JAN. 24. 1*89,] 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



where the trees and imderbnwh are s«ideiiHo that passage 

 through is difficult. 



It was further up this stream, up near the care in the 

 ledge, that I shot a mint one day, and at the entrance to 

 the ravine we i?aw live minks come through the arch 

 where the brook runs under the road. 



One after another different incidents, some of them 

 almost forgotten, came to mind. Faces of old friends 

 came back again, Looking as they used to look. Kven 

 the sounds I used to love to listen to 1 seemed to 

 hear again, and I thought. "Can it be .true that .1 hear 

 again the music of that brook of my boyhood, and the 

 gurgling and splashing of its waters?" 



Bu t no. It was the restless element of Moosehead Lake, 

 beating on the adjacent shores, and I awoke from my 

 reverie to see my candle sputtering in its socket. Tt flick- 

 ered a moment and went out. The fire was out, too. and 

 I climbed the ladder and was lulled to sleep, not by the 

 rustle of Vermont maples, but by the wind which sang 

 in gentle cadence through the pines of Maine. 



"Manly men need the wilderness and the mountains." 

 So wrote Theodore Winthrop, and recalling the words, I 

 echo and approve the sentiment, for I know that in t lie 

 wilderness and among the mountains is that which is 

 worth seeking and worth finding. 



At last the morning came for our departure. We were 

 up early, and Bill served us our breakfast in his best style. 

 We loaded our dunnage into the boat and set out for 

 Kineo, after taking a last look at the pleasant camp, which 

 we abandoned reluctantly, with many happy recollec- 

 tions of the days we had spent there. We had time 

 enough, so that we did not need hurry, and we caught a 

 few trout on the way up. 



The morning was still gray when we started, but the 

 sun was soon gilding the landscape, and the rays falling 

 full on Kineo burnished the flinty surface of the cliff till 

 it shone like gold. The water was smooth, and the 

 mountains vague and misty, till the sun dispelled the 

 vapor. 



We landed at Dry Point and rested, and then resumed 

 our journey, but a breeze had sprung up, which would 

 prevent us from reaching Kineo in season to get the boat 

 to Greenville, so we pulled across to Moody's Island and 

 lay in the lee for the steamer. The island is small, and 

 is composed of great granite boulders, and is covered with 

 weather-beaten pines and underbrush. While we were 

 waiting I clambered over it, and Bill put his dunnage 

 ashore, so as to lighten the boat, for to board the steamer 

 we had to go out into the open lake. From my position, 

 on top of a big boulder, I saw her coming, and we pulled 

 out to meet her. We waved our hats, and she whistled 

 to show that our signal was seen, and changed her course 

 to pick us up. We were soon aboard of her, and Bill 

 handed up our traps, and after extending him a farewell 

 hand, we watched his little craft as it danced over the 

 waves back to the island. 



So ended our holiday, and as I write I look back on it 

 with pleasure, and know that the mountains and the 

 wilderness did me good. As Winthrop said, I needed 

 them, and I shall need them again next year; and next 

 year, God willing, I shall look on them again. 



W. A. B. 



A NATIONAL ZOOLOGICAL PARK. 



r pHE need for a National Zoological Park at Washing- 

 X. ton is a pressing one. Whether Congress shall see 

 fit to authorize the purchase of the land required for this 

 park or shall neglect to do so, the day is surely coming 

 when such a park will be established, The National 

 Museum now has a number of rare and interesting living 

 animals on exhibition, but these specimens cannot be 

 seen to advantage under present circumstances, and 

 what is more important, are so cramped and confined 

 that the percentage of loss by death is far greater than 

 it ought to he. The best of care will not keep animals 

 alive if they are wholly deprived of exercise, and exer- 

 cise these animals cannot get if they are cooped up in 

 little cages or narrow pens. Besides this, the miserable 

 sum now available for the care and feeding of this living 

 collection is already being exceeded, and the authorities 

 are forced to refuse the donations offered them by the 

 public. They are hard put to it to feed the animals they 

 now have on hand, and have been obliged to recently 

 decline a number of valuable specimens, among which 

 were a camel, an aoudad, a lioness, an ibex, an ostrich, 

 a black leopard, eighteen buffalo, two manatees, three 

 moose, a caribou and three prong-horned antelope. 



The list of living mammals which the National Museum 

 has on hand at present is quite long, and taken in con- 

 nection with the important contributions declined, shows 

 what a National Zoological Park might become if Con- 

 gress would provide funds for its maintenance. The list 

 includes among others: 



Two American bison (Bison arnerimnus), from Ne- 

 braska. 



Three elk (Cervm canadensis), from Wyoming Terri- 

 tory. 



Two Virginia deer (Oarimm mrginianus), from Florida 

 and Alabama- 

 One Columbian black-tailed deer (Carimvs eotoinibi- 

 amis), from Washington Territory. 



One Pocky Mountain sheep (Oris montava), from Mon- 

 tana. 



Four Angora goats (Capra hirevs angnriensis), parents 

 imported from A,ngora, Turkey, 



One jaguar (Felis onca), from Texas. 



One panther (Felis collector), from Montana, 



Five black bears (Ursus americanvs), from South Caro- 

 lina, Texas and West Virginia. 



One cinnamon bear ( Ursus americanus), from Montana. 



One grizzly bear (Ursus horrihilis), from Montana. 



Besides these there are wolves, foxes, various Mvstrlido' 

 and many other mammals, besides birds and reptiles in 

 considerable numbers. The collections attract great 

 attention in Washington, and there is no doubt of their 

 importance from an educational standpoint. 



No one seems to have anything to say against the pro- 

 ject, but like so many other worthy matters before Con- 

 gress, it is neglected because there is neither money nor 

 politics in it. 



More and more interest in this matter is felt as time 

 goes on, and a few days ago the New York Tribune had 

 the following editorial; 



It would be an excellent thins? if the two Houses of Congress 

 could pass, even at this short session when ceneral legislation 

 has ao hide chance, the bill introduced by Mr. Breckinridge, es- 

 tablishing a National Zoological Garden in Washington. Jf the 

 bill does not pass now. there must be at least a year's delay and 

 probably more in get! ing the project under way. and every delay 

 is a serious loss. With every year the rate of extinction of our 

 wild animals which this garden is expected to preserve, becomes 

 more rapid, and it is also to be considered that delay means the 

 loss of both instruction and pleasure to a great number of 

 visitors to the capital. 



There can be no doubt thai if Congress should once authorize, 

 this institution it would grow with surprising rapidity. Large 

 numbers of offers have been received from various parts of the 

 world, from consuls and others, of animals to be placed in the 

 garden, but these cannot be accepted until Congress makes sonic 

 provision for them. The nucleus of such a collection already 

 exists under the charge of the officers of the Smithsonian Insti- 

 tution. There is no politics in this scheme. It originates with 

 scientific, men who see that unless some steps are taken to pre- 

 serve classes of animals that are fast disappearing before the ad- 

 vance of civilization, there will soon be a most lamentable, not 

 tosav discreditable, gap in the history of the animal life of this 

 continent. There, is no job in if. The appropriation asked is too 

 small to give euongh margin for anything of that sort. All that 

 is required is $200,1 HKI, of which not more than seven-tenths pro- 

 bablv would be needed for the purchase of the most beautiful 

 site.'so it is said, for such a garden to be found in any capital of 

 the world. The expenses of maintenance need not lie great, es- 

 pecially as, judging from the experience of other collections, it 

 is believed that gifts would rcprosenl.75 per cent, of the acquisi- 

 tions. Every consul in a tropical country would take a patriotic 

 interest in securing specimens for such a collection at the Na- 

 tional capital, and the same rule would doubtless hold good re- 

 garding native specimens. 



Every civilized government regards the establishment and 

 support of such collections as part of its legitimate work, and the 

 United States should not be lef,. behind. It is the poorer people 

 who are chiefly benefited by t he information and the amusement 

 thus to be obtained, and it is in their interest that Congress 

 should pass the bill. The project was approved by a large 

 majority of the Senate at the last session in an amendment to (be 

 Sundry 'Civil bill, but failed in the closing hours through opposi- 

 tion in the House when that body was far from full. It ought to 

 lie possible now lo secure favorable action in that body. 



PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY MEETING, 



AT the 329th meeting of the Philosophical Society of 

 Washington, Jan. 19, Prof. W. O. Atwater, of Wes- 

 leyan University, compared American and European food 

 consumption from physiological and economic stand- 

 points. 



Prof. Atwater showed graphically, by means of dia- 

 grams, the relative values of American and European 

 dietaries, demonstrating the fact that the American ob- 

 tains nearly twice the amount of protein, or muscle-form- 

 ing compounds, and fat-producing materials as compared 

 with the European. This residt is brought about largely 

 by our enormous use of fat meat. As a consequence it 

 has been observed that the American workingman will 

 do about twice as much work in a given time as the 

 European. The excessive conversion of proteine into fat 

 by changing the rich grasses and grains of the western 

 plains into fat cattle and hogs is unnecessary for Ameri- 

 cans, who need the unchanged cereals and protein and 

 water of comparatively lean meat: but the exclusion of 

 American meats, and particularly the fat pork, from Ger- 

 many, deprives the Germans of an element of strength 

 which they greatly need, and unnecessarily limits a pro- 

 fitable industry of the West. This highly instructive and 

 able address met with a cordial reception, and was freely 

 discussed. 



Prof. Atwater is spending the winter in Washington, 

 to aid in the organization of the work of the agricultural 

 experiment stations. 



THE BATS.-II. 



BY R. W. SHUFELDT, M.D., C.M.Z.S. 



FORMERLY, and from the time of Linnteusdown, sys- 

 tematic zoologists classified the bats with the Primates, 

 or with men and the apes, but they are now generally re- 

 garded as greatly modified Insectivora. This latter view 

 has been arrived at by our more thorough knowledge of 

 their anatomy as au entirety, while previously then Pri- 

 mate affinities were jumped at simply because upon a 

 more superficial examination it was found that bats gen- 

 erally possessed four upper incisor teeth, and that the 

 mammae, two in number, were situate on the chest, as in 

 the female of the human kind. These characters were 

 also supported by some other structures which also 

 seemed to point to a primate affinity, but, as 1 say, recent 

 researches have^fully shown that the nearest existing 

 kin of the Chiroptera are the Insectivora. The position 

 of the mammae in the female is imperative, as bats nurse 

 then- young during flight, which they coidd not do were 

 the teats located lower down on the body. 



As we know, bats are all mammals, possessed of volant 

 powers by reason of their specially modified forelimbs 

 and other parts of their organization, which enter into 

 the problem of true flight. In the forearm but one long 

 bone is fully developed, a curved radius, while the idna 

 is invariably rudimentary. A small thumb is present, 

 with four greatly elongated fingers (see Fig. 18), winch 

 latter support the tegumentary membrane composing 

 the wing. An auxiliary flight-membrane also usually 

 exists between the hinder pan of limbs, and this may 

 include in its folds the tail. Supporting the posterior 

 regions of this latter expansion, on either side, we find in 

 the vast majority of species a cartilaginous process known 

 as the calear, which springs from the inner side of the 

 ankle-joint, and passes in the direction of the tail (Fig. 

 18, 0m% The hemispheres of the brain are non-convo- 

 luted, and do not project backward over the cerebellum. 

 According to Dobson, "the dental series consists of four 

 kinds of teeth, incisors, canines, premolars and molars; 

 and the dental formula never exceeds, i c L pm f, m if ; 

 total 38 teeth.*' 



On referring to my drawing, in Fig. 18, it will at once 

 be observed how greatly the skeleton of the forelimb 

 preponderates in size over that of the hinder extremity, 

 while the most superficial dissection of any bat is suffi- 

 cient to impress upon us the subservience of the thorax 

 and its contents to meet the requirements of an animal 

 given to aerial locomotion and a life on the wing; the 

 heart, and. lungs are found to be, comparatively speaking, 

 of great size, while the broad.and flat ribs are well adapted 

 for the attachment of the highly developed, muscles of 

 flight. A marked rotation outward is always to be noted 

 in the case of the posterior limb, on either side, owing to 

 the action of the wing-membrane, and this forces the 

 knee to a backward position, compelling it to assume 

 relations more nearly like those enjoyed by the elbow of 

 the arm with respect to surrounding structures. Bats 

 when resting usually catch on to something by means of 

 the claws of their feet, and thus hang head downward; 



sometimes, however, in hollow trees or other places, 1 

 have found many species rest on their nether parts, with 

 their wings drawn up on either side of them. Few spe- 

 cies accomplish anything that might be compared with 

 walking, most of them scrambling round in clumsy and 

 shuffling way when placed upon the ground. A species 

 of NifoUnovi'is. however, of which I give a description 

 in the Standard Natural History, and of which T collected 

 (|iiite a number in New Orleans several years ago, seemed 

 to be more particularly favored in this respect, for I found 

 it could scramble round on my study table with an agility 

 almost equal to some mice, which its long tail, unsheathed 

 in any interfemoral membrane, caused it not a little to 

 resemble in general appearance. 



To those interested in osteology, the skeletal structures 

 of the Chiroptera offer a great deal that is of extreme in- 

 terest, for all the way from such a skeleton as is possessed 

 by one of the great fruit bats of the East Indies down to 

 some such form as our own little hoary bat . this first part 

 of their anatomy is more than notable for the departures 

 it makes from anything we might choose as being typical 

 in the way of a Chiropterine skeleton. It will be observed 

 that in my figures illustrat ing this article I have been 

 careful to present some of the more interesting bones of 

 a bat's osseous framework; and I find among others in 

 my collection a very good set of skeletons, represented by 

 aii adult female and her two young of Aialapha nove- 

 borare usis. which T. prepared about five years ago when col- 

 lecting in Louisiana. From these we will be able to briefly 

 point out some of the most salient features of the skele- 

 ton. In the skull we are to note the broad and peculiar 

 median notch in the premaxillary region: the large 

 parietals; the comparatively capacious cranial cavity or 

 brain-box; the slender zygomatic arches; the very large 

 foramen magnum; the easily detachable tympanies; the 

 minute and splint-like malar bones, one beneath either 

 zygoma; and the well-developed mandible or lower jaw. 

 In the Phyllostontidte the zygomatic arches are absent, 

 while it is alone in Pterotus ieueopterus that a process on 

 either side from this arch meets the postorbital, and thus 

 completes the osseous periphery of the orbit. Other 

 species possess marked variations of interest in their 

 skulls, too numerous to mention in the present connec- 

 tion. 



The long bones of the limbs are conspicuous for their 

 curvatures, then slenderness , and the large size of their 

 interior or medullary canals. The neck vertebrae are 

 very large, while these bones gradually diminish in size 

 until we arrive at the tip of the tail. As a rule, they are 

 notorious for then lack of prominent processes, and for 

 the great caliber of the neural tube for the spinal mar- 

 row in the region of the neck. Bats as they approach 

 maturity possess marked rigidity of their backbone, 

 while at no time are these joints distingiushed by any 

 great amount of mobility of one upon another. Of the 

 ribs T have already spoken, and the sternum or breast- 

 bone is peculiar in being keeled, in order to afford greater 

 surface for the attachment of the powerful pectoral 

 muscles, so important in the matter of flight. Dobson 

 tells us that he has dissected species where the contiguous 

 margins of the ribs are actually anchylosed together, and 

 this fact must give still greater rigidity to the thoracic 

 walls. Collar-bones are always present, and the shoul- 

 der-blades conspicuous for their long, curved coranoid 

 processes, and I have intentionally taken the pains to 

 present figures of these parts, in order that such impor- 

 tant points may not by chance be overlooked. Figure IS 

 will give a very fair idea of the skeleton of the hand of 

 a bat, and a fairly good notion of the lower extremity, 

 which its size makes perhaps less clear in the illustration. 

 Marked weakness characterizes the bones composing the 

 pelvic girdle or pelvis, and chief among its interesting 

 f eatures is the fact that in male bats of most species the 

 pubic elements do not fairly meet in front, while in fe- 

 males they are widely separated. The eminent authority 

 last quoted, tells us that "in the family Rliinolophida' 

 alone do these bones form a symphysis." The foot of the 

 bat, as in all its kin, is an interesting little structure, 

 with its distinctly curved andjharp little claws: its later- 

 ally compressed toes, and its unique tarsus and other 

 parts. Bats are distinguished from all other representa- 

 tives of their class, in presenting striking differences hi 

 form bet ween the two sets of their teeth, /. e., the perma- 

 nent and milk dentition. This feature is well seen in the 

 specimens before me; but the study of these parts in the 

 Chiroptera is indeed along, long subject when thoroughly 

 entered into. 



In throwing out, as 1 have, these few hints upon the 

 skeleton, representing as they do mere dottings here and 

 there, over this part of the structure of a bat, I have had 

 the hope only in my mind of inciting some of the younger 

 anatomists to carefully prepare such specimens, and to 

 make careful comparisons in the osteology of the Chirop- 

 tera, and note how the skeleton in the more typical 

 mammalia may become profoundly modified to meet cer- 

 tain ends. 



My figures go to show the marvelous development that 

 takes place in the ears of certain species of bats, and still 

 further, other forms are characterized by peculiar, flexi- 

 ble, tegumentary, leaf-like foliations that ornament the 

 parts surrounding the nose and muzzle and chin. Now, 

 w ithout entering upon a detailed account of the anatomy 

 and physiology of these strange-appearing structures, I 

 will briefly state that in the case of the so-called ' 'leaf- 

 nosed bats" these parts fulfill a very definite purpose, 

 being in reality powerful attxilaries to the sense of touch, 

 enabling their possessors in then- rapid, graceftd and 

 varied aerial evolutions to detect with marked precision 

 the presence of objects of any kind in their immediate 

 vicinity. This faculty is further enhanced by the highly 

 sensitive vibrissas, or whiskers in other species (Fig. 4), so 

 that it is said that even the slightest vibrations of bodies 

 may with ease be detected by bats when in rapid motion. 

 Spallanzani found that when he robbed bats of then- 

 senses of sight, smell and hearing they would avoid, dur- 

 ing flight, with great precision and' nicety, festoons of 

 thread which he hung across his room in many directions 

 where these animals so dealt with were forced to fly 

 about. No less keenly sensitive is the sense of hearing in 

 all Chiroptera, and then- widely dilated ear-conches catch 

 the very breaths of nature as they are wafted by them, 

 while, as Dobson has demonstrated, all bats possess the 

 power of moving the external ears independently of each 

 other. In summing up his researches upon these "leaf- 

 nosed bats,'* and the function of the organs in question, 

 the same authority states that "The nasal appendages of 

 Chiroptera, then, may be regarded as performing the 



