WORK FOR IV INTER. 87 



Another thing you of the city can do, is to suspend 

 seeds in bottles over water, and study the growth of 

 different plants as the tiny leaves unroll. Make neat 

 cases also for insects or minerals, and exchange them 

 for specimens. Collect specimens of veneers from 

 cabinet and piano shops, and prepare them for ex- 

 change. Nearly all the grains, and nuts, and spices, 

 and fabrics, and seeds, and barks, and woods, and 

 metals, can be found in city shops, and for these you 

 can readily get anything you may wish from the coun- 

 try. Again, many of you have books or pictures on 

 subjects of natural history which are old to you, but 

 which some member of the Association would be very 

 thankful to get. These also can be exchanged. 



Besides these things, we need only mention birds' 

 nests abandoned in leafless trees, cocoons suspended 

 from bushes and tucked away under fence-rails, 

 beetles burrowing in old stumps, sections of wood 

 and bark, cones and buds, to show that there is plenty 

 of outdoor work, even in winter ; while, indoors, 

 cabinets are to be built, specimens determined, 

 labeled, and arranged, philosophical experiments 

 performed, books read, letters written, exchanges 

 made. 



Many of our members capture caterpillars and 

 other insects in the fall, and keep them during the 

 winter, watching their curious habits and wonderful 

 transformations, as is detailed in the following bright 

 letter : 



DEAR MR. BALLARD, I have been reading "Insect Lives." 

 It is the nicest book I have ever read.* I could read a whole 

 library full of books just like that. I am getting on famously 



* INSECT LIVES, by MRS. JULIA P. BALLARD, is published at one dollar by 

 the WRITERS PUBLISHING COMPANY, 21 University Place, New York, N. Y. 

 We know of no better book for the beginner in the study of butterflies and 

 moths. 



