Wichita eagle., 1888-08-28
POPULAR ERRORS.
MISTAKES THAT ARE REPEATED
FOR MANY GENERATIONS.

MISTAKES THAT ARE REPEATED
FOR MANY GENERATIONS.
Loose Manner In Which Terms Are APP
plied-What Is a Gopher?-The Prairie
"Horse Hair snake''-Sycamore.
A volume could be written on popular
errors on scientific subjects So few people
observe for themselves, and SO many accept
what they hear from others, or what they
read, that it is wonder there are not more
errors fixed in the popular mind on such sub
jects One hardly knows where to begin on
the list, but attention Is first called to the
loose manner in which terms, especially
names, are applied. Take the common
gopher as On example. The true gopher is Of
a gray color, and is about the size of large
rat. He has large pouches on each side Of
his mouth in which he carries dirt when
making his burrows in the ground. His front
teeth stand out the most prominently in any
Of the great family Of gnawers-rodentia.
His tail is short and looks very much like
chat Of O rat. In some parts of the country
gray ground squirrel is called gopher.
In other parts q striped squirrel or prairie
chipmunk is called by that name, while in
Kansas, Nebraska and many parts Of tho
west, small marmot, which is closely allied
to the prairie dog, is called gopher. These
narrnots are quito common in the country
around this city. In most parts of the south
west skunk is called polecat and polecat
is called mink-for the western 50 called
mink is nothing but polecat. 1t took 200
years for the popular belief to be given up
that beavers use their tails for trowels. In
some places yet school readers can be found
that teach such nonsense.
TEE PRAIRIE DOG FICTION.
Another popular fiction is that if one shoots
q prairie dog his mates will rush out and
carry him into one Of their dens before it 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 are rare. Usually coun-
try that is inhabited by prairie dogs, or moro
properly by prairie marmots, has dry, thin
atmosphere This condition deceives the
hunter and causes him to shoot SO far at 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 hole. Then
they will stop and sit upon their launches in
such a manner that il they are shot they are
nearly sure to fall inside the hole. The
prairie marmots, mentioned above, that one
sees in 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 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, but yearly
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 perpendicrlarly as we open ours.
Worms are all regarded as worms whether
they are true worms or not. Angle or fish
worms are true types Of worms. Most other
worms that one sees are the Larvae of insects,
and will become images or perfect insects in
time. The common grub worm" becomes q
May beetle. The large white grub worms"
that have a blush list down their backs be-
como ''tumble bugs" the true scavenger
beetles. People often speak of ''eight legged
insects" or ''ten legged insects" uHn1indful
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 the "grasshoppers destroyed the crops"
when we mean that the locusts destroyed the
crops, and the insects we usually cali iocusts
are the seventeen year cicad9.
THE ''HoRSE HAIR SNAKE"
The ''horse hair snake is another common
source of error. The creature that is usually
called by that name originates and has life
history nc fnllOIpS. a cr-,oi1 fach naloro1
is in water. 1t changes to q purplish lead
color and comes to the top of the water,
where it sports for a time, and when looking
across water of still evening, especially il
looking towards the setting SUN, one can see
masses of these tiny creatures that look like
smoke on tho water. When they reach this
stage of development they leave the water
and get out on tho leaves and grass. Here,
as opportunity offers, they attach themselves
to the feet of large insects, especially Of
grasshoppers, katydids, etc. The legs OF
these insects being hollow, they crawl up
them, where they grow till they fill the legs
and sometimes the cavities of the bodies Of
these large insects. This accounts for the
fat, clumsy condition Of many Of these in
sects. After rain, in which the insects
drown, the full fiedged ':horse hair snakes"
como forth to delight the small boy and to
interest the student OF nature, after which
they lay eggs in the water, if it does not dry
up too soon, and curl around them for q
time, and about the time the eggs hatch into
tho little flesh colored mites first described
the snakes die. 1t is not claimed that this
is the history Of eli ''horse hair snakes" but
it is the true history Of al that know any
thing about
Another error in tie application of names
is noticeable in tho vegetable world This is
to tho SO called sycamore. The true syca-
more-acer pseudo platantus-grows only in
England, or, at most, the British Isles. Our
tree-platantus occidentalis-shouldb be called
buttonwood The true sycamore is as
worthless as buckeye or horse chestnut.
Another error is held regarding the Virginia
creeper-ampelopsis cinque folium-that
grows SO abundantly along our fences and in
our forests. 1t is beautiful plant and per-
fectly harmless. 1t can be trained over stone
or brick walls, over windows, doors, lattices
or arbors, SO as to give most pleasing effect;
but most people think it is poisonous. They
mistake it for the poison ivy-rhus toxico-
dendron-which also grows abundantly
throughout the country. The beautiful Vir-
GINA creeper, or American ivy, grows plen-
ufully along the Missouri river bluffs and
along old fence rows on the uplands. The
Virginia creeper has five leaflets on each leaf
stalk. while the poison ivy has three leaflets.
The creeper is a dark, rich green, end in aJ-
turnn changes to vivid r1lsset. The poison
ivy is OF lighter green color, but changes
TO maroon or magenta In autumn 1t also
has many more lateral tendrils than the
creepor has, and consequently sticks closer to
whatever 1t grows upon-Edwin Walters in
81. Louis Republic.