aquatic Hit 



155 



it is with startling suddenness and dis- 

 patch, leaving the frog statuesque again 

 and observant, but in a new place" (p. 



195)- 



The specimen Mr. Wood collected ap- 

 peared to be quite at home in the water, 

 and when left alone in an aquarium jar 

 for the night, he was seen in the morning 

 to be squatting down among some dark- 

 colored stones in a peculiar attitude ; he 

 had assumed an almost entirely deep 

 black color that was quite protective. 



Gopher frogs feed upon small birds 

 and insects, but most commonly upon 

 toads, the last giving them no end of 

 discomfort on account of the acrid secre- 

 tion from their parotid glands. Indeed, 

 after a meal upon a big toad, this frog 

 has been observed to go through a series 

 of somewhat extraordinary spasmodic 

 movements, frantically trying to clear its 

 mouth with its fore feet of the semi- 

 poisonous juice the batracian he had en- 

 deavored to swallow had squirted into it. 



So big is the mouth of this Gopher 

 frog that it can manage to swallow a 

 full-grown specimen of our common toad 

 — a feat, however, that it in no way 

 appears to enjoy. There is much to be 

 learned about this species yet, and speci- 

 mens will be welcome from any one liv- 

 ing in those parts of Florida where it is 

 found. 



A stingy angler was fishing on a Scot- 

 tish loch on a drenching day. He had 

 been consoling himself from his flask and 

 forgetting his gillie. Presently he asked 

 tbe man if there was a dry place on the 

 boat on which to strike a match. 



"You might try my throat," said the 

 gillie; "it's dry enough." 



The rearing of carp is a very ancient 

 practice ; a treatise on the subject was 

 written by a Chinaman during the third 

 century. 



Notes on the Diatoms 



ANNA K. BEWLEY 



The diatoms are among the most inter- 

 esting and fascinating subjects that may 

 be studied with the compound micro- 

 scope. They can well be termed ubiquit- 

 ous, because they are present in all wa- 

 ters, fresh and salt, from pole to pole. 

 Naturalists formerly classed the diatoms 

 as animals in consequence of their power 

 of movement, but further study with the 

 aid of improved microscopes, and con- 

 firmed by chemical research, resulted in 

 a transfer to the vegetable kingdom. 



The plant consists of a silicious en- 

 velope in three parts joined together 

 somewhat after the manner of the old- 

 fashioned cardboard pillbox— top and 

 bottom caps held together by a ring. They 

 are of every conceivable shape, but all 

 are miscroscopic in size. Their great 

 beauty consists in the marking or sculp- 

 ture of the envelope. Almost every im- 

 aginable geometric design is imitated, and 

 the resemblance is sometimes indicated by 

 the name : Heliopclta, the sun-shield ; 

 Arachnoidiscus, like a spider's web. The 

 markings on the valves of some species 

 are not by any means easily discerned, 

 even with the highest magnification and 

 careful manipulation of the microscope. 

 Pleurosigma, a favorite species to test 

 the power of an instrument, appears, 

 when magnified 500 diameters, to be 

 marked by parallel lines (90,000 would 

 measure but an inch across), but when 

 magnified 2800 diameters the design is 

 found to be reticulated resembling bob- 

 inette. The species of salt water are 

 usually larger than those of fresh water. 



Little is known in regard to the im- 

 portance of the diatoms as food for 

 young fishes, though they have been 

 found in their stomachs, but they form 

 the food of oysters and other molluscs, 

 and have been found in the gizards of 



