Natural Science News. 



VOL. I 



Natural Science News. 



A Weekly Journal Devoted to 

 Natural History. 



FRANK H. LATTIN, Editor and Publisher, 

 ALBION, N. Y. 



Correspondence and Items of Interest to the 

 student of any of the various branches of the 

 Natural Sciences solicited from all. 



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Coco, Coca, Cocoa, Cacao. 



There are many commodities 

 with which we are daily brought in 

 contact, that are unknown to the 

 large majority of our population, 

 as relating to their production. 

 There are also many others which 

 are just enough understood or mis- 

 understood to cause much con- 

 fusion both as to names and qual- 

 ities. This unfortunate condition 

 arises from the improper naming 

 of various commercial products, 

 which are only known to us by 

 common names, generally of our 

 own coinage. 



Of the many errors into which 

 Americans have fallen, perhaps 

 the most common yet least sen- 

 sible one in the understanding and 

 naming of foreign staples, is the 

 improper acceptation of the words 

 Coco, Coca, Cocoa and Cacao — 

 words, which though correct 

 enough perhaps, are so little un- 

 derstood in their true sense, that 

 the large majority of Americans 

 have inextricably mixed them. 

 Most persons think that the above 

 four words are directly an outcome 

 of the one word Cocoa and fully 

 think that chocolate and Cocoa 

 are products of cocoanuts. Where- 

 as the commercial chocolate is in 

 no way a product of the coco-nut 

 palm. 



We read in foreign travels and 

 observations, from various parts 

 of the tropics that the food of the 

 inhabitants is principally Cocoa, 

 and thic kind of information is 

 nearly always misleading, as the 

 names Coco and Cocoa are various- 



ALBION, N. Y., APRIL 6, 1895. 



ly used to describe several different 

 forms of food, and in different 

 countries. 



Coco comes from cocos, a Greek 

 word meaning kernel and is the 

 generic name of the nut-bearing 

 palms, The scientific name cocos 

 remains in botanies, but the cor- 

 ruption Coco is now seldom used 

 and in its stead Cocoa has grown 

 in favor for the nut-tree. The 

 cocoanut tree is a tropical species, 

 but is planted extensively in suit- 

 able quarters in sub-tropical lati- 

 tudes. It has been imported to 

 the Florida coast where it thrives 

 with luxuriance at the present 

 time. 



The name Cocoa is also, and 

 improperly, applied to the choco- 

 late shrub of Central America, and 

 from a generally poor 'understand- 

 ing, it is popularly supposed that 

 chocolate and the popular Cocoa 

 are prepared from the cocoa-nut 

 palm. Cocoa, or more properly 

 Cacao, and chocolate are prepared 

 from the seeds of Theobroma cacao, 

 a species indigenous to Mexico 

 and Central America. It is now 

 extensively cultivated in South 

 America. 



The various preparations of 

 Coca, among which Cocaine is 

 well known as a local anaesthetic, 

 come from a small tree which 

 grows on the eastern Andean 

 slope, This species is called sci- 

 entifically Coca erythroxylon. The 

 natives chew the green leaves • and 

 thereby secure a renewal of 

 strength, which often enables them 

 to perform prodigies of labor. It 

 has however been shown that the 

 ultimate effect is bad, as with all 

 other powerful nervines and stim- 

 ulants, when continuously used. 



Morris Gibbs. 



"Holed." 



In this western country where 

 the Jack Rabbit is found, it is 

 commonly believed to be impos- 

 sible to run one into a hole or 

 shelter of any kind, or as the 

 ranchmen say "They can't be 

 treed. " 



This was proven to me to be a 

 mistake during a recent hunt after 

 a Bald Eagle. The Eagle had 

 been seen about a small lake sev- 

 eral times, but always out of gun 

 range. 



One morning I saddled a horse, 

 thinking that I might approach 



No. 10 



close enough for a shot on horse- 

 back. I reached the lake and 

 found the Eagle, as usual, watch- 

 ing for water fowl. I tried to ap- 

 proach, but it flew and then cir- 

 cled about just out of gun range. 

 Just then my horse almost stepped 

 on a Jack Rabbit in the grass. It 

 started off giving me a fine shot, 

 but I was hunting Eagles. It had 

 gone but a short distance when 

 the Eagle saw it and gave chase. 

 Then followed the most interest- 

 ing chase I ever witnessed. The 

 rabbit ran with the swiftness that 

 only a "Jack" can run, then turned 

 this way and that and finally ran 

 almost under my horse, only to be 

 be followed by the Eagle. 



Thus I was given several good 

 shots but was so interested that I 

 forgot about hunting Eagles. 



Finally the rabbit seeing it could 

 neither dodge nor outrun its pur- 

 suer made for a ranchman's house 

 on the north shore of the lake, 

 and ran under this building, The 

 house floor is about one foot above 

 ground and is boarded up except- 

 ing a small hole left for the ac- 

 commodation of the dog. 



After the rabbit had run under 

 the house and the Eagle had flown 

 to his perch on a telegraph pole, 

 to resume his watch for ducks, I 

 rode home wondering why I did 

 not kill them both. 



Chas. Barber. 

 Hall's Peak, N. Mex. 



Nesting of Cathartes aura (Linn ) 

 in Oregon. 



For the Natural Science News. 



For several years it had been re- 

 ported to me that a pair of these 

 Vultures had a nesting site, some 

 six miles from this place (Sodaville) 

 back in the mountains, but it was 

 not until last May that I had the 

 opportunity of visiting their re- 

 treat. A district schoolhouse was 

 located some half mile from their 

 nest, and the small boys in their 

 wanderings, had accidentally found 

 the nest and as they were aware of 

 my desires in the Oological line, 

 and with the expectation of mak- 

 ing 50 cents (in which they were 

 not disappointed) they reported 

 their find to me. 



On May 4th I started on my long 

 and hard tramp, taking one of the 

 boys with me, we soon came to the 



