NATURAL SCIENCE NEWS. 



7 



are probably somewhat tougher 

 than the limpets, but are edible. 

 So, as they are also slow- moving 

 they must be protected from their 

 enemies by their position on the 

 rock and their resemblance to the 

 rock. 



"Can the chitons see?" inquired 

 my young inquirer. 



They can distinguish the light, 

 but they have no eyes. You see 

 this limpet has two long pointed 

 horns, or feelers, and there is an 

 eye at the base of each of these 

 horns. But the chiton does not 

 have these tentacles, and has less 

 variety of food on that account." 



"What is their food?" 



I silently pointed to the marine 

 plants which covered the rocks on 

 which some limpets and chitons 

 were living. 



"There seem to be three or four 

 kinds of chitons," said the lad, 



"About 250 species," I remarked 

 dryly. "We have at least 25 kinds 

 along this coast of the United States, 

 and there may be more." 



"They do not seem to fear being 

 washed away by tha waves." 



"O no! They like to live where 

 the waves beat the hardest. It is 

 safer there from their enemies. 

 They have a funny fashion of curl- 

 ing themselves into little round 

 balls protected by their, armor, 

 when they are pulled off the rocks. 

 It is sometimes troublesome to get 

 them to lie straight when you are 

 preparing them for the cabinet." 



"How do you fix them so they 

 will be nice to keep?" 



"I cut out the soft fleshy part 

 with my knife — thus. You see I 

 leave the leather mantle which runs 

 around the body, uncut. Some 

 people bind them upon a board un- 

 til they are dead and will not con- 

 tract any more. I do not boil them 

 as I do most other shells, lor they 

 will come into eight pieces." 



"How big is that fellow you 

 have in your basket, the boy ask- 

 ed. 



We measured it and found it to 

 be more than eight inches long and 

 about half as wide. 



"It looks somewhat like a cradle," 

 sai dmy young friend. 



"Some people call the chitons 

 "sea cradles," but I think it is just 

 as well to learn the proper name 

 for a shell at once, and then you 

 never need to learn a new name." 



"And what would this one be 

 worth to sell. 



"If you were to buy it from 

 some Natural Science Establish- 

 ment you would have to pay $1.50 

 for as fine a specimen as this. 



Possibly you might sell it for a 

 dollar. " 



"I think I shall go to studying 

 shells if I can pick up a dollar that 

 easy upon the beach," said the boy. 



"My dear boy, you would pick 

 up more than a dollar if you really 

 studied the shells you gathered. 

 The worth of knowledge is not to 

 be measured by what its dry shells 

 bring. It is the training you give 

 your observation, your reason and 

 your habits, that is the valuable 

 reward of natural history studies, 

 and not the dollar you may get for 

 a fine Cryptocliiton Stelleri. 



"I want to go with you if you go 

 after shells to-morrow," said my 

 young friend, quite eagerly, "and 

 maybe I, too. can find a giant 

 chiton." C. M. Drake, in North- 

 west Journal of Education. 



Largest Gold Nuggets. 



The records of the Smithsonian 

 Institute furnish a list of the larg- 

 est gold nuggets ever found in the 

 world, and are as follows: 



"King of the Water Moon," 

 found in Australia in 1852; weigh- 

 ed 223 pounds and 4 ounces. 



"Welcome," found at Ballarat, 

 Victoria, Australia, 1854, 184.10 

 ounces. "Bakary, " found at Car- 

 son Hill, Cal., 1854; weighed 180 

 pounds; and another at the same 

 mine and year weighed 149 pounds. 

 The two were the largest gold nug- 

 gets ever discovered in America. 

 The "Corona, " found in Toulumne 

 County, California, 1850, weighed 

 147^ pounds. The "Famish," 

 found in i860, at Sierra Buttes, 

 Cal., weighed 133. There was one 

 found in the same place, 1869, 

 weighed 95 pounds 6 ounces. 

 ' 'Great Siberian, "found near Miosh, 

 Siberia, 1842, weighed 96 pounds 

 4 ounces. 



In 1853 the famous Ballarat 

 mine of Australia, mentioned a- 

 bove, yielded three nuggets which, 

 combined, weighed 357 pounds. 



••Blanche Barclay" nugget, found 

 in Australia in 1842: weighed 146 

 pounds. 



The nugget ot largest size ever 

 found east of the Mississippi was 

 taken from the Reed mine in North 

 Carolina. It weighed even 80 

 pounds. 



"Rattlesnake" nugget, discover- 

 ed in Rattlesnake river, California, 

 in 1 87 1. weighed 106 pounds 2 

 ounces. 



Meroo Creek mine. New South 

 Wales, produced three nuggets 

 during 185 1, the combined weight 

 of which was 318 pounds. 



Florida Cruising- 



By Eugene Pericles. 



Of all deligh'ful experiences in the 

 way of winter pastimes, the most pleas- 

 urable to me is that of cruising about 

 on the rivers of the South. It has been 

 my good fortune to float down several 

 streams at the North, and it has ap- 

 peared tli at this method of eollectiug 

 is equal to any other; but a northern 

 trip, among birds witli which one is 

 familiar, fades into insignificance when 

 compared to a river trip in Florida. 

 Here one is continually meeting with 

 strange sights, while the special feat- 

 ures of interest to a collector of birds 

 and eggs are constantly presenting 

 t'.emselves. 



The Indian river, on which I spent 

 several weeks at different times and 

 trips, is visited by the Ducks of tha 

 North which winter here At dmes 

 one might say that the so-called river is 

 covered by one mighty flock of Ducks, 

 for, so closely together do these (locks 

 come, that at a little distance it appears 

 as if there was one continuous thick as 

 far as the eye can see. The principal 

 kind of Duck in the flocks is the Lesser 

 Scaup, in fact there are hundreds of 

 this species to any other kind of Duck 

 in the state, or at least it is so on the 

 salt water lagoons. In these large 

 flocks of Lesser Scaups, or Little Black- 

 heads or Blue-bill as they are mors 

 generally called, there are some Big 

 Blue-bills or American Scaups. These 

 flocks of Blue-bills are so dense and ex- 

 tensive that I have seen a steamer on 

 the river constantly scaring up detach- 

 ments cf flocks for miles. For miles 

 and miles in January and February the 

 river is covered w ith them and many 

 may be seen within gun-iauge at once. 

 Of the other Ducks, there are Mallards, 

 Teal, Pintail, Widgeon, Shoveler and 

 Black Ducks and the Bull-breasted 

 Goosander. 



The common "Hell-driver'' and fam- 

 iliar Loon of the North are also s< en 

 both on fresh and sa't water. King- 

 fishers and Spotted Sandpipers dash 

 out from, log shore or snag as at the 

 North. Killdeer Plovers remind us of 

 hmne, while Hermit ana Brown Thrush, 

 Catbirds and Rollins, the last iu thous- 

 ands are all here. 



Among the Herons are the Great 

 Blue, Little Bine, White, Snowy and 

 Louisiaua. The change of color in the 

 plumage of some of these birds makes 

 it difficult to identify immatures at 

 times. The Louisiana, Great and Little 

 Blue Herons breed abundantly, and 

 were nesting iu vast heroines iu isolated 

 places about the middle of March. 



As an indication of the advancement 

 of the season I would record that sev- 

 eral young Bald Fagles, nearly full 



