NOTES. 



287 



fish-hatcheries in North America (sixty-six 

 in the United States and fourteen in Canada 

 and Newfoundland) produced in the year of 

 their last report 1,616,027,192 fish hatched; 

 and four hundred and sixteen hatcheries in 

 Europe, 277,973,016 young fish. The North 

 American hatcheries are all governmental ; 

 most of those in Europe are in private hands. 

 The average production of one hatchery is 

 668,000 in Europe and 13,400,000 in North 

 America. In Europe the largest amount of 

 money for fish-cultural works is spent in 

 Germany the most by the Deutsche Fisch- 

 erei Verein. France, which has contributed 

 more than any other nation toward the de- 

 velopment of piscicultural work, now ranks 

 behind several other countries. Italy has 

 recently begun piscicultu ral work under the 

 control of the Government. The appropria- 

 tions for this work by the Government of the 

 Netherlands are small, while none are made 

 by Austria-Hungary. The appropriations of 

 the British, Russian, and Swedish Govern- 

 ments are also small. "When," says Mr. 

 Borodine, " we compare the total amount of 

 $37,032 spent for piscicultural work by all 

 European countries with the appropriations 

 of North American countries, we shall not 

 be surprised at the enormous difference in 

 the amount accomplished in the Old and New 

 Worlds. Europe originated and developed 

 the methods of fish culture, but it has be- 

 come an industry only in America." 



NOTES. 



THE Primitive Woman as a Poet was 

 the subject of a paper at the American Asso- 

 ciation by Prof. A. F. Chamberlain. Lulla- 

 bies, the author said, are known in every land, 

 and the folk poetry of all people is rich in 

 songs whose text and whose melodies the 

 tender mother has herself imagined and com- 

 posed. But not alone cradle-songs are the 

 product of the genius of the woman. As in 

 modern so in primitive times maidens in- 

 spired by love have vented their feelings in 

 song. We find such poetesses among the 

 Arabs and Bedouins of the desert, in Poly- 

 nesia and Australia, Madagascar, etc. Women 

 improvisators are known among the Amer- 

 ican Indians, among the African tribes, etc. 

 The share of woman in the transmission of 

 song and story from generation to generation 

 is very great. Indeed, among some of the 

 tribes of Guiana the bards of ancient times 

 are represented as old women. Among the 

 Bedouins as elsewhere, women and girls have 



special songs which are never imparted to the 

 men, and it is very difficult, often impossible, 

 for a traveler to obtain the text of such 

 songs. 



IN a paper on Indian Migration, read 

 at the American Association, C. S. Wake 

 endeavored to trace the migrations of the 

 tribes from their traditions. An examina- 

 tion of these traditions, the author said, 

 showed that besides the Algonkins, Iroquois, 

 and the Cherokees, the people of the Sioux- 

 Dakota stock also dwelt at an early date near 

 the St. Lawrence. Probably all the people 

 thus brought together in the neighborhood 

 of the Eastern lakes had a common origin, 

 the place of which may have been north of 

 the St. Lawrence. The primitive long-headed 

 Indians of North America spread originally 

 over the continent from some part of the 

 northwest coast, or the foreign element to 

 which they owe their special characteristics 

 was introduced there. This element has its 

 nearest representative on the American con- 

 tinent in the Eskimo. The Eskimo skull ap- 

 proximates the type found among the Caro- 

 line islanders, the Fijians, and the aborigi- 

 nes of Australia. The long-headed tribes of 

 North America may thus find their oldest 

 allies among the islanders of the Pacific. 



M. MAEEY has found, from his continued 

 studies of animal locomotion by means of 

 instantaneous photography, that the modes 

 of progression of the viper and the eel are 

 much alike ; that the postures of batrachians 

 in water (after they have acquired their limbs) 

 are much like those of men swimming, and 

 that lizards trot like horses. 



A PAIR of catbirds having built a nest in 

 a honeysuckle vine on the house of Dr. R. 

 W. Shufeldt, he took the paius to observe 

 their nesting habits. The first egg was laid 

 twenty-four hours after the nest was built, 

 and three others on three succeeding days, 

 all very nearly at the same hour in the morn- 

 ing (between 9.15 and 10.35). For the first 

 few days the mother bird sat on the eggs at 

 irregular intervals, leaving them often for an 

 hour or more, but finally gave them her un- 

 divided attention. On the fourteenth day 

 from the first laying there were no birds 

 hatched at dark, but on the next morning 

 there were three ; and the fourth egg was 

 hatched during the next night. On the 

 twenty-fifth day all the birds left the nest 

 together; but not going away, the young 

 were easily caught. They were put in a 

 cage and hung under the roof close to the 

 nest. Here the parents faithfully fed them 

 through the cage wires for three days, when 

 they were let loose in some dense under- 

 brush, to the great joy of the parents. 



THE report of the managers of the Observ- 

 atory of Yale University says that while only 

 a small percentage of the thermometers sold 

 are sent there for certification, it is presum- 



