cropia_). The general color is a beautiful brown, and the usual
eye spots are prevalent. The Io (_Saturnia Io_) is a rival of the
Luna in beauty. It is of a deep yellow with purplish-red markings
and the usual eye spots. The Attacus Prometheus and Polyphemous
moths are occasionally found in the globe. The most common victims
are the Sphinx moths, who have a very long name, _Macroscla
quinquemaculata_.

ALBERT W. ATWATER, R.T.K.
SPRINGFIELD, Mass.

Facts About Alaskan Indians

Some time since, Sir Knight James F. Rodgers, of Tiffin, Ohio, wrote us:
"A man gave an illustrated lecture on Alaska at our school-house. He
said, 'That when a girl arrives at the age of fourteen she is taken to
the mountains and confined in a house for one year; when a girl arrives
at the age of eighteen her parents put a wooden button in her lower lip;
that the people worship the white crow.' Are these statements true?"

In reply, Mr. O. T. Mason, Curator of the Department of Ethnology in the
National Museum, Washington, very kindly says: "I take special pleasure
in answering the inquiries of James F. Rodgers, of Tiffin, Ohio. He may
have misunderstood the lecturer somewhat, and, therefore, without
characterizing it, say, first, that among all savage tribes in the world
there is a custom of separating young women when they come to be of
marriageable age. These customs differ from tribe to tribe, and the
length of time of their separation varies. There are no high mountains
in Alaska, and one year seems to be rather a long period, yet the
general fact remains; secondly, a button of wood, or ivory, or stone,
called a labret, is placed in the lower lip of girls, in some tribes of
boys, in other of both. Among the Eskimo and the Indians of Alaska, as
the child grows older and the orifice becomes enlarged, a stone or block
of wood of greater and greater size is inserted, until I have seen a
block at least 2-1/2 inches in diameter taken from the lip of an old
woman. The Botocudos of South America, on the Amazon, are especially
curious in this regard, for they not only insert enormous blocks in
their lips, but also in the lobe of the ear, until it falls upon the
shoulder; thirdly, as to the worship of the Alaskan natives, it should
be said that there are two kinds of natives in Alaska--Eskimo and
Indians. The Eskimo have one sort of primitive religion, the Indians
quite another sort. It does not convey exac