76 



NATURAL SCIENCE NEWS. 



round. It is like the unripe nut in- 

 separable from its hull. In fact 

 the resemblance of the nut and 

 geode is rather striking, though 

 the impassable gulf between the 

 organic and inorganic intervenes. 

 The crystals in the geode repre- 

 sent the meat in the nut even to its 

 intricate foldings or globular, en- 

 tirety — enclosed by a shell in each 

 case. The matrix rock represent- 

 ing the hull. May there not have 

 been a similar growth in the two 

 cases. An expanding process, by 

 which crystals, shell, and rock all 

 grew and formed simultaneously 

 and access to the interior never in- 

 complete until the whole was fin- 

 ished out of the surrounding form- 

 ative material; so that a proper re- 

 lative size of crystal and shell was 

 retained at every step. 



But to the burden of our text. 

 The overlying St. Louis formation 

 is, in its lower part, magnesian 

 limestone beds, overlaid by a 

 heavy bed of pure limestone con- 

 cretionary at its outcrops, yielding 

 the fine Lithostrdtion Coral and of- 

 ten Archemides. 



The lower coal seam lies uncom- 

 formably on this; but it is of no 

 economical value, being only a 

 few inches thick. Over this comes 

 a layer of sand rock, yielding the 

 usual coal flora of Calamites, Le- 

 pidodendron, Sigillaria, Stigmaria, 

 c*ic, and above all is a heavy coat 

 of drift, where it has not been re- 

 moved by denudation, capped by 

 our usual surface soil. 



Geo. M. Crofts, 

 Summitville, Iowa. 



Collecting and Preserving Sea- 

 weeds. 



A very important question this, 

 which in answering I must preface 

 by the advice, to collect as little 

 at a time as you can afford, ac- 

 cording to your stay in any local- 

 ity, and collect them either in an 

 oilskin bag or a tin can with sea 

 water; for these flowers of the sea 

 fade, and even decompose mar- 

 vellously fast, when roughly han- 

 dled or carelessly gathered. 



The best time for collecting is 

 in the early morning, when, on 

 your return, there is leisure for 

 immediately laying them out. If 

 you come home over-tired, and 

 leave them until next day, the 

 chances are that one-half of them 

 are spoilt. I need not repeat that 

 the finest and rarest specimens are 

 found in the lowest- tide pools, or 

 cast up after a storm; but even at 

 high tide the seaside naturalist 



will find most pleasant occupation 

 and delightful surprise if with a 

 microscope he investigates those 

 very small specimens which are 

 too insignificant for the lady's 

 album, and finds such form and 

 colour, provision and harmony, as 

 the Almighty Creator conceals 

 from the unseeing eye, to reveal to 

 our patient and intelligent re- 

 search. 



Supposing, however, that we 

 have searched a few tide-pools, 

 and brought home a tangled mass 

 of olive, red, and green seaweeds, 

 we get some soup plates, fresh 

 water, a bit of alum, some camel- 

 hair pencils, and I use needles, 

 mounted on lucifer matches, to 

 assist in disentangling the mass. 



Of course we are provided with 

 paper cut into large and small 

 squares; and as much of the beauty 

 of the specimens depends on the 

 quality of the paper, it should be 

 fine, and at the same time stout, 

 almost as good as drawing paper. 



Now float a piece of weed in 

 fresh water; if very dirty or sandy, 

 wash it first, and in renewed water 

 float it on a piece of paper sup- 

 ported by your left hand, whilst 

 with your right hand you arrange 

 the plant in a natural manner, us- 

 ing a mounted needle or porcu- 

 pine-quill, and thinning out the 

 superabundant branches with a 

 fine pointed pair of scissors. 

 When the specimen is placed as 

 you like it, cautiously raise the 

 paper that the position of the 

 plant be not altered, and let it 

 rest somewhere with sloping in- 

 clination, that the moisture may 

 run off whilst other specimens are 

 treated in the same way. 



Do not leave them long thus, 

 for they must be pressed before 

 the paper is dry. 



A convenient travelling press 

 consists of two pieces of deal 

 board about two feet long and one 

 foot wide; a couple of quires of 

 whity-brown paper, and a double 

 strap, such as we use for railway 

 wrappers. Lay blotting paper be- 

 tween the coarser paper, and you 

 can strap them closely, and carry 

 your seaweed very safely in your 

 hand. 



In drying them you must have 

 old linen or fine muslin, old and 

 soft, to lay upon the weed and 

 prevent its sticking to the upper 

 paper; but do not leave it beyond 

 a day or so, lest it leave chequered 

 marks upon the surface of the 

 weed, especially those with broad 

 fronds, like Delesseria. 



Experience will give the best 

 lessons. Some seaweeds, such as 



Melogloia, which are glutinous, 

 must not be pressed at all, but 

 laid out to dry, and when perfect- 

 ly so, then moisten the under side 

 of the paper, and give a gentle 

 pressure only. 



Others will not adhere to paper,, 

 and therefore, when dry, brush 

 them over with a little isinglass 

 dissolved in gin (laid on warm), 

 and they will then be fixed closely 

 to the cardboard or paper. 



Another preparation is: one 

 ounce oil of turpentine, in which 

 some gum mastic the size of a nut- 

 meg has been dissolved. This 

 gives a gloss to the specimen and 

 helps to preserve the colour. 



You must change the blotting 

 paper and muslin at least twice 

 during the process of drying larger 

 seaweeds; the smaller ones will be 

 ready in a couple of days for the 

 album, on the second day giving 

 heavy pressure by stones and 

 weights besides the strap. — From 

 Clarke's Common Seaweeds. 



Home Made Mucilage. 



A very convenient mucilage can 

 be made out of onion juice by any 

 one who wishes to use it. A good- 

 sized Spanish onion, after being 

 boiled for a short time, will yield, 

 on being pressed, quite a large 

 quantity of very adhesive fluid. 

 This is used extensively in various 

 trades for pasting paper onto tin, 

 or zinc, or even glass, and the ten- 

 acity with which it holds would 

 surprise any one on making the 

 first attempt. It is a cheap and 

 good mucilage, and answers as 

 well as the more costly cements. — 

 Invention. 



The Last Word. 



"The ostrich is a queer bird," 

 said Mr. Blykins. "There's no 

 excuse for its behaving in the way 

 it does. When it sees an enemy 

 coming, it sticks its head into the 

 sand instead of running." 



"That's its nature," replied his 

 wife. 



"I know it, but just the same it 

 isn't logical." 



"Oh, yes, it is, dear." 



"How do you make it out." 



"It's ornithological." — Washing- 

 ton Star. 



Among other good things procur- 

 ed by Messrs Ridgeway, Palmer 

 and Brown in their recent Florida 

 trip, Mr. Brown collected a num- 

 ber of Carolina Paroquets. 



