854 



THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 



large genus, and is found throughout the 

 greater portion of the north temperate region 

 of both hemispheres from eastern Europe 

 across northern Asia and over the western 

 two thirds of America. About thirty-five 

 species and subspecies are found in the 

 United States, most of which are restricted 

 to the arid and subarid region west of the 

 Rocky Mountains. Throughout their range, 

 wherever the land is under cultivation, they 

 are among the most destructive of mammals, 

 feeding on grain, fruit, and garden vegeta- 

 bles to such an extent that the losses from 

 their depredations must be counted in hun- 

 dreds of thousands of dollars. Several States 

 have paid large bounties for their destruction, 

 without materially reducing their numbers ; 

 and numerous bulletins of agricultural ex- 

 periment stations have dealt with means of 

 destroying them. Prof. C. P. Gillette has 

 shown, from examination of their stomachs, 

 that the thirteen-striped spermophile is not 

 an unmixed evil, for, besides large quanti- 

 ties of grain, it eats numbers of grasshop- 

 pers, wireworms, and other noxious insects, 

 whence he concludes that a large proportion 

 of its food is made up of insects that seem 

 to consist almost exclusively of injurious 

 species, and adds that " the squirrels would 

 be a most valuable adjunct to any cornfield 

 after planting if some method could be de- 

 vised to prevent them from taking the corn." 



Pin Wells and Rag Bnslies. A paper on 

 Pin Wells and Rag Bushes was read in the 

 British Association by Mr. E. Sidney Hart- 

 land. Prof. Rhys has lately brought to- 

 gether a number of instances, in Wales and 

 the Isle of Man, in which persons frequent- 

 ing sacred wells for the cure of disease and 

 other purposes have been in the habit of 

 throwing pins into the water, stuffing rags 

 under stones, or tying rags upon adjacent 

 trees ; and he has discussed the reasons for 

 these practices, suggesting that the pins are 

 offerings and the rags are vehicles for the 

 transfer of the disease. These suggestions 

 were discussed in Mr. Hartland's paper, who 

 compared the practices mentioned by Prof. 

 Rhys with ancient and modern observances 

 in Europe and other parts of the world at 

 sacred wells, crosses, trees, temples, and 

 other objects of superstition. He preferred 

 the hypothesis that the object of these usages 



was to effect unison between the worshiper 

 and the divinity, which was to be effected by 

 the perpetual contact with the god of some 

 article identified with the worshiper. Prof. 

 Sayce mentioned evidences of similar customs 

 in Palestine and Egypt. In the latter coun- 

 try the rags were hung up by the Bedouin 

 and not by the native fellaheen. Colonel 

 Godwin Austen said that throughout the 

 Himalayas, from Cashmere to far in the 

 East, in Bhotau, he had observed the custom 

 of placing rags upon cairns, especially at the 

 passes. Dr. Robert Mensal, president of the 

 section, said that, although the customs 

 mentioned in the paper might seem ridicu- 

 lous, they all had a meaning, and the science 

 of folklore, as interpreted by men like Mr. 

 Hartland, was enabling us to find out what 

 that meaning was. 



Plants and their Seasons. The philoso- 

 phy that underlies the association of certain 

 groups and types of plants with certain defi- 

 nite seasons of the year is the subject of a 

 study by Henry L. Clarke, of the University 

 of Chicago, the flora east of the Rocky 

 Mountains alone being considered. The 

 problem is defined : " From March to No- 

 vember, each month brings a new prospect 

 in field and forest, and every careful observer 

 can feel in this succession of forms a har- 

 mony into which any decided change would 

 break discordantly. ... To say that the 

 fall flowers are not the spring flowers or 

 those of summer are neither, merely because 

 they have chosen at random this season or 

 that, is neither science nor common sense. 

 The truth is forced upon us that the various 

 groups of flowering plants are not scattered 

 indiscriminately from one end of the season 

 to the other, but are regulated by definite 

 scientific principles ; and that just as rela- 

 tions can be traced between physical geogra- 

 phy and geographical distribution, or between 

 plant history and geological periods, so there 

 is a connection between the relations of sea- 

 son to season and the relations of their re- 

 spective floras." After a careful examina- 

 tion of the phenomena in detail, Mr. Clarke 

 deduces the conclusion that " from early 

 spring to late autumn there is a progression 

 in the general characterof the flower groups, 

 from the lower to the higher, successive 

 groups succeeding each other in time, paral- 



