1883.] 



AND HORTICULTURIST. 



307 



much they are doing for us, but we don't see it, 

 and with the exception of Jos. S. Fay and Dr. 

 Warder I cannot bring to mind any one of them 

 that I ever heard of planting a tree." 



[The Indians simply have the editor's sympathy> 

 and they afford excellent material for the study of 

 the human race. Our troubles with them began 

 from treating with them on wrong principles. For 

 the sake of peace, we commenced to buy from 

 them what they never owned. The only right to 

 land comes from society, not from nature — and is 

 based on the owner doing something to it which 

 shall benefit the community. Running overground, 

 and hunting over it gives a man no more right to it 

 than has the buffalo or the rabbit which he hunts. 

 For peace sake we pretend they own it, give them 

 a few red rags and a string of beads, — and profit 

 hugely by their simple ignorance. They find out 

 as they grow wiser that they have given away em- 

 pires for a song, and they feel just as other peo- 

 ple do, who learn that they have been fooled. It 

 is all very well to point to the treaty and to de- 

 mand that they stick to it. Tell a drowning man 

 that he bargained to take the risk, — or preach to a 

 starving man that he must not steal ! The writer 

 of this has just been among the Flatheads. Here 

 is the same old story. They have been induced 



to sell "their" lands. The price was made to look 

 very large. They are already beginning to feel 

 that they cannot possibly live on the price. Their 

 land is gone, their game is gone, the "agency" 

 cannot possibly keep them. Is it natural to sup- 

 pose they will lie down and die? We have not 

 seen any whisper of it in the papers yet, but as 

 sure as fate there will be the usual trouble with the 

 Crows, Flatheads and other "savages" of Dakota 

 and Montana. Innocent people will suffer, as it 

 has always been, for the sins of the race. Of 

 course we must not permit this. Indians must be 

 shot and killed when they interfere with innocent 

 individuals. There is no help for it — but for all 

 there is our sympathy for the poor benighted crea- 

 tures on whose ignorance our own people have so 

 richly traded. 



Looking at the paragraph on sleepers referred to 

 we are unable to account for how it got there. We 

 are usually extremely careful to give credit to every 

 one, and seldom fail in this,— but that paragraph 

 is evidently founded on something outside of the 

 editor's personal knowledge, and should have had 

 proper credit given to it. It really looks as if it 

 was a part of some essay before a forestry asso- 

 ciation. Our correspondent's remarks on it are 

 just and timely.— Ed. G. M.] 



Natural History and Science. 



COMMUNICATIONS. 



FRESH-WATER SPONGES. 



BY EDWARD POTTS, ACADEMY OF NATURAL 



SCIENCES, PHILADELPHIA. 



One purpose of this chapter is to give to the un- 

 initiated some idea of the appearance of fresh- 

 water sponges ; to suggest where they should be 

 looked for and when it is best to collect them. 



It seems to be a fact that very many persons, 

 not excepting some of scientific tastes, are unaware 

 of the existence of sponges in our fresh waters. 

 This may be partially explained by the further fact 

 that in England, and throughout Continental Eu- 

 rope, the keen eyes that for years past have been 

 searching every body of water for its minuter 

 organisms, have thus far failed to discover and 

 describe more than two species of sponges. The 



zeal, therefore, enlisted in the search for them has 

 been far less than the puzzling character of their 

 organization — upon the border land of animal and 

 vegetable life — and the beauty and quaintness of 

 form of some of their component parts would seem 

 naturally to invite. It is to be hoped, however, 

 that the far richer fauna which has already been 

 developed in America, with the strong probability 

 of a considerable increase in genera and species in 

 the near future, may stimulate observers to aid in 

 this interesting work. 



It is not the present intention of the writer to 

 give either a scientific or popular description of 

 these sponges ; but only by a few words to help 

 those whose interest may be awakened in the 

 subject, to seek them intelligently and to recognize 

 them when found. 



First, then, all fresh-water sponges which have 

 been described at the present date are of a sili- 



