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THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



painted savages made their echoes ling with 

 wicked cries, and are familiar with the 

 pleasures that peace and later days give 

 to the lover of deep woods. Now Dr. Mer- 

 riam has taken up the natural history of 

 the wilderness, and is the first to give us 

 the characteristics which distinguish this 

 tract, as a whole, from the surrounding 

 country, and to present with scientific ac- 

 curacy the peculiarities of its fauna and 

 flora. 



The first chapter treats of the location 

 and boundaries of the Adirondacks, geo- 

 logical history, topography, climate, general 

 features, botany, and faunal position, and 

 contains much that is of general interest. 



The author says : " From a geological 

 stand-point, the Adirondacks are interesting 

 as constituting one of the few islands that 

 rose above the level of the mighty conti- 

 nental sea previous to Paleozoic time. Its 

 stern Archaean shores were washed by the 

 waves of countless ages before the under- 

 most strata of the lower Silurian were de- 

 posited upon them, entombing and preserv- 

 ing many of the trilobites, brachiopods, and 

 other curious inhabitants of that vast ocean. 

 This lower Silurian zone marked the shore- 

 line, so to speak, of the ancient island, and 

 consists of Potsdam sandstone and the lime- 

 rocks of the Trenton period. Though broken 

 and interrupted, enough of it still remains 

 to afford us tantalizing glimpses of the life 

 of the time, torn pages of fragmentary chap- 

 ters that constitute but a half-told story to 

 excite our imagination and regret." 



As to the forms of the mountains, they 

 are in no sense a chain, but consist of more 

 or less irregular groups, isolated peaks, and 

 short ranges, having no regular trend, con- 

 forming to no definite axis, and sloping in 

 all possible directions. 



The entire region is studded with hun- 

 dreds of beautiful lakes of various sizes and 

 depths, two of them upward of four thou- 

 sand feet above tide-level. Under the head 

 of " Climate " the writer speaks at some 

 length of the meteorology of the region, 

 and states that the mean annual rainfall 

 exceeds that of most portions of the State 

 by about five inches. After dwelling upon 

 the causes which serve to lower the temper- 

 ature, increase the humidity, and promote 

 great luxuriance of vegetation, he recounts 



the singular fact 'that many characteristic 

 marsh-plants grow upon the highest sum- 

 mits, as the conditions previously described 

 tend to produce upon them the effect of 

 marshes. On the very top of Mount Marcy 

 a number of these swamp-plants have been 

 found ; a matter of especial interest, as 

 there are no trees to protect them from the 

 sun, and they grow on the open summit 

 nearly five thousand feet above tide-level. 



In " Botany ' he enumerates thirty-two 

 species of forest-trees, fafty-seven of under- 

 shrubs, and one hundred and seventy-eight 

 of the most noticeable flowering-plants. As 

 to the " Faunal Position," he is of the opin- 

 ion that the temperature alone would show 

 that the district belongs to the Canadian 

 fauna, and a number of the resident birds 

 and mammals are cited in support of this 

 view. 



The other five chapters are given to Mam- 

 malia, Aves, Reptilia, Batrachia, and Pisces, 

 respectively. Of the " Mammalia" forty-two 

 species are enumerated, but the first part 

 ends with the consideration of the carnivora, 

 and constitutes a most important original 

 contribution to the literature of North 

 American mammals. We have grown ac- 

 customed to the modern iconoclast haunting 

 all paths of learning, and now it is Dr. Mer- 

 riam who robs us of our time-honored pan- 

 ther, the bloodthirsty monster of the deep 

 woods. Not that he takes him entirely 

 away, but he only lets him do some fearful 

 leaping to satisfy our old ideal. He says 

 the panther is an arrant coward ; that he 

 is not fierce unless he is wounded, and cor- 

 nered at that ; he does not climb trees ex- 

 cept at the point of the bayonet, as it were, 

 and he does not scream screams that curdle 

 the blood ; at least, it is the testimony of 

 the most reliable hunters that he rarely 

 makes any noise at all. But he does eat 

 porcupines until his mouth bristles with 

 quills, and he does catch deer, even if he 

 has to make quite a jump to do it. 



Lack of space obliges us to refer the 

 reader to the book itself for a further 

 knowledge of its contents, which will abun- 

 dantly repay perusal, and will confirm what 

 indeed is apparent throughout the work, that 

 the author is thoroughly acquainted with his 

 subject, and writes about it in a style which 

 is at once entertaining and instructive. 



