36 
THE NATURALISTS’ COMPANION. 
parent opening. In the true tor¬ 
toises the feet are club-shaped and 
the claws blunt, and the neck can be 
wholly withdrawn within the shell.” 
A COLLECTIJVG EXCJJR- 
SIOX, 
One day, meeting my friend on 
the street, I said to him : “Lets go 
down to Barker’s Falls after geologi¬ 
cal specimens ?” 
“All right,” he answered. 
A few moments later we were 
trudging down the tow-path of the 
Black River Canal. We were each 
armed with hammer, chisel and a 
stout bag. 
The town of Boonviile had grown 
dim in the distance. Soon a lock- 
house appeared. Crossing over from 
the lock-house, we walked through 
a rocky field,and soon the rumble and 
roar of the waterfall was heard,and in 
a few minutes we were below it. 
There had just been a heavy rain, 
and the water poured over a high, 
rocky ledge, making a beautiful cas¬ 
cade. On the side opposite us was 
a high cliff. A fter gazing at the falls 
for a short time, we began to search 
for specimens. A cry of delight 
from my friend soon brought me to 
his side. He held in his hand an 
almost perfect orthoceratite. It had 
a long shell which was divided into 
a great many chambers, 
“Isn’t it a beauty?” he asked. 
“A daisy,” I replied. 
I soon stopped, for at my very 
feet, firinly imbedded in the rock, 
was a fine specimen of fossil coral. 
Now I in turn uttered a cry of de¬ 
light, which likewise brought my 
friend to my side. After admiring 
it for some time we again began to 
look about us. Thus passed the 
day, and a pleasant day it was, and 
when night came we returned home 
with our bags well filled with fine 
specimens. Franklin C. Johnson. 
SILVER SWARD, 
“What is silver sward?” This 
probably would he the first of many 
questions the reader would ask upon 
seeing the title. Silver sward close- 
13 ’ resembles grass, hut it is covered 
by a kind of soft down of a silvery 
color, from which it takes its name. 
Its root, for my specimens seem to 
have but one, is broad and flat; 
somewhat like a claw. Only one 
place in this wide w’orld boasts of 
this strange plant. It grows on the 
summit of the famous living vol¬ 
cano, Mona Loa, in Hawaii. There 
it is also scarce, as the wdld goats 
obtain their scanty existance upon 
it. In such places only where these 
creatures are unable to reach it is it 
to be found. J. Allen, Jr, 
THE DARTER. 
(PLOTUS ANHINGA.) 
This odd bird is very closely alli¬ 
ed to the cormorant, but it has a bill 
longer than the head, straight, slen¬ 
der, and very sharp-pointed; it has 
a remarkable long neck, from which 
it derives the name of snake-bird. 
It lives on fish, which it strikes with 
its sharp bill, and by which the fish 
is pierced, as with a dart, and hence 
the name darter. Its length is about 
three teet, from tip to tip of wings, 
is five feet, and the bill is four inch¬ 
es long. The color of this bird’s 
neck, and all the under parts, is 
greenish-black ; the tail is black. 
