Official Organ of the Kansas City, 
(Mo.) Academy of Sci ences. 
K. B. Trouslot, Editor. 
Charles H. Dawson and Edward T. Keim, 
Publication committee for the Academy. 
K. B. Tronslot & Co., 
Publishers and Proprietors, 
1808 ]N. 6th Si,, Kansas City, Kas. 
An 8 page 24 col mn 11 Monthly Journal, de- 
voted to all branches of 
I^pTUI^flli HISTOID V, 
Making a Specialty, however, of 
Geology, Ornithology and Oology. 
CORRCSPONDCNCC AND ITEMS UPON SUB4CCTS OF IN- 
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Kansas City, February, 1890. 
Several new premiums have been added 
to the list. Look them over carefully and 
then send us so cents for a years subscription. 
We are still short of the October, 1889 
Naturalist. Copies will be thankfully re- 
ceived or good exchange will be allowed. 
Oliver Davie occasionally speaks of his 
forthcoming book on Taxidermy. No doubt 
it will excel all past publications on that 
subject as his Birds of North America excels 
all similar work3. 
When subscribing to The Naturalist. 
we will consider it a favor if you will per- 
mit us to date your subscription from the be- 
ginning of Vol. IV; also please notice 
our clubbing rates in another column. 
We will supply a limited number of sam- 
ple copies of the Naturalist to such of our 
friends as desire to help us by obtaining a few 
subscribers. We can offer no cash remunera- 
tion but will try and cancel all such obligations 
to the entire satisfaction of club getters. 
Mr. David H. Todd, of Kansas City, Mo., 
has our thanks for several fine specimens of 
Jasperized wood from Arizona. He has 
several hundred pounds and is prepared to 
fill orders both wholesale and retail. For 
further particulars we would refer you to his 
"ad" tlsewhdle in tilis pa^r. « 
Mr. C. F. Pleas, of Clinton, Arkansas, 
sends us a fine specimen of Resurrection 
Fern, Pollypodium vulgare, which is de- 
scribed elsewhere. This fern possesses 
all the peculiarities of the Resurrection 
Plant. I he ones sent us were perfectly 
dry and apparently dead, but rapidly re- 
vived on being placed in a saucer of water 
and are now looking vigorous and healthy. 
We are in receipt of several sheets for re- 
cording Ornithological observations. Any 
one interested can obtain similar ones by ad- 
dressing Hon. Edwin Willits, assistant sec- 
retary of Agriculture, Washington, D. C. 
Our observations will necessarily be only of 
the fauna of Kansas City, Kansas and Kan- 
sas City, Mo., but at the end of the year, if 
we mistake not, will have observed not 
a few visitants hitherto supposed to be rare 
in this section. 
A circular received from Samuel A. 
Miller announces the completion, of his 
North American Geology ana Palaeontology. 
Five hundred pages of the work are devoted 
to the definition and laws of Oeology, Strati- 
graphy and Nomenclature. The balance 
of the work, one hundred and sixty lour 
pages, relate to Palaeontology and is pro- 
fusely illustrated witn more than 21)00 fig- 
ures. The volume is highly recommended 
by several state Geologists and is, no doubt, 
well xt-orth the -lis. 00 asked. 
Tmere Is a class of which we think of only 
as "sampljcop\" knaves. When the same 
person wiites mout.i iilter month "Please 
send me a sample copy of your Naturalist 
as I am anxious to subscribe for some Natu- 
ral History paper," it surely flavors of knav- 
ery. VVe are willing and anxic.us to submit 
a sample copy but when it comes to donating 
a year's sub.icrihtion to Tom, Dick and Sus- 
an it becomes monotonous, and should we 
continue to be troubled in like manner sev- 
eral rather "fresh" young people will get 
the benefit of some fre.; advertising. 
Through an oversight on our part we neg- 
lected to acknowledge receipt of a fine spec- 
imen of Crinoidea presented to us in Decem- 
ber, by our friend Mr. David H. Todd, of 
Kansas City, Mo. .\s there is considerable 
confusion as to what the genus and species of 
the various specimens recently found here, 
may ultimately prove to be, we will not ven- 
ture to name it now. The head, arms and 
stomach arL- all well exposed; the specimen 
being some larger than the illustration in the 
October Natukalist. Mr. Todd has our 
sincere thanks for this specimen, which is 
the only representative in our collection of 
the great number of Crinoids found here the 
last few months . 
Good taxidermy is a scarce article, there 
being only a few Taxidermists who have, af- 
ter long years of patient study and practice, 
become at all proficient in their chosen call- 
ing. Skilled workmanship in any profession 
commands good remuneration. Now, hav- 
ing seen, unbeknown to Mr. Allen, several 
examples of his skill, we feel like heartily en- 
dorsing him and our readers will find by re- 
ferring to his half column advertisement, on 
another page, that his prices for good work- 
manship are minimum. We are not person- 
ally acquainted with Mr. Allen, but having 
often heard him well and favorably spoken 
of, we assure our readers that anything en- 
trusted to him will receive his prompt and 
careful attention and further that the utmost 
confidence can be placed in Mr. Allen's judg- 
ment in selecting and filling all orders. 
Prof. Dyche, instructor in Anatomy and 
Physiology at the University of Kansas, also 
Curator of Birds and Mammals, called on us 
recently between trains, on his way home from 
one of his usual weekly lectures. The Profes- 
sor has recently returned from a six months 
hunting expedition in .British America, well 
supplied with skins of the larger maitimals 
found in that country, all of which were 
killed by himself. He is a Taxidermist of 
national reputation, rivaled by no one, not 
even excepting Hornaday, and as he gave 
particular attention to the anatomy of the 
specimens obtained, the University will 
shortly possess the finest group of Mountain 
Sheep, Mountain goat, American Lions, etc. 
in the U. S. as it now possesses the finest 
group of stufled American Bison in the 
world. The Professor is a very pleasant 
gentleman and we trust it will be convenient 
for him to call often. 
The old story oft repeated of the danger 
to be apprehended by the opening of gas wells, 
comes up in new form; originally the locali- 
ty -lamed was China, but the remoteness led 
people to discredit the assertion. Now, an 
English scientist warns the people of the 
United States and says that the average 
pressure at which gas issues from the wells 
is 200 lbs. to the square inch, equal to 28, 
000 lbs. to the square foot, and for each 
square mile, about 458,436,571 tons equiva- 
lent to the weight of a fair sized mountain. 
When the reservoir is exhausted and the 
supporting pressure is withdrawn the super- 
incumbent strata would give away and a 
catastrophe more terrible than an earth- 
quake would follow, but our knowledge of 
terrestial dynamics is so limited and cause 
and aftect so little understood in a matter con- 
cerning so great an area and with such a com- 
plexity of elements involved that it will not 
prevent the work of sinking wells. 
"Extermination ov American Game." 
On page 82 of The Scientific Ameri- 
can for Feb. 8, 1890, is an article headed as 
above, which draws profusely from a recent 
paper by W. T. Hornaday, Chief Taxidermist 
of the Smithsonian Institute, though where 
the paper was published is not stated. From 
it we glean that American Bison in a wild 
state have long been extinct; that the Elk 
and Prong-horned Antelope will be next to 
go; that there are now scarcely 150 head of 
Moose left in the United States; that the 
Black-tailed or Mule Deer is surely being ex- 
terminated; tliat the Rocky Mountain Goat is 
as good as already gone with us; and that 
the Mountain Sheep or Big Horn is sharing 
the same fate. 
Hornaday says Caribou and Virginia 
White-tailed Deer will be hard to exter- 
minate from the fact that both live in 
the "thick woods, the leafy tanglt^s and ever- 
green forests," the Caribou in the same lati- 
tude as the Moose and the Virginia White- 
tail in the Eastern States. The old Hud- 
son Bay Fur Company is practically defunct, 
there being no more furs to be had. Beaver 
Otter, Mink, Martin and Sable being scarce 
trappers are now taking Muskrats antl even 
the little gray Rabbit. The southern fur Seal 
is gone and its northern brother is being in- 
discriminately slaughtered; the California 
Elephant Seal is extinct; the Walrus is rare; 
the great Arctic Sea-cow is gone and its congen- 
er the Manatee, is now a curiosity. Bears, par- 
ticularly theGri7zly, Lynx, Wolves and Fox- 
es are fast going and milliners' taxidermists 
are slaying singing birds in vast quantities. 
Much has been said about the "Great Amer- 
ican Egg-hog" but even the A.O. U. Oologists 
that supply their cabinets in the name of 
Science, with several thousand Warbler eggs 
is a saint with golden crown, and ermine 
robe compared with the vile wretches who, for 
a few paltry dollars, snare, trap, poison and 
shoot the feathered denizens of the forest to 
pamper a fashion persisted in by a few brain- 
less females, or possibly males who happen 
to be "leaders" and are followed by a large 
majority of the feminine race, as one 
block-head sheep follows another. With 
the fact that our animals are practically ex- 
terminated, and that the demand on the 
feathered tribe is increasing, is it not high 
time that National laws be passed and en- 
forced, protecting the birds, especially the, 
; Warblers? : 
