282 The Ottawa Naturalist. [March 



Arnica cana is a name needed to replace that of A. mcatia, 

 Greene, Pitt., iv, 169; there being an Arnica inca7ia of Persoon of 

 much earher date. 



Arnica crocina, Greene, Torreya, i. 42, first pubHshed in 

 Piitonia, iv, 159, by the untenable name of A. crocea, is now in 

 hand from two additional stations. It is Mr. James Macoun's No. 

 26,931 from dry slopes north of Chilliwack Lake, 26th July, 1901 ; 

 also No. 34,074 of the Canad. Geol. Surv., collected by J. R. 

 Anderson, 1901, from Mt. Cheam, north of Chilliwack River, 

 B.C. 



THE SPOTS ON THE EGGS OF THE GREAT BLUE HERON. 



By W. E. Saunders. 



Some ten years ago I was surprised to receive from Frank L. 

 Farley, then at St. Thomas, but now ranching in Alberta, a set of 

 eggs of the Great Blue Heron which bore a goodly number of jet 

 black spots, and as these spots would not wash off, it was mani- 

 fest that they were a part of the Qg^ ! Although this conclusion 

 was easily arrived at, it was not a satisfying one, as I well knew 

 that all (?) herons' eggs were normally unspotted. In 1900 Mr. 

 Robertson, Aylmer West, Ont., sent me a fine set of five of this 

 species, all of which show more or less of this peculiar spotting. 

 At intervals this problem would recur to my mind, until at last, 

 one day it dawned on me that these herons, at St. Thomas and 

 Aylmer, were within ten or twelve miles of Lake Erie, and I knew 

 that the pound-nets set by the fishermen for sturgeon, etc., were 

 a favourite feeding ground for these birds; and, moreover, that the 

 fishermen soak their nets with a compound of pitch. This solved 

 the problem. Clearly the birds got pitch on their feet, off^ the 

 nets, and carried it home for the sole purpose (?)^ of beautifying 

 their eggs. But if this were the case, then a solvent of this pitch 

 compound, such as ether or carbon bisulphide, would dissolve and 

 remove these spots. This theory proved to be correct, and a 

 diligent application of ether to one of the spots removed it. It is 

 plain, therefore, that the spotted eggs would belong to birds who 

 fished in the lake, and that those who fed entirely at smaller 



