FLORA AND FAUNA OF ALASKA
Territory Offers a Virgin Field for Studying the History of Vegetable
and Animal Species.
Great interest always is felt in the
flora ami fauna of a country, especially
a new anil little known country like
Alaska. The first ones who write the
histories of the vegetable and animal
species in this northern land will gain
fame according to the truthfulness and
thoroughness of their work and may
contribute an important part to the
world's store of knowledge.
It is now pretty generally accepted
that Darwin’s theory of evolution and
the origin of species applies to the vege
table as well as the animal kingdom. A
few years ago in studying the cactii of
the southwest an investigator found re
markable evidence supporting this be
lief. Experimenting along these lines l
the cactus of the desert promises to be I
transformed into one of the most useful
plants. In Alaska the native plants
offer an unending field for study, and,
the territory being new, the work of the
botanist would seemingly afford unusual
attractions.
Hut it is in the animal life of Alaska
that doubtless some of the strangest
conditions will be found. It is practi
cally certain that some insect species j
pass the winter with scarcely any pro
tection from the extreme cold and wake
to extraordinary activity when warmed
by the spring sunshine. In splitting
wood in winter it is a common thing to
tiiul the larvae of the ordinary pine
lieetle in lugs that have been subjected,
say, to TO degrees below zero. They are
as brittle as diminutive icicles. Yet as
soon as the frost is out of the timber in
the spring these little fellows may he
heard industriously plying their trade
as carpenters. If they can survive be
ing transformed into hits of ice by a
temperature as low as that, what degree
of cold would render them absolutely
and irretrievably dead? If they warm
into active life after seven months of
frozen dormancy, would they do the
same if the cold should be prolonged for
seven years or seven million years?
The bee family is well represented
here. Sometimes, at least, they make a
little honey—which, (s-rhups, they store
in their ehamber* ttniler the iiiom* In
i' .re going to «lee)> in Sr|itemlnT or Oe
tolier, in oriler that they may partake
of a dainty hreakfa-t when they awake
in May or June, llluelnittle Hie* a|>|n ar
on the noiith able* of euhin* in April,
wliile the uroutnl in -till fovrml with
■mow an<l wliile the night* are Mtill eohl.
They are »peeially uetive in amoroii*
j.ur*nit- fan it In- that they remem
ber the hi||h jink* they earrieil on the
year lashare" If oue of them ha<l |{ot
eovere>l over hv a glarier a thoU*aml
year* ait" ami wa* to lie releu*ei| hv the
nieltinit of the ire, wonkl he rah the
kitvk* out ol hi* wing* with hi* wwke.l
old logs and proceed to buzz around the
modern daughters of his tribe?
These are questions too profound for
ordinary mortals. They can only be
answered by the application of expert
knowledge of a high order. They and
their kindred problems are worthy to
become the life study of some man of
means, for poor folk must confine their
researches to the habits of the pavstreak
and the conditions that govern the
bean market.
Before proceeding on this interesting
subject, however, it may be remarked
that the ardent little mosquito is an
other bug that warms up to his work
beautifully with the bursting of the first
buds of spring. He combines the qual
ities of warrior and family man to a
remarkable degree, and is untiring in
bis efforts throughout the summer. If
there is such a thing as his mental fac
ulty remaining operative while his phys
ical organs are rendered powerless by
the cold, it is easy to imagine the sub
jects that occupy his thoughts.
Each spring the small lake above
Rampart, being transformed into solid
ice during winter, is covered by water
from melting snow. The ice for several
days remains frozen fast to the bottom
and the water on it becomes perhaps
two feet deep. Finally the ice lets go
of the bottom and rises to the surface, j
Within forty-eight hours of this event u
frog chorus commences in the lake and
new voices join in at intervals, till at the
end of a week their potlach, or whatever
they are having, is at its hight. The
whole tribe is on hand, and the fun
goes on day and night. When this an
nual awakening first takes place the
frogs are very timid. An interview with
them has frequently !>een sought, but,
no matter how careful one is, every
voice hushes while the intruder is four
or five hundred feet away. Approach
and you see nothing. Sit down, be very
still and wait an hour and the lake will
remain silent. (>o about your business
and bv the time you are two hundred
yards away the music will lie going as
merrily as ever. How can they know
you art* uniching when you take
every precaution to conceal yourself ami
t re ail as lightly as a cat? How do they
know you are behind the hushes trying
to net a near-tu hearing of their concert?
Somewhere ulmut their anatomy they
must carry a more sensitive apparatus
than the nicest wireless-telegraph in*
strument yet invented. Will science
ever he aide to comprehend and avail
itself of their (siwers? It is stated on
authority tltut must la- credited that
live frogs at different |«-riisls and places
in the world have l»-en taken from
solid hhsks of stone tpnte recently
Knglish scientists are reported to liave
T?nmnnr
llAURY BURRUSS.
S. K. IIEETER.
HEETER & BURRUSS,
FREIGHTERS and PACKERS
Freighting and Packing to and from all Creeks.
Good Equipments and Service Unexcelled
thus discovered two. Is it possible that
they lived so long ago that the advent
of Adam is a recent occurrence in com
parison? Can our own merry little song
sters trace their ancestry back to the
time when mastodons trod the earth?
Perhaps that subtle sense that enables
them to now detect the presence of man
afar off originated in the necessity of
their remote ancestors exercising great
precaution to avoid being crushed by
the huge beasts. Perhaps the huge gla
ciers that overwhelmed the mastodons
preserved the frogs for untold ages and
enabled them to commence life over
again when conditions had improved.
At any rate, it is certain that the frogs
of the present day, who must lie frozen
as hard as pebbles during our long, cold
winters, have an interesting history,
if some one will appear equal to the
task of rendering it into readable En
glish.
There are so many fascinating thoughts
relating to the fauna of this wonderful
country that occasion will be taken to
refer to the subject again, even at the
risk of ridicule from those better quali
fied to treat of the matter.
Faraday stated that a crystal when
removed from its solution and carefully
preserved will never lose its power of
growth. If at any future time it is sub
merged in a solution similar to that in
which it was first formed, the invisible
molecular forces again assert themselves
and the crystal slowly enlarges, pre
cisely as if there had been no interrup
tion. A crystal may have been pro
duced in some former geological jieriod,
many centuries ago, and yet upon being
plated in a suitable solution it will be
seen that the work of molecular archi
tecture is immediately resumed, just as
if the intermediate ages had been blot
ted out. The crystal may even have
been almost destroyed in the interval of
inactivity, and yet it will grow as before,
provided there remains within it some
small fragment that has the structure of
the primitive crystal. Crystals also
possess the power of self repair to a
marked degree, so that if they are
■const or bruised the subseipient growth
is abnormally rapid over the injured
areas, until the injuries disappear and
tin- crystal resumes its |n-rfcct form.—
Mining World.
Around tioldtield* and T>>mi|>ah, Nev.,
there are said to In- no less than sixty
privately owned automobiles, In-sides a
large nuutln-r u|n-rated l»y com|»unies in
tin- trans|*irtution of passengers, mail
and express. The eoin|s*mes charge HI
cents a mile for carrying passenger*,
tine of the strange outgrowth* of tin
high state of Inflection to which the
automobiles have been brought is their
utilization by prosjreetors and stain
iwders. The vehicles are driven hun
dreds of miles over country devoid of
mads and are said to serve an important
end in enabling pros|iectors to reach and
examine places in the desert that other
wise would l>e practically inaccessible.
Bichloride of gold is a substance
formed by the action of chlorine gas on
dry metallic gold in the shai>e of an im
palpable |>ow der. Thousands of dollars’
worth of gold are used annually in man
ufacturing this coui|s>und, which is an
admirable antidote for insobriety.
It is a curious fact, notwithstanding
the extravagant vocabulary of the com
pany promoter, no two mines in the
world have produced either gold or silver
at the sunn* cost for any long |eri<nl.
Iss at conditions ami often the persona^
intellectual equation of tin- mine man
ager make it almost imp>-ssiMe to oper
ate two properties at the sume eost ami
prodnee the same results.