IO 



THE GUIDE TO NATURE. 



together on the sidewalk, forming 

 branching ferns and palm-like designs ; 

 or, the fantastic crystalization of frost 

 rime upon the window pane. The nor- 

 mal shape of these concretions is glob- 

 ular, but owing to variations in the 

 thickness of the layers in which they 

 are deposited, and the direction from 

 which the lime is supplied, many modi- 

 fications result. The regularity and 

 accuracy of some of the worms are as- 

 tonishing. Some of the stones are as 

 accurately turned, beaded and grooved, 

 as could be done in a lathe. They vary 

 in size from a half inch to three inches 

 in diameter, most of them not exceed- 

 ing two inches. They are of a general- 

 ly uniform clay color, quite hard, and 

 well preserved. The fact that some 

 present a fresher appearance than others 

 is accounted for by the supposition that 

 they are still forming. 



While other clay banks have their 

 specimens of these curious freaks, it 

 is in this bank that they are found in 

 the greatest variety and profusion. 

 While the scientific explanation of 

 their origin is undoubtedly correct, I 

 have another theory much more satis- 

 factory from a poetic standpoint, which 

 I have embodied in the following lines: 



Early in the planet's morning. 

 Nymps there were without adorning 

 Save their purity and tresses, 



Needed they no other dresses. 



Playful sprites, these naiad daughters, 



Sporting in the fluvial waters, 



Plunging in the flood before them, 



Splashing crystal waters o'er them. 



Then upon the bank reclining, 



Where the sun was brightly shining, 



Fashioned they with merry laughter, 



Dreaming not what might come after, 



Curious, weird and strange devices; 



Nor have winter's snows and ices, 



Nor the Frost King's fancy sketching, 



O'er the northern window stretching, 



E'er produced shapes more fantastic 



Than these nymphs did from the plastic 



Clay-mud of the river's silting — 



Prototypes of crazy-quilting. 



Circles, ovals, clustered, single, 



Rounded like the sea-washed shingle; 



Squatty idols, Asiatic, 



Fit for Hindu priests fanatic; 



Reptiles, fowls and curious creatures; 



Monkeys with distorted features; 



Watches, charms and pretty lockets, 



Maids might wear in dainty pockets; 



Dangles, bracelets, buttons funny; 



Medals and unminted money; 



And ten thousand shapes, defying 



All attempts at classifying. 



Then these nymphs, their play forsaking, 



Left them in the sunshine baking, 



while they drifted down stream singing, 



Joy unto waste places bringing. 



Then the floods came, and the waters 



Southward bore these guileless daughters. 



The forsaken mud-pies, curious, 



By the torrents fast and furious, 



In the clay-bank deep were hidden, 



Ages passed, and then, unbidden. 



And the captives have arisen. 



Broke the waves into their prison, 



Scattered on the bank we find them 



Where the nymphs left them behind them. 



F6DUI5\R.?\5n^N6MY' 



The Heavens in April. 



BY GARRETT P. SERVISS. BROOKLYN. N. V. 



The chart represents the aspect of 

 the evening sky at 9 P. M. on the 

 first of the month, 8 P. M. on the 15th 

 and 7 P. M. on the 30th. The drawing 

 shows the appearance of Halley's Com- 

 et at its last return previous to that 

 now awaited, viz, in 1835. On that 

 occasion it was in perihelion, i. e., 

 nearest to the sun, on the 16th of 



November. This time it is expected 

 to pass the same point in its orbit on 

 April 13, 1910. The reason why it 

 does not come to perihelion on the 

 same day at each return is because 

 its period of revolution about the sun 

 is not a fixed number of years pre- 

 cisely, but a certain number of years 

 and a fraction of another year. More- 

 over its period is variable owing to 

 the attractions of the planets, partic- 

 ularly Saturn and Jupiter, which some- 



