RANDOM NOTES ON NATURAL HISTORY. 



THE PROVIDENCE FRANKLIN SOCIETY 



is the oldest society- in the state devoted to 

 general scientific research, holding its meet- 

 ings every alternate Tuesday. 



President — Levi W. Russell. 



Vice-President —David Hoyt. 



Secretary — Charles M. Salisbury, Esq. 



Treasurer — A. L. Calder. 



A course of lectures in botany, by Prof. 

 W. W. Baile}-, is now in progress, and 

 others upon kindred topics are proposed. 

 The committee of the Geological depart- 

 ment is tr3ing to bring together all pub- 

 lished facts regarding the geolog}' of the 

 state, and so far as their limited opportu- 

 nities permit, to accumulate new material 

 and make a more extended survey. 



THE NEWPORT NATURAL HISTORY 

 SOCIETY 



was incorporated June 1st, 1883, number- 

 ing among its members many of Newport's 

 most distinguished citizens, as well as sev- 

 eral of the prominent summer residents. 



Pi-esident — Vrof. Raphael Pumpelly. 



Corresponding Secretary — George C. Mason. 



Treasurer — Dr. William C. Rivers, Jr. 



Curator— J.J. Mason. 



During the past two months there have 

 been three very interesting lectures : Prof. 

 Dale, on the "Paradise Rocks"; Prof. 

 Pumpelly, on "A Journey through the Rocky 

 Mountains," and Mr. Richard Bliss, on 

 " Some Curious Forms of Fishes." The 

 society proposes to do active work. A good 

 general collection and an aquarium are 

 looked forward to with confidence. 



THE RHODE ISLAND ENTOMOLOGICAL 

 SOCIETY. 



This society was organized J u ne 6 th , 1 883 . 

 President — Edwin E. Calder. 

 Vice-President — ^. Terry, M. D. 

 Secretary and Treasurer — F. E. Gray. 



Meetingsare held fortnightly ; thirty-three 

 active members are now enrolled. At the 

 meeting Dec. 12th, Mr. G. M. Gray read 

 a paper upon the wings of insects, and 

 specimens of the moth, Ecpanthia Scribo- 

 7iia, beetles, Dynastes tityus, and a larva of 

 Dynastes Hercules were exhibited and dis- 

 cussed. Dec. 26th, Edwin E. Calder read 

 a paper upon the mouth parts of some cole- 

 opterous insects. 



SEA-URCHINS. 



Few marine animals are more readily re- 

 cognized than the sea-urchin. There is 

 scarcely a rocky point along our entire coast 

 where colonies of them cannot be found. 



Slowly crawling over the surface of rocks 

 just below low-water mark, or in pools left 

 by the receding tide, to the casual observer 

 they appear like so many chestnut burs, but 

 on endeavoring to take them up one soon 

 sees his mistake. Even on a smooth rock the 

 sea-urchin, by means of its ambulacral 

 suckers, has a most tenacious hold, and even 

 when placed on its back, it will, b}' drawing 

 with these suckers and skillfully propping 

 with its spines, soon right itself. 



Not satisfied with the protection neces- 

 sarily rendered by its dull green or purple 

 color, it collects bits of sea-M'eed and shells, 

 with which it often so skillfully covers 

 itself as to be indistinguishable from the 

 groups of algie always found in its imme- 

 diate neighborhood. 



Physiologically it is a most interesting an- 

 imal. The simple alimentary- canal ; highly 

 differentiated mouth parts, of which the den- 

 tary apparatus forms the so-called Aris- 

 totle's lantern ; the water vascular system, 

 and a most generalized nervous system, con- 

 sisting of little more than a ring of nerve 

 fibre surrounding the mouth and sending ra- 

 diating nerves to the several divisions of 

 the bod}', render the sea-urchin a most ex- 

 cellent subject for dissection, and as such 

 it holds an important position in the major- 

 ity of elementary text-books on general an- 

 atomy'. 



The dried specimens, as objects for com- 

 parison with allied forms, such as the stars, 

 crinoids, ophiuians and holothurians, are 

 extremely interesting and useful, both when 

 entire or when denuded of the spines. 

 Naturally-prepared specimens of the latter 

 kind are often found along sandy beaches 

 where they have been rolled, from their 

 original positions among the rocks, b}' the 

 waves. In this state the}' are clean and 

 white, and are at once recognized as the 

 fisherman's sea-esigs. 



' Curious Death of a Saw Whet Owl. — 

 A boy in Kingston, R. I., found one in a 

 partridge snare. 



