February 6, 1885.] 



SCIENCE. 



105 



The Yellowstone Park as a bison preserve. 



Permit me to thank you for your timely remarks 

 in No. 103 upon the threatened extinction of the 

 American bison. The question seems to be, as you 

 state it, whether the bison (and with equal propriety, 

 say I, a large number of other decadent types) can be 

 successfully domiciled within the boundaries of the 

 Yellowstone Park. Having given this subject care- 

 ful attention, I am prepared to say that the practica- 

 bility of the scheme admits of no reasonable doubt. 

 The park itself is to-day one of the few regular re- 

 treats of the existing herds of buffaloes, and nothing 

 but the protection intended by the laws is really 

 needed for their preservation. Of late years much 

 has been done by the superintendent and his efficient 

 corps of aids, vigorously seconded by the territorial 

 authorities of Wyoming. But the laws are not yet 

 sufficiently punitory, and there is no provision for 

 insuring the retention of the animals within the 

 limits of the reservation. The superintendent, in a 

 late report, refers to the presence of a few straggling 

 bands at various points in the park, but apparently 

 he considered them more as ' stragglers ' than as 

 legitimate denizens. 



If the end in view, as suggested above, be the 

 fostering of all animals which the national park may 

 readily sustain, much more vigorous effort is de- 

 manded. The importation and semi-domestication 

 of such exogenous forms as are in imminent danger 

 of extinction should be encouraged; and why may 

 we not look with great expectations upon such local 

 scientific societies as are already organized in Denver 

 and San Francisco? I have never seen a specimen 

 of the Aplocerus montanus, nor have I met any one 

 who has known it in its native haunts; but it is not 

 wholly extinct. This species of antelope, incorrectly 

 called the Rocky-mountain goat, should be preserved 

 in the park, at all hazards. The big-horn (Ovis mon- 

 tana) is still living in Colorado and elsewhere; but it 

 cannot long withstand the ravages of the hunter and 

 the inroads of the mining industry. There is a very 

 short lease of life for the grizzly bear under present 

 conditions, and the beaver is rapidly disappearing. 



Fortunately for our object, most of these animals 

 have wandered into the park, and but little care will 

 be required to retain them within its borders. Still 

 there is needed some more capable and responsible 

 supervision than has yet been secured by legislation; 

 and experience has shown the influence which men of 

 science have been able to exercise in similar cases. 

 A committee of. the American association for the ad- 

 vancement of science, appointed at the Nashville 

 meeting, was able to obtain an appropriation from 

 congress of ten thousand dollars, to be applied to the 

 increase of accessibility to the geysers and thermal 

 springs; and quite recently more has been done in 

 that direction, and in the way of stopping lawlessness 

 and depredations. Now is the time, and scientific 

 men are the legitimate instruments, for completing 

 the work by united action in support of this vast 

 zoological garden, and of the collection of represent- 

 atives of the many dying forms of our American 

 fauna. Theo. B. Comstock.^ 



Cleveland, O., Jan. 27. 



The muskrat carnivorous. 



Some twenty years ago, and from that time on for 

 ten years, I was in the habit, with some friends of 

 similar tastes, of closely searching the river-banks of 

 this vicinity, and the waters, too, when practicable, 

 for the aquatic mollusks which then abounded. The 



muskrats, now nearly extinct among us, were then 

 numerous; and we soon learned that they were excel- 

 lent collectors of shells, bringing out great numbers 

 of the deep-water mussels of several species not usu- 

 ally very easily found by us, and leaving the shells 

 in perfect condition. 



In the rocky banks were many caves where shells 

 were thus gathered; and one, especially on the south 

 bank of Rock Island, a large space, well sheltered, 

 and above high water, contained many bushels, — 

 the accumulations, apparently, of a long period, but 

 very fresh in appearance, and well preserved. Among 

 the species most numerous were Unio cornutus, U. 

 metaneorus, U. securis, and U. pustulosus. Many 

 other species were found in less numbers, — U. rec- 

 tus very rarely (though numerous in the river), and U. 

 monodontus never. These heaps we examined with 

 the utmost care, and obtained hundreds of fine speci- 

 mens. During those years the muskrats still inhab- 

 ited these places, and, except in winter, constantly 

 brought out quantities of fresh shells, which we con- 

 scientiously appropriated. It was also very common 

 to find heaps of fresh shells on or beside a stump, 

 log, or rock, a few feet, or sometimes rods, from the 

 water. We not infrequently found shells which had 

 been gathered since the preceding day, as shown by 

 shreds of the soft parts adhering to the shell being 

 undried. 



An open question with us, often asked but never 

 answered, was, ' How do the rats open the mussels ? ' 

 The first attempt at an explanation, which I remem- 

 ber to have seen, was in the remarks of Mr. W. S. 

 Lee at a meeting of the Trenton natural-history 

 society {Science, vol. iv. no. 94, p. v.). 



Of course, we cannot gainsay what Mr. Lee has 

 seen, that the animal ' apparently ' held the mollusk's 

 foot with his claws, preventing the closure of the 

 shell. It would perhaps require a pretty strong grip 

 to counteract the force of the powerful adductor 

 muscles of the mollusk, with the pressure of the rat's 

 paws at the same time tending to press the shell 

 together. Again: one cannot help wondering how 

 "the muskrat swam ashore, holding the mussel be- 

 tween the fore-paws," while the weight of the mussel 

 would tend to pull the animal's head down, and, 

 without the use of the fore-paws, how he could 

 swim. We also wonder how, without relaxing his 

 grip, he carried his burden, as was usually the case, 

 to some distance from the water. 



In Science, vol. v. p. 65, Mr. W. M. Beauchamp 

 gives some curious explanations. He does not state 

 where he saw " the statement that the carnivorous 

 habits of the muskrat have but just been discovered 

 by scientific men." Of course, everybody who knows 

 the muskrat at all has always known that it is not 

 worth while to bring proof of a fact so universally 

 known. 



"The four principal ways in which the muskrats 

 get at the animal in the mussel-shell " may deserve a 

 moment's attention. 1°. In our experience, the Ano- 

 dons among the muskrat-heaps were very rare : they 

 evidently preferred Unios; and in no instance were 

 the Anodons in the shell-heaps found in a condition 

 indicating that one valve had been torn off to open 

 it. It was not uncommon to find, just along the 

 water's edge, the tracks of the raccoon; and along 

 these tracks were often to be found the Anodons, with 

 one shell torn off or crushed. The coon seemed to 

 prefer the Anodon, probably having no means of 

 opening the Unio. 2°. The Unios were never ob- 

 served with ' the thinner end of the shell,' or either 

 end or edge, broken away. 3°. While he ' has heard ' 

 that the rats sometimes gnaw away the hinge-liga- 



