vinal COMMON MISTAKES IN NATURAL HISTORY 375 



more prevalent amongst boys and men than with girls and women. 

 It is exceptional to think of lifting the rabbit by the body. This, 

 however, is the most humane method of picking up the animal. 



What is the Name of the Fourlegged Animal with Bright 

 Spots Which is Found Under Logs and Stones in 



Damp Woods? 



This animal is the Salamander and not the Lizard which it 

 resembles only in external form. The Salamander is an amphib- 

 ian and the Lizard is a reptile. 



Lizard Salamander 



College and Normal School 21% 9.5% 



High School 57% 8% 



College Freshmen, male 42% 24% 



College Freshmen, female 38% 4% 



The results indicate the marked existence of the erroneous idea 

 that the animal is a Lizard. The term Salamander is more widely 

 known amongst the men. 



The name Salamander is a synonym for fire-proof. The an- 

 cient naturalists (or fabulists) Pliny and Aristotle maintained that 

 the salamander was incombustible. This fire-proof fame has 

 come down through the ages being applied to various utensils 

 used around the fire. 



Give a Sentence Using the Correct Pronoun (it, she, or he) 

 on Referring to Nature 



The expressions mother earth, mother nature, mother west- 

 wind and the like have led to the misconception that "nature" is 

 "she." Some have come to think of nature always as "mother 

 nature." This personification is liable to lead to what "mother 

 nature" tells her children and then to talking-ducks and weeping 

 Lady-Bird Beetles, and so on, ad infinitum. "Mother nature" is 

 not a mother, as we wish to know mothers. The oyster is said 

 to have 1/1,145,000 of a chance of living. This is not the act 

 of a mother but a "cold blooded" means of perpetuation. The 

 vase-shaped egg-sac of one of the spiders contains several hundred 

 eggs. These eggs hatch and most of the little spiders are eaten 

 by the stronger members of the family. Only a few young 

 spiders emerge in the spring. We must either change our views of 

 the spirit of a mother or acknowledge that "mother nature" 

 exists entirely in the imagination. 



