X2 



RANDOM NOTES ON NATURAL HISTORY. 



loses its electricity ; but, if the increasing 

 heat is continued to a certain degree, it 

 again becomes excited ; but the electrical 

 poles are reversed. 



Schorl, is a synonymous term, applied 

 particularly to the black variety, also called 

 aphrisite. ' Rubellite, sibarite, and daorite 

 are applied to the red varieties, achroite to 

 white, and indicolite to the blue, sometimes 

 almost black varieties, like those found at 

 Chester, Mass. 



Near AVarwick, Mass., is a deposit of 

 schist, containing accicular black crystals, 

 about half an inch to an inch long, ar- 

 ranged here and there in groups ; radiating 

 from a centre in beautiful figures. Latel3% 

 fine colored specimens have been found 

 at Hebron, Auburn, and Norway, in Maine. 

 * Work has been carried on at Mount Mica, 

 Paris, Me., and the yield for 1882 was some- 

 thing over 2.000, while colorless and brown 

 specimens which cut into fair gems have 

 been found at De Kalb, N. Y. The groups 

 (black) from Pierpont, and the fine brown 

 brilliants from Gouverneur, with peculiar 

 terminations, are opaque, and have no value 

 as gems. 



The principal foreign localities for trans- 

 parent specimens, are : From Siberia, a great 

 variety of colors ; Brazil, purple, green, and 

 blue ; Ceylon, green, yellow, brown, and 

 black ; the Isle of Elba white, and light or 

 delicate tints, frequently pink. A fine 

 group of pink crystals, on a matrix of 

 amethyst, now in the British Museum, came 

 from Burmah, and is valued at £1,000 ster- 

 ling. 



Tourmalines are found in granyte, syen- 

 yte, feldspar, granular dolomite, and im- 

 bedded in sheets of mica. The black va- 

 riety, which is the most common, sometimes 

 occurs quite massive, and looks much like 

 hornblende, from which it may be distin- 

 guished as having no exact cleavage, nor 

 fibrous appearance, and if the end of a 

 crystal can be seen, its triangular shape is 

 significant of the tourmaline. 



Specimens of the black sort, but of rather 

 poor quality, have been found in Rhode 

 Island, at Johnston, and Woonsocket. S. 



Rodentia of Rhode Island. 



Tamias Striatus. Chipmunk : Striped or 

 Ground Squirrel. 



What is meant b}' the bone of contention ? 

 The jaw-bone. 



* American Gems and Precious Stones, by Geo. F. 

 Kunz. 



This little fellow is common throughout 

 the state. Not much hunted for, being 

 such small game ; always pursued by boys 

 and dogs, and yet by no means sh}-, but 

 rather inquisitive. If you stop a few mo- 

 ments in his vicinit}', he is sure to come 

 peeping at you from under a stump, or from 

 a pile of rubbish. With an interrogating 

 chirp, that sounds very like a bird, running 

 from 3'ou as you walk, making long bounds, 

 he disappears in the stone wall, and im- 

 mediately pops out his head again, to view 

 the situation and satisfy his curiosity. When 

 a very small boy, in Massachusetts, I once 

 chased a chipmunk along a fence-top. Put- 

 ting all m}- energ}' into the work, I gained 

 on and seized him, but only by the tail. 

 He did not stop, and the skin giving way, 

 suddenl}" left me, astonished, with the mite 

 of skin and hairs in m}' hand, while the 

 owner disappeared with his rat-like append- 

 age. I am Sony to this day. 



The home and nest is a hole about two 

 inches in diameter, usually running beneath 

 some firmly-rooted tree or a stone wall, and 

 there he lays up a large store of food, mostly 

 of corn, chestnuts, and shagbarks, with 

 sweet acorns and beech-nuts when the}' are 

 to be had. In gathering this store the au- 

 tumn days are spent most industriousl}'. 

 Earlj' and late he is running with his cheek 

 pouches distended most amazingl}- — often 

 four nuts at a time in that small mouth. The 

 entrance to the home is alwa3's perfectly 

 clean, and no sign of loose dirt, which he 

 must carr}^ away to some distance. Any sort 

 of grain does not come amiss for food, nor are 

 the seeds of grass and small plants despised, 

 and in the summer, berries, larviie, and grass- 

 hoppers. In the spring, at corn planting, 

 he will most industriousl}' go from hill to 

 hill, and clean out the first two or three rows 

 next to the stone wall, much to the annoy- 

 ance of the farmer. He retires to his hole 

 with the first cold weather of November, 

 and, except for an occasional escapade, 

 does not appear again until March. 



One that I kept in captivity-, though 

 handled with care and well fed, remained 

 very wild, and was continually' escaping and 



