THE ORNITHOLOGIST AND BOTANIST. 



offer at five cents apiece. After these are gone, 

 subscriptions must begin with later numbers. 

 Send in your subscriptions early, if you want a 

 complete file. First come, first served. 



An interesting subject for study, in connec- 

 tion with botany, is the flower-lore embodied in 

 the common names of flowers, and the super- 

 stitions concerning them. Saints, gods, heroes, 

 fairies, demons, witches, animals, and a host of 

 inanimate objects, have plants named in their 

 honor, each plant being named with reference 

 to some good or evil quality which it was sup- 

 posed to possess. Some plant-names explain 

 themselves, as, witch-hazel, toad-flax, lung-wort, 

 St. John's wort, etc., while others may require 

 some study before the meaning becomes clear. 

 By all means, then, don't neglect the common 

 names. 



During the fifteen years that the Agassiz As- 

 sociation has been in existence, its founder and 

 president, Mr. Harlan H. Ballard of Pittsfield, 

 Mass., has devoted his time and energies to the 

 society without receiving any compensation ex- 

 cept the very small salary he has earned by edit- 

 ing the official organ. A great society like the 

 Agassiz Association should pay its president a 

 salary, but since there are neither dues or assess- 

 ments, the only revenue, at present, is derived 

 from Popular Science News, the official organ. 

 This journal, published at $i.oo a year, devotes 

 three pages each month to A ssociation news, but 

 unless this department is better supported than 

 it has been, it will be discontinued at the end of 

 this year, leaving Chapters with no regular means 

 of communication. Under these circumstan- 

 ces every member of the society should sub- 

 scribe at once. As yet, less than three hundred 

 members, out of a total of nearly fifteen thou- 

 sand, have subscribed. Sample copies can be 

 obtained of of Dr. A. P. Nichols, Haverhill, 

 Mass. Subscriptions should be sent to Mr. Bal- 

 lard. 



If you are sick and despairing, go forth in 

 winter and see the red alder catkins dangling 

 at the extremity of the twigs, all in the wintry 

 air, like long, hard mulberries, promising a new 

 spring and the fulfillment of all our hopes. 



Thoeeau. 



LITERARY NOTES. 



We are sorry to hear that the American Os- 

 prey of Ashland, Ky., has suspended after com- 

 pleting the first volume. Although but four 

 pages in size, the Osprey was one of the best 

 journals of its kind. 



Our thanks are due to the editor of the Em- 

 pire State Exchange, Water Valley, N. Y., for a 

 complete file of that paper. Each number is an 

 improvement over the one that preceded it, the 

 last number consisting of twelve pages and 

 cover. 



Every student of ornithology and oology should 

 send for a free sample of The Bittern, edited 

 and pubhshed by Henry E. Berry, Damariscotta, 

 Me. The Bittern is devoted-solely to ornithol- 

 ogy and oology and has among its contributors 

 some of our best writers on these subjects. 



We have received a copy of the American 

 Naturalists' Directory, compiled by Letson Bal- 

 liet, and pubhshed by H. Stanton Sawyer, Gra- 

 land. Me. The absence of alphabetical order 

 in arranging the addresses detracts somewhat 

 from the value of the work, but, on the whole, 

 it is a fair directory. 



Prof. Chas. F. Gokey, prinoipal of the Scott- 

 Browne College of Phonography at Binghamton, 

 N. Y., is in the field with a large eight-page 

 monthly devoted to stenography and type-writ- 

 ing, the initial number bearing the date of Jan- 

 uary, 1891. This first issue of the Stenographer 

 and Typewritist makes a very creditable appear- 

 ance. If other numbers are as valuable, the 

 success of the paper is assured. 



The Oologist, a sixteen-page magazine pub- 

 hshed by Frank H. Lattm at Albion, N. Y., 

 needs no introduction to many of our readers. 

 During the seven years of its publication, it has 

 done more to advance the sciences of ornithol- 

 ogy and oology among the rising generation of 

 scientists than any other magazine. Personally, 

 we owe much to it, for a perusal of its contents 

 gave us the first insight into what has proved to 

 be a delightful persuit: Young oologists will 

 find It invaluable- The publisher is also a deal? 

 er in natural history specimens and is noted for 

 carr)dng one of the largest stocks of bird's eggs 

 in the United States. 



