NATUKAL SCIENCE NEWS. 



cfes- 

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We know just enough about it 

 to feel sure that it is a perfectly 

 harmless and useful little animal 

 whose mission in life is the 

 truction of insects and worms 

 which it deserves protection. 



Anyone in possession of any 

 farther facts about it should make 

 them known. 



Angus Gaines, 

 Vincennes. Indiana. 



What is the Best Method of 

 Wrapping Fresh Bird Skins? 



After using several methods of 

 wrapping up fresh bird skins — to 

 say nothing of the old ways of us- 

 ing paper cylinders and corrugated 

 drying boards — I believe the fol- 

 lowing to be the best. 



Probably the best way to illus- 

 trate will be to use a dried skin of 

 the Tree Sparrow or a bird of sim- 

 ilar size. 



Take a piece of split sheet cot- 

 ton 4x6 inches in size and in the 

 middle line 2 inches from the left 

 hand end break a small hole suffi- 

 cient to enter the bird's bill. 



The sheet cotton now lies flat 

 upon the table before you 



Take the bird between the 

 thumb and and first two fingers of 

 the right hand, bill pointing to 

 your left, breast upward, lay it up- 

 on the cotton at the same time 

 passing tha bill through the hole; 

 the left hand aiding the process. 



The two inch flap is now 

 brought up over the breast and 

 fitted smootly on sides of neck 

 and over the bend of the wings 

 where it is held in place by the 

 right hand. 



Next, lap the left hand corners 

 over once so that the edges lie 

 close to the sides of neck and par- 

 allel to it. 



The side flaps are now brought 

 up smoothly, passing a little be- 

 yond the medium line of the breast 

 and abdomen — thus lapping each 

 other. 



The cotton is then fitted over 

 the abdomen, the lapping of the 

 raw edges being sufficient to keep 

 it in place without further fasten- 

 ing — though as a matter of fact 

 one naturally lays the results of a 

 days collecting side by side as an 

 additional precaution. 



Care should be taken not to 

 wrap the bird so tightly as to des- 

 troy the delicate contour lines 

 though should this occur, a gentle 

 picking with the thumb and anger 

 at the point of contact is usually 

 sufficient to relieve the pressure. 



See that the points of the wings 



are in proper position and that the 

 secondaries are not bunched,, but 

 override each other naturally. 



Care should be taken not to 

 bend the head too far backward — 

 the bill should point upward and 

 forward at nearly an an angle of 

 45 degrees. 



The method may be varied with 

 good success in such birds as 

 Woodpeckers and Snipe where the 

 head is laid with the bill pointing 

 to the right or left. 



So far as I know the above 

 method was first used by Mr. A. 

 W. Anthony now of San Diego. 

 Cala. , who kindly explained it to 

 me, (as also the suggestion for the 

 use of wooden tooth-picks in the 

 necks of birds' skins) and it is 

 generally adopted by those who 

 have the good fortune to know it. 

 Horace G. Smith; 



Denver. Col. 



Buying a Microscope. 



The expense of ignorance is 

 ever apparent to the observing 

 person. In fact, every one real- 

 izes the cost of the bitter lesson 

 taught by experience. We were 

 made to realize this recently when 

 called to examine a microscope 

 which a druggist had purchased at 

 an expense of forty-five dollars. 

 The owner of the instrument was 

 obliged to depend on the judg- 

 ment and integrity of the firm from 

 which he ordered it, as his knowl- 

 edge of the instrument was limited 

 to its name. As a result the drug- 

 gist exchanged forty-five dollars 

 dollars for a microscope that we 

 would not pay ten for, unless it 

 was to have a cabinet specimen of 

 different styles of manufacture. 



It is just as true as it is unfor- 

 tunate that the market is flooded 

 with poor microscopes which are 

 being sold at extravagant prices. 

 It affords us pleasure to say that 

 they are not the product of Ameri- 

 can industry, but are brought to 

 this country to satisfy that morbid 

 idea that so many have which 

 leads them to believe in the su- 

 periority of anything that is -for- 

 eign," and to rave over an article 

 from Paris. It is not our inten- 

 tion to convey the idea that all 

 foreign microscopes are ot an in- 

 ferior quality, for this is far from 

 the truth. However, it is note- 

 worthy that the United States 

 manufactures fewer poor instru- 

 ments than are imported for sale 

 here. In fact, there is no neces- 

 sity or even a good valid excuse 

 for a pharmacist purchasing any- 



thing but an American microscope. 



A word of advice anent the sub- 

 ject of selecting a microscope for 

 pharmaceutical work may not be 

 amiss at this time. Students at 

 colleges of pharmacy, and those 

 druggists who live in cities where 

 such institutions exist, should em- 

 brace every opportunity for ac- 

 quiring knowledge of the micro- 

 scope as an optical instrument. 

 This will enable them to select the 

 microscope most suitable for the 

 work and within the range of their 

 means. Do not invest less than 

 twenty-five dollars, and if possible 

 expend fifty or seventy-five dollars 

 for an outfit. 



Those who are so situated that 

 they cannot become familiar with 

 the microscope and be their own 

 judge must depend on others for a 

 selection. Their opticians, as a 

 rule, are not microscopists, much 

 less pharmacists, and their judge- 

 ment is often materially strabismic 

 from the effects of the profit in- 

 fluence. To them the best mic- 

 roscope is the one that costs them" 

 the least and sells for the highest 

 price. It is far better for a drug- 

 gist to consult some competent 

 microscopist and place his order 

 accordingly. — H. M. Whelpley in 

 Meyer Brother's Druggist. 



To Much for Reynard. 



One night in January a fox en- 

 tered the hen house of a man at 

 Pleasant Point, Maine and carried 

 off a fat rooster. 



The bird was found roosting on 

 a stump the next day alive and ap- 

 parently none the worse for wear, 

 while the body of the fox was 

 found about a mile away, dead — 

 Next! 



How to Obtain Foraminifera 

 from Chalk. 



The following is probably an 

 improvement on the methods 

 usually given in books. The 

 chalk to be used must be native 

 chalk, the sticks of chalk used in 

 schools is ground and prepared 

 and will not answer the purpose. 

 Carpenters chalk is native unpre- 

 pared chalk. 



Boil some fragments of chalk in 

 a strong solution of Glaubers Salts 

 (Soda Sulphate) set aside to 

 cool and crystallize. This sepa- 

 rates the chalk into a powder, then 

 by repeated washings and settlings 

 the salts and the light fluffy debris 

 are washed away and perfect shells 

 obtained in the sediment.- - The 

 Microscope, 



