80 



NATURAL SCIENCE NEWS. 



he is slowly dissolving. Beetles, 

 moths, larvae of numerous kinds, 

 including large woolly caterpillars, 

 all go the same way. The hymen- 

 optera are represented by ants, 

 but I have never found any spe- 

 cies of bee, though I have search- 

 ed diligently for that special pur- 

 pose. 



The statements of certain botan- 

 ists that the pitchers are "half- 

 filled with water containing drown- 

 ed insects," and "that it is difficult 

 to believe that they have any con- 

 nection with the economy of the 

 plant," need revising. A chemi- 

 cal analysis of the fluid is wanting, 

 but it is a secretion of the plant 

 and not rain-water. The con- 

 struction of the plant makes it im- 

 possible for rain to enter. Fur- 

 thermore, I have seen a plant 

 which had been cut off at the root 

 send up a new leaf, mature its 

 pitcher, secrete its fluid, and be- 

 gin business, during a period in 

 which no rain had fallen. 



In every healthy pitcher may be 

 found insects still alive and strug- 

 gling; others dead; others further 

 down in the mass, coarsely broken 

 up; and at the bottom only a pulp. 

 The fact that the elytra, mandibles 

 and other hard parts of beetles, 

 are dissolved with the rest, shows 

 that the plant has remarkable di- 

 gestive powers. Unlike animals, 

 it has no means of rejectfng un- 

 suitable portions of food. Every- 

 thing goes. The front door is al- 

 ways open, there is no back door, 

 all sorts of visitors enter, none es- 

 cape, ever}' shred disappears. — 

 Science. 



A Recent Addition to the Agas- 

 siz Museum. 



There has been placed very re- 

 cently in the Agassiz Museum of 

 Cambridge the beginning of a col- 

 lection of birds, the gift of Mr. 

 William E.D. Scott, of Cambridge. 

 As yet the collection numbers only 

 56 cases, containing about 250 spe- 

 imens — not large as public collec- 

 tions go, but shown as a beginning 

 of a museum of birds which it is 

 hoped will some day surpass in in- 

 terest and curiosity anything of the 

 sort in the world. 



In each case are two or more 

 birds beautifully prepared and very 

 nicely mounted in life-like atti- 

 tudes; not on plain wooden bases, 

 as in most museums, but perched 

 on the limbs and twigs of trees and 

 bushes, clinging to the bark, or 

 standing on a natural base of 

 mossy stones. 



The cases themselves are not of 

 the ordinary kind; each is set flush 

 with the wall, a separate cabinet 

 being devoted to each species. 



The collection thus far is to il- 

 lustrate a single point of ornithol- 

 ogy — the color of the plumage as 

 influenced by sex, by age, by the 

 season of the year, by geographi- 

 cal distribution or by mere freak- 

 ishness of nature; or — a point quite 

 as important — as remaining unin- 

 fluenced by the same conditions. 

 The point illustrated is fully ex- 

 plained in the label attached to 

 each case. Under a case of Screech 

 Owls {M. asio) the label reads as 

 follows: 



"The upper bird of this group 

 is an adult female taken at Pocan- 

 tico Hills, Westchester Co., N. Y. 

 in the breeding season. The low- 

 er bird is an adult female taken in 

 October at Tarpon Springs, Flori- 

 da. This is an example of a now 

 migratory bird ranging over a 

 large area. The different environ- 

 ment of individuals widely separ- 

 ated has produced birds apparent- 

 ly scientifically distinct, there be- 

 ing in this case a very marked dif- 

 ference in size. A series of Screech 

 Owls collected along the Atlantic 

 sea-board at various localities, 

 would show a gradual change from 

 one extreme to the other. The 

 Florida Screech Owl is recognized 

 as a geographical race of the com- 

 mon Screech Owl." 



The influence of sex is shown by 

 a dozen or more cases — a pair of 

 Am. Eiders regarding each other 

 from the rocks which form their 

 base as naturally as if in their na- 

 tive elements: two Bluebirds 

 bringing material for their nest in 

 the hollow of a decayed limb (rath- 

 er an unusual sight this year) and 

 so on through a familiar list of our 

 common birds. Three Robins 

 show the effect of the summer and 

 winter in toning down the bright 

 red breast of spring. 



A little farther on four Scarlet 

 Tanagers, all adult males, show 

 individual variations in the shade 

 of their glowing plumage. Next 

 dichromatism or a difference not 

 merely in shade but in the basic 

 color itself, is illustrated by a 

 Screech Owl mottled grey, and an- 

 other mottled red. 



A still more striking example of 

 this same dichromatism is in ,a 

 large case of 15 Blue Herons shot 

 at anj r time you please and rang- 

 ing in age from young to old, but 

 in color varying from pure white 

 through white pied with dark blue 

 to pure dark blue. The next case 

 shows a pair of Stort-tailed Hawks 



of the same sex, but one 'with ajj| 

 pure white the other with a rich I 

 dark brown breast. 



Then several groups of Albinos j 

 are shown — an Albino Mocking jj 

 Bird and an Albino Meadowlark, 4 

 each of these extravaganzas being | 

 accompanied by a bird of normal | 

 plumage. A case of Cottontree I 

 Sparrows from Jamaca show the I 

 effect of age; their plumage vary- I 

 ing from olive to dead black. 

 Three Snowy Herons show the de- 

 velopment of additional plumage — J 

 a young one clad in simple white, 

 but his older relative bearing on 

 the crest, the wings and the breast; 

 the beautiful plumes one sees so 

 often used for millinery purposes. 



Then come a dozen or more 

 cases filled with specimens that do 

 not vary in their plumage. A case 

 of Chickadees in this class is the 

 most striking and lifelike. Anoth- 

 er case contains several "Scott's 

 Rails" — a bird first made known to 

 science by Mr. Scott while collect- 

 ing about 20 years ago on the gulf 

 coast of Florida. 



Such in brief is the scientific in- 

 tention of this collection. The 

 skins are a gift of Mr. Scott, who 

 also raised the needed money to 

 mount and case them. He is very 

 enthusiastic over the possibilities 

 of a museum of ornithology built 

 up on the same vivid and natural 

 plan as the 56 cases already pre- 

 pared. 



In another room, for example, 

 he would show the mental abilities 

 displayed by birds in another, the 

 birds of New England, then those 

 of North America, and finally those 

 of the world. $100,000 would be 

 none too much to build a museum 

 of this kind which should surpass 

 any in the world. 



In the meantime the friends of 

 the Agassiz Museum hope to se- 

 cure a sum of money each year 

 which will enable Mr. Scott to go 

 on making his collection as com- 

 plete as possible, and it must be 

 remembered, even in the small 

 room in which it is now exhibited, 

 it is the most perfect in the coun- 

 try. 



Arthur W. Kirkpatrick, 



Boston, Mass. 



Prof. Huxley. 



Thomas Henry Huxley, LL. D., 

 Ph. D., D. C. L., M. D., F. C. S. 

 Eng., F.R. S., died at Eastbourne 

 at 3:40 p. m., June 29th. He was 

 born on May 4, 1825, at Ealing, 

 Middlesex, and was for some years 



