348 



THE GUIDE TO NATURE 



your mind's eye the pictures here 

 given. 



Then if you wish to know more of 

 these beautiful plants, join the Sulli- 

 vanl Moss Society, organized on pur- 

 pose to help you. There you can get 

 your puzzle solved and can exchange 

 your treasures for others through its 

 exchange department. 



A Plea for Stronger Corporation. 



To the Editor: 



Hyde Park, Mass. 

 I wish we might have in our maga- 

 zine more articles with good illustra- 

 tions on actual observations of wild 

 life. It would seem with the many 

 readers of this magazine from all parts 

 of the world that there should be so 

 much interesting matter on all sorts of 

 nature subjects offered to the Editor 

 that he would have difficulty in choos- 

 ing which ones to publish first, instead 

 of having to do most of the writing or 

 chasing up subjects and articles him- 

 self. 



It appears to me that too much has 

 been left to our faithful editor, and too 

 little has been done by our readers in 

 the way of cooperation. The present 

 condition of affairs at Arcadia, with 

 which our readers are all familiar, 

 tends to show this to a certain degree, 

 and the time seems ripe, therefor, for 

 a marked increase in the interest and 

 efficiency of our magazine, as well as 

 in the moral and financial support of 

 the work of our organization and its 

 permanent home. Let us have a mag- 

 azine bubbling over with the freshness 

 and beauty of Nature in the woods and 

 fields. There is always something new 

 to inspire us in this fascinating study, 

 and why not tell each other about it 

 and share our enjoyment? It may be 

 something common, but hitherto un- 

 noticed by us, yet there may be hun- 

 dreds of others to whom, like our- 

 selves it is new. Last night I discov- 

 ered for the first time a katydid mak- 

 ing a peculiar sound which I had heard 

 often, though had never before known 

 its authorship, and with the help of 

 my pocket flashlight I had an excellent 

 opportunity to study the actions of the 

 insect and watch the curious move- 



ments of its wings which produced the 

 sound. 



No magazine published has a larger 

 field from which to find material than 

 has our Guide to Nature, and it would 

 seem that if its readers generally would 

 send in something which they have 

 found of interest, and thought might 

 be helpful to others, we could safely 

 leave it to the editor's judgment to se- 

 lect the best for publication. I think 

 many fear to send because they do not 

 consider themselves writers, or because 

 they believe what they have found is 

 not new. This should not deter us 

 from trying, however. I once heard 

 the eminent Dr. Howard tell of a Ger- 

 man friend who was out walking and 

 saw "some things" which he did not 

 understand, and the describing of 

 which led to some important and in- 

 teresting discoveries in the entomolo- 

 gical line. He told of this to illustrate 

 the importance of individual observa- 

 tion and original research, and urged 

 upon us all to be more careful in mak- 

 ing our observations and to record ac- 

 curately what we see. 



There are hundreds of things in na- 

 ture that are yet puzzling the scien- 

 tists. There are many sounds the 

 origin of which we can not find record- 

 ed in books, and the complete life his- 

 tories of many of our common insects 

 are not yet known. Individuality in 

 manners and customs among the wild 

 things is constantly being impressed 

 upon us, opening up a large field for 

 careful observation, and one, which is 

 constantly increasing in value. Why 

 should we not find out and record some 

 of these things in The Guide to Na- 

 ture? One hundred pairs of eyes are 

 better than one pair, and some of us 

 are sure to see things that the others 

 do not, and some of which at least 

 should be worth recording. 



One special subject I wished to men- 

 tion concerning the magazine was the 

 withdrawal of the monthly sky maps 

 in the department of astronomy. I 

 have heard several others mention the 

 value and helpfulness of these maps, 

 and remember my own vain search- 

 ing for them and regret to find that 

 they were discontinued. 



