POPULAR MISCELLANY. 



861 



their plans. They now turned the cock- 

 roach on its back, and in this position they 

 moved it onward triumphantly for three or 

 four inches. At length the body was suc- 

 cessfully brought to the smooth edge of the 

 shelf, where it could be dropped to the floor 

 beneath. But here occurred a new difficul- 

 ty : the floor was strewed with bricks and 

 plants. In fact, there was but one open 

 space of about four inches square into which 

 the body could be sent so as to be carried 

 securely to its destination; to reach this 

 spot" they had to drag the burden along 

 the ledge for a space of seventeen inches. 

 That spot having been reached, the carcass 

 was dropped by all at once loosing their 

 hold of it. Previously to this, however, the 

 " surveyors " had run down the wall to the 

 floor and posted themselves directly under 

 the ledge on which the body lay (four feet 

 above). After the drop of the body, all the 

 ants came running down the wall, seized 

 their prey again, and in half an hour car- 

 ried it a distance of nearly three feet to the 

 entrance of the nest. But here a new dif- 

 ficulty faced them: it could not pass be- 

 tween the boards when lying on its back. 

 They turned it on one side and tried again. 

 At last, as the legs still hitched, the ants 

 bit them off, and then the body was turned 

 on its side and taken through the narrow 

 way into the nest. 



Cinchona Cultivation in California. Five 

 packages of fresh cinchona-seeds were re- 

 ceived from India some months ago, by the 

 Director of the Economic Garden of the 

 University of California. These seeds rep- 

 resented five different species of cinchona, 

 viz., C. succirubra, C. calisaya, C. officinalis, 

 C. condaminea, and C. hybrida. Professor 

 E. W. Hilgard writes in the "California 

 Horticulturist " that the calisaya germinated 

 most readily. At present there are growing 

 in the propagating house of the Agricultu- 

 ral Department of the university several 

 hundred healthy plants of each of the five 

 species. So soon as the trees are sufficiently 

 advanced they will be distributed to the 

 various sections of the State of California, 

 where the climate gives promise of success, 

 there to be tried by careful and competent 

 persons. The accounts received from In- 

 dia and Australia of the success of the cin- 



chona in those countries, encourage the be- 

 lief that some of the five species will prove 

 hardy both as regards cold and drought in 

 the coast region south of San Francisco, 

 and in the more sheltered portions of the 

 bay region. There the summer fogs and the 

 uniformity of temperature seem to present 

 the main conditions known to be requisite 

 for the growth of the cinchona, which ap- 

 pears to be a tree of considerable adapta- 

 bility. 



Eastern Extension of tne Long Island 

 Driftt Mr. Warren Upham, in an article on 

 the formation of Cape Cod, published in the 

 "American Naturalist," shows how the two 

 series of drift-hills of Long Island extend, 

 the more northerly one across Cape Cod 

 from west to east, and the more southerly 

 across Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket 

 Island. The outmost border of the great 

 ice-sheet of the glacial period is definitely 

 marked by a continuous series of drift-hills 

 which extend across New Jersey and from 

 end to end of Long Island. From the Nar- 

 rows to Montauk Point this moraine is com- 

 monly known as "the backbone of Long 

 Island." The west portion, reaching from 

 Fort Hamilton to Roslyn, is mainly an un- 

 stratified deposit ; but from Roslyn to Mon- 

 tauk the hills are composed of modified drift. 

 South of these hills are gently sloping plains 

 of fine gravel and sand. Another series of 

 plains extends to the north from Syosset to 

 Riverhead, and thence continues along the 

 north branch of the island to Orient Point. 

 North of these plains, from Port Jefferson 

 to Orient Point, is another series of drift- 

 hills which, like the southerly chain, is main- 

 ly composed of stratified sand and gravel 

 with few bowlders ; but in the vicinity of 

 Greenport and Orient the material is changed 

 to a very coarse unstratified deposit like the 

 upper till. This series is very plainly con- 

 tinued northeastward in Plum and Fisher's 

 Islands, which are made up of hills of gla- 

 cial drift like those near Greenport ; thence 

 it passes into Rhode Island at its southwest 

 corner, aud extends close to the coast seven- 

 teen miles from Watch Hill nearly to Point 

 Judith. About two miles northwest from 

 Point Judith it sinks to the sea-level, and 

 its further continuation is lost, probably be- 

 cause it turns southward into the ocean. 



