November 6, 1885.] 



SCIENCE. 



All 



the black-tailed deer have suffered great restriction 

 in area of habitat, and have greatly decreased in 

 numbers. The mountain sheep and mountain 

 goat, deHghtmg- in the rocky fastnesses of alpine 

 summits, weU-nigh inaccessible to man, still bid 

 defiance to human foes, although the former has 

 been driven from much of its former range. At 

 the present rate of destruction, only a remnant 

 will soon remain of any of the ruminant tribe, even 

 in the comparatively unsettled west, though for- 

 merly they overspread the greater part of the 

 continent. 



The larger carnivorous mammals — as the bears, 

 the wolf, the coyote, the lynxes, and the panther, 

 formerly so abundant throughout the parts of the 

 country they respectively inliabited as to be at its 

 first settlement obnoxious, and a serious detriment 

 to the farmer and stock-raiser — are now practically 

 exterminated east of the Rocky Mountains, and 

 •thence westward are rare in comparison to their 

 former abundance. This is especially true of the 

 wolves, the coyotes, and the panthers ; the bears 

 and the lynxes stiU maintain a foothold in the 

 XDartially wilderness areas of the east. 



Tlie fur-bearing animals — as, notably, the beaver 

 (formerly a nearly universal occupant of the con- 

 tinent), the otter, the sable, and the mink — have 

 greatly decreased in numbers, all but the latter 

 having been long nearly extirpated throughout all 

 the more settled portions of the east. The sable, 

 a northern species, never ranged over a very large 

 part of the United States, but the others were 

 spread southward to the Gulf. The squirrels, at 

 times a scourge to the frontier farmer through 

 then abundance, linger still in small numbers ; 

 while the smaller vermin of the fields have doubt- 

 less suffered but shght decrease in numbers. 



The birds are variously affected, in accordance 

 with their food and haunts. The larger forest- 

 haunting species — as the birds of prey, the wood- 

 peckers, and some of the grouse — have followed the 

 forests in their downfall ; the turkey, the prairie- 

 hen, and the aquatic game birds — as the ducks, 

 geese, and a gTeat variety of shore birds — have in 

 places been extirpated, and, in general, are few in 

 comparison to their numbers a century ago. The 

 song-birds have doubtless held their own, and in 

 not a few instances have certainly increased ; the 

 agricultural development of the country being, on 

 the whole, favorable to their welfare, although 

 they suffer at the hands of nest-robbing boys, and 

 children of larger growth anxious to kill something, 

 however slender the pretext. The graceful terns, 

 or 'sea-swallows,' and the herons, especially the 

 beautifully-plumed egrets, have fallen a prey to 

 fashion and the ' hat trade ' to such an extent, that 

 where, fifty years ago, the terns fairly swarmed 



along our Atlantic coast, they are now mainly 

 conspicuous by their absence. 



Batrachian and reptilian life has also greatly 

 diminished ; the former through the draining of 

 ponds and marshes in the reclamation of waste 

 lands, the latter through the almost universal 

 inborn hatred of snakes. 



The depletion of our inland streams and lakes 

 and the larger rivers, of fish, is simply notorious, 

 extending even to the marine species that enter the 

 rivers merely to spawn. Nor has marine hf e fared 

 better, as witness the decline of the lobster fisheries, 

 the actual and very early extirpation of the oyster 

 along our northern coasts, and the exhaustion of 

 once famous clam-flats. 



Much of this destruction of animal Ufe was 

 simply inevitable, since wild large game cannot 

 exist in a densely-populated district. But extirpa- 

 tion has been in many cases needlessly hastened, 

 as witness the preservation of deer by legislative 

 enactments, in regions where they would otherwise 

 have long since ceased to exist. The course of the 

 pioneer has ever been marked by slaughter of ani- 

 mal life, too often recklessly, even for the mere 

 sport of kiUing, and not merely from necessity or 

 with utilitarian intent. Hundreds of thousands, 

 probably millions, of bisons have been killed 

 merely for their hides, and at seasons when they 

 were nearly worthless, and their carcasses left to 

 rot where they fell, and many thousands more 

 merely for the sport of slaughter ; while the 

 different species of the deer tribe have suffered 

 similarly, in less degree, consequent only upon 

 their smaller numbers and greater difficulty of 

 capture. 



ADMIRAL BARON FERDINAND VON 

 WRANGELL. 



Ferdinand von Wrangell was born near 

 Werro in Liefland, December 29, 1794. His early 

 years were passed on his ancestral estate, where 

 his education in manly sports and the schooling 

 of his time was carried on by a family tutor. At 

 the age of ten he lost his parents, who died witliui 

 a few months of one another. He entered not 

 long afterward the school of naval cadets at St. 

 Petersburg, with his cousin Wilhelm, and was 

 gi-aduated in 1815 with the highest honoi-s. He 

 was appointed to the post of Reval, where he was 

 associated with his cousin and von Anjou, an 

 intimate friend, later his companion ia Siberian 

 travel. Heariag that a Russian vessel was to sail 

 for a voyage around the world in command of 

 Captain Golofnin in 1815, he secured an appomt- 

 ment and formed one of the party on the naval 

 slooj) Kamchatka, which included the young and 



