May 19, 1905.] 



SCIENCE. 



791 



to those of a skate (Raia), ahiiost immovable, 

 in many transverse rows, and with acute back- 

 ward-directed points and bulging heel-like 

 bases. It has a straining apparatus, some- 

 what like that of the basking shark (Cetorhi- 

 nus maximus) and its food is analogous to 

 that of its northern relative. It consists of the 

 minute copepod and other crustaceans as well 

 as mollusks which live about the surface of 

 the ocean. These flourish in such abundance 

 as to compensate by their number for their 

 small size. In fact, like those other giants of 

 the sea, some of the whale-bone whales, it 

 finds enough for growth and the enjoyment 

 of life among the smallest of animals. 



Nothing is known of its reproductive habits 

 but it has been assumed that, like its nearest 

 relatives, it is ovoviviparous. 



According to E. Perceval Wright, ' it is 

 quite a harmless fish, with a mouth of im- 

 mense width, furnished with small teeth,' 

 really very minute. " It now and then rubs 

 itself against a large pirogue, as a conse- 

 quence upsetting it, but under these circum- 

 stances, it never attacks or molests the men, 

 and while it reigns as a monster among the 

 sharks, is not, despite its size, as formidable 

 as the common dog-fish " — save in the line of 

 upsetting ! 



Dr. Buist, as early as 1850, referred to it 

 as the ' mhor or great basking shark ' and 

 stated that it was frequently captured at Kur- 

 rachee (not far from the mouth of the Indus). 

 " It is found floating or asleep near the sur- 

 face of the water; it is then struck with a 

 harpoon." The stricken fish is " allowed to 

 run till tired; it is then pulled in, and beaten 

 with clubs till stunned. A large hook is now 

 hooked into its eyes or nostrils, or wherever 

 it can be got most easily attached, and by this 

 the shark is towed on shore; several boats are 

 requisite for towing. The mhor is often 

 forty, sometimes sixty, feet in length; the 

 mouth is occasionally four feet wide." 



The later literature respecting the species 

 has been already summarized in Science 

 (1902, N. S., XV., 824r-826). 



Theo. Gill. 



A FAUNAL SURVEY OF THE FOREST RESERVES IN 

 THE SANDHILL REGION OF NEBRASKA AND OF 

 THE LAKES IN THAT REGION. 



Nebraska is, from a faunal standpoint, one 

 of the most interesting states in the Union. 

 Owing to its geographical location, to a range 

 in altitude of from 810 to 5,300 feet, to varia- 

 tions in soil, climate and vegetation, the state 

 contains a fauna rich in species and in great 

 variety. Along the Missouri River, which 

 forms the eastern boundary of the state, and 

 following westward out the tributary streams 

 into the prairie region, is a growth of purely 

 deciduous timber representing species of trees 

 derived from the south and east and including 

 oaks, hickories, walnut, butternut, honey lo- 

 cust, Kentucky coffee-tree, wild cherry, etc.; 

 while spreading into the state from the north 

 and west and following down the Niobrara 

 River nearly to its mouth is a growth of pine, 

 together with quaking aspen, balsam poplar, 

 mountain maple and black birch. 



Midway across the state and at an average 

 altitude of 3,000 feet lies a region of extreme 

 interest, one of sandhills, varying in height 

 up to 250 feet, so thickly scattered as to make 

 a surface as rough as can well be imagined. 

 The region is sharply defined. Streams flow 

 out of it toward the east and south which have 

 carried away sand to deposit it as sandbars 

 lower down their courses, making in that way 

 valleys running back into the hills and up 

 which extend fringes of low trees and shrub- 

 bery, the advance guard of the tree growth 

 from the southeast. To the north and west of 

 this region are plains cut into by pine-clad 

 canyons. In the sandhill region proper, how- 

 ever, no native trees of any kind are found, 

 although there are here and there patches of 

 stunted bushes — sand cherry, plum, rose, 

 Ceanothus and June berry. Throughout this 

 area, which in extent equals one fifth the total 

 area of the state, or about 11,000 square miles, 

 forest conditions are quite absent and forest 

 animals absolutely lacking. 



In this region the government has recently 

 set aside two tracts of land as forest reserves. 

 One, known as the Dismal River Reserve, in 

 Thomas County, has an area of 86,000 acres, 

 the other, the Niobrara Reserve, in northern 



