6 



NATUEAL SCIENCE NEWS. 



Geological Collecting. 



By Ulysses R. Perrine. 



We often see people in their lei- 

 sure hours, wasting their time away 

 in frivolous pursuits when in the 

 way of collecting" and studying the 

 objects of nature, which are scat- 

 tered in such profusion on every 

 side — they might add to their edu- 

 cation by the perusal of "Nature's 

 story book. " 



A collection once started may 

 not advance as fast towards com- 

 pletion as we might wish it to but 

 even imperfect as it may be it will 

 always be a collection of souvenirs 

 of the present as well as relics of 

 the past. 



Each specimen may have scores 

 of little reminiscences attached to 

 it. Here for instance in our cabi- 

 net is a Delthyris with its well 

 written history of past glory. 

 What wonderful things might it 

 tell if it could speak of how it spent 

 its life in some snug nook at the j 

 bottom of the old-time ocean, sur- 

 rounded on all sides by the mar- 

 velous life of tropical seas, hem- 

 med in at the north by desolate 

 mountains while to the south spread 

 the unbroken expanse of a shallow 

 ocean. 



Now besides the recollections of 

 the past that envelop this little 

 mollusk, there always clings to it 

 too the remembrances of a delight- 

 ful summer excursion to Old Fort 

 Erie in Canada. And so it is as 

 we go, so may we collect and be 

 well repaid for so doing. Every 

 picnic or excursion that we may 

 "take in" we may always find some- 

 thing new in the way of specimens. 



In this part of the State the pop- 

 ular place for summer picnics is 

 along the shores of Lake Erie; the 

 cliffs of this shore for man}' miles 

 are of those rocks which belong to 

 the Hamilton group, and coupled 

 with this is the fact that there are 

 numerous detached boulders of the 

 Upper Helderberg period (brought 

 down from the northward in the 

 Glacial period) thus making it a 

 fine collecting ground for the stu- 

 dent of geology. 



How could a collector place any 

 value in dollars and cents on spec- 

 imens found on such occasions with 

 their halo of pleasant incidents 

 which invest them and recollect 

 the pleasure with which he travers- 

 ed the shore of a fresh water lake 

 of today, directing the strokes of 

 his obedient hammer on the rough 

 side of a suspicious looking bould- 

 er and then as the rock-pages 



broke asunder the curious delight 

 of gazing on forms that mortal eye 

 had ne'er gazed on before! 



How in the wondrous profusion 

 with which the ocean forms of a 

 long-ago age strew the shores of 

 this great lake of today, do the old 

 and new so strangely meet. And 

 the shells that had their being mil- 

 lions of years ago, then sealed in 

 their, rocky tombs to be found 

 again and rescued by the relentless 

 waves of Lake Erie and cleansed 

 and polished anew by her waters, 

 she placed them before us side by 

 side by her own product, the fresh 

 water shells of today. 



Let some of our skeptical scien- 

 tists try to find that the rock record 

 is antagonistic to the masonic re- 

 cord if they wish, but the deeper 

 the unprejudiced mind delves into 

 the enduring records of nature the 

 firmer will be the conviction that 

 the world and '-all living things de- 1 

 pend on one everlasting Creator 

 and Rider." 



Let the editor of the Popular Sci- 

 ence Monthly, and all others who 

 may contemptibly cry out "Back 

 to Dogma" when a true scientist 

 may testify to the belief in the ex- 

 istence of an inteligent and design- 

 ing Creator we will still believe 

 that the "existence of a first cause 

 is the creed of reason." 



And like as these beautiful forms, 

 venerable with years, are born by 

 the never tiring waves of Lake 

 Erie from their honored tombs to 

 feel the rays of a sunlight that has 

 not kissed their pearly forms for 

 countless ages, so does the greater 

 share of students believe that the 

 One who ever rules, all this, will 

 rescue the human forms of our age 

 from "Time's remorseless sea," 

 when 



"Dawns the day that will never know 

 declining." 



Crytochiton Stelleri. 



I was coming back from Point 

 Defiance with a basket of shells 

 upon my arm when I was stopped 

 by a good looking boy about twelve 

 years old with a, "Will you please 

 tell me what that very curious ani- 

 mal is, which you have there in 

 Your basket?" 



"Certainly, my boy. That fel- 

 low has a real easy name to remem- 

 ber. We call it a Cryptochiton 

 Stelleri." 



"That is worse that botany," 

 was his prompt rejoinder. ' 'Hasn't 

 it an easier name to remember?" 



"Yes; you may call it the giant 

 chiton (ki-ton.) if you like. But 



the other name is not so bad 

 when you know its meaning. 

 Chiton means a coat-of-mail, such 

 as the knights of olden time wore. 

 See these eight shells along the 

 back of this small chiton, one shell 

 overlapping the other like a flat- 

 tened back-bone. This is his coat- 

 of mail which gives the chiton his 

 name. You see the giant chiton 

 has his eight shells just the same 

 as his smaller brothers only his 

 coat-of-mail is hidden by this tough, 

 brick-red skin, or mantle, which 

 completely covers the t6ps of his 

 shells. So we call him a Crypto- 

 chiton or hidden-coat-of-mail. " 



"But you had more to his name 

 than Cryptochiton — if that is right." 



' ' Cryptochton is his surname, like 

 Smith, Brown or Jones. His other 

 name, which is like your first 

 name, although it comes last, is 

 Stelleri. It was named after a man 

 just as babies are named after Cleve- 

 land or Harrison. Shells are of- 

 ten (and foolishly) named after the 

 the man who first describes them, 

 or after some friend of his." 



"And was this one named after 

 its discoverer?" 



"I think not. It was named by 

 a Dr. Middendorf, whose writings 

 about the shells of this coast were 

 published in Russia about 70 years 

 ago. Would you think that this 

 giant chiton was a near relative of 

 of those limpets which are so com- 

 mon on the rocks?" 



"They do not look much alike." 

 said the boy. 



"Yet the animals are very much 

 alike, although their shells are so 

 very different. The limpet has but 

 one shell, shaped like a coni- 

 cal cap, and the chitons have eight 

 shells, each of which look a little 

 like the two wings of a butterfly. 

 Chitons move about even more 

 slowly than the limpets. These 

 big fellows are rare and are found 

 only at very low tide. I have found 

 only four this whole summer." 



' T never have found one, "said my 

 young friend, holding the chiton in 

 his hand to feel of its hidden shells. 

 "I don't see how a fellow could 

 help seeing so big a one as this 

 though. " 



I shook my head and smiled. 



' 'They lie next to the sand against 

 some jutting rock, and this was 

 passed unseen by a dozen people 

 before I saw it. An animal which 

 moves slowly is seldom conspicuous 

 unless it tastes badly, which this 

 does not. The limpets are eaten 

 by a great many people, and mill- 

 ions of them are used every year 

 for fish bait, on the coast of the 

 British Isles, Now the chitons 



