DOUBLE SAXIFRAGE, AGAIN. At a recent meeting of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, Mr. Meehan exhibited a specimen of Saxifraga Virginiensis having double flowers. Subsequently Dr. J. G. Hunt exhibited a specimen of like character; both were collected on the banks of the Schuylkill River near Philadelphia. The flowers on each specimen were few in number, but of larger size than those noted by Professor Gray in the June number of the NATURALIST. ISAAC C. MARTINDALE, Camden, N. J.

SALIX CANDIDA IN ESSEX COUNTY. - I found this plant by accident in a swamp in Boxford, while on one of the local exploring trips last summer in company with J. H. Sears, who is familiar with that region. I had then the leaves only. This month we went again to the place and found male and female plants abundant in the vicinity of the Pinus resinosa grove. Salix myrtilloides grows there also, but this has been found also in North Reading, Andover, Danvers, and Hamilton. Oakes had S. myrtilloides from "Topsfield" in 1846.

I also send two varieties of Draba Caroliniana, discovered on Salem Neck by Dr. Charles Pickering in 1824. It grows abundantly some years, and is scarce others. There is an acre or two of it. One form is very white beneath the leaves, later flowered and lighter, and having thicker pods than the other, which is darker, with thin pods. Mr. Russell knew the place, and I have watched it every year since 1870. - JOHN ROBINSON, Salem.

SARRACENIA VARIOLARIS.

In 1874 I prepared notes on S. variolaris, in which it was stated, as one of the conclusions reached, that the sweet secretion at the mouth of the tubes was simply a lure to insects and not stupefying or intoxicating as had been supposed. Last year, having read an interesting article on this subject, in which the writer arrived at conclusions directly opposed to my own, I was curious to discover whether I had committed any error, but it was too late at that season to repeat former experiments.

On the 15th of this month, therefore, I procured about midday from a neighboring pine barren a number of leaves of this plant which were brilliantly colored and secreting freely. While still fresh, the upper portions of these leaves were cut off and slit open, thereby exposing the honeyed secretion on the internal surface, which was very abundant and glistening, sweet to the taste and viscid to the touch. These were then flattened out on a large newspaper, the whole surface of which was covered with them. Many house flies were soon attracted and commenced to feed, and I carefully watched their motions without any interruption for the space of one hour. The result was precisely as previously stated. In no instance did I discover the slightest unsteadiness or tottering in any of the flies, although I watched some of them feeding at one spot for at least ten minutes, at the expiration of which time they flew off apparently unhurt. They continued feeding and flying off from the

leaves during the hour I watched them, and certainly not one fell, nor was there any indication at any time of either stupor or intoxication.

These experiments I repeated in the same way on the 25th (but later in the day) and as carefully as on the previous occasion, and with precisely the same results; also on the next morning (26th) with plants which had been collected the day before, and these seemed to secrete still more freely. I ask, therefore, if flies and other insects are indeed intoxicated from eating the honey when they are within the tube, why should not the same intoxication result when the tubes are opened and flattened out? I conclude then (as I did before) that it is only the peculiar conformation of the leaf in its overhanging hood and internal slippery surface which entraps and finally destroys insects, and that the sweet exudation is only a lure, and not intoxicating in any way! I may remark that after flies and other insects slip and stumble, if they were indeed intoxicated or stupefied, it seems likely that they would remain at the lower portion of the leaf, and that their motions would be feeble and sluggish. On the contrary their efforts for escape are most active and vigorous, the flies flying and buzzing continually, and other insects incessantly climbing and falling back! It is only after being exhausted by their efforts that they eventually get slimed by the liquid at the base of the leaf, and stupor then overtakes them.

I have seen ants, and occasionally flies also, fall immediately as they entered the leaves before they could have eaten honey.

I remark further, that if this sweet internal secretion be stupefying, that outside on the wing (the "trail") must be equally so, and therefore insects ought to be found at the base of the leaves on the ground! I have never myself seen such, nor have I ever heard of any other persons observing dead or intoxicated insects outside! J. H. MELLICHAMP, Bluffton, N. C.

Dr. Mellichamp sent, shortly after this communication, two phials of the fluid found at the bottom of the Sarracenia tubes. The bottle marked number one contained fluid collected in 1874; it was clear and without much sediment. It was neutral in reaction. The fluid in the other bottle (number two) was collected partly from the still unopened leaves, at a time when "no rain had fallen for near two weeks." This fluid was turbid, had very little if any taste, and was slightly acid in reaction. Experiments by Mr. B. M. Watson and Mr. Hancox in our Botanical Laboratory confirmed, in the main, the following interesting statement by Dr. Mellichamp: "Pour out a teaspoonful or two of the fluid in an ounce measure, or a small wine-glass. Throw in a fly so that his wings will be wet or slimed. He will in a few minutes cease to struggle and will appear as if dead. Take him out after a while and let him dry, and in about half an hour he will revive." Number one proved to be nearly or quite inert. Number two was very active. The detailed results of Mr. Watson's experiments, which are still in progress, may be published in the August NATURALIST.

BOTANICAL PAPERS IN RECENT PERIODICALS.

Flora, No. 10. Batalin, Mechanism of the Movements of Insect-Eating Plants. H. G. Holle, On the Activity of Assimilation in Strelitzia reginæ (continued in Nos. 11 and 18). No. 11. F. V. Thümen, Notes on "Mycotheca Universalis." H. Leitgeb, On Bilaterality of Prothallia. No. 12. Dr. George Winter, Lichenological Notices.

Botanische Zeitung, Nos. 17, 18, and 19. H. Hoffmann, Experiments on the Culture of Variable Forms of Achillea Clavennæ, Aquilegia vulgaris, Avena orientalis, Hordeum trifurcatum, Papaver Rhoas, Plantago alpina, and P. maritima, Polygonum amphibium, Rumex scutatus, Silene rupestris, Triticum turgidum. Dr. J. Peyritsch, With Reference to the Ovular Theory. No. 20. Dr. H. Banke, The Development of the Ascomycetes.

ZOÖLOGY.1

THE MOUNTAIN BOOMER, OR SHOWTL. - This name is applied in Oregon to the Aplodontia leporina, or "Sewellel," a rare rodent of the Pacific coast. According to Dr. F. S. Matteson, of Coquille, Coos County, Oregon, "the animal in question is found living in communities, and burrowing into the dry hills and mountain spurs in the 'burns' of this region. It is called 'mountain boomer,' and makes a kind of booming noise. It is also called 'mountain beaver,' as in its appearance and burrowing habits it remotely resembles the beaver. It is a vegetarian, subsisting most probably on barks and roots, and is a rarity even here, being exceedingly shy and difficult to catch." We add the following account by Dr. Matteson in his own words:

The showt inhabits the western slope of the "Coast Range" of mountains, from Puget Sound to California. He is a digger par excellence and burrows into the sides of the hills, usually in the neighorhood of a spring. He is patriarchally social, and settles his progeny around him, often forming quite a community. He is of a retiring disposition, choosing the deep recesses of the mountains for his home, and appears to understand intuitively that the white man is to him an undesirable neighbor. He is herbivorous, and is supposed to subsist upon the roots and succulent stems of annual plants, chief among which is the mountain fern, which usually grows luxuriantly near the spot which he selects for his burrow. When the rainy season, which is our winter here, comes, he retires to his under-ground domicil, first covering the entrance with the leaves and stalks of the fern, and proceeds to enjoy himself in the bosom of his family until the return of spring. Whether he really hibernates or not is a disputed point with the showtl sharps of this region, but the weight of authority appears to favor the views of the hibernationists. I know that I have never been able to procure any specimens in winter, and those of early spring are remarkable for seediness, as though a 1 The departments of Ornithology and Mammalogy are conducted by Dr. ELLIOTT COUES, U. S. A.

square meal were among the dim recollections of his past. On the contrary those caught in the autumn are fat, sleek, jolly-looking fellows, like the rest of the inhabitants of this valley.

This animal is called by the people here "marmot," and "mountain beaver," from his slight resemblance to the beaver; but he is more generally known as mountain boomer, from his habit, as it is said, of making a kind of booming noise. And this is all the information I have in regard to his cry or voice.

I am told that his flesh is excellent food, and that the Indians eat him freely, but it has never been my fortune to come into possession of a sample on which I cared to experiment in that direction.

He is seldom seen abroad, being very shy, and is trapped by setting a small steel-trap in the mouth of his hole. But he is exceedingly wary about "putting his foot in it," and, having several entrances to his subterranean dwelling, prefers to go and come by another door, and thus cheat the greedy trapper of his intended victim. He is accredited with being a fightist when captured and goes for his captor savagely, but when caught in a trap, even by a foot only, is usually found dead when the trap is visited. He appears to have no object in life except to dig holes, and eat fern roots. He does no harm, or good either, to the settler or anything else, for that matter. He is neither useful nor ornamental, and the sole purpose of his creation appears to be to furnish a rare and queer animal for curious naturalists to place in their collections. - F. S. MATTESON, M. D., Coquille, Coos Co., Oreg., November 29, 1876. RESTORATION OF THE SIVATHERIUM. Most of our readers have probably never met with the accompanying figures restoring the gigantic

(FIG. 81.) RESTORATION OF THE SIVATHERIUM.

ruminant of the Himalayas, which we copy from the Danish Tidsskrift. This was a Tertiary, probably Miocene, "elephantine stag, having four horns and probably a long proboscis, being in some points between the

stags and the Pachyderms. It is supposed to have had the bulk of an elephant and greater height." (Dana's Manual.)

ANTHROPOLOGICAL NEWS. - The Journal of the Anthropological Institute, for January, is very largely devoted to Polynesian subjects. The following papers are published in full: Notes on a Collection of Skulls from Mallicollo and Vanikoro, by Geo. Busk. Notes on the Nicobar Islands, by W. L. Distant; Signor S. M. D'Alberti's Expedi

(FIG. 82.) RESTORATION OF THE SIVATHERIUM.