  on  various  scien- 
ic  subjects  and,  in  addition,  twelve  departments — Recent  Literaiure^  Geography  and  Travels , 
tology  and  Paleeentology,  Mineralogy  and  Petrography^  Botany^  Entomology^  Zoology ^  Embry- 
ygy.  Physiology,  Psychology,  Anthropology  and  Microscopy,  The  department  of  Botany  is  edited 
Prof.  C.  E.  Bessey,  that  of  Microscopy  by  Prof.  C  O.  Whitman,  that  of  Mineralogy  and 
•jtrography  by  Dr.  W.  S.  Bayley,  that  of  Embryology  by  Prof.  John  A.  Ryder,  that  of  An- 
ropology  by  Prof.  Otis  T.  Mason  and  Geography  and  Travels  by  W.  N.  Lockington.  Invcr- 
>rata  is  edited  by  J.  S.  Kingsley,  ScD.,  and  Scientific  News  by  W.  HosEA  Ballou. 
The  attention  of  publishers  and  teachers  is  called  to  the  critical  notices  of  standard  scientific 
oks,  to  which  especial  attention  has  been  given  the  past  year,  and  will  be  given  during  the 
ming  year. 

Original  articles  or  notices  by  oTfer  one  hundred  of  our  leading  naturalists  have  appeared  in  the 
lumes  for  x88i,  1882,  1883,  1884,  1885  and  1886,  among  which  occur  the  following  names: 


r.  C.  C.  Abbott, 
r.  J.  F.  AUen, 
of.  J.  C.  Arthur, 
of.  "W.  W.  Bailey, 
r.  ZS.  A.  Barber, 
of.  VST.  B.  Barnard, 
ol  W.  J.  Beal, 
of.  B.  A.  BIrge, 
-.  Daniel  G.  Brinton, 
ol  VST.  K.  Brooks, 
r.  Arthur  E.  Brown, 
r.  Bdward  Burgeaa, 
of.  R.  E.  Call, 
3n.  J.  D.  Caton, 
of.  A.  J.  Cook, 
'.  Elliott  Cones, 
of.  John  M.  Conlter, 
•.  vr.  H.  DalL 
r.  Q.  E.  Davenport; 
of.  Walter  Faxon, 
of.  C.  H.  Femald, 
of.  B.  A.  Forbea, 
-  Persifor  Frazer, 
r.  J.  "W.  Fewkea, 
o£  J.  Btarlde  Gardner, 
of.  Archibald  Qeikie, 
r.  Charles  H.  GUbert, 
r.  Henry  Gillman, 
.  Carl  F.  Olflsler, 


Prof.  Q.  Brown  Qoode, 
Mr.  Edward  Lee  Greene, 
Aug.  R.  Grote, 
Prof.  F.  V.  Haydcn, 
Prof.  T.  J.  BurriU, 
Rev.  £.  J.  Hill, 
Prof.  D.  H.  Campbell, 
Prof.  E.  W.  Claypole, 
Mr.  William  H.  Holmes, 
Prof.  T.  Sterry  Hunt, 
Prof.  A.  Hyatt, 
Ernest  Ingersoll, 
Mr.  Joseph  F.  James, 
Prof.'  D.  S.  Jordan, 
Prof.  H.  F.  King, 
Dr.  J.  S.  Kingsley, 
Prof.  Samuel  Lockwood, 
Prof.  Leo  Lesquereuz, 
Prof.  G.  Macloskie, 
Mr.  J.  H.  Mellichamp, 
Dr.  C.  Hart  Merriam, 
Dr.J.  C.  MerriU, 
Mr.  Charles  Morris, 
Mr.  A.  8.  Oatsohet, 
Rev.  Henry  C.  McCook, 
Prof.  C.  Sedgwick  Minot, 
Prof.  E.  S.  Morse, 
Prof.  G.  H.  Perkins, 
Prof.  A.  N.  Prentiss, 


Dr.  D.  W.  Prentiss, 
Mr.  Richard  Rathbun, 
Dr.  Charles  Rau, 
Prof.  I.  C.  Russell, 
Prof.  C.  V.  RUey, 
Prof.  J.  A.  Ryder, 
Dr.  R.  W.  Shufeldt, 
Dr.  T.  H.  Streets, 
Mr.  Herbert  H.  Smith, 
Prof.  S.  I.    Smith, 
Prof.  V.  M.  Spaldi  ng, 
Mr.  Frederick  W.  True. 
J.  F.  Whiteaves, 
Prof.  P.  H.  Snow, 
Dr.  R.E.  C.  Steams, 
Prof.  Cyrus  Thomas, 
Prof.  J.  E.  Todd, 
Mrs.  Mary  Treat, 
Prof.  William  Trelease, 
Mr.Lester  F.  Ward, 
Dr.  R.  H.  Ward, 
Prof.  M.  E.  Wadsworth, 
Prof.  C.  A.  White, 
Prof.  R.  Ramsay  Wright* 
Dr.  Alfred  C.  Stokes, 
Prof  H.  P.  Osborn, 
Prof.  E.  L.  Mark, 
Mr.  Bdward  B.  Banger, 


SUBSCRIPTION  PRICE,  $4.00  PER  ANNUM,  IN  ADVANCE. 

Remittances  by  mail  should  be  sent  by  a  money-order,  draft  on  Philadelphia  or  New  York,  or 
pstered  letter  to 


McCALLA  &  STAY  ELY, 


J7-9  Dock  Street, 


PHILADELPHIA,  PENNA. 

Digitized  by  VjOOQIC 


jQgo  The  American  Naturalist. 

THE  AMERICAN  NATURALIST  AND  LIVING  AGE  TOGETHER.  ONE  YEAR,  Hdli 

LITTELUS  LlVma  AGE. 

UN  1887  THE  LIVING  AGE  entera  upon  its  forty-fOTirHi  j«b:  1 
1  has  met  with  the  constant  commendaUon  of  the  leadii«  nea  sm 
journals  o(  the  country,  and  with  uninterrupted  success,  ^^ 

A  WEEKLY  MAGAZINE,  it  gives  fifty-two  nimbers  ofj^^w 
pages  each,  or  more  than  Three  and  a  Quarter  '^f'f^^^^ 
Slumn  octavo.pa«es  of  reading-matter  yearly.  It  presents  *»  «^^^ 
Blve  form,  considering  its  great  amount  of  matter,  with  ^'^^J^^J^?^ 
to  its  weekly  issue,  and  with  a  completeness  nowhere  else  atteayi. 
Tk-  k^t  Ftift«v«.  RavlMM.  Crilidsmt.  8«riil  and  Short  StorlMi  StoltiM  ef  m«lai 

frSithe  wSvi  body  of  Foreig?  Periodical  Uterttsra,  and  from  tht  po-rf 

The  ablest  and  most  cultivated  Intellects,  in  e^e^  ^^^P*'^*"'*  ^^iJ^^'S 
Science!  ^olitTc;,  and  Art,  find  expression  in  the  Periodical  Literature  of  ^«^  mi 

is  of  immediate  interest,  or  of  solid,  permanent  value.  ^^  ^^ 

intelligence  and  literary  taste. 

U(0  Acs/*— WwO^rf  i2«iMi6/»cafc  ^ 

•Terribly  should  we  m»M;f*£«K!?SS«'JKSS 
it«  m,t  tAiinr  bv  no  means  rereallog  Its  troe  iBwarow 


all  that  Is  best,  most  Interesting,  ami  proBUbleto 
»    ••  . .    .^ ^  literature  of  the  day. .  J"*^][™r[ 


found  111  the  current 


ntl 
ners  to  be  restful  ana  enierwmlng.     *"  ""•  r:"^ 
¥hb  Uviwo  Aok  has  no  equal,  and  we  cannot^see 


lltlcal.sclentlflcand  Uterorv.whl 
ion  enouRh  »"ter8»erwd  between 
^rs  to  be  restful  and  enterUlnIng, 


1  iiicrnrv,  ^••••»'/th"«'«  l\j«S}  Sc- 

srsed  between  the  more  »olld  pa- 
.._._. —     To  our  mind. 


-  Throuih  tis  |M«es  idoiie,  It  ta  POg^Wj, »^S 


THB  UVIWO  AOK  has  no  equai,  »«u  y*^  ^^YwA^h 
Where  It  could  be  Improved." -CAru/um  at  Work, 

SliiSot  bJ  founaarit: .  It  to  a  library  In  Itself."-  Jto 
Churchman,  New  York.  .    »    ^  ,^  ♦v^  v--  nf 

••To  have  Thb  Liviico  Ao«  Is  to  hold  the  »BTi  or 
the  entire  world  of  thought,  of  scientific  Investigation, 
tn® «^Z*5J™.T:i;'^ll.'l«i^K^ritii»*i  note. of  Doetry  and  ro- 


"  Aimnd  repository  of  the  U^ratige  of  lhc«e.  .11 
has  b&omc  Indtepeosable."  -  Nae  -  rorl  Ot^tner 

"  The  subscription  pHce  to  slight  In  c«np»rt^J?2 
the  m£5of  theWcnrrent  "^SniSJ^SS  "^ 
with  It  In  Itt  weekly  visits.  .  In  '»cti»[2r^J^^ 
?o  more  than  thte  <me  publication  to  kt«P  hto«« 
abresst  of  tngllsh  pertodical  Uteratnre.  •-^«»'ar 
School  iHma^PhiUukipiua, 

•*  Foremost  of  the  eclecUc  perlodlcala.-- *»- »« 
World. 


the  Jntire  world  of  thought,  of .sclenttflc  Invwtgation,       **\t  M  t^  necessity  for  Uuwe  wtoo 
iSychologlcal  research,  critical  note,  of  PO^try  »n^  JJ"    amount  of  time  avail 
mance.  At  has  never  Wju  so  ^^IghUaowmpr^^    ^eep  fully  abrwst  wl 
8lve,  so  diversified  In  Interest,  as  Itb  to-day.  —Bo$Um    jf^g^jutenor,  Oneago. 
Evening  Traveller.  ^i.«4„i 

••  Every  volume  attesU  anew  the  <»re  and  dlscriml- 
nation  and  catholic  taste  of  lU  conductors.  .  VeMif 
the  who^  wSld  of  authors  and  writers  app^jln  It  In 
their  b^  moods.  .  Art,  science,  and  "te^ftlt.  ♦ifi 
frSb  a^el-^ent  expression  In  Its  P^W^frj^? 
S of  the  best  writers  of  the  day;  an^  tj«  je^JJJ 
U  kept  well  abreast  of  the  current  thought  of  the 


lable  for  literary  ««<%|- *^.* 
abraast  with  the  Mtwature  o«  tfce  daj.  - 

*'u  ftJJiaihet  a  completo^mDllattoe  of^^ 
pensable  Uteraturc."  -  One^go  ^ecnnv  -^^^f^  ^ 

••  iTenablea  Its  readers  to *w»P,rallyate«st^ 
best  Ihooght  and  literature  of  clvillalli«.--ar» 
tian  Advocaie,  PUUburg.  ^ 

•*It  saves  not  only  time,  hut  money,  -rte^ 

••  It  is  abeolntely  wittMMit  a  il;^  .lSSSSL^ 

^=^^8UMreoCAe» 
.gnveml^i^ 


riodio 
^^^^ i,N.C. 

"puVlkhed  Weekly  at  »8.J»  a  year.  f^^X""/ ^ltl^T»H7  remitting  before  Jan.  1,  ^ 
ft»-TO  NEW  SUBSCRIBERS  for  the  year  i~^»J^™*^**^t"^^^ 
weeS^umbersof  1886  issued  after  the  receipt  of  thdrsu^ri^^^^ 

PI  IIR  PRICES  FOR  THE  BEST  HOME  AMD  F0REI6M  LITERATURt 

nH-crlber  will  find  himself  In  «mmand  vf  ««  "»•"  •""«",•„  «Z^Har  monthly  macMina  (a 

For  »10.50.  THB  Living  Aob  and  anyone  of  t''*/""^;^'^  "°J^i^^ 
Harper'.  Weekly  or  Bazar)  will  be  sent  lor  a  year,  with  postage  prepaid  on  l»Ui.  «, 
,9.K,.  TH.  Uvu.a^Ao.  and  tbe^^-^cWo^  ^t^^-   ^^   ^^^^   ^^  ^^^ 


Digitized  by 


Google 


Digitized  by 


Google 


'OR  S  ALE— -^  complete  set  of  the  AMERICAN  NATURALIST.    Addiess,  foi  :5r  • 

RUSTIC  US,  this  Office. 


PRIZES  OFFERED  BY  THE  BOSTON  SOCIETY  OF  NATURAL  HISTORY. 
.    The  Walker  Prizes. 

The  Society  offers  d-^r^  prfee  of  from  ^60  t«  |reo,  and  a  second  prize  of  ^50  for  the  '  ^ 
memoirs,  in  English » on  the  following  subjects  : 

1S87.  Original  investigations  in  Lithology. 
"*  .     r^    '•'       '        '       i88&r  Original  investigations  in  Fhy&iology. 

,The  essays  are' to  be  sent  to  the  Secretary  of  the.  Society  on  or  before  April   ist  of  cich  y  ■ 
acconipanied  by -a  sealed  envelope  endorsed  with  a  motto  corresponding  to  one  on  ihe  ei^av,  - 
t«iiHi%gihcnaine  and^ddfess  otlhe  writer  of  the  essay,  which  must  not  in  any  way  be  ap>  : 
in  the  manuscript. 
Boston,  Mass.  EDWARD  BURGEISS,  Secretary. 


Printers  and  Pubiishees 


ARE  PREPARED  TO  EXECUTE 


■  PRINTING  OF  EVERY  DESCRIPTION,  SIZE  OR  QUANTITY,  .PLAIN  OR  IN  0010" 

.    ESTIMA  TBS  AND  PROOFS  FURNISHED. 

/ 

To  those  unaccustomed  to  Printing,  we  will  cheerfully  give  the  benefit  of  our  long  exper. 
in  the  business. 

OFFICES,  Nos.  237-9  DOCK  STREET, 

PHILADELPHIA.  '  ' 


The  Medico-Legal  Journal. 


oold    is    80znetline> 
traot«d  on  top  of  an 
tbe    acooipanying   c. 
A   Qitartrrltf  tlevoted  to  the  Science  of  Med'  \    ^^    '^'    ^    ^M^^     becomlnfC     settled 


ONE 


ical  tfurisprmtencef  published   under 

the  iiuMpiet'S  of  tlie  Medieo" 

Letjal  SocU'tff  of  Xetv 

Yorh, 


confirmed,  and  tbe  l.un£;9  so  siminr-il  3 
racked,  that  tbe  production  of  tuX 
frequently  follows,  Mabfy  existing  oases  •:<  • 
uionary  Disease  tnajr  he  thus  account*  J 
and  yet  bow  many  otbera  are  now  cair»  '- 
alio  wing  tbemselves  to  drift  throa^b  ih  . 
liminaiy  symptoms,  controlled  by    tht  : 


Thi'^    Tourn;*'   will  publish   the   leading   papers  of  the 
Mc<iico-L«--pal  Society,  .ind  a  rcsiiiiic  uf  its  proceedings. 

'1  he  price  of  the  Miinico-Li'r.AL  Jotknal  has   been  ..  -    ,,^     »  #^    t  ^  ^      ^    «  ^    , 

f.xcd  ;ii  #3  00  per  .-innum  or  75  cents  per  copy.  !  PO^^y  ofallowlng  a  CoM  lo  take  Can?  Of  i: 

As  will  he  seen,  the  Jouunai.  has  hccomc  a  valuable  '  ^^  ^^  «*"'  InlimaUon   Of  a  Cougb  OrH' 

aiUtTtivinj;  nif.diiiir^,  as  it  rcucl)es  both  professions  and    any  Tbroat  OF  Iiung  trouble,  resort  pi'  -  - 
the  great  iibr.^rics.  *  [  ^q  pj.^  jajTie^s  Kxpectoraut,  a  safe  CUlr.l  1 

Suhsrripti<.ns  are  criiohed  which  mny  be  made  to  the  ^  established  reputation,    and  vow 

J'.UKNAt.,  or  to  any  olhccr  of  the  Mcdico-Lcyal  Society,  '  7,    ..  ^  »        T 

lo  Ci.AKK    r.Hr.L,   Kmj..   1.-8  Broadway,  N.  V.,  ol  whom     aVOld   thC   COnSCquenCeS     Ot     such     Uiin^'- 

pcciriu'ti  copies  Can  be  obtained  on  application,  at  cost  of  :  tllrtlng, 

o  cents  cjvch. 

Digitized  by 


/Google 


Digitized  by 


Google 


Digitized  by 


Google 


Digitized  by 


Google 


Digitized  by 


Google