Part 2

No. 1. Turbo Argyrostoma. Silver Mouth. Linn. Singapore. No. 2. Strombus Kid Conch. West Indian Bituberculata. Islands. No. 3. Nerita Peloronta. Bleeding Tooth. Linn. West Indies. No. 4. Strombus Urceus. Linn. Amboina. No. 5. Turbo Sarmaticus. Turk's Cap. Linn. Algoa Bay. No. 6. Cypræa Argus. Eyed Cowry. Linn. New Caledonia. No. 7. Helix Hæmastoma. Red Mouth Snail. Linn. Ceylon. No. 8. Murex Pomum. Smet. Florida. No. 9. Oliva Inflata. Linn. Singapore. No. 10. Conus Arenatus. Sandy Cone. Hwass. Red Sea. No. 11. Fasciolaria Tulipa. Linn. West Indies. No. 12. Conus Leoninus. Gmelin. Florida. No. 13. Spondylus Pictorum. Chem. California. No. 14. Conus Litteratus. Lettered Cone. Linn. Ceylon. No. 15. Haliotis Iris. Green Abalone. Gmelin. Japan. No. 16. Terebra Maculata. Marlin Spike. Linn. Sandwich Islands. No. 17. Murex Regius. Red Murex. Wood. Panama. No. 18. Oliva Porphyria. Tent Shell. Linn. Panama. No. 19. Murex Bicolor. Pink Murex. Val. Mexico.

Who does not love the beauty of shells? Who, when visiting the sea-shore, has not sought them with eagerness? Their beautiful colors are pleasing to the sight.

The Indians have always loved shells on account of their bright colors. No doubt they many times tried to paint their faces the same color. They used to make money from the pink or purple portions of them.

There are thousands of different kinds of shells. To get the full beauty of them we must see them in their native homes amidst the sands and stones and the roaring sea.

Mr. Emerson tells of finding the "delicate shells on the shore," and how the fresh waves seemed to add new beauty to them. He wiped away the foam and the weeds and carried them home. He could not take the foam and waves and sky and ocean's roar. He says the shells

"Had left their beauty on the shore, With the sun and the sand and the wild uproar."

Did you ever place a large shell to your ear and listen to its roar? It sounds like the distant roar of the sea. Mr. Wordsworth says:

"I have seen A curious child, who dwelt upon a tract Of inland ground, applying to his ear The convolutions of a smooth-lipped shell; To which, in silence hushed, his very soul Listened intensely; and his countenance soon Brightened with joy, for from within were heard Murmurings, whereby the monitor expressed Mysterious union with its native sea."

We can not all go to the sea to study its wonders. So we will have to do the best we can studying pictures of shells, making collections of as many kinds as possible and studying about the animals that have lived in them.

Each shell, it matters not how small, has been the home of a living creature. Each has an interesting story for us if we will but read it.

Shell-fish have no bones as other fish have. They, therefore, need a solid house in which to live. The shells not only serve them for houses, but for bones to keep their pliable bodies in shape, for ships in which to sail, and for beautiful dresses, starched and shining.

If these soft animals had no solid shells they would immediately be eaten by other animals of the sea or dashed to death by the waves.

But it is not alone the beauty of shells that renders them interesting. Conchology, which treats of shells, is as a science at least as old as the days of Aristotle, the study of which was resumed, along with that of the other sciences, when the dark ages had passed away. Since the beginning of the nineteenth century it has given place to a more extended and comprehensive study of molluscous animals, the presence or absence of a shell having been found not to constitute one of the most important characteristics which distinguish different classes of mollusks. Conchology was only the form of the science suited to a time when the shell was more considered than its inhabitant. Yet it is claimed that the relations between shells and the mollusks which possess them are such that the labors of the merest conchologists have contributed to the real advancement of science, both zoölogical and geological.

Shells consist of carbonate of lime secreted by the animal and intermixed with some animal matter. In the species in which it is least developed it appears as a hollow plate, which serves as a protection to the breathing organ and heart. The protuberances and ridges seen on many univalve and bivalve shells appear in the course of their growth by the margin of the mantle, turning out at a considerable angle and thus building up a plate in this position for a certain distance. This growth then ceases, the mantle retracts, or may be regarded as changing itself into the shelly layers, and thus it extends in the original direction, carrying out the shell with it, till it turns again to form a second plate or ridge; and so the process goes on. Many mollusks possess the power of altering and enlarging their shells to adapt them to their growth, which they appear to do as if by an intelligent will.

The distinguishing marks of shells are the number of parts of which they are composed, and their peculiar forms and prominences. Some consist of a single piece, some of two pieces, and some of three. The textures of shells are described as pearl, fibrous, horny, and some are glassy and translucent. The pearly shells are in alternate layers of very thin albuminous membrane and carbonate of lime, which by their minute undulations give the pearly lustre. This structure is the least permanent and in some geological formations the shells that were provided with it have disappeared, leaving only their casts, while those of fibrous texture are preserved unchanged. Colors, however beautifully exhibited upon the surface of shells, are to them no more distinctive features than to the minerals and flowers upon which they are also prominently displayed. They are most richly developed upon those surfaces most exposed to the light and in the class of shells found in shallow waters.

The whole number of species of molluscous animals known is estimated at about twelve thousand recent and fifteen thousand fossil. Many of the living species furnish wholesome food, and some are esteemed as delicacies. The marine shells, by the immense numbers in which they are produced, perform an important office in abstracting from the sea-water its excess of calcareous matter and thus aid in maintaining its purity.

As objects of beauty, shells have always been admired and frequently been used as ornaments. Some varieties were used by the Athenians as ballots, with the name upon them of the person to be banished, whence the term ostracism. Some shells have served the purpose of coin among rude nations. Others are noted for the pearls which are secreted between their valves around some foreign substances. Mother-of-pearl is the polished shell of nacreous. Rare species of shells are highly prized by collectors, and single specimens have been sold for large sums. The South Sea Islanders use the conch as an instrument of music, blowing into the shell through the broken top, thereby producing a loud and mellow sound. It is a species of sea conch which is represented by the god Triton. In many rural parts of the United States conches are used in place of dinner bells or tin horns to call persons from a distance.

THE FLOWN BIRD.

R. H. STODDARD.

The maple leaves are whirled away, The depths of the great pines are stirred; Night settles on the sullen day As in its nest the mountain bird. My wandering feet go up and down, And back and forth, from town to town, Through the lone woods and by the sea, To find the bird that fled from me. I followed, and I follow yet, I have forgotten to forget.

My heart goes back, but I go on, Through summer heat and winter snow; Poor heart, we are no longer one, We are divided by our woe. Go to the nest I built, and call, She may be hiding after all, The empty nest, if that remains, And leave me in the long, long rains. My sleeves with tears are always wet, I have forgotten to forget.

Men know my story, but not me For such fidelity, they say, Exists not--such a man as he Exists not in the world to-day. If his light bird has flown the nest, She is no worse than all the rest; Constant they are not, only good To bill and coo, and hatch the brood. He has but one thing to regret, He has forgotten to forget.

All day I see the ravens fly, I hear the sea-birds scream all night; The moon goes up and down the sky, And the sun comes in ghostly light. Leaves whirl, white flakes about me blow-- Are they spring blossoms or the snow? Only my hair! Good-bye, my heart, The time has come for us to part. Be still, you will be happy yet, For death remembers to forget!

FOREST PARK, SPRINGFIELD, MASS.

This is one of the most beautiful public parks in the United States. In his annual report, which is a handsomely printed and illustrated volume, President Marsh says that while there are few changes during the year in the make-up of the big family of birds and animals that compose the zoölogical and ornithological department, it continues to be an ever-increasing source of pleasure to the thousands of persons who visit the park for recreation, and no part of the park is more thoroughly appreciated. The departure from the usual plan of park menageries in arranging an exhibit of domestic animals has been a marked success, giving to the park visitors a chance to become acquainted with the more common breeds of the higher types of our domestic animals, an education in which the average city resident is sadly lacking. The exhibit of thoroughbred cows has been especially a source of pleasure and instruction. The collection comprises seven thoroughbred cattle, no two of the same breed, and children and grown people alike take delight in visiting the barns to see these splendid animals, finding it as instructive as it is entertaining.

This is a departure that might be favorably considered by other boards of park commissioners. All of the domestic animals of superior breed might be annually exhibited with great advantage to the general public.

The ornithological and zoölogical exhibits of Forest Park are hardly surpassed anywhere, containing as they do one hundred and eighty-nine specimens of animals and three hundred and ninety-seven of birds.

MARBLES.

MR. GEO. D. MERRILL,

Head Curator, Department of Geology, U. S. National Museum.

The origin of the name marble, like that of many another name now in common use, is somewhat obscure. By many authorities the word is supposed to have been somehow connected with the Greek word meaning "sparkle." However this may be, a sparkling appearance is by no means universal among marbles, but is limited to those which, like the white statuary or other crystalline varieties, have a granular structure, the sparkling itself being due to the reflection of light from the smooth surfaces of the constituent minerals. As used to-day, the word marble is made to include any lime rock of such color and hardness as to make it desirable for ornamental, or even the higher grades of building work. Stones of precisely the same composition and origin, which are not of the desired color, are classed simply as limestones.

Accepting the definition given above, it follows, then, that with a few exceptions, to be noted later, marbles are but hardened and otherwise changed beds of marine sands and muds, containing, it may be, still recognizable fragments of the corals and mollusks of which they were originally composed. But inasmuch as these muds were rarely of pure carbonate of lime, but were contaminated with matter from seaweeds and animal remains, or by iron compounds, so the resultant marble is not always white, but, if containing matter from plants or animals, gray, blue gray, or even black; and if containing iron, buff, pink, or red. If the change in form of the original muds was just sufficient to produce crystallization, we may have a marble full of fossil remains which may be of a white or pink color, standing out in fine contrast with the darker ground. If, on the other hand, the change was complete, we may have a marble of small granules, pure white in color, and of a texture like loaf sugar, such as to render it suitable for statuary purposes.

At one early period of the geological history of the North American continent, all that portion now occupied by the Appalachian mountain system was sea bottom, and on it was being deposited not merely sediments washed down from the land, but, in favorable localities, deposits of lime, sand, and mud. This deposit went on, on a gradually sinking floor, for long ages, until the lowermost beds were buried under thousands of feet of the later formed materials. Then began the slow uplifting of the sea-bottom in the form of long, parallel folds to form the mountain ranges. During this uplifting the lime sediments, which are the only ones we need consider here, were changed to marbles, and have since been exposed and made available to the quarriers through the wearing-down action of rain and running streams. So, then, a quarry is but an excavation in the hardened mud formed on the bottom of a very ancient sea.

In the Vermont marble region the beds are highly inclined and of varying colors. From the same quarry there may be produced pure white, gray, blue-gray, and greenish varieties, often variously veined and blotched owing to the collection of their different impurities along certain lines. Some of these quarries have been worked a depth of two hundred feet and more.

Not all marble beds are upturned at this steep angle, however, nor have they been worked so deeply. In Georgia, the quarries are often in hillsides, extending scarcely at all, if any, below the surface of the ground. Where opened in the valley bottoms they have the form of huge rectangular pits, with perpendicular walls. In Tennessee, many of the sediments were so slightly changed that the fossil remains are still easily recognized, and the stone is of a pink or chocolate red color, owing to the abundance of iron.

The marbles are quarried mainly by channeling machines, which cut out the stone in blocks of any desired size, or at least in sizes such as the nature of the beds will allow. Blasting is never resorted to in a properly managed quarry, since the shock of the explosion is likely to develop flaws in so tender a material. When freed from the quarry bed and brought to the surface the stone is sawn into the desired shapes by means of "reciprocating" blades of soft iron, the cutting material being sand, washed under the blades by small jets of water.

The use to which any particular marble is put is governed largely by its price and color, though texture or grain often are taken into consideration. The coarsely crystalline white and white clouded marbles of southern New York, Maryland, and Georgia, are used almost wholly for building purposes; the pink and variegated marbles of Tennessee for interiors and for furniture; while the white and blue-grays of Vermont find a large market for interiors, cemetery work, tiling, and, to a much smaller extent, for building.

It was stated before that not all our marbles were changed (metamorphosed) marine sediments. The exceptions are (1) the onyx marbles, which, though composed of carbonate of lime, like the last, are deposited from solution, and (2) the so-called verdantique marbles, which are mainly altered eruptive rocks. These last differ widely from those we have been describing, being of a prevailing green color, though often variegated with white or red. They are, in fact, not to be classed with the lime rocks at all. The names _verdantique_, _verte antique_, and _verde antique_ are but varying forms of the same words, indicating a green antique marble. The term antique has been applied simply because stones of this type were used by the ancients, and particularly by the Romans.

The so-called onyx marbles are, as noted above, spring deposits, differing from ordinary lime deposits only in color and degree of compactness. The name has also been made to include the stalagmites and stalactites in caves, such as were used by the ancient Egyptians in the construction of alabastrons, amphoræ, funeral urns, and various household utensils. The material is translucent and often beautifully clouded and veined in amber, green, yellow, and red colors. Owing to its mode of origin it shows a beautiful wavy banding, or grain, like the lines of growth in the trunk of a tree when cut across the bedding. This fact, together with its translucency, has been the cause of the wrong use for it of the name onyx, which properly belongs to a banded variety of agate. Equally wrong and misleading is the name "oriental alabaster," which is commonly applied to the Egyptian variety, the true alabaster being a variety of gypsum.

The larger part of our onyx marbles comes to-day from Mexico, though there are equally good materials of this type in Arizona and California.

The foreign supplies come in part from Egypt. Their use is almost wholly for interior decoration, as wainscotings, and the like, and for tops to small stands, bases for lamps, and so forth. These are by far the most expensive of all the stones to which the name marble is properly applied.

Some of the most noted of our foreign marbles are those of Carrara, Italy, which are ancient sediments thought to have been changed at the time of the uplifting which formed the Apennines. They are of white and blue-gray colors, sometimes beautifully veined. A beautiful, mellow yellow to drab variegated variety, very close in texture and almost waxy in appearance, is found near Siena, and is known as Siena marble. It is a great favorite for interior decorative work, as may be seen to advantage in the vestibule of the new public library building in Boston, and the rotunda of the National Library building at Washington.

Other marbles, which at the present time are great favorites with the architects, are the so-called Numidian marbles, from Algeria. These are of yellow, pink, and red color, and often beautifully mottled. Their textures are so close that they take a surface and polish almost like enamel. Since their first hardening these beds have been shattered like so much glass into countless angular fragments, and then the whole mass, with scarcely any disturbance, once more cemented into firm rock. The result is such that when large blocks are sawn into slabs, and the slabs then polished and spread out, the same series of veins, of angular blocks and streaks of color, may be traced from slab to slab, even repeating themselves with only slight changes throughout the entire series.--_Nature and Art._

THE WHIPPOORWILL.

MRS. MARY STRATNER.

A valued pet of ours is the whippoorwill or _Antrostomus vociferus_. When most of the other songsters have tucked their heads under their wings our whippoorwill wakes up to the business of the night.

First, he darts about catching insects and moths for his babies' breakfast--for this is their breakfast time--or if his babies are not hatched he takes the insects to the faithful mother-bird on the nest. After this is done he thinks his business cares are over, and he feels free to enjoy himself.

Our especial whippoorwill always selects the same spot, year after year, just about ten yards from our front door, in a clear white space on the shell-walk, and there, squatted on the ground and facing us as we sit on the piazza in the moonlight, he vociferously demands that we "whip poor Will." This demand he keeps up for a minute or two. Finding that we do not intend to heed his request, as our sturdy six-year-old Will objects, he commences a low muttering kind of grumbling.

Suddenly he has a new idea and he now orders us to "Chuck Will's widow! Chuck Will's widow!" but this order, too, goes unheeded, as our Will has no widow, and if he had why should we chuck her?

Now he does some more grumbling and finally flies away. We had almost forgotten him, when back he comes and squats in the same place. First he gives a low "Chuck, chuck;" then cries out shrilly, "You free Wheeler! You free Wheeler!" We know of no Wheeler who needs freeing, so again we cannot comply with his wishes.

Then, as if disgusted with our unresponsiveness, he flies up in a near-by orange tree where he laments somewhat like an Irishman: "O whirr-r, whirro! O whirr-r, whirro!"

He keeps this up so long that it causes some sleepy boy to say: "I wish that old bull-bat would be still." And sometimes the boy feels tempted to get up and drive him away, but he remembers in time that this feathered friend rids us of many obnoxious insects. For this reason the southern whippoorwill, or bull-bat, is protected by law in many of the states.

We know where _our_ whippoorwill nests every year in May, and we often pay the mother-bird a visit in order to get a peep at her brown speckled eggs, and later at her two brown babies; but we never bother them, contenting ourselves with taking their picture with a kodak.

This last is very difficult to do, for mamma whippoorwill always selects a dense, shady part of the woods for her motherly duties. The nest is flat on the ground, generally under a palmetto leaf, which keeps off the rain. It is composed of dry leaves which seem to have been just scratched together, and is not noticeable unless the bird is there. Even then, the brown color of the bird blends with that of the ground and leaves, so that it takes sharp eyes to detect her.

When the young birds first leave the nest they sprawl about in a comical manner. When in repose they squat flat on the ground, with wings spread out to the fullest extent, and they keep up a rolling motion with their bodies from side to side, for all the world as if they wanted to roll over, but were prevented from doing so by the position of their large wings.

TWILIGHT BIRDS.

COLE YOUNG RICE.

Swallow, I follow Thy skimming Over the sunset skies-- Follow till joy is dimming To sadness in my eyes. And hollow seems now thy twittering High up where the bittering Night-blown winds arise.

Throstle, the wassail Thou drinkest Daily of chalice buds-- Wassail in which thou linkest Thy notes of springtime moods-- Should docile thy elfish fluttering Where twilight is uttering Sorcery through the woods.

Plover, thou lover Of moorlands Drained by the surfing sea-- Lover of marshy tourlands, What is the world to thee? Nay rover, wing on unquerying O'er mallows ne'er wearying Over the pebbly sands!

But sparrow, the care o' Thy nesting Pierces thy vesper song-- Care o' the young thy breasting Shall warm through the blue night long-- Till, an arrow, seems thy dittying, Of pain to the pitying Heart that knows earth's wrong.

AWESOME TREES.