264 
Zrown up, are exactly similar in these respects to some of 
the lower animals, Some of the infusorians, for example, 
that is animals produced by placing some animal or vege 
table substance in water and allowing it to stand for a day or 
two, very closely resemble some of the plants in the class 
Alge. The yeast plant is exactly like some of the forms of 
Bacteria in having a simple globular shape. Then there are 
many animals so planttike in appearance as to be always 
popularly regarded as vegetables. This is the case with 
many of the hydrods which are often gathered and pressed as 
sem mosses by seaside visitors, 
As regards the power of locomotion, the microscope has 
shown that itis by no means confined to the animal king- 
dom, Before the invention of this instrument no instances 
of voluntary movements were known in plants except the 
well-known facts that flowers open to the sun and close at 
the approach of night, that the leaves of sensitive plants 
droop when irritated, and a few other phenomena of like 
nature; but now we know of many plants which have the 
power, cither when young or throughout life, of making 
- movements apparently as yoluntary and independent as 
those exhibited by the lower animals, In most cases these 
movements are brought about by means of little vibrating 
hairs, called cilia, with which the whole or a part of the 
surface of the body is furnished, The protococcus, a plant 
which may commonly be found in the mud that collects in 
roof-gutters, in one stage of its existence possesses this kind 
of motile power. On the other hand there are many animals 
which do not have the power of locomotion, but spend their 
lives fixed to some solid object. This is the case with the 
corals and sea anemones, the latter often being spoken of as 
“‘sea flowers,”’ Thus it ig seen that no absolute distinction 
can be drawn between animals and plants on the ground of 
the presence or absence of independent locomotive power. 
The presence of a nervous system cannot be made a basis 
of division, for very many of the lower animals are entirely 
devoid of nerve tissue. And we have no reason for believ- 
Ing that these creatures, being unproyided with a central 
nervous system, are possessed with any of the five senses, 
seeing, hearing, etc, It does seem, indeed, that they have a 
sense of Louch, for they seem to be conscious of contact with 
other bodies, and the fact that they are able to distinguish 
between substances which are fit for food and those which 
are not, might argue the presence of something like a sense 
of taste. But at all events, to the best of our knowledge 
they do not possess sense organs of a nature at all similar to 
those of the higher animals, and whatever reasons we have 
for believing them capable of touch or taste apply to some 
plants equally as well. 
Neither does the possession of a body cayity form a divid- 
ing line between the two kingdoms, for many of the lower 
animals haye no internal cavity and take in their food by sur- 
face organs just as plants do. 
Thus we see that none of those differences so readily ob- 
seryed between the higher planis and animals serye as a 
means of separating the lower forms, 
There are some other tests of a more delicate character 
than the above, but quite as interesting. If we examine 
plants and animals as fo their chemical composition, we shall 
find that there are some decided though not universal ditfer- 
ences. Asa general rule, plants exhibit a decided predomin- 
ance of what are known to chemists as ‘‘ternary compounds,” 
that is, compounds composed of three elements, carbon, 
hydrogen and oxygen, In animals, on the other hand, the 
fourth element, nitrogen, is present. Still, in both kingdoms 
both nitrogenous and non-nitrofenous compounds are found, 
and it is only in the proportion that these bear to one another 
that animals differ from plants, The most characteristic of 
all compounds in plants is the one known as cellulose, a sub- 
stance very similar fo starch. In general, the presence of an 
external covering of cellulose in any organism raises a strong 
presumption as to its vegetable nature, Still cellulose is not 
confined to plants. The outer covering of the so-called sea- 
squirts (Tunicaia) contains a large quantity of cellulose, and 
it has lately been found to be present in other lower forms. 
Another highly characteristic vegetable product is chloro- 
phyll, the green-coloring matter of plants. This was fora 
lone time thought to be a certain test, but like the others 
there are a few cases in which it does not apply. On the 
one hand the Aydrw viridis, an undoubted animal, contains 
chlorophyll, and on the other hand the yeast plant is deyoid 
of it. 
The test which, upon the whole, is the best means of de- 
termining whether a living organism is a plant or an animal 
is the nature of their food, and the products which are 
formed out of the food within the body. Plants subsist 
entirely upon dead or inorganic substances, such as water, 
carbonic acid and ammonia; and they have the power of 
making out of these true organic substances, such as starch, 
cellulose, sugar, etc. Plants, therefore, take as food yery 
simple bodies and manufacture them into much more com- 
plex substances. In the process of digestion they break up 
carbonic acid into the two elements of which it is composed, 
carbon and oxygen, keepiug the carbon and setting free the 
oxygen. Animals, on the other hand, have no power of 
living on dead or inorganic substances; they have no power 
of converting them into the complex organic substances of 
which their bodies are composed. On the contrary, they 
require to be supplied with ready-made organic compounds 
if their life is to be sustained. These they get in the first 
place from plants, and therefore animals are dependent upon 
plants for food, either directly or indirectly. Animals, there- 
fore, differ from plants in requiring as food complex organic 
bodies which, in digestion, they reduce to very much simpler 
inorganic bodies, While plants, theu, are the great manu- 
facturers in nature, animals are the great consumers. 
Another distinction arising from the nature of their food is, 
that while plants decompose carbonic acid, keeping the car- 
bon and setting free the oxygen, animals absorb oxygen and 
give out carbonic acid, so that their reaction upon the 
atmosphere is the reverse of that of plants. 
it was long thought that these distinctions with reference 
to the nature of their food were sufficient to separate the two 
kingdoms; but it is now known that these rules, like all the 
others, have some exceptions, There are some fungi which, 
in the matter of food, are animals; that is to say, they cannot 
live upon inorganic materials alone, but require ready-made 
organic products for their support. Again, recent discoy- 
erics have rendered it not unlikely that some of the lower 
animals have the power of acting as plants and of manufac- 
turing organic compounds out of inorganic materials. 
The present status of the question may be defined as fol- 
lows; No perfect rule is known by which animals can be 
separated from plants, and all recent discoveries point to the 
conclusion that there is no dividing line between the two 
kingdoms, but. that they merge into each other, 5. 
Jounxs Hopes Usrversrry, Oct. 16, 1884, 
‘high and weighed 150 pounds. 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
THE PANTHER. 
BY CHANDLEY L, PHELPS. 
EARLY all of the panthers haye been driyen out of 
New York, but af one time they were quite plenty. 
The largest one lever saw was 44 feet long, about 24 feet 
2 l The panther shows all the 
peculiarities of the cat family. A small dog will drive it up 
atree and will follow it just as readily as a common cat, 
while dogs hesitate to follow a bear, which is not as power- 
ful an animal, The panther springs on other animals and 
birds, and will even eat the porcupine, quills and all. J have 
found the quills in the stomach of several. It lies in wait 
and springs upon its prey, but will not follow it, I have 
seen the place where a panther made a jump of thirty feet in 
the snow for a deer and jumped over it, The tracks showed 
that the panther made no attempt to follow, but went one 
way and the deer the other. 
Ihave never known of a panther attacking a man; the 
only instance [ have heard of in which they showed fight 
was when Sam Dunnigan, Rube Howard and Hd. Arnold 
werc hunting deer for the market. They had a trail in the 
snow, and when they got a lot of deer, they would tie them 
to a rope and hitch a horse to one end and draw them out. 
One afternoon they killed two panther cubs and drew them 
out with the deer. The next morning Sam Dunnigan was 
going along the trail with his snow shoes on the end of his 
gun when, as he turned to go around the roots of a tree that 
had been overturned and stood in the way, he saw the mother 
of the cubs crouched, as he supposed ready to spring on 
him; he brought his gun over his shoulder and shot her 
through the head, Whether she would have attacked him 
or was only following the scent of the cubs I don’t know, I 
do not believe that the panther has any cry, and Jack Shep- 
pard, Sam Dunnigan, Hd. Arnold and all the other panther 
hunters that I have consulted, areof the same opinion. What 
is supposed to be a panther is undoubtedly a species of owl. 
The first time I ever shot a panther I was quite a young 
man. Luther Wright and I were going to Gull Lake, Her- 
kimer county, after deer, and after we had passed Bear 
Creek we came across the track of a panther, As we had 
never hunted this animal, we went back and got provisions 
to last us a week, After following the trail two hours we 
found where it had stopped. <A little while after this, 
Wright and a man who kept the sawmill at Bear Creek, who 
were ahead, asked me if I could see anything of the trail. I 
was standing at one end of a fallen tree and they were near 
the roots. J saw there was no trail ahead, and made up my 
mind that the panther was under the roots of the tree, 
Just then two dogs that Wright was leading broke away 
and dived under the tree, and the panther pushed his way up 
through the snow not more than six feet from me, J had 
the lock of my gun tied up in a handkerchief, and before 1 
could untie it 1 made for him, and with me adog. He 
showed his teeth and gave two or three jumps, the last one 
nearly twenty-five feet, and landed in aspruce tree about 
eight feet from the ground. He went up the tree ten feet ata 
jump until he got to the very top; then he swung himself 
around on @ limb that bent down under his weight, and 
faced us with a growl. I fired, but just grazed the top of his 
head, I shot again and struck his throat, and down he 
came. As soon 4s he struck the ground the dogs took hold 
of him, but although they worked some time, they never 
made a mark on his hide. The skin of a panther is as 
tough as sole leather, 
When we were running the flow line for the Woodhull reser- 
voirin Herkimer county, we came across a deer that had just 
been killed by a panther, | think we drove him away as we 
came up. We set the dogs on the track and after a while 
got to the high ground on the east side of the lake. The 
panther went down the face of the rocks but the dogs soon 
caught up and drove him into a tree. I shot him im the 
throat and it seemed to make him crazy, he jumped from 
one side of the tree to the other, and the roots being near 
the surface, the ground would heave for two rods each side 
of the tree; after a while he made a false step and down he 
came. Although most all of the blood was out of him he 
was too much for the dogs and stuck his claw into the side 
of a big dog and tore the hide away from his body. The 
space became filled with air and he was the worst looking 
dog 1 ever saw. 
if haye eaten the meat of a panther—it is as white as 
chicken and very good. 
THE ADIRONDACES, 
Moosn 1n tHe ADIRONDACKS,—In an interesting article 
entitled ‘The Moose,” which appeared in the last issue of 
Forest AnD Stream (page 245), Mr. Charles L. Phelps says: 
“The last moose ever seen or heard of in John Brown’s Tract: 
T led out of the woods.” He then goes on to state that the 
event took place in February, 1855. Now, one Ed, Arnold, 
a well-known Brown’s Tract guide, says that he killed a 
moose at Nick’s Lake in July, 1856, and in the following 
spring a man named Baker killed another in the same 
vicinity, Subsequent to this the Hon. Horatio Seymour, 
ex-Governor of New York State, killed a huge bull moose 
in the forest north of Joc’s Lake. Its head and horns may 
now be seen at his farm in Deerfield, New York. Alva 
Dunning says that he shot several moose near West Canada 
Creek about the year 1860, The last moose killed in the 
Adirondacks, concerning which I have been able to secure 
positive data, was shot on the east inlet of Raquette Lake 
in August, 1861, by Palmer, of Long Lake. (For additional 
details see my ‘‘Mammals of the Adirondacks,” pp. 188-143.) 
Mr. Phelps further states that the moose of this wilderness 
“were not killed off, but went away to Canada and Maine.” 
Proof of this assertion would doubtless interest many of 
your readers.—C, Hart Merriam (Locust Grove, N. Y., 
Oct, 28). 
Arizona QuAIL IN CoNFINEMENT.—Toledo, Ohio, Oct, 
23.—Hditor Forest and Stream; On the evening of the 21st 
I received from ‘‘Adios,” at Tucson, Arizona, a basket con- 
taining two pairs of the beautiful Arizona quail (Lephoriya 
gombelt). Although some five days on the way, all four 
seemed briglit and well on their arrival, and are rapidly be- 
coming acquainted with a new out-door coop, 12x84 feet, in 
which they were placed yesterday. My chief concern is in 
getting them through the winter, and if any one has had 
experience with them in this latitude, I hope he will give us 
the benefit of his experience through Forest AND STREAM. 
The birds are in fine plumage. Any suggestions on winter- 
ing thankfully received.—J. B. B. 
SS 
——_———— 
Deer hunters should read Judge J. D. Caton’s ‘Antelope and Deer | 
| of America,” 
For sale at this office, Price $2:50.—Adv. 
fOor, 30, 4884, 
Game Bag and Guy. 
ROD AND GUN IN WEST TEXAS—II. 
A TRUMPET blast would hardly have created more ex- 
‘& citement than did the “honk, honk” of three wild 
geese, flying Jow and wearily right in the midst of ns. The 
two or three early risers who were saddling horses inyolun- 
tarily threw up imaginary guns, and taking quick, imagin- 
ary aim, contented themselves with imaginary geese, I don’t 
know how it is, or why it is, but when one sees the best 
shots and opportunities for fine game, one never has a gun; 
perhaps it is nature protecting her own, I love to sit and 
watch the graceful ‘flying of a wild goose, or a flock of wild 
geese, and to wonder where it came from, how it came and 
what it saw in coming. 
The geese are with us the harbingers of winter, and noth- 
ing in the way of “‘signs” tells the Texas sportsman that 
winter is coming more surcly than the wild goose. ‘True to 
its forerunner, the first norther came up yesterday and biew 
cold. The coolness makes the hunting jine, and has a good 
deal to do with making the game plenty. Thousands of 
dueks come after each norther, and if it gets warm, the 
next day fly away somewhere to return again with the 
wind from the north. Our ducks are, so far, nearly 
all teal, the mallards not having come as yet, although 
I fancied that I have seen a few mallards, and I have 
seen a few of a speciinen that unfortunately I am 
unacquainted with, nor haye I ever seen it here before, 
It was of the shape of a teal, with perhaps a little 
difference in length of body; its coloration differed essen- 
tially from that of any duck Lhave heretofore observed. 
Head and neck black, breast a dark pray mixed with clear 
white, and principal difference of all, a mixture of clear 
white and black feathers in the wings. It was some well- 
known species, no doubt, but it was poser for me, and I 
tried to get a specimen. I tried for an hour and a half, but 
all my strategy was of no avail. Perhaps it is just as well, 
for I have had several experiences of this kind. One time 
out in California, was having some fine duck shooting along 
the Pacific, when I saw a duck that was a total stranger fio 
me, and watching it for some time I saw a number of the 
same kind. I went into camp that night and announced 
that I had seen a new variety. I succeeded in stirring up a 
proper amount of enthusiasm among the other fellows, and 
the next day, after two or three hours’ work, I pointed out 
my new variety only to be hooted at, for it was one of the 
most common of the native ducks, I lost my standing in 
that unforgiving crowd from that day on. 
The ducks come and go, and where they gol have often 
wondered, One day the creek will be literally alive with 
them, and the next there will not be a duck in the whole 
country. They no doubt go out on the prairie in water 
holes, yet at this season of the year there is no water in the 
holes, and where do they go? 
Snipe shooting at its best is fine sport, and_ when we do 
have any snipe shooting it is of the best. Snipe usually 
arrive here somewhat earlier than this and in quite large 
numbers, but this year, with the rest of the birds, they are a 
little late. We got a few, however, the other day, and. 
yesterday I noticed quite a number, These late arrivals of — 
the birds are no doubt the forerunners of a mild, pleasant 
winter, Jt is to be hoped that this is so, for the Texas 
winter is wholly unlike the northern winters and equally as 
unpleasant as the northern winter is pleasant. We do not 
provide ourselves with a winter wardrobe and start in in 
October or November for a Jong, bracing, cold winter that 
fills a man with bottled-up life to stand the strain of a sum- 
mer; far fromit, we provide ourselves with clothes enough 
to withstand the Alaska winter, but we do not have the priyi- 
lege of enjoying them. It may be cold to-day with a wind 
blowing down from the north that no amount of clothes can 
kcep out; and to-morrow it may be as warm and pleasant as 
a June day in New York. Nothing short-of a thick walled 
house with a blazing fire on the hearth makes these northers 
at all pleasant, and then around the fire one forgets that the 
wind outside is a cold wind, and even if he does think of if, 
it is with the genial thought that ‘It’s an ill wind that blows 
nobody good.” 
The writer imagines that these northers making the water 
cool makes the fish bite with a renewed vigor. The finest 
fishing that I have ever hud, with the exception of some bass 
fishing I once found in Northern Michigan, has been on 
bright, sunshiny days after a norther, Perhaps it has been 
the peculiar buoyancy and beauty of the atmosphere and all 
the surroundings of nature that have made it more cnjoy- 
able, but it seemed to me that on no day does the fish take 
the fly or minnow with more vim than on those days, and at 
no time does he make # better fight for life. 
One day, two winters ago, I was fishing in a beautiful 
spot and was haying fine sport with a splendid rod, when 1 
had one of those rare opportunities of seeing a wild animal 
perfectly natural; a gratification that was only marred by 
the chagrin of a bad shot caused by that imbecile weakness, 
buck fever. I had heen fishing above a sudden horseshoe 
bend in the river, the further extremity of which was hid 
from yiew by the point of a cedar-topped mountain that 
came nearly down to the water’s edge and ended there in a 
huge pile of rough rocks. 
T had sat down on the grass, and leaning against one of the 
rocks, was repairing the snell on my hook when my atten- 
tion was attracted by a slight noise down the stream as 
though something was splashing in the water, My first 
thought was that it was a crow, but on reflection 1 knew 
that I had not seen a crow all day, consequently it must be 
something else, With the utmost caution I crawled down 
to the water's edge and peering through between two rocks 
I saw the finest buck I have ever seeu—the game we don’t 
get is always the finest, you know. He was drinking end 
pawing in the water, totally obliyious of my dangerous pr: -- 
imity; and as after events proved he was safe enough ey) 
had he known I was there. I managed to return for h., 
carbine, and crawling back I tried to take aim—deadly aids 
and slay that decr in his innocence, Would you believe 11, L 
missed the buck? The day’s sport was spviled, and eather- 
ing together my traps I went home, and every step of the six 
miles that I walked I saw that noble deer in all his grandeur 
of surroundings, with his proud, stiff neck and splendid, 
graceful body, gracing the table at home. What a feather ib 
would haye been in my cap. I would like to read a good 
article on this buck fever from some knowing pen. It's a 
delight to read scientific sporting articles from scientifie 
sporting men. Disciples of the gentle Izaak cannot give toa 
ereat thanks to men who have written such interesting hooks” 
on various fishes—the black bags in particular. — 
Thinking of my miserable failure to kill the deer calls to 
