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were keeping the same company. Thus had at least seven wholly distinct species of birds belonging to widely separate families and orders huddled together in one spot while the rest of the woods presented the utmost stillness and lifelessness.—LESTER F. WARD.

November, 13, 1876.

A "Stand-off" between Snake and Frog.-The article in your last issue, entitled "Unusual Accidents to Birds," in which the fact of a stout beetle perforating the oesophagus and skin of the neck of a night-hawk is noted, reminds me of an equally curious circumstance of a similar kind. Many years ago, I caught a snake (Eutania sirtalis) which had partly swallowed a frog hind end foremost. The head and shoulders of the frog were still sticking out of the snake's mouth; and the frog with its vigorous hind legs had scratched and kicked through each side of the snake's gullet and skin of the neck. A curious fix for both animals! The snake could neither finish swallowing the frog, nor let him go; the frog, having freed its hind legs, had nothing left to kick against, and was equally helpless, with its hind legs sprawling from each side of the snake's neck. The snake was too large for the frog to hop away with, and the frog had fatally injured the snake. They were the most woe-begone couple I ever saw; each and "caught a tartar," and neither could get rid of the other. I bottled the precious pair, and kept them for some time in alcohol as the chief-treasures of my boyish museum.-ELLIOTt Coues.

GLEANINGS IN FOREIGN FIELDS.

Caterpillars.-If the experiment related below has never been. made before, it appears to me deserving of notice in reference to instict and evolution. The successful result of the experiment in a single case last year led me to repeat it on a somewhat larger scale this autumn. On September 25 I placed a number of the caterpillars of Pieris brassica in boxes, and fed them with cabbage till they began to spin up. As soon as they had attached themselves by the tail and spun the suspensory girdle, and therefore before the exclusion of the chrysalis, I cut the girdle and caused them to hang vertically by the tail in the manner of the Suspendi. More than half of the caterpillars had been ichneumonized, and some accidents to the others

finally reduced the number in which the experiment was fairly tried to eight. Of these, three came out successfully, the chrysalids maintaining their hold of the caterpillar-skin until they had succeeded in fastening themselves by their anal hooks to the silk to which the catpillars were attached. The other five, as might have been expected of all, fell to the ground for want of the suspensory girdle. Counting the case last year, here then are no less than four out of nine caterpillars of the Succincti, when artificially placed in the conditions of the Suspendi, adapting themselves to circumstances so greatly changed, and whether by plasticity of instinct or reversion to ancestral habit accomplishing a very difficult operation no less successful.-Nature.

The Locust in England.-Mr. H. W. Livett writes to Science Gossip, that a specimen of the true migratory Locust, Pachytylus mi

[graphic][subsumed][merged small]

gratorius, was recently found in a bean-field near Wells, Somerset. Upon comparison, it was identical with specimens in his cabinet from Australia and Egypt, and was very different from the large green grass

hopper, Acrida viridissima, often found in his locality. The specimen. measured about four inches asross the wings, which were of a greenish hue, the wing cases and body being brown. This species is supposed to be the locust mentioned in the Scriptures by the prophet Joel.

EDITORIAL PENCILLINGS.

THE GRASSHOPPER BILL IN CONGRESS.-In the House of Representatives, December 18, 1876, Mr. Hatcher, from the fourth district of Missouri introduced the following bill, making appropration for a commission to investigate and report upon the best means of destroying or providing remedies against the plague of locusts:

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in Congress assembled, that the sum of twenty-five thousand dollars be, and the same is hereby, appropriated, out of any money in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated, for the purpose of paying the salaries and expenses of a commission to consist of three entomologists and two Western men who have had experience with the locusts, to be appointed by the Secretary of the Interior, and whose duty it shall be to examine into the history and habits of the said locusts, and make report thereon; and also suggest such means of destroying them, or remedies against them as their investigations shall prove most practicable.

Congress has taken a step in the right direction in introducing a bill looking toward a solution of the grasshopper question, and the next proper step will be to pass the bill promptly, that the commission may be appointed, and thoroughly organized before spring opens. In the October number of this journal we gave our views on this subject, and it is not necessary to repeat them here, further than to urge the necessity of sending into the field practical entomologists, who are used to field work; those who will settle or try to settle the questions as to where these insects come from, and the locality and extent of their feeding grounds before they suddenly make their appearance in the vast hordes that sweep down in a night upon our farming lands.

We are satisfied that much good can be accomplished by this commission, but how much remains to be seen. Of course the total extermination of the pests, is a thing not likely to be accomplished, but we confidentially believe that with a proper knowledge of their habits and natural history, and of their movements during various portions

of the year, that such barriers may be thrown around them in their future incursions, as shall be tl e means of saving millions to the farming communities, and to the States which have been the scenes of their devastations.

OUR BOOK SHELF.

SEVENTH ANNUAL REPORT OF THE GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF INDIANA for 1875, by E. T. Cox, State Geologist, assisted by PROF. JOHN COLLET, PROF. W. W. BORDEN, and DR. G. M. LEVETTE. Indianapolis 1876.

This is an octavo volume of six hundred pages, and contains, in addition to reports by the gentlemen named, detailed reports upon the geology of a number of counties, by Dr. Moses N. Elrod, Dr. E. S. McIntire, and gentlemen connected with the survey; a report on Fossil Marine Plants by Prof. Lesquereux, and a catalogue of the Flora of the Wabash Valley by Dr. Schneck. Dr. Levette has also a report on the Depth and Temperature of some of the Lakes of Northern Indiana. The whole forms a valuable book of reference, though in regard to the catalogue, we think the species should have been numbered consecutively, instead of merely numbering the species of each genus.

THE AMERICAN JOURNAL OF MICROSCOPY and POPULAR SCIENce, VolUME I. Edited by JOHN PHIN. [Pp. 144. Illust.] New York, Handicraft Publication Co., 1876.

This nicely printed little volume contains much interesting reading matter, not only upon the various subjects pertaining to microscopy, but upon entomology and kindred sciences, and is well worth the subscription price, 50 cents a year, payable in advance. We welcome it to our exchange list.

THE EVOLUTION, A Weekly Review of Politics, Religion, Science, Literature and Art, Edited by JAS. D. BELL. Volume I, Number I. New York, published January 6, 1877. Subscription price $5.00 per

annum.

FERTILIZATION OF PLANTS BY INSECT AGENCY, and other papers by THOMAS MEEHAN. From the Proceedings of the Philadelphia Academy of Natural Sciences.

INCREASE ALLEN LAPHAM. A Memorial read before the Wisconsin Natural History Society, by Charles Mann.

A MONTHLY JOURNAL

DEVOTED TO THE NATURAL SCIENCES.

VOL. II.-FEBRUARY, 1877.-No. 8.

Ornithological Notes from Texas.

During a brief sojourn in the Brazos River Valley, Waller County, Texas, in the interest of the U. S. Fish Commission, I succeeded. in making a few observations on the ornithology of that region. My notes are to a great extent incomplete and fragmentary, as my time was limited to a few days, while I was obliged to make ornithology a secondary matter on account of other business. However, I hope they may contain some facts of interest to the student of geographical distribution, if to no one else. Frequent delays on the railroad through Kansas, Indian Territory and Northern Texas, gave me an opportunity of taking a few notes in that section, that will hardly come amiss under the above head.

My attention was particularily called to the great number of Archibuteo lagopus, on the praries of Indian Territory and Kansas; even where not a shrub or tree was in sight, the telegraph poles along the M. K. and T. Railroad, from which they may watch for their favorite Arvicolae, and thus alleviate the necessity of too much exertion on the wing; this may be judging their capacity or inclination rather harshly, but they seem disposed to take life pretty easy, and are satisfied with such vulgar prey as would be spurned by their more vigorous and hightoned relatives. They seem very reluctant to leave their perches even on the approach of the train; I often saw them merely fly to the ground a few rods from the track, wait until the train had passed, and immediately resume their former post. From fifteen to twenty could be seen at a time; and in the vicinity of streams many perch upon

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