lauiom |totc0 on ilatural |bton). 



Vol. 2. PROVIDENCE, JANUARY, 1885. 



Entered at the Providence Post-Offiee as Second-Class Matter. 



No. I. 



■^nnbom Ifotes on Tfntnrat "f iston|. 



A Monthly DKVoriiu to thk Distiuuution of Usk- 



FUL KNOWI.KDGK C'l)NCEUNlN(J THK VARIOUS DE- 



pautments of zoology, mlneuai.ogy, and 

 Botany. 50 Cents a Yeak. 

 Address all communications to 



SOUTHWICK & JENCKS, 

 258 Westminster St., Providence, U. 1., U.S. A. 



With the present number we enter upon 

 Vo\. II. of our magazine. Aware of some 

 delieiencies in the issue of the past year, we 

 shall, with greater experience, endeavor to 

 rectify them in the future, and, taking great 

 care that the material presented shall be 

 correct, we think our magazine will be 

 valuable beyond the very moderate price of 

 subscription. It contains the only reports 

 ever published upon the mollusca and rep- 

 tilia of Rhode Island, certainly valuable to 

 amateurs and students in either of those 

 branches, and a checking-list of the cyclos- 

 tomacea of the world, beside which we aim 

 to present papers and reports on other sub- 

 jects, in a manner as popular as is consist- 

 ent with scientific accuracy. 



To those who have encoiu-aged usb}' their 

 subscriptions, we beg to extend our thanks. 



A New Wrinkle in Taxidermy. 



Wishing to turn a mounted bird into a 

 skin and having but a limited time to de- 

 vote to the task, I tried an experiment. 

 Taking a tunnel and inserting the pointed 

 end in the stuffing between the edges of the 

 akin on the abdomen, I poured in a quantit}^ 

 of hot water (nearly boiling hot) taking 

 care to regulate the injection so that it 

 should be rather slowl}' absorbed by the 

 stuffing, and holding the bird at various an- 

 gles, that every portion of the interior might 

 become soaked. The effect was magical ; 

 the skin quickly relaxed, and within fifteen 

 minutes I could bend the neck and make 

 other required changes without any risk of 

 a break. 



My first experiment was with a gull ; af- 



terward I tried other birds, both large and 

 small, with c(iual success. I found also that 

 the plan worked equally well with skins 

 which had been overstuffed or otherwise 

 badly made. In a very few minutes they 

 would become nearly as tractable as when 

 freshl}- taken from the birds, and much 

 more so than I have ever succeeded in mak- 

 ing them by the use of a damping-box. 

 The only difficulty experienced was tiiat the 

 water, especially if tui'ued in too fast, would 

 escape through shot holes and other rents 

 in the skin, thus wetting the plumage in 

 places. Of course after the "required im- 

 provements or changes have l)een made the 

 stuffing is so thoi'oughly saturated that the 

 skin must be placed in a very warm place to 

 dry. I dried mine most successfully by 

 placing them on a furnace register and 

 leaving them exposed to the full blast of 

 heat for several days.. 



William Brewstek, Cambridge^ Mass. 



The Cermatia Forceps. 



F. E. GRAY. 



This insect has been reported by a num- 

 ber of naturalists as being extremely rare 

 in the New England States, but, like many 

 others, it is quite common in localities. The 

 Cermatia is very easily distinguished from 

 other Myriapods b}- its long legs and ex- 

 tremely long anteunai, the latter being 

 longer than the body. In the adult speci- 

 mens, the body is about an inch in length, 

 the legs (except the hind ones) | of an 

 inch, while the hind ones are in the neigh- 

 borhood of 2 inches, the total length from 

 tip of antennse to tip of hind legs being 

 about A\ inches. 



The body is of a greenish-brown coloi', 

 striped with green, and the legs have three 

 green bands around them. 



It is an insect that loves the shade in the 

 dav-time, and should one by any means be 

 forced into a place where a ray of sunlight 

 can strike it, it will scuny back into as 

 dark a shadow as it can find. It is found in 



