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The Valley N atura 
Established January, 1878. 
(NATUR/E D I ULCERE MORES.) 
Henry SKaer, PnDlisner> 
"Volume I. 
SAINT LOUIS, MO., FEBRUARY, 1878. 
Number 2. 
THE 
Mi 
THE BEST AMATEUR 
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I3NT THE 'TJjKTT-Q'IST- 
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more space, and for a longer time. 
Address, 
HENRY SKAER, Publisher, 
1213 South Sixth Street, SAINT L O UIS. 
The Progress of the " Valley Natur- 
alist." 
We note with great pleasure the remark- 
able way in which our friends and patrons 
send in their subscriptions the last month. 
As is well known, the last issue was send to 
our scientific friends as a " specimen copy," 
yet it was not as perfect as we intended it to 
be, as we were unable to secure a revise of it 
before it went to " press." However, the 
reader will notice that several improvements 
have been made in its appearance, both in 
neatness and correctness. 
"We hope the Valley Naturalist will 
some day be recognized as the standard 
authority of naturai science in our Western 
States. As we have previously said, its ob- 
ject is to aid the diffusion of natural science 
in a popular form, and to furnish a medium 
of recording the observations of our Western 
Amateur Naturalists. 
We are aware that there are many scientific 
papers in the East, in which a Naturalist can 
publish the results of his observations, but 
there is none in which he can place the many 
minor notes that every working Naturalist 
daily makes, and which, for this reason, how- 
ever interesting they may be, often remain 
forever buried in the note-book of the ob- 
server. 
Instead, then, of wishing to set up as a ri- 
val to our Eastern brethren, we wish to be 
considered rather as aiding and supplement- 
ing their good work. The paper is not ex- 
pected to pay pecuniarily, nor perhaps to 
have more than a local circulation. We in- 
tend to enlarge it whenever our subscription 
list will justify the expense 
Naturalists, we hope, will aid us both by 
subscribing and contributing articles for 
publication. A limited space shall be devot- 
ed to Advertisements, for the benefit of those 
who may have for sale or exchange books, 
collections, etc., of interest to the scientific 
reader. Articles for publication and sub- 
scriptions should be send to the publisher, 
HENRY SKAER, 
1213 South Sixth Street, Saint Louis, Mo. 
An Exposition for the Boys. 
The Juvenile Industrial Exhibition, which 
it is proposed to hold next spring at Ballarat, 
Australia, under the auspices of the Govern- 
ment of Victoria, seems to us to be worthy 
of imitation here. It is to be a grand show, 
gotten up with all the paraphernalia of Inter- 
national Expositions, but its exhibitors must 
be under twenty-one years of age, or else 
apprentices not yet out of their indentures, 
whatever their age. There are twenty-four 
classes, covering all kinds of exhibits from 
machinery to poems, and special prizes are 
announced. It would be an excellant plan 
to undertake something of the kind here, and 
make natural sciences one of its mam feat- 
ures ; viz : have determined collections of in- 
sects, birds, plants, etc. To make it a 
national affair would of course render it too 
ponderous, but such an exhibition might 
easily be carried out in a single state. The 
boys often do capital work, and they get very 
little public encouragement, as they are usu- 
ally employed under other people who absorb 
the glory to themselves. Let us have ex- 
positions of what the boys can do, to be held, 
say next summer, it would be a capital Win- 
ter's work to organize these shows in every 
township, county or state. 
* Kanella Clothrata, Gray. 
This elegant little shell has heretofore been 
supposed to exist only on the Pacific coast. 
But last winter I collected a number of spec- 
imens near Cedar Keys, Florida. And re- 
cently I made a note of the fact for the Amer- 
ican Naturalist, but as it has not yet appeared 
in print, I wish to place the discovery on re- 
cord. Mr. Tryon to whom I submitted the 
shell, was somewhat surprised at its occur- 
rence in Florida, and thought I must be 
mistaken as to locality. But such is not the 
W. W. CALKINS. 
Albino Opossum. 
Prof. Burt G. Wilder, Professor of Com- 
parative Anatomy and Zoology, of Cornell 
University, Ithaca, New York, in a letter 
dated January 4th, says in regard to the no- 
tice of the capture of an albino opossum (Did- 
elpliis virginiana), appearing in our January 
number: " It may interest the readers of the 
Valley Naturalist to know that a similar 
specimen is in the Museum of Cornell Uni- 
versity, a gift from Mr. Green Smith." 
Curiosities of Plant Growth. 
I have several curiosities of plant growth, 
a short description of which may be of in- 
terest to your readers : The first was taken 
from a perfect plant of the Liver leaf {Hep- 
atica acutiloba I). C), which had three 
perfectly developed leaves. In the place of 
the flowers two stems arise from the plant 
surmounted by dark green discs covered by 
minute punctures. These discs are about one 
inch wide, deeply cut by three lobes in the 
upper margin; each division of which is 
cut into two or three sharply pointed divi- 
sions, bearing no resemblance whatever to 
the leaves of the plant. Second, I have a 
specimen of the common climbing or Mich- 
igan rose, found late in September, three 
months after the usual time for flowering, 
in which the sepals and petals are natural; 
but there are only two stamens. In the 
place of the pistel there rises a stem of 
leaves to the height of a foot above the or- 
dinary parts of the flower. 
Galesburg, Mich. F. S. S. 
Well Pleased. 
Office of 
U. S. Geological and Geographical 
Survey of the Territories. 
Editor Valley Naturalist: 
I have to acknowledge your kindness in 
sending me a copy of the Valley Natur- 
alist. I am pleased to observe this evidence 
of active interest in Natural History on your 
part, and hope your new venture will be suc- 
cessful. I shall be pleased to received the 
paper, as I have no doubt it will often con- 
tain matter of use to me in the preparation 
of my books. 
Very truly yours 
" ELLIOTT COUES. 
Washington, D. C. Jan, 5, 1878. 
Another One. 
Ed. Valley Naturalist: 
Allow me to congratulate you upon the 
good promise of your handsome little paper 
— the Valley Naturalist. It merits success, 
and will, I hope be supported heartily from 
all sides. Every Naturalist should feel that 
it is for his interest to sustain it. 
Yours very truly, 
Prof. HENRY S. WARD. 
Rochester, N. Y., Jan. 19, '78. 
Persons receiving copies of the Natur- 
alist who are not subscribers, will please 
regard it as an invi' ation to subscribe. From 
all interested in natural science we earnestly 
solicit a subscription. With your aid, we 
hope soon to be able to enlarge the Natur- 
alist to double its present size. 
The Oaks of the United States. By 
Dr. George Engelmann. Transactions St. 
Louis Academy of Sciences. A notice of this 
paper together with a synoptical table of the 
species, will be found on another page, un- 
der the head entitled " Botany." 
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