174 THE AMERICAN MONTHLY [September, 



The specimen was treated with various chemical reagents, but in nothing 

 showed the structure more distinctly than when merely mounted dry and cov- 

 ered with thin glass. When viewed with oblique light, onl}^ a small pencil 

 of rays being permitted to fall upon the fibres, they were found to be hollow 

 tubes exceedingly delicate in appearance, but in reality very tough and tena- 

 cious. Here and there were to be seen small globular bodies of what seemed 

 to be sporidia. One particularly engaged my attention as it rolled gently over 

 the field of the microscope. It was studded with minute points, darker in 

 color than the surrounding mass. Another specimen was examined, not 

 quite so much decayed as the first. The same thread-like fibres were to be 

 seen, but with a difterent configuration, and crossing the field was a very dark 

 brown string of fibro-vascular tissue. Probably owing to its greater density 

 of structure it was enabled to resist the parasitic fungi which had destroyed 

 so much around it. 



Here, then, was a lesson taught by a very simple object, combined with 

 the power of observation. How many would have thrown it aside disgusted 

 with its unpleasant odor, without a thought that, disagreeable as it was, it 

 yet contained within it a mass of vegetable life.? The query arose, Was the 

 fungus the cause or the effect of the disease.? A wide field for inquiry was 

 opened by this nut. In nature nothing is made in vain ; the decay of one 

 plant or animal furnishes food for others, until at length plant, animal, and 

 parasite return to dust, and even in the last act aftbrd means of subsistence to 

 a new race more highh' developed. 



Reports of Recent Articles. 



Food of fresh-water fishes, — Dr. S. H. Forbes, in article vii, vol. ii, 

 of the Bulletins of the Illinois State Laboratory of Natural History, presents 

 the results of observations on this interesting subject, extending back as far 

 as 1S76. A table exhibits the number of species examined and the number and 

 names of the prey. Twentv-eight species were examined, and in some cases 

 as many as forty-three individuals of a single species. The table of prey in- 

 cludes tadpoles, numerous fishes, all sorts of invertebrates, and various vege- 

 table food. One specimen of the pike {JSsox lucius^ v^as found to have in 

 its stomach dragon-fly larva 30 per cent., but all the other specimens exam- 

 ined contained only fishes, of which 9 per cent, were not distinguishable, 3i 

 per cent, were sunfish and black bass, 9 per cent, were croppie {Pomoxys) ; 

 gizzard shad and buflalo fish were also found among the pi'ey. The brook 

 pickerel feeds on larger aquatic insect larvae and small fish (e. g^.^ minnows' 

 etc.), in about equal proportions. They eat no vegetable food, and see 

 forced to their predacious mode of life. The food of the white sue 

 {Alyxostoma macrolepidotti7n^ Le S.) is chiefly animal, including Vivir^'' 

 Melantho, Stomatogyrus, and Amnicola, Lymnala, Physa, Planorbis. / c„^^-^^ 

 one-third is of insect origin, mostly dipterous larvas. Distillery slopr , 

 an important element in the food of these and many other vegetable [^ v^xoxii- 

 The case of the remarkable shovel-fish {Polyodo?i spathula) is gi"^^'-;;, flesti- 

 inence. The fish is of large size (30 lbs., 6 feet long). Its "^outh . 



tute of teeth, and it depends for food on a remarkable straining ?ipV'iarv£e 

 borne by the gills. The food is never fish nor mollusks, but hi.^ ^^ ^j^^ 

 and Crustacea. Its huge mouth and straining apparatus give it afggj.ygj f^j. 

 immense stores of minute insect and crustacean life usually r Ugf-^^gg Qf 

 small fishes. The creatui'e interests the comparative anatomis'*" 

 its retention of manv juvenile characters in its adult state. 



