NOTES. 127 



perature was about 15 degrees below zero. While the room 

 was misty from the vapor from tubs and boilers, the outside 

 door was opened. A shaft of cold air struck across the room, 

 and its course was distinctly marked by the dense swarm of 

 well-defined snow-flakes, which fell rapidly to the floor. We 

 repeated the experiment for the sake of seeing a 'home- 

 brewed' snow-storm. JOSEPH MOORE. 



EFFECT OF AN EARTHQUAKE ON INSECTS. 



On the night of August 31, when the first tremor was felt 

 by members of our family, the music of hundreds of katydids, 

 crickets, and other insects among the pines, suddenly ceased, 

 and did not begin again until after the shocks (which con- 

 tinued about an hour) had ceased. The stars shone in a 

 cloudless sky, no wind was blowing, and an oppressive silence 

 covered the land. No sound was heard, with the exception of 

 howling dogs and the cries of frightened negroes. 



CARRIE H. GLOSSER, 

 Morganton, N. C., Sec. Chapter II. 



MUSKRATS AND MUSSEL-SHELLS. 



Having driven a muskrat into the water, I found a mussel 

 which seemed to have dropped. It was not open, but had one 

 valve partially broken at one end. I broke the ice and found 

 a large pile of shells just under the bank. These shells had 

 one valve whole, and the other broken, at the places where 

 the cords are that hold the valves together. 



ROGER C. ADAMS, Pres. 955. 



I have watched muskrats by the hour: have seen them go 

 into the water, come up on a log or stone with a clam, sit down 

 on their haunches, take the clam between their fore-feet, and 

 pull the shell open far enough to insert their noses and ex- 

 tract the mussel. A.D. KINNEY, Pres. 565. 



FLOWER-TRAPS. 



Look at the tempting pea-blossoms of Desmodium acumi- 

 natus, or 'beggar's ticks.' A fly alights upon the small pink 

 flower, when lo! it seems to explode, and the insect is greeted 

 with the blinding cloud of dust. This is a trap so delicately 

 set, that, at the lightest touch, the spring, consisting of a rigid 

 column of filaments enclosing the young pod, is released from 



