90 



SCIENCE 



[Vol. VI., No. 130. 



and turned, holding it firmly in his mouth. I 

 saw he was being closely chased b}^ a water- 

 snake who tried to swallow the frog, but the 

 stick in the frog's mouth caught in the jaws of 

 the snake. Several times the snake withdrew, 

 and tried to attack the frog from the rear ; but 

 he would jump around, and immediately face 

 the snake again. This happened several times ; 

 and at last the snake got tired, and slipped off 

 in the bushes, leaving the frog victorious." 



"Pretty good," said Wa-ja-pa. "I'll tell 

 you something. Once late in the fall. Badger 

 and I went hunting along the Loup River. We 

 were afoot. We started up several elk, ran 

 them down, and killed one. While I was 

 butchering. Badger returned to camp for a 

 pony to bring in the meat. After I had 

 skinned the animal, and piled the cuts of meat 

 on the skin, I lay down near by in the tall 

 grass, and fell asleep. I was awakened by the 

 sound of footsteps. Rising cautiously, I saw a 

 large gray wolf standing near the meat. When 

 he espied me, he began to growl, showed his 

 teeth, and all the hair on his back stood up. 

 Taking my gun, I levelled it at him, and shot. 

 He was a fine fellow, and, as he fell, I deter- 

 mined to have his skin at once. It was the work 

 of a few moments to flay him. As I threw his 

 skin to one side, the legs of the wolf began to 

 twitch, and the blood to trickle. In a moment 

 the wolf was on his feet, and walking off with- 

 out his skin. 



"I never have believed in dreams, or the won- 

 derful animals they tell about ; but, when I saw 

 that wolf walking away, I felt uncomfortable, 

 but I made up my mind to shoot again. I did 

 so, and he fell, and walked no more." 



" When I got there with the pony," put in 

 Badger, " I saw the place where the wolf was 

 skinned, and tracked his steps b}" his blood to 

 where he \ixy dead from the second shot." 



" I remember hearing," said the 3'oung man, 

 " Ou-zu-ga-hae and his brother tell that once, 

 when they were flaying a buffalo-bull the}^ had 

 just shot." Then, turning to me, he said, 

 " You remember, we first cut the skin of a bull 

 down the centre of the back, and take off one- 

 half at a time. AVell, when the men had one- 

 half the hide off, up got the buffalo-bull, shaking 

 his head and staggering forward. The fright- 

 ened brothers ran away as fast as their legs 

 could carr}^ them. The bull went but a little 

 distance, fell, and died. It was some time, 

 however, before the brothers could make up 

 their mind to go back and skin the other side 

 of that animal." 



Old Me-pe gave a twitch at my wrap, and 

 said, — 



" Can't you tell a story? " 



" Yes," I replied, " I will tell you about a 

 black hen I once had. A friend sent me a pres- 

 ent of a pair of guinea-fowl. By and b}" the 

 guinea-hen began to lay ; and, as I wanted to be 

 sure to raise some fowl, I put ten of her eggs 

 under a little black hen. She sat patiently for 

 three weeks (the time it takes chickens to hatch) , 

 but she had to \yait another week for the guinea- 

 chicks. When they came out, — little sleek 

 brown things with yellow legs, — the hen was 

 very happy. But she was soon a troubled hen ; 

 for, when she clucked and bustled and scratched 

 for them, they all darted away and hid. In 

 her astonishment, as she stood silently looking 

 for them, the}^ would graduall3^ creep back. 

 Then she would cluck and scratch again, desir- 

 ing to give them something good to eat ; but 

 away would dart the chicks, leaving the hen 

 alone. After several such experiences, the 

 hen evidently thought it was the clucking that 

 scared them : so, as she walked along with her 

 brood, she would scratch, but make no sound. 

 Still, every time she scratched, the chicks shot 

 off and hid. Then she thought a second time, 

 and determined to cluck and call them, but 

 not to scratch. This suited the little guineas, 

 and ever after that the black hen and her ten 

 guineas walked among my flowers and vegeta- 

 ble-garden, doing no damage." 



" I have heard white men say hens have no 

 sense," said Wa-ja-pa ; "but your hen knew 

 something. Of all the animals, I like the 

 beaver best. He is most like a man. He 

 plans and works and builds." 



" You wanted to see an artichoke : there is 

 one," said the young man, tossing the little 

 brown root into my lap. " Yesterday evening 

 I found a field-mouse's nest, and he had stored 

 many artichokes. I went back to-day to get 

 you some ; but the mouse had been busy all 

 night, transferring his stores to a secret place. 

 Although I tracked him, it was too bad to rob 

 the little fellow : so I only took one for 3^ou." 

 I dropped the root into mj- purse, where it lies 

 to the present day. A. C. Fletcher. 



THE MEXICAN AXOLOTL, AND ITS SUS- 

 CEPTIBILITY TO TRANSFORMATIONS.^ 



The prolonged researches of Miss Marie von 

 Chauvin on the biological relations of the amphibians 

 have led to most interesting results concerning the 

 transformability of the Mexican axolotl. The obser- 

 vations published by this lady ten years ago proved 

 that under certain conditions, and by certain treat- 



1 From the Journal of science, June, 1885. 



