Museum specimens were used to analyze temporal trends in feather mercury (Hg) concentrations in birds collected from the state of Michigan between the years 1895 and 2007. Hg was measured in flank and secondary feathers from three species of birds that breed in the Great Lakes region; common terns (n = 32), great blue herons (n = 35), and herring gulls (n = 35). More than 90% of the Hg in feathers should be organic, but some of the heron and gull feathers collected prior to 1936 showed evidence of contamination with inorganic Hg, likely from museum preservatives. The data presented here therefore consist of organic Hg in pre-1936 samples and total Hg in post-1936 samples. Insufficient tissue was available from terns to assess organic Hg content. Mean Hg concentrations ranged from 2.9 ± 2.5 μg/g Hg in tern flank feathers to 12.4 ± 10.6 μg/g Hg in gull flank feathers. No linear trend of Hg contamination over time was detected in herons and gulls. Though a significant decrease was noted for terns, these data are presented with caution given the strong likelihood that earlier samples were preserved with inorganic mercury. When data were separated into 30-year intervals, Hg content in heron and gull feathers collected from birds sampled between 1920 and 1949 were consistently highest but not to a level of statistical significance. For example, Hg concentrations in gull secondary feathers collected in the second time interval (1920-1949) were 11.5 ± 7.8. This value was 67% higher than the first time interval (1890-1919), 44% higher than the third interval (1950-1979), and 187% higher than the fourth interval (1980-2009). Studies on Great Lakes sediments also showed greatest Hg accumulations in the mid-twentieth century. Through the use of museum specimens, these results present a unique snapshot of Hg concentrations in Great Lakes biota in the early part of the twentieth century.

From Macao he jouneyed successively to Hong Kong and Canton; from Canton to the Island of Formosa, where he spent six or eight months making journeys among the savages of the interior. While there, he found manuscripts preserved among the aborigines, which he concluded to be relics of the Dutch mission established there two hundred and fifty years before. From Formosa he went, via Hong Kong and Canton, to the Philippine Islands, and spent ten months there; he visited several places never before visited by naturalists, and found forty new specimens of birds, which are now in the Collection of the University. He contracted in those islands the malignant fever so prevalent there; but found time to make large collections of insects and shells, corals, etc. From the Philippines he went to Singapore, thence to Malacca, and made a trip through the Dutch Moluccas, touching at several places in the islands of Java, Macassar, Amboina and Ternate; at the latter place he ascended the volcano of that name. In the Moluccas he made a large collection of the birds-of-paradise. From these islands he returned to Singapore, and from there, via Suez Canal and the Mediterranean, to Marseilles, stopping at Naples. He went through France by rail and via London and Liverpool went home, after an absence of little more than three years. This was in 1875.An account of this great expedition and other further expeditions made by Steere was published by Frederick M. Gaige in 1932 (Michigan Alumnus 38(18):344-346, 352-353, and in The Ark (University of Michigan Museum of Zoology) 10(5):2-7), based on a collection of 96 letters written by Steere during his voyages and travels and published in the Peninsular Courier and Family Visitant, a weekly magazine edited at Ann Arbor, during the years 1870 to 1875.

No abstract

ANNOUNCEMENT I TAKE pleasure in presenting this new edition of my catalogue to you. Believing that you desire to purchase only the best, I have listed in this catalogue only varieties that are standard sorts. Everyone should have a few fruit trees, small fruits, ornamental shrubs, vines, etc. Considerable profit can be made even from two or three trees or bushes, such as cherries, peaches, currants, gooseberries and strawberries. These do not take up much room and require little care, giving in return bountiful, supplies of fresh and delightful fruit.How deserted a farm home would look without an orchard of well selected fruits; and can a city or village home be complete without its roses, shrubs, trees, etc.; and where space will admit, what is more beautiful in the outside adornment ot a comfortable home than a combination of fruits and flowers? Is there anything more enticing than a tree or vine bending with its ripe, luscious fruit; and what is more attractive to the eye than a well arranged landscape covered with ornamental trees, shrubs and flowers? And since so much depends on the Nurseryman for the production of the best varieties and true to name, he must by diligence, labor and experience be prepared to furnish that which will give satisfaction to the purchaser.It is, therefore, the aim, in the preparation of this catalogue, to make the descriptions and time of ripening, etc., as accurate and intelligible as possible, and in so doing to lend assistance to those desiring to make selections, so that they may obtain varieties suited to their locality and also that a succession of ripening, from the earliest to the latest, among the fruits, and flowering among the ornamentals, may be obtained. Should you desire varieties other than the ones shown in this catalogue, kindly send your order or write me. I have a large and complete stock and can furnish almost anything you desire.Thanking you for past patronage and hoping to receive your future valued orders, I am Yours truly,