4 86 



THE GUIDE TO NATURE 



is plunged into the heart of the flowers, 

 not so much for the honey there con- 

 tained as for the insects drawn there by 

 the fragrance of the flower and the 

 honey. The) are peculiar to the West- 

 ern Hemisphere; none being found in 

 Kim tpe, Asia i ir Africa. 



July 28. The history of the bat fam- 

 ily engaged our attention this evening. 

 Their ancestors were called Pterodactyli 

 and were immense, measuring' eighteen 

 feel in spread of wing. In Java they 

 look like winged rats. In this country 

 we can compare them to winged mice. 

 They have a hook-like appendage on 

 their wings, by which they hang head 

 downwards during their sleep in the 

 day time as they are nocturnal animals. 

 Their food consists of Hies and other 

 insects which they capture on the wing". 

 • September 15. We were favored by 

 a lecture from Mr. J. Hunter Wurtele 

 whi 1 is Superintendent of Construction 

 in the Washington Power Company, in 

 Spokane, State of Washington. It was 

 a pleasant and instructive description 

 of Spokane and the snrrounding parts, 

 also the great works of the company 

 were depicted to us. He spoke of the 

 climate in winter and summer and of 

 various other matters. 



October 13. There was a paper read 

 on lighthouses, given by Mrs. A. A. 

 Racicot, which was followed by a 

 pleasant discussion on the usefulness of 

 the lighthouse and the dreadfully 

 lonely life the lighthouse keeper has to 

 lead in doing his duty. 



November 10. Toads and frogs were 

 the scope of a paper read by Mrs. L. C. 

 Wurtele, our Secretary. Frogs have 

 minute teeth, but toads have none. 

 The skin of the frog is smooth, but 

 that of the toad is rough and covered 

 with excresences like warts containing 

 cutaneous glands holding a yellow 

 fluid with acid properties, capable of 

 irritating and inflaming the human 

 skin. 



December 15. A paper written by 

 Miss Rahkin was read, giving an ac- 

 count of her trip to Jamaica, West 

 Indies. She entered into the botanical 

 character of that country as well as 

 some of the habits of the inhabitants. 

 The paper was most gratifying to all 



who heard it. Another paper on the 

 honeybee took up our attention and 

 elicited quite a discussion. A singular 

 fact in this locality is the diminution 

 in the quantity of honey obtained in 

 these environs since' a few years, and 

 this is attributed to the use of Paris 

 green and other such drugs used by 

 the farmer for the destruction of the 

 Doryphora decemlineata or Colorado 

 potato beetle. The bees coming for the 

 honey in the flowers of the potato vine- 

 fall victims of the drugs used. 



Louisa C. WuRTEEE, President. 



IsAiaj.L.v II. WikTHi.r., Secretary. 



Carnegie Gives $10,000,000. 



ADDITIONAL ENDOWMENT FOR CARNEGIE 

 INSTITUTION AT WASHINGTON. 



New York, Jan. 20. — Andrew Car- 

 negie today added ten million dollars 

 to the endowment fund of his Carnegie 

 Institution in Washington, bringing the 

 total endowment of that institution up 

 to $25,000,000. In making the an- 

 nouncement, Mr. Carnegie said that 

 the work of the institution had been so 

 satisfactory that the money would aid 

 it in attaining scientific results that in 

 the past have been only dreamed of. — 

 Press Dispatch. 



The Agassiz Association extends 

 congratulations to its scientific friends 

 upon the success that they have at- 

 tained in the management of the Car- 

 negie Institution, and upon Mr. Car- 

 negie's further encouragement to con- 

 tinue and increase. They have evi- 

 dently made good use of his first gift of 

 seven million dollars and the later addi- 

 tions. Even seven millions would go a 

 long way toward starting almost any- 

 thing on the road toward success. 



It is interesting to note, as we do in 

 the foregoing despatch to the press, 

 that Mr. Carnegie is aiming at "attain- 

 ing scientific results" — that he desires 

 to increase the stores of human knowl- 

 edge — rather than to attain their char- 

 ter's ultimatum which calls for "the ap- 

 plication of knowledge to the improve- 

 ment of mankind." If its object is real- 

 ly not that "application," but rather the 

 investigation of pure technical science, 

 in which President Woodward is a 



