MOLLUSCA—Shells and Shellfish

By Dr. William Healey Dall, of the United States Geological Survey



Among the shy and retiring animals which inhabit our woods and waters, or the borders of the sea, without making themselves conspicuous to man except when he seeks the larger ones for food, are the mollusca, usually confounded with crabs and crayfish under the popular name of "shellfish," except the few which have no external shell, which are generally called slugs. Hardly any part of the world (except deserts) is without them, but, shy as they are, it takes pretty sharp eyes to find them. Some come out of their hiding places {95} only at night, and nearly all our American kinds live under cover of some sort.

The mollusks can be conveniently divided into three groups: those which inhabit fresh water, those which breathe air and live on dry land, and lastly those which are confined to the sea. The land shells, or snails, have generally thin shells of spiral form and live upon vegetable matter, many of them laying small eggs which look like minute pearls. Their hiding places are under leaves in shady or moist places, under the bark of dead trees or stumps, or under loose stone. They creep slowly and are most active after rain. Some of our larger kinds are an inch or two in diameter, (see Fig. 1., the white-lipped) but from this size there are others diminishing in size to the smallest, which are hardly larger than the head of a pin, In collecting them the little ones may be allowed to dry up. The big ones must be killed in boiling water, when the animal can be pulled out with a hook made of a crooked pin, leaving the shell clean and perfect. The slugs are not attractive on account of the slime which they throw out and can only be kept in spirits. Some of the species found in California are as large as a small cigar, but those of the states east of the Rocky Mountains are smaller and have mostly been introduced from Europe, where they do a lot of mischief by eating such garden plants as lettuce.

Many of the fresh-water snails are abundant in brooks and ponds, and their relations, the fresh-water mussels, are often very numerous in shallow rivers. They have a shell frequently beautifully pearly, white or purple, and sometimes have the brown outer skin prettily streaked with bright green.



The principal fresh-water snails are the pond snail (Lymnaea; see Fig. 3); the Physa (see Fig. 6), which is remarkable for having the coil turned to the left instead of the right; and the orb-snail, (Planorbis: see Fig. 4) which has its coil flat. All of {96} these lay minute eggs in a mass of transparent jelly, and are to be found on lily pads and other water plants, or crawling on the bottom, while the mussels bury themselves more or less in the mud or lie on the gravelly bottom of streams. There is also a very numerous tribe of small bivalve shells, varying from half an inch to very minute in size, which are also mud lovers and are known as Sphaerium or Pisidium, having no "common" English names, since only those who hunt for them know of their existence.

On the seashore everybody knows the mussel (Mytilus: see Fig. 5), the soft clam, the round clam, and the oyster, as these are sought for food; but there is a multitude of smaller bivalves which are not so well known. The sea-snails best known on the coast north of Chesapeake Bay are the whelk (Buccinum: see Fig. 2), the sand snail or Natica, which bores the round holes often found in clam shells on the beach, in order to suck the juices of its neighbors, and the various kinds of periwinkles (rock snails or Littorina) found by the millions on the rocks between tides. These, as well as the limpets, small boat-shaped or slipper-shaped conical shells found in similar places, are vegetable feeders. Altogether, there are several hundred kinds found on the seashore and the water near the shore, and a collection of them will not only contain many curious, pretty, and interesting things, but will have the advantage of requiring no preservative to keep them in good condition after the animal has been taken out.



The squids, cuttle-fishes, octopus, and their allies are also mollusks, but not so accessible to the ordinary collector, and can only be kept in spirits.

Books which may help the collector to identify the shells he may find are:

For the land and fresh-water shells: {97}

"Mollusks of the Chicago Area" and "The Lymnaeidae of North America." By F. C. Baker. Published by the Chicago Academy of Sciences.

For the American Marine Shells: Bulletin No. 37. Published by the United States National Museum, at Washington.

For shells in general: "The Shell Book." Published by Doubleday, Page & Co., Garden City, N.Y.

On the Pacific Coast the "West Coast Shells," by Prof. Josiah Keep of Mills College, will be found very useful.

REPTILES

By Dr. Leonhard Stejneger, Curator National Museum

By reptiles we understand properly a certain class of vertebrate or backboned animals, which, on the whole, may be described as possessing scales or horny shields since most of them may be distinguished by this outer covering, as the mammals by their hair and the birds by their feathers. Such animals as thousand-legs, scorpions, tarantulas, etc., though often erroneously referred to as reptiles, do not concern us in this connection. Among the living reptiles we distinguish four separate groups, the crocodiles, the turtles, the lizards, and the snakes.

The crocodiles resemble lizards in shape, but are very much larger and live only in the tropics and the adjacent regions of the temperate zone. To this order belongs our North American alligator, which inhabits the states bordering the Gulf of Mexico and the coast country along the Atlantic Ocean as far north as North Carolina. They are hunted for their skin, which furnishes an excellent leather for traveling bags, purses, etc., and because of the incessant pursuit are now becoming quite rare in many localities where formerly they were numerous. The American crocodile, very much like the one occurring in the river Nile, is also found at the extreme southern end of Florida.

The turtles are easily recognized by the bony covering which encases their body, and into which most species can withdraw their heads and legs for protection. This bony box is usually covered with horny plates, but in a large group, the so-called soft-shell turtles, the outer covering is a soft skin, thus forming a {98} notable exception to the rule that reptiles are characterized by being covered with scales or plates. While most of the turtles live in fresh water or on land, a few species pass their lives in the open ocean, only coming ashore during the breeding season to deposit their eggs. Some of these marine turtles grow to an enormous size, sometimes reaching a weight of over eight hundred pounds. One of them is much sought for on account of the delicacy of its flesh; another because of the thickness and beauty of its horny plates which furnish the so-called tortoise-shell, an important article of commerce. Turtles appear to reach a very old age, specimens having been known to have lived several hundred years. The box tortoise of our woods, the musk turtles, the snapping turtles are familiar examples of this order, while the terrapin, which lives in brackish ponds and swamps along our sea-coasts, is famous as a table delicacy.



The lizards are four-legged reptiles, usually of small size, living on the ground or in the trees, out very rarely voluntarily entering water. The so-called water lizards are not lizards at all, but belong to the salamanders and are distinguished by having a naked body not covered with scales. Most of the true lizards are of very graceful form, exceedingly quick at running; others display the most gorgeous coloration which, in many of them, such as the chameleons, changes according to the light, or the temperature, or the mood of the animal. Not all of them have four legs, however, there being a strong tendency to develop legless species which then externally become so much like snakes that they are told apart with some difficulty. Thus our so-called glass-snake, common in the Southern states, is not a snake at all, but a lizard, as we may easily see by observing the ear openings on each side of the head, as no snake has ears. This beautiful animal is also known as the joint-snake, and both names have reference to the exceeding brittleness of its long tail, which often breaks in many pieces in the hands of the enemy trying to capture the lizard. That these pieces ever join and heal together is of course a silly fable. As a matter of fact, the body in a comparatively short time grows a new tail, which, however, is much shorter and stumpier than the old one. The new piece is often of a different color from the rest of the body and {99} greatly resembles a "horn," being conical and pointed, and has thus given rise to another equally silly fable, viz., that of the horn snake, or hoop snake, which is said to have a sting in its tail and to be deadly poisonous. The lizards are all perfectly harmless, except the sluggish Gila monster (pronounced Heela, named from the Gila River in Arizona) which lives in the deserts of Arizona and Mexico, and whose bite may be fatal to man. The poison glands are situated at the point of the lower jaw, and the venom is taken up by the wound while the animal hangs on to its victim with the tenacity of a bulldog. All the other lizards are harmless in spite of the dreadful stories told about the deadly quality of some of the species in various parts of the country.



The snakes form the last group of the reptiles. Universally legless, though some of the boas and pythons have distinct outer rudiments of hind limbs, they are not easily mistaken. And it is perhaps well so, for unless one is an expert at distinguishing between the poisonous and the harmless kind it is just as well to keep at a respectful distance from them. It is safest not to interfere with them, especially as those that are not poisonous are usually very useful in destroying rats and mice and other vermin, except perhaps those living in trees and feeding on eggs and young birds, which certainly do not deserve our protection. Of course the rattlesnake is not to be mistaken. The horny appendix to its tail, with which it sounds the warning of its presence, is enough to distinguish it. It should here be explained that both lizards and snakes at various intervals shed the outer layer of their skin, the so-called epidermis. This transparent layer, after a certain length of time, loosens and is usually stripped off whole by the animal crawling out of it and turning it inside out, as a tight glove is turned. Now, at the end of a rattlesnake's tail there is a horny cap which is {100} called the button, and being narrowed at the base and more strongly built than the rest of the epidermis it is not shed with the rest of the skin, but remains attached.

Thus for each shedding a new joint or ring is added to the rattle. How often the shedding takes place depends on various circumstances and may occur an uncertain number of times each year. Such a rattle, loose-jointed as it is, is rather brittle and the tip of the sounding instrument is easily broken and lost. It will therefore be easily understood that the common notion that a rattlesnake's age can be told by the number of the rings in its rattle is absolutely erroneous. Another equally common and equally erroneous notion relates to the tongue of the snake, which the ignorant often term its "sting" and which they believe to be the death-dealing instrument. Of course, the soft, forked tongue which constantly darts out and in of the snake's mouth is perfectly harmless. It serves rather as a "feeler" than as a taste organ. The wound is inflicted by a pair of large, curved, teeth or fangs, in the upper jaw. These fangs are hollow and connected by a duct with the gland on the side of the head, in which the poison is formed. Pressure on this gland at the time of the strike—for our poisonous snakes strike rather than bite—squirts the poison into the wound like a hypodermic syringe. The fangs when shed or damaged are replaced within a short time with new ones, so that a poisonous snake can only be made harmless for a short period by breaking them off. Only in exceptional cases need snake bites prove fatal. It is estimated that in North America only about two persons in a hundred bitten are killed by the poison, though many more die from carelessness or bad treatment, the worst of which is the filling up with whiskey, which aids the poison rather than counteracts it. The essential things in case of snake bite are: (1) keeping one's wits; (2) tying a string, or the like, tightly around the wounded limb between the wound and the heart, and loosening it about once in fifteen minutes, so as to admit the poison slowly into the circulation; (3) making the wound bleed freely by enlarging it with a knife or otherwise; (4) if permanganate of potash be handy it should at once be applied to the {101} wound; (5) treat the wound as antiseptically as it is possible with the means at hand and hurry to a doctor.



The danger depends greatly on the amount of the poison injected, hence upon the size of the snake. It is for this reason that the big Florida rattlesnakes which grow to six feet and over are more to be feared than are other poisonous snakes. Of these, we have in our country, besides the rattlesnakes, the water moccasin, or cotton mouth, the copperhead, and the coral snake. The latter is a bright-colored snake of red, yellow, and black rings found in the South, but it is usually small, and not aggressive, so that but few cases of poisoning are known. The other two are common enough, the former from Norfolk, Va., south, the other all over the eastern country from Texas to Massachusetts. They are usually confounded, however, with two perfectly harmless snakes, the cotton mouth with the common water snake, the copperhead with the so-called spreading adder, but as their differences have to be learned from actual inspection and are very hard to express in a description which would help to identify living specimens, it is wisest to keep away from all of them.

See "The Poisonous Snakes of North America." By Leonard Stejneger, published by Government Printing office, Washington.



INSECTS AND BUTTERFLIES

United States Bureau of Entomology

(Illustrations are copies from Comstock's "How to Know the Butterflies," through courtesy of D. Appleton & Company.)

There is an advantage in the study of insects over most other branches of nature, excepting perhaps plants, in that there is plenty of material. You may have to tramp miles to see a certain bird or wild animal, but if you will sit down on the first patch of grass you are sure to see something going on in the insect world.

Butterflies

Nearly all insects go through several different stages. The young bird is very much like its parent, so is the young squirrel or a young snake or a {102} young fish or a young snail; but with most of the insects the young is very different from its parents. All butterflies and moths lay eggs, and these hatch into caterpillars which when full grown transform to what are called pupae or chrysalids—nearly motionless objects with all of the parts soldered together under an enveloping sheath. With some of the moths, the pupae are surrounded by silk cocoons spun by the caterpillars just before finally transforming to pupae. With all butterflies the chrysalids are naked, except with one species which occurs in Central America in which there is a common silk cocoon. With the moths, the larger part spin cocoons, but some of them, like the owlet moths whose larvae are the cutworms, have naked pupre, usually under the surface of the ground. It is not difficult to study the transformations of the butterflies and moths, and it is always very interesting to feed a caterpillar until it transforms, in order to see what kind of a butterfly or moth comes out of the chrysalis.

Take the monarch butterfly, for example: This is a large, reddish-brown butterfly, a strong flier, which is seen often flying about in the spring and again in the late summer and autumn. This is one of the most remarkable butterflies in America. It is found all over the United States. It is one of the strongest fliers that we know. It passes the winter in the Southern states as an adult butterfly, probably hidden away in cracks under the bark of trees or elsewhere. When spring comes the butterflies come out and begin to fly toward the north. Wherever they find the milk-weed plant they stop and lay some eggs on the leaves. The caterpillars issue from the eggs, feed on the milkweed, transform to chrysalids; then the butterflies issue and continue the northward flight, stopping to lay eggs farther north on other milkweeds. By the end of June or July some of these Southern butterflies have found their way north into Canada and begin the return flight southward. Along in early August they will be seen at the summer resorts in the Catskill Mountains, and by the end of October they will have traveled far down into the Southern states where they pass the winter.



The caterpillar of the monarch or milkweed butterfly is a very striking creature. It is nearly two inches long when full grown. Its head is yellow striped with black; its body is white with narrow black and yellow cross-stripes on each {103} segment. On the back of the second segment of the thorax there is a pair of black, whiplash-like filaments, and on the eighth joint there is a similar shorter pair. When this caterpillar gets ready to transform to chrysalis, it hangs itself up by its tail end, the skin splits and gradually draws back, and the chrysalis itself is revealed—pale pea-green in color with golden spots. Anyone by hunting over a patch of milkweed anywhere in the United States during the summer is quite apt to find these caterpillars feeding. It will be easy to watch them and to see them transform, and eventually to get the butterfly.

The same thing may be done with anyone of the six hundred and fifty-two different kinds of butterflies in the United States.



Moths

When it comes to moths, there is a much greater variety.

Instead of six hundred and fifty-two, there are fifty-nine hundred and seventy in Doctor Dyar's big catalogue. Perhaps the most interesting of these caterpillars are the big native silk-worms, like those of the cecropia moth, the luna moth, the polyphemus moth, or the promethia moth. These caterpillars are very large and are to be found feeding upon the leaves of different trees, and all spin strong silken cocoons. People have tried to reel these cocoons, thinking that they might be able to use the silk to make silk cloth as with the domestic silk-worm of commerce, but they have been unable to reel them properly. The polyphemus moth, for example, has been experimented with a great deal. It is found over a greater part of the United States, and its caterpillar feeds upon a great variety of trees and shrubs such as oak, Butternut, hickory, basswood, elm, maple, birch, chestnut, sycamore, and many others. The caterpillar is light green and has raised lines of silvery white on the side. It grows to a very large size and spins a dense, hard cocoon, usually attached to leaves. There {104} are two generations in the Southern states, and one in the Northern states. The moth which comes out of the cocoon has a wing spread of fully five inches. It is reddish-gray or somewhat buff in color with darker bands near the edge of the wings, which themselves are pinkish on the outside, and with a large clear spot near the centre of the forewing and a regular eyespot (clear in part and blue in the rest) in the centre of the hind wing.

One wishing to know about butterflies and moths should consult a book entitled, "How to Know the Butterflies," by Prof. J. H. Comstock of Cornell University and his wife, Mrs. Comstock, published by D. Appleton & Co., of New York, or, "The Butterfly Book," by Dr. W. J. Holland of Pittsburg, published by Doubleday, Page & Co., of New York, and "The Moth Book," also by Doctor Holland, and published by the same firm.



Other Insects

There are many more different kinds of insects than there are of flowering plants, and if we were to add together all of the different kinds of birds, mammals, reptiles, fishes, crabs, mollusks, and all of the lower forms of animal life, they would not all together amount to so many different kinds as there are insects. This makes the classification of insects quite complicated. There are eighteen or nineteen main orders, and each one is subdivided almost indefinitely. There is not one of these that is not full of interest. The habits of ants, for example, living in communities by themselves, afford a tremendous opportunity for interesting observation. A good book about them has been recently written by Dr. W. M. Wheeler, of Harvard, entitled "Ants, their Structure, Development, and Behavior," published by the Columbia University Press, New York.

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Many insects live in the water, and to follow their life histories in small home-made aquaria is one of the most interesting occupations one could have, and there is a lot to be learned about these insects. Go to any stagnant pool and you will find it swarming with animal life: Larvae or "wigglers" of mosquitoes, and a number of other aquatic insects will be found, feeding upon these wigglers. Water bugs of different kinds will be found and the life histories of most of these were until quite recently almost unknown.

Beetles and Wasps

The order Coleoptera, comprising what we know as beetles, has thousands of species, each one with its own distinctive mode of life; some of them feeding upon other insects, others boring into wood, others feeding upon flowers, others upon leaves, and so on in endless variety.

The wasps also will bear study. Here, too, there is a great variety, some of them building the paper nests known to every one, others burrowing into the surface of the ground and storing up in these burrows grasshoppers and other insects for food for their young which are grub-like in form; others still burrowing into the twigs of bushes, and others making mud nests attached to the trunks of trees or to the clapboards of houses or outbuildings.

This is just a hint at the endless variety of habits of insects. The United States National Museum publishes a bulletin, by Mr. Nathan Banks, entitled "Directions for Collecting and Preserving Insects," which gives a general outline of the classification, and should be possessed by everyone who wishes to take up the study from the beginning.

FISHES

By Dr. Hugh M. Smith, Deputy Commissioner United States Fisheries

There is no more fascinating and profitable study than the fish life of the lakes, ponds, rivers, brooks, bays, estuaries, and coasts of the United States; and no more important service can be rendered our American boys than to teach them to become familiar with our native food and game fishes, to realize their needs, and by example and precept to {106} endeavor to secure for the fishes fair consideration and treatment.



Classes of Fish

Fishes may be roughly classified as (1) fresh water, (2) migratory between fresh and salt water, and (3) marine. Among the families of American fresh-water fishes that are conspicuous on account of their size, abundance, or economic importance, or all of these, there may be mentioned the sturgeons, the catfishes, the suckers, the minnows or carps, the pikes, the killifishes, the trouts, salmons, and whitefishes, the perches, and the basses, and sun fishes.

Migratory Fish

The migratory fishes fall into two groups, the anadromous and the catadtomous. The anadromous fishes pass most of their lives in the sea, run up stream only for the purpose of spawning, and constitute the most valuable of our river fishes. In this group are the shads and the alewives or river herrings, the white perch, the striped bass or rock fish, some {107} of the sturgeons, and the Atlantic salmon, all of which go back to sea after spawning, and the Pacific salmons (five species), all of which die after spawning. Of the catadromous fishes there is a single example in our waters—the common eel. It spends most of its life in the fresh waters and sometimes becomes permanently landlocked there, and runs down to the sea to spawn, laying its eggs off shore in deep water.

Marine Fish

The marine fishes that are found in the coastal waters of the United States number many hundred species, some of them of great value as food. Among the most important are cod, haddock, hake, halibut, Flounder, herring, bluefish, mackeral, weakfish or squeteague, mullet, snapper, drum, and rock fishes.



Studying Fish

The study of living fishes is most entertaining and is rendered somewhat difficult by the medium in which they live, by their {108} shyness, and by the necessity of approaching closely in order to obtain any accurate view. The spawning, feeding, swimming and other habits of very few of our fishes are so well known that further information thereon is not needed; and the boy scout's patience, skill, and powers of observation will be reflected in the records that may be and should be kept about the different fishes met with. Fishes may be studied from a bank, wharf, or boat, or by wading; and the view of the bottom and the fishes on or adjacent thereto may be greatly improved by the use of a "water bucket"—an ordinary wooden pail whose bottom is replaced by a piece of window glass. A more elaborate arrangement for observation is to provide at the bow of a row-boat a glass bottom box over which may be thrown a hood so that the student is invisible to the fishes.



Identification of Specimens

While many of the fishes in a given section are easily recognizable, there are in every water fishes which, on account of their small size, rarity, retiring habits, or close similarity to other fishes, are unknown to the average boy. These latter fishes often afford the most interesting subjects for study; and in all parts of the country it is possible for energetic observers and collectors to add to the list of fishes already recorded from particular districts.

When fishes cannot be identified in the field, the larger ones may be sketched and notes taken on their color, while the smaller ones may be preserved with salt, formalin, or any kind of spirits. Specimens and drawings may be forwarded for identification to the zoological department of the local state university, to the state fish commission, to the Bureau of Fisheries, Washington, D. C., or to the United States National Museum in the same city.

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Angling

This most delightful of outdoor pastimes requires for its enjoyment no elaborate or expensive paraphernalia: a rod cut on the spot, a cork float, an ordinary hook baited with angleworm, grasshopper, grub, may-fly, or any of a dozen other handy lures, will answer for most occasions. At the same time, the joys of fishing will often be increased if one possesses and learns how to use a light, jointed rod, with reel, fine line, and artificial baits. The necessary equipment for scientific angling is so light and compact that it should form a part of the outfit of every one who spends much time in the open air.

It should be the invariable practice of anglers to return to the water all uninjured fish that are not needed for food or study. "It is not all of fishing to fish," and no thoughtful boy who has the interests of the country at heart, and no lover of nature, will go fishing merely for the purpose of catching the longest possible string of fish, thus placing himself in the class of anglers properly known as "fish hogs."

Special Service by Boy Scouts

Valuable service may be rendered by boy scouts in all parts of the country by bringing to the attention of the proper state, county, or municipal authorities matters affecting the welfare of the fishes. Among the subjects that should be reported to fish commissioners, fish wardens, or local legal officers are:

(1) All cases noticed where fish are being killed by dynamite, poisons, or other illegal and improper means.

(2) Threatened destruction of fish by the drying of streams or ponds.

(3) The existence of obstructions to the passage of fish on their way to their spawning grounds. All dams in streams in which are migratory fish should have fish-ways or fish-ladders.

Aquarium

William Leland Stowell, M. D.

Every boy should have an aquarium. The aquarium will give ten times as much pleasure as annoyance, and the longer time you have one undisturbed the greater will be its revelations.

A simple tank can be made from a large water bottle or demijohn. File a line around the top and carefully break it off. For the back yard, cut a paint barrel in two or coat a tub inside with spar varnish. Anything that will hold a few gallons of water, two inches of clean sand, and some water plants will be a suitable home for fish and other creatures. A boy handy with tools can make a frame, and with plate glass and proper cement construct a large tank.

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Starting the Aquarium

You can balance your aquarium by plenty of plants. As they grow they give off oxygen which purifies the water and is breathed by the fish. The water need not be changed for years. The swamps and slow streams afford great numbers of plants. If you know the plants get pond weeds, Canadian water weed, ludwigia, willow moss, or tape grass. (Look in the dictionary for official names of the plants or get special books from the library.) Take some tape grass (vallisneria) to your teacher or doctor and ask him to show you under his microscope how the sap flows and the green coloring matter is deposited. The simplest form of vegetation is algae which grows on the sides of the tank. Lest this grow too thick, put in a few snails. Watch the snails' eggs develop in clusters. Buy if you cannot find banded swamp snails that give birth to their young instead of laying eggs.

Any pond or stream will furnish fish that are beautiful or interesting to watch, e.g., killies, sunfish, cat-fish, carp, shiners, blacknosed dace, minnows—the mud minnow that seems to stand on his tail—darters, etc. If you get your supply from dealers, buy gold fish, of which there are several varieties, fan-tailed, comets, fringe tails and telescope eyed. Mirror carp are lively. Paradise fish are as beautiful as butterflies.



Fish Nests

Every one knows something of birds' nests. Did you ever watch sticklebacks build their barrel-like nest, or the Paradise fish his floating nest, and the father fish take all the care of the young? Did you ever see the newt roll her eggs in small leaves, or the caddis fly make a case of bits of stick, leaves, and sand? For a real marvel watch a pair of diving spiders weave their balloon-like nest under water and actually carry air down to fill it, so that the young may be dry though submerged.

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Put in a few fresh-water clams and insects in variety, water boatmen, diving spiders, and whirligigs. A tank of beetles will be full of interest. Always add two or three tadpoles as scavengers, and watch their legs grow out as the tail grows short and they become frogs. You can find or buy a variety of turtles which will soon be tame and eat from your fingers. Do not keep turtles with fish.

On every hike or tramp carry a wide-mouthed bottle for specimens and a piece of rubber cloth in which to bring home water plants. Fish can be carried wrapped in damp moss for hours and will be found well and lively when put in the aquarium.

Fish Food

Fish require very little food other than the minute creatures that develop in the water.

The dealers supply proper foods for aquaria, or you can prepare your own. Fine vermicelli is good for gold fish, scraped lean beef is just what the sunfish and Paradise fish want. Ant eggs suit many fish, and powdered dog biscuit will fill many mouths. It is evident that an article so brief as this is only suggestive. The libraries contain many books of which two are recommended:

"Home Aquarium and How to Care For It." By Eugene Smith, 1902. Published by Dutton, New York.

"Book of Aquaria." By Bateman and Bennett, 1890. Published by L. Upcott Gill, 170 Strand, W. C., London.

ROCKS AND PEBBLES

United States Geological Survey

Geologists study the materials of the earth's crust, the processes continually changing its surface, and the forms and structures thus produced. In a day's tramp one may see much under each of these heads.

The earth's crust is made up chiefly of the hard rocks, which outcrop in many places, but are largely covered by thin, loose, surface materials. Rocks may be igneous, which have cooled from a melted condition; or sedimentary, which are made of layers spread one upon another by water currents or waves, or by winds.

Igneous rocks, while still molten, have been forced into other rocks from below, or poured out on the surface from volcanoes. They are chiefly made of crystals of various minerals, such as quartz, felspar, mica, and pyrite. Granite often contains large crystals of felspar or mica. Some igneous rocks, especially lavas, are glassy; others are so fine grained that the crystals cannot be seen.

In places one may find veins filling cracks in the rocks, and {113} made of material deposited from solution in water. Many valuable minerals and ores occur in such veins, and fine specimens can sometimes be obtained from them.

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Sedimentary rock are formed of material usually derived from the breaking up and wearing away of older rocks. When first deposited, the materials are loose, but later, when covered by other beds, they become hardened into solid rock. If the layers were of sand, the rock is sandstone; if of clay, it is shale. Rocks made of layers of pebbles are called conglomerate or pudding-stone; those of limy material, derived perhaps from shells, are limestone. Many sedimentary rocks contain fossils, which are the shells or bones of animals or the stems and leaves of plants living in former times, and buried by successive beds of sand or mud spread over them. Much of the land is covered by a thin surface deposit of clay, sand, or gravel, which is yet loose material and which shows the mode of formation of sedimentary rocks.

Some rocks have undergone, since their formation, great pressure or heat and have been much changed. They are called metamorphic rocks. Some are now made of crystals though at first they were not; in others the minerals have become arranged {114} in layers closely resembling the beds of sedimentary rocks; still others, like slate, tend to split into thin plates.

The earth's surface is continually being changed; the outcropping hard rock is worn away by wind and rain, and is broken up by frost, by solution of some minerals, etc. The loose material formed is blown away or washed away by rain and deposited elsewhere by streams in gravel bars, sand beds, and mud flats. The streams cut away their beds, aided by the sand and pebbles washed along. Thus the hills are being worn down and the valleys deepened and widened, and the materials of the land are slowly being moved toward the sea, again to be deposited in beds.



Along the coast the waves, with the pebbles washed about, are wearing away the land and spreading out its materials in new beds elsewhere. The shore is being cut back in some places and built out in others. Rivers bring down sand and mud and build deltas or bars at their mouths.

Volcanoes pour out melted rock on the surface, and much fine material is blown out in eruptions. Swamps are filled {115} by dead vegetable matter and by sand and mud washed in. These materials form new rocks and build up the surface. Thus the two processes, the wearing down in some places and the building up in others, are tending to bring the surface to a uniform level. Another process, so slow that it can be observed only through long periods of time, tends to deform the earth's crust and to make the surface more irregular. In times past, layers of rock once horizontal have been bent and folded into great arches and troughs, and large areas of the earth's surface have been raised high above sea-level.



At almost any rock outcrop the result of {116} the breaking-up process may be seen; the outer portion is softer, more easily broken, and of different color from the fresh rock, as shown by breaking open a large piece. The wearing away of the land surface is well shown in rain gullies, and the carrying along and depositing of sand and gravel may be seen in almost any stream. In the Northern states and Canada, which at one time were covered by a great sheet of ice, moving southward and grinding off the surface over which it passed, most of the rock outcrops are smoothly rounded and many show scratches made by pebbles dragged along by the ice. The hills too have {117} smoother and rounder outlines, as compared with those farther south where the land has been carved only by rain and streams. Along the coast the wearing away of the land by waves is shown at cliffs, found where the coast is high, and by the abundant pebbles on the beaches, which are built of material torn from the land by the waves. Sand bars and tidal flats show the deposition of material brought by streams and spread out by currents. Sand dunes and barrens illustrate the carrying and spreading out of fine material by the wind.



In many regions the beds of sedimentary rocks, which must have been nearly horizontal when formed, are now found sloping at various angles or standing on edge, the result of slow deforming of these beds at an earlier time. As some beds are more easily worn away than others, the hills and valleys in such regions owe their form and position largely to the different extent to which the harder and softer beds have been worn down by weather and by streams. The irregular line of many coasts is likewise due to the different hardness of the rocks along the shore.

It is by the study of the rocks and of the remains of life found in them, by observing the way in which the surface of the earth is being changed and examining the results of those changes and by concluding that similar results were produced in former times in the same way, that geologists are able to read much of the past history of the earth, uncounted years before there were men upon it.

Plants, Ferns, and Grasses

By Dr. L. C. Corbett, Horticulturist, United States Bureau of Plant Industry

The appearance of the blossoms and fruits of the fields and forests in any locality note the advent and progress of the seasons more accurately than does the calendar. Plants and seeds which have lain asleep during the winter are awakened not by the birth of a month, but by the return of heat and moisture in proper proportions. This may be early one year and late another, but, no matter what the calendar says, the plants respond to the call and give evidence of spring, summer, or autumn as the case may be. The surface of the earth is not flat. We have valleys and we have mountains; we have torrid and we have temperate zones. The plant life of the world has been adjusted to these varied conditions, and as a result we have plants with certain characteristics growing in the tropics at sea-level, but a very different class of plants with {118} different habits and characteristics inhabiting the elevated regions of this same zone. It must be remembered that even under the tropics some of the highest mountains carry a perpetual snow-cap. There is therefore all possible gradations of climate from sea-level to the top of such mountains, even at the equator, and plant life is as a result as varied as is climate. Each zone, whether determined by latitude or by altitude, possesses a distinctive flora.

But altitude and latitude are not the only factors which have been instrumental in determining the plants found in any particular locality. This old earth of ours has not always been as we see her to-day. The nature we know and observe is quite different from that which existed in earlier ages of the earth's history. The plants, the trees, and the flowers that existed upon the earth during the age when our coal was being deposited were very different from those we now have. There has been a change, but, strange as it may seem, there are in some places upon the earth to-day some of the same species of plants which were abundant during the coal-forming periods. These are among the oldest representatives of the plant world now extant. Then we are told that there was a period when the north temperate zone was covered with a great ice field which crowded down as far as southern Pennsylvania and central Ohio. This naturally brought about a profound change in the location and character of the plants of this region. There are in the Black Hills of Dakota species of plants which have no relatives anywhere in the prairie region, and no means is known by which these representatives of a Rocky Mountain family could find their way into the Black Hills, save that, previous to the ice age, this species was generally scattered over the territory, and that, during the ice age, the species was perpetuated in the hills, but was killed out between there and the Rocky Mountains where it is found in abundance. These are some of the natural reasons for the existence of varied plants in different localities. They are sufficient to explain the reason for the existence of local floras.

But nature has provided untold ways for the perpetuation as well as the dispersal of plants for the purpose of, so far as possible, enabling the plants of the world to take possession of all parts of the earth's surface. If this adjustment were complete, the plants would be practically alike all over the surface of the earth, but we have already explained why this cannot be and why we have a different flora in each zone, whether it be marked by lines of latitude or height of {120} the mountains. Plants are perpetuated by seeds, by bulbs, and by woody parts. Some seeds are highly perishable and must be sown as soon as ripe; others remain years without losing their power to produce plants. Some grow as soon as they come in contact with the soil; others must fall, be buried and frozen before they will germinate. Some plants are perpetuated by bulbs, tubers, or roots in which a supply of food material is stored away to carry the plant over a period when its above-ground parts cannot thrive owing to frost or drought. Upon the return of favorable conditions, these resting parts throw out shoots and again make the round of growth, usually producing both seeds and underground parts for the preservation of the species. There are both wild and cultivated plants in nearly all sections which illustrate these methods of preservation. Besides plants which have bulbs, tubers, or perennial roots, we have the large, woody plants which live many years and so perpetuate themselves, not only as individuals the same as plants with perennial roots; but they, too, as a rule, produce seed for the multiplication of their kind.

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{120 continued}

The agencies which serve to spread plants about over the earth's surface are very varied and interesting. Nature has provided seeds with many appendages which assist in their dispersal. Some seeds have wings, and some parachutes to take advantage of the wind. Some seeds are provided with hooks and stickers by which they become attached to the fur of animals and are in this way enabled to steal a free ride. Other seeds are provided with edible coverings which attract birds, but the seeds themselves are hard and not digestible; the fruit is eaten and the seeds rejected and so plants are scattered. Besides these methods of perpetuation and dispersal, some plants are perpetuated as well as dispersed by vegetative reproduction, i. e., by cuttings as in the case of willows; by runners as in the case of the strawberry; and by stolons as with the black raspberry. (For further information on this point see Bailey's "Lessons with Plants.")

Some plant characteristics, however, of greatest interest to the scout may be enumerated. Plants not only mark zones, but they indicate soils with certain characteristics, and the crop wise say that the soil on which chestnut abounds is suitable for buckwheat or peaches. Plants also indicate the influence of local conditions such as lakes, ponds, or even variations in contour. A knowledge of the local flora of a region will at once tell one whether he is upon a northern or a southern hillside by the plants of the area. The creek bottom will {121} abound with species not to be found on the hillsides, but species common to both plain and mountain will mark the progress of the season up the slope.

In the north temperate zone the moss if any will be found growing upon the north side of the tree trunk. Each hundred feet of elevation in a given latitude makes from one to two days difference in time of blooming of plants. The character of the vegetation of a region is an index to its climate. Certain plants are adapted to frigid regions, others to temperate, and still others to tropical areas. Some plants are adapted to humid sections, while others are admirably adjusted to desert conditions. A knowledge of these differences in plants will be of the greatest value to the scout, and if this is supplemented by information about the value and uses of the various plant products many hardships can be avoided. Many plants produce valuable juices, gums, and resins, while others yield us valuable timber for building and cabinet uses.

While it is impossible to even suggest the great variety of plants found within the confines of the United States, the following books on botany will be found helpful in each of the different sections for which they are designed.

Bibliography

For the botany of the Northeastern United States use:

"New Manual of Botany," 7th ed. Asa Gray.

"Illustrated Flora of the United States and Canada." N. L. Britton and Hon. Addison Brown.

For the botany of the Southern United States use:

"Flora of the Southern United States." A. W. Chapman.

"Southern Wild Flowers and Trees." Alice Lounsberry.

For the Botany of the Rocky Mountain region use:

"New Manual of Botany of the Central Rocky Mountains." John M. Coulter; Revised by Aven Nelson.

"Rocky Mountain Wild Flower Studies." Burton O. Longyear.

"The Trees of California." Willis Linn Jepson.

For general information regarding the shrubby plants of the United States use:

"Our Shrubs of the United States." Austin C. Apgar.

"Our Northern Shrubs." Harriet Louise Keeler.

For the wild flowers outside of those already mentioned for the Southern United States and the Rocky Mountain region use:

"Our Garden Flowers." Harriet Louise Keeler.

"How to Know the Wild Flowers." Frances Theodora Parsons.

"Field Book of American Wild Flowers." F. Schuyler Mathews.

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For the ferns and grasses it will be found worth while to consult:

"How to Know the Ferns." Frances Theodora Parsons.

"The Fern Collector's Guide." Willard Nelson Clute.

"New England Ferns and Their Common Allies." Helen Eastman.

"The Grasses, Sedges, and Rushes of the North United States." Edward Knobel.

For the study of the monarchs of our forests the following books will all be found exceedingly useful:

"Manual of the Trees of North America." Charles Sprague Sargent.

"Trees of the Northern United States." Austin C. Apgar.

"Handbook of the Trees of the Northern United States and Canada." Romeyn Beck Hough.

"North American Trees." N. L. Britton.

"Familiar Trees and Their Leaves." 1911. F. Schuyler Mathews.

Besides these, several states have issued through their state experiment stations bulletins dealing with the local plant inhabitants. In some instances these publications cover forest trees, grasses, and shrubs, either native or introduced. Several of the educational institutions, as well as the experiment stations, now regularly issue nature study leaflets or bulletins which treat of popular subjects of interest in connection with outdoor things. It would be well to write the state experiment station in your state for literature of this nature.

MUSHROOMS, FUNGI, OR TOADSTOOLS

By Ernest Thompson Seton, Chief Scout Revised by Dr. C. C. Curtis

There are thousands of different kinds of toadstools or mushrooms in the world; most of them are good to eat, yet all have a bad reputation, because some are deadly poisonous.

False tests. First of all let us dispose of some ancient false tests that have led many into disaster.

Cooking or otherwise trying with silver proves absolutely nothing. It is believed by many that the poisonous mushrooms turn silver black. Some do; some do not; and some eatable ones do. There is nothing in it.

Bright colors on the cap also mean nothing; many gorgeous toadstools are wholesome food. But the color of the pores {123} means a great deal, and this is determined by laying the fungus cap gills down on gray paper for six or eight hours under a glass.



Poisonous Toadstools

Of all the poisonous kinds the deadliest are the Amanitas. Not only are they widespread and abundant, but they are unhappily much like the ordinary table mushrooms. They have however one or two strong marks: Their stalk always grows out of a "poison cup" which shows either as a cup or as a bulb; they have white or yellow gills, and white spores. The worst of these are:

Deathcup, Destroying Angel, Sure-death, or Deadly Amanita (Amanita phalloides)

One and one half to five inches across the cup; three to seven inches high; white, green, yellowish olive, or grayish brown; {124} smooth but sticky when moist; gills white; spores white; on the stem is an annulus or ring just below the cap.

Fly Amanita (Amanita muscaria)

About the same size; mostly yellow, but ranging from orange red to or almost white; usually with raised white spots or scales on the top; gills white or tinged yellow; spores white; flesh white.

Hated Amanita (Amanita spreta)

Four to six inches high; cap three to five inches across; white, tinged with brown in places especially in the middle of the cap, where it has sometimes a bump.



There are over a score more of amanitas varying in size and color, but all have the general style of mushrooms, and the label marks of poison, viz., white or yellow gills, a poison cup, and white spores.

Emetic Russula (Russula emetica)

In a less degree this russula is poisonous. It is a short-stemmed mushroom, two to four inches high, about the size of the Fly Amanita; its cap is rosy red, pinkish when young, dark red when older, fading to straw color in age; its gills and spores white. Its peppery taste when raw is a fair notice of danger.

Symptoms of Poisoning: Vomiting and purging, "the discharge from the bowels being watery with small flakes suspended {125} and sometimes containing blood," cramps in the extremities. The pulse is very slow and strong at first but later weak and rapid, sometimes sweat and saliva pour out. Dizziness, faintness, and blindness, the skin clammy, cold, and bluish, or livid; temperature low with dreadful tetanic convulsions, and finally stupor.

Remedy: "Take an emetic at once, and send for a physician with instructions to bring hypodermic syringe and atropine sulphate. The dose is 1/180 of a grain, and doses should be continued heroically until 1/20 of a grain is administered, or until, in the physician's opinion, a proper quantity has been injected. Where the victim is critically ill, the 1/20 of a grain may be administered." (McIllvaine & Macadam.)



WHOLESOME TOADSTOOLS

IMPORTANT NOTE.—Experimenting with mushrooms is dangerous; it is better not to eat them unless gathered under expert direction.

The Common Mushroom (Agaricus campestris)

Known at once by its general shape and smell, its pink or brown gills, white flesh, brown spores and solid stem.

Coprinus

Also belonging to the gilled or true mushroom family are the ink-caps of the genus.

They grow on dung piles and rich ground. They spring up over night and perish in a day. In the last stage the gills turn as black as ink.

Inky Coprinus (Coprinus atramentarius)

This is the species illustrated. The example was from the woods; often it is less tall and graceful. The cap is one inch {126} to three inches in diameter, grayish or grayish brown, sometimes tinged lead color. Wash and stew: Stew or bake from twenty to thirty minutes after thorough washing, being the recognized mode.

All the Clavarias or Coral Mushrooms are good except Clavaria dichotoma which is white, and has its branches divided in pairs at each fork. It grows on the ground under beeches and is slightly poisonous; it is rare.

The Delicious Morel (Morchella deliciosa)

One and a half to three inches high; greenish with brown hollows. There are several kindred species of various colors. This is known by the cylindrical shape of its cap. Wash, slice, and stew.



Puffballs (Lycoperdaceae)

The next important and safe group are the puffballs before they begin to puff. All our puffballs when young and solid white inside are good, wholesome food. Some of them, like the brain puffball or the giant puffball, are occasionally a foot in diameter, and yield flesh enough to feed a dozen persons.



They are well known to all who live in the country, their smooth rounded exterior, without special features except the {127} roots, and their solid white interior are easily remembered. Peel, slice, and fry.

Bibliography

The following are standard and beautifully illustrated works on mushrooms and toadstools. They have been freely used for guidance and illustrations in the preparation of the above:

"Edible Fungi of New York." By Charles H. Peck. Published by New York State Museum, Albany, 1900.

"The Mushroom Book." By Nina L. Marshall. Published 1902 at New York by Doubleday, Page & Co. $3.50.

"One Thousand American Fungi." By McIllvaine and Macadam. Published by the Bobbs-Merrill Company of Indianapolis, 1902. $3.00. Add 40 cents express.

"Mushrooms." G. F. Atkinson. Holt & Co.

"The Mushroom." M. E. Hard. The Ohio Library Co., Columbus, Ohio.

COMMON NORTH AMERICAN TREES

White Pine (Pinus strobus)

A noble evergreen tree, up to 175 feet high. This is the famous pine of New England, the lumberman's prize. Its leaves are in bunches of five, and are 3 to 5 inches long; cones 4 to 6 inches long. Wood pale, soft, straight-grained, easily split. Newfoundland to Manitoba and south to Illinois.



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There are many different kinds of pines. They are best distinguished by their cones.

Hemlock (Tsuga Canadensis)

Evergreen. Sixty to seventy feet high. Wood pale, soft, coarse, splintery, not durable. Bark full of tannin. Leaves 1/2 to 3/4 inches long; cones about the same. Its knots are so hard that they quickly turn the edge of an axe or gap it as a stone might; these are probably the hardest vegetable growth in our woods. Its topmost twig usually points easterly. Nova Scotia to Minnesota, south to Delaware and Michigan.



Red Cedar (Juniperus Virginiana)

Evergreen. Any height up to 100 feet. Wood, heart a beautiful bright red; sap wood nearly white; soft, weak, but extremely durable as posts, etc. Makes a good bow. The tiny scale-like leaves are 3 to 6 to the inch; the berry-like cones are light blue and 1/4 of an inch in diameter. It is found in dry places from Nova Scotia to Florida and west to British Columbia.

Cottonwood (Populus deltoides)

Small and rare in the Northeast, but abundant and large {129} in West; even 150 feet high. Leaves 3 to 6 inches long. Found from Quebec to Florida and west to the mountains.

Shagbark or White Hickory (Hicoria ovata)

A tall forest tree up to 120 feet high. Known at once by the great angular slabs of bark hanging partly detached from its main trunk, forced off by the growth of wood, but too tough to fall. Its leaves are 8 to 14 inches long, with 5 to 7 broad leaflets.

Black Walnut (Juglans nigra)

A magnificent forest tree up to 150 feet high. Wood, a dark purplish-brown or gray; hard, close-grained, strong, very durable in weather or ground work, and heavy; fruit round, 1-3/4 inches through. Leaflets 13 to 23, and 3 to 5 inches long. Found from Canada to the Gulf.

White Walnut or Butternut (Juglans cinerea)

A much smaller tree than the last, rarely 100 feet high, with much smoother bark, leaves similar but larger and coarser, compound of fewer leaflets, but the leaflet stalks and the new twigs are covered with sticky down. Leaves 15 to 30 inches long, leaflets 11 to 19 in number and 3 to 5 inches long; fruit oblong, 2 to 3 inches long. New Brunswick and Dakota and south to Mississippi.

Common Birch or Aspen-leaved Birch (Betula populifolia)

A small tree on dry and poor soil, rarely 50 feet high. Wood soft, close-grained, not strong, splits in drying, useless for weather or ground work. A cubic foot weighs 36 pounds. Leaves 2 to 3 inches long. It has a black triangular scar at each armpit. The canoe birch is without these black marks. New Brunswick to Ontario to Pennsylvania and Delaware.

Black Birch, Sweet Birch, or Mahogany Birch (Betula lenta)

The largest of the birches; a great tree, in Northern forests up to 80 feet high. The bark is scarcely birchy, rather like that of {130} cherry, very dark, and aromatic. Leaves 2-1/2 to 6 inches long. Newfoundland to Western Ontario and south to Tennessee.



Beech (Fagus Americana)

In all North America there is but one species of beech. It is a noble forest tree, 70 to 80 and occasionally 120 feet high, readily distinguished by its smooth, ashy-gray bark. Leaves 3 to 4 inches long. It shares with hickory and sugar maple the honor of being a perfect firewood. Nova Scotia to Wisconsin, south to Florida and Texas.

Chestnut (Castanea dentata)

A noble tree, 60 to 80 or even 100 feet high. The most delicious of nuts. Leaves 6 to 8 inches long. Maine to Michigan and south to Tennessee.

Red Oak (Quercus rubra)

A fine forest tree, 70 to 80 or even 140 feet high. Hard, strong, coarse-grained, heavy. It checks, warps, and does not stand for weather or ground work. The acorn takes two {131} seasons to ripen. Leaves 4 to 8 inches long. Nova Scotia to Minnesota, south to Texas and Florida.

White Oak (Quercus alba)

A grand forest tree, over 100 up to 150 feet high. Wood pale, strong, tough, fine-grained, durable and heavy, valuable timber. Called white from pale color of bark and wood. Leaves 5 to 9 inches long. Acorns ripen in one season. Maine to Minnesota, Florida and Texas.



White Elm or Swamp Elm (Ulmus Americana)

A tall, splendid forest tree, commonly 100, occasionally 120 feet high. Wood reddish-brown, hard, strong, tough, very hard to split, coarse, heavy. Soon rots near the ground. Leaves 2 to 5 inches long. Flowers in early spring before leafing. Abundant, Newfoundland and Manitoba to Texas.

Sycamore, Plane Tree, Buttonball or Buttonwood (Platanus occidentalis)

One of the largest of our trees; up to 140 feet high; commonly hollow. Little use for weather work. Famous for shedding {132} its bark as well as its leaves; leaves 4 to 9 inches long. Canada to Gulf.

Black or Yellow Locust, Silver Chain (Robinia pseudacacia)

A tall forest tree up to 80 feet high; leaves 8 to 14 inches long; leaflets 9 to 19, 1 to 2 inches long, pods 2 to 4 inches long, 4 to 7 seeded. This is the common locust so often seen about old lawns.



Red, Scarlet, Water, or Swamp Maple (Acer rubrum)

A fine, tall tree, often over 100 feet high. Noted for its flaming crimson foliage in fall, as well as its red leaf stalks, flowers, and fruit, earlier. Leaves 2 to 6 inches long. Like all the maples it produces sugar, though in this case not much. Western North America.

The sugar maple is a larger, finer tree.



White Ash (Fraxinus Americana)

A fine tree on moist soil. Seventy to 80 or even 130 feet high. Yellow in autumn; noted for being last to leaf and first {133} to shed in the forest. Called white for the silvery under sides of the leaves; these are 8 to 12 inches long, each leaflet 3 to 6 inches long. Nova Scotia to Texas.

For a full unbotanical account of one hundred and twenty of our finest trees with their uses as wood, their properties, and the curious and interesting things about them see:

"The Forester's Manual: or Forest Trees That Every Scout Should Know." By Ernest Thompson Seton.

NATIVE WILD ANIMALS

Every scout ought to know the principal wild animals that are found in North America. He need not know them as a naturalist, but as a hunter, as a camper. Here is a brief account of twenty-four of them, and those who wish to know more will find the fullest possible account in "Life Histories of North America," by E. T. Seton. (Scribners, 1909.) These two volumes are found in all large libraries.



Elk or Wapiti (Cervus canadensis)

This is smaller than the moose. It stands four to five feet at the shoulder and weighs four hundred to eight hundred pounds. It is known by its rounded horns and the patch of yellowish-white on the rump and tail. At one time this splendid animal was found throughout temperate America from the Atlantic to the Pacific, north to Massachusetts, the Ottawa River, the Peace River, and British Columbia; and south to Georgia, Texas, and southern California. It is now exterminated except in Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta; Vancouver Island, Washington, Wyoming and a few localities in the mountain states and in parks where it has been reintroduced.

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The elk of Washington is very dark in color; that of the Southwest is very pale and small.

White-tailed Deer (Odocoileus virginianus)

This is the best known of the common deer of America. It is distinguished by the forward bend of the horns, with the snags pointing backward, and by its long tail which is brown or blackish above and pure white below. Its face is gray, its throat white. A fair sized buck weighs two hundred pounds, live weight. A few have been taken of over three hundred and fifty pounds weight. In the Southern states they run much smaller. Several varieties have been described. It was found formerly in all of the timber states east of the Rockies; also in Ontario south of Lake Nipissing, in south Quebec and south New Brunswick. At present it is exterminated in the highly cultivated states of the Middle West, but has spread into northern Ontario, New Brunswick, and Manitoba.



Mule Deer (Odocoileus hemionus)

This is the commonest deer of the hill country in the centre of the continent. It is found in the mountains from Mexico to British Columbia and northeasterly Saskatchewan and the Lake of the Woods. It is known by its {135} double-forked horns, its large ears, the dark patch on the forehead, the rest of the face being whitish. Also by its tail which is white with a black bunch on the end. This is a larger deer than the White-tail. There are several varieties of it in the South and West.

Moose (Alces americanus)

This is the largest of the deer tribe. It stands five and a half to six and a half feet at the withers and weighs eight hundred to one thousand pounds. It is readily distinguished by its flat horns and pendulous, hairy muzzle. It is found in all the heavily timbered regions of Canada and Alaska and enters the United States in Maine, Adirondacks, Minnesota, Montana, Idaho, and northwestern Wyoming. Those from Alaska are of gigantic stature.

In all our deer the antlers are grown and shed each year, reaching perfection in autumn for the mating season. They are found in the males only, except in the caribou, in which species the females also have small horns.



Antelope (Antilocapra americana)

The antelope is famous as the swiftest quadruped native in America. It is a small creature, less than a common deer; a fair-sized buck weighs about one hundred pounds. It is known by its rich buff color with pure white patches, by having only two hoofs on each foot, and by the horns which are of true horn, like those of a goat, but have a snag or branch and are shed each year. In the female the horns are little points about an inch long.

Formerly the antelope abounded on all the high plains from Manitoba to Mexico and west to Oregon and California. It is now reduced to a few straggling bands in the central and wildest parts of the region.

Mountain Goat (Oreamnos montanus)

The mountain goat is known at once by its pure white coat of wool and hair, its black horns, and peculiar shape. It is {136} above the size of a common deer; that is, a full grown male weighs two hundred and fifty to three hundred pounds; the female a third less. It is famous for its wonderful power as a rock climber and mountaineer. It is found in the higher Rockies, chiefly above timber lines, from central Idaho to Alaska.



Woodchuck (Marmota monax)

The common woodchuck is a grizzly brown on the back, chestnut on the breast, blackish on the crown and paws, and whitish on the cheeks. Its short ears and bushy tail are important characteristics. It measures about twenty-four inches of which the tail is five and a half inches and weighs five to ten pounds.

It is found in all the wooded parts of Canada from the Rockies to the Atlantic and south in the eastern states to about 40 degrees latitude.

Beaver (Castor canadensis)

The beaver is known by its great size—weighing from twenty-five to fifty pounds—its chestnut color, darker on the crown, its webbed feet, and its broad, flat, naked, scaly tail. The pelt of this animal is a valuable fur. The creature is famous for building dams and digging canals. It was found wherever there was water and timber in North America north of Mexico, but is now exterminated in most highly settled regions.

Muskrat (Fiber zibethicus)

The muskrat is about the size of a cat; that is, it is twenty-one inches long, of which the tail is ten inches. In color it somewhat resembles the beaver, but its feet are not conspicuously webbed, its tail is long and flattened vertically, not {137} horizontally. This abundant animal is found throughout North America within the limit of trees wherever there is fresh water. It is the most abundant fur on the market.



Jack Rabbit (Lepus Californicus)

The jack-rabbit, famous for its speed and its ears, is known by its size, which about doubles that of a common rabbit and the jet black stripe running from its back into its tail. It is found on the plains from Nebraska to Oregon and south to Mexico. There are several different varieties.

Cottontail (Sylvilagus floridanus)

The common eastern cottontail is known from the snowshoe by its smaller feet and its much larger, longer tail, which is gray above, and snow-white underneath. Sometimes the common tame rabbit resembles the cottontail in general color, but the latter has the top of its tail black.

The cottontails do not turn white in winter. They are found in most parts of the United States, entering Canada only in the Ontario peninsula and southern Saskatchewan.



Cougar or Panther (Felis couguar)

The cougar has been called the American lion; it is the largest cat in the western world except the jaguar or American {138} tiger. It is known by its unspotted brown coat, its long, heavy tail, and its size. A male cougar weighs one hundred and fifty to two hundred pounds; a few have been taken over that. The females are a third smaller. The young in first coat have black spots.

The cougar never attacks man but preys on deer, horses, calves, etc. There are several different forms; one or other of these is (or was) found from Ottawa, Minnesota, and Vancouver Island to Patagonia.



Wild Cat or Bob Cat (Lynx rufus)

This is somewhat like the Canada lynx but is more spotted, has smaller feet, and the tail has several dark bars above and is pure white on the under side of the tip.

There are several species of bob cats; they cover the timbered states and enter Canada in Ontario, going north to Lake Simcoe.

Fox (Vulpes fulvus)

The fox is about four feet from snout to tail tip; of this the tail is sixteen inches or more; it stands about fifteen inches at the shoulder. It rarely weighs over fifteen pounds and sometimes barely ten. The fox is known by its bright, sandy-red coat, black ears and paws, its white throat, and the white tip at the end of the tail. At a distance the fox's ears and tail look very large. The silver or black fox is a mere color freak with black coat and white tail tip. Red foxes are found throughout the heavily timbered parts of North America north of latitude thirty-five degrees.

Gray Wolf (Canis occidentalis)

The wolf is simply a big wild dog with exceptionally strong jaws and general gray color, becoming dirty white on the under part. The wolf is found in all parts of North America, except where settlement has driven it out, and varies in color with locality. The Florida wolves are black, Texan wolves are reddish, and Arctic wolves are white. Wolves weigh from {139} seventy-five to one hundred and twenty pounds and are distinguishable from coyotes by the heavy muzzle and jaws, greater size, and comparatively small tail, which is often held aloft. Wolves nowadays rarely molest man.

Coyote (Canis latrans)

The common coyote is like a small and delicate edition of the gray wolf. It is much smaller, weighing only twenty to thirty pounds, and is distinguished by its sharp, fox-like muzzle and large bushy tail, which is rarely raised to the level. In color it is much like the ordinary gray wolf but usually more tinged with yellow. It is found in all the interior country from Wisconsin to Oregon and from Mexico to Great Slave Lake. There are several different varieties. It never attacks man.

Otter (Lutra canadensis)

The otter is a large water weasel with close, dense, shiny fur and webbed feet. It is known by its color—dark brown above shaded into dark gray below and white on the cheeks without any markings—and by its size. It is about forty inches long and weighs about twenty pounds. It is found throughout North America within the limit of trees. Its fur is very valuable. It feeds on fish.



Weasel (Putorius noveboracensis)

The common weasel of New England is about the size of a big rat; that is, it is sixteen inches long and all brown with the exception of white chin, throat, breast, and paws, and black tip to the tail. In winter it turns white except the tail tip; that does not change.

The whole continent is inhabited by weasels of one kind or another. To the north there is a smaller kind with shorter tail; on the prairies a large kind with a very long tail; but all are of the same general style and habits. A very small one, {140} the least weasel, is only six inches long. It is found chiefly in Canada.

Mink (Putorius vison)

The mink is simply a water weasel. It is known by its size, larger than that of a common weasel, as it is twenty-four inches long of which the tail is seven inches; also by its deep brown color all over except the throat and chin which are pure white. Its fur is brown, harder and glossier than that of the marten, and worth about a quarter as much. It does not turn white in the winter. One form or another of mink is found over all the unarid parts of North America from the north limit of trees to the Gulf of Mexico.



Skunk (Mephitis mephitica)

The skunk is known at once by its black coat with white stripes, its immense bushy tail tipped with white, and its size, nearly that of a cat. It weighs three to seven pounds. It ranges from Virginia to Hudson Bay. In the Northwest is a larger kind weighing twice as much and with black tip to tail. Various kinds range over the continent south of latitude 55 degrees. It is harmless and beautiful. The smell gun for which it is famous is a liquid musk; this is never used except in the extreme of self-defence.

Badger (Taxidea taxus)

The common badger is known by its general whitish-gray color, the black and white markings on the head, the black paws, and the strong claws for digging. It weighs from twelve to twenty-two pounds. That is, it is about the size of a 'coon. {141} It is found in all the prairie and plains country from the Saskatchewan Valley to Mexico and from Wisconsin to the Pacific.

Raccoon (Procyon lotor)

The 'coon looks like a small gray bear with a bushy ringed tail and a large black patch on each eye. Its paws look like hands, and it has the full number of five fingers or toes on each extremity. It is found in all wooded regions from Manitoba south to Mexico and from Atlantic to Pacific, except the desert and Rocky Mountain region.



Opossum (Didelphis marsupialis)

The opossum is famous for carrying its young in a pouch in front of the body. It may be known by its dirty-white woolly fur, its long, naked, prehensile tail, its hand-like paws, its white face and sharp muzzle, and the naked pink and blue ears. In size it resembles a cat. The 'possum is found from Connecticut to Florida and westerly to California.

Gray-squirrel (Sciurus carolinensis)

America is particularly rich in squirrels. Not counting ground-squirrels or chipmunks, we have over seventy-five different forms on this continent. The widest spread is probably the red-squirrel; but the best known in the United States is the common gray-squirrel. Its gray coat white breast, and immense {142} bushy tail are familiar to all eastern children. It is found in most of the hardwood timber east of the Mississippi and south of the Ottawa River and the State of Maine. Most of the nut trees in the woods of this region were planted by the gray-squirrel.

Black Bear (Ursus americanus)

This is the common bear of America. It is known at once by its jet black color and brown nose. Its claws are short, rarely over an inch long, and curved, serving better as climbers than do the long claws of the grizzly. Two hundred pounds would be a good sized female, three hundred a male; but Florida black bears have been taken weighing five hundred pounds. Sometimes freaks with cinnamon-brown coats are found.

This bear is found throughout North America wherever there is timber.

NOTES

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Notes

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Notes

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CHAPTER III

CAMPCRAFT (In treating of camping there has been an intentional omission of the long-term camp. This is treated extensively in the books of reference given at the close of this chapter.)

Hiking and Over-night Camp By H. W. Gibson, Boys' Work Secretary, Young Men's Christian Association Massachusetts and Rhode Island

Several things should be remembered when going on a hike: First, avoid long distances. A foot-weary, muscle-tired and temper-tried, hungry group of boys is surely not desirable. There are a lot of false notions about courage and bravery and grit that read well in print, but fail miserably in practice, and long hikes for boys is one of the most glaring of these notions. Second, have a leader who will set a good easy pace, say two or three miles an hour, prevent the boys from excessive water drinking, and assign the duties of pitching camp, etc. Third, observe these two rules given by an old woodsman: (1) Never walk over anything you can walk around; (2) never step on anything that you can step over. Every time you step on anything you lift the weight of your body. Why lift extra weight when tramping? Fourth, carry with you only the things absolutely needed, rolled in blankets, poncho army style.

Before starting on a hike, study carefully the road maps, and take them with you on the walk for frequent reference. The best maps are those of the United States Geological Survey, costing five cents each. The map is published in atlas sheets, each sheet representing a small, quadrangular district. Send to the superintendent of documents at Washington, D. C., for a list.

For tramping the boy needs the right kind of a shoe, or the trip will be a miserable failure. A light-soled or a light-built shoe is not suited for mountain work or even for an ordinary hike. The feet will blister and become "road weary." The shoe must be neither too big, too small, nor too heavy, and be amply broad to give the toes plenty of room. The shoe should be water-tight. A medium weight, high-topped lace shoe is about right. Bathing the feet at the springs and streams along the road will be refreshing, if not indulged in too frequently. {146} See Chapter on "Health and Endurance" for care of the feet and proper way of walking.

It is well to carry a spare shirt hanging down the back with the sleeves tied around the neck. Change when the shirt you are wearing becomes too wet with perspiration.

The most practical and inexpensive pack is the one made for the Boy Scouts of America. (Price 60 cents.) It is about 14 x 20 inches square, and 6 inches thick, made of water-proof canvas with shoulder-straps, and will easily hold everything needed for a tramping trip.

A few simple remedies for bruises, cuts, etc., should be taken along by the leader. You may not need them and some may poke fun at them, but, as the old lady said, "You can't always sometimes tell." The amount and kind of provisions must be determined by the locality and habitation.

The Lean-to



Reach the place where you are going to spend the night in plenty of time to build your lean-to, and make your bed for {147} the night. Select your camping spot with reference to water, wood, drainage, and material for your lean-to. Choose a dry, level place, the ground just sloping enough to insure the water running away from your lean-to in case of rain. In building your lean-to look for a couple of good trees standing from eight to ten feet apart with branches from six to eight feet above the ground. By studying the illustration (No. 1) you will be able to build a very serviceable shack, affording protection from the dews and rain. While two or more boys are building the shack, another should be gathering firewood and preparing the meal, while another should be cutting and bringing in as many soft, thick tips of trees as possible, for the roof of the shack and the beds.

How to thatch the lean-to is shown in illustration No. 2. If the camp site is to be used for several days, two lean-tos may be built facing each other, about six feet apart. This will make a very comfortable camp, as a small fire can be built between the two thus giving warmth and light.



The Bed

On the floor of your lean-to lay a thick layer of the fans or branches of a balsam or hemlock, with the convex side up, and the butts of the stems toward the foot of the bed. Now thatch this over with more fans by thrusting the butt ends through the first layer at a slight angle toward the head of the bed, so that the soft tips will curve toward the foot of the bed, and be sure to make the head of your bed away from the opening of the lean-to and the foot toward the opening. Over this bed spread your rubber blankets or ponchos with rubber side down, your sleeping blanket on top, and you will be surprised how soft, springy, and fragrant a bed you have, upon which to rest your "weary frame" and sing with the poet:

"Then the pine boughs croon me a lullaby, And trickle the white moonbeams To my face on the balsam where I lie While the owl hoots at my dreams." —J. George Frederick.

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Hot-Stone Wrinkle

If the night bids fair to be cold, place a number of stones about six or eight inches in diameter near the fire, so that they will get hot. These can then be placed at the feet, back, etc., as needed, and will be found good "bed warmers." When a stone loses its heat, it is replaced near the fire and a hot one taken. If too hot, wrap the stone in a shirt or sweater or wait for it to cool off.

Boys desire adventure. This desire may be gratified by the establishment of night watchers in relays of two boys each, every two hours. Their imaginations will be stirred by the resistless attraction of the camp-fire and the sound of the creatures that creep at night.

Observation Practice

Many boys have excellent eyes, but see not, and good ears but hear not, all because they have not been trained to observe or to hear quickly. A good method of teaching observation while on a hike or tramp is to have each boy jot down in a small note-book or diary of the trip, the different kinds of trees, birds, animals, tracks, nature of roads, fences, peculiar rock formation, smells of plants, etc., and thus be able to tell what he saw or heard to the boys upon his return to the permanent camp or to his home.

Camera Snap Shots

One of the party should take a small folding camera. Photographs of the trip are always of great pleasure and memory revivers. A practical and convenient method of carrying small folding cameras represents an ordinary belt to which a strap with a buckle has been attached, which is run through the loops at the back of the camera case. The camera may be pushed around the belt to the point where it will be least in the way.

Camp Lamp

A very convenient lamp to use on a hike is the Baldwin Camp Lamp made by John Simmons Co., 13 Franklin Street, New York City. It weighs only five ounces when full; is charged with carbide and is but 4-3/4 inches high. It projects a strong light 150 feet through the woods. A stiff wind will not blow it out. It can be worn comfortably in your hat or belt.

Handy Articles

A boy of ingenuity can make a number of convenient things. A good drinking cup may be made from a piece of bark cut {149} in parallelogram shape twisted into pyramid form and fastened with a split stick. A flat piece of bark may serve as a plate. A pot lifter may be made from a green stick about 18 inches long, allowing a few inches of a stout branch to remain. By reversing the same kind of stick and driving a small nail near the other end or cutting a notch in it, it may be used to suspend a kettle over a fire. A novel candlestick is made by opening the blade of a knife and jabbing it into a tree; upon the other upturned blade put a candle. A green stick having a split which will hold a piece of bread or meat makes an excellent broiler. Don't pierce the bread or meat. Driving a good-sized stake into the ground at an angle of 45 degrees and cutting a notch on which may be suspended a kettle over a fire will provide a way of boiling water quickly.

Building the Fireplace

Take two or three stones and build a fireplace, a stick first shaved and then whittled for shavings, a lighted match, a little blaze, some bark and dry twigs added, a few small sticks, place the griddle over the fire and you are ready to cook the most appetizing griddle-cakes. After the cakes are cooked, fry slices of bacon upon the griddle; in the surplus fat fry slices of bread, then some thinly sliced raw potatoes done to a delicious brown. Here is a breakfast capable of making the mouth of a camper water.

Another way: Place the green logs side by side, closer together at one end than the other. Build the fire between. On the logs over the fire you can rest a frying-pan, kettle, etc. To start the fire have some light, dry wood split up fine. When sticks begin to blaze, add a few more of larger size and continue until you have a good fire. To prevent the re-kindling of the fire after it is apparently out, pour water over it and soak the earth for the space of two or three feet around it. This is very important, for many forest fires have started through failure to observe this caution.

COOKING RECEIPTS Cooking for Hikes and Over-night Camps

The following tested receipts are given for those who go on hikes and over-night camps:

Griddle-cakes

Beat one egg, tablespoonful of sugar, one cup diluted condensed milk or new milk. Mix enough self-raising flour to {150} make a thick cream batter. Grease the griddle with rind or slices of bacon for each batch of cakes. Be sure to have the griddle hot.

Bacon

Slice bacon quite thin; remove the rind, which makes slices curl up. Fry on griddle or put on a sharp end of a stick and hold over the hot coals, or better yet remove the griddle, and put on a clean, flat rock in its place. When hot lay the slices of bacon on the rock and broil. Keep turning so as to brown on both sides.

Canned Salmon on Toast

Dip slices of stale bread into smoking hot lard. They will brown at once. Drain them. Heat a pint of salmon, picked into flakes, season with salt and pepper and turn in a tablespoonful of melted butter. Heat in a pan. Stir in one egg, beaten light, with three tablespoonfuls evaporated milk not thinned. Pour the mixture on the fried bread.

Roast Potatoes

Wash and dry potatoes thoroughly, bury them deep in a good bed of coals, cover them with hot coals until well done. It will take about forty minutes for them to bake. Then pass a sharpened hard-wood sliver through them from end to end, and let the steam escape and use immediately as a roast potato soon becomes soggy and bitter.

Baked Fresh Fish

Clean well. Small fish should be fried whole with the back bone severed to prevent curling up; large fish should be cut into pieces, and ribs loosened from back bone so as to lie flat in pan. Rub the pieces in corn meal or powdered crumbs, thinly and evenly (that browns them), fry in plenty of hot fat to a golden brown, sprinkling lightly with salt just as the color turns. If fish has not been wiped dry it will absorb too much grease. If the frying fat is not very hot when fish are put in, they will be soggy with it.

Frogs' Legs

First, after skinning, soak them an hour in cold water to which vinegar has been added, or put them for two minutes into scalding water that has vinegar in it. Drain, wipe dry, and cook. {151} To fry: roll in flour, season with salt and pepper, and fry not too rapidly, preferably in butter or oil. Water-cress is a good relish with them. To griddle: Prepare three tablespoonsful melted butter, one half tablespoonful salt, and a pinch or two of pepper, into which dip the frogs' legs, then roll in fresh bread crumbs and broil for three minutes on each side.

Eggs

Boiled: Have water to boiling point. Place eggs in carefully. Boil steadily for three minutes if you wish them soft. If wanted hard boiled, put them in cold water, bring to a boil, and keep it up for twenty minutes. The yolk will then be mealy and wholesome.

Fried: Melt some butter or fat in frying-pan; when it hisses drop in eggs carefully. Fry them three minutes.

Scrambled: First stir the eggs up and after putting some butter in the frying-pan, stir the eggs in it after adding a little condensed milk.

Poached: First put in the frying-pan sufficient diluted condensed milk which has been thinned with enough water to float the eggs in, and let them simmer three or four minutes. Serve the eggs on slices of buttered toast, pouring on enough of the milk to moisten the toast.

Coffee

For every cup of water allow a tablespoonful of ground coffee, then add one extra. Have water come to boiling point first, add coffee, hold it just below boiling point for five minutes, and settle with one fourth of a cup of cold water. Serve. Some prefer to put the coffee in a small muslin bag loosely tied.

Cocoa

Allow a teaspoonful of cocoa for every cup of boiling water. Mix the powdered cocoa with water or boiled milk, with sugar to taste. Boil two or three minutes.

These receipts have been tried out. Biscuit and bread making have been purposely omitted. Take bread and crackers with you from camp. "Amateur" biscuits are not conducive to good digestion or happiness. Pack butter in small jar: cocoa, sugar, and coffee in small cans or heavy paper; also salt and pepper. Wrap bread in a moist cloth to prevent drying up; {152} bacon and dried or chipped beef in wax paper. Pickles can be purchased put up in small bottles. Use the empty bottle as candle-stick.