July 20, 1888.] 



SCIENCE. 



27 



Hies a true civic spirit is chiefly sustained, and that they are there- 

 fore the primary duties of the American citizen, and especially of 

 those who desire to promote a more intelligent patriotism and a 

 better public opinion. 



As it has so often been urged, so does this society urge upon 

 every good citizen his duty to give earnest attention to the 

 political and social questions of the day, — such questions as, at 

 the present time, protection or free trade, prohiliilion or license 

 the relations of capital and labor, the limits of state control of in- 

 dustries, immigration, and international arbitration. The society 

 urges that it is the good citizen's duty, which we presume no one 

 will deny, to dispel ignorance and to spread knowledge of facts 

 on these subjects, and to foster a large and worthy spirit in deal- 

 ing with them. They further urge that it is the citizen's office to 

 make knowledge powerful and controlling by attending punctiliously 

 to his own duties as a voter. 



The advantages of lyceums, debating-clubs, and lectures as 

 means in developing an intelligent interest in political subjects are 

 urged, and it is believed that members of the society can do much 

 to sustain these. The society proposes further to aid the efforts of 

 the members by publishing all the really useful matter that it can, in 

 tracts, in pamphlets, and in the newspapers, and it has charged a 

 competent committee with the preparation and recommendation of 

 courses in reading and study. Another committee will give advice 

 and assistance in procuring good lecturers. The larger the mem- 

 bership of this society, the wider will be its field of operation, and 

 it is naturally desirable that there should be as many as possible 

 who will give careful attention to the matter of local organization. 



SCIENTIFIC NEWS IN WASHINGTON. 



Stocking the Pacific Ocean with Lobsters ; the First Successful Experi- 

 ment in transporting Them Alive across the Continent ; the Dif- 

 ficulties of Artificial Lobster- Propagation ; Only One or Two 

 Mature Lobsters from 12,000 or 15,000 Eggs. — A Curious Iro- 

 quois Mythologic Tale. — The Contour of the Atlantic Ocean's Bed; 

 a Beautiful Model sent to Cincinnati by the Hydrographic Office. 



Sending Live Lobsters to California. 



The United States Fish Commission shipped from Wood's Holl, 

 June 16, 600 live lobsters and 250,000 lobster-eggs. Of the 

 former, 350 arrived safely in Sacramento, Cal., June 22, and 

 they have been deposited in the Pacific north and south of San 

 Francisco. Several previous attempts to take live lobsters across 

 the continent have failed. Of those sent only as far as Chicago, 

 packed in seaweed in crates, only one in four survives. 



Colonel McDonald, fish commissioner, personally superintended 

 the packing of the lobsters lately sent to California. A crate or 

 box devised by the late Captain Chester was used. This was 

 placed within another larger bo.x, the intervening space being filled 

 with pounded ice. In the inner box the lobsters were placed be- 

 tween layers of rockweed, which at times was moistened with sea- 

 water. Each box had an independent drain, so that the fresh 

 water from the melting ice could not enter the lobster-box. The 

 temperature of the latter was kept at 45° F. A fish-commission 

 car was used, the boxes along the side of it serving as the outer 

 box of the combination described above ; one hundred crates, each 

 containing six lobsters, being placed in them, and surrounded with 

 ice. Each morning before sunrise a careful inspection of the lob- 

 sters was made, and those that had died were removed. The first 

 day 45 died ; the second day, 55. After that the mortality was 

 much less. All of those that died were in an advanced state of 

 shedding, and were in poor condition when they started. 



One-half of the 350 lobsters that arrived safely on the Pacific 

 coast were placed in the ocean north of San Francisco, and the 

 other half south. It is hoped that this experiment may demon- 

 strate the feasibility of stocking the waters of tlie Pacific on the 

 California coast north of Monterey with this delicious shell-fish. 

 The condition of the water in that region is quite similar to that of 

 the Atlantic off the Massachusetts coast. The temperature is 

 about the same, except that it is more constant. The lobster on 

 the Massachusetts coast crawls out into deep water in the summer, 

 where the temperature is low, but it is thought that the equable 



temperature of the Pacific will enable the lobster in those waters 

 to spend the whole year in one spot. 



Hatching-apparatus was taken to California with the 250,000 

 lobster-eggs shipped. The young lobsters produced by these eggs 

 will be deposited in the sea at once. Although a fair trial will be 

 made to determine the possibility of stocking the Pacific by artifi- 

 cial propagation, much more confidence of success is expressed by 

 Colonel McDonald from the introduction of mature lobsters. The 

 young lobsters have to be placed in the sea almost as soon as they 

 are hatched, and begin to feed most voraciously, even devouring 

 each other. For a few days they swim on the surface of the water, ■ 

 where they find food suited to their requirements, but where they 

 also encounter millions of enemies. After their walking or crawl- 

 ing organs are developed, they sink to the bottom, which they then 

 make their home. One of the problems which the United Slates 

 Fish Commission is now attempting to solve is the invention of 

 some method of keeping the little lobsters in confinement and safely 

 after they are hatched, until they have attained sufficient strength 

 and size to enable them to protect themselves. The importance of 

 such an invention will be appreciated when it is known, that, from 

 the 12,000 to 15,000 eggs produced by a female lobster in a year, not 

 more than two lobsters, when left to nature, become full grown. 

 Not only are almost all the little lobsters destroyed by their enemies, 

 but a large proportion of the eggs are devoured by fish and sea- 

 birds before they are hatched. If, after artificially hatching the 

 eggs, the Fish Commission could protect the young lobsters until 

 they are large enough to take care of themselves, the supply of 

 lobsters, which is now hardly equal to the demand, and would not 

 one-half supply it if the price was reduced, might be increased al- 

 most indefinitely. 



Iroquois Mythology. 



The Bureau of Ethnology, in addition to the great variety of 

 other work upon which it has been engaged, has almost from its 

 first organization been collecting the quaint and curious stories 

 prevalent among the Indians, translating and transcribing them, 

 and arranging them for future comparison and study. Most of 

 these stories are mythological ; and it is one of the most curious 

 and interesting facts, recently discovered, that the life of certain 

 tribes of Indians is almost exclusively a religious one, far more so 

 than that of the ancient Hebrews in any period of their history, and 

 that the religious element is more intimately interwoven in the daily 

 life of all the tribes than has heretofore been suspected. In the 

 light of this discovery, the legends and mythologic tales that the 

 Bureau of Ethnology has preserved, and to the stock of which al- 

 most daily additions are made, become of greater scientific value 

 than ever before. 



As an illustration of the character of some of these stories, the 

 following obtained from the Iroquois, entitled ' Hinohoawak and 

 his Grandmother,' is interesting, first, because, although all the 

 characters in it are personified, not one of them is a human being; 

 and, second, because of the picturesque and graphically vivid 

 style in which the story is told. ' Hinohoawak,' translated, means 

 ' the son of thunder.' 



" There was a very poor old woman who lived in the woods. 

 She was nothing but skin and bones. She lived in a smoky little 

 house, and she cried all the time, both day and night. Her blanket 

 was so old and dirty that no one could tell of what material it was. 

 She had seven daughters. Six of these were carried off one after 

 another by people. The seventh died. 



" The daughter that died had been buried some time, when the 

 old woman heard crying at the grave one night. She took a torch, 

 went out, and found a naked baby. The child had crawled up out 

 of the grave through a hole in the earth. The old woman wrapped 

 the naked baby in her blanket and took it home. She didn't 

 know her daughter was with child when she died. She did not 

 suspect it. 



" The infant, a little boy, grew very fast. When he was of good 

 size, she came home one day from gathering wood, and could not 

 find him. That night it stormed, thundered and rained. The 

 child returned to her in the morning. His grandmother asked, 

 ' Where have you been, my grandson ? ' — ' My grandmother." said 

 he, ' I have been with my father : he look me home.' — ' Who is 

 your father?" — ' Hino [' Thunder 'j is niy father. He took me 



