FOREST AND STREAM 



23 



JBfltor&l !§istarg t 



For Forest and Stream and Jiod and Gun. 

 CORALS OF LAKE ERIE. 



WE have been accustomed to think of the coral animals 

 as having a home only in the torrid zone, which is sub- 

 stantially true of those low living, bat the oceanic waters of 

 a former age were sutficioutly warm for their existence in 

 other parts of the world, aud this is proved by the presence of 

 their corals in beds of limestone far from the Equator. Such 

 a bed liea under the waters of Lake Erie, " cropping out " on 

 the islands and along the shores, and extending many miles 

 away. Nature, not being able to perpetuate the existence of 

 the coral aDimals in this latitude in consequence of the cool- 

 ing of the earth, has made their remains immortal by im- 

 bedding them in the limy sediments of the ocean, which, in 

 time, together with tlie remains of olher marine animals, be- 

 came crystallized into solid rock. 1 bin ancient formation be- 

 longs to the. oldest group of sedimentary rocks, which, is 

 proved by the fossil remains of trilobites. "Millions of years 

 before man walked the earth these creatures lived their life, 

 and the limestone took on the; r form, and here they ate!" 

 Subs quently this bed of rocks was raised above the ocean by 

 " geological revolutions, ' aud it supported large bodies of ice 

 during the glacial epoch. This is proved by the glacial 

 murks on the surface, which are now distinctly visible on the 

 islands of Lake Erie at Strong Point, near Monroe, Michigan, 

 and at Sandusky, Ohio. Those long parallel grooves and 

 scratches may be followed to where they dip into the lake at 

 an angle with the horizon of about five degrees. Subsidence 

 was again effected by other geological disturbances, and it re- 

 ceived a vast amount of sedimentary deposits, and then became 

 dry land again as we now see it. 



The corals found in these rocks resemble leaves, roots and 

 branches ot trees, mushrooms, liverworts and lichens, goblets, 

 vases and the norns of animals. When broken the Iraeture 

 appears like marble, and ihe tine lines of the cells or compart- 

 ments, one above another, forming six-sided columns, are dis- 

 tinctly visible. Sometimes the fracture shows spots where 

 the cells are stained a dark red or brown, and in some in- 

 stances a thick tarry sunstance has been touud in the cells, 

 having the odor of petroleum. 



Although millions of years old, we may, perhaps, fonn 

 some idea of the animals they repiesent by an examination of 

 those now living in tropical seas. They were simple in 

 structuie, sack-like in form, and stone-like were their skele- 

 tons. Their soft, cylindrical bodies were but little higher 

 than their breadlb, slightly depressed on top, the outer mar- 

 gin being fringed with leaf-like tentacles, in the centre of 

 which, was the mouth opening into the well-like stomach be- 

 low. Some were identical with those of the present day, so 

 accurately described by Prof. J. 1). Dana in his matchless 

 work on "Corals aud Coral Ishiuds." He says: "A good 

 idea ot a polyp may be had from comparison with the garden 

 aster, tor the likeness to many of them in external form, as 

 well as delicacy of coloring, is singularly close. The aster 

 consists of a tinted disk, bordered with om or more series of 

 petals; and in exact analogy the polyp flower, in its most 

 common form, tiaB a disk hinged around with petal-like 

 organs called tentacles. Below the disk, in contrast with tbe 

 slender pedicel in the ordinary plam, there is a Stout, cylindri- 

 cal pedicel or body, otien as broad as the disk itself, and 

 sometimes not longer, which contains the stomach aud inter- 

 nal cavity of the disk ; aud the mouth, which opens into the 

 stomach, is at tne centre of the disk. Here, then, the flower- 

 animal and the garden-flow tr diverge in character, the differ- 

 ence being required by the oifferent modes of nutrition and 

 other characteristics in the two kingdoms of nature. The 

 coral polyp is us much an animal as a cat or a dog." That 

 part of an auiinai between the stomach and outsido covering 

 or skin, is divided vertically into sections, between which 

 thin, porous plates of coral slowly arise by growth, wilh one 

 edge in contact with the stomach, and the oilier edge joined 

 to a growing circular plate or cylinder ot coral inside the 

 Bkin, This stony sttucture within the body of the animal is 

 its skeleton. As the polyp grows these partitions grow also, 

 just as the bones of an infant grow. 



The^e animals are not " coral insects," as many suppose, 

 moving about hither and thither in search ot building 

 materials, as do the bees and the wasps. It is true that corals 

 are found having the appearance of honeycomb, but they were 

 not mnd-i in the sense that insects make or build their combs ; 

 the polyps do not build at all. They take in food and sea- 

 water, from which is secreted carbonate of lime, particle by 

 particle, for the growth of coral, just as other animals secrete 

 from their food the phosphate of lime lor their growing bones. 

 The polyps propagate generally by the building. A pro- 

 tuberance, or bud, is formed on the external Burface of the 

 body, and in time it develops into a perfect polyp, which buds 

 in the same way. Its offspring also buds, and thus a colony 

 is formed, all united to the first parent and to one another, 

 each one secreting In im its food its part of the coral tormation, 

 which, iu time, together with the ooral animals, grows into a 

 symmetrical body. This mass of living animals is called a 

 zoothorne, and the coral mass is called a corallum. 



The above description seemed necessary in order to answer 

 in a more intelligent manner the inquiry, '• What gives the 

 six-sided form to the coral Gells f" 



Toe bodies of young polyps are soft and cylindrical, and 

 when coral is formed without budding, or when the offspring 

 are not attached to their parents, ihe coral is cylindrical also. 

 When budding takes place, and a zoothorne is formed, all the 

 polyps grow fast to each other, aud lose their original form — 

 the cylindrical is merged in ihe hexagonal. This may be 

 illustrated by a bundle of soft cylinders (rubber tubes, for in- 

 stance), which, when compressed with an equal force from all 

 directions toward the central tube, become six-sided from ne- 

 cessity. 



feome epeciea of polyps do not grow upward in a mass— 

 they sprt ad themselves out horizontally, the parent, on com- 

 ing to maturily, multiplies by budding, its offspring growiug 

 fast to their tudes, each having formed within theu- bodies a 

 rectangular frame of coral no thicker than a fine thread, aud 

 all being united by coral growth. A beautiful network, with 

 meshes only one-twentieth of an inch wide, is thereby pro- 

 duced, which conforms to the undulations of the sea bottom 

 on which it rests. In some cases, during the formation, there 

 is a constant depoBit of sediment, so that the last, or outside 



animals, in coming to life, are obliged to live on a little higher 

 plane ot sea-mud than those before them, and the borders of 

 the network will gradually move upward into a scutellaled 

 form — a shallow*, scolloped* basin, Sometimes circumstances 

 prevent their spreading iu all directions, and then we have 

 the appeal auce of skeleton leaves in great beauty. 



Fossil corals differ from living corals by having all their 

 cells Hlled w'ith carbonate of lime by infiltration. Living 

 corals have their last-formed cells empty when the polyps die. 



We may, perhaps, have u faint conception of the age of 

 their aucieut formatious by going backward through all the 

 general ions of man to Adam, and also through all the stages 

 of development of the pre-AdamiteS, then down through 

 the age of mammels, through tbe age of reptiles, through the 

 age ol plants, through the age of fishes to SUuriau time, in 

 which polyps first lived, this carries us back to the very 

 dawn ol lite upou tbe earth, T. Dwiobt Lngehholi.. 



Brie, Ba. 



MORE ABOUT DEER AND THEIR 

 HORNS. 



Makquette, Mich., July 13, 1878. 



Editor Forest and Stream -. 



Duiing a ramble in tbe woods on the south shore of Lake 

 Superior, and from which 1 have just returned, I picked up 

 a specimen of deers' horuB about ten miles north of Urand 

 Island, which 1 forward to you by express, hopiug it may 

 help to explain the mystery "of what becomes of the deers' 

 horns. My own theory of this matter is that they are eaten 

 by porcupines and mice. This specimen shows signs of hav- 

 ing been attacked by an animal having larger teeth than a 

 mouse. D. 11. Meruit. 



New York, July 16, 1878. 

 Editor Forest and Stream : 



V our correspondent, O. S. J., in your issue of the 6th of 

 June last, I think, is quite correct in his views. From a long 

 experience iu the woods in the Adirondacks and Canada, I 

 can testify that deer do not bury their horns alter shedding 

 them. Ihe fact that they are so seldom lound is no proof Of 

 the animal's habit of burying them. The debris of a wood 

 and destruction by mice and other rodent, etc., will account 

 for their disappearance. In Canada, in October, 1872, 1 made 

 a trip to a hill called Cariboo Mountain, hoping to shoot some 

 of the aforesaid deer. I bagged no game, lumbering opera- 

 tions during the preceding winter having apparently fright- 

 ened the animals off this Jtavorite ground ; but I did bag a 

 number of tine cariboo hoi ns. The right and left antlers were, 

 of course, separate. The ground was Btiewed with hundreds 

 of cariboo horns, some evidently dropped five or six years be- 

 fore, and some the previous spring or late winter. The dif- 

 ferent stages of preservation showed this. I think C. S. J. is 

 right, also, regarding the reasons for the doers' habit of scraping 

 their horns against trees aud bushes. In regard to a deer's 

 carcass floating when in the "jluecoat" and sinking when 

 in the "red coat," I can testify to those facts from experience 

 with many deer shot in the Adirondacks. When red they 

 sink like a stone ; when blue, float buoyantly. 



Manhattan. 



Twin Lakes, Orange Co., Fla , June 30, 1878. 

 Editor Forest and Stream ; 



1 do not recollect seeing any mention in the " Sportsman's 

 Gazetteer " of the habits of the deer in feeding at changes of 

 the moon. I do not suppose there is a native hunter in Florida 

 who has not implicit faith in the moon theory. They say 

 " deer always feed at moon up, moon clown, and south moon 

 above and below,'' which means risingand setting of the moon 

 aud when it is in or against the south, whether overhead or 

 underneath us. Four times a day deer feed— about an hour 

 each time — lying down between times. The natives say the 

 same rule holds good with reference to feeding of biras and 

 fish, i know personally men, successful hunters, who have 

 doue nothing but hunt all their lives, and they alwayB time 

 their hunts to the above mentioned hours. What do sports- 

 incu say about this in other sections of the country ? S. 



The suggestions made by iour correspondents, Mr. Merrit 

 and Manhattan, offer, we think, a perfectly satisfactory ex- 

 planation for tbe rapid disappearance of deers' horns. They 

 have been made before and in these columns. 



Tbe specimen received from Mr. Merrit shows well the 

 manner in which the destruction of the horn takes place. In 

 this one the tines are all gnawed off, and the main branch has 

 been so far eaten away that the spongy tissue of the interior is 

 exposed, and at its widest portion the horn is flat and sharp at 

 tbe edges— like a paper cutter. The rough part above the 

 burr has been attacked and a considerable portion of the horn 

 eaten away, leaving a perfectly smooth, flat surface. At 

 various points throughout its length the horn bears the marks 

 of teeth, but it appears that where it is largest the teeth of the 

 animal failed to effect much. 



This gnawing is not confined to horns, for bleached bones 

 arc often found bearing the marks of teeth. Fossil bones and 

 fossil horns are frequently seen, which bear unmistakable evi- 

 dences of having been similarly attacked when fresh. Lyell, 

 when endeavering to account for these marks on fossils from 

 lite Pleistocene bone caves of England, conceived the idea of 

 introducing fresh beef bones into tbe den of the porcupines in 

 the "Zoo." The result was that the bones were gnawed in 

 precisely the same way as the cave fosBils, thus clearly indi- 

 cating the cause of the mutilation of the latter. 



Why the rodents gnaw them has not been fully explained, 

 but il is probable that, their main objsct is to obtain the animal 

 matter remaining in the bones, although it may be only "to 

 sharpen their feelh." 



We should like to hear more about the moon theory ad- 

 vanced by S. It is new to us. 



ANTELOPE SHEDDING THEIR HORNS. 



Editor Forest and Stream : 



Iu a note by Dr. Eudiich in the August number of the 

 America?i Naturalist doubt is expressed as to the shedding of 

 the born sheath iu tbe male antelope. For several years I 

 had been so constantly assured of its truth, by the many 

 hunters of whom I had inquired, that 1 could not well doubt 

 the fact ; but it was not till December last that I had an op- 

 portunity of myself observing it. 



In November last it was my pleasure to make the acquaint- 

 ance of Mr. William Reed, o"f Wyoming, an expert and intel- 

 ligent hunter, who assured me of its truth, li.xtng the lime as 

 the middle or latter part of December. About the f 2thof the 

 month, while hunting with him, his unerring rifle brought 

 down from » small herd six, three of which were males, and I 

 was delighted to find all of the latter with their new growth 

 of horns. One of the best skulls was cleaned and sent to the 

 Peabody Museum, and I make the following description from a 

 re-examinaiion of the specimen : The length isalillle overstx 

 inches, aGd "early straight. Two inches of the point, or that 

 portion beyonu the core, is bard and firm, but the remainder is 

 abruptly changed into a softer, more skin-like appearance, and 

 covered with long rather fine hair, lying close to the sheath 

 and nearly concealing it. These hairs are pointed upward. 

 The prong is only represented by a slight protuberance at the 

 base of the hardened portion. Tbe other specimens if I 

 recollect, had less hair upou them and were nearer developed. 

 Mr. Heed thinks that the horns are. fully outgrown and 

 hardened by the middle or latter part of January. 



1 am fuby convinced that the great majority of the maleBdo 

 thus change their horns, but whether it is invariably tbe case 

 I am in some doubt At all events such a remarkable occur- 

 rence in a cavicorn is worthy of especial stutly. That the fact 

 has been seldom noticed by naturalists is not at all strange. 

 Tbe region that they inhibit is seldom explored by scientists 

 at the season that the falling occurs. The cast-off sheathB are 

 not unfrequenfly found in regions where the animal is most 

 abundant. The cause of this apparent scarcity is, however, 

 owing to their easy decomposition and the readiness with 

 which they are burned by the spring prairie fires. 



With reference to the wool in mountain sh t >ep, I can cor- 

 roborate Dr. Eudlich's statement. A female killed in early 

 June of the present year, while the animal was sheddiDg its 

 hair, had its flanks covered with a fine, heavy coat of wool. 

 The flesh at that season was so strongly flavored with the wild 

 onion as to be unpalatable, and I was assured that such is 

 usually the casein spring. S. W. Wiluston. 



For Forest and Stream and Rod and Gun. 

 AMERICAN vs. ENGLISH SPARROWS. 



I HAVE noticed that for some considerable time controversy 

 has been going on in regard to the advantage or disad- 

 vantage of the presence in this country of the English house- 

 sparrow, now so commonly met with in our cities.and their 

 suburbs, as well as the alleged fact that they drive away our 

 native birds from the districts in which the naturalized 

 foreigners have settled. It is not my desire to enter into this 

 discussion, as my opportunities of observing the birds, on ac- 

 count of absence from America, have net been sufficient to 

 enable me to form an opinion, but I merely wish to describe 

 an occurrence I witnessed a few days ago, which may possibly 

 be of use to some one interested in the question. Around the 

 house I now occupy, numbers of English sparrows are con- 

 stantly seen, and not many of our native birds. This was 

 easily accounted for, according to one side of the question, 

 by the presence of the sparrows A few days since, while 

 sitting on the piazza with a friend, I heard a cry of distress or 

 anger from a sparrow who seemed to be iu trouble, and on 

 looking at the place in the path about fifteen feet from me, 

 toward which some four or five of the birds were flying, I saw 

 an English sparrow fighting with one of our little chipping 

 sparrows. "Now." said my friend, " you will see them pull 

 that little fellow all to pieces," and I expected to see his words 

 come true, as all the English sparrowsatiacked the unprotected 

 little chippy with great fury, and in a moment they were all 

 rolled together into a feathery ball. But, presently the ball 

 fell to pieces, and, instead of the mangled remains of the 

 chippy, he was fighting vigorously; and, carrying the war into 

 the enemy's country, he compelled his assailants to retreat. 

 Not satisfied, apparently, with his victory, he selected a par- 

 ticularly obnoxious cock sparrow, who, with tail up and wings 

 down, evidently had some little fight left in him, and who 

 strutted about in a very impudent manner, and attacking him, 

 drove him to a fence near by and chased him up and down the 

 lop rail for a distance of twenty feet, picking him at every 

 jtunp, until the immigrant was forced to take refuge in a thick 

 cedar near by and hide himself, thus leaving the chippy- 

 master ot the field. Since then I have witnsssed Knottier fight 

 between the same birds with a similar result, thus showing 

 conclusively that sometimes the English sparrows get well 

 thrashed, and that a half dozen of them are overmatched by 

 our little chippy. D. tt. Elliot. 



New Brighton, Staten Island, Aug. 1877. 



The Red Squirrel as a Sap Sucker. — The red squirrel 

 has fared badly in the hands of our correspondent's. His 

 carnivorous tastes have brought him into muoh well-deserved 

 ill-repute. The following letter from Mr. R. E. Robinson, of 

 Firesburgh, Vt., mentions a habit of the squirrel, which may 

 be new to some of our readers : 



"A habit of the common red squirrel has come to my 

 knowledge within a year, which I have never seen mentioned. 

 This iB their lapping of the twigs and small branches of the 

 sugar maple at the season of sap flow and sucking or lapping 

 the sap as it oozes ont. I was just told of this by an old 

 hunter, and soon after my nc ice saw a squirrel in the act of 

 nipping the hark of a maple branch and then sucking ths sap. 

 Within a few days of ibis I noticed the sap trickling down a 

 maple sapling, and upon examination found the unmistakable 

 marks ol a squirrel's teeth in the smooth bark, and a wet 

 place extending half an inch or bo from each side of the wound, 

 as if it had been licked. So it seems our only true sap sucker 

 is not a maligned bird, but a small quadruped. This same 

 squirrel has become an outlaw with us for his evil practice of 

 stealing young birds, especially robins, from the nest, a sin too 

 great to be atoned for by his beauty and grace. 



The Ciolb of a Parasite.— It may be useful in order to 

 better understand the curious circle of life the parasite travels 

 around, to cite the following discovery made by Mr. Galet in 

 regard to a parasite fo und in rats and eockroaches. The 

 Filaria rytipleuriUs are produced in the alimentary canal of 

 the rat. These eggs are thrown out with the fecal matters and 

 swallowed by the cockroack. The embryos, when batched, 

 peuetrate the walls of the alimentary canal of the latter, and 

 arc ei cysted in fatty matter, where they await the cockroach's 

 being devoured by the rat. In the rat thoy now complete 

 thiir cycle. It is not very pretty nor exactly a " cycle of 



