754 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XV. No. 384. 



tian women, in every part of the country, 

 ready gladly and intelligently to carry out 

 the plans transmitted to them. * * * Napo- 

 leon Bonaparte would never have been the 

 Napoleon of history if he had had no army." 



Mrs. Hunt's allusion to Napoleon is unfor- 

 tunate, for how Bonaparte was 'officially ap- 

 pointed' to rule over his army we all know. 



I must admit that my term ' self -constituted 

 and official oligarchy' was apparently not 

 strictly accurate; and I confess myself at a 

 loss for the right term; 'monarchy' or 'dic- 

 tatorship' might perhaps fit the case better, 

 but would probably not meet with Mrs. Hunt's 

 approval; and I find her term 'organized 

 motherhood' also open to objection. 



As to the statement, 'Professor Sedgwick 

 falls into line with them [that is the liquor 

 dealers] when he attempts to support his ob- 

 jection with a quotation from a letter written, 

 he says, by a representative of a publishing 

 house,' I desire simply to recall what I ac- 

 tually did say, which was that the letter 

 quoted by me constituted an 'opinion,' merely, 

 the existence of which seemed to me note- 

 worthy and unfortunate. 



Finally, I may say that I shall be happy to 

 send a copy of my Chicago address to any 

 one who is unable to refer to it in Science of 

 January 10. W. T. Sedgwick. 



SHORTER ARTICLES. 



PRELIMINARY OBSERVATIONS ON A SUBDEKMAL 



MITE OCCURRING AMONG THE BIRDS IN 



THE NEW YORK ZOOLOGICAL PARK. 



During the month of February, 1901, four 

 white ibises (Guara alia) died in the bird- 

 house of the New York Zoological Park, and 

 neither gross nor microscopical examination 

 showed pathological evidence sufficient to ac- 

 count for the death of the birds, but on begin- 

 ning to skin a fifth ibis, two peculiar patches 

 were observed on the under surface of the 

 skin on each side of the keel of the sternum. 

 At first glance these looked as a heron's skin 

 does, beneath powder-down patches, where the 

 ends of the tiny quills are plainly visible, all 

 pointing in one direction. A closer examina- 

 tion showed these patches to consist of many 

 hundreds of small njites, close together, all 



lying lengthwise. A yellowish exudation and 

 a small amount of watery matter was observed 

 in the vicinity of these patches. 



During the early months of 1901, a number 

 of other birds died from the ravages of this 

 peculiar pest. Two valuable great-crowned 

 pigeons (Goura coronaia) showed, besides- 

 large numbers of these mites, numerous oval 

 parasites in the red blood-cells. A little blue 

 heron (Ardea ccerulea) and several Nicobar 

 pigeons (Calmnas nicoharica) had congested 

 lungs and large numbers of the mites. 



The present winter, only two birds have 

 died from this cause, although the mites have 

 been detected in two living birds. In a white 

 ibis which succumbed, the parasites were 

 smaller and less numerous than in the birds 

 of the same species which died last winter. 

 The second bird which died was a roseate 

 spoonbill (Ajaja ajaja), in which the mites 

 were large and numerous. 



The mites vary greatly in size and appear- 

 ance, but the largest individuals are 1.50 mm. 

 in length and about .50 mm. in breadth. 

 Eight five-jointed legs are present, four near 

 each end of the longish-oval body. The most 

 noticeable characteristics are the brownish, 

 probably chitinous, leg-supporting structures 

 which vary in complexity with the size of the 

 individual. In a small specimen these are 

 comparatively simple, while in mites of larger 

 size they ramify into complex structures. Six 

 of the legs bear numerous short hairs, while 

 two at one end of the body end in a single 

 long bristle. 



The temperature of the bird-house has been 

 kept quite low during the present winter, with 

 distinctly beneficial results to the birds, and 

 this may also account for the absence or small 

 size of the mites. 



Drawings have been made of specimens 

 and, although distinct, the organism most re- 

 sembles the worm-shaped pigeon mite {Hypo- 

 dcctes columharum) superficially described by 

 Dr. Anton Ziirn in 'Die Krankheiten des 

 Hausgefliigels.' 



He evidently knows but little about the 

 mite, but quotes from Megnin and others and' 

 gives one or two rather suggestive hints which 

 it is expected will soon be worked out by ex- 



