76 NATURAL SCIENCE [August 



already ; it is only necessary to keep careful account of locality 

 and horizon, and to spare the fossiliferous stones of ancient build- 

 ings. There is plenty of sport in fossil-hunting, and the merest of 

 mere collectors may provide the most philosophical of palaeontolo- 

 gists with valuable material, and in this way increase the value of 

 his own collection. 



Fkou-frou and Feathers 



All moralists have assured us that " when lovely woman stoops to 

 folly," she stoops very low indeed. And so when women attempt 

 to emulate the glories of a Choctaw chief or a South Sea islander, it 

 is not considerations of art or humanity or self-respect that will 

 stop them. Consequently it is not likely that the insensate votaries 

 of fashion, who disfigure their heads with baskets of artificial flowers 

 (irrespective of the season), virulently dyed scraps of ribbon, twists 

 of steel, and unnaturally clipped or coloured bird-feathers, will pay 

 any attention to a paragraph in a scientific journal. But we are 

 willing to leave the irresponsible half of creation all their chiffons 

 (which mean ' rags ' or ' women's dress ' as you please), their 

 coal-tar dyes, and their scrap-iron, if only they will leave us our 

 birds. The rate at which some of the rarest and most beautiful 

 birds on our planet are being destroyed to gratify this extraordinary 

 taste can hardly be realised. On the 13th of April last nearly 

 half-a-million birds were sold at an auction in London, and the 

 details of the consignment were thus given, by Mrs Edward Phillips 



A similar sale took place in February, and others were to follow 

 in July and October. 



It is small consolation to us to think that in a few years the 

 price of these luxuries will be prohibitive, or that, unless fashion 

 changes in the direction of sea-weeds or turnip-tops, there will soon 



