Jo8 U'est American Scientist. 



NOTES AND NEWS. 



Hon John D. Cay ton, some twenty years ag"0, began to domes- 

 ticate the wild turkey in the neighborhood of Santa Barbara, un- 

 der very favorable circumstances, having parks with palings eight 

 feet in height. He took the eggs from wild turkeys' nests, the 

 young birds becoming tame to a certain extent, though not entire- 

 ly divested of their wild habits The succeeding generation be- 

 came tame turkeys in form, and more or less so in habit, the habits 

 clinging to them the longest. He has raised some every year, last 

 year about one hundred. 



Some doubt seems to exist as to whether the great snow peak, 

 Mt. St.-Elias, is in the territory of Alaska or that it belongs in the 

 British possessions. 



It is upwards of 800 years ago, at least, since the mound build- 

 ers occupied this country, according to some archaeologists. 



It is generally supposed that Cortez planted in Mexico, in 1530, 

 the hrst wheat ever sown on American soil. Yet, the American 

 Miller says: 'In a mound opened in Utah, were found buried 

 the remains of a man 6^ feet in length, the skeleton of a woman 

 nearly as long, and moreover, handfuls of wheat preserved in a 

 stone box." If this was true, wheat was known in America long 

 before the coming of Europeans. - 



The volcano of Mauna Loa. H. I., broke out with a heavy erup- 

 tion January 17th. 



Dr. Asa Gray visits Europe again this month. 



Dr. C. C. Parry expects to return to Iowa in May. 



L. Beldinghas made a trip to Encenada de Todos Santos, Low- 

 er California, by steamer, in search of certain birds 



Prof. H. A. Ward, of Rochester, N. Y., recently paid San Diego 

 a brief visit. 



Nineteen more ostriches have emigrated to San Diego county 

 from South Africa. The sheltered valleys of the county are con- 

 sidered more suited to these birds than the country further north. 



The American Naiuralist_ for January, contains a description of 

 a new species of Dipodomys, with some account of its habits, by 

 F. Stephens. This desert pocket-rat inhabits the Mohave and 

 Colorado desert regions of Southeastern California, and receives 

 the specific name of deserti. The February issue of the same 

 magazine, contains a description of a new species of wood-rat from 

 Cerros Island, off Lower California, by C. Hart Merriam, who 

 names it Neotoma bryanti, — the specific name being in honor of 

 Walter E. Bryant, of Oakland, Cab, w^ho discovered it in 1885. 



L. Belding says that the horned toad (Phrynosoma), is called 

 by Lower Californians the Chameleon. 



