48 THE WEST AMEBICAN SCIENTIST. 



YENTURA SOCIETY OF NATURAL HISTORY. 



April 5, 1885. The president, Eev. Stephen Bowers, gave a brief 

 account of a cave and its contents which he had explored in the 

 San Martin mountains, exhibiting some of the objects obtained. 

 The cave contained nine baskets in which were stored a variety of 

 Indian head-dresses made of feathers, and implements of stone, 

 bone, shells and wood; a bone whistle made from the leg of a deer, 

 and four perforated discs with wooden handles fastened by as- 

 phaltum cement — the first known instance where stone hammers 

 with perforations for handles have been found in this country, were 

 among the more important discoveries. 



April 20. Mr. and Mrs. Wycoff were elected members. The 

 president exhibited several shrimps obtained by dredging. Gen. 

 Yandever read a paper on the Aryan race and language. — Pacific 

 Science Monthly. 



• 



[Written for the Scientist.] 



Searchers of oldest records find 



Something like windows for the mind. 



Y«-t all they learn of ages past, 



From fossil pages first and Inst, 



Teaches that much remains unknown, 



Unseen, save by One eye alone. 



The widt st vision ever given 



To mortals here below from heaven, 



Is just sufficient to discern 



There's everywhere much more to learn; 



And humility is the grace 



That beams upon the wisest face! 



ANTS HARVESTING. 



Y MISS V. E. FISH. 



A few days since, observing a colony of ants engaged in carrying 

 to their home something that looked like, and upon examination 

 proved to be, the seed vessels of Lepidium, containing good, plump 

 seeds, I had the curiosity to follow the line of busy workers a rod 

 or more till a patch of the ripened weed was reached, which was 

 evidently their harvest field. Are ants near sighted? or was it an 

 idle fellow taking a "pasea" that climbed a dried grass blade from 

 base to apex, looked about, and finally went away empty handed ? 

 Another, finding the fruit he sought, commenced to detach it from 

 the stalk. He was soon joined by a fellow worker, and their 

 united efforts accomplished the work in a minute or two, when the 

 first carried it away, holding it vertically and looking likely to be 

 capsized by his freight in a moderate breeze. 



