FOREST AND STREAM 
423 
OUR CENTENNIAL LETTERS.—NO. S. 
NatttrAIj HLiBTOB.Tr in Trrt! Sohoom—The Government 
Correction of Animals. 
C ONTINUING tl>e investigation of the progress the 
study of natural history is making in the public 
schools of the country, -which was begun in my last letter, 
the nest State exhibit visited was Indiana, where an 
improvement, upon Ohio is noticeable. The Indianap¬ 
olis high Buliool sends a case of fishes of the State in al¬ 
cohol and a local herbarium, both made by the scholars; 
Bedford sends her local ho Hits siccus, and Lafayette a very 
instructive collection illustrating economic botany, by 
showing the useful woods, the edible grains, vegetables 
and fruits in their natural condition (when practicable), 
and preserved in all the ways knowu to the cook and ca¬ 
terer. This was very interesting and attracted all eyes. 
Lafayette also gives an idea of her aids to instruction by 
some good charts for the analysis and illustration of ani¬ 
mals and plants; and Huntington makes a prominent dis¬ 
play of minerals and geological specimens frqpt her school 
cabinet. It is evident that there are many young natural¬ 
ists in the Hoosier State. 
Hlitiois’s exhibit of natural history education is chiefly 
confined to material sent by the Industrial College at 
Champaign, which has been selected from its laTge 
museum. This college provides a regular four-year's 
course in natural history under the guidance of Prof. Don 
Carlos Taft. This university education, however, was not 
what I was aEter, although there can be no doubt of the 
great influence such an institution exerts upon the teach¬ 
ers of the vicinage. It may be partly owing to this that 
the State now requires its common and graded school 
teachers to pass examinations in natural history, botany, 
and physiology before they can obtain a certificate to 
teach. The consequence is a general interest m zoology 
among young persons all over the State, and each school 
prides ItBelf on its little collection. There is where Illinois 
has taken the lead of her sisters, and they must hurry up 
their slow ideas to meet the demand of the age for a sys¬ 
tem of education which shall take some notice of the 
present and practical as well as the antiquated and class¬ 
ical. 
In Michigan there seems to be little general interest out¬ 
side of the shadow of Ann Arbor, whose splendid muse¬ 
um sends some cases of pretty shells to ornament Michi¬ 
gan’s space. Grand Rapids, however, I am told, is one 
oasis in the desert, and the Agricultural College at Lan¬ 
sing is another.- Wisconsin shows nothing at all for us, 
but Iowa deserves notice. At Davenport Prof. W. H. 
Pratt has a well-known collection in conchology, and 
Prof. Gustave Haupt a large herbarium, so that great inter¬ 
est lias been aroused in the subject in all the schools, and 
I was told of several enthusiastic young naturalists among 
the scholars. Burlington, Iowa, claims to possess the 
finest series of corals in the country; and the teachers 
profit by this opportunity for illustration. Keokuk is an¬ 
other bright spot, and the Boards of Education encourage 
attention to this study in all the schools. Physiology is at 
present required of teachers, and it is intended to gradu¬ 
ally add to the requirements many more of the natural 
sciences. 
The result of the inquiries suggested in the first of my 
last letter may therefore be considered encouraging on the 
whole; and it is with pleasure that I record this. A search 
through Canada reveals much similar progress and some¬ 
what better apparatus. So that at last America is coming 
to rank with the mother country in the general watchful¬ 
ness for the facta and phenomena ot' nature which exists 
in the minds of all her even slightly educated citizens. 
The good results of this cannot but make itself apparent 
in the intellectual aspect of the country, tending to make 
us more observing, thorough and critical, less dogmatic, 
rude and credulous. 
The most conspicuous object in the centre of the Govern¬ 
ment Building is the group of stuffed animals brought 
from the National Museum. It is a fine display, and 
probably as welL disposed as the circumstances would 
allow. Among the cats there is a puma, a jaguar, an 
ocelot, a wild-cat, a Canada lynx, an eyra, and a yaguar- 
undi, which completes the native list. The list of wolves 
and foxes, with their varieties, is equally complete, the 
most interesting among them being the different races of 
the red fox. The fed fox was named by Linnaeus Vulpes 
alopex , wing-footed. Our common species is a sub-species 
fulims, and of this there are three races: a. the common 
typical fox (yar, futws); S. the cross fox (var. decussatus ); 
and c. the silver or black fox (var. argentatv *); the prairie 
fox forms a second sub-species, macrurus. The black fox 
is somewhat larger than the red, and is generally very 
black, but some individuals have so many white hairs as 
to give them a whitened or silvered appearance here and 
there. The oross-fox is equally well named. Its size is a 
medium between the other two, and all its characteristics 
partake of both. The hair is a mixture of red, black, and 
gray, and the combination, although handsome, is gro¬ 
tesque. Both this and the black fox have a white tuft at 
the end of the tail, as is said to be true of all the Uanidm. 
I noticed this peculiarity in the tawny, wolfish “ dingo •’ 
or wild dog of Australia, which cannot he tamed by the 
colonists, and is a great pest. This reminds me of “a little 
story.” When Japan was first opened to Americans a 
Yankee went there who was looked upon with suspicion, 
and attempted to win the Japs by a show of superior 
knowledge. Once the conversation turning on some jet- 
black dogs there, the Yankee said they could not bring 
him a dog so black but he would find white hairs on him. 
They deified it slrenously, and at last produced a coal 
colored canine for trial, when the Yankee parted the long 
hairs at the tip of the tail, and lo! a white tuft. This is a 
good aud instructive story, but I don’t stake my reputation 
on its details. 
The, big gray wolf, the sharp, coon, the judicial erraina, 
the wakeful weazel, the ugly, kuowing wolverine, protege 
of Michigan, the festive sltujik, the sly otter, and bulky 
badger, are all here, but must be passed by until we are 
face to face with Ursus lwrril/ilis , llie grizzly hern of many 
a romance and hunter’s yarn. There arc three of them 
bore of about the same size, evidently old fellows, for 
their claws are well worn, and their hair in patches has 
grown clayey white. They are not so much larger, in 
length and height, Ilian the glossy black hear ( U. ameri- 
eivius) standing near them; but they have a much heavier 
look, and the head is broader and more massive through¬ 
out. Still it is not so very difficult to accept Mr, Allen’s 
doctrine that they are both of one species, and identical 
with the common bear of Europe, One of these specimens 
died a captive in Washington, age lfi. His coat is the 
deepest brown (Indicating youth t) of any of them, and 
his claws are about five inches long. I noticed in tbe 
other two I bat the hair upon their legs, sides of the neck 
and ridge of the back was the last to lose its rich brown 
color. Dwarfing the grizzlies in comparison, tbe great 
polar bear stands among them like a white giant. He is 
seven feet nine inches long, but the elongated neck and 
slender, snake-like head makes him seem even longer. His 
hair is everywhere yellowish-white, and falls over his im¬ 
mense feet like the fringes on an Indian’s Sunday mocca¬ 
sins. I can appreciate his great swimming powers aud 
endurance; lie is built for it. If I remember rightly this 
fellow lias two plain round holes in his coat, one on the 
hip and another on the shoulder, where the fatal balls 
entered his neble body. 
Close by an irregular pile of boxes covered with painted 
canvas makes a verypresenlable heap of rocks, whereon 
appear tohave climbed a colony of fur-seals. There arc 
sixteen of them, male and female, big and little, in life¬ 
like attitudes. The patriarch of the crowd is large and 
black, and the young ones, rolling about in play or “draw¬ 
ing it mild” from their mother’s udders, are small and 
black, while the middling-sized females have very much of 
yellowish-white upon their coats, particularly in front. 
All their skius must he dyed before going to market. Ad¬ 
joining them i8the enormous sea-lion ( Riimetopia* Sldleri), 
with which visitors at Central Hark arc familiar. The 
male rears his head five feet above the floor, but t he female 
is much smaller, and of a tawny color everywhere, while 
the little young one is grayish-black, and about the size of 
a harbor seal. 
This masterpiece of taxidermy, with most or all of the 
others, is the work of Mr. Julius Stoerzer, who recently 
died. He was the taxidermist at the Natioual Museum, 
and was the most thoroughly trained and scientific work¬ 
man in the country. He was a pupil of the celebrated 
Martin. 
Another immense animal is the sea-elephant (Macrorhinus 
angustirostris) somewhat resembling the sea lion, but 
belonging to a different family. Both of these giants live 
in the North Pacific, aud are abundant on the islands off 
the coast of Alaska. Between the two are grouped nearly 
or quite all the species of seals belonging to American 
waters, such as the harbor seal, the leopard, the ringed, 
the harp, and the hooded, They divide attention with the 
walruses, which are of greater rarity in museums. Look¬ 
ing at their gigantic and strong jaws it seems to us that 
the polar bear, powerful ns he is, would have a hard tusrel 
in conquering tbese animals allhough he is said frequently 
to do it. They are unweildy, however, while the bear is 
nimble. The Atlantic walrus (Rosmarus Goolcii), wilh whose 
picture all are familiar, is very much larger in every way 
than the Pacific species ( R . obesm). Its hide is brownish- 
black all over, very thick, wrinkled, and without hair, 
so that it looks like that of tlio manatee; the great canine 
teeth or “tusks” are very long, and twisted. Tiic hide of 
the Pacific walrus, on the contrary, is covered with short 
hair, is tawny yellow, and tbe tusks are short and straight. 
The carcases of these ungainly beasts serve a great number 
of utilities, every portion being saved by the Eskimos for 
some purpose. Their ivory is of superior quality and 
high-priced. Take it altogether, the opportunity here af¬ 
forded for observing and comparing tbese little known 
flipper-footed mammals of the sea is a most excellent one, 
aud should by no means be neglected. 
This brings us to the ungulates. The buffalo is the 
centre of a group—his great Shaggy head lowered in defi¬ 
ance to Ihe two musk oxen near him. The ancient and 
rare musk ox of the “barren grounds of Arctic Ameri¬ 
ca" is all but gone. It is nearly as large as the domestic 
ox, and in physiognomy is decidedly bovine, but the long 
hair falling nearly to its feel give it the sheep-like appear¬ 
ance to which it ows its generic title, Qvibos\ its specific 
name, mascfiatus, having reference to the fact that in tbe 
rutting season its flesh is strongly perfumed with the odor 
of musk. Tbe horns of the musk ox are extremely large 
and flat at their base, forming a kind of helmet upon the 
forehead; in one of the two examples (the male) their 
bases quite meet, as though the ox had parted its hair in 
the middle, while in the female tlieir bases arc about nine 
iuolies apart, From this broad root the horns sweep 
boldly downwards, close to the side of tbe head, and are 
again hooked upwards. The muzzle is covered with hair, 
except just at the nostrils. These oxen are fast disappear¬ 
ing even from their lonely haunts in the far North, and the 
Smithsonian is fortunate in possessing this finely mounted 
pair. 
The sanctimonious mountain goat and the brave looking 
mountain sheep of the Itockys are here, and near them 
the spry little prong-horn. Then come the deers, begin¬ 
ning wilh the moose, which is represented by several pairs 
of antlers, aud a calf. The Tarandus raiigifer lias been 
sub-divided by the taxonomists—of whom tbe chief is 
Theodore Gill—into two sub-species, viz., caribou , tbe 
woodland caribou, and grcenlandicus, the barren ground 
caribou. Both are beforens. Of the first there are two 
individuals; one has its horns very much alike on each 
side, wilh twelve or fourteen points on each side; the 
other, a larger one, has antlers much palmated, with 
twenty-six points, and the front or brow segments especi¬ 
ally flattened, and carrying five points on each side. The 
second sub-species is a smaller animal, standing only 
three an'd a half feet high, hut has large and strong 
antlers. They branch outward and backward thirteen 
inches before giving off a short prong, which points 
packward; then they turn and extend outward and for¬ 
ward twenty-eight inches, to a palmate extremity, where 
three bifid prongs are given off close together; from near 
the base of each horn in front, projects down over the 
forehead a prong twelve inches or so long, which becomes 
vertically flattened and split into many points at the end, 
hut in this specimen these are very unequally developed. 
The whole arrangement, compared wilh olher anilers, is 
highly grotesque. 
Grouped on this same aland arc the Virginia deer (whose 
antlers carry twelve points) and an albino "of the same, the 
mule deer of the Plains with horns like a miniature elk's, 
and the towering elk itself, which can almost lay the lips 
of its huge antlers back upon its crupper. A noble animal 
is the elk, and one reads with dismay of the unrelenting 
chase which is fast exterminating it in its native mountains 
and valleys. Every pillar in this part of the building is 
adorned witli one of their heads, all, it is to be presumed, 
of the finest development, as, indeed, they are if my own 
recollection of what tbe hunters in Colorado call “big" 
does not fail me. Out of twenty-three heads examined all 
carried either twelve or fourteen points, usually the for¬ 
mer. An English writer mentions it as “remarkable" that 
the antlers of no two elks are precisely alike. Even if his 
proposition was a true one he might have found far in ore 
startling illustrations in olher deers, tiie caribou, for 
instance, for the elk’s horns are wonderfully regular, and 
have, above all others, a noble, strong anddignified aspect. 
ffachting attdfjaating. 
AH communications from Secretaries and friends should be mailed no 
later than Monday in each 'week. 
HIGH WATER. FOR THE WEEK. 
Date . 
Boston. 
New York . 
Charleston. 
U, M. 
o. »r. 
H. VI 
7 5 
Ang. 4..,.. 
11 5 
7 49 
7 b 
Aug. 5.... . 
11 4*} 
8 27 
7 415 
Ang. 0. 
9 7 
Aiuc. 7. 
0 21 
9 44 
9 IK) 
Aug, 8. 
1 uo 
10 11) 
9 34 
Aug. 9... 
1 34 
11 2 
10 10 
CENTENNIAL ROWING NOTES. 
’ PHILADELPHIA, August 1, 1876: 
Editor Forest and Stream:— 
Greater interest attaches to the training of the Trinity 
crew, aud naturally, than to any oilier crew ever at work 
on the Schuylkill. 
Their boats arrived here on Tuesday of last week, and 
Consist of a roomy gig for practice, tbeir racing shell, or, 
as they call it, ship, and Mr. Close’s single. These boats 
are of good workmanship and do not differ, except in a 
few minor details, from the work of the best American 
builders. Their gig is fitted with seatB on grooved tvheels, 
running on metal rods, so arranged that by no perad- 
venture can they he unshipped in rowing, and barring the 
noise they made are an improvement over any gears of the 
kind I have seen. Their racing shell is a trifle wider per¬ 
haps Ilian the same weighted crew of this country would 
have had built, but not otherwise different. The men are 
not so large nor quite so heavy as was expected, but even 
at a casual glance they are not a crew that one would pass 
by without taking a careful second look, especially if one 
expected to row against them. 
Their stroke, Mr. Penrose, is the tallest aud seemingly 
the lightest man in the boat, but tougli and wiry looking' 
besides his 159 pounds, all good, are worth far more in a 
mile ami a half or any other race than a heavy passenger, 
Ail of tbe men are heavier than they look. They are' out 
every evening for a practice pull, as yet, with Mr. Walker, 
the substitute, rowing in Mr. Close’s place. Mr. Close has 
been coaching them from the Undiuo’s eight-oar, and it is 
not difficult to see that he understands exactly what he is 
about. He is quick to detect even the slightest fault and 
by no means slow to correct it. They pay more attention 
to correct form than do the generality of American crews 
Slowly and carefully the men are taught to pull until their 
style is uniform, and tbe faults, as far as may be, corrected 
Their hard work will begin wben that result is attained. 
The remarks on their style by men along the river, both 
boating and non-boating, are interesting, amusing, and 
sometimes ludicrous. The men are exponents of what is 
usually called the English stroke, but might, 1 think, more 
properly be called the English University stroke; for there 
is as much diversity betw een tbe different styles in England 
as there is in the different strokes here. Criticism, either 
favorable or adverse, is unfair so early in their practice, as 
they are together now for the first time as a crew. What 
most strikes one is the rapidity of the first part of their 
recover, the deliberation, amounting almost to a pause, iu 
the last part,the powerful surge backwards of their bodies, 
tbeir straight and perfectly flat backs, and their neat, clear 
finish. Their catch is not belter, in fact not so good as I 
have often seen, and their time by no means perfect. 
These faults will no doubt be corrected after a little. 
They have removed from the Parle View Hotel to private 
lodgings, which will be more agreeable to the quiet habits 
of a training crew. 
I have seen Mr. Close sculling but once (although he has 
been out several times), and then only lor a few hundred 
yards. His pulling was clean, and in no wise lacking in 
power. He is by odds the most powerful looking man in 
the crew, and lias the advantage of the rest, in years and 
experience. They express themselves pleased with the 
river and with things generally, but they cannot help feel¬ 
ing annoyed by the persistence of the newspaper interview¬ 
ers, who would pester the life out of them if tlieir hosts 
did not give them all the protection possible. Far worse 
even than this must be the frightful bosh that has appeared 
in a few of the local papers. The reporters are a hard 
worked, painstaking class as a Tule, but some of them who 
to quote from a Yale man, “do not know a boat fiom a 
coat scuttle,” have taken it upon themselves to imagine 
much. How they succeeded in getting it published is a 
mystery, and why a paper in such standing as the Phila¬ 
delphia Times should have allowed “itself to impose on 
itself ” is more than a mystery. 
The entries for the various events are pouring in on the 
Regatta Committee, and (here are at this writing eighty- 
seven boats entered in all classes, with more telegraphed as 
coming. If one half of these are starters the regatta can¬ 
not fail to be the largest ever held iu this country, and the 
crews entered will make it also the greatest, it is greatly 
to be regretted that more of the American colleges have 
not come forward to meet the men who have come so fur 
to row in a truly International Regatta, Harvard will not 
enter, perhaps because they think that after their trip to 
England Oxford should have come—perhaps they are 
