.NATURAL SCIENCE NEWS. 



151 



ious parts of America. These are 

 polished like the similar instru- 

 ments made of stone. These im- 

 plements are frequently mentioned 

 by early writers. Wood, speaking 

 of the Indians of New England, 

 says that their canoes were made 

 of pine trees, which, before they 

 were acquainted with English 

 tools, they burned hollow and 

 scraped smooth with clam and oys- 

 ter shells. The great majority of 

 scraping implements obtained from 

 the mounds, graves, and shell 

 heaps of the Indians are simply 

 valves of Unio or clam shells, un- 

 altered except by use. 



The first explorers of the Atlan- 

 tic coast found many of the tribes 

 tilling the soil with unworked 

 shells lashed to rude handles, the 

 shell most frequently used being 

 that of the clam. 



The use of shell in the manufac- 

 ture of fishing implements seems 

 to have been almost unknown on 

 the Atlantic coast, but hooks of 

 shell are very plentiful in the bur- 

 ial places of the Pacific coast, and 

 are frequently so well shaped as 

 to excite admiration. 



Among the Caradjis of Australia, 

 and several other peoples, a sharp 

 shell is used for tattooing. 



The Indian chief Powhatan tor- 

 tured his enemies with the shell of 

 a mollusk, and his wives made use 

 of the same kind of implement for 

 cutting their hair. 



The Indians of Florida used the 

 shell of the Busycon as a club head 

 in the manufacture of their casse- 

 tetes. 



A rather novel use of shells by 

 the Indians is mentioned by early 

 writers. The two valves of the 

 small mussels or clams were made 

 to do service as tweezers for pull- 

 ing out hair. 



The spiral column of certain un- 

 ivalve shells was used by the In- 

 dians for making pins. Some of 

 these were pointed at both ends, 

 while others had heads like the 

 pins of civilized people. The ex- 

 act uses to which these objects 

 were applied are unknown. The 

 favorite idea archaeologists seems 

 to be that they were hairpins, used 

 by the savages to dress and orna- 

 ment their hair. 



Shells were largely used by the 

 American Indians for the manufac- 

 ture of articles of personal adorn- 

 ment, such as beads and gorgets 

 for money. 



The Friendly Islander wears the 

 orange cowry as a mark of chief- 

 tainship. Anothe r cowry is used by 

 the Asiatic islanders to adorn their 

 dress, to weight their fishing nets, 



and as a medium for barter. The 

 New Zealander polishes the Elen- 

 clnts into an ornament more bril- 

 liant than the pearl eardrops of 

 classical or modern times. 



Shells, especially of the large 

 species of Buccinum, have been 

 quite frequently used as musical or 

 calling instruments. In antiquity, 

 the name of the war trumpet was 

 that of the Buccinum, which had 

 been used from the remotest times. 



The Polynesians use a sort of 

 marine trumpet made of the shell 

 of a huge mussel. 



The Corsican mountaineers, in 

 their wars with the Genevese, used 

 a marine shell as a horn. On all 

 the islands of the Pacific the Tri- 

 ton is the conch blown as the signal 

 of war. The Lambis serves as a 

 hunting horn to several savage na- 

 tions. 



Throughout Province, princi- 

 pally during harvest time, horns 

 made of Buccinum undatum are us- 

 ed for calling the laborers to work 

 and also for corresponding to great 

 distances by means of sounds pre- 

 viously agreed upon. Upon the 

 seacoast of Upper Brittany large 

 whelk shells are used for the same 

 purpose. 



Shells were among the number of 

 musical instruments of the Peru- 

 vians. The}' were also used by 

 the Mexican priests in their religi- 

 ous ceremonies. 



The chank shell ( Turbinclla py- 

 rum ) is carved by the Cingalese, and 

 several varieties of it, from which 

 the priests administer medicine, 

 are held sacred. 



The valves oiAnodonta escula are 

 used as skimmers in Brazil, and 

 the shells of an Ampullaria serve 

 to dip up caoutchouc gum. 



The mussel shell has a few ap- 

 plications. When polished, it is 

 made into needle books, scent bot- 

 tle holders, earrings, pincushions, 

 etc. 



Some of the cockle shells are 

 made into pincushions, and the 

 shell-flower maker uses them to 

 form the hop and other imitations. 

 Common, cheap pincushions, are 

 made of the whelk and many oth- 

 er shells. 



Large quantities of small shells 

 enter into trade use for making 

 shell flowers and different articles 

 of shell work. 



The shells chiefly used for imi- 

 tation flowers are parts ofj the 

 valves of barnacles, Dentalium, 

 Oliva, Marginella, Strigella,Pholas, 

 Cardium, etc. 



Of late, among the curious uses 

 to which the Turbo and some oth- 

 er shells have been put in Europe 



is for pipe bowls. 



The shell of a species of Mitra 

 is used for the same purpose by 

 the inhabitants of the Banshee 

 group. 



The shell of the pearly nautilus 

 is made into a drinking cup by the 

 inhabitants of the East, and that 

 of the N. Pompilius is often mount- 

 ed on a stand in Europe and used 

 for holding flowers. 



The shell of an Anodonta is used 

 for the bridge of musical instru- 

 ments by the Mittoo tribe in Africa, 

 and round fragments of the shell 

 are used by them for gambling 

 purposes. 



In Japan, the iadies play a game 

 with the valves of shells with de- 

 signs painted upon them. 



The "green snail" of the dearers 

 {Turbo olcarius) is very largely 

 used for ornamental purposes. 

 Slices of the shell ground down to 

 a thin surface are employed for in- 

 laying various articles. Buttons, 

 earrings, and other objects are 

 made of it, and also very pretty 

 ornamental stands that open with 

 a spring and inclose scent bottles, 

 etc. Of late years handsome sec- 

 tions obtained from this shell have 

 been largely used for ornamental 

 buckles for hats, shoes, and belts. 



Fine, large shells of this species 

 formed the drinking goblets of 

 the Scandinavian monarchs, and 

 are often still met with, very ele- 

 gantly mounted and set in jewels. 



Another shell of this genus, the 

 Turk's cap, from the west coast of 

 Africa, is used for, 'making 'small 

 articles, such as caskets, ^scent bot- 

 tle holders, brooches, etc. — Set. Am. 



What is an Insect? 



Many who have not studied the 

 subject of entomology would think 

 spiders, scorpions, centipedes and 

 such to be insects, but the follow- 

 ing article which I take from Rev. 

 J. G. Wood's beautiful work on 

 "Insects at Home" will convince 

 him of his mistake. 



"Insects are technically describ- 

 ed as being articulated animals, 

 breathing by tracheae, divided in- 

 to three distinct portions — viz, the 

 head, the thorax and the .abdomen 

 — passing through a series of trans- 

 formations, and having in the per- 

 fect or "winged" state six articu- 

 lated legs and two antennae. 



It would be advisable for every- 

 body interested in Natural History 

 to bear these few facts in mind, so 

 as he may be able to give a short 

 and correct answer should the 

 question be brought before him. 



Hermann Schwarz, 



St. Louis, Mo. 



