The American Museum journal (c1900-(1918)) (17974180149)

Title: The American Museum journal
Identifier: americanmuseumjo15amer (find matches)
Year: c1900-(1918) (c190s)
Authors: American Museum of Natural History
Subjects: Natural history
Publisher: New York : American Museum of Natural History
Contributing Library: American Museum of Natural History Library
Digitizing Sponsor: Biodiversity Heritage Library



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ir^ that he did not see in hiding in each pool, while here in the group all are brought out into plain view. Moreover, while your memory may tell you that you have seen just such a pool many times in the woods, as a matter of fact you have seen no such pool, for Nature, in her grand, haphazard way, has no place for Art in her small canvases; she shows a detail here and a detail there, but to assemble a complete scene that will lead the eye hither and yon accord- ing to the prearranged purposes of the artist, requires a skillful staging of the scene, using only legitimate natural "properties," and this Miss Dickerson has most ably done for us. Describing the groups more in detail, the May scene, representing specifically the life histories of our various species of toads, frogs and tree frogs, assembles all of them under the banner of early spring. A stray wild apple tree on the right, with its abundant pink-and-white blooms; a tall blueberry in full blossom; \'arious familiar vines and shrubs just coming into leaf; young hornbeam sap- lings, and a couple of sturdy oaks and refl maples, proclaim a Mater scene in mid-May, and set the stage for the amphibian life that we can expect to see at that time. The eye further notes cowslips, violets, trilliums, jacks, dog- tooths and anemones as the plants in blossom, while the curls of unfurling ferns tell us yet again that spring is here. The hylas or "tree-toads" are out in force; everywhere in the natural places for them one espies them out, while attached to crimson spikes of water- plant down in the still, clear depths of the pool are their clusters of pearl-like eggs, for this is their breeding season. \'arious kinds of frogs and toads occupy important positions on the right and on the left of the case; down in the water are the egg masses just laid, and hatching 168