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enough forms to our collection to enable us to draw some important generalizations. Please note, at time of collection, simply the temperature, and the date; and let every one try, even if he never drew a line before! Here are some of the drawings that won the first prize last winter, and very beautiful they are, painted a blue-white on a dead black. They came from Chapter 742, Jefferson, Ohio.

In response to many requests, we append a few questions, and we shall give credit to all who send correct answers, unless there should be too many:

BOTANY.

1. Does the closed gentian ever open?

2. At what hour of the day does chicory open? 3. Do the rings of a beet indicate anything regarding the age of the beet?

4. Is the heart of an old tree ever alive? 5. Describe the fruit of Jack-in-the-Pulpit. 6. How can mushrooms be distinguished from toad-stools?

7. What is the average number of ray flowers in the head of an ox-eye daisy?

8. Describe the fruit of trailing arbutus.

MINERALOGY.

1. What are the distinctions between minerals and rocks?

2. What is the most common mineral?

3. What is the most widely distributed metal? 4. How can gold be dissolved?

5. Of what mineral are ordinary dinner plates made?

6. What is the meaning of the word amethyst? 7. What is the "streak" of a mineral?

ENTOMOLOGY.

1. What is an insect, and why so called? 2. How do insects breathe?

3. Are spiders insects,- or what?

4. How many wings has a house-fly? A bee? 5. How do flies walk on a ceiling?

6. Do flies have to turn over and fly backward in order to alight on a ceiling?- or how do they? 7. What do dragon-flies eat?

8. Give the life-history of the little black "wrigglers" seen in heads of the ox-eye daisy.

ORNITHOLOGY.

1. Describe the largest woodpecker. 2. Describe the egg of the smallest fly-catcher. 3. Describe the nest of the phoebe. 4. Describe the habits of the shrike. 5. Describe the song of a cat-bird.

REPORTS OF CHAPTERS.

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424, Decorah, Iowa. We take this report from a very interesting article contributed to the Advance of September by M. R. Steele, an honorary member of the Chapter :

"Decorah, the beautiful capital of Winneshiek County, Iowa, is named after a chief of the Winnebago Indians. The city reposes like a nest of birds, in a deep valley, protected from fierce winds by the wood-crowned bluffs of the Upper Iowa River. This stream, the most rapid branch of the Mississippi in Iowa, should not be mistaken for the Iowa River, which is farther south. Our river's ox-bow sweep, inclosing rich alluvial flats, washes bluffs and slopes more than 200 feet high. The Trenton limestone, full of gigantic "straight horns" (orthoceras) and other silurian fossils, invites us to collect and study these "oldest inhabitants" of the primitive ocean.

After learning the general outlines of geology, we wish to study that of Iowa, in particular, its prairies, rivers, carboniferous and other deposits, and the fossils peculiar to each.

"We have twenty members, including boys and ladies, who meet once a week, and ask and answer questions in writing. Some members write articles for a local paper, and lead our boys to the quarries in search of fossils. We hope that others may be encouraged by the spirit and success of our Decorah members to do likewise." The Secretary of this Decorah Chapter is Mrs. M. E. Bones. 891, Schenectady, N. Y. (A). We have increased from six to nine members. Every other week we have debates, and the alternate weeks, compositions. We have debated the questions, "Do flying-fish fly?" (decided in the negative); "Do the fore or hind legs of a frog appear first ?" (decided that the hind-legs do); "Were the American Indians the mound-builders? We have had compositions on dragon-flies and asbestos. We are working hard at collecting specimens to be classified in the coming winter. We have meetings every Friday at 3:45 P. M., and on Monday and Wednesday nights we have reading meetings, when we read up geology and zoology. -E. G. Conde, Sec.

EXCHANGES.

"

Shells, leaves in great variety, Indian pottery, etc., for minerals and eggs.-Jay E. Bacon, Ormond, Florida.

Mica crystals, beryl, rose quartz, plumose mica, and trap-rock, for marine specimens, fern impressions, zinc ore, and agates.- Mrs. E. S. Lamprey, Acworth, N. H.

Ferns.-L. Van Ness, 1020 Green street, San Francisco, Cal. Insects, correctly labeled. List on application.- Ward M. Sackett, Meadville, Pa.

"Crania Americana," or a comparative view of the skulls of various aboriginal nations of N. A. and S. A., pp. 297, seventy-eight plates, and one colored map; folio. The book is in very good preservation except that its cloth binding is gone. Original cost, thirty dollars. Will sell for fifteen dollars, or exchange for "Insect Lives," "Child's Book of Nature," "Selborne," "Parables from

Nature," and ten dollars.-A. J. Mayo, Ch. 810, Peru, Hillsboro

Co., Florida.

Insects and birds' eggs. Correspondence with other Chapters desired. N. M. Eberhart, Sec. Ch. 672, Chicago Lawn, Ill.

A dozen variously colored cubes of rosin.- Miss Jennie Judge, 199 Waldburg Street, Savannah, Georgia.

Books to be exchanged for conchological works: "Electric Lighting," Morton, 82; Lesquerieux, "Cretaceous Flora," plates, 4to, '74; Gentry, "Life Histories of Birds"; Young's "Correlation and Conservation of Forces"; Cove's "Birds of the Northwest," and many others.-W. D. Averill, Chestnut Hill, Pa.

Insects, for insects. Correspondence desired with a Southern or Western Chapter. Only satisfactory letters answered.- Henry G. Field, Sec. Ch. 743, High School, Detroit, Mich.

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My first is in cream, but not in milk;

My second in sackcloth, but not in silk;

My third is in darkness, but not in shine;

My fourth in the "vineyards" that border the Rhine;

My fifth in the "saddle follows the chase;

My sixth comes in "after" with slower grace;
My seventh in " "game" which helps to make cheer;
My eighth in a "saint" both jolly and queer,
Who comes with my "last" in a season bright,
When my whole floods the world with a joyous light.
"NOVICE.

TRANSPOSITIONS.

1. TRANSPOSE was solicitous to contested. 2. Transpose in that place to the supposed matter above the air. 3. Transpose to allure to move in a military manner. 4. Transpose measures of distance

to a pleased expression. 5. Transpose a mythological charmer to ascended. 6. Transpose warning to a vendue. 7. Transpose ascertained the duration of to let fall. 8. Transpose a wall to obstruct the flow of water to irate. 9. Transpose wise men to fluids in the form of air.

The central letters of the newly formed words will spell the title of a poem by Susan Coolidge, from which the following lines are taken: We ring the bells and we raise the strain.

We hang up garlands everywhere,

And bid the tapers twinkle fair,

And feast and frolic-and then we go

Back to the same old lives again.

A FAN PUZZLE.

X

X

X x

BESSIE S.

FROM 1 to 6, importance; from 2 to 6, to entwine; from 3 to 6, buries; from 4 to 6, pains acutely; from 5 to 6, fishes resembling trout; from 6 to 7, a division; from 3 to 7, the point on which two lines cut each other.

Each semicircle contains five letters. First (from 1 to 5), a kind of thin muslin; second, one of ten equal parts; third, proportion; fourth, an incident; five, a thin, woolen stuff.

L. LOS REGNI.

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UPPER PYRAMID. Across: 1. A letter.

2. Atmosphere. 3. Το appease. 4. Soaked in liquid. Downward: 1. A letter. 2. A preposition. 3. A drink. 4. To heap up. 5. A quick blow. A pronoun. 7. A letter.

6.

3.

3.

RIGHT-HAND. Across: 1. A letter. 2. A printer's measure.
A horse. 4. Fastened. 5. A short poem. 6. A verb. 7. A letter.
Downward: 1. Tooth-shaped. 2. Young unmarried women.
A word used in driving cattle. 4. A letter.

LOWER. Across: 1. Matured. 2. Drawn by a rope. 3. Moisture. 4. A letter. Downward: I. A letter. 2. A pronoun. 3. A capsule. 4. A water-vessel. 5. Fresh. 6. A masculine nick

name. 7. A letter.

LEFT-HAND. Across: 1. A letter. 2. A masculine nickname. 3.
Epoch. 4. A linear measure. 5. To cut off. 6. A pronoun.
A letter. Downward: 1. A letter. 2. To be in poor health.
4. One who sleeps.

Very warm.

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7. 3.

CYRIL DEANE.

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ANSWERS TO PUZZLES IN THE NOVEMBER NUMBER.

DOUBLE ACROSTIC. I. Primals, Republican; finals, Democratic. Cross-words: 1. RichmonD. 2. EriE. 3. PotsdaM. 4. UrbinO. 5. Balearic. 6. LancasteR. 7. IthacA. 8. CattegaT. 9. AltaI. 10. NeraC. II. Primals, Autumn leaves; finals, red and yellow.

Cross-words: 1. AveR. 2. UrgE. 3. TenD. 4. UlnA. 5.

MaiN. 6. NeeD. 7. LazY. 8. Eas E. 9. AbeL. 10. VeiL. II.
Ergo. 12. Sto W.

ILLUSTRATED PUZZLE.

Sing a song of sixpence,

A pocket full of rye,

Four and twenty blackbirds
Baked in a pie.

GEOGRAPHICAL DIAMOND.

menia.

1. A.

When the pie was o "penned"

The birds began to sing.

4. Ar

Was n't that a dainty dish To set before a king? 2. Arc. 3. Ammer. 5. Cento. 6. Rio. 7. A. Reunion of hearts. 4. Br-aNd-ed.

WORD SYNCOPATIONS.

Por-tEn-ts. 3. At-tUn-e.

S-tOw-ing. 7. C-aNn-on. 8. S-cOw-led.
Ma-sHe-d. 11. S-tEa-ling. 12. Re-bAt-ed.
Pen-aTe-s. 15. B-aSk-ed.

1. Wh-eRr-y. 2.

5. W-all-ing. 6.

9. W-aFt-ed. 10.

13. Asp-iRe-s. 14.

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MAGIC SQUARES. 1 to 9, sols; 2 to 9, ides; 3 to 9, boas; 4 to 9, imps; 5 to 9, leys; 6 to 9, ate's; 7 to 9, teas; 8 to 9, errs. Outer square, sibilate: middle square, odometer; inner square, leap-year. A REBUS. A fat kitchen makes a lean will.

NUMERICAL ENIGMA. Latin quotation: "The plant which is often transplanted does not prosper." Quotation from Disraeli : "The secret of success is constancy to purpose.

THE names of those who send solutions are printed in the second number after that in which the puzzles appear. addressed to ST. NICHOLAS "Riddle-box," care of THE CENTURY Co., 33 East Seventeenth St., New-York City.

Answers should be

ANSWERS TO ALL THE PUZZLES IN THE OCTOBER NUMBER were received, before October 20, from "B. L. Z. Bub"- Lulu May Maud E. Palmer-Paul Reese-"Hill-top"- May White Ovington - Mamma and Joe Maggie and May Turrill-"San Anselmo Valley”—“B. L. Z. B." Woodbury - "The Carters "- -Sandyside-Judith - Reggie and Nellie Betsey Trotwood"-"The Aztecs -Francis W. Islip-"Nearthebay "-"Nippy Doo and Fidrie Aye"- B. Y. of Omaha - Fanny R. Jackson. - Lulu, 7

ANSWERS TO PUZZLES IN THE OCTOBER NUMBER were received, before October 20, from "Goosie and Adolphus," 2Anna M. Tuttle, 2 - Horace F. Lunt, 1- Jack, Morris, and Mamma, 1-Hattie B. Weil, 1 — -Chiddingstone, 5-T. L. S., 4 - Nellie Brice, 1- James Gillin, 2-J. Haney, 3-"Old Man P.," 1- Charles Howard Williams, 3-Louise Joynes, 4- Ellery Sedgwick, 3— "The Marsh-man," 1-Sam Bissell, 3- Nina and Ethel, 4- Effie K. Talboys, 7 — Carrie Cargin, 1 - Marion and Albert Williams, 2 Janey M. Hutchinson, 2- Hessey D. Boylston, 2-" Pocahontas," 1-"Oulagiskit," 6-Carey E. Melville, 9- Ethel Camp, 1—“Sealskin," -"Pepper and Maria," 6- Emma St. C. Whitney, 8-S. S., 8-M. B. B., 1-"Jack Sprat," 6-Clarice M. Petremant, 3A Six-year-old, 1- Carrie C. Howard, 6- Eleanor and Maude Peart, 6-"Old Carthusian," 4- - E. Muriel, M. Margaret, and E. W. Grundy, 7-Edith L. Young. 5-Olive and Ida Gibson, 4-Jennie, Papa, and Mamma, 9-George T. Bourne, 1-Lena S. Crawford, 1-Mary B., 6- Ralph, 3-Helen E. Howell, 7-Fred A. Hamilton, 5-Mary P. Stockett, 7-Tom W. Wright, 4- Kate Lovett, 7— Hallie Couch, 7— Lizzie A. Atwater, 6--L. L. R., 4- Agnes W. Thomas, 8-"Katy Did,” 6.

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SANTA CLAUS: "HERE'S A STATE OF THINGS!' HOW IN THE WORLD AM I EVER TO GET DOWN THERE?"

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