May 5, 1893.] 



SCIENCE. 



245 



scales, form of frond, and division of pinnae. Several times I 

 have found fronds clearly pinnatifid in the lowtr part. This 

 might be called an extreme form of the variety Incisum, and is 

 most likely to occur late in the season, and in rich woods under- 

 going the process of clearing. The pinnae are also sometimes 

 once or twice forked at the apex, and there are other changes from 

 the normal form. 



Camptosorus rhizophyllus is less variable, but the basal auricles 

 will sometimes be prolonged much like the apex, and will root 

 like that. Specimens have thus been found giving origin to three 

 young plants. I have one frond which is pinnate, but with a 

 normal frond from the same root. 



The Osmundas vary much. O. regalis has often a few sporangia 

 on the otherwise sterile pinnae, and O. Clayloniana has sometimes 

 the same feature. I have a curious series of O. cinnamomea, 

 where the so-called variety Frondosa is feitile at the base and 

 apex, at the base alone, at the apex alone, or only in the centre. 

 There are other oddities in this fern. 



The Botrychiums vary much. The variations of B. virginianum 

 are well known, and the variety Oracile is quite persistent in 

 some places. B. matricarijefolium varies from age and location, 

 but I have found many distinct and beautiful varieties of B. 

 ternatum growing luxuriantly together. In one abundant plan- 

 tation of B. simplex there are many strange forms, not altogether 

 due to age. This is in sphagnum, and not far off I have found it 

 growing in water. 



The variation of Cystopteris fragilis is a never-failing perplexity 

 to some. It seems so different, and yet so familiar. Often it 

 has been mistaken for Woodsia obtusa. 



Some ferns which I collected in Colorado were interesting to 

 Professor Underwood from their local variation in a broad sense, 

 being near the limits of their district. I collected Aspidium 

 septentrionale on Cheyenne Mountain, but it was immature, yet 

 those of the preceding year were smaller and quite unlike those I 

 had from Europe. 



On Skaneateles Lake, N.Y. , I found email patches of Pellaea 

 gracile growing on wet rocks; in one place, almost in the bed of 

 a small waterfall. In other places there I found it on dry ledges, 

 the roots and tufted fronds forming a dense mat. The station 

 made quite a difference in the appearance. 



W. M. Beauchamp. 

 BaiawlnsvUle, N.Y., April 14. 



Singing of Birds. 



In answer to E. B. Titchener's inquiry regarding the relation of 

 song to emotion in birds, the following is offered by one who has 

 made careful observations in the language of over fifty well-known 

 species. 



That there is an expression of feeling in the notes of all of our 

 birds no true lover of our feathered friends will attempt to deny. 

 We are all most willing to admit the existence of a bond between 

 them and us, and this relation, or assumption perhaps, we would 

 not care to have dispelled. Nevertheless, although I am so 

 anxious to invest these creatures, " favorites of creation," as Fig- 

 uier so fondly calls them, with higher attributes of feeling and 

 expression, it remains a fact, that their notes do not change in 

 quality as a result of change in emotion. At least, this is so in 

 so far as our ears are able to distinguish. Let us consider some 

 cases. 



A pair of robins will make a great outcry if tbeir nest is mo- 

 lested, the excited notes of the male corresponding exactly to his 

 cries when engaged in his vernal battles, or, later, when giving 

 excited warning to its defenceless young when a marauding cat 

 is at hand. If the eggs are taken, the pair quickly subsides, and 

 the male will probably be singing the same evening; surely the 

 next morning. Within -a very few days a new nest is begun in 

 the same neighborhood, the song continuing daily. 



I have carefully noted the song of the warbling vireo, which is 

 one of the few birds which smg while sitting upon its eggs. In 

 one instance, after the set of four eggs was removed, the bird re- 

 maining near by, and uttering its querulous notes, I waited to 

 observe. The male quickly returned to the empty nest, which it 



had recently left, and at once gushed forth in song. It may be 

 that the song expressed much sorrow, or at least a complaint, but 

 to me it was the same inspiring, ecstatic warble that I was accus- 

 tomed to hear. I have robbed the nest of the scarlet tanager, 

 rose-breasted grosbeak, wood thrush, hermit, and indigo bird, all 

 beautiful singers, and then waited and listened, allowing ample 

 time for the male to learn of the spoliation. In each instance 

 the male quickly tuned up, and, to my idea, sang as sweetly as 

 ever. 



The expression of sentiment, or whatever we wish to call it, in" 

 the harsh caw of the common crow, or the single cnik of the 

 raven, may mean as much, and probably does, as the tinkling 

 melody issuing from the elfin winter wren. Then, too, the ever 

 mournful, lonesome song of the wood pewee, or the solemn- 

 sounding hoo-hoo of the great-horned owl, or the weird monotony 

 of the whip-poor-will, undoubtedly answer the purpose equally 

 with the sprightly notes of our little friend, the melodious, jing- 

 ling song-sparrow. However, these notes and songs, although 

 they may mean much to the birds, are, to our obtuse ears, ever 

 the same. Morris Gibbs, M.D. 



Kalamazoo, Mich. 



On a Supposed Climatic Variation in the Wing-Color of some 

 Orthoptera. 



I HAVE read with much interest the communication of Mr. 

 Lawrence Bruner (p. 133) on the supposition that climatic dif- 

 ferences may account for the different coloration — yellow, 

 orange, red, blue — of the wings in some North American locusts, 

 and, as the author requests other opinions, I will relate my experi- 

 ence in the Transvaal, where I made a considerable collection of 

 orthoptera in the neighborhood of Pretoria. 



Pretoria stands on the high table-land of the Transvaal; an 

 almost treeless region, consisting of vast grast-y plains well known 

 by the name of "veld," with occasional hills or ranges of low 

 mountains. In the dry winter season these plains are merely 

 covered with a brown withered herbage; after the summer rains 

 they are clothed with a more or less luxuriant crop of grasses 

 and other plants. Consequently the conditions are very uniform 

 throughout the area, but as I collected in the immediate neigh- 

 borhood of the town of Pretoria, and during the summer season 

 of 1890-91, the conditions of soil, climate, and altitude were ab- 

 solutely identical. 



My collection of orthoptera made at that time' affords evi- 

 dence against the conclusions of Mr. Bruner. respecting the 

 North American species, as the following list of some of my cap- 

 tures — a few conspicuous species — will show. 

 Species with orange-colored wings: — 



Parga gracilis Burm. 



Pkymateus leprosus Fabr. 

 Species with yellow-colored wings: — 



Catantops sulphureus VJalk. 



Oedaleus citrinus Sauss. 



Oedaleus tenuicornis Schaur. 

 Species with red-colored wings: — 



Phymateus squarrosus Linn. 



Phymateus morbiUosus Linn. 



Zonocerus elegans Tlnub. 



Laphronota porosa Stal. 



Acridium rubellum Serv. 

 Species with blue-colored wings : — 



Oedaleus acutangidus Stal. 



It will be observed that the same genera show different colora- 

 tion, as Phymateus, orange and red; Oedaleus, yellow and blue. 



The philosophical conception of the origin of these bright 

 colors is very difficult. Of course they are purely non protective, 

 as species thus ornamented are most conspicuous objects when on 

 flight ; and even on the ground or elsewhere, where their folded 

 wings and sombre or greenish hues assimilate them to their sur- 

 roundings, they are easily found and greedily devoured by most 

 birds. I found their remains in the crops of many birds. Even 



■ A complete list Is given in the Natural History Appendix to my " Natu- 

 ralist in the Traufcvaal." 



