or unwound at full length. It was contractile, also, and quickly jerked the body beneath the sand when alarmed.

But the most startling discovery in connection with this interesting animal was the fact, that its blood was red. This was strongly marked in the gills, which were found in the shape of a series of rows of simple lamellæ, hanging from the internal surface of the mouth; thus proving the correctness of Vogt's observations from alcoholic specimens. At times the peduncle would become conjested, and a deep rose blush was markedly distinct. The sexes were distinct.

The writer believes the Brachiopods to be true articulates, having cer tain affinities with the crustacea, but properly belonging to the worms, coming nearest the tubicolous annelids. They may better be regarded as forming a comprehensive type, with general articulate features. Possibly they have affinities with the mollusks, through the homologies pointed out by Allman as existing between the Polyzoa and Tunicates.

It is interesting to remember that Lingula, though one of the earliest animals created, has yet remained essentially the same through all geological ages to the present time. - EDWARD S. MORSE.

Fig. 76.

Fig. 77.

Fig. 78.

987

Fig. 76. Peduncle perfect, retaining a portion of the sand tube.

Fig. 77. Showing the valves in motion; the peduncle broken and new sand case being formed. Fig. 78. Peduncle broken close to body and sand case being formed.

THE RUBY CROWNED WREN. In reply to Mr. Allen's question, I may state positively that, according to my experience, the adult fertile female is "ruby-crowned" like the male. She is perhaps a trifle smaller, not quite so brightly colored, and with the flame-colored patch possibly of a little less extent; but she cannot be distinguished from the male with certainty, except on dissection, and even then it is not always easy to determine from slight inspection, unless the organs are enlarged in functional activity. The barren or sickly female may possibly not acquire the ornament. Birds of both sexes lack it for at least a year; whether they breed or not with plain heads I do not know. These come along in spring in the rear of the mature birds; they are most abundant at the time when the latter are about leaving. - ELLIOTT COUES.

GEOLOGY.

GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF IOWA. The legislature of this state has discontinued the survey which was being so ably conducted by Dr. C. A. White. This seems inexplicable in a state which must necessarily be very largely benefited by the exploration and discovery of its natural resources. Legislatures, however, are not governed by the same rational laws of self interest which actuate private corporations and individuals. Though single mining and manufacturing companies consider it necessary to employ an engineer or a chemist, the legislatures are far too poor or too anxious about the next election to pay any attention to the development of the natural resources and mining interest of the state. Provision has been made, however, for the publication of the State Geologist's Report, which is to be completed in the same style as the Illinois Geological Survey.

NEW FOSSIL TURKEY. At the meeting of the Philadelphia Academy of Natural Sciences, March 8th, Professor O. C. Marsh of Yale College, exhibited a number of fossil remains from the Post-tertiary deposits of Monmouth county, New Jersey, which indicate a new and distinct type of birds, closely related, apparently, to the turkey, and not unlikely the progenitors of the existing species. The specimens shown were portions of three skeletons, of different ages, which belonged to birds about the size of the common wild turkey (Meleagris gallopavo Linn.), although proportionally much taller. The tibia and tarso-metatarsal bones were, in fact, so elongated, as to resemble those of wading birds. These interesting remains were referred provisionally by Professor Marsh to the genus Meleagris, and the species they represent was named Meleagris altus.

MICROSCOPY.

CIRCULATION OF THE LATEX IN THE LATICIFEROUS VESSELS. - Within a few days I have repeated some experiments (first made more than fifteen years since) upon the circulation of the latex in the laticiferous vessels of the leaf of Chelidonium majus, to which I desire to call attention.

Before detailing these experiments it ought, perhaps, to be stated that Amici, Dutrochet and Mohl deny any visible motion in them except such as is the result of injury; while Schleiden says "that in the uninjured vessels, the motion of the latex can very seldom be successfully shown;" even in Chelidonium majus it is only occasionally possible, and then presents great optical difficulties.

Now, I find, by potting a young plant of this kind, and placing any young leaf between two strips of glass (upon which a drop of glycerine has been put) in such a manner as to bring the under side of the leaf up

permost on the stage of the microscope, so as to throw the strong reflected sunlight upon it from the mirror below, that;

First, there is occasionally either a nearly total want of motion or only a very slow one of the colored granules, or at times a very rapid motion of the particles to be seen, running from right to left, if the vessel happens to run horizontally on the stage, or toward me if the vessel runs from the outer to the inner border of the stage, and

Secondly, that while watching the circulation as seen through the lenses in the reflected sunlight, if I move the diaphragm from left to right, so as to make the shadow enter upon the right of the field of view, a brisk circulation (no matter how quiet it had been before) is instantly witnessed, which appears to be changed in direction as we move the diaphragm back again; and that the direction of the circulation can thus be changed at will by the interception of the sunlight. This same result can also be witnessed by the passage of clouds between the sun and mirror. The actual direction in the plant is from the apex of the leaf in sunlight and toward it in the shade. This change in direction is so rapid when produced by the shadow of fast flitting clouds across the sun's disc that it would seem that the change of temperature could hardly be felt by the plant, it certainly could not be by an ordinary thermometer; but a heated body properly placed will quicken the circulation, as will cold retard it. If I mistake not we have here a fine demonstration of the conversion of light into heat by its passage through the vegetable tissues, and of heat into motion by its action upon the laticiferous vessels.

Prof. Balfour in the Article Botany, "Ency. Brit.," says that in plants with milky and colored juices evident movements have been perceived, and mentions the calyx leaves of Chelidonium majus, as also the Indiarubber plant, the gutta-percha tree, the dandelion, and the Euphorbia; and through your journal, should you think this article worth insertion, I would ask assistance in the examination of this interesting subject. By mixing a little of the colored juice with alcohol, and adding a little water, it will be seen that the motion of the liquids in the vessels cannot be the result of evaporation. And that it is not an ocular illusion may be argued from the fact that three independent observers witnessed the changes of motion as above described. — H. C. PERKINS, M. D., Newburyport.

Note, May 12. I have just examined the circulation of the latex in the laticiferous vessels of Leontodon taraxacum under the same circumstances as that of Chelidonium and am pleased to find precisely the same results. - H. C. P.

DOES BOILING DESTROY GERMS? This question cropped up in the course of the Pasteur and Pouchet controversy on Heterogeny, and it appeared that there are some germs that are not destroyed by hoiling, but which require a temperature some degrees (10° or 12°, we believe) above boiling. This is another simple problem for microscopists. - Monthly Microscopical Journal.

ANTHROPOLOGY.

ARCHEOLOGICAL IMPOSTURES.- To hoax is eminently an American proclivity or habit, a kind of friskiness not without a tinge of mischief, and always reckless, which pervades our society far and wide, and which is gratified by creating what is called "a sensation." Sometimes there is a sinister or selfish motive behind, and a deliberate imposture is practiced with the view to pecuniary advantage. Of this the "Aztec children" and the " Onondaga giant" are clear examples. The latter fraud, it is to be hoped, is defunct; the former flourished for years after it had been thoroughly exposed.

I have hunted down a score or more of these frauds on popular credulity, only to find a dozen others springing up in the place of each one slaughtered. Skeletons of giants resolving themselves into bones of the mastodon; great jawbones fitting over the faces of common mortalsjust as though two spoons of equal size could not fit into or over each other-inscribed plates, such as of mica discolored by infiltrations of iron, etc., etc., ad nauseam. Not long ago I received a letter from a savant in Vienna, regretting that I had not given" a full and particular account' of the extraordinary vault, with its statues and inscriptions that had been discovered in the rocks of the Palisades of the Hudson, and hoping that I would prevail upon some competent western correspondent to make a farther careful examination of the recently discovered ancient tunnel under the Mississippi River, opposite St. Louis! During the last summer I received a note from a gentleman, whose name is not unknown as a north-western explorer, enclosing a slip from a Kansas paper, giving an account of the discoveries of "Professor Henry L. Scott, LL. D., of Georgetown, Ky.," near Evanstown, Shelby Co., Utah, in one of the cañons of Rear River in the Uintah Mountains. I quote from the article: "Having secured the help of some half dozen men, Professor Scott immediately directed his course towards the South, where a bastard canon starts out from one of the Uintah spurs. Fortunately he had with him a half-breed who could converse with the Shoshones, who range all through that section, and through the interpretor he learned from Wa-pa-on-ta (Stag), a sub-chief of the Shoshones, that about fifteen miles from Evanston was a mound of extraordinary dimensions. The Professor immediately repaired to the place, and to his great gratification discovered a tumulus of as fair and positive proportions as any described by Squier and Davis. He immediately commenced the work of excavation, and in three days had the inexpressible pleasure of laying bare what was certainly a vault. He found a cavity about eight feet long, three wide, and four deep. Its bottom, sides and ends were made of triangular shaped stones, evidently quarried from the red granite of the Wasatch range. There was no top or covering to the vault, but from the nature and color of the earth immediately over it, the Professor thinks that an arch of burned clay had been used. But one skeleton was found, which on exposure, immediately crumbled into dust; it appeared to indicate that of a man not over five feet ten inches. The bones lay east and west- the skull east. At the foot, and apparently between the feet, was found an ordinary-shaped earthen pot, with a capacity perhaps of half a gallon, cone-shaped, and without any mark or engraving whatever on it. Along the left side lay an iron bracelet with a spring clasp, perfectly preserved. On each side of the skull were two medicine stones, shaped like a cigar, full of holes, and of half-pound weight.

The stones were very similar to Tennessee marble or Scotch granite. On the right side of the skeleton the Professor found a silver plate about the size and exactly the shape of an artist's palette. No mark whatever was distinguishable on this piece, but it is of the purest silver. It may have been used as a shield, though the Professor inclines to the belief that it was a "charm," and that the skeleton was that of some medicine man or priest."

I replied to my correspondent that I thought the whole story a “hoax,” but if it would please him would soon find out if it were or not. I accordingly addressed a letter to the editor of the paper in which the article originally appeared, asking him on what authority the publication was made. He answered that it had been written by a sub-editor (giving his name) who, however, had left his employ, but to whom he would forward my letter. A few days ago I secured a note from the sub-editor aforesaid, in which he says:

"To be frank with you, Explorations in Utah' was a sensation, written to offset the forthcoming report of Professor Powell in the Colorado Canons,' and Colonel Samuel Adams' in Colorado,' both of which have since appeared. From personal observation in the region mentioned, I know both reports to be very erroneous."

I should perhaps mention that "Professor Scott's" explorations were alleged to have been undertaken under the belief that the race of the mound builders of the Mississippi Valley had migrated to Mexico and Central Mexico, and that traces of their transit might be found on the way.-E. G. SQUIER.

ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS.

T. Dupuy, M. D.-Your specimens though inconveniently small for determination, are: 1, Polypodium incanum; 2, Aspidium patens; 3, Parmelia pertata variety olire torum; 4, Ramilina fraxinea; 5, Parmelia speciosa variety gramelifera. Southern species of lichens and ferns are very acceptable. Send along some more. Your remarks upon the Tillandsia usneoides are interesting; may we hear more from you on the hab its of the plants of your vicinity?-J. L. R.

BOOKS RECEIVED.

Annual Meteorological Synopsis. By J. B. Trembley, M.D., Toledo, Ohio. Pamph. 1870. The One Hundred Dollar Prize Essay on the Cultivation of the Potato. By D. H. Compton. 8vo, pamph. Illustrated. Orange Judd & Co. New York, 1870. (25 cts).

The Geological Surrey of Ohio, its Progress in 1869. Report of an Address delivered to the Legislature of Ohio, February 7, 1870. By J. S. Newberry, Chief Geologist. 8vo, pamph. 1879, Narrative of a Bear Hunt in the Adirondacks. Read before the Albany Institute, January 18, 1870. By Verplanck Colvin, 8vo, pamph. J. Munsell. Albany, 1870.

Proceedings Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia. No. 4. December, 1869. Discourse on the Life and Character of George Peabody. By S. T. Wallis. Peabody Institute

of Baltimore. 8vo, pamph. 1870.

Journal of the Queckett Microscopical Club. No. 10. R. Hardwicke, for the Club. (18, a number.)

April, 1870. 8vo. Plates. London.

Alaska and its Resources. By W. H. Dall. Large 8vo. Cloth. 628 pages. Many Illustrations and Map. Boston, 1870. Lee & Shepard. $7.50.

First Annual Report of the Geological Survey of Indiana, made during the year 1869. By E. T. Cox, State Geologist, assisted by Messrs. Bradley, Haymond and Levette. Svo, cloth. pp. 240. 4 maps. Indianapolis, 1869.

On Existing Remains of the Gare-Fowl (Alca impennis). By Alfred Newton. [From "The Ibis" for April, 1870.]

Contributions to the Theory of Natural Selection. A Series of Essays. By Alfred Russel Wallace. pp. 384. 12mo. cloth. London and New York. 1870. Macmillan & Co.

The Naturalist's Guide in Collecting and Preserving Objects of Natural History, with a Com plete Catalogue of the Birds of Eastern Massachusetts. By C. J.Maynard. Illustrated. pp. 170. 12mo, cloth. Boston, 1870. Fields, Osgood & Co. [$2.00.]

Annals of the Lyceum of Natural History of New York. Vol. ix. No. 10. April, 1870.
Naturalist's Note Book. April and May, 1870. London.

Universal Decimal Weight, Measure and Coinage Association. Circular No. 1. May, 1870. On the Pre-Carboniferous Floras of North-eastern America, with special reference to that of the Erian (Devonian) Period. Abstract of the Bakerian Lecture. By J. W. Dawson. [From Proceedings Royal Society. Loudon, 1870.]