266 



SCIENCE. 



[Vol. II., No. 30. 



with the other — various small articles of food, in 

 one case a small frog;" and also, "I liave often seen 

 the crow liokl a frog or acorn iirnily, wiili one foot 

 on Ihe grouml or on a leuce-rail, wliile he pecked 

 away wUIi his 1)111." Similar instances'! remember 

 to have read about, and one in llie Bulletin of the 

 Nultall ornilhnlogical club, where it is described as 

 holding a small bird, wliich it had killed in an aviary, 

 in its claws, while it tore it in pieces with its bill, lilce 

 a bird of prey. 



The claws of tlie slirikes, weaker than tliose of 

 tiie crows, ami quite as insessorial, are u-seJ to seize 

 and carry prey. A few winters ago I saw a slirike 

 killed on the Boston public garden by tlie city for- 

 ester's men, which had in its claws, during its fliglit, 

 a still livinii English sparrow. That the crows in 

 tlie above-mentioned instances, tliough perching 

 birds, do use their claws as prehensile organs, I 

 regard as evidence of their intelligence and reason- 

 ing power, whicli enable them, under exceptional 

 circumstances, to use tlieir perching feet for raptorial 

 purposes. We must not measure animal intelligence 

 by our imperfect and arbitrary zoological classifica- 

 tions. Since the writings of F. Cuvier, Floui-ens, 

 and Fee, it seems impossible to deny the possession 

 of a reasoning intelligence to aniinals below man. 



Leaving out of view the instance mentioned in 

 no. 13, I iliink I have adduced sufficient evidence 

 that the crows do soinelime-i — that is, when they find 

 it necessary — seize and carry objects in their claws, 

 like birds of prey. Samuel Kneeland. 



An interesting sun-spot. 



The accompanying sketch represents the remarkable 

 sun-spot of .luly (which was visible to the naked eye), 

 and is of particular interest. I did not see it in its 

 early or formative period, when this was taken; but 

 from my knowledge of Mr. Very's' experience and 

 skill I have no doubt of the trustworthiness of the 

 drawing in all its details. His remarks supply all 

 the further information needed. S. P. Lanqley. 



Cambridge, Aug. 21, 1SS3. 



I enclose a sketch of a large and unusually inter- 

 esting sun-spot, as it appeared through the great 

 equatorial of the Allegheny observatory, of 13 inches 

 aperture, with the polarizing eye-piece. The drawing 

 was made on the 2Glh'of July, 18S3. 



The spot, while not so large as some, exhibited 

 considerable activity and a remarkable assembly of 

 odd forms, some of which appear so conflicting that 

 it is difficult to imagine how they can exist side by 



side. The strong inrush from the following side gave 

 one the idea of a viscid sin et or ribbon, rather than 

 that of a bundle of filaments. It bore a striking re- 

 semblance to some of Ihe forms which taffy assumes 

 under the confectioner's manipulation. On the upper 

 or northern side the filaments were more graceful, 

 slender, and grass-like. The snuihern part was re- 

 markable for the length and intensity of its curved 

 filaments. (The longest could certainly be traced 

 through more than 15,000 miles.) But perhaps the 

 most curious portion was the centre, where a mass, 

 possessed of photospherio brilliancy and fringed with 

 curved and tangled threads, gave one the impiession 

 that a recently erupted facula, formed somehow in 

 the very middle of the spot, was being torn to pieces 

 by conflicting currents. 



Numerous local whirls were evident, and the south- 

 east lialf of the spot had a decidedly cyclonic appear- 

 ance, the rotation being in an opposite direction to the 

 hands of a watch. (It is to be remembered, that 

 the drawing gives the appearance of a projection, and 

 is therefore the reverse of a view by direct vision.) 

 Tlie noith-west half of the spot dicl not show any 

 such rotational tendency. F. W. Very. 



Allegheny, Aug. 20, 1883. 



The right whale of the North Atlantic. 



I am sufficiently impressed by the utter absurdity 

 of occupying ycmr valuable pages in discussing non- 

 essentials; yet I am called upon by your critic to clear 

 up two points remaining, both of whidi in any case 

 hardly deserve serious notice. I will endeavor to close 

 this correspondence by stating the facts. 



Referring to Scoresby's pictures of the Greenland 

 whale, I was led to attribute to the first or earlier 

 one another authorship, from seeing in it so much 

 error and exaggeration; and this because I had just 

 read in Scoresby's book the following (Arct. reg., vol. 

 i. p. 447. 1820): "I have confined my engravings, as 

 well as my descriptions, to those animals that have 

 come immediately under my own examination, or 

 have been sketched by persons on whose accuracy 

 and faithfulness I could fully depend ; while drawings 

 that I have met with, when the least doubtful, have 

 been altogether rejected." 



His second figure being so nearly correct, having 

 evidently been carefully drawn from an entirely dif- 

 ferent and natural study of the animal, it was easy 

 to assume, that, having first taken at second-hand an 

 ill-considered sketch, he protnptly replaced it by a bet- 

 ter one. In this view it should not be assumed that 

 we had any thing but the kindliest motives in thus 

 speaking of this most eminent and valued man's 

 work. In Scoresby's 'Arctic regions' (ed. 1820) tlie 

 second figure of the Greenland whale appears. The 

 caudal region, including the flukes, is entirely re- 

 drawn, showing the various elements that make up 

 the beauty of those parts, as the carinae, etc. The 

 other features, unfortunately, are not improved; yet 

 more unfortunate is the fact that the earlier figure, 

 with all its imperfections, has come down to us in 

 most of the mcu'e important works. 



With reference to the corrections of Scoresby's 

 figures, we may point to an old work in the library 

 of the American museum, which, by the way, is not 

 noticed in Mr. Allen's bibliography; namely, " His- 

 toire (les peches, des decouvertes et des etablisse- 

 inens des Hollaiidois dans les mers du Nord, etc. 

 Par Le C. Bernard DeReste. Tome premier. A 

 Paris, ISOl." This is an octavo volume, devoted 

 almost entirely to cetaceans, and has large copper- 

 plate engravings, one of which contains a right whale 

 labelled B. frauche, and another the sperm whale. 



