THE MUSEUM. 



which is destined in time to play an 

 important part in the history of the 

 state of Idaho. The city is located in 

 the midst of the Bannock Indian reser- 

 vation, which is about as desolate and 

 useless a tract of land as could be 

 chosen. The government has permit- 

 ted the people to locate because of the 

 railroad shops and railroad interests. 

 The "city" has no imposing buildings, 

 and is considered one of the most 

 wicked places in the world, and the 

 greatest gambling place in the region. 

 We did not pry into the matter too 

 closely, and so let the statement go 

 unrefuted. 



-The party in 1894 drove from Poca- 

 tello to Idaho Falls, a distance of sixty 

 miles, but this was avoided ir. 1895. 

 The boys wished to travel over the 

 great lava desert of Idaho, and we got 

 our fill of it, and yet no one regretted 

 the trip. The road traverses a region 

 that is mostly sand. Rain does not 

 fall in the summer. The sand is deep 

 and hot, and it rolls over the felloes of 

 the wheels, slips from under the horses' 

 feet, works into the shoes, blows into 

 the eyes and nostrils, and is obnoxious 

 in every way. Progress is slow, and 

 life of any form scarce. The only 

 things growing were a sage bush (Ar- 

 tcmisia ti identata,) grasswood {Sar- 

 cobatus 7'cn)iiculatus), and a rabbit 

 bush, with an occasional composite al- 

 most dried up by the heat, and now 

 and then a prickly pear with a few 

 spines above the sand. Horned toads 

 {Phrynosonia doiiglasii) and lizards 

 [Sccloporus graciosHS) were numer- 

 ous, but it takes a master hand and a 

 well trained muscle to land many of 

 the latter in the alcohol jar. A large 

 black beetle with red thorax {Cantliar- 

 is coopcri) was very abundant on the 



blossoms of the rabbit bush, accom- 

 panied by almost as many beautiful 

 longicoeus [Crossidiiis allgcivalirii). 

 The ride of two days was made fairly 

 pleasant by taking these beetles with 

 nets while riding along. A few files 

 were seen, and a dragon fly was seen 

 sporting in the air above the hot sand. 

 A sijigle butterfly, {Papilio oregonid), 

 a beautiful specimen, was lazily sailing 

 over the sandy waste, a single speck 

 of gorgeous splendor in the desert 

 waste. All hands turned out to bring 

 it in. After a desperate chase it was 

 captured, and now adorns the writer's 

 collection of lepidoptera. Mr. W. H. 

 Edwards says that PapiSo oregonia, 

 which is a yellow form somewhat like 

 P. turnus, is almost invariably accom- 

 panied by a black and smaller form P. 

 bairdii. It is of interest here to note 

 that one of the latter was also taken 

 in this region. 



Ross' Fork is a railroad station 

 about fifteen miles from Pocatello. 

 An irrigation ditch runs through the 

 plain, on the banks of which a few 

 Bannock Indians had pitched their 

 wickieups and were drying pounded 

 cherries in the sun. Camp for dinner 

 on the banks of this small stream gave 

 us a number qf dragon flies and sever- 

 al frogs, which are yet to work up. 



Idaho Falls, formerly called Eagle 

 Rock, is built upon the banks of the 

 Snake river, which narrows here to a 

 few rods in width. It has cut a chan- 

 nel out of the solid lava. Lewis and 

 Clark, in their expediton, were alarm- 

 ed when they came to this part of the 

 river, and their boats were let through 

 by ropes, while the men took to the 

 banks. The water here is very treach- 

 erous, and no man has yet dared to 

 swim through the passage-way, or 



