^he Ohio ^h[^aturalist, 



PUBLISHED BY 



The Biological Club of the Ohio State Uni'versity* 

 Volume V. JANUARY, 1905. No. 3. 



TABLE OF CONTENTS 



Wright— Our Smallest Carnivore 251 



Walton— A Land Planarian in Ohio 254 



ScHAFFNER— The Life Cycle of a Hetcrosporous Pteridophyte 255 



Walton— Actinolophus ^Minutus a New Ileliozoan, with a Review of the Species Enu- 

 merated in the Genus 261 



Gleason— Notes from the Ohio State Herbarium. II 264 



ScHAFFNER— Mat Plants 265 



Schaffner— Plants with Nodding Tips 2(i7 



Riddle— Brush Lake Algae 268 



Scholl— Key to the Ohio Hickories in the Winter Condition 269 



Cotton— Key to Ohio Ashes in the Winter Condition 270 



SCHAFFNER — Key to Ohio Poplars in the Winter Condition 271 



Clevencjer- Hydrofluoric Acid for Marking Slides 272 



Frank- Meeting of the Biological Club 272 : 



OUR SMALLEST CARNIVORE.* 



Albert A. Wright. 



On the 23d of January, 1904, there was brought to me a 

 diminutive weasel in full white winter pelage. It was captured 

 alive by Mr. Clarence Metcalf upon his farm four miles south of 

 Oberlin. It was in a corn field and was chased out from one of 

 the shocks of corn, where it may have gone in pursuit of the 

 rodents that habitually pilfer the grain. It was accompanied by^ 

 a second specimen, of similar size, but of a brown color above, 

 with some white on the under parts. This one escaped and could 

 not be critically examined. 



The white one was without any visible spots of brown or 

 black upon it. Even the black tip of the tail which characterizes 

 most weasels, both in their winter and summer pelage, is wanting. 

 A careful examination with a lens, however, wull show that there 

 are a few darker hairs present. The vibrissae and the few long 

 hairs of the e^'ebrow are of an inconspicuous brown color. The 

 ghost of a spot an eighth of an inch across, consisting of a few 

 submerged thrown hairs can be detected upon the crown of the 

 head. At the tip of the tail about ten distinctly black hairs can 

 be counted, concealed by the more abundant white. There is no 

 evidence of a brush of longer hairs at the end of the tail. The 



* Read before the Ohio State Academy of Sciences, Nov. 26, 1904. 



