FOREST AND STREAM. 



229 



success, it was to be done by the hardworking and pains- 

 taking man, who is satisfied with small gains. I don't 

 think there are many locations in the United States where 

 a sudden fortune can be made by raising fish; but there 

 are thousands of farms on which fish culture can be intro- 

 duced with profit. Feed has never been a great object with 

 me. I do not stock so heavily; but my ponds are stocked 

 with insects. I give almost as much attention to raising in- 

 sects, and innocent fish for trout food, as I do trout for the 

 market, and consequently have a much better fish for the 

 market than those who feed large amounts of curds and 

 butcher's offal. A. Palmer. 



Boscobel, Wisconsin. 



Trra Salmon-Breeding Establishment on the North- 

 west Miramichi. — A large quantity of salmon- ova has 

 been successfully laid down at the Dominion Government 

 hatching establishment on the Northwest Miramichi River. 

 Last year the reception and feeding dams were both 

 injured, and after they were examined by Inspector 

 Venning, the work of making repairs was entrusted to 

 Mr. Elson Tozer who, under the Inspector's personal direc- 

 tion, has made a satisfactory job, both dams being now 

 staunch and tight and full of water. 



On the 1st of September Overseer Hogan was instructed 

 to employ men and obtain a lot of parent fish, but owiag 

 to the low water prevailing prior to the Autumn rains, the 

 fish were prevented from ascending the river, and efforts 

 to procure them were, therefore, unsuccessful. At the 

 first freshet the river rose four feet in twenty-four hours, 

 and as the water submerged the shore the dried leaves and 

 parched debris deposited by the spring freshet floated down 

 against the nets, which were thus converted into dams and 

 swept away from their positions on the bar below the Big 

 Hole. 



The sweeping net was next resorted to, and after all 

 possible exertions were made, by night and day, 141 fish 

 were obtained — 76 males and 65 females. The preponder- 

 ence of male fish in the whole take of the season was a 

 discouraging feature in the operations and, added to it, was 

 the capture of 20 spent fish which, of course, were imme- 

 diately liberated. An encouraging and significant feature 

 of the operations, however, was the fact that the fish taken 

 this season are larger than those previously taken, two of 

 them weighing about forty pounds each. 



At the present time, the season for obtaining ova having 

 closed, there are now laid down in the hatching house 

 from 600,000 to 700,000 healthy eggs which have been 

 succesfully impregnated and are in prime condition. The 

 house and all connected with it is in first class order and 

 there is a fine head of good water. If no unforeseen acci- 

 dent takes place, therefore, we may count on about 600,000 

 young salmon being hatched out for the next season's dis- 

 tribution. The establishment is under the care of Mr. 

 Isaac Shaesgreen, who has been connected with it since it 

 was first opened and whose losses on the ova laid down 

 last Autumn did not reach 8 per cent. — Chatham (N. B.) 

 Advance, JSov. 9th. 



DIFFICULTY IN RAISING 

 TROUT. 



BROOK 



Worcester, Pa., Nov. 3d. 

 Editor Forest and Stream:—" 



I have tried the experiment of hatching and rearing brook trout, bnt 

 with very limited success. 1 have no trouble in hatching the e&gs, but 

 the young are sure to die before reaching the age of six months; after 

 that age they do very well, but very few reach it. I have come to the 

 conclusion that the water I have is not adapted to this fish, and think 

 probably I had better try same other variety. My questions are these: 

 First— Do you think salmon trout would be likely to do better? Second 

 —Where can I obtain ega;s to try the experiment? Third— Can the e^gs 

 be sent by express, and what would be the probable cost? I have all the 

 appliances for hatching, trays, etc. By answering the above you will 

 place me under many obligations. Geo. M. Weber. 



Arts. The experience of our correspondent does not 

 differ from that of many other fish breeders, as respects 

 brook trout. There seems no method of keeping some wa- 

 ters stocked except by continually replenishing them with 

 ova, of which a very small percentage will eventually 

 make mature fish. As Mr. Weber is a practical workman 

 and careful observer, it is possible that his decision to sub- 

 stitute salmon trout is wise. The ova and fry can be ob- 

 tained, we suppose, from fish*.Commissioner Reeder, of 

 Harrisburg, Pa. Also address Alexander Kent, 219 East 

 Baltimore street, Baltimore. Price of eggs $3 to $5 per 

 thousand delivered; fry, $8 to $10 per thousand. 



♦ — 



ADDRESS OF A. R. WALLACE BEFORE 

 THE BRITISH ASSOCIATION 



INTRODUCTION. 



THE range of subjects comprehended within this sec- 

 tion is so wide, and my own acquaintance with them 

 so imperfect and fragmentary, that it is not in my power 

 to lay before you any general outline of the recent progress 

 of the biological sciences. Neither do I feel competent to 

 give you a summary of the present status of any one of 

 the great divisions of our science; but there are, fortu- 

 nately, several outlying and more or less neglected subjects 

 to which I have for some time had my attention directed, 

 and which I hope will furnish matter for a few observa- 

 tions of some interest to biologists, and at the same time 

 not unintelligible to the less scientific members of the as- 

 sociation who may honor ua with their presence. 



The subjects I first propose to consider have no general 

 name, and are not easily grouped under a single descriptive 

 title; but they may be compared with that recent develop- 

 ment of a sister science, which has been termed Surface- 

 geology, or Earth-sculpture. In the older geological works 

 we learned much about strata and rocks and fossils, their 

 superposition, contortions, chemical constitution and affin- 

 ities, with some general notions of how they are formed in 

 the remote past; but we often come to the end of the vol. 

 ume no whit the wiser a$ to hpw and why the surface of 



the earth came to be so wonderfully and beautifully diver- 

 sified; we were not told why some mountains are rounded 

 and others precipitous; why some valleys are wide and 

 open, others narrow and rocky; why rivers so often pierce 

 through mountain chains; why mountain lakes are often 

 so enormously deep; whence came the gravel and drift 

 and erratic blocks so strangely spread over wide areas, 

 while totally absent from other areas equally extensive. 

 So long as these questions were almost ignored, geology 

 could hardly claim to be a complete science, because while 

 professing to explain how the crust of the earth came to be 

 what it is, it gave no intelligible account of the varied 

 phenomena presented by its surface. But of late years 

 these surface phenomena have been assiduously studied ; 

 the marvelous effects of denudation and glacial action in 

 giving the final touches to the actual contour of the earth's 

 surface, and their relation to climatic changes and the an- 

 tiquity of man, have been clearly traced, thus investing 

 geology with a new and popular interest, and at the same 

 time elucidating many of the phenomena presented in the 

 olden formations . 



Now, just as a Surface-geology was required to complete 

 that science, so a surface-biology was wanted to make the 

 science of living things more complete and more generally 

 interesting by applying the results arrived at by special 

 workers to the interpretation of those external and promi- 

 nent features whose endless variety and beauty constitute 

 the charm which attracts us to the contemplation or to the 

 study of nature. We have the descriptive zoologist, for 

 example, who gives us the external characters of animals; 

 the anatomist studies their internal structure; the histolo- 

 gist makes known the nature of their component tissues; 

 the embryologist patiently watches the progress of their 

 development; the systematist groups them into classes and 

 orders, families, genera and species; while the field natur- 

 alist studies for us their food habits and general economy. 

 But till quite recently none of these earnest students, nor 

 all of them combined, could answer satisfactorily, or ever 

 attempted to answer, many of the simplest questions con- 

 cerning the external characters and general relations of 

 animals and plants. Why are flowers so wonderfully va- 

 ried in form and color? What causes the Artie fox and 

 ptarmigan to turn white in winter? Why are there no ele- 

 phants in America, and no deer in Australia? Why are 

 closely allied species rarely found together? Why are male 

 animals so frequently bright colored? Why are extinct 

 animals so often larger than those which are now living? 

 What has led to the production of the gorgeous 

 train of the peacock, and of the two kinds of 

 flowers in the primrose? The solution of these and a 

 hundred other problems of like nature, was rarely ap- 

 proached by the old method of study, or if approached, 

 was only the subject of vague speculation. It is to the 

 illustrious author of the "Origin of Species," that we are 

 indebted for teaching us how to study nature as one great, 

 compact, and beautifully adjusted system. Under the 

 touch of his magic wand, the countless isolated facts of 

 internal and external structure of living things — their 

 habits, their colors, their development, their distribution, 

 their geological history— all fell into their approximate 

 places; and although from the intricacy of the subject and 

 our very imperfect knowledge of the facts themselves, 

 much still remains uncertain; yet we can no longer doubt 

 that even the minutest and most superficial peculiarities of 

 animals and plants either on the one hand, are or have 

 been useful to them, or on the other hand, have been de 

 veloped under the influence of general laws which we may 

 one day understand to a much greater extent than we do 

 at present. So great is the alteration effected in our com- 

 prehension of nature by the study of variation, inheri- 

 tance, cross-breeding, competition, distribution, protection 

 and selection — showing, as they often do, the meaning of 

 the most obscure phenomena, and the mutual dependence 

 of the most widely separated organizations, that it can 

 only be fitly compared with the analogous alteration pro- 

 duced in our conception of the universe by Newton's grand 

 discovery of the law of gravitation. 



I know it will be said (and is said), that Darwin is too 

 highly rated; that some of his theories are wholly and 

 others partially erroneous, and that he often builds a vast 

 superstructure on a very uncertain basis of doubtfully in- 

 terpreted facts. Now, even admitting his criticism to be 

 well founded— and I myself believe that to a limited extent 

 it is so— I nevertheless maintain that Darwin is not and 

 cannot be too highly rated. For his greatness does not at 

 all depend upon his being infallible, but on his having de- 

 veloped, with rare patience and judgment, a new system 

 of observation and study, guided by certain general princi- 

 ples, which are almost as simple as gravitation and as wide- 

 reaching in their effects. And if other principles should 

 hereafter be discovered, or if it be proved that some of his 

 subsidiary theories are wholly or partially erroneous, this 

 very discovery can only be made by following in Darwin's 

 steps, by adopting the method of research which he has 

 taught us, and, by largely using the rich stores of material 

 which he has collected. The "Origin of Species," and the 

 grand series of works which have succeeded it, have revo- 

 lutionized the study of biology. They have given us new 

 ideas and fertile principles. They have infused life and 

 vigor into our science, and have opened up hitherto un- 

 thought of lines of research on which hundreds of eager 

 students are now laboring. Whatever modifications some 

 of his theories may require, Darwin must none the less be 

 looked up to as the founder of philosophical biology. 



As a small contribution to this great subject, I propose 

 now to call your attention \o gome curious relations of or- 



ganisms to their environment, which seem to me worthy 

 of more systematic study than has hitherto been given 

 them. The points I shall more especially deal with, are 

 the influence of locality, or of some unknown local causes 

 in determining the colors of insects and to a less extent of 

 birds; and the way in which certain peculiarities in the 

 distribution of plants may have been brought about by 

 their dependence on insects. The latter part of my address 

 will deal with the present state of our knowledge as to the 

 antiquity and early history of mankind. 

 To be continued. 



EXTINCT AMERICAN MAMMALS. 



IN view of the widespread interest excited by Prof. 

 Huxley's recent lectures, the following remarks from 

 the Scientific American have a peculiar pertinency just at 

 present : — 



"When the theory of evolution began to displace the old 

 theory of specific creation, its opponents were wont to ask. 

 triumphantly for missing links. If species are the result of 

 gradual development by progressive variation, they t^aid, 

 we ought to find an abundance of intermeaiate forms : where 

 are they? The advocates of evolution could only reply: 

 They will appear when sought for. Darwin even ventured 

 the prophecy that in course of time links would be found 

 connecting the extremely specialized one-toed horse with 

 the normal four and five toed mammals. The readers of the 

 Scientific American know how completely the prophecy has 

 been fulfilled in the numerous and increasingly specialized 

 horse-like creatures which roamed over our Western plains 

 during the tertiary period of geology. At the beginning 

 of the period the four toed orohippus was most like the 

 horse that was to be, though it exhibited many unhorse- 

 like characteristics. From that time down to the present 

 the chain of development is complete, the precursors of 

 the horse steadily growing more and more horse-like in 

 head, and foot, and general structure of body and limb. 

 In the middle tertiary, the mesohippus had but three toes, a 

 slender splint of bone being the only vestige of the lost toe; 

 and in the miohippus the splint had vanished. Later the 

 three nearly equal toes of the minohippus had become three 

 very unequal toes of the hipparion % the large middle toe 

 being the main if not the entire support of the animal. 

 At the close of the period, the prevailling form was a true 

 horse, in which the dwindled and useless side toes of the 

 ripparion had ceased to exist as toes, appearing only as 

 slender splints under the skin." 



In fact this true horse did not differ appreciably from 

 the horse of the modern times. 



A most interesting discovery which has just been an- 

 nounced by Prof. Marsh, of New Haven, (American Jour- 

 nal Science, Vol. XII, No. 71, Nov. 1876). carries the horse 

 pedigree one step farther back to an animal which was 

 probably the ancestor of orohippus. The latter, as it was 

 well known, had four well developed toes in front and 

 three behind, while the new form eohippus had a rudiment 

 of a fourth toe behind and may have had a similar remnant 

 of a first digit in the forefoot. There are also other striking 

 differences, mainly in the teeth. 



The article from which we have quoted discusses at some 

 length the tapiroid forms of the eocene, and the euillines 

 and rhinoceroses of Miocene time. Then passing on to the 

 oreodons it says : 



"A remarkable family was the Dreodontidce, which began 

 in the later eocene, extended through the miocene, when 

 they swarmed enormously, dying out in the early pliocene. 

 In nearly all points of structure, tney were intermediate 

 between ruminants and swine, furnishing a complete line 

 of transition between those now widely separated groups. 

 Their remains are found in great abundance, both in species 

 and individuals; and a gradual modification, correspond- 

 ing with the chronological position, can be traced from the 

 earlier, more generalized foirns to the latest and most 

 specialized: thus affording one of the most complete chains 

 of evidence yet found in favor of a progressive alteration 

 of form, not only of specific but of generic importance, 

 through advancing ages. 



"Exceedingly suggestive, too, is the history of Camelida 

 as exhibited in our tertiary strata. Here was apparently 

 the original home of this singular group, now represented 

 only by the llamas of South America, and the two camels 

 of the old world. During the middle and later tertiary 

 ages, transitional^ forms from the more generalized rumi- 

 nants — animals increasingly camel-like and llama like in 

 character — were abundant in North America, whence they 

 probably migrated during the glacial epoch to the present 

 homes of the existing members of the family, along with 

 the horses, tapirs, and peccaries, which disappeared fr^om 

 this country about that time. 



"Not less interesting is the story told by the remains of 

 those unique eocene monsters to which the names uinta- 

 t7ierium, dinoceras, loxolop7iodon, and eobasileus, have been 

 given; huge creatures intermediate between the orders re- 

 presented by the rhinoceros and the elephaat. Professor 

 Flower compares them to broken piers of the bridge by 

 which the gulf, that now so completely divides the orders 

 of the perissodactyle ungulates and the proboscidea, may 

 have been passed over. They were all elephant like in 

 bulk and general appearance, yet presented a combination 

 of characters which made them unlike anything elsewhere 

 known. Their feet were five-toed, their legs straight and 

 massive; their necks longer than the elephant's, and their 

 small-brained, narrow heads much more like the rhino- 

 ceros's than the elphant's. But their distinguished peculi- 

 arity was their frontal armament of three pairs of horns, 

 which, with their enormous size and strength, must have 

 made them formidable indeed. Their end is yet a mystery. 

 It has been suggested that at the close of the eocene period 

 they may have migrated to Asia to lay the foundation of 

 that family which first appears in the old world under the 

 more familiar forms of the typical proboscideans — the ele- 

 phaat, mastodons, and mammoths. None of these appear 

 in America earlier than the pleiocene period, a long time 

 after they had become abundant in the old world. 



"Among the carnivora which preyed upon the abundant 

 herbivorous fauna of the great plains, forests, and lake re- 

 gions of the tertiary ages, not a few furnish extremely 

 cogent evidence of specific evolution. There were among 

 them fierce creatures, larger than wolves, which presented 



