NOTES. 



719 



let for smoke ; some brushwood laid on 

 stones is the family bed, and the floor in wet 

 weather is inches deep in slush and filth. 

 The summer spent in the caves and in the 

 open air must be a delightful change from 

 this. Sometimes you may see a serpent in 

 these cottages, which is never disturbed, but 

 is deemed the genius loci, just as in ancient 

 days if a serpent was found in a house an 

 altar was erected to it, and it was esteemed 

 a symbol of happiness ; and there are invisi- 

 ble serpents, too, they say, which bring good 

 when blessed, but when driven away by neg- 

 lect cause the destruction of homes ; and 

 thus they account for the Greek ruins in 

 their midst. They look upon the green liz- 

 ards which run over their walls with a very 

 different eye. The idea prevails that it is 

 from eating these that serpents derive their 

 venom ; so they kill Hzards whenever they 

 can, and it is thought that whoever succeeds 

 in killing forty of them is sure to go to heav- 

 en, having saved so many men from poison. 

 I visited many families in their mountain 

 caves, which are deliciously cool in the sum- 

 mer heats, and the mud floors are scarcely 

 ever dry. Stone benches are put along the 

 sides covered with dairy produce ; in one cor- 

 ner is the oven, where the new milk is sim- 

 mering all day. When the family goes out 

 to attend the flocks, a lot of prickly brush- 

 wood is placed at the cave's mouth ; no oth- 

 er door is needed." 



The Occidental Ant. — As described by J. 

 D. McLaren, in the " Bulletin" of the Wash- 

 burn College Laboratory of Natural History, 

 the nests of the Occidental ant {Pogono- 

 myrmex. occidcntalis, or Western bearded 

 ant), seen from the outside, are bare, flat 

 disks of earth, from three to six feet in 

 diameter, with their center marked by a 

 heap of pebbles, lime-nodulos, sticks, and 

 lumps of dried clay. The insects — who 

 work in the evening, but not in the hottest 

 part of the day or during storms — cut down 

 all plants that spring up on the disk, carry 

 seeds into the nest from the vicinity, and 

 form, with the pellets of clay which they 

 bring up from underground, and other solid 

 lumps, a very hard and compact concrete 

 pavement, which acts as a roof for the nest 

 and sheds the rain. Some loose earth and a 

 heap of sticks and pebbles are left around 



the holes, which serve as doors to the nest. 

 During rain-storms this loose earth is easily 

 pulled into the holes, so as to close them and 

 keep out the rain. Digging into the nest, one 

 finds a series of galleries, each from one to 

 three inches below the other. In these gal- 

 leries are some small piles of grass or weed 

 seeds, with here and there a group of yellow- 

 ish-white larvEC. The ants have a large, 

 broad head, a small chest with two horn-hke 

 points projecting backward, and a small ab- 

 domen, and are, as a rule, chestnut-brown. 

 They appear to be strict vegetarians. The 

 small black ants build nests on the disks, 

 and work among the Occidental ants in the 

 greatest apparent harmony. 



NOTES. 



A PROPOSITION is on foot for forming 

 vast reservoirs in the Rocky Mountains by 

 erecting dams in the canons to hold back the 

 spring floods and store the water for use in 

 the dry season in irrigating the arid lands of 

 the plains. It is a similar scheme to that 

 which was broached more than forty years 

 ago to be applied to the ravines in the AUe- 

 ghanies, for the purpose of furnishing the 

 Ohio River with a constant supply. Major 

 Powell, who is thoroughly acquainted with 

 the region affected, considers the scheme 

 entirely feasible, and believes that the ex- 

 pense, great as it will be, will amount to but 

 a fraction of the value of the land that will 

 be reclaimed. An appropriation of $250,000 

 for preliminary surveys is to be asked for. 



The Canadian Institute has sent out cir- 

 culars inviting co-operation in an effort to 

 collect data respecting the political and social 

 institutions, the customs, ceremonies, beliefs, 

 pursuits, modes of living, habits, exchange, 

 and the devolution of property and office 

 which obtain among the Indian peoples of 

 the Dominion. As in the United States, 

 there is danger of the opportunity of collect- 

 ing and testing the facts relating to these 

 traits soon passing away. Contributions to 

 the philology of the Indian tongues and addi- 

 tions to their folk- or myth-lore will also be 

 welcomed as heretofore. The schedule of 

 inquiries embraces sixteen classes of facts, 

 under which a considerably more minute 

 amplification in detail is suggested. 



A MARBLE medallion portrait of Dr. 

 Thomas Davidson, the distinguished paleon- 

 tologist, has been unveiled in the Geological 

 room of the Free Town Museum in Brighton, 

 England. Sir Richard Owen, who was not 

 able to attend, sent a letter of regret, and 

 Professor Judd wrote testifying to the skill 

 and enthusiasm with which Dr. Davidson 

 carried on his researches. 



