154 



NATURAL SCIENCE NEWS. 



stone, and auriferous quartz. Salt 

 is shown in many forms, not in the 

 least curious being the statue of 

 Lot's wife, of heroic size, cut from 

 a solid block of salt from the fa- 

 mous salt mines of southern Louis- 

 iana. [The Editor of Natural 

 Science News expects to spend the 

 months November and December 

 at the Exposition and has been of- 

 fered a position as Lot's wife's 

 right-hand man, which will doubt- 

 less be accepted. When you visit 

 Atlanta go to the Minerals and For- 

 estry Building — find Lot's wife 

 and there you will find "Lattin." — 

 Ed.] 



In the Georgia State Building is 

 an exhibit that somewhat parallels 

 this, except that the display is con- 

 fined to products of the mines of a 

 single state; and it is supplement- 

 ed here, too, by displays that seem 

 to be an epitome of all that is 

 shown elsewhere. For almost 

 every department of the whole 

 fair is paralleled in miniature in 

 the building that has been reserv- 

 ed by the Empire State of the 

 South for her own people. 



There is, in brief, a vast deal 

 here which may be studied with 

 profit in a large and general way, 

 and which may be investigated 

 more closely by those who would 

 discover what the South has to of- 

 fer. The result can hardly fail to 

 be favorable to the section that 

 has organized the exhibition, and 

 will without doubt have some in- 

 fluence upon the trend of emigra- 

 tion for the next decade. All who 

 can do so should try and visitAtlanta 

 during the remaining months of 

 the year, and they will at least be 

 able to gain fuller knowledge of the 

 South than they have previously 

 possessed, and more than they 

 would be able to gather by many 

 weeks of travel though it, with its 

 much greater attendant expense. 

 As educators, we cannot overlook 

 the value of these great fairs, and 

 within its limits, the Atlanta Ex- 

 position is worth)' of the greatest 

 commendation from this point of 

 view. — J. K, R. in The Cultivator 

 Country Gentleme?i. 



Dr. A. E. Foote Dead. 



Dr. Albert E. Foote the distin- 

 guished scientist, and one of the 

 best known dealers in minerals and 

 scientific books in America, of Phil- 

 adelphia died on Oct. 1 1 in Atlanta, 

 Ga.,to which place he had gone in 

 charge of the Pennsylvania miner- 

 al exhibit. He had been in poor 

 heath for some time and was in 

 the habit of spending the winter in 



a warm climate. He had no idea 

 the end was so near and believed 

 that his strength would be renew- 

 ed if he could get to Florida. 



Dr. Foote was born in Hamilton, 

 N. Y. February 6, 1846. After 

 graduating at Courtland Academy, 

 Homer, N. Y.,he entered the class 

 of 1867 in the University of the 

 State of Michigan, where he took 

 the degree of doctor of medicine, 

 being especially distinguished for 

 his earnest work and scientific at- 

 tainments. After some time spent 

 as an instructor at Ann Arbor, he 

 was appointed assistant professor 

 of chemistry and mineralogy in the 

 Iowa State College, which he held 

 for five years, being very success- 

 ful as a teacher. 



In 1875 Dr. Foote removed to 

 Philadelphia, and began the build- 

 ing up of a world wide business in 

 minerals and scientific books. He 

 was a life member of the Academy 

 of Natural Sciences, of the New 

 York Museum of Natural History 

 and the American Association for 

 the Advancement of Science. In 

 1872 he married Miss Augusta 

 Matthews of Iowa, who with two 

 sons and a daughter, survives him. 

 Dr. Foote's extended travels both 

 in this country and Europe made 

 him well known in scientific cir- 

 cles. 



Dr. Foote was one of the most 

 liberal patrons of the advertising 

 columns of Natural Science News, 

 and its readers will be pleased to 

 learn that the business with which 

 he was identified for the past 20 

 years, will be continued with Mr. 

 Warren M. Foote, a son of the de- 

 ceased, as manager — a position 

 which he has practically held for a 

 number of years. 



The Study of Beetles. 



The study of insects is economi- 

 cally one of the most important 

 branches of Zoolog)', for insects 

 play a most important part in the 

 raising of almost all farm crops. 

 But besides this money value, there 

 is another a cultural value of the 

 study. 



Entomology is one of the best of 

 studies to cultivate the powers of 

 discrimination, and the collecting 

 of insects demands close observa- 

 tion and the exercise of ingenuity. 

 It is easily carried on in connec- 

 tion of other branches of natural 

 science, or with manual or profes- 

 sional labor. Any one who has 

 any call to be out of doors in the 

 country or small towns may be in 

 some degree an entomologist. 



In comparison with the branches 



of higher zoology, mammalogy, or- 

 nithology, herpetology and ichthy- 

 ology; entomology affords an im- 

 mensely larger variety of instinct 

 and structure. This variety gives 

 greater room for new discovery. 

 The Arthropoda preserve their dis- 

 tinctive character better than the 

 other invertebrates; and so afford 

 good study material without the 

 manipulations required by plants, 

 worms, mollusks, and minute ani- 

 mals. Among the Arthropoda, the 

 Insecta are more accessible than 

 the Crustacea; the Hexapoda more 

 readily preservable than Arachni- 

 da and Myriapoda, and more numer- 

 ous than all of the other classes and 

 sub-classes put together. 



There are certain difficulties in 

 all studies, and perhaps the great- 

 est, in the study of insects, is the 

 scattering nature of literature and 

 the resulting difficulty and cost in 

 securing all the works on even one 

 family of insects. This may be 

 remedied in a measure by subscrib- 

 ing for the few papers published 

 on this subject, and thus getting in 

 touch with the working body of 

 entomologists. There are but two 

 such papers published in this con- 

 tinent. . They are the Canadian 

 Entomologist, published at London, 

 Ontario, and the Entomological 

 News, of Philadelphia. 



In such an extensive study, the 

 student must limit his studies. An 

 entomologist will do well to study 

 some one order of insects. Of the 

 seven generally recognized orders 

 of insects, the Coleoptera present 

 the greatest advantage in variety 

 of form and habits, and the least 

 difficulty of collecting and preserv- 

 ing for cabinet specimens. 



The killing of insects has always 

 been a point of controversy among 

 entomologists. I find alcohol the 

 best means for killing beetles as it 

 does not affect their color, it leaves 

 them pliant long after those killed 

 by other methods are stiff and 

 brittle, and it is sure of results. 

 Other very good death-dealing 

 agents are potassium cyanide, 

 chloroform, and carbon disulphide. 



Although many appliances are 

 recommended for collecting insects, 

 four will answer nearly every pur- 

 pose. They are the alcohol bottle, 

 the sweep-net, the dredge, and a 

 stout bladed pocket knife or better 

 a butcher knife. Any wide mouthed 

 bottle will do for a collecting bot- 

 tle. The sweep-net may be con- 

 veniently made by fastening a stiff 

 wire frame to a short hard-wood 

 handle and securing to it a flour 

 sack. An easy way to make a 

 dredge is to fasten a patent flour 



