_ .lUESDAY,^ NOYEMBEB 16, 1886^ j 
ANIMAL AND VKUBIABLE LIKE. 
souif Iiitei estlnjr Facii Uelftiiupr Thcrrto 
I nu rnrnisUvd b) NntiirnlUt ItuuJ. 
I 
A geiilknian of this jdafe, who roecsntly 
rohiincd from a tlirtc days* stay at th? far- 
t'Hiuc d duching gruiuids of Hiivre-dc-Grnoe, 
Maiylaiul. presentod to a represeutative oi, 
the Local News a specimen of nu amiatiot 
plant which be culled “Wild Celery,” aud also' 
added, “ihia Tegetftblc iirndnet is th(» chief 
food-stulT of the canvas-backed and red- 
headed dock at Havrc-de-Gi'ftce. Yes!— throe 
' of 118 in two days shot over two hiiudreil 
■ ducks. Canvas-backii wore scarce. We 
seemed but three, the remainder being red- 
. iieads. As nnmerons opinions are ontortainsd 
by sportsmen and others as to the identity of 
Dm plant, which is s&id to be so important an 
item in the dietary of these two familiar 
species of ducks, your reporter took occowon 
to visit our townsman Mr. Benj. M, Everhart, ^ 
a gentleman whose personal field wort and * 
numerous wiitiugs have justly earned f6r him ' 
a reputation as one of the foremost botanical , 
ttUtliorities in this country. 
sir. Everliart after exiiminiug the “Wild! 
Celery** kindly furnished from vatious sources 
the foilowing'factsrelative to the same : ! 
This plant like many others has a variety 
of local names. Borne of the most common ‘ 
which I now call to mind are tape-grass, 
from the tapo-like appearance of the long 
leaves ; chftnnel-weed, as it frequently grows 
in channels where the water flows, nofe.. 
swiftly ; eel-grass'; this name arises, it is saiili i 
hy Dr. Darlington (_Flora Oosirica); “from thol , 
habit which eels have of hiding under thoi j 
tbi^x, only by gunners and watermen at 
Havrc-de-Grace and vicinity — is, I conrfder,! 
like many vulgar fynonynis, a misnomer, as' 
tliis plant is in no particular related to celery/. 
X,. w... region from which your specimen 
jtaineO. It is found in the Brandywiuo 
creek growing in slow running water. 
The ficientiflu name of the plant is VaUis-> 
niria spiralis (Linn), the generic name being 
given in honor of Afttouio VeuHsneri, an Ital- 
ian botanisMhe specific spiralis is applied in 
' conseqiK-ncG of the fact that- the fertile stallc 
in its development assumeB>*ftfe5^l form. It 
is a remarkable dioocioufl^ herbaceous plant 
on account of its mode of 'Jertilization. It 
grows entirely under water, has long radical 
gmaa-like leaves, fi-om 1 to 3 feet long and 
ifrom to 5^ inch wide. The female flowers 
float on the surface at the end of long thread- 
scapes, which curiously contract 
toTO ^nt^ t lflfcr- ^th the rise and fall of t^a 
The male flowers have very shove 
stems pvsrapcs. from which the flowers break 
yffltMd rise to the surface, to fertilize With 
[iSRr pollen the attached, floating female 
pfon’ors. 
• 3’bc leavea of this plant fonii au exceedingly 
beautiful object for microscopic study, the 
I extreme tenuity and transparency of their 
! cellular tissue allowing the observer to watch 
the movement of the fluid contents of tha 
cells, 
CANVAS-BACKED DUCKS. 
Audubon, writing of the food of the can- 
vass-back duck, says: “lb varies according to 
the season and locality. The plant raih'snsria, 
: on which it is said to feed when on the head 
waters of the Chesapeake, is nob found 
' equally abundant in other parts and oven 
there is at times so reduced in quantity that 
this duck and several other species which ara 
equally fond of it are obliged to have recourse 
to fishes, tadpoles, water-lizards, leeches, snaila 
and moliusca, as well ns such seeds as they can 
meet with, all of whioh have been in greater 
or leas quantity found in tJieir stomach." 
' Wilflon, referring to the canvas-back duolw, 
says: ‘iTbey are found in that part of fresh 
tide water where a certain giass-like p^ufc 
grows, on the roots of which they feed, 
i* * The shores are lined ivltb largo quanti- 
ties of it torn up hytlie ducks and drifted up 
' by the winds, lying-like bay in wind-rows. On 
' the aniviil of these birds near Havie-<le-Grac 0 
tli^y tiro cchgvhIIy . Icaiii but such i8 the 
abimanneo of their favorite food that towards 
Die beginning of November they aie in pretty 
good order. They dive after the gvass, tear it 
up and eat onlij tho roots. In the severe ivm- 
ter of 1779-30 the VaUisnena was almost 
w holly destroyed in James River. In the 
mouth of January tjie wind continued to blow 
from west-norlhweat for twenty-one days, 
which caused such low tides in the river that 
the duck grass froze to the ice everywheie,and a 
thaw coming oii suddenly the whole was raised 
bv the roots and carried off by the freshet. 
a;bo next winter a few of these ducks were 
Sfcu but they soon went away again, and for 
nianv years after they continued to be scarce. 
* THE BED-irBADED DUCK. 
Wilson savs this species is a common associ- 
ate of the Canvas-back, frequenting the same 
places and feeding on the stems of the wild 
'^'^Au^nhnn in liis writings on tho Red-headed 
duck stalls: *1 have found their stomach 
orammed with vomig tadpoles audsmaU water- 
lizards, as wcU as blades of the grosses grow- 
ing around the banks. Nay. ou several oc- 
caaioms, I have found pretty large acorns and 
Ibeech-imtsuitbeirthroata, as well as snails, 
Entire or broken, and fragments of the sliells 
* of various email nnios, together with miicU 
j|;raveL" 
