332 



THE GUIDE TO NATURE. 



IV. Halite, Borax Lake, San Ber- 

 nardino Co., Cal. 



Although quite familiar with com- 

 mon salt in its every-day aspect, we 

 are probably not so well acquainted 

 with it in the form here shown. Its 

 chemical composition is sodium chlor- 

 ide ; it is luckily a mineral frequently 

 found in nature, and is naturally of 

 great economic importance. It is wide- 

 ly distributed over the world, Germany, 

 (Prussia), Spain, Switzerland and some 

 places in the United States as New York 

 and Kansas, are the leading localities. 

 The salt is found in arid regions or in 

 regions that once were arid, often oc- 

 cupying the bottoms of ancient lakes 

 that have gradually dried up and dis- 

 appeared, just as the Great Salt Lake 

 is doing at the present time. In these 

 old lake bottoms many other salts 

 were deposited with the sodium chlor- 

 ide, and from them have formed many 

 beautiful specimens of such minerals 

 as colemanite, borax and thenardite. San 

 Bernardino Co., Cal., is one of the prin- 

 cipal localities from which such speci- 

 mens are obtained. 



This is an exceptional specimen, 

 showing, as it does, free cubes that 

 are many of them more than an inch in 

 diameter. This mineral, like pyrite, is 

 isometric, and its common form is the 

 cube. Many of the cubes here shown 

 are composite — built up of several 

 smaller ones, in parallel position. Some 

 have little cubes in parallel position, on 

 their corners. 



Halite is not commonly found in free 

 crystals. In the great mines of Prus- 

 sia it is often found in transparent, 

 cleavable masses, but seldom are the 

 crystals free. At Rochester, N. Y., the 

 salt is in a layer of rock that is a great 

 distance underground. It is obtained 

 by drilling wells, pumping up water 

 that is charged with the salt, and 

 evaporating it in tanks. Natural salt 

 springs occur in many parts of the 

 world. 



CORRESPONDENCE 



Insect Color Preferences. 



New York City. 

 To the Editor: 



In the December number of The 

 Guide to Nature, is a letter calling 

 attention to the apparent preference 

 exhibited by grasshoppers for light 

 dresses, and particularly for a pink one 

 of cotton material. It seems that this 

 preference is shown by other insects 

 as well, for Lounsbury in "The Stan- 

 dard of Usage in English," pp. 230- 

 231, makes the following statement in 

 regard to Fanny Kemble's "Records 

 of Later Life," published in 1882. "In 

 it she denounced with vigor the black 

 beetles which overran the rooms in her 

 residence in Philadelphia. They were 

 especially attracted she tells us, 'to 

 unfortunate females by white or light- 

 colored muslin gowns.' " 



While the above is used by Louns- 

 bury in an entirely different connec- 

 tion, it seems advisable to make a note 

 of it in connection with your corre- 

 spondent's letter. 



Sincerely yours, 

 Edwin W. Humphreys. 



Autumn. 



"In the early autumn, Nature will 

 love you better than at any other sea- 

 son, and will take you to her bosom 

 with more motherly tenderness. How 

 early in the summer, too, the prophecy 

 of autumn comes ! Earlier in some 

 years than in others ; sometimes even in 

 the first weeks of July. There is no 

 other feeling like what is caused by 

 this faint, doubtful yet real perception 

 — if it be not rather a foreboding — of 

 the year's decay so blessedly sweet and 

 sad in the same breath." 



"Agnes sat playing bridge all the 

 afternoon with her back to a glorious 

 mountain view." 



"Yes. She is president of our Back 

 to Nature Club." — Life. 



Soon, very soon, our brief lives will 

 be lived, and our affairs will have 

 passed away. Uncounted generations 

 will tread heedlessly upon our tombs. 

 What is the use of living, if it be not 

 to strive for noble causes, and to make 

 this muddled world a better place for 

 those who will live in it after we have 

 gone? — Winston S. Churchill. 



