FOREST AND STREAM, 



379 



tailed hornet" and " yellow jacket" are good examples, while 

 the mud wasp may stand, as being so famiiiac to all, as a type 

 of the latter. It is with the solitary wasp that we have to do 

 at present. Thesa insects are provided with a poison which 

 stupefies or paralyzes the insects upon which they prey and 

 which of course they secure by stinging them, The 

 blue wasp— for there are no workers (neuters) in this genes— 

 having partially completed her neat of mud, deposits I 

 and in the same cell with it places s number of email spiders 

 which it has stung and which, although paralysed and qui 

 capable Of motion, still retain life. The cell is iheu walled 

 up and auotner one built adjoining it in which the same thing 

 takes place ; this is continued until several eggs have been de- 

 posited, when the Lint cell is finally walled up and the nest 

 completed. A similar nest is constructed for each set oE eggs 

 which the female deposits. When the grub appears it feeds 

 on the spiders prepared for it until ready to undergo its trans- 

 1 orniatiou and, finally, when it becomes a perfect insect, gnaws 

 its way out through tie wall of clay. 



Another large wasp, somewhat similar in general aspect to 

 the blue wsap, but larger, is common in our latitude . but as it 

 does not appear about the dwellings of man it is seldom ob- 

 served, except by those who are on the lookout for insects. 

 It belongs to the genus Sphex, and its nests are placed in 

 hole8 in the ground, which it excavates with much care and 

 patience. It feeds its offspring on crickets, grasshoppers, 

 etc. , and an incident which once came under our observation 

 well illustrates the power and perseverance of these little 

 creatures. While walking one day in mid-summer along a 

 well beaten path we noticed several small but deep holes, 

 which we rightly attributed to these insects, ana at length, 

 Just after passing one of these excavations, we came upon a 

 large Sphex which was at that moment engaged in transport- 

 ing its prey to its nest. But for the fact that the insect was 

 directly in our path and we were looking for it. we should 

 have missed a very interesting scene. The burden with 

 which onr Sphex was struggling consisted of two of the large 

 black and yellow winged " grasshoppers," whose sharp and 

 loud crepitations are so frequently heard during the scorching 

 days of July and August, The two orthopters were firmly 

 fastened together, one clasping the other by the back and 

 each of them was half as long again as their captor. Poor 

 SpJiex was really in great trouble. She would seize her bur- 

 den by the head, and by great exertion drag it along the smooth 

 path for about six inches, when her strength would giva out 

 and she would fly off to a little distance and rest for a minute 

 or two, walking briskly about in the sun the while, then she 

 would return to Un spot and renew her efforts. Had the 

 journey been through the grass it seems as if it would have 

 been impossible for the wasp to drag her load, but the path, 

 worn smooth by constant travel, offered no impediment to her 

 progress. The distance from the Bpot where Bhe was working 

 to the hole which she desired to reach was perhaps twenty 

 feet, and though her advauce was slow it was steady At 

 times she would fly off to quite a distance, fifty feet or more, 

 but her absences were never long continued, and when we 

 were obliged to leave her she had transported her burden to 

 within three feet of the hole. We greatly regret that we were 

 unable to witness the close of the scene and watch the method 

 by which the "grasshoppers" were introduced into the hole, 

 for they were certainly too large to enter it, without being con- 

 siderably reduced in size. Here- then was a very considerable 

 provision for the expected larva, and we thus see that even 

 in our own latitude there are examples showing that different 

 genera of solitary wasps feed their young on different insects. 

 A European genus, Arnmophilus, employs the larvas of moths 

 for this purpose, while Chlorion of Mauritius, as has been said, 

 feeds its young on cockroaches. 



It might be supposed that the wasps secure their prey by 

 hawking about over the ground, trusting to chance to throw 

 the insects they need in their way, but we have some evidence 

 that these little creatures possess special senses which enable 

 them to follow the objects of their search when not visible, 

 perhaps somewhat as the hound follows the for. In a recent 

 number of Nature we find a letter from Mr, C. L. W. Mer- 

 lin to Henry Cecil, Esq., narrating a curious occurrence to 

 which the former was witness and from which we may quote, 

 in closing, an extract or two. Mr. Merlin's account is as fol- 



OWS: 



"'I was sitting one summer's afternoon at an open window 

 (my bed room) looking into the garden, when I was surprised 

 to observe a large and rare species of spider run across the 

 -window-sill in a crouching attitude. It struck me the spider 

 was evidently alarmed or it would not have so fearlessly ap- 

 proached me. It hastened to conceal itself under the project- 

 ing edge of the windows-ill inside the room, and had hardly 

 done so when a very fine large hunting wasp buzzed in at the 

 open window and flew about the room, evidently in search of 

 something. Finding nothing, the wasp returned to the open 

 window and settled on the window-sill, running backward and 

 forward as a dog does when looking or searching for a lost 

 scent. It soon alighted on the track of the poor spider and in 

 a moment it discovered its hiding-place, darted down on it, 

 and no doubt inflicted a wound with its sting. The spider 

 rushed off again acd this time took refuge under the bed, try- 

 ing to conceal itself under the framework, or planks which 

 supported the mattress. The same scene occurred here , the 

 wasp never appeared to follow the spider by sight, but ran 

 backward and forward in large circles like a hound. The 

 moment the trail of the spider was found the wasp followed 

 all the turns it had made till it came on it again. The poor 

 spider was chased from hiding-place to hiding-place— out of 



the bed room, across a passage and into the middle of another 

 large room, where it, finally succumbed to the repeated stings 

 inflicted by the wasp, Rolling itself up into a bali the wasp 



prey and, after ascertait 

 make no resistance, tucked it up under its very long bind legs 

 just as hawks or eagles carry off their quarry, and was just 

 Bywgoff to itsnes rpoafld and secured tooth fm 



my collection. 



<: I am certain the spider left no web behind it. I canno 

 be 6Ure, however, that, as it, had evidently been attacked by 

 the wasp before entering my room, a small quantity of liquid 

 may not he wounds, which may have 



wasp ia tracking it. I have no doubt m 

 Insects have the tense of smell, and probably much more de- 

 veloped than our own. No one * * * siio has sugared for 

 moths, or seen the largest Sphingidco hovering over the strong- 

 est scented flower at night, or employed a caged female moth 

 as a lure to her male admirers can, 1 think, doubt, Ibis. If so 

 let them put a saucerful of honey in a corner of a room open- 

 ing into a garden, throw open the window and see how" soon 

 the bees, wasps, etc , will be attracted to the honey. 



■• TJiere is a tradition En the East that one of th 

 which the Queen of Sheba tried to prove the wisdom of Bol- 

 oaion was placing on a table before him two ,,-. , 



id the other of natural flowers and requiring that he 

 should say which were the real and which the artificial, with- 

 throne Solomon ordered the windows 

 to be thrown open and in flew the bees, etc;, which went at 

 once to the real flowers. 



'• Whether the senses of insects, birds and what we call the 

 lower creation are similar to ours in every respect it is very dif. 

 flcult to say. Ko doubt a dog, if he could speak, 

 a man had not the sense of smell, and would prove that his 

 nose was worse than useless to htm. An eagle, or hawk would 

 say that men and moles, etc, have only the rudiments of eyes, 

 and so on. 



"Man, with use very imperfectly developed senses (who 

 can say that there are not twenty senses?), is the only animal 

 that is dogmatical and denies all he cannot understand. The 

 oracle of Delphi said, " Socrates was the wisest man in Greece, 

 because fie was the only man win) knew he knew willing. " 



ORIGIN OF" THE SCIENTIFIC NAME 

 OF THE BLACK BASS. 



Mr. Editor: Professor Jordan has said so well and so fully 

 what is pertinent to the " Scientific Names of the Black 

 Bass " in Forest and Stream for November 28, that nothing 

 further requires to be added. A few words may be accept- 

 able, however, respecting the possible reason for that appella- 

 tion— troutr— which has suggested to Lacepede the name 

 Salmaides. The popular names applied to our various animals 

 and plants furnish material for much interesting study, and I 

 hope some day to be able to enlarge on the subject. Suffice 

 it now to state that the names have originated or been after- 

 ward re-applied on account of a great variety of circum- 

 stances : (1) In some cases the name has been suggested by 

 the "feel" of the fish, as in the instauee of the soap-fish, 

 Rhypiieris saponaceus, etc., and butter fish, Poronotustriocan- 

 tltm ; (2) in others by the noises emitted, as drum-fish, Pogo- 

 nias chromis; catfish, Arrdarus eatus, etc. ; (3) in others by 

 certain functions performed, as the Silt water and fresh water 

 suckers, Echereidid.es and Caiostomidm ; (4) in others by the 

 time of their appearance, as harvest-fish. Parotic <■■ 

 thw; (5) m others by voracity, as wolf-fish, Anarrhichas lu- 

 pus, etc ; (6) in others by color, as robin, Prionotus ; black- 

 list,, wavy species ; salt water trout, Gynoscioti jsaro 

 ghost-fish, Oryptaamthedei inorvatois, etc, and (7) finally, bo- 

 cause in habits the species recall certain others, l^o this last 

 category evidently belong, among many other species, the 

 mossbunkers, Brenortia tyrannus, and the true black bass, 

 Microptems salmoides. The former resembles the moss- 

 bunker of the Dutch, Trochurus amia, in that it associates in 

 immense schools ; the latter is too well known as a game fish — 

 and as, in this respect, the rival, if not superior of the true 

 trout— to need comment. In th't3 attribute, then, is unquestion- 

 ably to be found the reason for the designation — trout 

 — given to it in some sections of- the country. Trout 

 was the name applied to it, not because it was thought 

 to be at all like that fish in appearance, but because it resem- 

 bled the true trout in its excellence as a game as well as a table 

 fish. In this respect the true black bass is superior to the 

 Oswego or large-mouthed black bass, and with this iiudersl and 

 IDS the came will probably be conceded to be not so bad after 

 all The true black bass is the game species of its genus, the 

 trout-like representative of its family, and hence Misrop- 

 10iaes,ai salmonoid.es; the large-mouthed species is 

 the paler form — Microvterns pallidas. Tmso. Gixl. 



Washington, Nov. 30, 1878. 



Bedford, 0., Dec. l.—Dear forest and Strmm D. 8. Jor- 

 dan's extended review of that much-named large-mouth black 

 bass is well timed and to the point. 



Stamp out all the old names as soon aa possible, also that 

 odious misapplication of the nameft-oui, applied by our erring 

 brethren of the "angle" at the South; and, stiff one more 

 misnomer, calling the Luciopemi of the Ohio Uiver a salmon. 

 At the time I named the large-mouth bass 1 searched 

 all the authorities I could find, and inquired of my dear old 

 friend, Dr. Kirtland, if this fish had ever been described, 

 and we both came to the conclusion that it had never been 

 described, and of course not named. I called it Grystes 

 megastoma, from two Greek words, to wit : Tnegrn, large, and 

 stoma, mouth, and thought I had hit the nail square on the 

 head. I am content to have the names wiped out with all the 

 others, except its new name, which I hope he will wear until 

 something better is found. 



But I fail to see why Mr. Jordan considers the name I gave 

 it a "meaty" mime, certainly megatioma has no reference to 

 meat. Well, he is a poor fish, at best, but has a very wide 

 distribution. Lake St. Clair, Mauuice and Sandusky hays arc 

 fairly slopping over with them, as all our little lakelets in 

 Ohio, Michigan and elsewhere are. Ho good-bye to all the 

 old names, and hereafter we will call you Mieropteras pallidas, 

 a better name than you are a fish T. Gabliok. 



Bms Noteb From Fnoiur-:. , r Wil- 



son, has taken at my p luring the past 



summer, the • ■ seen by us : 



tsy ibis, male, Jud, Ibis foleinellus, var. ordh; nonpariel 

 ad., male, Gyanospua ciris. I have also seen one of the latter 

 since my return from the North. During four years collect- 

 ing these are the only specimens seen or heard ot by tuts 

 south of Palatka. Mr ii-eted a fins specimen 



of the striped skunk, NephitU bi the first speci- 



this beautiful little animal that has been taken it 

 part of the country (to my knowledge) since Mr. C, J. liay- 

 narc! reported them as rather common near Demmentts. A 

 I ys since I observed within a few yards of my house, 

 two beautiful and to me new (in Florida) sparrows. Icu 



ich was a female, and was not 30 plainly marked as 

 the other. The latter flew away after my first shot, and I 

 •--hie to take the bird. I am unable at present to de- 

 cide whether my specimen is a Ooterniouius passerinm, or a 

 Sensloiei. The measurements are. as follows ; Length, 

 47-8 inches j extent, 8*1-16 ; wing, 3 1-2; tail, 2 1-4. Mr. 

 J. A Allen, in his list of the winter birds of Florida, does 

 net mention the G. PasseHnus as having been seen, but sup- 

 poses itmight occur. The sameauthenty gives Audubon as 

 his authority for G. fftmslombe'mg "abundant" in the grassy 

 pine barrens. As I have no means of comparing this speci- 

 men with others of both species I should like to askoin 

 naturalists if G. p**<sW/iw«has.yet been reported from Fli 

 Mr. Wilson reports having seen several specimens of the '"leek 

 una white creeper (Mimtilta varia) in August on 



Unfortunately he examined no specimens, and 

 therefore cannot tell the state of their breast, feathers. It 

 would be very interesting to know whether this little bird 

 in this State. 1; . d a female in the first 



part of this October. A few days since, as three of us were 

 Bitting op. my veranda, Mr.C.,Who-hada uiand 



sighted (as I thought at an imaginary object). After a mo- 

 ment he lowered his rille, and after placing it against the 

 house remarked ; " I could have shot that, deer/' I said. 

 "What deer?" He ther ren't you got a 



deer?" I said, "Ko." He turned quickly, and taking up 

 his rifle said, 'There is one here." We jumped up quickly, 

 and on looking around the house saw a yearling deer jurnp 



iver the palmetl taw the 



at fifty j an house, 



and supposed 1 had broi . . My 



- pn is, that the deer followed my cow up from the 



pasture, as it was toward i 



Landing, Lake < , October, 1878. 



[Coturniculus passerinvs has been found in Florida. — Ed.] 



1'EHSBVEBiNOB 01 



Nod. 25 — Editor Ft 

 my field notes I fotii 



of a pair of 6 

 village in , 



i, Union Co., N. J., 

 day in looking over 

 lit interest some 

 l 4th of last May I discovered the nest 

 es built under a culvert near this 

 ren eggs, they were hatched in about. 

 sung birds had become strong enough 



o fly a short distance they and the nest were taken. Nothing 

 daunted, however, the peewees set to work and tmiit another 

 nest in the same place iu which three eggs were laid. Thrse 

 and the nest were, also taken. They built another neat which 

 was, however, very loosly constructed. In this five eggs 

 were laid, and of these they were' shamefully robbed. This 

 was continued until the poor peewees had built seven nests 

 all in the same place, the seventh was, however, only a few 

 bits of moss and straw laid on the flat :, •■■ ..■■?„ In 



this no eggs were laid, but soon after: building it they left 

 forever. Geo. Lawrence Nicholas 



A White Wild Mallard.— We- copy the following from 

 London Field: 



During the first week of November a pure white mallard 

 duck was shot on the river Balvftig near here. Tins bird has 

 beenseen for Som - time in uompany with a B 

 i dlaid Having never heard of s d i la 01 1 



ii, at first whether the bird could be a pure 

 wild duck. On making inquiry, however, I found that two 

 pure white young ducks we: I hen unable 



to fly, in constant company with an old mallard duck and 

 four young ones of the ordinary color. The bird shot exactly 

 resembles in size, shape, and in every respect except color, the 

 common mallard. It is now iu the hands of Mr. Sanderson, 

 bird-stuffer. George street, Edinburgh, from whom any further 

 particulars may be obtained. Have many previous instances 

 been recorded of the occurrence of a white mallard, or is it a 

 great rarity ? — lames Gaprugie, Stronwr, iMh Horn Head-, 

 Perthshire. [We have heard of white wild ducks before, but 

 there has generally been some suspicion of a previous cross 

 with a domesticated bird.— Ed.] 



The Cat and Heb Mixed Family. — Mr. Editor: A short 

 time since while I was in Santa Barbara, Gal , a cat belonging 

 to Mr. Holmes was discovered in his stable nursing three little 

 kittens, with yet unopened eyes, and two little rata in the 

 same condition. This kind fostering care upon the part of 

 puss toward her usual prey continued till Mr. H., not wishing 

 to increase the number of his Cats, killed both kittens and ratal 

 as he supposed, and disposed of their bodies in the dung-hill. 

 The next day, to his great surprise, he Eaw the mother cat in 

 her old nest with her three kittens alive, and the two dead 

 little rats (rati not bs i were more easily killed). 



To me the ii '-: care for the little 



rats. Hoi',-: , i the Ji rat place? Did she 



mistake them for ki . knowiug just what they 



were, adont them as her own ? Again her maternal care fol- 

 ii har own young, and she gathered up 

 nest, their little,' dead bodies as well BS 

 ictually hail, as they arc proverbially 



lowed them 



and carried again to het 



her own young, that 



said to do, escaped destruction. 



0. B 



Holujay Bbesbhts.— This being the time when every one 

 in search of seme appropriate present for the holidays, we 



fake great pleasure in recommending the well-known jewelry 

 establishment of W. A. Hay ward. 212 Broadway, over Knox's 

 hat store. Everything in the jewelry or badge line can there be 

 found, at, prices which astonishes every orie, and everything 

 will orove just as recommended. 



— Our contempOrar r,.-,5AM,ui the judg- 



ment it displays in its editorials is worthy of, and ia entitled 

 to, all praise.— Turf, Field, and Farm. 



