1878.] 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
187 
<k miL-S 5 OMMMo 
'I'lae Mcnag'ei’ie IPrizes. 
If you have read about “ Our Menagerie,” you will have 
noticed that some words are printed in Italics. There 
are fifteen of these words, and these form the subject of 
the prize. Ten prizes will be given—flve to boys and 
five to girls—for the best articles written upon these 
words. They are mostly words not. in use in common 
conversation, as they mainly belong to natural history, 
but they are words that every intelligent person should 
know all about, and the looking of them up, and the 
thoughts they may suggest, will be very useful to you, 
even if you do not win a prize. Of course you will have 
to consult dictionaries and other books, and ask ques¬ 
tions of older people. I do not care how you get the in¬ 
formation, if you only come at it somehow and write it 
down, as in that case you will probably never forget it. 
Take these words as texts, and write down all that they 
suggest to you. I give the^vords and some hints to 
help you. 
1. Amphibious.— The meaning of this has already been 
given. What animals not enumerated in “ Our Mena¬ 
gerie ” are amphibious ? What shell-bearing animals ? 
2. Mammals .—What are these ? What animals are not 
mammals ? What animals that are sometimes called 
fishes are mammals ? 
3. Carnivorous. — Name some carnivorous animals. 
What are animals that are not carnivorous called ? What 
is man in this respect? 
4. Menagei'ie. —The meaning of the word, and what 
language is it from ? 
5. Vertebrate. —Definition. Mention ten widely differ¬ 
ent vertebrate animals. What are those not vertebrate 
called ? Mention some. 
6. Locomotive Appendages .—Mention all the different 
kinds of locomotive appendages that you can think of. 
7. Pachyderms. —What are they ? What useful domes¬ 
tic animals are pachyderms ? 
8. Hemisphere. —Give definition and illustration from 
geography. 
9. San Diego to Monterey. —Upon what ocean did I sail, 
and in what direction? Tell what you know about 
these places. 
10. Lustrous. —Meaning and examples of tilings that 
are lustrous. 
11. Esquimaux. —What are these people ? Where do 
they live ? What noted travelers have visited them ? 
What one was lost ? 
12. Whale.— Where found. For what hunted. 
13. Icebergs.— Describe. 
14. Domesticated .—Meaning of word. Name all the 
domesticated mammals you can think of. 
15. Walrus. —In my account of ” Our Menagerie ” I 
had not space to describe the Walrus. Let us see who 
will give a description good enough to publish. 
Conditions.— All competing for prizes must send their 
articles directed to “The Doctor, 245 Broadway,” and 
they should reach me by June 1st. In order to make 
allowance for mail delays, I will give five days’ grace, 
and none that come after the last mail on that day will 
be opened. 
The Jirst prize for boys and girls each will be a large 
Worcester’s Dictionary. The others will be good and 
useful books. 
Each article must give full name and age, as the age 
will be considered in makiug up the awards. Of course 
you will have to consult books, but I expect each one to 
give the facts in his or her own language. 
The time is short, but there are good working even¬ 
ings in May, and I expect a splendid lot of responses 
from my yonng friends. Tiie Doctor. 
Aunt Site’s Puzzle>ltox. 
CROSS-WOIID. 
My first is in ocean but not in bay. 
My next is in daylight but not in ray. 
My third is in unit but not in one. 
My fourth is in chase but not in run. 
My fifth is in eagle but not in crow. 
My sixth is in sprout but not in grow. 
My seventh is in Spain but not in France. 
My eighth is in sword but not in lance. 
My ninth is in burning but not in fire. 
My whole is what each one should strive to ac¬ 
quire. • Clayton Cole. 
CONCEALED FURNITURE. 
1. Yours is the nicest oven 1 ever saw. 
2. Tell mother that Abel got his tobacco to-day. 
3. I can not walk to your licuse, you live so far oft'. 
4. I should be debased in my own estimation. 
5. Uncle Ben churns regularly every day. 
fi. The man left his tools in the garden. 
Chas. W. S. 
DOUBLE ACROSTIC. 
The initials and finals name a powerful country. 
1. A post-office in Maine. 
2. A post-office in no less than a dozen different States. 
3. A river in the West. 
4. A river in North Carolina. 
5. A river in Europe. 
fi. A river that rises in Minnesota and empties in the 
Mississippi. Jes. 
ANAQRAMS. 
1. Hail to its pies. 
2. Got real mice. 
3. No tacit one can. 
4. A ship enters. 
6. Able items. 
6. Peril its aim. 
7. Go, Montreal coin. 
8. Victim run once. 
9. Greet one rain. 
10. Is’t regal I am ? 
PATCHES, CUTTINGS, AND FRAGMENTS. 
1. Half of one city and the whole of another make an 
insect. 
2. A girl’s nickname, a boy’s nickname, and another 
nickname transposed form an animal. 
3. Turn a mischievous animal into a stupid one, and 
vice versa , by changing their heads. 
4. Take the whole of one coin and part of another, to 
mako a third coin. Adolpii M. Nagel. 
ELLIPTICAL SENTENCE. 
(Supply the blanks with words pronounced alike but 
spelled differently.) 
Will Evans went to see a certain party married, and 
was asked by his friend the-to-him about the 
-if he thought it-. N.Travis. 
NUMERICAL ENIGMAS. 
1. I am composed of 24 letters: 
My 24, 18, 10, 13, 14, is to be carefully guarded against. 
At my 14, 7, 8, 22, 3, everybody is welcome. 
My 9, 11, 15, 23, 22, is painful to the eyes. 
My 2, 22, 1, 12, is a metal. 
My 5, 4, 20, 21, 19, 6, 17, is a position. 
My 4, 16, is a pronoun. 
My whole is a proverb. 
C. M. 
2. I am composed of 11 letters. 
My 5, 6, 6 is where my 7, 9, 6 is often found. 
My 6, 2, 2, 4 is a corner. 
My 8, 5, 6 is a receptacle. 
My 3, 2, 10, 11 is much used by dressmakers. 
My 7, 10, 9, 1 is surly. 
My whole is a bird. Keen Rosb. 
ANSWERS TO PUZZLES IN THE MARCH NUMBER. 
Arithmorems.— 1. Tenement. 2. Endow. 3. Ooze. 
4. Osier. 5. Eyelet (I-let). 6. Extend. 7. Iowa. 8. 
Sieve. 9. Arm. 10. Six. 
Numerical Enigma.— Comfortable. 
Cross-Word Enigma.— Milwaukee. . 
Pi.—Content is the true Philosopher’s stone. 
Square Words.— 
1 . WORD 
ODOR 
ROTA 
DRAW 
2. HOLD 
OHIO 
LINE 
DOES 
Puzzle.— Sword, word, rod, O ! 
Hidden Cities. —1. Easton. 2. Saratoga. 3. Salem 
4. Batavia. 5. Charleston. G. Dover, Andover. 
Aliont Aunt Sue’s Prizes. 
Perhaps some of you would like to know how we arc 
getting along with the prize competition. I have already 
(March 7th) received a great many specimens, but am 
sorry to say that four-fifths of them have gone into the 
scrap-basket; some as utterly senseless, and others with 
an extra w, or an n short, or some other letter missing 
or over. Let mo tell you how I proceed. I first read the 
transposition, and if there is “ no sense to it ” I pop it 
into the basket; if it is pretty sensible—for instance : 
“A little new book! Can I have it? Try hard; no 
one will succeed with ease, no merits it who is earnest 
in will.—Mr. N. M. Mertenn ’’—then I study its merits, 
somehow thus : “ That signature is rather far-fetched ; 
however, there might have been a ‘Mr. Martenn-’ in 
some quarter of the globe, somewhere. The sentence 
is pretty good—how is it with the number of letters ? 
Ninety-four; so far right. A’s all right; 1, i. t. e, n, 
right; w’s and s’s wrong; so that won’t do." 
Those that are sensible and correct I file away for 
future reference; and about May 20th we shall decide 
which are the best six. Should there be a dozen equally 
good I haven’t the least doubt in the world but what I 
can coax O. J. & Co. to double the prizes. I have 're¬ 
ceived one sample to which I must object on account of 
its inelegance, though it answers the requirements in 
other respects. It is not of a kind I should like to publish. 
I am sure that Tenn can do better. Now, my 
dear puzzlers, I hope these hints will make you very 
careful. Aunt Sue. 
Our Jlciiageric. 
Barnum is starting out with his great show of boasts, 
and doubtless many of our boys and girls will see his 
collection of rare and strange animals. But many more 
will not see them, so I propose this month to have a 
little menagerie of our own. What animals shall we 
choose? Perhaps the best will be those that you see and 
hear the least about. So we will take some less-known 
animals of the Seal family. I see that Barnum has two 
of these, a Seal and a Sea-Lion, but they are very diffi¬ 
cult to keep, especially in hot weather, as they are natives 
of very cold countries, and he may soon lose them. 
The members of the Seal family are all amphibious,. 
You will think that a pretty hard word to begin a de¬ 
scription with, but it is one in rather common use. We 
get it from the Greek words for both and life, and it is 
applied to those animals that live two kinds of lives— 
one in the water .and the other upon the land. If you 
ever have occasion to use the word, do not make the 
mistake of the conceited and ignorant showman, who 
described the Hippopotamus as “ an amphibiliousa nimai, 
ladies and gentlemen ; so called because it can’t live in 
the water and dies upon land.” The Seal family are all 
mammals , and are carnivorous— words which I do not in¬ 
tend to tell you the meaning of, for a reason you will see 
before I get through. So with other words I shall use. 
Just notice the words that are printed in what is called 
Italic type, and you will see why I have them so printed, 
and why I do not explain them as I go along. Our me¬ 
nagerie is a small one, and we must get out of it all the 
instruction possible. The seal family have long bodies, 
which are very limber and supple when we consi¬ 
der that they are vertebrate animals. Their striking pecu¬ 
liarity is in their locomotive appendages, which are very 
different from those of most animals. The forward two, 
or arms, are short, and so enveloped in skin that they 
appear like paddles or flippers, the fingers being con¬ 
cealed. The hinder limbs are covered with skin so as to 
look much like the tail of a fish, the long toes being 
joined by a web such as we see in most aquatic birds. 
Although these animals are capable of rapid motion in 
the sea, the most of them make but an awkward figure 
upon land, as they move by wriggling the body, and aid 
their progress by the use of their flippers. If their mo¬ 
tion is not elegant, it is often astonishingly rapid when 
we consider the size of the animals. Living mainly in 
Arctic seas, the animals of the Seal family are well pro¬ 
tected from the cold by a very thick layer of fat imme¬ 
diately beneath the skin, and the skin itself has usually 
a double coat of fur, which when wet lies so close as to 
be really water-proof. Some of them, such as the Walrus, 
look as if they belonged to the Pachyderms , but this j r ou 
will find, if you examine the matter, is not the case. This 
will do for a general description of the family, and we 
will now look at the individuals in our collection. The 
best known is the 
COMMON SEAL, 
which is the lower right-hand animal. This is found in 
the waters of botli hemispheres, preferring the colder re¬ 
gions, though it often finds its way into mild climates. 
This seal is usually about five feet long, sleek and smooth, 
with‘fur yellowish-gray variously marked with brown. 
In going from San Diego to Monterey, I once had a fine 
chance to see these animals. Droves of them would be 
seen witli their heads above water, and as the steamer 
approached would stare at us with their great, lustrous 
black eyes, and then disappear beneath the water. Seals 
are hunted for their furs, which are very valuable, as 
well as for the oil which their bodies furnish. Seal- 
fishing used to be carried on in small vessels, and was 
formerly considered very dangerous ; but now steamers 
are built purposely for the business, and the work of 
catching them is so much easier that it is feared they 
will soon all be destroyed. The seal is almost necessary 
to the existence of the Esquimaux. What all the pro¬ 
ducts of the land are to us in furnishing 113 with heat, 
light, food, and clothing, such the seal is to the Esqui¬ 
maux. Tiie fat or blubber of the animal is burned in 
stone lamps, and furnishes heat to both warm tiie hut 
and to cook the food—though the Esquimaux eooking is 
little other than thawing, as they prefer most of their 
food raw. You would not like to live a long while with 
the Esquimaux, where raw Seal and Walrus are the 
common food, and a piece of the lip of a Whale chewed 
raw is considered the finest possible dessert. Tiie Seal 
being of such value to the Esquimaux, a great portion of 
their industry is devoted to catching it. At tiie very 
lowest portion of the engraving are shown the summer 
and winter methods of Seal-hunting. Tiie picture at the 
right-hand you will know is the summer hunting, as the 
water is not frozen. The hunter is fastened into his 
peculiar canoe—woe to him if he upsets—and goes about 
among the dangerous icebergs to hunt for Seals, which he 
captures by the use of a narpoon attached to a line. In 
