January 19, 1894.] 
the slope. At one place I found that the crest of a 
ripple mark was cut by a small transverse channel 
draining the basin above the mark into the one below. 
Such a small channel must have been formed by an 
antecedent stream, that is, one in operation and main- 
taining its course across the rising fold as it emerged 
from the ocean. Such ariver is the Green River de- 
scribed by Powell. 
In a word we seem to have in these small ripple 
mark basins that I have described an epitome of the 
destruction of continents, of the formation of the con- 
tinental shelf and the evolution of geographic form as 
brought about by subaerial denudation. The erosive 
work was particularly similar to that of an ordinary 
river because the water running down the slope was 
very slight in amount. The rills were not formed, as 
are ordinary rills, by the flowing back to the ocean of 
the water held in a considerable hollow of the beach. 
They were formed by the small amount of water held 
in the spongy material of the ripple marks and pulled 
. down toward the hollows as the level of the water under 
the surface lowered with the receding tide. The 
amount of water thus being less than usual inthe forma- 
tion of rill marks, the process was slower and the result 
more delicate and more similar to ordinary subaerial 
erosion. 
In was interesting to note that the erosion took place 
only on the seaward side of the mpple marks and the 
shoreward sides were left undissected. The reason for 
this seems to be that the water held in the sands was 
pulled vertically down by gravitative action and hence 
was drawn through between the particles of the beach 
deposit toward the next hollow on the seaward side. 
In this respect only, as far as I could see, did these 
small streams differ from the streams on a similar con- 
structional slope in the more consolidated rocks of the 
continents. 
It would seem from this instance and eins that have 
been called to my attention from time to time that no- 
where do we have such a chance to study dynamical 
geology in operation on a small scale as at the sea 
shore. Apart from the work of the ocean itself there 
are a large number of things similar to what I have 
mentioned above that are worthy of careful attention, 
even though they be small. One thing especially that 
can be studied to great profit at this time of the year 
is the shore work of frost and ice. I feel that our ocean 
shores have not been studied in sufficient detail in the 
past, and Iam sure that no better place can be found 
to show erosive processes in their entirety than the sea 
shore at low tide. 
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR. 
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The 
ANOTHER ROPE OF MAGGOTS. 
Tue note by Mr. Lynds Jones in Science of December 
29 recalls a similar observation by myself. I was 
hastening to a train and observed a rope of maggots, 
such as is described by Mr. Jones, crossing my path, 
which I at first took to be the skin of a snake. It was 
on what is called the Gully Road in Newark, N. J., 
and the maggots were crossing the path from the ¢ gully 
of the road. I kicked it and noticed that the maggots 
appeared to be clinging to each other, so that they 
SCIENCE. 
39 
separated in flakes. I had not time to look, but I pre- 
sumed that they were moving away from a carcass 
which had been exhausted. A year later along the 
same road I noticed in the gully the body of ‘a dog 
which was being consumed by maggots, but I observed, 
when the food was exhausted, that they moved down 
the rocky gully not in a rope, but one by one, and 
scattered along, slender and emaciated, for a distance 
of perhaps fifty feet. Wit1am Haves Warp. 
New York, Jan. 12, 1894. 
SECRET LANGUAGE OF CHILDREN. 
Mr. Oscar Curisman’s article in Science of Dec. 1, 
1893, recalls to my mind the ‘‘Hog Latin” that I and 
my school-boy companions used to use, and by means 
of which we were able to carry on conversations which 
were altogether unintelligible to our parents and teach- 
ers. 
Our “Hog Latin” was formed by transferring the 
first consonant sound of a word to the end of the word, 
and then adding long a, as in the words doubt — oubt- da, 
book = ook- ba, house — ouse-ha. 
Long words were sometimes split up into syllables, 
and these syllables treated as shorter words, as: Lan- 
guage = angla-agegwa, suspect — us-sa-ect-spa. This 
language was defective in that it did not sufficiently dis- 
guise those words which begin with a vowel, as: 
Are = are-a, either —either-a, any = any-a. We used to 
get around that by avoiding the word I; using me in- 
stead, or by placing the accent in the wrong place, as: 
Either-a, calling it ee-thra. 
I remember that I learned to use the language in a 
day or two, and after a short time did not have to 
stop to think how to make a new word, but was 
guided by the sound entirely. 
A couple of sentences will suffice to explain the lan- 
guage: 
Where are you going this morning? 
00-ya@ oing-ga is-tha orning-ma ? 
When this language is spoken rapidly it is difficult for 
those not in the secret to catch what is said. Hn-wha 
is-tha ang-la—edge-gwa is-a oken-spa apid-ra-e-la it-a is-a 
iffi-da—ult-ca or-fa ose-tha ot-na in-a e-tha e-sa—et-cra oo-ta 
atch-ca ot-wha is-a ed-sa. D. T. MarsHatt. 
Metuchen, N. J. 
Ere-wha are-a 
NOTES ON WaTER LILIES, ETc. 
J. E. Topp in Science, No. 567, mentions a ‘‘minia- 
ture water lily.” Another variety of a very small 
water lily grows at Hyannis Port, Mass. in a long 
abandoned mill pond. None other of the numerous 
ponds in that locality, where water lilies grow abun- 
dantly, possesses this small and beautiful variety. The 
blossom is an exact copy of Nymphea odorata, andis but 
one-half inch in diameter; the leaves also, in shape, 
color and venation, are like those OR, ANE odorata, and 
are but one and a half inch in full diameter. I did not 
look up the plant last summer, but had found it for 
several years before, and will search for it when I re- 
turn to the shore. 
Several notes on ‘‘coon-cats,” ete:, recalled to me a 
very large black and white tom cat, at Hyannis Port, a 
notable mouser, having the peculiarity of double fore feet. 
All the feet of this animal are particularly large and 
strong, and on the outer side of each fore foot grows 
a second paw more than half as large as the normal 
one. This cat was a vigorous digger; to effect entrance 
to a basement pander my porch, he dus a large hole at 
an angle of 45° and about eighteen inches deep, passing 
under the boarding, and large enough for him to crawl 
” 
