204 Scientific News. [ March, 
California Academy of Sciences, on the desirability of the intro- 
duction and culture of the olive in California. From the evidence 
presented it would seem that in the olive we have a tree that 
can be grown on the dry plains and naked hillsides of California. 
In the Eastern hemisphere its limits of profitable cultivation are 
as far north as the South of France, and as far south as Cairo, in 
Egypt. Wherever on the coast from San Diego to Monterey, 
and wherever in the interior of the State, within the limits of 
the temperature stated, there is an annual fall of rain sufficient to 
produce barley or wheat—on rocky hills and sandy plains, when 
once-rooted, this tree will thrive and bear. 
— A Wilmington, epi ave Hie! nt reports among the novelties 
of that neighborhood, a lake ominguez’s ranch containing a 
great number of trout; the its was stocked by an overflow of 
the San Gabriel river last winter; some of these fish have reached 
a foot in length. e settlers in the vicinity are revelling in this 
acquisition to the ordinary bill o 
— Mr. A. H. Curtiss, Jacksonville, Fla., has issued a second 
fascicle of 250 species and varieties of Floridan plants. Of most 
of the species enumerated he has specimens outside of his regular 
sets, as also of most northern plants, and if persons desiring a 
selection from them will make out a list of their desiderata (the 
numbers in Mann’s Catalogue may be used) he will supply as 
many of them as possible at $10 per hundred. The fascicles 
will be forwarded from Cambridge upon receipt of the price, $20. 
The postage on apt tig or freight to New York or Boston will 
be paid by Mr. Curt 
— The unusually cold winter in California is indicated by the 
movements of the wild animals, which have been driven from their 
usual haunts in the mountains to the lower lands in the immedi- 
ate neighborhood of the settlements. 
The mountain lions, so-called (Fels concolor), are reported as 
very bold in San Gorgonio and San Jacinto, San Bernardino 
county, since the recent storms; in one iastäncë intruding into 
the town of Banning in the night. In Carpenteria, Santa Bar- 
bara county, these animals made a descent upon a goat ranch and 
carried off sixteen Angora goats out of twenty-two; quite a loss 
to the rancher, as the Angoras are valuable stock. Deer are 
plentiful in the vicinity of Vallecito, prorat county, the storms 
having driven them from their higher retreats. It was recently 
reported in the local paper, that a sais ‘of Indians killed nine 
deer in one day’s hunt. The farmers in and about Lower Lake 
in Lake county, also complain of the depredations of. the “ gray 
eagles” on their young lambs, In other parts of the State the 
grizzlies are prow aoa uncomfortably close to the settlements. —R. 
di CS. 
