THE MUSEUM. 
39 
§aturat psstflty. 
Zoology.— An Aged Tortoise. —During a 
recent ramble, I came across a common box 
tortoise (Cistudo clausa) which, as is my cus¬ 
tom, I turned over, to see what name, if. any, 
might be engraved upon its under shell. To 
my surprise and delight, the following was 
found to be distinctly cut upon the plastron, 
“ J. Abbott, 1821.” A close examination con¬ 
clusively showed there could be no mistake 
in the date, and it was evident that sixty-four 
years ago my grandfather had found and 
marked the tortoise in the manner described. 
I found the animal within a hundred yards 
of the house then occupied by my grandfather, 
and it is probable, therefore, that at or near 
this same spot the creature was found and 
marked more than half a century ago. 
The tortoise was by no means a large 
specimen, measuring but four and one-half 
inches in length, by a little less than four in 
width. Evidences of great age, however, 
were not wanting. The edge of the upper 
shell had been broken, and the fractured part 
worn very smooth. The yellow markings of 
both the upper and lower shells were scarcely 
to be traced. There was no evidence of any 
appreciable increase in size since the name 
and date mentioned were cut. c. c. a. 
Something to Look For. —In the summer 
of i860 Dr. Leidy captured a specimen of the 
beautiful tree-toad, known scientifically as 
Hyla Andersonii , in southern New Jersey. 
Since then no others have been found, or, at 
least, have been recorded from the same local¬ 
ity. This, then, is something for our young 
naturalists to look for. It is highly improbable 
that Dr. Leidy’s specimen was the last of the 
race in New Jersey, so it is to be hoped others 
will be recorded, and better yet, something 
learned of its habits. It may be recognized 
by its bright pea-green color, with sides dotted 
with yellow, and a purple band on the side of 
the head. 
Another Desideratum. —There is not, in 
the whole range of zoological literature, one 
word about the breeding habits of the fence- 
lizard of the Eastern and Middle States—the 
Sceloporus undulatus of naturalists. Will not 
some contributor to The Museum give us an 
account of this creature, and particularly, 
when and where it lays its eggs, and how the 
young are cared for until able to shift for 
themselves ? c. c. a. 
Since our last issue, the following additions 
have been made to the Philadelphia Zoological 
Garden:— 
One whistling swan, a bald eagle, wild 
turkey, loon, great horned owl, red-tailed 
hawk, two crows, a sulphur-crested cockatoo, 
a horned lizard, a water turtle, six alligators, 
a pine snake, a painted box tortoise, two Gila 
monsters ( Heloderma suspectum ), one wild 
cat, one raccoon, a common rabbit, four white 
rats, one oryx ( Oryx leucoryx ), three buffa¬ 
loes and five prairie wolves. 
Mr. Edward Potts reports the discovery of 
sponges ( Meyenia plumosa , var.—) growing 
on trees ( Strombucarpus pubescens) on the 
Colorado river, 59 miles S. S. W. from Fort 
Yuma, California, by Dr. Edward Palmer. 
The sponges are nearly spherical in shape, 
and some of them are almost six inches in 
diameter, the dark masses in a dried state 
hanging from the pendant boughs by thou¬ 
sands, like wasps’ nests. Only during por¬ 
tions of May and June are the branches of 
the trees under water, and it is, therefore, 
believed that the sponges are developed 
from the gemmule or statoblast within the 
short period of three to six weeks. 
Ornithology and Oology. —In Nature , of 
May 21st, Mr. Charles Bingham, Deputy Con¬ 
servator of Forests, at Henzada, British Bur- 
mah, records the discovery of the nest of a 
brown woodpecker in an arboreal ants’ nest 
(a small black and red species of Myrmica). 
The interior of this hornet-like structure was 
hollowed out, making a space ten and a half 
inches in diameter. The entrance tunnel was 
bored horizontally in the side of the spherical 
mass, being about four inches long. The fe¬ 
male bird was secured, with two eggs. 
