Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 30.djvu/571

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SKETCH OF CHARLES C.ABBOTT.
551

Belted Kingfisher"; in 1875, "American Stone Implements," "Habits of the Kingfisher," "Occurrence of Flint Scalping-Knives in New Jersey," "Supposed Marriage Emblem of American Indian Origin," "Iron Axes from West Virginia," and "Stone Masks from New Jersey"; in 1876, "American Stone Tubes and Tobacco-Pipes," and "American Flint Skin-scrapers"; and, in 1883, a note on the origin of the American dipper's power of diving and aquatic habits, being a reply to the Duke of Argyll's objections to an evolutionary view of the origin.

Of eight contributions to "Science News," which was published by Ernest Ingersoll and W. C. Wyckoff, in 1878 and 1879, one entitled "Do Opossums play 'Possum?" is noticeable because it is an endeavor to show that the animal when attacked or captured is overcome by fear, and does not designedly simulate death; and develops the view which was subsequently published by Romanes as entertained by Darwin in his posthumous essay on "Instinct," which was printed by Romanes, in his "Mental Evolution in Animals." Abbott's independent conclusion as expressed in this paper was published four years prior to the appearance of Romanes's book or of Darwin's essay.

In "The Popular Science Monthly" he has published papers on "Certain Phases of Bird-Life," "Birds' Nests," the "American Chipmunk," "To what Extent is Evolution visible?" "An Inscribed Indian Tablet," "Migration of Inland Birds," "Traces of a pre-Indian People," "The Nest and Eggs of the Thistle-Bird," "Some Rambles of a Naturalist," "Archæological Frauds," and "Animal Weather-Lore." Among his contributions to other volumes are the "Report on Fishes of the Delaware River," and "Winter Habits of Fishes of the Delaware River," in the United States Fish Commissioner's Report for 1875–'76; "Catalogue of Vertebrate Animals of New Jersey," in the State Geological Report for 1868; "Palæolithic Man in America," in Kingsley's "Standard Natural History"; "The Stone Age in New Jersey," in the Smithsonian Annual Report for 1875; papers on Chipped Stone Implements, Stone Mortars and Pestles, Cooking Vessels, Wood Implements, Pipes, Sculptures, Bone Weapons, etc., in Wheeler's "Report upon United States Geographical Surveys west of the One Hundredth Meridian"; on "The Discovery of Supposed Palæolithic Implements from the Glacial Drift in the Valley of the Delaware River," near Trenton, New Jersey, in the "Reports of the Peabody Museum of American Archæology and Ethnology," for 1876 and 1878; "An Historic Account of Discoveries of Palæolithic Implements in the Trenton Gravels," in the "Proceedings" of the Boston Society of Natural History for 1881, and of the "Discovery of Human Remains in the same Gravel," in the "Proceedings" for 1883.

Also, from time to time he contributed to young people's magazines, such as the "Riverside" and "St.Nicholas," and more recently to