7^4 



THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



tion to bo the burrow of the larva of some 

 beetle, filled up with excrement and rudi- 

 mentary fiber, as such burrows commonly 

 are filled. In support of his view he makes 

 the points : that the object in advance of 

 the so-called reptile's head to the unimagi- 

 native eye appears, not like an insect larva, 

 but like a simple knot, similar to two knots 

 which appear in the body of the more 

 prominent formation ; that the diameter of 

 the formation is greatest at the point where 

 the relief ends, as would be the case with a 

 larva eating its way from the point corre- 

 sponding with the " head " of the " ser- 

 pent " and growing as it advanced toward 

 the " tail " ; that the first curve, which, on 

 the serpent theory, the animal must have 

 made in forcing its way under the bark, is 

 so abrupt and the relief so doubled upon 

 itself that a snake could not make such a 

 bend without breaking its vertebra ; that 

 the cephalic plates and scales are imagina- 

 ry ; that the curves shown, though natural 

 to a burrowing larva, are not natural to a 

 snake forcing itself into so confined a 

 space ; that the woody formation of the 

 relief indicates a burrow beneath the larva, 

 and not the forcing of anything between 

 the bark and the wood, for such forcing 

 would have loosened the bark for some dis- 

 tance on either side of the relief, and a 

 forcing of the kind supposed could not take 

 place without interference with the growth 

 or soundness of the tree ; that the granular 

 appearance to be seen along the sides of 

 the specimen and the fibers observable are 

 just such as an insect-larva would leave, 

 and can not be accounted for on M. Olli- 

 vier's hypothesis ; that the animal matter 

 in the center of the body may be accounted 

 for as arising from the exuviae and excre- 

 ment of the larva ; and that the work of 

 human hands in heightening resemblances, 

 particularly about the head and eyes, can be 

 detected. The whole question, finally, could 

 be readily settled by careful section, which 

 would show traces of vertebrae or phos- 

 phate of lime along the vertebral line if 

 there really were a serpent. Professor 

 Gray, in the January number of the "Amer- 

 ican Journal of Science," suggests two ex- 

 planations as more probable than that 

 which depends upon the snake. One is, 

 that the snake-like body is of the nature of 



a root, an aerial root, like those of a Clusia 

 or a Ficus, which was making its way be- 

 tween bark and wood, and that the supposed 

 larva is an incipien t root of the same kind. 

 The other, which was proposed by Professor 

 Wadsworth, of Cambridge, while examining 

 the specimen along with Professor Gray, 

 " and is to be preferred," " supposes that 

 the sinuous course is the track of a wood- 

 eating larva or some kind of insect, the 

 burrowing of which had not destroyed the 

 overlying fiber; consequently the new 

 growth filling the space (except at certain 

 points) had naturally assumed the likeness 

 of a snake." 



Vital Conditions affecting the Colored 

 Population. Dr. S. S. Ilerrick, Secretary of 

 the Louisiana State Board of Health, pre- 

 sented facts and tables at the Savannah 

 meeting of the American Public Health As- 

 sociation, showing that, as between the two 

 races, the rate of mortality for all ages is 

 invariably much greater among the colored 

 than among the white, and that the disparity 

 is more marked in the case of children under 

 five years of age. The colored race appears 

 to enjoy an advantage in malarial fevers and 

 cancerous diseases, while it is at a disad- 

 vantage in all the other diseases. Mr. Pat- 

 terson's tables, exhibiting the increase by 

 decades of the colored population in the 

 United States, given in " The Popular Sci- 

 ence Monthly" for September, 1881, show 

 that the rate of increase during the decade, 

 including the war, fell off by sixty or sev- 

 enty per cent. The rate was, however, 

 brought up to near its highest figure in the 

 returns of the last census. The last fact is 

 held by Dr. Ilerrick to correct the belief 

 that the African race is destined to disap- 

 pear in the struggle for existence. " Ap- 

 parently, this race is increasing more rapidly 

 than its white compatriot." The fact, how- 

 ever, which seems to have been overlooked, 

 should be borne in mind, that the mulattoes 

 and quadroons are all reckoned as colored, 

 so that the increase is partly due to the 

 whites. If the rapid increase of the colored 

 race proves anything, it is that there is 

 plenty of room yet for that class of people. 

 This leads to the consideration of what will 

 probably be the future of the colored people 

 when they are crowded upon. " Whatever 



