Of the herbs and small shrubs the number is very great. From early spring, when the anemone or wind flower appears upon the hill-side, until the late frosts of fall, there is a constant succession of floral beauties. Among the more common of these herbs and flowers may be mentioned the buttercups, liverwort, cowslip, prairie pinks, blood root, sorrel, dandelion (said to have first appeared with the coming of the white man), thistles, lilies, sunflowers (many varieties), asters, bone-set or thoroughwort, wild rose, strawberry, may weed, lobelia, cardinal flower, wild pea, lady's slipper (yellow and purple, the latter not common), May apple or mandrake, several species of milk-weed, morning glory, etc., as well as many kinds of beautiful ferns and mosses in the shady dells. Of course a number of plants and grasses have been introduced that have become practically indigeneous. The tame grasses have found a congenial home in the rich prairie soil, and afford the most luxuriant pasturage for all kinds of live stock.

This chapter would be incomplete without an allusion to the lotus, or the beautiful and fragrant cream-colored water-lily, which expands ten inches in diameter, and is found in the sloughs along the Mississippi river. It is said to grow in but few localities in North America.

ZOOLOGY.

The natural history of Allamakee County deserves to be studied with more care and scientific accuracy than has yet been bestowed thereon. And especially should the young people be encouraged to take an interest in a study so attractive as well as useful. Species once common are becoming extinct, and others not native here are appearing year by year and taking the place of those that are disappearing. Not one in twenty of our boys knows what insects are useful to the farmer, nor what birds; and of the latter great numbers are annually slaughtered in wanton sport, which, had their lives been spared, would render valuable aid to the farmer and horticulturist in ridding him of annoying and destructive insect pests.

The principle mammalia found in the county by the early settlers were the panther, gray wolf, prairie wolf, lynx, wild cat, raccoon, skunk, mink, weasel, beaver, otter, muskrat, rabbit (hare), bat, shrew, mole, fox, black bear, gray squirrel, fox squirrel, flying squirrel, striped squirrel (or chipmunk), gray gopher and striped gopher (or ground squirrels), woodchuck or ground_hog, the pouched or pocket gopher, and mice of several species. Rats were so early an importation by steamers that it would not be surprising to see some gray veteran, with the impudence of his race, appear and claim a share of the banquet at a pioneer's meeting. The porcupine has also been found in this region, we believe. An occasional red squirrel has been obtained of late years, though not observed when the county was first settled. Since white men set

tled in the county its prairies have not been shaken by the tramp of buffalo (more properly bison), which were undoubtedly at one time to be found within our borders. Elk were found here at first, but have disappeared long since. Red deer were very plentiful for many years after the county was settled, and a few are killed each year to this day along the bluffy regions of the Iowa and Yellow Rivers. At as late a date as December, 1870, we have an instance of no less than ten being shot in a three days' hunt, participated in by four men, in the Iowa Valley. The latest instance we have of the capture of a beaver in our county borders was in November 26, 1874, when one was killed on the farm of C. J. F. Newell, on the Yellow River, in Franklin Township, This specimen was three feet, eight inches long, and weighed forty-eight pounds. Of wolves, wild cats and foxes, there are still a sufficient number to warrant the county in paying a bounty upon their scalps, and they do not seem to decrease as rapidly as the sheep and poultry owners might wish, as the following comparison will show: In the five months' ending, June 1, 1871, the county paid bounties upon 47 wolves (including whelps), 37 wild cats and 40 foxes. In the year ending, December 31, 1881, the number paid for was wolves 88, wild cats 43, and foxes 23. Occasional lynx are included in this number and classed among the cats.

The birds of this county are those of a large portion of North America, though we are more favored in numbers of varieties than many sections because of our varied topography-a combination of prairie, valley, bluff, woods and water-affording breeding places for nearly all the species that inhabit this climate in North America. Several species are only occasional visitors; many others go southward during the winter; while a small number remain here the year around. Among the birds of prey (Raptores) the bald eagle holds the first place, and may still be seen perched in solitary state in lofty trees, and is known to breed in this county. Among other species of this order which are supposed to nest in this region may be mentioned the buzzard, duck hawk, pigeon hawk, sparrow hawk, goshawk, Cooper's hawk, sharp-shinned hawk, red-tailed or hen-hawk, barn owl, great horned owl, mottled or screech owl, golden eagle, fish hawk, and barred owl. The great gray and snowy owls of the northern regions are often seen in winter.

Of the Scansores, or climbers: the red and the black-billed cuckoos, hairy woodpecker, downy woodpecker, the black woodcock (rare), and the yellow-bellied, red-headed, golden-winged, and perhaps some other woodpeckers. It is an idea of some, but fast becoming exploded, that some varieties of woodpeckers do great injury to fruit trees, etc.; but the fact is that no more industrious insect hunter exists, and these species should be protected instead of exterminated. They seldom peck away any but decayed wood, and the good they do is vastly greater than the injury.

Insessores, or perchers. This order is represented by an innumerable variety, so that we can mention but a few of the most common; such as: Ruby-throated humming bird, chimney swallow, whippoorwill, night hawk, belted kingfisher, king bird, pewee or Phoebe bird, wood thrush, common robin, blue-bird, black and white creeper, Maryland yellow-throat, chestnut-sided warbler, scarlet tanager, barn swallow, cliff swallow, bank swallow, purple martin, shrike or butcher-bird, red-eyed vires or fly-catcher, catbird, brown thrush, house wren, winter wren, nut-hatch, titmouse or chickadee, horned lark, finch, yellow bird, white throated sparrow, tree sparrow, chipping sparrow, sing sparrow, rosebreasted grosbeak, indigo-bird, chewink, bobolink, cow-bird, redwinged black-bird, meadow lark, Baltimore oriole, orchard oriole, crow black-bird, blue jay, etc. The mocking bird breeds here, rarely. The crow is not common, though far more so than twenty years ago. The snow-bunting is found in winter. The black snow bird is seen in countless numbers, spring and fall, as it migrates to the north or south. The rose-breasted grosbeak has increased in numbers wonderfully in the last fifteen years, since the advent of the potato-bug, of which it is inordinately fond.

The order of Racores, which includes many of our game birds, is represented by the wild or passenger pigeon, Carolina dove. pinnated grouse or prairie chicken, which is scarce compared with the early years, ruffed grouse or partridge, and the quail. The wild turkey is said to have been found occasionally when the country was new, but if so they have long since disappeared.

Among the Grallatores, or waders, we have the sand-hill crane occasionally, the bittern, green heron, golden plover, killdeer plover, king plover, black-bellied plover, turnstone, woodcock, Wilson's snipe, rail, and others.

Among the Natatores, or swimmers, we might mention a great variety of species that tarry in our waters a greater or less period in passing to and from their northern breeding grounds in spring and fall, including the wild goose, brant, mallard, green and bluewinged teal, midgeon, red-head, canvas-back, golden-eye, butterball, and other varieties of ducks and geese; and the great northern diver, or loon. The summer duck, and some other species of this order, breed with us. The swan is sometimes found; as is also the white pellican.

Reptiles are neither very numerous nor formidable, though, when first settled, several sections of the county were considerably infested by more or less dangerous specimens. The yellow rattlesnake and the massasauga or prairie rattlesnake were frequently encountered, and the former sometimes attained great sizes. It found a congenial habitat along the bluffs among the rocks, and there are traditions of dens of these hideous reptiles similar to that described by O. W. Holmes in "Elsie Venner," inhabited by

monsters of fabulous number and size. Single specimens, and some quite large, are still found occasionally, and their possible presence is still, to the timid, a terror in those otherwise delightful dells that break through the bluff wall. The water-snake survives in the streams. The black-snake, the blue-racer, the ground snake and the garter-snake-the most common comprise the other species, and they are every year decreasing in number. There are three or four species of turtle, possibly one lizard, and one or two salamanders, besides the usual varieties of frogs and toads.

Fishes abound in all the streams of any size, ranging from the minnow to the gigantic buffalo and catfish. Among the more common are the perch, bass, pike, pickerel, sucker, sturgeon, eel, red horse, chub, gar-pike, dog-fish, etc. The only brook or speckled trout found in Iowa are caught in the cold, swift creeks that empty into the Upper Iowa. They were formerly very numerous in Patterson, Silver and French creeks, but these streams have been so persistently fished that comparatively few are now to be found. The other varieties are caught in great numbers in both the Mississippi and the Iowa.

Of the crustaceous, the crawfish, or crab, is our best known representative; and of the mollusks, the snail.

The insects include representatives of all the great families. The lepidoptera (moths and butterflies) have many species, varying greatly in size, from the great cecropia moth, five inches across the wings, to the tiny tinea, less than half an inch, which does so much damage to uncared for carpets, etc. The hymneoptera include the membraneous winged insects, such as bees, wasps, ichneumons, saw-flies, ants, and their allies; the dipterea, the twowinged insects, as flies, mosquitoes, etc.; the coleoptera, or sheathwinged insects, are numerous, and many of them large and beautifully colored. This class embraces the beetles, among the troublesome and destructive borers of many species, the scavenger bugs, and the potato bug. The beautiful and useful ladybugs belong also to this division. Many of the borers are remarkable for the length of their antennice, and for the strangeness and elegance of their forms. The apple-tree borer is about three-fourths of an inch long in its beetle state. It lays its eggs on the bark, near the foot of the tree. The larvæ are whitish, with small, horny, brown-colored heads. They remain in the larvæ state two or three years, during which time it is they do the damage. Their transformation is usually completed in June, when the perfect beetle emerges. The lady-bug is destructive to aphides, or plant lice, and should therefore be preserved. The Colorado potato bug first appeared in this county, we believe, in the season of 1867. It is a native of the Far West, and when making this "invasion" spread over the country to the eastward at an average rate of about sixty miles a year.