50 



NATURAL SCIENCE NEWS. 



at first, and when green, not above 

 a few ' inches wide, become so 

 stretched by the growth of the trunk 

 that they split longitudinally, and 

 always near tne center at their base. 

 In time they stretch or yawn 

 several inches but still maintain 

 their hold. The leaves fall in 

 time, after two or three years of 

 life at the most, I should say; the 

 stem snapping off at from six 

 inches to two feet or more from 

 the trunk. This gives the young 

 tree a very peculiar appearance, a 

 look which is unlike any other. 



If we could tell accurately how 

 many petioles appeared each year 

 it would be an easy matter to reck- 

 on the age of the young trees by 

 counting the persistent stems. In 

 time, even these tenacious, fibrous 

 stems give way, beginning at the 

 bottom and going upwards. The 

 age at which a tree begins to drop 

 its boots or base ends of stems, 

 reasoning from a standard of one 

 leaf a month in formation, or thir- 

 teen a year, is about sixteen years. 

 It is fair to reason that this shed- 

 ding of the inversely imbricated 

 stems, begins before the tree has 

 reached an age of twenty years. 



The protection afforded by these 

 stem-ends is apparently of no mo- 

 ment, as trees covered with them 

 do not appear to suffer from the 

 fire more than the older trees. In 

 time the palmetto loses its imbri- 

 cation of boots almost completely, 

 and when this is accomplished it is 

 fair to consider the tree at least a 

 quarter of a century old. 



In many parts of Florida the set- 

 tlers build cabins of palmetto. 

 The trunks form the frame-work 

 and the leaves constitute an imper- 

 vious thatch for roof and sides. 

 These cabins, known as cabbage 

 houses are very durable, and as 

 they are cheap and easily con- 

 structed, are in demand in many 

 wild quarters. 



Morris Gihbs. 



Lucanus dama. 



Last summer, while hunting for 

 tiger beetles on a small island in 

 the Allegheny river, I noticed sev- 

 eral large pinch beetles, (Lucanus 

 Jama) lying dead in the sand. I 

 paid no particular attention to them 

 at first, but as I soon found scores 

 of them on all sides, in open sand)' 

 places, I started to investigate. 



After closely observing several 

 live ones, I found that they could 

 not keep on their feet where the 

 sand was uneven. As there were 



numerous hillocks and banks on 

 all sides, they would slide or fall, 

 and be unable to gain their footing 

 in the yielding sand. As these 

 beetles are nocturnal in their hab- 

 its, they must soon die, being un- 

 able to endure the hot rays of the 

 sun. 



I found dead ones with small 

 twigs in their grasp, and others 

 that had succeeded in grasping 

 something solid, but had apparent- 

 ly been too far gone, to make an}' 

 progress after they had gained their 

 natural position. Of course, a 

 great many must have escaped, but 

 I could easily perceive from the 

 clumsy manner in which they strug- 

 gled, that they never could regain 

 their footing, when they were in a 

 position with nothing to grasp but 

 the treacherous sand. 



I also found a few dead longi- 

 corn beetles, (Prionus lalicollis)and 

 (Prion us umbricQrnis} . 



John Bright, 

 Pittsburg, Pa 



Exfoliation in the Tortoise. 



In No. 9 of the Natural Science 

 News Dr. Morris Gibbs, who al- 

 ways chooses the right subject and 

 has the happy faculty of telling us 

 the very things which we most 

 wish to know, discusses Exfolia- 

 tion in the Tortoise and describes 

 the desquamation of a domesti- 

 cated Cistuda Carolina. 



The doctor says that so far as he 

 can learn the process has never 

 before been described. I have 

 myself industriously consulted all 

 the authorities at my command in 

 a vain search for information, and 

 his article is the first mention of 

 the subject which I have seen. 

 That exfoliation should take place 

 in so common an animal and the 

 fact never be mentioned by the 

 many herpetologists who have 

 written about this species might 

 well seem incredible, and the trad- 

 itional men who carve their names 

 and dates on "terrapins'" backs 

 and have the inscriptions read by 

 their grandchildren will probably 

 request the Michigan naturalist to 

 send in his affidavit. 



We must remember, however, 

 that books usually represent the 

 vegetarian Cistuda as feeding on 

 worms and insects, and that peo- 

 ple, sane in other ways, sometimes, 

 keep them in their cellars to catch 

 rats and mice. Frederic W. True, 

 in "Natural History of Aquatic 

 Animals," page 158, alludes to 

 this and sagely adds "but it is 

 doubtful whether so sluggish a 



tortoise would be able to capture 

 so nimble a rodent as a mouse," 

 Those who have kept the animal 

 in captivity and seen it eat lettuce, 

 cabbage, potatoes and like Dr. 

 Gibbs' "Dick," celery, will think 

 Mr. True's doubt well founded. 



General ignorance of the matter, 

 then, cannot be taken as evidence 

 that Tortoises do not at times dis- 

 card their old shells and grow new 

 ones, and I am inclined to believe 

 that this takes place periodically. 

 I have at various times found box 

 tortoises with thin horn colored 

 layers loosened and ready to peel 

 off from their epidernal scutes, the 

 layer from each scute peeling off 

 as a separate piece. 



When I first kept a Chrysemys 

 marginata, or "Western Painted 

 Tortoise," I found that the animal 

 had rough places in each of its 

 scutes, as if the shell had been 

 fractured in various places. The 

 rough edges around these appar- 

 ent fractures gradually peeled 

 away, falling off in small flakes, 

 until by very slow degrees the 

 whole surface of the carapace had 

 been discarded and renewed. I 

 thought that this proceeding might 

 have been the result of some acci- 

 dent, but having since observed the 

 same thing in other individuals of 

 the same species I am satisfied that 

 the process is a normal one. 



I have often found specimens of 

 the Malaclemys geographica and of 

 the Malaclemys pscudo-geographica 

 with shells so dingy in hue that 

 the usually bright and distinct 

 "map" markings on their backs 

 were so obscured that it would 

 have been impossible to distin- 

 guish one species from the other 

 by these markings alone. On rub- 

 bing the shells of such dingy spec- 

 imens I generally found that the 

 surface of the scutes would peel off 

 in sections about as thick as a fin- 

 ger nail, leaving the colors of the 

 new shell bright and distinct. 

 From each marginal scute the up- 

 per and lower surface would come 

 off in one piece. These observa- 

 tions were made in the late sum- 

 mer, though I am not by any 

 means sure that that is the only 

 season in which the Tortoise may 

 discard the effete portions of his 

 shell. 



For my own part I find it quite 

 reasonable to suppose that a tor- 

 toise might, under unnatural con- 

 ditions or affected by some disease, 

 throw off more of his shell than he 

 does in a state of nature, and the 

 phenomenon witnessed by Dr. 

 Gibbs makes this belief a certain- 

 ty- 



