The Cheyenne daily leader. [volume] (Cheyenne, Wyo.) 1870-1884, 1876-04-11
SCIENCE JoTTINGs.

We observe a mote from DIR. A. S. Packard
70 the effect that specimens Of the " hateful
grasshopper +" (caIopteAus spraSs), indistin-
guishable from Californian ones, have been
met at Amherst. Mass.
How popular Ferns are is evidenced by
the increasing number of books referring to
them. Mr.. John Smith, for many years
curator of the Kew Gardens and one of the
leaders in Pteridology. has just issued an
illustrated WORK of 42e pages. under the
title of +" Historic FIieum." And then New
man has just given us a fifth edition of
" History of British Ferns"
The Weeping Willow WIS named Satl
BabylOaied because it was supposed to be
the willow alluded to by the psalmist as
that on which the jew hung their harps.
Hebrew scholars nave recently concluded
that the word translated " willows" should
he "poplars." and Karl Koch has shown
that the Weeping Willow is in all proba-
bility u native of China. Since then fur
ther investigation seems to indicate that
the Populus Ephratica is the willow Of
the psalmist.
The wife of the late Professor Agassiz
arose one morning and proceeded. according
TO custom. to put IN her stockings aud
shoes. At a certain $ age of this Process a
little scream attracted MIR. Agassiz's atten-
ton. and. not having ye. rissn. he leaned
forward anxiously upon his elbow. inqniring
what was the matter. why. u littls
snake has just caawled out of my boot r
cried she. "Only one, my dear r. ~interro-
gated the Professor, calmly lying down
again. There should have been three.
lie had put them there TO keep them warm.
An elaborate monograph of the phenom-
ena of digestion in insects has been lately
published by Professor Felix Plateau, SO
well known by his researches in this direc-
ton, in the memoirs OF the royal Academy
of Science of Brussels. The points espe-
c.ally novel are those OF the slkainity Of
tho digestive tube and the functions of the
gizzard and ma.pighian tubes. the last of
which he, with Others. regardsas exclusively
dopuratory in their nature. containing
o~xalic, uric, and phosphate calculi. Numer-
GUS drawings of the crystals Of these sub
stances are engraved on the plates.
Experiments with the electric light az a
head light for locomotives have recently
been made in Russia, on the railroad from
Moscow to Kursk. with successful results.
The apparatus consisted of n battery of
forty-eight couples. which produced suf-
ficient illumination to light up the track for
n distance of 1,500 to ! 800 feet ahead. 1t
has been suggested that a small electric ms
chino would serve the purpose much better
than a gnlvanic battery, liable to injury by
agitation. 1t is proposed to connect the
mechanism with the front axle. tho rovolu-
ton of which will set the former in OPERA
ton. n
Mr.. Salter. United States Consul. do
scribes the interior Of China along tho
course OF the river Yang tse-kiang as a
wonderful land, and full of mysteries. In
one place, he says. piscicultural nurseries
line the banks for nearly fifty miles. All
sorts of inventions, the cotton-gin included.
claimed by Europeans and Americans. arc
to be found there forty centuries old. Plants
yielding drugs of great value. without mum
Der. the familiar tobacco M potato.
maize. white and yellow corn, and other
plants believed to be- Indigenous to Amer
lea, have been there, he reports, cultivated
from time ~immemorial.
Some very interesting fossil remains OF
Saurians ave lately been exhumed in Hi
nois. According to Prof. Cope, into whose
hands they fell for examination. they consti-
tute the first definite indication Of the ex-
istence of reptiles of the order Rhynchoco-
phala in the Western Hemisphere. A re-
markable character lies in the longitudinal
marion, .;on of tha cnntru.ns nf tho vnr,obrtn
as in living lizards Of the genus Sphenodon,
in New Zealand. The remains indicate two
new species, each a new genus, an were
named Cricotus heteroelitas and Clcpsy&rops
Collettii. The specimens were associated
with remains of some fishes, important in
evidence of their geologic horizon. Not to
go too far into particulars, tho evidence is
that Il fragment OF the Triassic fauna-so
ancient in the Northern Hemisphere and SO
remarkably preserved 10 this day in Aus
tralia and New Z,aland-has beel brought
to light in Illinois.
TRIc.ISous PoHE.-Dr. Geo~gc Sutton,
of Aurora. Indiana. U. S. A., has callel at
ttntion to the alarming spread OF triciino
sis in pork killed in that State. lie has
found from three to sixteen per cent. of the
hogs affected in different Localities. IL
remarks that. though fully dcyc.o. G
t%richinosis comparatively rnrey results in
tho human subject consuming such pork, il
shows it's effect in other ways. As diarr.
hna, d~ysontcry. and enteritis rank high NJ
causes of mortality in the UGi.ei States,
these diseases causing 3l,l53 deaths IL
1870. as shown by the las. Census reports,