gascar. They present frequent cases of classical hysterical attack and occasional epidemics of choreo-mania, affecting both sexes. A negress of the Soudan was lately a patient in the celebrated clinic of Dr. Charcot, in Paris, and displayed the symptoms characteristic of neurosis. Civilization, so far from increasing this class of maladies, is one of the most efficient agents in reducing them in number and severity. When it is freed from certain elements not essential to it, especially religious excitement and competitive anxieties, it acts decidedly as a preventive.

Recent Contributions to American Linguistics.

The limited number of students who interest themselves in the native American languages will welcome the appearance of another of Mr. J. C. Pilling's most excellent bibliographies, this time the "Bibliography of the Athapascan Languages," a work of 125 large octavo double-columned pages, every page testifying to his unbounded industry and model accuracy. I lately showed one of his bibliographies to a distinguished professor of classical archæology, who assured me that in his own much more widely cultivated field there is no bibliographical work done equal to this of Mr. Pilling's.

The Count de Charencey, now probably the most accomplished Maya scholar in Europe, has published at Alençon a Maya translation by Father Ruz of Ripalda's "Catechismo y Doctrina." This was well worth doing, but students of the language should be warned that Father Ruz wrote a Maya of his own manufacture, having "improved "the language so much that the natives scarcely recognized it.

A most valuable addition to Mexican linguistics is a "Ligero Estudio sobre la Lengua Mazateca," by the Licentiate Francisco Belmar, published at Oaxaca this year. The only previous publication on this language was a short paper of my own in the Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society.

M. Raoul de la Grasserie, favorably known from previous careful studies in American linguistics, has issued an “Essai d'une Grammaire et d'un Vocabulaire de la Langue Baniva,' 99 one of the Arawack dialects of South America.

Through the kindness of Mr. Wilberforce Eames, librarian of the Lenox Library, I have been enabled to print in the Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society an abstract of a grammar of the Rio Napo dialects, drawn from a manuscript of the last century now in that collection. These dialects belong to the Betoya stock, of which we have had almost no grammatic material.

The already rich literature of the Tupi has received a valuable addition by the reprinting of Father Paulo Restivo's "Arte de la Lengua Guarani," at Stuttgart, under the competent care of Dr. Christian Frederic Seybold. It is particularly valuable for the very full list of particles, with their use and meaning. Dr. Seybold hopes in the future to bring out new editions of the exceedingly rare "Explicacion de el Catecismo en Lengua Guarani," of Nicolas Yapaguay, and the “Katecismo Indico da Lingua Kariris," of Father Bernard de Nantes.

Polynesian Ethnology.

The Polynesian Society, whose headquarters are at Wellington, New Zealand, commenced this year the publication of a quarterly journal devoted to the ethnology, philology, history, and antiquities of Polynesia. The first two numbers contain a collection of generally excellent articles, several of which are printed in the dialects of the islands, with translations. One of some length on the races and prehistoric occupation of the Philippines is a collation from a number of printed sources, not adding new material to our knowledge of the subject. An article on

the inscriptions of Easter Island, by Dr. A. Carroll, designed to present translations of the insoribed slabs, is singularly unscientific and out of place. What is worse, he announces other translations in prospect, which he professes to read through the medium of ten different American languages! This is enough, or should be enough, to secure the non-publication of his paper by any learned society.

A number of lists of ancestors, native genealogies, are given.

The distinguished craniologist, Professor Kollmann of Basel, declared on the strength of skull-forms that there must have lived in Europe in neolithic times at least three, if not four, "autochthonous" races, which gradually intermingled and, by this blending of powers, gave rise to that superior intelligence which laid the foundation of European culture and assured the predominance of the white race of that continent in the later history of the world. Certain it is that neither he nor any other craniologist has been able to define either any European or any Aryan "type" of skull; and if the general theory of the cranial type is to be saved at all, it must be by some such ex post facto hypothesis as this.

The next meeting of the society will be held next August in Hannover.

Ethnology of the Eskimos.

A clear and pleasant account of the Eskimos appears in recent numbers of Das Ausland, from the pen of Fridhjof Nansen, the celebrated explorer of Greenland.

From their close similarity wherever found, and from the slight differences in their dialects, he believes them to have developed from some small and homogeneous stem in comparatively recent times and to have spread along the coasts of the icy sea. He expresses some doubt as to whether they occupied the southern extremity of Greenland when it was first discovered by the Northmen. The point from which they spread he believes to have been somewhere on the shores of Behring Sea or Behring Straits. In this he differs from Dr. Rink, who places their earliest assignable abode in the interior of Alaska, and still further from Mr. Murdoch, who, with greater probability, would locate it about Hudson Bay.

Nansen's description of the appearance, habits, and arts of the East Coast Eskimos is both amusing and instructive. He found them, in spite of many nasty habits, attractive in character and of good mental ability — all the better, the less they had been subjected to the influence of European instruction and religion. One of their curious superstitions is that they will not touch their hair, in the care of which they take great pride, with any object made of iron, not even to trim it. This recalls similar objections to that metal in the rites of ancient Rome and Egypt. Physically he describes them as a well-made race, quite of the average European height, the young women sometimes good-looking. The general tone of his article is highly favorable to the stock.

NOTES AND NEWS.

A MEETING was held recently at the State Capitol, Concord, N.H., upon the call of the Forestry Commission, to see what action is desirable toward the preservation of the forests among the mountains, and at the head-waters of the principal rivers. The Appalachian Mountain Club was represented by delegates, prominent citizens of New Hampshire were present, and much interest was manifested. The meeting formulated certain propositions indicating desirable laws to be secured from the incoming Legislature. It is apparent, however, that public discussion is necesary to find out what action is desirable and favorable, and to

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arouse public sentiment sufficiently to bring about valuable results. The Boston Herald has started a fund to enable the Commissioners to prosecute this work. The Commissioners are all members of the Appalachian Mountain Club: Hon. Joseph B. Walker of Concord, Hon. G. Byron Chandler of Manchester, and Rev. J. B. Harrison of Franklin Falls. The Council of the Club has appropriated $25, and individual members have already subscribed to the Herald fund. The Council has appointed a committee, consisting of Rosewell B. Lawrence, 53 State Street, room 518, and Walter R. Davis, 121 Devonshire Street, Boston, to receive contributions from members, the contributions to be used at the discretion of the Council as an addition to the Herald fund, or to be expended by the Council itself in connection with the matter of the preservation of the forests.

-At the thirty-sixth annual meeting of the Association of Officers of Colleges in New England, held at Williams College, Nov. 3-5, 1892, it was voted that the following memorandum be furnished to all educational journals for publication, but with the declaration that this action of the association does not commit any college faculty to the recommendations made in the memorandum: The Association of Officers of Colleges in New England, impressed with the real unity of interest and the need of mutual sympathy and help throughout the different grades of public education, invites the attention of the public to the following changes which, without insisting upon details, it recommends for gradual adoption in the programme of New England grammar schools. Art. 1. The introduction of elementary natural history into the earlier years of the programme as a substantial subject, to be taught by demonstrations and practical exercises rather than from books. 2. The introduction of elementary physics into the later years of the programme as a substantial subject, to be taught by the experimental or laboratory method, and to include exact weighing and measuring by the pupils themselves. 3. The introduction of elementary algebra at an age not later than twelve years. 4. The introduction of elementary plane geometry at an age not later than thirteen years. 5. The offering of opportunity to study French, or German, or Latin, or any two of these languages from and after the age of ten years. 6. The increase of attention in all class-room exercises in every study to the correct and facile use of the English language. In order to make room in the programme for these new subjects, the association recommends that the time allotted to arithmetic, geography, and English grammar be reduced to whatever extent may be necessary. The association makes these recommendations in the interest of the public school system as a whole; but most of them are offered more particularly in the interest of those children whose education is not to be continued beyond the grammar school.

-An interesting experiment in naturalization, namely, the transfer of living lobsters (Homarus vulgaris) from England to New Zealand, has just been crowned with success. The fitting-up of steamers with refrigerating chambers for the carriage of frozen meat from New Zealand to the Mother Country, has enabled experiments to be carried out, with every prospect of success, which were formerly considered almost impossible of fulfilment. Some years ago humble-bees were by this means successfully carried to the island colony, where they have increased amazingly, and from whence they have since been carried to Australia and Tasmania. Shipments of salmon ova are likewise now made almost without loss. The latest experiment, the carrying out of live lobsters, has also been successfully accomplished. This result is due to Mr. Purvis, chief engineer of the steamship "Ionic,' "who has taken great interest throughout in this work. An attempt was made last year by the same gentleman, at the instance of the Otago Acclimatization Society, who were aided in their efforts by Mr. John Ewing of London and Dr. Cunningham of the Plymouth Biological Station. The attempt, however, failed almost at the outset Tanks were constructed on board the steamer, and stocked with lobsters, but within a few days after starting all the crustaceans died. The construction of the tanks was probably faulty. On the last outward trip of the steamer, Mr. Ewing obtained a

dozen fine specimens of lobsters, and handed them over to Mr. Purvis, who safely conveyed nine of them to their destination. These animals, four males and five females, were liberated on a rock-built mole at the entrance to Otago Harbor, where they are likely to thrive, and from whence they will no doubt spread widely. The coast-line, both north and south, is rocky, and is eminently suited for crustaceans. At present it is tenanted by a large crayfish (Palinurus), and it will be an interesting problem to see how the introduced animal will thrive. The crayfish is strongly armed defensively with a strong carapace and stout spiny prominences on its front, and on the anterior limbs. It is extremely common on the coast. But there are no crustaceans with the formidable chelæ of the lobster, and it will most probably be able to more than hold its own. This first shipment is certain to be followed by others, and it is almost safe to predict that in a few years frozen lobsters will form one of the articles of export from New Zealand.

- The fifth annual meeting of the Geological Society of America will, by invitation of the Logan Club of the Canadian Geological Survey, and the Royal Society of Canada, be held in Ottawa, in the House of Commons building. The society will be called to order at 10 o'clock A.M., Wednesday, Dec. 29. An address of welcome will be given by his Excellency, the Governor-General of Canada, with a response by the president. The headquarters will be at the Russell House.

-The eleventh annual meeting of the American Society of Anatomists will be held on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, Dec. 27, 28, and 29; the Society of Morphologists will meet on Tuesday and Wednesday morning, Dec. 27 and 28; and the Society of Physiologists will meet on Wednesday, Dec. 28; all at Princeton, N.J. The papers, so far as announced, are: C. Hart Merriam, The Death-Valley Expedition; Reports upon Marine Biological Laboratories; John A. Rider, University of Pennsylvania, The Sea Isle Laboratory; E. A. Andrews, Johns Hopkins University, A Marine Station in Jamaica; D. Bashford Dean, Columbia College, The Marine Laboratories of Europe; C. O. Whitman, University of Chicago, The Outlook for a Marine Observatory at Woods Holl; Endowment of the American Table at Naples, C. W. Stiles; Botanical Explorations in Florida, W. P. Wilson; The Summer Work of the U. S. Fish Commission Schooner "Grampus," William Libbey, Jr.; Expeditions of the American Museum of Natural History into New Mexico, Wyoming, and Dakota, J. L. Wortman; Annual Discussion, What were the Former Areas and Relations of the American Continent, as Determined by Faunal and Floral Distribution? Introduction and Evidences from Past and Present Distribution of Mammals, W. B. Scott; Evidence from Past and Present Distribution of Reptiles, George Baur; Evidence from Distribution of Birds, J. A. Allen; Evidence from Distribution of Plants, N. L. Britton.

- An International Meteorological Congress, to form one of the many scientific gatherings in Chicago next year while the World's Fair is in progress, is in contemplation; and an Advisory Council of the World's Congress Auxiliary, to arrange for the same, has been appointed. It includes the heads of the national weather bureaus, American and foreign, the chiefs of the State services in this country, and a few other men who have been conspicuously identified with weather science. Very appropriately, Professor Mark W. Harrington, chief of the Weather Bureau, has been designated as chairman of this council. The congress will sit during the week beginning Aug. 21, 1893; and the following classification of topics for discussion has been made: (a) Instruments and methods of observation; (b) theoretical meteorology, including cyclones and secondary storms; (c) climatology; (d) agricultural and hygienic meteorology; (e) marine meteorology; (ƒ) government weather service, including weather telegraphy, predictions, verifications, special thunder-storm and other service; (g) terrestrial magnetism and atmospheric electricity, including magnetic storms, cosmic-magnetic fields, magnetic and electric instruments, lightning and aurora; (h) geologic climate, including the glacial age, quaternary changes in climate, and the testimony of flora and fauna; and (i) meteorologic literature.

To any contributor, on request in advance, one hundred copies of the issue containing his article will be sent without charge. More copies will be supplied at about cost, also if ordered in advance. Reprints are not supplied, as for obvious reasons we desire to circulate as many copies of Science as possible. Authors are, however, at perfect liberty to have their articles reprinted elsewhere. For illustrations, drawings in black and white suitable for photoengraving should be supplied by the contributor. Rejected manuscripts will be returned to the authors only when the requisite amount of postage accompanies the manuscript. Whatever is intended for insertion must be authenticated by the name and address of the writer; not necessarily for publication, but as a guaranty of good faith. We do not hold ourselves responsible for any view or opinions expressed in the communications of our correspondents. Attention is called to the "Wants" column. It is invaluable to those who use it in soliciting information or seeking new positions. The name and address of applicants should be given in full, so that answers will go direct to them. The "Exchange" column is likewise open.

SKETCH OF THE FLORA OF DEATH VALLEY, CALIFORNIA.1

BY FREDERICK VERNON COVILLE, WASHINGTON, D.C. SINCE Death Valley, as shown by the published records of the Weather Bureau,' is the hottest and dryest area known in the United States, and probably in the world, and since the observations of the Death Valley Expedition showed that these extreme climatic conditions are reflected in its vegetable life, a description of this flora has an interest even greater than that incited by the average desert vegetation.

One not familiar with the Mohave and Colorado deserts must imagine broad stretches of treeless plains, out of which rise abrupt mountains, not covered with trees but exhibiting naked faces of rugged rocks with no covering of soil or lichens to conceal even their coloration. In the northern portion of the Mohave Desert region, in which Death Valley lies, the mountain ranges are closer together and the plain is cut up into narrow deep valleys trending in a general north and south direction. The deepest of these is Death Valley, its length about 175 miles, and its greatest breadth from peak to peak about 20 miles. The lowest portion of the valley is a moist plain about 40 miles long by 2 to 6 miles broad, gleaming with salt and alkali. Between this and the mountain faces are sloping gravelly mesas, at some parts of the valley 6 miles broad, at other points entirely absent. The mountains themselves are abrupt and naked, the Funeral Mountains on the east rising 7,000 feet, the Panamints on the west almost 11,000. Upon the crest of the Panamint range is an evergreen forest of pines and junipers.

The salt-flat in the bottom of the valley is quite devoid of vegetation, not because the moisture in the soil is too scant, but because it is so saturated with salt and alkaline compounds that no plant can live upon it.

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The mesa bears a growth of scattered shrubs not sufficient, even at a distance, to conceal the ground between them. larger plant is to be seen except at certain points where, along the line between the mesa and the salt-flat, the sub-soil is sufficiently moist to support the mesquite. This is a low, almost shrub-like, tree which commonly attains a height of 10 to 15 feet. This characteristic then, the absence of trees, may be taken as the most conspicuous feature of the Death Valley vegetation, as it is of the desert in general.

1 In January, 1891, an expedition was sent out by the U. S. Department of Agriculture to explore the region of Death Valley, California, and to make a biological survey of it. About nine months were spent in the field, and the report, now nearly completed, will soon be published by the department. The general botanical features of the region, a full discussion of which will constitute a part of the final report, are here described by the botanist of the expedition.

U. S. Department of Agriculture, Weather Bureau Bulletin No. 1, Notes on the Climate and Meteorology of Death Valley, California, by Mark W. Harrington, Washington, 1892.

The mesas bear, besides the shrubs, a large number of berbaceous plants which, although in late summer and in winter dead and barely noticeable, in the spring months of a rainy year come to be in some places really conspicuous. One of the desert sunflowers (Encelia eriocephala) was at one point so abundant that it even made the mesa appear yellow, at a distance, over an area many rods in extent. The general impression, however, of the traveller who is not a botanist is that the vegetation of the valley consists of clumps of mesquite set here and there along the edge of the salt flat, and a few scattered grease wood and creosote bushes on the mesa.

Not all parts of the mesa are, however, supplied with even so much plant life. At the mouth of Furnace Creek Cañon is a broad slope composed of mixed gravel, sand, and clay, a matrix capable, in some parts of the desert, of supporting a varied flora; but here for hundreds of yards is seen no plant whatever except one of the smallest grease woods (Atriplex hymenelytra), its individuals growing far apart and attaining the height of barely a foot.

In still other portions of the mesa occurred a phenomenon which, if it is here interpreted rightly, is the best index that we have of the intense heat of this region. The higher portions of the mesa are cut up by the dry channels of the streams that follow mountain cloudbursts. Between these channels, which are called sometimes arroyas but oftener washes, are broad blocks of the mesa, whose surface has lain undisturbed for undoubtedly many thousands of years. The surface of the soil is covered closely with a layer of small, flat, water-worn stones which have accumulated on the top of the ground by the gradual washing out of their original clayey matrix. The erosion of the soil has undoubtedly been brought about by the slow agency of direct rainfall. The upper surfaces of the stones have a dark brown, almost black, color, and the dull lustre of a hard-burned brick. The coloration of these stones is ascribed to binoxide of manganese, produced by oxidation due to intense light acting during long periods of time3. These so-called sunburned areas in Death Valley bear no vegetation whatever. Even the two desert annuals, Chorizanthe rigida and Chanactis attenuata, which grow at other points in the hottest spots, are here wanting. The soil, a firm clayey one, is good, and the surface receives just as much rainfall as other parts of the valley. The phenomenon is explained by no hypothesis except that of intense heat, and a consideration of the evidence, in the absence of direct experiment, indicates that such a cause may be quite sufficient.

Experiments by Sachs upon active protoplasm have shown that when subjected to a temperature of 50° C. (122° F.) it ceases to carry on its functions, disintegration sets in, and death follows. But a plant may be situated in an atmosphere whose temperature is higher than this without itself attaining so great a heat; for two causes tend to reduce its temperature, the non-conductive nature of the tissues themselves, and the evaporation that characterizes transpiration. Yet even these sources of protection may be overridden by a still higher temperature. The well-known retention of vitality in the case of the spores of certain fungi after exposure to a temperature of even 212° F. does not indicate that a desert plant can endure a similar degree, for the protoplasm of the fungus spore is not in a state of activity, but that of a germinating or growing plant is.

The Weather Bureau tables, in the bulletin cited above, show five records of a temperature of 122° F. This is the temperature of air sheltered from the effects of radiation. The temperature of air exposed to ordinary conditions of radiation must be somewhat higher than this, and the temperature of gravel pebbles on the surface of the ground still higher; but, according to the principles of molecular physics, the black stones that have been described should reach a degree of heat decidedly greater than either of the other bodies. It is confidently believed that a temperature of from 140° to 150° F. is frequently attained under these conditions, and in such a temperature a growing plant would undoubtedly perish from heat.

That the flora of the valley may be more readily considered, all the species observed there have been arranged in groups. A review of these groups suggests some of the leading characteristics 3 See Annual Report of the Wheeler Survey for 1876, pp. 178, 179.

of the flora. The whole number of species is 136. The group of paludose plants contains 48 names, of which 2 are trees, 6 shrubs, 32 perennials. and 8 annuals. These plants are not representative of the true arid flora of the valley, for they have in most cases an abundant supply of water. Comparatively few of these species are confined to the desert, many of them occur in the humid regions of intramontane California, several extend quite across the southern United States and Mexico, and a few are found throughout the subtropical region of the world. It is a general law, of which this part of the Death Valley flora is but a single example. that aquatic and paludose plants do not follow those laws of distribution which govern a true terrestrial flora.

The second group of plants constitutes the arid flora of the region. Of trees there are none, shrubs 20, perennials 18, and of annuals 50. Fourteen of the perennials are suffrutescent at base and carry on the functions of life throughout the year above ground. Three of the remaining four are grasses, the stems of which also retain some vitality through the winter. One plant only, Cucurbita palmata, is a true perennial, but it does not grow in the very arid parts of the valley, and comes almost in the category of moist-soil plants. Functionally, therefore, the arid flora of Death Valley is made up of shrubs and annuals. The reason for this state of affairs is found in the extreme heat and dryness of the climate, these being the two, or we may almost say the only, types of vegetation adapted to such conditions.

The geographic affinity of the arid flora of Death Valley is clear. A few species, such as Mentzelia reflexa and Oxystylis lutea, are known only in the immediate vicinity of the valley, but nearly all the others are common to the desert region of south-eastern California, Arizona, and north-western Mexico. The topographic position of Death Valley, as the deepest basin (480 feet below sealevel) in this desert area, renders the valley capable of supporting a vegetation belonging characteristically to the southern portion of the region. Several southern species, so far as the present data show, reach their northern limit in Death Valley.

The adaptive modifications of the flora are practically the same as those of the general vegetation of the surrounding desert, and will be discussed in considerable detail in the report of the expedition.

NOCTURNAL SONGSTERS, AND OTHER BIRD-NOTES. BY ROBERT RIDGWAY, M.S., CURATOR OF THE DEPARTMENT OF BIRDS, U. S. NATIONAL MUSEUM.

DR. GIBBS's interesting article on birds that sing in the night, in Science for Dec. 2, reminds me that much may yet be written on this subject. Some of our best songsters are unfortunately not represented in that portion of the country (Michigan) of which Dr. Gibbs writes; otherwise, his list of night singers would not only have been considerably longer, but would have included at least two species, the mocking-bird and the yellow-breasted chat, that are every whit as notable as the nightingale itself. The night-singing habit of the mocking-bird is well known to all who are familiar with this "master of song." It is as much a characteristic of the bird as its powers of mimicry, for not all mocking-birds mimic, of which, however, more presently.

Next to the mocking-bird in this regard, though perhaps it would be better said equally with it, is the yellow-breasted chat, a bird remarkable for the oddity of its song rather than for its musical quality. Its notes are, however, loud and emphatic, and therefore are sure to attract attention whenever heard at nighttime. Its nocturnal song - in no respect that I can discover different from that which it sings by day - has been familiar to me from boyhood, first in southern Illinois, then in California and other far-western States, latterly in Maryland and Virginia. A pair of chats live during summer close by my home (in a suburb of Washington), and few are the nights in May and June when the male does not sing, at more or less frequent intervals, the whole night through. I once thought that moonlight nights were particularly apt to excite birds to sing; but this particular chat kept no account of the almanac. His most brilliant performance, or at least the occasion which most compelled my interest, was during a specially dark night, when I purposely kept

awake to make observations. From the time that darkness settled until 3 o'clock in the morning (when I shortly fell asleep) the longest interval between his songs was twenty minutes, but during the greater portion of the night he had scarcely finished one performance than another was begun.

Several others of our birds may properly be termed “habitual ” night-singers. Here, about my home, I hear every night during the nesting season (unless it be storming) songs of the chipping sparrow, the field sparrow, the indigo bird, and the goldencrowned thrush, or oven bird; not merely once, but repeatedly. The night-song of the last-named bird is quite the same as that which John Burroughs says is the love-song; but I am puzzled to know whether at night, in the darkness, the singer launches from his high perch into the air, as is his habit during the waning light of daytime. I have heard the night-song of the oven bird so often and been so impressed with its exquisite though transient beauty, that I feel sure Burroughs was right when he suggested that Thoreau's "mysterious night-warbler" was really no new bird at all, but one he was otherwise familiar with; in short, was none other than the oven bird. Speaking of Burroughs, recalls an erroneous statement in one of his charming books ("Birds and Poets," p. 98). He says: "No bird can look our winters in the face and sing, as do many of the English birds." Surely had he passed a winter south of the parallel of 40° in the United States he could hardly have made this assertion. Here about Washington, and westward to beyond the Mississippi, the Carolina wren sings the winter long; and the colder, more crisp, the weather, if only the wind does not blow, the louder rings his powerful carol. So, also, does the tufted titmouse heed not the cold of winter, but bravely whistles his cheery tune of pé to, pé to, pé to some would not call it a song, but it is loud and clear enough, and surely is no mere call-note. The cardinal, too, sings more or less all winter, and so do the white throated and tree sparrows, though there are periods, caused doubtless by meteorological conditions, to us intangible, but of which the birds take note, when birds are little heard.

Among the many myths of popular bird-lore is that of the mocking-birds' habit of mimicry, of which a hint was given in a previous paragraph. In making this statement I would emphasize the word habit, as distinguished from the term faculty; since I would not for a moment deny this bird's ability (as a rule) to mimic far better than any other. The point is, that mimicry is not so much a habit of the mocking-bird as most people suppose. The reason for the popular error is very simple: The natural song of the mocking-bird is so varied, and is characterized by such wonderful compass, rapidity of change, and brilliancy of execution that persons not specially familiar with birds' notes naturally suppose the medley to be in large part borrowed; and the listener is further confirmed in this belief by the more or less frequent interpolation of what he recognizes as unquestionable imitations of the notes of other birds. Individual mocking-birds differ greatly in the character and quality of their songs, some being inveterate mimics while others seldom if ever spoil their own incomparable song by imitation. I recently possessed one of the best songsters of this species it was ever my pleasure to hear. His song was wholly his own; almost infinitely varied, wonderfully mellow and clear, bewildering in the rapidity of its changes, and surpassingly brilliant in execution. Yet, with all this, if any one of his notes suggested the note of any other bird I am sure it was not intentional.

Not only do birds' songs differ materially according to the individual, but often each individual possesses a more or less extensive repertoire, the separate parts or tunes of which are so different from one another that, heard without the singer being seen, they might readily be attributed to different birds. This is particularly true of the cardinal grosbeak; and I have not the slightest doubt some observers have received an unfavorable impression of this bird's song from having first, or perhaps only, heard one of the less attractive tunes of an individual which half an hour later might be singing a song totally different, and far finer. A pet cardinal, which I had for several years, sang six very distinct songs, besides minor variations. A remarkable peculiarity of this bird (though one which I believe to be characteristic of the species)

The notes of many cardinal grosbeaks are clear and tender far sweeter than the mellowest notes of fife or flageolet.

One of my most welcome bird-guests last summer was a summer tanager, whose favorite singing station was the summit of a tall scrub pine-tree in a corner of my yard. All day long, from May till August, no matter how hot the sun, he sang, robin-like, this song: Ter-whit'-ter-way,— BRING him HERE; ter-whit'-ter-way, BRING him HERE (repeated incessantly, with very strong emphasis and rising inflection on the "here"). Another male of the same species, whose nest was in a neighboring pine grove, answered thus: BRING-him-HERE, chip'-way, BRING-him-HERE, BRING-him-HERE.

This beautiful tanager and the red-eyed virio are midsummer and midday songsters. Perhaps it is because they are representatives of tropical families that they do not mind the intense heat of the dog-days, but sing cheerily, the former from the tip-top of some tree taller than those about it, his glowing red plumage receiving, it may be, increased refulgence from the burning rays of the sun, the latter, of modest olive-green and whitish garb, as he busily gleans his insect food among the shady leafage of the forest trees.

The subject of midday songsters brings me again to John Burroughs, who, always charming and usually accurate in his descriptions of bird-life, sometimes (like the rest of us) makes mistakes. The bird involved is the grass finch, for which he prefers the name vesper sparrow (since adopted by the American Ornithologists' Union), and all he says of it is true and eminently characteristic except the statement that "his song is most noticeable after sundown, when other birds are silent," which does not accord with my own experience in midland Virginia, where, in extensive fields of a large farm, numbers were heard singing sweetly through the hottest part of the hottest day of a hot summer, the time being about 1 o'clock P.M., the date July 4, 1887, and the temperature 103° in the shade!

But the habits of birds do vary, and one day's observations, in the same locality, may quite contradict those of a previous occasion; therefore, only repeated observations, under varying circumstances of time and place, can give us an approximately correct knowledge of the habits of any species.

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How are Young Spiders Fed?

IN my rambles for botanical specimens in the last three years, many new and curious things have been thrust upon my attention in the insect world, and these I have recorded for future use. One fact in particular struck my attention, and I herewith submit it to the readers of Science, partly to record the fact, and partly to ask if any other readers of your excellent periodical have ever observed a similar fact.

We have been taught by the best works on spiders that the young of spiders derive their food mostly from the atmosphere. The Encyclopædia Britannica " confirms this view.

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On the 19th day of June, 1891, I discovered, in a ploughed

field, an enormous spider of the Lycosida species, which was 14 inches long. She presented a very curious appearance, being covered with scores of tiny spiders from one end of her body to the other. When I touched her with a weed stem the young spiders scampered off at a lively rate, only to return when left to themselves. The spinnarets and abdomen of the mother-spider were greatly distended. Suddenly, there was a copious flow of white liquid which the young greedily devoured. Examining the fluid under my microscope, I was fully convinced that this was veritable milk, and that this spider, at least, nursed her young, instead of bringing them up on atmospheric moisture. I should be glad to know if any readers of Science have ever observed a similar occurrence. JOHN W. SANBORN. Naples, N.Y.

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Palæolithic Man: A Last Word.

THE world was growing old apace, just as it is now, when Man first entered upon the scene here in the valley of the DelaOver the hills and along every lowland water-course forests grew, died, fell, and decayed, helping to make that deep deposit of soil which now covers the gravel and sand that agencies no longer active had spread over the surface of the land. Just what was the outlook that presented itself when the first Man or Men looked about them, we can only conjecture. Mr. McGee claims that the evidence favors the view that the soil had formed, the forests were old, pines had succeeded oaks, and oaks succeeded pines, and the elk, deer, and bear were the chief sources of food-supply to the wandering hunter that, reaching out from his native land, came, saw, and conquered the valley of the Delaware. But is this true? Has he or has any one so carefully studied the soil-making period that all doubt is dissipated and shown that the Indian of historic time can only trace his ancestry back to so recent a time as when the brute creation that still lingers on our frontiers was its sole occupant? If the reader, curious in such matters, will look into the literature of this subject, he will find that the evidence has been produced time and again to show that with the very commencement of this soilmaking period, are so intimately associated abundant traces of a tool-making creature a man - and in such a manner associated, that the suggestion that all such objects of human origin are "intrusive," has no real weight.

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Sections of undisturbed soil, sand, and gravel are not difficult to make and when we find that as a result of a large series of such, we have a uniform result, we are bound, if reasonable men, to accept such as the truth. Now this has been done, as I have said, and the fact obtained that relics of man of a very rude character underlie those of a more elaborate one. In an earlier publication I have ventured to call the former "fossil implements and the later ones "Indian relics;" although, of course, they were all made, I believe, by the same people, but at different times. The apparent contradiction that rude and elaborate alike are found on the disturbed surface has no bearing upon the question. What the plow or spade has displaced has no longer ar archæological significance, save as to its import as a tool or weapon of a particular character. A stone axe is an axe wherever and however found, but if it has been tossed about the fields or washed by a freshet from its original resting-place, what more can we say than that it is an axe? On the other hand, if in a section through the soil and underlying sand we find rude argillite implements and the very rudest pottery, and above them, wholly in the soil, axes, celts, pipes, and pottery of more artistic finish; find this not once, but always; then we have the right to, indeed cannot honestly do otherwise, assert that the deeper, sand-encompassed objects antedate those which occur only in the over-lying soil. This holds good in archæological research in any part of the world, and is just as true as that in building a city to-day, we are building upon the ruins of an Indian village, or at least on ground where once the Indian passed and re-passed, even if he did not tarry long.

But can we go back a step farther? If we can do so elsewhere on the globe, I hold that it is warranted to do so here and for the same reasons. The geologists to effectively prevent this must show that the earth previously was uninhabitable; that the phy