THE MUSEUM. 



rooms could be gained only by digging. 



Ancient pottery, carved stone im- 

 plements, bones, a stone pipe whose 

 carvings differ from anything ever be- 

 fore seen, were unearthed. Dr. Cole 

 estimated that it would cost about 

 $45,000 to excavate the ruin and col- 

 lect all the information which it could 

 throw on the life of the Cliff Dwellers. 



A hint of why the city was aban- 

 doned is found in the fact that the 

 mound is largely of volcanic ash. Dr. 

 Cole believes that centuries ago there 

 was an outpouring of internal fires. 

 Terrified by the shaking of the rock 

 platform, half suffocated by smoke 

 and sulphur fumes, the Cliff Dwellers 

 fled, never to return. The earth- 

 quakes topled down the walls, the vol- 

 canic ash buried them deep, and 

 through all the ages since the dead 

 city has awaited the coming of a civ- 

 ilized race. 



The picture-writing tells more. In 

 some such a bit of these ancient char- 

 acters as shown in a photograph of the 

 pictorial rocks of the Verde River, 

 Arizona, one may see the concentric 

 circles which represent the sun, the 

 quivering lines which mean lightning, 

 the zigzags of the clouds, the verti- 

 cal lines which record rain, the figure 

 of the sacred turkey, the crude repre- 

 sentation of a human figure, and innu- 

 merable symbols in which is written 

 the history of evil days and happy, 

 prosperous years and seasons of fam- 

 ine, the deeds and deaths of chieftains, 

 and praise of the Most Holy, the Lord 

 God Sun, whose life-giving radiance 

 typified for the Cliff Dwellers all that 

 was most sacred. 



Notes on American Land Shells- 



The collecting of our American 

 Land shells is worthy of your atten- 

 tion. In order that collectors may 

 have a better idea of the great interest 

 attached to the study of our American 

 Mollusca, I shall quote some from 

 Binney's manual of the Land Shells of 

 the United States. Under "Habits 

 and Properties" he says: 



"The snails live mostly in the for- 

 ests, sheltered under the trunk of fal- 

 len trees, layers of decaying leaves, 

 stones, or in the soil itself. In these 

 situations they pass the greater part of 

 their lives. In the early days of Spring 

 they sometimes assemble in consider- 

 able numbers, in warm and sunny sit- 

 uations, where they pass hours in in- 

 dolent enjoyment of the warmth and 

 animating influence of the sunshine. 

 Whether these meetings serve any use- 

 ful purpose in the econemy of the an- 

 imal, or are caused by the pleasurable 

 sensation and renewed strength from the 

 warmth of the situation after the de- 

 bility of their winters torpidity, is un- 

 certain; it is probable, however, that 

 they they precede the business of pro- 

 creation. It is certain that they last 

 but a short time, and that after the 

 early Spring, the animals are to be 

 found in their usual retreats. 



In the course of the months of May 

 or June, earlier or later according to 

 the locality and as the season is more 

 or less warm, they begin to lay their 

 eggs, (a few species are viviparous) 

 These are deposited, to the number of 

 from thirty to fifty and even more, in 

 the moist and light mould, sheltered 

 from the suns rays by leaves, or at the 

 side of logs and stones, without any 

 order, and slightly agglutinated to- 

 gether. The depth of the deposit is 

 usually measured by the extreme length 

 of the animal, which thrusts its head 

 and body into the soil to the utmost 

 extent, while the shell remains at the 

 surface; but sometimes the animal 

 burrows three or four inches deep be- 

 fore making the deposit, in order to 

 insure a sufflcent moist position. Three 

 or four such deposits, and sometimes 

 more, are made by one animal, during 

 the summer and autumn. When the 

 deposit is complete it is abandoned by 

 the animal. The eggs vary in size ac- 

 cording to the magnitude of the spec- 

 ies producing them. They are nearly 

 globular, one axis being somewhat 

 longer than the other, white and 

 opaque. They consist in general, of 



