136 
The Naturalists’ Companion. 
THE HOOP-SHAKE. 
In the January number of this paper 
we published an article requesting any 
of our readers who had ever seen a hoop- 
snake to give us the particulars. A 
number of scientific journals have made 
similar requests, with the desired 
of learning to a certainty whether in I'e- 
ality such a reptile ever existed, but have 
not been very successful ; a number 
of persons answering that they knew of 
people who had seen them, etc., but no 
one appeared willing to state that they 
themselves had seen one. The follow¬ 
ing answer which we recently received 
will certainly throw considerable light 
on the subject. 
Steamboat Rock, Ia., March 28, ’86 
Mr. C. P. Guelf. 
Dear Sii": — 
The inclosed request found in 
the Naturalists’ Companion for Janu¬ 
ary, I can answer, as I have seen two 
hoop-snakes in north-western Arkansas, 
Washington county, in the valley of the 
White river. One of the snakes foimed 
a hoop very nearly as large as a barrel, 
and quite as perfect in outline. As we 
approached, it 1 oiled over the ground 
at a greater velocity than I had ever seen 
a snake crawl. 'Phe hoop formed by 
the other snake was not as large as that 
of the first. 1 stood within ten feet of 
the later, when a gentleman threw a 
large stick which struck it with great 
force, and it separated into about twenty- 
five pieces, or sections, as it were, almost 
instaneously. This 1 could never have 
believed, had I not seen it with my own 
eyes. The reason I knew them to be 
hoop-snakes was because they formed 
perfect hoojis. 
Yours very respectfully. 
Miss Clella Waite. 
A LARGE COLLECTIOM 
OF EGGS. 
What is probably the largest private 
collection of eggs in the world is in the 
possession of Mr. William Sloate, of 
Wembdon, Bridgwater, England. The. 
catalogue of this famous collection, is¬ 
sued in 1884, contains 2,154 species, 
and embraces eggs from all parts of the 
world. In-turning over its pages one 
cannot but wonder how so many species ' 
could be acquired by one person,and the | 
patience, skill and perseverence lequis- | 
ite must have been astonishing. 
Some idea of its completeness may be 
gained from the fact that the eggs of the p 
order raptores alone number 131 spe-p 
cies, and they include those of many 
very rare birds. Mr. Sloate has been:, I 
especially fortunate in obtaining many 4 
very rare species, and those alone would | 
form a most valuable collection.—O r-sJ 
NTPHOLOGIST & OOLOGIST. j i 
Our next issue will be enlarged, and | 
in an entirely new and beautiful form, j; 
Hundreds of bright colored parrots, , 
were seen near Brownwood, Texas, last,'J 
summer (supposed to have come from \ 
Central America), something which has^ 
never hap[iened before. There were also^ ; 
a great many more crows than usual, r 
Many of the superstitious people of that^ 
l)lace consider it an omen of bad luck.^ 
The vast rock quaries around the^' 
city of Burlington, Iowa, are an al-l 1 
most unbroken mass of crinoids or stone', 
liliies. Many of the finest cabinets in 
the world have specimens of this locali¬ 
ty. It is said that turists may be seen 
daily, hammer in hand, in search of. j 
treasures rarely to be found elsewhere; 
A little collection made by Dr. Wach- 
smuth, of Burlington, sold for >^5,000. 
