314 NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY. 
following manner. He put two young pickerel, about five inches 
long, in a trough with a great quantity of little minnows of about 
one inch in length; and these two pickerel ate one hundred and 
twenty-eight minnows the first day; one hundred and thirty-two 
the second; and one hundred and fifty the third! and they in- 
creased one inch in length in forty-eight hours! They were mere 
machines for the assimilation of other organisms !— Fifth Report 
of Mass. Commissioners of Inland Fisheries, 1871. 
Ticks In THE Ear.— I can tell a tale about a tick in my ear 
(see Naruraxist, May, p. 176). In Cuba I was lost in the woods. 
I slept one night on the ground. A day or two thereafter feeling 
a curious buzzing in my ear I lay down on the opposite side and 
filled the ear with water. It was not very long before the tick 
loosened its hold and was taken out. I know nothing of the spe- 
cies but suppose it was the common horse or cattle tick of that 
island. —C. WRIGHT. 
Tue Star-Nosep More. — In J anuary, 1869, I noticed mole 
tracks and burrows in the snow in Niles, Michigan, and soon saw 
the star-nosed mole making similar tracks and burrows. He was 
apparently as lively as if it had been summer. Is it common for 
this animal to be abroad thus in the winter?—Sansorn TENNEY. 
Warre Srorren Muskrat.—I have a muskrat skin that has a 
narrow white spot upon the back, between two and three inches 
long; also two patches of white upon the head. There was also 
white about the mouth.— W. C. Fisa. 
GEOLOGY. y 
Discovery oF Mastopon REMAINS at MorrT’s CORNERS NEAR 
IrHaca, N. Y.—A few days ago a son of Mr. J. P. Allen, of 
Mott’s Corners, in digging a ditch to drain a small peat bog, dis- 
covered two teeth of Mastodon. With more than ordinary good 
sense, he immediately stopped digging and the specimens were 
carried to Cornell University. A party consisting of Mr. Cornell, 
Pres. White, Dr. Wilder, Prof. Brown, a student and myself vis- 
ited the spot and made further excavations which furnished only 
fragments of bones. Since then other parties have secured three 
more teeth and a considerable quantity of broken bones. 
locality is situated in the deep valley of Six Mile Creek, 
excavated in Chemung rocks. The bottom of this valley has been 
