12 



SCIENCE. 



[Vol. XXill. No. 5^6 



season is diminished in proportion, as, o£ course, no 

 new buds can be formed. 



This late blooming- is not at all uncommon, althoiigh 

 I do not remember having noticed any as early as Sep- 

 tember. One season in the first week of November the 

 pear trees in the garden were quite white with blos- 

 soms, but unfortunately I cannot recall the year. 



Dr. Mendelson may enjoy a very pretty bouquet in 

 February or March by placmg in water in a sunny win- 

 dow the fruit-bearing branches of pears, apples or 

 cherries; in a short time they will develop their beauti- 

 ful and fragrant blossoms. F. J. Thompson. 



New Brighton, Staten Island. 



A Correction. 



Science is so generally exact in following copy that I 

 must have left out one important word in a recent com- 

 munication. I should have said that the early Iroquois 

 had no council wampum. When the Dutch came they 

 obtained it fast enough, but it is found on no earlier 

 sites in their territory. The later ones have furnished 

 it in abundance. 



I wish to record the occurrence of the thick-billed 

 guillemot in this part of New York. A }'oung one was 

 shot on the Seneca River, at Baldwinsville, Dec. 15, 

 1893. It has not been reported so far inland before. 

 Two species of cormorant have been shot on Onondaga 

 Lake, and I heard that a pelican was recently killed 

 there, but have not seen it. W. M. Beauchamp. 



Baldwinsville, N. Y.,Dec, 28, 1893. 



The phenomenon of "the late blossoming of trees,'' 

 referred to by Dr. Walter Mendelson in Science of Dec. 

 i5> 1893, was observed here. During the latter part of 

 September and the first of October great numlsers of 

 fruit trees were in bloom, and on many green fruit set 

 and grew; bwt they all occurred in the track of a severe 

 hail storm which in August passed over a strip of 

 country about half-a-mile in width, cutting the foliage 

 completely from the trees. Possibly Brielle and Alpine, 

 N. J., were in the track of that hail storm. 



Thoimas S. Stevens. 



Trenton, N. J., Dec. 28, 1893. 



As TO Feigned Death in Snakes. 

 While on a trip to the Bad Lands in northwest 

 Nebraska and South Dakota in the summer of 1892, col- 

 lections of rattlesnakes were made. Being much in- 

 terested in the recent articles on "Feigned Death in 

 vSnakes, " I have the following statement to make: 

 Whenever a freshly captured rattlesnake was intro- 

 duced in the box with the former captures it usually 

 vented its rage on them by striking and biting. No ill 

 effects whatever ensued. Also, when teased, the snakes 

 would bite one another. We lost no rattlesnakes what- 

 ever on the trip. , We often teased the snakes before 

 capture, and in not one instance did they show any ten- 

 dency to feign death. H. H. Everett. 



Lincoln, Neb., Dec. 27, 1S93. 



The Least Bittern. 



Late-Bloominq Trees. 

 Trees or shrubs if stripped of their foliage during the 

 summer will put out new buds and new leaves and 

 blossoms. It is a common saying with farmers that 

 when a tree blossoms in the fall it is about to die, which 

 is generally the case, as it mostly occurs on diseased 

 trees. On such a tree the leaves will often turn yellow 

 and fall off during a dry summer. The later rains will 

 put a little new life into it, and it will often put forth 

 isuds and blossom. The same occurs if healthy trees 

 are stripped of their foliage during the summer. 



Last summer a wounded bittern, the smallest of 

 them all, Botaurus exilis, came into the grounds of the 

 New York State Fishery Commission, at this place, and 

 as its wing was hanging down one of my men caught it 

 and amputated the wing. It remained and fished in a 

 swampy bit of land where the minnows are plenty, in 

 a pool fed by tide water, and promises to winter there. 

 Its habit of remaining motionless when I approach it 

 slowly and in plain sight is interesting, perched on a 

 stick, or standing in the mud with its neck drawn up 

 close and bill pointed upward. I can go within two 



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