THE AQUARIUM, OCTOBER, 1896. He) 
Runaway SeEaus.—It is reported that 
nine seals escaped from the Glen Island 
lake one night this summer. Among the 
missing ones is Minnie, the performing 
seal, that has entertained people all over 
the world with her wonderful tricks. She is 
regarded as one of the most.valuable seals in 
existence, and the management of Glen 
Island has offered $500 for her return alive. 
There were twenty-nine seals in the lake at 
the time the party escaped. The theory 
is that Minnie succeeded in opening one of 
the sluice gates by which the lake is sup- 
plied with fresh water, and in this manner 
provided a means of escape for herself and 
the others. 
A PuaGcur or Hyacintus.—The rapidly 
increasing water hyacinth will soon become 
a thing of serious menace to inland nayiga- 
tion on the smaller streams of this State 
unless some panacea is found for the evil. 
A year or two ago the presence of these 
plants in the two city navigation canals 
brought forth considerable comment, and 
at the time proved a source of serious an- 
noyance and inconvenience to the vessels 
which use the basins. Now no one seems 
to know whence they came. The innumer- 
able bayous of the southern part of the 
State are gradually filling up, and in many 
instances have become completely blocked 
with the hyacinth. Even the giant Atcha- 
falaya is filled with great floating masses of 
the plants, and the streams south of the 
city, extending almost to Grand Lake, are 
dotted with islands formed of this beauti- 
ful plant, with its delicate spikes of purple 
flowers. It appears that many years ago, 
according to several of the Atchafalaya 
steamboat men, navigation was impeded in 
the tributaries of that river and on Bayou 
Teche, owing to the presence of the hy- 
acinth, but after a few years the plant dis- 
appeared altogether.—New Orleans Times- 
Democrat. 
In REwaTION TO THE Discussron ‘‘ Should 
college professors take out patents,” which 
has been going on in the Electrical Review, 
the following anecdote of a prominent 
scientist is told : 
‘The man was the late Professor Agassiz. 
He was at one time, just in the height of his 
fame and reputation, approached by the 
manager of a lecture bureau, who made 
him an unusually liberal offer to deliver a 
series of lectures. As the offer did not ap- 
pear to arouse any enthusiasm in the 
scientist, the manager expatiated at some 
length on the financial advantages of the 
scheme, and finally increased the offer. 
Looking at him steadily Professor Agassiz 
said: ‘ My friend, I haven’t time to make 
money.’ ” 
EVOLUTIONS OF THE LIND- 
WURM. 
je ecccepecie 
Zeyidecccecece 
Lorber 
Le 
a 
It is claimed that 60,000 pounds of 
frogs’ legs were sold in the New York 
markets this year, the retail price rang- 
ing from 35 cents to 65 cents a pound. 
