NATURAL SCIENCE NEWS. 



15 



The museum hall is 150x50x30 feet, 

 with one wide gallery. Upon the 

 main floor there are 24 large cases, 

 in the gallery the same number 

 with the addition of a large rail 

 case. Unlike most museums there 

 is not a dark corner in the building 

 from cellar to garret. 



The collections consist for the 

 most part, of North American pro- 

 ductions, and are most complete 

 so far as the valley of the Missis- 

 sippi is concerned. In Mullusca, 

 the collection is rich in North 

 American forms. 



With a new building and the 

 best of facilties, it is believed that 

 the Academy will again occupy a 

 prominent place among Scientific 

 bodies, and regain the prestige and 

 fulfil the promise of its earlier 

 days. The Nautilus. 



The Cork Tree. 



Cork is the bark of a species of 

 an oak, a native of the south of Eu- 

 rope and the north of Africa. The 

 tree is usually from twenty to forty 

 feet high, very branchy, with ovate, 

 oblong, evergreen leaves and a 

 thick, rough bark for which it is 

 cultivated. Cork tree acorns are 

 eatable and taste very much like 

 chestnuts. 



When the bark is from three to 

 five years old it has a spongy ap- 

 pearance, new layers of cellular 

 tissue being formed and the outer 

 layers cracking from expansion un- 

 til they are finally thrown off in 

 large flakes. Usually cork that is 

 intended for the market is stripped 

 from the tree a year or two before 

 it would naturally come away, In 

 stripping off the cork incisions are 

 made both lengthwise and across 

 the tree to the proper depth and 

 then peeled off by a curved knife 

 which has two handles. 



This process is repeated every 

 six or eight years. It is only after 

 third peeling that the first class 

 quality of cork is obtained, the 

 bark of young trees being useless 

 or of very poor quality. 



The removal of the cork from 

 the tree does not mean the removal 

 of the entire bark, but only those 

 spongy layers that no longer have 

 life. When the dead layers are 

 properly cut away the health of 

 the tree is greatly promoted and it 

 will continue to yield crops of cork 

 for 150 years. 



Before the pieces ot bark are 

 put up in bales for the market they 

 are soaked in water, pressed flat 

 and then dried. When dry they 

 are slightly charred to remove de- 



cayed parts and conceal defects. 



The world's chief supply of cork 

 comes from Spain and Portugal. 

 D. V. F. in Normal Instructor. 



Tanning Large Skins for Rugs. 



In addition to Dr. Morris Gibb's 

 criticism of Mr. Davie's "Methods 

 in the Art of Taxidermy" in De- 

 cember Oologlst, there is one 

 point which I should like to add, 

 and which is equally true of all 

 other works in this line. While 

 I take much pleasure in mount- 

 ing birds and game heads which 

 have been taken in my own hunt- 

 ing trips and there would be de- 

 rived equally as much pleasure in 

 mounting pelts, such as Foxes and 

 Bears in the shape of rugs, if I 

 could only get the information of 

 how to tan them correctly. It 

 seems to me as though this was 

 equally a part of the work and 

 knowledge of a good Taxidermist. 

 However all the works on Taxi- 

 dermy may be searched thoroughly 

 and there will be absolutely noth- 

 ing of any value found upon this 

 point. Hornaday tells you to have 

 your pelts well tanned, Davie does 

 not even tell you this. Though 

 there are ten or twelve lines on 

 tanning small skins, which cer- 

 tainly is of no value when it comes 

 to preparing a large heavy skin. 



It was with a great deal of im- 

 patience that I awaited the publi- 

 cation of the -'Methods in the Art 

 of Taxidermy," hoping that it 

 would fulfill my long-felt want, but 

 it was with great disappointment 

 that I looked this book over, find- 

 ing nothing on this subject. It 

 seems to me a great mistake and 

 what this work needs to make it 

 complete is a chapter devoted to 

 the tanning and mounting of skins 

 in the form of rugs. 



If anyone can give me any infor- 

 mation as to where it is possible to 

 get information on this subject I 

 would be exceedingly grateful. 



A. H. Phillips, 



Princeton. N. J. 



Some of Our Common Butter- 

 flies. 



Probably nearly all of the read- 

 ers of the Natural Science News 

 living east of the Mississippi River, 

 have seen the butterflies I shall 

 speak of here, but perhaps some 

 would like to know more about 

 them. First, then, we will spend 

 a few moments with the Milk-weed 

 Butterfly, known to Science as Da- 



nais archippus. The colors are 

 mostly red and black. The black 

 running in stripes through the red 

 and varied with a few white spots. 

 Extent when spread out, about 4 to 

 5 in. The only one looking like 

 Danais, is Limenitis dissippus, a 

 smaller species with a black band 

 crossing the black stripes, which 

 Danais has not. This butterfl}' gets 

 its name from hovering around the 

 milk-weed on which the eggs are 

 laid. 



Of course you all know that all 

 butterflies start as worms, how 

 many can tell what worm will 

 change to a certain butterfly? And, 

 also, do you know what plant that 

 worm feeds on? Seldom the plant 

 that the butterfly prefers as its res- 

 taurant: for that's all their feeding 

 place is, a sip and they go on to 

 return at their pleasure. The 

 Milk-weed Butterfly does feed some 

 on the blossoms of the common 

 milk-weed (Ascclpias tubcrosa) on 

 which its eggs are laid, but is more 

 often found on the teasel ( Dipsacus 

 sylvestris) . 



They are difficult to catch on the 

 wing as their flight is strong and 

 swift, but, can be easily taken 

 when feeding, though teasel heads 

 are very destructive to a net. The 

 eggs are deposited on the milk 

 weed about the last of July, and 

 hatch in a few days. The cater- 

 pillars known as larva grow about 

 2 weeks and then envelop them- 

 selves in a thin case known as the 

 chrysalis. This is called the pupa 

 stage and lasts about ten days, 

 when, about the last of August 

 this butterfly becomes very com- 

 mon. A few of . them may hiber- 

 nate and come out late in the 

 spring, but, I think most of them 

 are perpetuated by the last lot of 

 pupae some of which winter in 

 sheltered situations. This butter- 

 fly flies very late in the season, in 

 fact, I have often picked them up, 

 in October, when they had become 

 so thoroughly chilled over night, 

 that they were helpless at 9 o'clock 

 in the morning. The chrysalis is 

 hung to any thing hand}'; very sel- 

 dom to the plant on which the larva 

 feeds. It is light green in color 

 with a row of black dots on the 

 sides, and a few gold dots on the 

 upper end with a band of same 

 around the lower end. 



Another interesting family is that 

 of the Swallow-tails; Papilio is the 

 scientific name. We have three 

 common species. First in order of 

 abundance comes Papilio asterias, 

 known as the Black Swallow-tail. 

 It can be recognized by the dark 

 color, the two rows of yellow spots 



