172 
THE NATURALISTS’ (JOMPANION. 
Mount Etna is in a state of eruption. 
Shocks of earthquakes are also reported 
in the vicinity of the mountain. 
Parties in want of eggs and skins at 
low prices should patronize R. E. Racli- 
ford & Son. See advertisement. 
Professor Elliot, of New York City, 
has been conducting some interesting 
experiments to test the sensibility or in¬ 
sensibility of insects to pain. A dragon¬ 
fly was fastened to a board and its abdo¬ 
men severed from the rest of its body. 
The latter was then fed to the insect by 
piecemeal, which it ate with evident rel¬ 
ish, the parts eaten of course falling out 
of the severed end. Having eaten its 
own abdomen, it was served with six 
spiders and sixty flies, swallowing them 
all and losing them immediately, evi¬ 
dently suffering no pain. 
We are obliged to write an opinion 
on an article from the pen of Mr. W ig- 
glesworth, which appeared in the May 
issue of the Exchanger’s Monthly. In 
speaking of a “rotten material” found 
over skeletons in a West Virginia mound 
Mr. Wigglesworth is of the opinion that 
this “rotten material” was once a tent 
and that the bodies were buried under 
it and then earth thrown over it, and 
that owing to the weight of the earth on 
the tent it fell in and thus made the de¬ 
pression which was found in the top 
of the mound. Mr. W. further states 
that this theory may also apply to simi¬ 
lar depressions found in mounds near 
their crest. Here we disagree. The “rot¬ 
ten material” we believe was a blanket 
thrown over the dead bodies. We can¬ 
not recall any theory ever advanced as 
to the construction of mounds over tents. 
Many mounds were built by dumping 
baskets of earth, one upon and at the 
side of the other. Yet Mr. W. may be 
right and we may be wrong. 
Davie’s New Egg Check List. 
Through the kindness of Professor 
Davie, we have recently received a copy 
of his valuable work, “Key to the Nests 
and Eggs of North American Birds.” 
The work consists of 184 pages and 
contains seven full-page engravings. It 
gives a full and accurate description of 
the nests and eggs of all birds know to 
breed in North America. So minute 
are the descriptions that it seems possi¬ 
ble for any person, with the aid of this 
book, to identify eggs equally as well as 
a veteran oologist. To show the com¬ 
pleteness of the work, we quote the 
following description of the Purple 
Grackle: 
278. Purple Grackle— quiscalus puk- 
PUREUS. Light greenish-white, with 
large dashes and irregular streaks of 
black and brown, in some chiefly at the 
larger end ; in others the ground-color 
is of a rusty brown; these are marked 
chiefly about the larger end with cloudy 
blotches of the same color; four to six 
in number; average size about 1.25 by 
.90, varying greatly in color and size. 
The Crow Blackbird places its nest in 
trees at any height, and it prefers coni¬ 
fers or other thick foliaged kinds; gen¬ 
erally on boughs, but sometimes in a 
hollow, quite often in hollow stubs, in 
low trees near water, and even in bush¬ 
es. The nest is loose and bulky, of 
twigs, hay, grasses, and mud is frequent¬ 
ly used. Bleeds throughout its range.. 
Habitat, Atlantic coast of United States. 
We will send this book post-paid and 
one year’s subscription to this magazine 
on receipt of a one dollar bill. 
Readers, we would like a few moie 
ornithological articles. We have plenty 
on mineralogy. 
