NATURAL SCIENCE NEWS. 



107 



life, and will not be surprised to 

 learn that these little sand caves, 

 with their equable climate, per- 

 manent and abundant moisture, 

 perpetually and hospitably open 

 to the outer air, afford an asylum 

 and a domicle to a most interesting 

 assemblage of animals. The list 

 of these, when it shall have been 

 completed, bids fair to become a 

 long one. 



Not only the Florida burrowing 

 owl, rattlesnake, the rabbit, the 

 raccoon and the opossum find in 

 them a temporary shelter, but 

 another vertebrate also, a frog, 

 here takes up its permanent abode 

 and lives on terms of perfect 

 friendship with the gopher. This 

 frog is the sub-species Rana areo- 

 lata asopus, a beautiful form, with 

 soft subterranean coloration and 

 crepuscular, toad-like habits.* 



It is not rare, nearly every goph- 

 er hole harbors one or several spe- 

 cimens. They may be seen at even- 

 ing sitting just outside the entrance 

 of the burrow, and frequently in 

 the morning or on cloudy days 

 their soft radiant eyes may be de- 

 tected gleaming out of the shad- 

 ows a few feet back from the en- 

 trance. It is not easy to capture 

 them, except with a baited hook 

 and line, for at the slightest alarm 

 they leap quickly down the yawn- 

 ing throat of the gallery and dis- 

 appear from view. Specimens of 

 this frog have been seen which 

 would weigh more than a pound, 

 and individuals of colossal propor- 

 tions are reported to exist. 



In January and during July of 

 the present year more than a doz- 

 en species of articulates have been 

 discovered living in the gopher 

 holes. The majority are unde- 

 scribed and new to science. 



Two only are parasitic upon up- 

 on the gopher: (i) a large tick, 

 which fastens itself upon the skin 

 of the animal or to the sutures cf 

 the shell; (2) a gigantic acarus, a 

 quarter of an inch in length, which 

 does not remain upon the body of 

 the gopher but attacks it within 

 the nest, which, like the bed-bug, 

 it never quits. Some of the bur- 

 rows are infested with these blood- 

 sucking mites and others appear 

 to be entirely free from them. 



The dung of the gopher furnishes 

 food to five beetles and one inter- 

 esting caterpillar of a moth. All 

 of ^these are new and peculiar 

 forms, presenting characters that 

 indicate subterranean habits of life. 



* Mr. Fred'k C. Test, of the National Mus- 

 eum.who kindly determined the species, writes: 

 "Only one specimen, the type, is in the mus- 

 eum collection or presumably in any other." 

 The type specimen came from Micano'py, Fla.. 

 probably without notes of habits, etc. 



A large wingless cave cricket, ap- 

 parently a Phalangopsis swarms in 

 all the burrows. 



Three predatory beetles, one of 

 which, a new species of Ant lie us, 

 may prove to be a prowler from 

 without, have been found within 

 the galleries. 



A very large specimen of the 

 whip-tail scorpion ( Telep/iomts)-wdiS 

 found in one of the burrows. It 

 was living in a short gallery of its 

 own, which opened into the nest of 

 the gopher at the lowest level. A 

 minute Pseudo-scorpion is also found 

 at the lower end of some of the 

 burrows. 



A flea of undetermined species, 

 of which a single specimen was 

 found in one of the holes, may 

 prove to be an intruder, left be- 

 hind possibly by some mammalian 

 visitor. 



The following is a review of the 

 animal parasites and messmates of 

 the gopher: 



Vertebrate. 



1. The gopher frog, Kan a areo- 

 lata ersopns. 



Articulates. 



1. Copris, new sp. Feeding on 

 dung of gopher. 



2. Onthophagus, sp. Feeding 

 upon dung of gopher. 



3. Saprinus, new sp. Feeding 

 upon dung of gopher. 



4. Saprinus, sp. Feeding upon 

 dung of gopher. 



5. Aphodius, new sp. Feeding 

 upon dung of gopher. 



6. Staphylinide, probably a Phil- 

 onthus. Predatory. 



7. Trichopteryx, sp. A species 

 found also outside. 



8. Anthicus, new sp. One spe- 

 cimen only. 



9. Pyralid moth. Caterpillars 

 feeding upon dung. 



10. Cave cricket (undeter- 

 mined ). 



11. Acaride parasite of the 

 gopher (undetermined). 



12. Gopher tick ( undetermined) 



13. Pseudo-scorpion (undeter- 

 mined ). 



14. Whip-tail scorpion. Pre- 

 datory intruder. 



15. Flea, probably a mammal- 

 ian parasite. 



Most of the insects have been 

 submitted to Mr. E. A. Schwarz, 

 of the Department of Agriculture, 

 Washington, D. C, and to him I 

 am indebted for the determinations 

 given above. — Henry G. Hubbard, 

 Detroit, Mich. , in Science. 



New Museum for Philadelphia. 



Plans have been prepared and 

 accepted for the erection of the 

 new museum in connection with 

 the University of Pennsylvania for 

 archaeological and kindred codec 

 tions to be placed in the University 

 grounds adjacent to the proposed 

 Commercial and Economic Muse- 

 um which the city of Philadelphia 

 maintains now, occupying the 

 Pennsylvania Railroad buildiug. 

 The new museum will cost $1,500,- 

 000. This, in connection with the 

 city plant and the Wister Institute 

 which the University has already 

 erected, will furnish a Museum for 

 public use worth $4,000,000. — A T . 

 Y. World. 



A Kansas botanist writes us as 

 follows: "If you have space in 

 your valuable paper I wish you 

 would please give some hints how 

 to preserve fungi, especially toad- 

 stools and mushrooms. How to 

 preserve them for a collection or 

 herbarium. I have tried all ways 

 but I never succeed." 



The Great Auk ard Egg in the Academy 0 

 Natural Sciences of Philadelphia- 



Mounted bird:— About twice the 

 size of Razor-billed Auk, white breast, 

 webbed feet; back, tail and neck black; 

 neck white from breast, meeting the 

 black neck half way up in a triangle: 

 wings short and black; eyes black, with 

 white spots, about size of a half dollar, 

 and bean-shaped between the eye and 

 bill on both sides; bill about four inches 

 long, black with gray markings radiat- 

 ing downwards and forwards; bill three 

 inches long, three inches thick and one- 

 fourth of an inch broad, and tapering 

 to a point. Bird was abundant on At- 

 lantic coast, now entirely extinct; none 

 seen since f 844. 



Egg:— One of three in the U. S , the 

 other two in the museum of Vassar col- 

 lege, Poughkeepsie, N. Y, ; and at the 

 Smithsonian Institution, Washington D. 

 C. This egg is quite large and a hand- 

 some specimen, being twice the size of a 

 Murre, and similar iu markings to same. 

 Ground color is of dark white or buff 

 with irregular markings of brown 

 streaks principally at the larger end. 

 The egg is exceedingly rare being worth 

 several thousand dollars I am told. 



M. T. Cleckley, M. D. 



Philadelphia, 



