lit: OKl.CON NATURALIST. 



''CHAT." 



What facts are you going to endeavor 

 to establish in the interests of science this 

 year? 



We have a nice article on hand; upon 

 "How to take notes on the migrations," 

 which we will print in the March issue, 

 and which will undoubtedly be of general 

 interest and benefit. 



The Editor is pleased for recognize the 

 receipt of several very useful and interest- 

 ing notes to his "Report on odd and peculiar 

 nests and nesting,,' and drsires to take 

 the opportunity of formally thanking his 

 friends who have thus far aided mm. 

 Anything you may have, will be equally 

 acceptable. 



If you want a definite plan of work for 

 the coming season; join the Oologists' 

 Association and write to President Isador 

 S. Trostler, 4246 Farnam St., Omaha^ 

 Neb. for full particulars. We are going to 

 lay out a particular line of work, and hope 

 to make our efforts appreciated, "in 

 Union there is Strength." 



EVOLUTION AND Di.SEASL-:. 



BY THE EASTERN EOnOR. 



(Continued from Page 170, Vol. 11.) 

 The shedding of patholojjical cutaneous 

 horns and their subsequent leproductioa has 

 more than one physiolOjjical type. Among 

 birds the horned puffin {FratercuUi cornicnlaiu) 

 will be selected. Growing from the eyelid of 

 this bird is a slender, pointed, black-coloreii 

 horn, eighteen millimeters in length. 



There was also a thin horny scale connected 

 with the lower lid. In the adult bird these 

 horns are shed and reproduced annually. 



It has also been mentioned that the corneous 

 cap of the cavicorn ruminants is merely modi- 

 fied portions of the integument. In the Prong- 

 buck, {Antilocapra americann) the hard cap 



of the horn is annually shed: an observation 

 first made in 1865, in the Zoological Gardens 

 of London. Subsequently, doubt was thrown 

 upon the matter, but the observations of Mr. 

 W. A. Forbes, have definitely settled the 

 matter. Thus we are able to furnish types 

 among normal cutaneous horns, not only in 

 birds, but among mammals, as parallels to the 

 annual shedding of Pathological cutaneons 

 horns of birds. 



Not infrequently tumors are found in certain 

 abdominal organs and in the sub-cutaneous 

 tissues of man and other mammals, posessing 

 skin and its appendages, such as hair, wool 

 and glands. Such tumors, contain in man, 

 horses and oxen, hair; in pigs, bristles; in 

 sheep, wool and in birds, feathers; thus 

 harmonizing with the physiological characters 

 special to the animal in which such tumors oc- 

 cur. Further the hair in such tumor becomes 

 grey as age advances and may — and generally 

 does — fall out, leaving the tumor literally 

 "bald" as is the case with the hair ui)on the 

 exterior of the body. 



This — together with the two previous papers 

 — paper will give the reader a general insight 

 as to the "reason why" the supposition that 

 what is generally regarded as abnormal (so far 

 as many structures are concerned at least) 

 may be truly regarded as merely stages of 

 gradation from a previously existing normal 

 tendency, In the succeeding papers I shall 

 endeavor to discuss several questions which 

 necessarily arise from such a hypothesis. 



C. C. PURDUM. 



THE PALIS.\DES OF THE HUDSON. 



Among the wonders of this Western World 

 of ours which excite the interest and admiration 

 of travelers from foreign countries, stands promi- 

 nently among their foremost attractions, the 

 Palisades of the Hudson River, one, in attempt- 

 ing to portray its wonderful magnificence soon 

 finds himself lost among a countless host of 

 beautiful visions. Visions of river and cloud. 



