The Dickinson press., 1888-10-13
POPULAR ERRORS.
MISTAKES THAT ARE REPEATED
FOR MANY GENERATIONS.

plicd-What Is u Gophcro-Thc Prairie
Dog Fiction-Bug. and Worms-Thc
'Horsc Hair Snakc'-Sycanore.
y volume could he written on popular
errors on scientific subjects. S, few people
observe for themselves. and SO many accept
what they hear from others, or what they
read, that ii is n wonder there are not moro
CROPS tiXel in the popular mind ON such sub |
jrc;s. One hardly knows where to begin on
the list, hut attention is first called To the
loose manner in which terms, cspcciall.
natlcs, are applied. Take the common
gopher as an example. The true gopher is of
IL gray color. and is about the size of Il large
rat. He has large pouches ON each side ot
hi, mouth in which he carries dirt VIXEN
making his burrows in the ground. His trent
teeth stand ont The most prominently in any
of the great family of gnawers-rudcntia.
His tail Is shor, and looks very inucl, Ike
that of Il rat. In so,ue parts of the country
a gray ground squirrel is called Il gopher.
In other parts Il striped squirrel or prairie
chipunuMi is called by that name, while in
Kansas, Nebraska and many parts of tho
West. Il small marnot. which is closely allied
To the prairie dog. is called Il gopher. These
llarlnots are quite common in the country
around this city. In most parts of thcsouii-
west u skunk is called Il polecat and a lolccat
is called Il mink-for the western so called
mink is nothing but Il polccat. Ii took 200
Years for the popular belief to he givoa up
that beavers use their tails for trowcls. In
sonlc places yet school readers can he found
that teach such nonsense.
THE PRAIRIE DOG FICTION.
Another popular fiction is that if one 81 OTIS
q prairie dog his mates will rush out and
carry him into one of their dcns before 1t Is
possible to get possession of him. 1t Is true
! that such things have actually occurred.
Rats have been known to do the same thing,
but the instances IRE rare. Usually a coun-
try that is inhabited by prairie dogs, OF moro
properly by prairie marmotS, has Il dry, thin
atmosphere. This condition dcceivcs the
hunter and causes him to shoot So far ut the
little creatures that in the larger number of
cases he misses entirely. In the second place,
these animals never stop when danger is near
until they are at the mouth of Il hole. Then
they will stop and sit upon their Launches in
such a manner that if they are shot they are
nearly sure to fail inside the hole. The
prairie marmots, mentioned above, that one
sees i'll the country around this city, have the
same habit-that of stopping at the mouth of
their holes and sitting upon their launches
to look around. Another error is the calling
of nearly every insect a bug. Potato beetles,
June beetles, May beetles, etc, are all called
! bugs, when they are beetles. The bed bug
and the chinch bug are true bugs, hut nearly
everything else usually called by that name
belongs to the great family Of beetles. A
beetle opens his mouth sidewiSe, while the bug
opens his perpendicularly as VIC open ours.
Worms are oil regarded US worms whether
they arc true worms or not. Anglo OF fish
worms are true types of worms. Most other
worms that one sees are the lurvn of insects,
and will become images or perfect insects i'll
time. The common grub worm becomes n
May beetle. The large white GRUB worms
that have q blush list down their bac $ be-
como "tumble bugs the true scavengcr
beetles. People often speak Of "cight legged
insects or 'tcn legged insects" unmindful
of the fact that an insect has six legs, and no
more or no less. Spiders, then, having eight
legs are not insects. We speak Of the time
when tho ''srasshoppcrs destroyed the crops"
when wo mean that the %locusts destroyed the
crops, and the insects we usually call locusts
are the seventeen year cicadM.
THE ''IioRSE HAIR sNAKE.N
The "horsc hair snake is another common!
source of error. Tho creature that is usually
tailttl ny tiltp lldllle ORIGINATES ollu HIS u ilc
history as follows: a small flesh colored mite
is in water. 1t changes to Il purplisll lead
color and comes TO the top OF the water
where it sports for n time, and when looking
across water of Il still evening, especially il
looking towards the setting sun one can SCI
masses of these tiny creatures that look lii,
smoke on the water. When they reach tlE
stage of development they lcayc the water
and get out OH the leaves and grass. Here
as opportunity offers, they attach themselve
to the feet of large insects, especially o
glasshoppcrs, katydids, etc. The legs o
these insects being hollow, they crawl NJ
them, where they grow till they fill the Lee
and sometimes the cavities of the bodies O
these large insects. This accounts for til
fat, clumsy condition of many of these in
sccts. After Il rain, in which the insect
drown, the full 1ledgcd ''horse hair snakes
come forth to delight the small boy and L
:. interest the student of nature, after whic
. they lay eggs i'll the water, il it does not DIR.
' up too soon, and curl around them for
time, and about the time the eggs hatch int
! the little flesh colored mites first describe
! the snakes die. 1t is not claimed that thi
> is the history of all ''horso hair snakes hu
Z it is the true history of all that l know any
thing about.
. Another error i'll the application Of Lain.
Il is noticeable i'll the vegetable world. This
to the so called sycamore. The true syc;
morc-acer pseudo acknowledgements only j
England, OF, at most, the British Isles. on
{; trce-platantus occidcntalis-should be Gallo
/" buttonwool. The true sycamore is T;
worthless as buckeye or horse chcstnu
p Another error is held regarding the Virgin
y creeper-ampelopsis cinque folium-th;
= grows so %abundantly along our fences and
:" our forests. 1t ii is q beautiful plant and pc
j fcctly harmless 1t can be trained over stoi
'e or brick walls, over windows, doors, LATHE
'c or arbors, SO as TO give INST pleasing ifcc
d but most people think it is poisononf. The
y mistake it for tho poison ivy-rlllls toxic
es dendron-which also grows abundant
81 throughout the country. Tho beautiful Vi
y ginia ~crccrer, or American ivy, grows pie
c. tifully along the Missouri river bluiis ~
'r along old fence rows on the u%!landS. I
Virginia creeper has five leaflets on each
C. stalk, Whine the poison ivy has three leaiiet
H. The creeper is IL dark, rich green, and i'll Il
. tumn changes to q vivid russell. III pois
&C. ivy Is of IL lighter green color. but chang
'y to Il maroon or magenta in autum:l. 1t III
II. has many more lateral tcndrils than
hl creeper has, and consequently sticks closer
hd whatever It grows upon.-Edwin Walkers
IS: st. Louis Republic.
III. y-,,. rS,,,,1,bI, StD.,-