1916] The Ottawa Naturalist. 21 



There is an old saying that "he who takes what is to hand 

 will never want." This was true of the Indians before the 

 white man came among them. They always had enough to 

 eat, such as it was. Now they sometimes suffer from hunger. 

 Once they had the whole country to roam over, to hunt, fish, 

 pick berries and gather roots. Now the area is circumscribed, 

 and the habits of a people cannot be changed in one or two 

 generations. An Indian friend of mine made this remark: 

 "I'm afraid we are trying to be white men too rapidly." 



The list of plants given above is not by any means com- 

 plete, but enough has been given to show that the "poor 

 Siwash " took what was at hand. 



SOME NOTES ON FOSSIL COLLECTING, AND ON THE 



EDRIOSATEROIDEA. 



By George H. Hudson. 



The timely and valuable paper by Dr. E. M. Kindle on 

 "Fossil Collecting," which appeared in The Ottawa Natura- 

 list for January, 1916, has led me to present certain notes and 

 problems belonging to the same subject. 



We may group the history of fossil collecting into three 

 overlapping periods or stages. At first specimens were saved 

 out of simple curiosity, and in the "cabinet" they found them- 

 selves associated with minerals, archaeological specimens and 

 objects of recent historic interest. In this stage only the more 

 showy or curious forms were preserved, and a trilobite might 

 find a setting within the coil of a hangman's rope. 



In the second stage the principle focus of interest was also 

 the "cabinet," but this reflected more of the developing indivi- 

 duality or intellectual advancement of the collector, in that it 

 showed a more restricted field and a devotion to its amplifi- 

 cation. Certain persons limited themselves to fossils only, and 

 came to value their collection by the number of markedly dis- 

 tinct species presented, and by the perfection of the specimens. 

 Duplicates were saved principally for purposes of exchange, and 

 closely allied species or varieties were rejected as not being 

 typical. The idea of the fixity of species was responsible for 

 this attitude. This stage was of the same type as that displayed 

 in coin or postage-stamp collecting, save that it was less dis- 

 criminating ; for in the latter groups an exceedingly slight change 

 in die or plate often enhanced the value of the specimen. As 



