8 
POPULAR soii:hoe news. 
[Jaxuary, 1890. 
tunities for enjoyment and for friendships that 
will never fail laid open to them ; and, above 
all, the opportunity freely afforded them for 
securing the brain-growth and mental power 
by observation and independent thought 
which these studies are so peculiarly well 
fitted to give." 
The smallest number that can be admitted 
as a Chapter of the A. A. is four. These 
may be all of one family, or of several ; they 
may be of any age, and their entrance is 
entirely free, the only necessary expense 
being the purchase of the Association hand- 
book. Three Kingdoms, and a subscription 
to one of the papers that contain our reports. 
For convenience in reporting, the Chapters 
are arranged in groups of one hundred, called 
Centuries, of which there are now ten, though 
none of them are full. Chapters belonging 
to the first Century (Nos. i-ioo) are expected 
to send their annual reports to the President 
by the first of January, and reports from this 
division are now due. The other Centuries 
will follow the months in regular order until 
August. August and September are omitted, 
as vacation months, and then the eighth 
Century begins again in October. We shall 
now present a few extracts from the large 
number of these reports which have been 
received dining the past few months. 
505, Greene, N. Y. , [A]. — We have added to our 
herbarium, by collecting and by exchange. Our 
cabinet of minerals is also enlarged, and we have a 
large number of slides prepared for the microscope. 
Correspondence with the Gray Memorial Chapter 
has proved very interesting and profitable. — L. P. 
J., Sec. 
One or two things in this pleasant letter may need 
a word of explanation for the general reader. The 
number (505) shows that this Chapter is the fifth 
Chapter in the sixth Century. The letter A after 
the address signifies that it is the first Chapter in 
Greene, N. Y. The Gray Memorial Chapter is one 
of a class of societies formed, not bj the union of 
several residents of the same town, but by the asso- 
ciation into a "Corresponding Chapter" of widely 
separated individuals, all interested in the study of 
botany. It is named in honor of Professor Asa 
Gray, and has a large and earnest membership. 
The President is George H. Hicks, Owosso, Mich. 
513, Buffalo, N. Y., [D]. — We have lectures every 
week, and every two weeks an essay and discussion. 
We have had a series of excursions for the collection 
of wild flowers, and are preparing an herbarium. — • 
Lilian M. Hoffer, Sec. 
517, Appleton, Wis., [A]. — We are studying leaf 
forms and caterpillar changes. A charming book, 
which we have lately obtained, Instd Lives; or 
Born in Prison, has been a well of delight. With 
great gratitude for the privileges you have enabled 
us to enjoy, we are all very sincerely your co- 
workers. — M. Rogers Winslow, Sec. 
If anyone deems it immodest in the editor to feel 
proud that the book referred to by Mrs. Winslow is 
the work of his mother, and to think it the best book 
on the subject yet written for young people, let him 
read Exodus 20: 12. 
520, Piqua, O., [A]. — We have gained a most 
valuable member in J. W. Dowler, a civil engineer. 
Our studies are at present confined to archicology, 
geology, and zoology. In the first department we 
have nearly five thousand specimens, as this is an 
excellent field for Indian relics. — J. A. Rayner, Sec. 
We have a "Corresponding Chapter" in arch- 
seology, like the one in botany already referred to. 
Its membership extends into many States. The 
President is Hilborne T. Cresson, Philadelphia 
Academy of Sciences; Vice-President, Dr. C. C. 
Abbott, Trenton, N. J.; Secretary, A. II. Leitch, 
41 Mound Street, Dayton, O. 
521, New York, N. Y., [O].— We have held thir- 
teen meetings since September, five of which were 
devoted to answering the questions sent by Mr. 
Wyht, whose course in botany we are still pursuing. 
Miss Ilirsch has taken Professor Guttenberg's course 
in mineralogy. We spent one field-day at Spuyten 
Duyvil, May 2, and found, among other flowers, 
Panax trifotium, Arahis lyrata, Nepeta glechoma, 
and Erylhronium Americanwiu. One member found 
an alder-tree in bloom January 4 ; and some arbutus 
was found at Cornwall, January 29. — Alice M. 
Isaacs, Pres. ; Daisy L. Stein, Sec. 
530, Boston, Mass., [E]. — We have begun to 
study geology, and have made three collecting 
trips.— John J. Fay, Sec, 41 Allen Street. 
535, Ilallowell, Me., [A]. — Death has visited our 
little Chapter, removing one of our members. The 
remaining three are earnestly and steadily at work, 
adding much to their knowledge, and enlarging 
their collections of minerals, fossils, woods, etc. — 
M. Lillian Hopkins, Sec. 
540, Oskaloosa, lo., [A]. — Our Chapter is in a 
most flourishing condition. Within the last eight 
months the membership has increased from twenty- 
three to fifty. We have rooms in the High School 
building, where we have our museum. The School 
Board has also given into our hands the arrange- 
ment and care of their numerous scientific speci- 
mens. Our work is in chemistry, geology, zoology, 
astronomy, and botany; we also have numerous 
field-meetings. — Mary B. Green, Pres. 
48, Fitchburg, Mass., [A]. — Hereafter, please 
address all correspondence intended for this Chap- 
ter to "Agassiz Association, No. 48, P. O. Box 
1685, Fitchburg, Mass." This will insure its imme- 
diate delivery. There are frequent changes in the 
office of corresponding secretary, but the foregoing 
address will be permanent. — Ira C. Greene, Pres. 
ORIGINAL OBSERVATIONS. 
[Continued from The Swiss CVos«, \'ol. 5, No. 6, p. 184.] 
255. A Late-Blooming Pear. (See Note 245.) 
— A pear tree in our garden lost all its leaves after 
an August storm. In the warmth of September, 
after long-continued showers, it put forth a crop of 
young leaves, blossomed, and continued in flower 
for three weeks. — C. C. Cruger, Barrytown, N. Y. 
256. A Mastodon's Skeleton. — I have found 
what I take to be a tooth and part of a tusk of a 
mastodon. The tooth is y'/i inches in length 
and 3^/4 in the diameter of its cross-section. It 
has five transverse ridges, about an inch high, 
except the last, which is smaller. Each ridge is 
cut in two by a longitudinal groove, or furrow, 
which, however, is not nearly so deep as the trans- 
verse grooves. The piece of tusk is 16 inches long, 
5 inches in its longer and 2 in its shorter diameter. 
The outside is dark colored, and has a perfect polish. 
The inside is soft, and can be scratched with the 
nail. Some persons here took it for petrified wood, 
because three concentric layers appeared on the 
end ; but I think it is ivory, because the broken end 
shows small lozenge-shaped markings, formed by 
the intersectingof circular arcs. A fragment heated 
in the flame of an alcohol lamp gave a distinct odor 
like that of a burning hoof Judging from the 
curvature of this piece, the tusk must originally 
have been about 8 inches in diameter. — George W. 
Boot, Ute, Iowa. 
257. One of the Tipulid.e. — I mail you a 
small bottle containing two larvje, which I found 
in the water of a vessel in which was an aquatic 
plant. Kindly let me know their names, origin, 
and future. I am not a member of the A. A., but 
take great pleasure in reading the reports and 
observations published in your magazine. The 
bodj' is transparent olive green, rudimentary wings 
darker. — ^J. T. B., Greensburg, Penn. 
[This is apparently a dipterous larva of the family 
Tipulida, and belongs to that section of the family 
which have short palpi, among which are I'icrano- 
mia, LimnoMa, etc. See Ostendacken's Smithso- 
nian publications. — Ed.] 
A cordial invitation is hereby extended to all 
our readers to join the Agassiz Association, either 
by organizing local societies, or as individual mem- 
bers. Circulars giving full directions, and contain- 
ing a fine wood-engraving of Professor Agassiz, 
will be sent on application. Address all communi- 
cations for this department to Harlan II. Ballard, 
President of the Agassiz Association, Pittsfield, 
Mass. 
Reports from the second Century (Chapters loi- 
200) should reach the President by February i. 
GLEANINGS. 
A Canvas-back Duck flies at an h.abitual rate of 
80 miles per hour, which is increased in emergency 
to 120. The mallard has a flight of 48 miles an 
hour; the black duck, pin-tail, widgeon, and wood 
duck cannpt do much better. The blue-wing and 
green-wing teals can do 100 miles an hour, and take 
it easy. The red-head can fly all day at 90 miles 
per hour. The gadwall can do 90 miles. The flight 
of the wild goose is 100 miles per hour. 
An Entertaining Yarn. — An enterprising 
Kentucky paper prints the following: "In Wood- 
ford County Mr. John D. Burns raised a large drove 
of turkeys this year, and by placing a bell upon the 
old mother that led them he accustomed them to 
follow the sound. When the time came to work 
his tobacco fields he removed the bell, placing it on 
his own waist, and while working his crop with the 
hoe, the hungry turkeys followed the familiar tinkle 
ot the bell, picking the stalks clean of the worms as 
as they followed him up one row and down the 
other. The turkeys have done the work of five 
men and saved the crop." 
Alu.m in Bread. — Alum owes its power of 
blanching the paste of bread not to the alumina 
which it contains, or to the combination of this 
earth with the gluten, but to the sulphuric acid 
liberated by the formation of aluminum albuminate. 
According to Nothnagel and Rossbach, the pro- 
longed daily use of alum in proportion of 0.0^ too.i 
grm. occasions gastric disturbances not unimpor- 
tant. The author finds that the artificial gastric 
digestion of alumed bread eflects the solution of all 
the alum present. Hence it is possible that a quan- 
tity of alumina equivalent to 0.20 grm. of alum may 
enter the circulation daily. 
