426 



FOKEST AND STREAM. 



[Dboembbe 80, 1880. 



phenomenon (to Lyl'i rniUion) takes place, -which baa heeu 

 called amirathn: When Uic lakes and slrcams are dried up 

 liy the heal, the fish seek refuge iu the deepest pools, and 

 when thejf too are dried up tJiey bury themselves in the mud 

 at the bottom and remain torpid until Ihe rainy season refills 

 the reservoirs and revives them." 



Day reports that on Jann-iry 18, 18C9, hevisited alarge tank 

 wliich was then almost dry, having only about four iuche.? of 

 ■water in the centre, while the circumference wa.s hard enough 

 to ■walk on. The soil wsus a thick, tenacious, bluish (.'iay, 

 from wiiich, fulJj' thirty paces from I lie -svater and two feet 

 below the sm-face, were taken five living fishes. Two were 

 Opldoeephalus pxmotatuK sxiA three were .lUiinMbdelUtaeulmta. 

 They were covered with a thick adherent slime. "All imre 

 litely iriid nut i/i Pie loint torju'cV Day also reports Arnpldp- 

 ■nou-i cucki.% as having been dug up imder similar circmnstan- 

 ces. ]Mr. Whiting, chief officer of the western province of 

 Ceylon, informed Sir Emerson Tennant that he had been twice 

 present when the peasants had been digging up fish of nine 

 to twelve inches long, full gro^vvn and healthy, whiclijMm^ea! 

 on the bank when exposed to the light. 



Batrachians, tortoises and laud snails are commonly found 

 in a torpid state during the hot and dry months, a state which 

 may tndy be called aestiDation, but which differs decidedly 

 Irom the condition of activity described above as observed iu 

 buried fishes, and for wMch there is no very obvious explan- 

 ation. 



The instances cited are sufficient to show that the popidar 

 belief that fishes possess no animal heat of their own rests 

 upon well attested observations. At first .sight it is diflioult 

 to imderstand otherwise how these animals can undergo tho 

 extremes of beat and cold which they have been known to 

 undergo and continue to live. Yet when the adaptability of 

 birds and mammals, whose nominal range, of l.iody tempera- 

 ture is so extremely narrow compared viith that of fishes, to 

 extTemes of heat and cold is fairly considered, the necessity 

 for this inference seems not to be so very obvious. And no 

 one appears to have tried the experiment of subjecting the 

 eame indizidiials to great differences of temperature whereby 

 the immense effect of inherited adaptation would have been 

 thrown out of the account. 



3 thim L;-10 

 beimr harmless, 

 the waters ol tl 

 fr.'igmenis to Prof. Tur 



cli 

 iidliviiigo 



, THE BASKIJTG SHARK. 



SEVERAL years ago a basking shark was captured at Top- 

 sail, in t'oncepiion Bay, at)out twelve miles from St. 

 Johns. It was thirty foet iu length and fiftear feet in girth 

 »t its thickest part. Unfortunately before I heard of the 

 matter and reached the sjjot the fishermen had cut it up for 

 the sake nf the oil it contained. In all the nmseuins of the 

 wiji-:,' :Lr[-.; : -'■ :ii ;in-."iii ■ ii;!y Tour spccimeijs of this .shark, 



u ; ,,' 1 I -. I " •■'•-'•{ the captons would have got 



;i I'.. ■ :,' .i-^ts lake a a:real interest iu tuis 



£ij;u.i:^.: =l:u :L,Mi. v.iiic;i i.-, ijirclv got hold of. IJndertlie 

 circumstances I did the best 1 could. J secured a ijorlinn of 

 the skul I which unluckily had been cut into sevci'al ijieces. 

 Some of the vertebra;, the fms, and above all the curimis ap- 

 pendases on the pilJs which are arranged like the teeth of a 

 couib "and are believed to serve as filters in collecting from 

 the water the small marine orgiuiisms on which the fish lives. 

 I also seeiu-ed some of the teeth, which arc verv small, not 

 "in length— this species of shark 

 the minute crcarares with which 

 abound. I sent a portion of these 

 Kdinburgh Universiiy. one ot the 

 most eminent anatomists of tlie day. He is rroies.sor of An- 

 atomy in the University of Edijiburgh, .and sinthor of the> arti- 

 cio on '•Anatomy" iu the new edition of the Kiieye!opedia 

 Britaunica. He was very much pleased to receive ihtse [lor- 

 lions of such a rare fish, and after a careful sluei\' of them be 

 prepared an elaborate paper on the subject, wliich be com- 

 muuicated to the Royal Society, Edinburjii, iu ]\Iaieh last, aud 

 •which be has since published in the Jovruni of Auiil<iiiii/ and 

 Fhysutlugij, Vol. XIV. 



In this article lie says : '' Having been engaged .'-ome year's 

 ago in the study of the structure of whalebone I was desirous 

 of examining these appendages in this shark to sec if I bey 

 corresponded iu structm^e with the plates of Baleen. It was 

 Avith great satisfaction, therefore, that I received from the 

 Kev. M. Harvey, of St. .lobn's, :Me\vfoundland, dining the 

 autumn of last year along with a number of other interesting 

 objects of uatural history presented Ijy bim to the Anatomi- 

 cal Museum ot the Universiiy, a portion of one of the comb- 

 like frijigcs which he bad removed from thogUls of a basking 

 shark captured off the coast of that island. The 

 specimen of the comb-like appendages of the basking 

 shark presemed to me by the Rev. 31. Harvey was 

 5Jf inelies Icaig. It consisted of 1.54 flattened i)lates' which 

 variefl in length from 4i to ii inclics. Each plate possessed a 

 ECjni-luuar base attached to the mucous membrane of the 

 branchial arch, and this membrane passed for a short dis- 

 tance between Ihe bases of the plates. The plates w'eree-rav- 

 ish brown bi color and wilh a snionib, shining.surface, audthev 

 were so brittle as to be easily snapped across. The L'eneraJ ar- 

 ramreraeul of the plates was, indeed, not unlike that of plates 

 of -wbaleljone, and tlieie can lie ne. doubt that they fulfil the 

 office so generally ascribed to them of readily aliowuig the 

 passage of water llnonijli lle'ir inlerstiee.s, and of pre 

 - - - which 

 ■ base 



ay be suspended iu 

 examiuetl micro- 



;iin a network of canals. The 

 als was ]iroloiiged from the base 



.sbalt, where the canals tcruii- 

 ivity occupybig the ceuire of the 

 the plate boimding the anasto- 

 ivily bad the translucent, some- 

 le sees iu the matrix of lioue or 

 latrix was permeated by multi- 

 . These tubeo bad the appear- 

 rangenieni of dentine lubes, but 

 rge as the tubes of human den- 

 1 each oLiier by a larger propor- 



the passage of 

 the water- ^ V i, -, ' ■ ■ 

 scopically it v, ;r : . , .- . 



anastoiii'j'-- " ■"-■ ■ ■ i- 'if can 

 of the pi: . -;.iuler 



naled iu .; . i-i ■ • i ,i-jied ci 

 shaft. lb.-: soiia iij.iirix of 

 mosing canals and e(;iitral ca 

 ■what granulated character oi 

 the dentine of teeth. The n 

 tudes of flue branching tiilies 

 aiice -and general mode of ar 

 they were ncjirly tiviee as la 

 tine and were" sejiarated iron 

 tion of matrix." 



After a minute aud lengthened description which coidd 

 only be appreciated by students of anatomy, Professor Tur- 

 ner arrives at tlie conoluaioB. "that tb« sli'Uotura of tluwe 



plates leaves no de>nlit that their type of structure resembles 

 the denline of a tooth," and " tbe'refore these plates differ in 

 a marked manner from those of i\lialebone." 



"Along wilh the comb-lilte brancei -i en;-- 1;il-i- s Mr. 

 Harvey alsi' sent me a portion of the >!■ e' the 



jaw w'ilh the teeth /« .vcfif. Tlie teeth \'.i' , :. ■ • i seven 

 rows and were embetldeel at the base iu Uj:: ..lue.ju.s mem- 

 brane. Each tooth was not more tliau three-tenths at an inch 

 long and a little less than two-tenths of an inch wide at its 

 base. They were conoid in shape, with sharp-pointed free 

 ends, somewhat flat! oned on the anterior and posterior sur 

 faces, and without serrations. In its structure the tooth, like 

 the semi-lunar base of the plates of the comb, consisted of a 

 hard uuvascular dri-'iiin rxtcrnalty, and of a central core in 

 which were mill : ■ ■ i rnosing canals stirroimded by a 



matrix contaiiiii I : i ic dentine tubes. These canals 



collectively^ r.: jn, ,i ei. i, i i:_ pulp cavity. The chief differ- 

 ence between the plate and the tooth was this, that in the 

 plate the canals formed irltimately in its shaft only a single 

 central cavily^, while in the tooth" the anastomosing arrange- 

 ment of the canals was preserved up to the apex of the core, 

 and no single pulp cavity existed " 



Professo'r Turner concludes Ids paper in the following 

 terms: '''rbp nr.-'s.-iwT' fit liLilies possessing the structure of 

 teeth or: '.'■ ' ' ' I' ! i.;:u!: shark is not so .aberrant au 



arrange! :• ■,,-:,' . sight appear. It is well known 

 that it ri::'! -i '■':: < 's :-:iiii:i;i:d on each branchial arch in many 

 of the osseous fish, so that there is a tendency among fish 

 for dental structures to arise in connection with the mucou,s 

 membrane covering this part of the skeleton. The peculiari- 

 ty in the basking shark, therefore, is the excessive develop- 

 ment wliich liie branchial teelh untlergo, a developmeut 

 which is correlated with the small size and sim)ile form of 

 the maxillary aud mandibuhu^ teeth, with the uem-predacioiis 

 habits of the fish and with the particular nature of the food 

 on which it lives." He remarks on the fact that hitherto 

 though "scattered notices of these curious fringes have .ip- 

 iiearctl in the periodical zoological literature of various coun- 

 tries, systematic writers^on fishes have in their triiati.ses ig- 

 nored ihe existence of {hese appendages, notwithstanding 

 their importance in connection with the food aud habits of 

 this shark, and their constituting a most important struclund 

 pecidiarily." 



The publication of tliis important paper by Professor Tur- 

 ner -will remedy this rlefect, and will have the effect of calling 

 the atl«nlion of uaturaliststo one of the most cm^ienis and in- 

 terestmg arrangements in the economy' of this inhabitant of 

 the world of waters. * M. HiitYKY. 



JSt. Jolms, jy. F. 



has been lying ne 

 swamp, or utliei- wsi 

 a living, while otbci 

 tivity. Many of ; 



1 snow for 

 1 tile day time 



lion that this bird 

 ick recesses of a 

 iiaged to pick up 

 jcaped from cap- 



ANOTHEK CAPTIVE WOODCOCIv. 



Mokthbax, December 17. 



Editor Fored and Rrmm : 



A gentleman j'esterday picked up on one of our up-town 

 streets a live woodcock. The bird is stUl alive and is iu per- 

 fect condition lis regards flesh and pbmiagc, being quite equal 

 in si/.c and weieht t'^j llie birds we gel toward the close of the 

 season here, that is about, Ihe end ot Oeiober He, how- 

 ever, bad a wound across the skull, at Ihe rost of the bUl, 

 which mav have been made by a telegraph wire or a shot 

 slrikius hiiu sideway. Wliere this bird came from is a mys- 

 tery. 'The latest date at which woe.deock were killed iu this 

 vicinity this year was about the lOtb or 13lh of November, 

 which "is laid" by a week than usual. 



Since the 14, h of iS'ovcinber we have had c 

 constant sleighing, and the mean temperature 

 (8 A- ,M, lo (in. -M^J has onlv been above the freezing point 

 lor eight days duiiug tli.'i"t time. Of course, if the mean 

 temperature for the tw'euty-four hours were taken, the figure 

 would be much lower : but 1 have not got the statistics at 

 liaud. From lliis it will be seen that the weather has been 

 so severe that it is almost incredible tbat a woodcock could 

 have existed thrtMigb it. 



Senile of our local siiortsuien are of opi: 



!■ a sprim: in the tli 



ui place, 'where he im 



thmk he must have: 



ir readers liere would be glad to have 



your opinion iu the matter. 



The bird is now in the possession of Mr. W. V. B. Hall 

 restaurant keeper, St. James street, eats well and appears to 

 feel qiute at home. H. R. 



The wooilcock I wrnlc voii about the other day. which 

 was picked up in the street "here oue week ago, is still alive 

 and "doing well." It lias been well supplied with worms 

 and with a quantity of raw meat, Ijotli of which it eats with 

 apparent relish. To-day many persons were greatly inter- 

 ested at seeing it ''boring" for -(vorms. 



^Ir. Hall, who has the bird iu his possession, requests me 

 to ask. through your columns, for iuformaiion as to the best 

 kind of a cage t..i keep Iho bird in ; also as to the best method 

 of giving bini food, whether or not he should have access to 

 water, and, iu fact, for any reliable information regarding 

 the c:ire of woodcock in captivity. Perhaps some ot your 

 readers may be able to supply the desired iuformaiion. 



We presume that the bird has been living, as suggested, 

 near awarm spring bole in a swamp, and that he hurt himself 



by flying against a telegraph wire, when at last be was obliged 

 to start for the .souili. He is certainly a very late bird, 

 though not altogetliei^ unpreeedeutedly so. We once started 

 a woodcock in Conneeiieut Dec. 34, 



If the cage for the bird is to be 8 Wge 'oneit should be 

 low, and should be lined on top and along its upper sides 

 with cloth, so tbat the bird may not injm-e himself by flymg 

 against the wires and sides. The larger the cage the more 

 likely Iho binl is to do •ft'ell, but the wilder it -will remain. 

 The cage sUoidd not, wc think, be over a foot or fifteen 

 inches high. The bird should have water, of course. Some 

 iuteresling facts in regard to this bird in captivity will be 

 found in the FoicEsr and Stream of August 12 and 20, 1880. 



Please keep us advised as to the welfare of the bird. 



Pine Geosbbak in Misnesota— -B^ifow, JJeo. 19.— On the 

 11th December I received from my friend, G. F. Benson, 



Esq., Lake Oily, Wabash County, Minnesota, a female pine 

 grosbeak {PinicMa muckutor), the only individual of this 

 genus seen la this locality for twenty years. It is perhaps 

 ■worth BotinB. W. P. M. 



MORE ABOUT SQUIRRELS. 



IK the interesting article of " Aidlt.i" iu vour issue of De- 

 cember 2, 18S6, entitled " - ■ ' " ;„:,,! Squirrels," 

 lie nieiitions the respective li ."aj-auti bhiei^ 

 squinels as being distmct. I: Ijc in Tenuea- 

 ,see, they certainly occupy the s.l,,.: ,,,.,,,, ,.i^ ,^,:..unds iusouie 

 sections of this State. Iu my last exiitiu, at .'tquirrel shooting 

 near Memphis, Onondaga Coumy, ) bagged five blacks and 

 seven grays within a square mile of Itiritoryon the .same 

 A&j. In Chatauqua County, a teu ^eals au'o, I s,ivr iu a sin- 

 gle stroll eleven blacks and' not a s:jiitavy jzijiy- 1" ilie more 

 easterly county of Saratoga the gia\ s :.::-e,ii [•• \)i..'\> 'ndcraie, 

 although I once shot a co'uple oflilaeks lliere. iiic guides 

 in the "Brown Tract" country fell n,e i led tiiey never see 

 the black, although the gray is an refiisiotiui visitor. 



Parke and Godwin and (1 think i Audubon mention the 

 yoimg of thebl.'iek anil gi'ii\'lK:ii]g r:imid iu the stime nest. 

 I have never seen this aeiually verilied, but should suppose 

 the natural result 'I sueb a (ross would be an albino. Some 

 time since a pieliald of this sort was mentioned iu your col- 

 umns. It ha.s always seemed to me that the main diversities 

 between the two s"ppcies t^or colors; are that the black is 

 slightly less in size and more agile and shy than the gray. I 

 ba-fo also observed that the lilack always "drives" or chases 

 the gray. 



The wide range of this iiiteresliiig w^ood denizen is some- 

 what cmious. In Kerv I '; ru and Nor- 

 thern Cliili I have sii::;: ,, ;lie same size 

 and general contour a; : ,lilTerence be- 

 ing a while circular sjiui, o, ,,i„- ,u:u::. .. ,-uv.'r half-dollar, 

 commeneine: just back eif the ears and exi ending; over the 

 neck and slionldei-.s. They bark or" squall" like our own 

 species, aud jiluuder the " cbacros" and fields iu the same 

 reckless style. Although usually found i:i the high woods 

 there, yet 1 have seen them on the cactus plams, miles away 

 from umbrage or water. In the latter locations tbev prob- 

 ably feed on Ihe juicy and seedy fruit:' I ' ,' ,' : 

 there is no other sustenauee, even I'l^r ; 

 arid plains. The little i-aseals ar,- ler: 



latitudes, aeeording to locality, "Ai:.:.: , ,. -■. i- - ' 

 We Yankee hunters used to stylo them '' Padres," from their 

 fashion of baek-hair. much to (be holy horror of the natives. 



t^aura F.'Hx, A. )\, Ike. 8. E. R. WliSO-N. 



The black and gray squirrels are regarded merely as dif- 

 ferent colors ot the same species. The South Americiui form 

 referred to is tm enlkcly different species. 



I ■wish "J. E. L.'a" (Nov. 16) huntbig ground had ap- 

 peared to enable me to locate the plac of Tiis^lare'e squirrels. 



I think his scales may liave --.i '-i m ■ .. r-eilv to have 

 an average of 1 lb. 14 oz. for 1,1:: , :: : : -. J U ...z. tor i^rav 

 squirrels. 1 have never seen Ijh-!: , :,- ^, . in.ivy anywhere, 

 nor gray oueseither, exeeplin Wisconsin, Illinois, etc. The 

 large fox .squirrels of these Stales will hardly average 1 lb. 

 14'oz., unless all are old ones. 1 have weighed strings of 

 gray and fox, but not of the black. My weighing g.'ivc about 

 i lb. 9oz. for the large gray of Wisconsin, and i lb 14 oz. 

 for the fox. 1 would oslimate (ho weiibt oi I lie black at 

 about 1 lb. 14 oz. They seem about the same size wherever 

 Ihavefoimd them, but Smaller jli Canada if anywhere. 1 

 cannot say my scales were correct, but it strikes me they 

 were. At any rate the fox is fully one-third heavier tlian the 

 black. 1 will take the trouble to find his weiglit soon and re- 

 port it. 



While bimting in Wisconsin this fall I killed a black squir- 

 rel (to aiipeaiMiues i nearly as large as the Jox, but on cvain- 

 ininir ef ■ i ' - ■: :i : I iiim'to be cleai'ly a cross of the fox aud 



black, i.v : : ! : 1 for hls sbio. So in Central Illinois 1 



chanced e: ; II : h iir specimen of this cross, and nearly as 

 large as the fo,\, but Ihe smaller .i«l-blHCk parent 1 did not 

 see, aud of about f^vei-thirds the siise-of those killcfL 



WMelitdw Omnt.i/, N. Y. H. W. M. 



T\Iaxv years [il'O it was mv fortune to shoot i wo fray squu'- 

 rels of siieli extraordinarv .size as induced me to wei-!i them. 

 t)ne, 3.1 inches iu length, 21bs.; the other, 2ii inches. 2:i-lb8. 

 1 have since shot many hrmdreds, but none exceeded 3 lbs. 



C. L. W. 



LooKHo ibuixs.— A correspondent who wiitea from To- 

 ronto, sends us a euttiug from a .Peterben-o' paper as fol- 

 lows: "j\lr. F. Lillieraprof Lakefield. made a very Strange 

 discovery last week wldle hunting in the woods in the vicin- 

 ity of the bomidary between the township of Harvey and 

 B'urleiali. His attention was ane-ied by a large gathering 



of raveus and crows, v!:-:' '' ■'-''■"' ''•■-'^ o'-al in a 



ttiieket at some distai:. - -"eisify, 



and a close inspection ■ : f two 



verv larL'C bucks ■were f- • : ' :litbeu' 



horns entwined or lockt J. It y, ;:- :.i'.iite evideiiL tlmt these 

 deer had been engaged iu a deaitly combat. In this fight 

 their horns must "have interlaced, and in this position the 

 stronger had thrown the weaker on to his tmck. This change 

 of po'sitiou created a leverage which fastened the two sebs of 

 horns inextricalily together. In this sad iilighi they must 

 have died without any i)r>ssibility of escape, as viclsms to 

 their own pugnacity. Some of llie hunters went tlie Jiext 

 day and seciu-cd the two sets of horns, but the carcasses were 

 useless." 



Such occurrences are not so uncommon as to excite any 

 very great surprise, though of course they do uot often come 

 to the notice of hunters. We have seen a few pairs of homS 

 so locked, one of which resisted all efforts to separate tliem. 



Habits or the Bea vek. — I se 

 gets after me on the beaver quel 

 gray-hatred hunter of the .Kastei 

 who h.HS killed his hundreds of 

 giouB he has hunted in wliei'e d(- 

 Uiere uot old "beaver dams'' i 

 there any beaver iu oue ease in 

 even elk w^ere t<ilcrablv numeroi 

 ties in Pennsylvania that can 

 Each and all can show the old bt 

 that there has been alive bea\ 

 years. I know there are s^.tme 

 there are a few in Northern Jla 

 and in the South. These an: ^ 

 vanislilnng before the bi-i den 

 the uoliou that 1 gol my iu;e;-i 1 

 of Kew \ ork or t.lliicago. 1 i 

 either of tbem. Have spent 

 forest whore I never spent on 



All 1 



1, Western 



-etlL-i 



■e yoin- Canada Mrrcsfiondont 



■" ght. Let every 



■r JMiddle States 



<a the many re- 



ly i-ilenty. Were 

 i"u? And were 

 h deer, lieav, and 

 I re a dozen ooun- 

 ,i!i deer-hunting. 

 I.ut I cannot find 

 if lie in if! Sixtj* 

 Canaii.i : I think 

 Z\ew Bninswiclc 

 ns, and liieywill 

 ;1. I rather like 

 . .n the near neighborhood 

 lid ;ls .9oon Jive in Bedlam as 

 en days in the deep primal 

 in cities or larg« towns, aud 



:fis l)a 



■cpli'-- 



