332 



THE MUSEUM. 



Achatina varigata, Agate shell. 



Purpura Persica, whelk. 

 Eburna Japonica, Japanese Eburna. 



Ovulum ovum, Egg Shell. 

 Chiton squamosus, Scalyribbed Chiton. 

 Dolinm galea, Cask Shell. 



Turritella crocea, screw shell. 

 Fissurella, Keyhole Limpet. 



for driving away melancholy. The 



old poet Drayton alludes to this belief 



in the lines: 



"Here finds he on the oak 

 Rheum purging polypodie." 



The roots were gathered in autumn, 

 reduced to powder and used for coat- 

 ing pills, or they were burnt and their 

 ashes used as a substitute for soap. 

 An oil was also distilled from them 

 with lime. The sickle-leaved poly- 

 pody of the West is used by the na- 

 tives in preparing tobacco for the 

 sweet flavor imparted. Among magi- 

 cal properties the polypody was sup- 

 posed to have the power to confer 

 wealth and to render persons invisible. 



The polypody is often cultivated 

 and thrives well whether in the fern- 

 garden or the in-door fernery. In 

 rocky places no fern does better. 

 Owing to its manner of growth it is 

 very easily multiplied since b}- pulling 



the root-stock to pieces each section 

 will soon grow into a separate plant. 

 W. N. Clute, 

 Binghamton, N. Y. 



Our Friend the Skunk. 



By W. H. Kitchell. 



There is no quadreped on the conti- 

 nent of North America that is more 

 generally detested and shunned than 

 the common skunk, notwithstanding the 

 fact that no other species is half so 

 valuable to the farmer. Its nocturnal 

 habits, together with the exaggerated 

 accounts of its well-known power of 

 defense, written by popular writers on 

 natural history, have done much to- 

 ward the preservation of one of the 

 most valuable fur producing animals 

 that still e.xist in the United States. 



Having had some little experience 

 with the genus Mephitin^'. it is the 

 purpose of this article, not to add to 



