Tl^c I2at-UFali§^ 
Crr.Oi.AL Organ of the Kansas City, 
(Mo.) Academy of SciENCES. 
K. B. Tioiiflot, Kditur. 
Charles H. Dawson and Edward T. Ksim, 
Publiciition committee for the Academj-. 
K. U. Trouslot & Co., 
Publisliors and Proprietors, 
I8O0 IN, 6tli 81,, Kansas City, Kas. 
Vii 8 page 24 i-oln;uii Monthly Jouniai, de- 
vulcd tiiall bram-liesi of 
Mnking a Specialt}', liowever, of 
Geohmy, Ornithology and Oology. 
CORRESPONDENCE AND ITEMS UPON SUBJECTS OF l«- 
TEREST TO NATURALISTS SOLICITED FROM ALL. 
TERMS OF SUBSCRIPTION; 
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Sample Copies, - - 5 cts. each. 
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Per year ill Fordyn Countries. 'S(^ Pre 
inium, 50 cts. 
One Dollar's worth ot First-class Speci- 
mens, pre-paid, will be received as payment 
for one year's subscription, bend list" from 
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on apblication. 
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Postal Note or any Expres.s Go's. Order. Un- 
used 1 and 'i ct. U. S. postage stamps will be 
accepted for sums under one dollar. Make 
Money Orders and Drafts payable and ail- 
dress all subscriptions and communications 
to 
R, B. Trouslot & Co., 
Kansas City. 
When Writing for Information, if you wish to 
Ma'^c Certain of a Reply. Please Enclose Stamp. 
Entered at the IvansasCity, K.\NS.\S, Post- 
office, for transmission through tlie mails at 
second class rates. 
Kansas City, May, 1890. 
Methods of Taxidekmv, by I'lcf. Olive 
Davie, announced in the last issue of The 
Naturalist, is receiving universal support 
from the Naturalists and Taxidermists of the 
country but especially from those of the 
West. 
The original draw ings have thus far, to 
our knowledge, been examined by Mr. Frank 
Webster, Boston, publisher of the Ornithol- 
ogist and Oologist, Mr. L. S. Foster, N. Y. 
City, publisher of The Auk, Mr. Frank H. 
Lattin, Gains, N. Y., publisher of The Oolo- 
gist, of Albion, N. Y. and ourselves. Th>; 
O. and O. devoted considerable space to de- 
scribing the drawings and commended Prof. 
Davie's enterprise and devotion to the cause 
in the warmest possible manner. The Oolo- 
gist, published the descriptive circulars in 
full besides nearly an additional half page, 
in which it very truthfully speaks of Prof. 
« Davie as "a publisher that always gives his 
patrons two liundred cents on a dollar." 
Mr. Foster issued handsome invitation cards 
inviting the Naturalists of the metropolis, to 
call and examine the drawings and will un- 
doubtedly refer to them at length in Th« 
Auk. 
The 0. and O. stated that only 500 copies 
would be published. This is undoubtedly 
as Mr, Webster understood it, but should 
such be the case Prof. Davie would be out 
close on to $2,000. The facts are, the edi- 
tion will not be limited to 500 copies, there 
will, however, have to be 500 boni fide 
subscriptions before the order will be placed 
with the publishers, and these original sub- 
scribers will be the only ones who can secure 
the work for $5 00. Subsequent purchas- 
ers will have to pay $8.00 or ^lO.oo. 
Following the example of the 0. and 0., 
we suggested tliat one dollar be sent as a 
guarantee of good faith on the part oi the 
subscriber. We knew at the time that this 
was not absolutely necessary, but thought it 
a wise precaution. Those who wish the 
work, but have not yet responded because 
of the guarantee asked, r.eed not let that in- 
terfear and are requested to senti in their 
names at once agreeing to pay $5.00 on com- 
pletion of the work. 
The Oologist stated that the drawings 
cost ijl.ooo. They were shipped by express 
with that valuation, but, referring to Prof. 
Davie's letter of Feb. 28, '89, we quote; "I 
have iuTesteJ in drawings no less than be- 
tween $1,400. and $1,500." which corres- 
ponds to out statement in the last issue of 
The Naturalist that "the drawings cost 
in the neighborhood of $1, 500. " This har- 
monizes the various statements published 
and will, no doubt, thoroughly clear up the 
matter for some of our rather critical sub- 
scribers. 
Prof. Davie has thus far received the 
bulk of his support from the West, and in 
his usual happy style writes; "My muse, if I 
had any, would sing of llie West." He fur- 
ther very kindly writes; "your zeal has thus 
far brought ia nearly twice as many sub- 
scriptions as have been secvired from any 
other individual." The I'rof. is mistakened 
somewhat, however, when he credits the ed- 
itor of this paper with all the results, for Mr. 
E. T. Keim rendered very material assis- 
tance. Even then, if we were not surround- 
ed with whole souled people who fully appre- 
ciate a good thing w hen they see it, as was 
evinced by Mr. Shaw's subscribing for three 
copies, we would not have been so success- 
ful. 
The very liberal manner in which the va- 
rious publishers referred to above have gra- 
tuitously supported Prof. Davie's efforts is 
highly appreciated by him and leads him to 
hope that the remaining subscripti ns neces- 
sary will speedily come in. 
When a work of this magnitude is under- 
taken by as prominent an Author and as 
sk'llful a Taxidermist as Prof. Davie, indi- 
viduals need not hesitate for a moment about 
sending in their subscriptions, especially 
when it is endorsed by all the leading scien- 
tific Journals of the country. The names 
and addresses of the 500 subscribers, ne- 
cessary before publication will begin, will al- 
so appear. This will be a new feature; each 
subscriber will have the satisfaction of know- 
ing he was one of the "original 500" who, 
willing to assist a good cause had the cour- 
age to subscribe before the work was is- 
sued. He will he rewarded by saving at 
least four dollars in the price of the book. 
Those who have already subscribed can 
still further assist by sending to Prof. Da- 
vie, Columbus, Ohio, for circulars for dis- 
tribution among your friends and also for 
blanks on which to record other subscrip- 
tions. 
Several of our foreign subscribers for 
Vol. IV have objected to the manner in 
which we substituted the Literary Compan- 
ion for No. 3 of The Naturalist, Had 
they read the i. C, they would have noticed 
that the leading article, "Recent Discovery 
of F'ossils in Kansas City, Mo.," was writ- 
ten for The Naturalist and originally ap- 
peared in No. 3, of which we unfortunately 
do not have even a single copy, hence the 
substitution. We have had no complaints 
from our U. S. subscribers, and trust this ex- 
planation will be satisfactory. 
Yesterday we were honored by a visit 
from Prof. L. L. Dyche of the Kansas State 
University. Since Prof. Snow's promotion 
as Chancellor of the University, Prof. Dyche 
will have full charge of the Zoological de- 
partments. 
The increased duties necessitates the ap- 
pointment of two assistants, which w ill al- 
low the Prof, the usual amount of time for 
field work. We were highly entertained by 
descriptions of several of his extensive trips, 
thirteen of which have been taken in the in- 
terests of science for the benefit of the Uni- 
versity. The last one, in British America, 
occupying about six months, we have re- 
ferred to before in these columns. 
The Prof, is already arranging for an- 
other trip in British America in quest of 
large mammals aud other specimens for the 
University. He will probably start in July 
and will be absent six months or longer. 
Vernon L. Kellogg, who, as associate 
editor of the Lawrence Journal, wrote sev- 
eral excellent articles on Kansas Birds, was 
recently elected as professor of Entomology 
in the Kansas State University. 
Lately, the Signal Service of Kansas 
City received a very novel instrument 
which combines the work of three machines. 
It registers accurately the rain fall to .05 of 
an inch, every five minutes it records the di- 
rection of the wind and it also shows the 
velocity of the wind in miles per hour. 
We received a pleasant call this week, 
from Rev. John Bennett of Kansas City, 
who was accompanied by Mr. Parish, also 
of Kansas City, and by Prof. R. R. Rowley 
o* Curry ville. Mo. 
Field and Armstrong is the name of a 
new firm of collectors nt Brownsville, Tex. 
They are successors to H. M. Field. 
Rhode Island is being stocked with 
Tennessee quail — Exchange. 
Several hundred pairs of California Quail 
weie shipped to Tenn. via. Kansas City. 
The Naturalist's vacation came un- 
expectedly. So unexpectedly that there was 
no time for announcements. Further ex- 
planations are unnecessary. Tl e next two 
issues, Nos. II and 12, will follow at once. 
Subscriptions will now only be taken for 
Vol. IV, all back numbers of which can be 
furnished except No, 3, for which a substi- 
tute is given containing the leading article 
published in that issue. Communications 
and subscriptions may be addressed to 
The Naturalist. 
Kansas City. 
Collectors having duplicates for ex- 
change arc requested to examine the Ex- 
change li'-t on 8th page of this issue. 
