CORRESPONDENCE AND INFORMATION. 



361 



industry are natural. Our social sys- 

 tem is good, but one must stroll from 

 the crowded streets of the city to some 

 old, boggy, swamp hole to find where 

 it is truly carried out to perfection 

 and where no bylaws are necessary. 



It was upon these little workers that 

 the mink sought to prey, using the 

 brooklet as his means of entrance and 



(The mink and skunk are of the 

 marten ( M ustelidae) family. — Ed.) 



An Oak Seed-Gall. 



Morton Park, Illinois. 

 To the Editor : 



I am sending you under separate 

 cover something that is to me ''of un- 

 common interest." When found, the 



THE OAK SEED-GALL BROKEN APART TO SHOW "FLUFFY" CHARACTERISTIC. 



retreat to and from their homes. The 

 steel trap was concealed in the brook 

 under water, as the mink has a keen 

 scent and is very suspicious. 



The first night a muskrat got into 

 the trap and being unable to get away 

 was caught and partly devoured by 

 the mink. This performance was re- 

 peated the second night. But the third 

 night the mink had been over eager 

 while the muskrat had become sus- 

 picious that something was wrong. 



The mink measured twenty-seven 

 and three-fourths inches in length 

 from tip to tip ; was nearly six inches 

 across the shoulders, and his pelt 

 would have stretched nearly thirty- 

 eight inches had he not been sent to 

 the taxidermist to be mounted. 



The mink is a relentless hunter and 

 travels over an area of five miles in 

 his search for food along streams. 

 Strange as it may seem, it belongs to 

 the same family as the skunk. 



Paul Lockwood. 



"pompon," for that is what it resem- 

 bled in shape, was almost spherical 

 and was a trifle larger than at present, 

 as in examining we detached small 

 portions of it. 



I can understand the empty shells 

 but the woolly growth with its 

 regular, pointed" tips is beyond me. 

 The "pompon" was found on the 

 ground on the Des Plaines River 

 bank. 



I have been an "all around" nature 

 observer for some years, but never be- 

 fore saw anything resembling this 

 "bunch of wool from a black sheep." 

 Very sincerely, 

 Orpheus M. Schantz. 



The specimen you send is an oak 

 seed-gall (Andricus seminator Harr). 

 It is common on the twigs of the white 

 oak. 



There is no nobler sight anywhere 

 than to behold a man quietly and reso- 

 lutely put aside the lower that the 

 higher may come in to him. — Phillips 

 Brooks. 



