ZOOLOGY. 
another esteemed contributor, with the remark that “ our corres 
pondent” who ranks with the best ornithologists of the day, 
performed his duty with the utmost good will towards the author — 
of the new name, and was simply severe on the principle, and : 
not on the author, as a warning to all young naturalists not to run 
headlong into print. — Eprrors. ] id: 
VIBRATIONS OF THE Tart IN SNAKES.— Professor Shaler wi. 
note on this subject in the Am. Naturalist, Jan. 1872, p. 35. he 
1849 Professor S. F. Baird placed in my hands for translation, the i 
invertebrate zoology of Heck’s Iconographie Encyc., but finding it 
a poor compilation, I rewrote it, merely following the plates of the 
German edition. I incorporated various original observations 
my own and the following passage occurs on p. 6-7 of zoology. 
“ Instinctive actions are not taught, although a permanent 
arek te come an instin ct. The young duck s wims at once, W 
and she 
hiia Araf witho ut fang o or rattle will Vv hrabe ite ae like a 1 
snake producing a similar sound among dry leave ! ain 
the young is Paella upon that of the adult, and b 
of ideas is limited, they must be as essentially hereditary as 
external form. (In a note—These views are favora 
trine of innate ideas, which is sete Si, oppos sed b 
is not always transmissible Roia parent to its lit pe 
but it may appear in a more distant descendant, 
nation of generations. 
Professor Cope (Proc. Am. Phil. Soc. July- Dec. 1871, a 
mentions several poisonous and harmless snakes which 
the tail when excited— a phenomenon I observ in 1841. 
A point in the extract affords an illustration of wi 
of unscientific people, and their inability even to 
matter correctly. I had DEAT that “ the young 
bites when taken from the egg,” — I might have § 
little stronger, for if touched, the unborn snapper turns e 
and opens its mouth when the shell is broken vuficient t 
the head. Seemingly on this statement, 
(May 1860, p. 516) asserts that —“ Agassiz, 
savage snap of one of the full-grown Ta 
asserted that, under the microscope [ !] he has seen 
turtle snapping precociously in embryo.” — $. 
lumbia, Pa. 
} 
