3§4 



THE GUIDE TO NATURE 



Three Unusual Specimens. 



Atlantic City, N. J. 



To the Editor : — 



I have two most curious natural 

 specimens of rock formation and one 

 of another sort that arc "almost uni- 

 que" as the amateur would say. 



The round stone was brought to me 



my nephew, George Merritt, on the 

 Colorado desert in the southeastern 

 part of California. The exact spot 

 where they were found lies a little 

 west of the Salton Sea. probably about 

 ten or fifteen miles from the sea, and 

 in a slightly rolling part of the desert. 

 At this point there is very little vege- 

 tation and the -oil is chiefly sand. 



THE ROUND STONE. '-THE CIGAR." AND Till-: THIRD SPECIMEN. 



from the Sahara Desert from a jagged 

 bit of stratified rock rolled into the 

 desert by the winds and worn by the 

 sands into its present shape. It is 

 tare, perhaps unique. 



The "cigar" was found, with others, 

 in the Salton Sea, probably washed 

 down by the Yellowstone. Other speci- 

 mens were smaller and shorter, but al- 

 ways of the same shape — a cigar. 



I have found dozens of the third 

 specimen, but no one seems to know 

 exactly how, by what species of "the 

 lower invertebrata," and why formed. 

 There is always a central nucleus of 

 shell, etc. I guess clams or oysters fix 

 on the solid bit and the wood-like or 

 knot-like layers are made in forming 

 the anchorage. Finally cast adrift, it 

 is worn by waves and sand. 



Cordially, 



Geo. M. Gould. 



Upon request for further particulars 

 of the stone cigars, Dr. Gould sends us 

 a letter from Professor Ernest Merritt 

 of Cornell University, who writes as 

 follows : 



"These curious affairs were found by 



Strong wind and sand storms are com- 

 mon and in consequence the shape of 

 the ground frequently clianges. 



"My nephew was on a camping trip 

 with two or three others, and he said 

 that they suddenly ran across a piece 

 of ground, nearly an acre in extent, 

 that was so thickly covered with these 

 stone cigars that they made walking 

 difficult by rolling under one's feet. 

 He brought back a soap box full, that 

 being all that he could well carry on 

 the horse he w r as riding. The cigars 

 appear in all sizes from little things 

 only two inches long up to a length of 

 two feet, but always have the peculiar 

 cigar shape, sharp at one end and 

 more blunt at the other. They fre- 

 quently present the appearance of be- 

 ing- made in layers and it sometimes 

 looks just as though they had a wrap- 

 per like the wrapper of a cigar." 

 Explanation of the Specimens. 



T have examined with much interest 

 the two stones that you recently sent. 



Idle cioar-shapcd one is a fairly com- 

 mon type, although such perfect form 

 is rare. It is a sandstone concretion 

 which has been rolled by moving wa- 



