218 
to separate them from the hardened mucilage. The 
spider seemed to be looking at the ants, but probably 
did not comprehend what was going on; for it soon 
went to work and made a cocoon, which it carried in 
its mandibles. Several times I tried to take it away, 
but could not get it without injuring the spider. At 
last, after it had carried it over three weeks, I saw 
the cocoon lying on the ground, and supposed it had 
been abandoned. On pulling it to pieces, I found it 
composed of a cocoon and chrysalis shell of some 
moth, together with bits of stick, and parts of the 
dried flowers of the common everlasting (Gnapha- 
lium polycephalum). While I was examining the 
cocoon, the spider came back to where it had left the 
cocoon, and appeared to be looking for it. I now 
put the fragments (which were partly held together 
by the web wound around them) near the spider, 
which immediately seized them with a quick, almost. 
frantic eagerness. 
The next morning it had again made quite a re- 
spectable-looking cocoon, —an irregular sort of ball, 
which it persevered in carrying some two months, 
and I do not know how much longer; as toward the 
latter part of October it succeeded in making its 
escape, and carried its precious charge away. 
During all this time it took no food. I captured a 
number of different insects, and put them in the cage, 
to all of which it paid no attention. Grasshoppers 
recognized the spider as a foe, and at first seemed 
paralyzed with fear, but gradually overcame their 
fright, and became lively in its company. 
Mary TREAT. 
ARNOLD GUYOT. 
Proressor Guyot, whose death occurred at 
Princeton on the 8th of February, at the age 
of seventy-seven, is everywhere honored for 
what he was, as well as for what he did. There 
is hardly an epithet appropriate to a good 
scholar, which may not be applied to him, — 
true, wise, helpful, considerate, devout ; accu- 
rate, learned, skilful in research, apt to teach, 
inspiring. His life was devoted to the princi- 
ple laid down by Smithson for the great insti- 
tution in Washington, — ‘‘the advancement 
and diffusion of knowledge among men.’’ He 
was equally ready to engage in a long and tedi- 
ous investigation, —such as the measurement 
of a group of mountain peaks, the tracing of 
lines of bowlders to their sources, the prepara- 
tion of elaborate tables for the use of meteor- 
ologists, and the like, —or to make known in 
a popular lecture, or before a teachers’ insti- 
tute, or in the conversation of a parlor, or in 
a series of school-books, the results of his 
study. He never seemed to be thinking of 
himself, but always of his subject and his 
hearers. He cared very little for fame, very 
much for the study of nature and the educa- 
tion of man. 
Like Beck, Follen, Lieber, Agassiz, and 
several who are still alive, he came to America 
after his academic training had been completed 
in foreign schools, and devoted himself to the 
SCIENCE, 
ere Se 
x "Wye 
[Vou. IIl., MOrtame | 
service of his adopted land with an enthusiasm 
rarely equalled and never surpassed by the na- 
tive citizen. He avoided the snare of routine 
which entraps so many of the college professors 
of this country ; but, by always proposing to 
himself new lines of inquiry and new subjects 
of investigation, he kept his mind perpetually 
fresh, so that, until the infirmities of old age 
attacked him, he was younger than many of 
his juniors. He required no ‘ endowment’ in 
order to lead him to investigation, no instruc- 
tions, no commission, no salary: all he wanted 
was freedom. So, when vacation released him 
from his professor’s chair, lie took to the field, 
and, with such comrades as were ready to join 
him, pursued his geographical researches. 
His most original out-of-door work was per- 
formed in his own land before he came to this 
country, where, by a study which lasted for 
several summers, he succeeded in tracing to 
their primeval origin some thousands of erratic 
rocks strewn through the valleys of Switzer- 
land. He thus rendered essential help in eluci- 
dating the problem of glacial action which his. 
colleagues, Agassiz and Desor, were engaged 
in solving. Almost as remarkable was the 
study which he began, soon after coming to 
this country, of the great range of Appalachian 
mountains which borders the Atlantic sea- 
board, from Maine to Georgia. He deter- 
mined barometrically the height of the principal 
summits in the White Mountains, then made 
a prolonged series of similar measurements in 
the Black Mountains of the south, then pro- 
duced a memoir (accompanied by a map) of 
the entire chain, —a memoir which remains to 
this day the best existing description. More 
recently he turned his attention to the Cats- 
kills, and revealed the fact, that in this group 
of mountains, so near to the summer-resorts of 
wealth and intelligence, the highest peaks were 
not recorded upon the maps, and inferior peaks 
were regarded by the scientific visitor and the 
resident forester alike, as the actual summits. 
He knew that the problems of nature were 
always at hand; that careful observation and 
reflection would reveal some truths of interest 
and importance, whether the observer were 
placed in a new country or an old. He was 
one of those rare men who can ask a hard 
question, and proceed to answer it. 
When he came to this country, in 1849, 
meteorology was hardly worthy to be called a 
science. He foresaw what light could be 
thrown on the law of storms and on the varia- — 
tions of climate by accurate observations ex- 
tended over vast areas. But he saw, also, the 
need of good barometrical and thermometrical — 
