Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 17.djvu/299

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POPULAR MISCELLANY.
287

was four feet deep, and contained one hundred and eighty-nine arrow-heads. It is especially mentioned that in two of the graves the bodies had been buried in an extended position.

A Chinese Hygieopolis.—According to Dr. W. Wykehara Myers, of the British Naval and Consular Service, Dr. Richardson has been anticipated in his "Hygieopolis," or city of health, and a city very like that which he has described as ideal is in existence at Wen-Chow, China. Dr. Myers is not prepared to say that the parallel is perfect, but observes that the similarity is so close as to warrant his alluding even to the high standard set up by Dr. Richardson. All the main and pleasant features of "Hygieopolis" above-ground were found at Wen-Chow, and even the deficiencies in the Chinese city did not prevent Dr. Myers from being surprised at the passing resemblance it presented to the ideal.

Animal Intelligence.—The following, cut from a recent issue of the "Portland Transcript," was sent to us by a valued correspondent, who vouches for its truth: "A friend gives us this dog-story as coming under his own observation: A bull-dog and a Newfoundland came into collision in Federal Street. The Newfoundland took to his heels for safety, and was closely pursued. Seeing that he was likely to be overtaken, he caught up a bit of dirt from the street, and at the critical moment dropped it as if it were something of value he was obliged to give up. The ruse succeeded; for the bull-dog stopped to pick up the supposed titbit, and the Newfoundland escaped. The disgust manifested by the vicious brute, when he found how he had been outwitted, h said to have been very comical."

Prehistoric Africa.—Dr. Emil Holub, the Austrian traveler, in a recent lecture before the British Anthropological Institute, on the central South African tribes, mentioned that he had found along the South African coasts clear traces of extinct tribes who, judging from their relics and from other indications, must have been of a very low type. Passing farther into the interior, there were evident relics of quite a different stage of culture, reminding him of the great African empire which the Portuguese marked on their maps as Monomatapa. Among them were workings of ancient mines, some even of gold, and the ruins of a rude kind of cyclopean fortifications. Such evidences, he held, pointed to exterminated tribes, and testified to the antiquity of the savage African rule of warfare, which destroys all the males, and allots the wives and children to the victors as slaves.

Production of Precious Metals in Colorado.—Mr. Frank Fossett, the author of a valuable work on Colorado, reports on the basis of his later observations, that that State has taken an immense stride forward in its mining industries during the past year, and has distanced California in the production of the precious metals. He believes that it will next year surpass Nevada and all other mining regions in the field of gold and silver. Full detailed statements have not yet been received from all quarters, but enough is known to make it sure that the return of the State for 1879 will amount to $18,650,000. The present rate of production is estimated at over $2,000,000 a month, with a prospect of a steady increase hereafter; and the entire product of 1880, it is believed, will be between 825,000,000 and $30,000,000. The product of last year consisted of 14,100,000 in silver, $3,000,000 in gold, $1,450,000 in lead, and $125,000 in copper.

The Carpet-Beetle.—Mr. A. S. Fuller contributes some notes to the "American Entomologist" on the habits of the carpet beetle, whose larva is commonly called the Buffalo-moth, which may be of help in finding a remedy for the ravages of the insects. The larvæ feed on carpets and woolens, but the fully developed insects feed and pair out of doors, after which the female returns to the carpets to lay her eggs. Mr. Fuller found the beetles last summer feeding on the pollen of spiræas, catching them for several weeks on these plants, but on no others in his garden. As the spiræas are very abundant in all parts of the country, it would be easy to plant a number of them around the house as a bait for the beetles, where, by watching them carefully, the in-