HABDWICKE'S SCIENCE -GO S SIP 



snow still covers the higher slopes and summits, 

 where later on the rarer species are to be found. 



As this is the hottest period of the year, too 

 much or too heavy clothing is an incumbrance. A 

 light tweed suit, a waterproof in a case, slung across 

 the back, and a light portmanteau with an extra 

 suit, flat, to go under the seat in the railway, will 

 be fouud sufficient. Unless the botanist has only a 

 few days at his disposal, or wishes generously to 

 provide for a large circle of scientific friends, he 

 will do well to eschew the vasculum. A book made 

 either of wood or leather, and carried on the back, 

 preserves the plants far better, and if the traveller 

 arrives late and tired at his destination, they can be 

 left till the morrow, without any fear of their being 

 spoilt. The flower-press should not be made of 

 solid boards, but of laths joined together, with 

 space left between to allow the humidity to escape- 

 Grooves should be made to hold the straps firmly, 

 and wedges are very useful to increase the pressure. 

 It is better still, if some days are spent in one place, 

 to put heavy stones in the press, which should be 

 exposed as much as possible to the heat of the sun. 

 Plenty of drying-paper should be taken, as Eng- 

 lish paper is far better than any other. This, as 

 plants should be changed frequently, and several 

 empty sheets should be placed between each series of 

 plants, is the great secret of success. 1 have found 

 the following plan to answer well and save trouble. 

 Sew three or four sheets of paper together, which 

 we will call mattresses. Place the plants, carefully 

 spread out, Oetween single sheets, leaving them 

 untouched until dry, but placing a mattress above 

 each sheet containing plants. The mattresses should 

 be changed daily and carefully dried before they are 

 again used. Books on botany tell us to press plants 

 lightly at first, gradually increasing the pressure, 

 but I have found them dry best if well pressed from 

 the first. If the botanist provides himself with a 

 well-spiked alpenstock, he will find it answer every 

 purpose for uprooting plants. Spuds, &c, worn 

 round the waist are an incumbrance, and are fre- 

 quently lost. A fine day should, if possible, be 

 selected for collecting, as plants dry badly if 

 gathered in a wet state. It is not advisable to col- 

 lect cryptogams at the same time as flowering 

 plants, as they require great and special attention. 

 A large waterproof bag should be taken for mosses, 

 and also a good stock of extra strong paper. Each 

 species should be carefully wrapped up in this, and 

 spread out and dried as soon as possible in the same 

 way as flowering; plants, but using less pressure. A 

 portfolio is useful to carry them in, as they are 

 generally too damp for the society of other plants. It 

 is better to prepare them at once, and not to revive 

 them with water later on, as 1 have found such speci- 

 mens lose their lustre and also their peculiar habits 

 of growth. 



Lichens require no preparation. I have found 



light wooden cigarette boxes secured with an elastic 

 useful for carrying them. But they take up much 

 room, and do not pack well with other plants. 



I trust these few remarks may be of some ser- 

 vice. If any one can improve upon my suggestion, 

 I hope he will give me the benefit of his experience 

 in the pages of Science- Gossip. 



T. Howse, F.L.S. 



THE BIG-EABED SUNFISH. 



(Ichthelis appendix^) 



THEBE is not a juvenile angler between Canada 

 and Texas that is not fully posted as to the 

 habits and haunts of our several " sunfishes," 

 members of the family Ichthelidce ; short and broad 

 highly coloured percoids, numbering in species 

 nearly two score. " Sunnies " they are generally 

 called, but up in Massachusetts they have been 

 dubbed "pumpkin-seeds," as I have been told. In 

 the five great lakes and some of our large rivers, 

 these fish reach a good size, and are considered 

 marketable ; but in the little creeks, ponds, and out- 

 of-the-way holes in wet meadows, they seldom grow 

 very large ; one five inches long being considered 

 very rare, marking, when caught, a " red letter " 

 day in the captor's experience. 



We will now confine our remarks to the species 

 named at the heading of this article,— the well- 

 known "big-ear" or "ruddy rudder," as some call 

 it, from the colour of the tail. Here, let us now 

 clearly state, that the remarks on the habits of this 

 fish apply to it as found in our neighbourhood 

 (Central New Jersey), and may not correctly de- 

 scribe the same fish as found in distant and far 

 different waters. After many years' study of the 

 habits of our fresh-water fishes, we have found that 

 a considerable variation in habits and character of 

 haunts obtains, on comparing notes made, say one 

 hundred miles apart. It is a question, perhaps, 

 whether this variation in the habits of fishes is due 

 to internal, i. e. physiological, or to external, i. e. 

 physico-geographical causes ; whether they are 

 controlled by the physical geography of their sur- 

 roundings, or of " their own free will " they elect to 

 do differently. If fishes are automata, then their 

 surroundings decide the manner of their doings; but 

 if, as we believe, they know what they are about, 

 then they vary in their habits of their own choice ; 

 but then, as this choice has certainly been influenced 

 by the nature of the haunts they frequent, physical 

 geography, after all, has had a good deal to do with 

 it. 



In a deep pool, on the lower side of a huge out- 

 cropping rock, that' breaks the swift current of the 

 Delaware river, full many a time have we thrown a 

 line, baited with a struggling grasshopper, and 

 without waiting but for a moment, drawn a gaudy 

 "big-ears" from his favourite haunt. In just such 



