THE AGASSIZ ASSOCIATION 



4i 



she "learned much from watching 

 them spin their cocoons." 



Adelaide M. Piechocki found co- 

 coons in the winter and watched their 

 transformation. She writes, "I showed 

 them to several people who had never 

 seen a cocoon nor a moth so closely, 

 ami they watched them for hours." 

 She obtained moth eggs and hatched 

 them out and states that the little 

 caterpillars "were very small and as 

 black as coal," and that "it was very 

 easy to care for these caterpillars for 

 they eat a variety of leaves such as 

 those of the grape, gooseberry, maple, 

 wild cherry, willow, lilac, etc." She 

 gives further details, and tells of her 

 methods of continuing this study. 



Miss Hitchcock, the leader of the 

 Chapter, makes her individual report 

 as follows : 



"I have continued work in my 

 chosen subject by setting out young 

 trees, both pines and broad leaf, in 

 the old pasture that I am trying to re- 

 forest. About five hundred trees were 

 set out. Seeds were planted also in the 

 seed bed and it is expected that there 

 will be several hundred more seed- 

 lings ready for transplanting this 

 spring. I have learned to identify a 

 few new trees and taken a few pic- 

 tures of trees. Besides this I have at- 

 tended most of the meetings of the 

 Chapter and served as an officer." 

 * * * * 



It is evident that the Chapter con- 

 tinues its meetings even if the leader 

 is not present. The trouble with the 

 study of nature is that too many peo- 

 ple fail to take the initiative They 

 will study when somebody leads the 

 way and only then. The real joy of 

 doing is to do as Agassiz did, engage 

 in original research, then simplify that 

 knowledge and make it known in your 

 own individual way to others. See the 

 thing and tell it to others. Because 

 the members of this Meriden Chapter 

 have done this in the AA method, we 

 strongly commend them as an ex- 

 ample to be emulated by other groups 

 of young people. Whatever is worth 

 doing at all is worth doing well. 



We are prone to hitch our wagon to 

 a star in a way, or in a spirit, that does 

 not sanctify the wagon, but debases 

 the star. — "Our Friend John Bur- 

 roughs," by Clara Barrus. 



A Fiendish Plant. 



New York City. 

 To the Editor : 



I am sending you the seed pod of a 

 queer Persian plant that I obtained on 

 my last trip to that country. This pod 

 I brought with me specially for you 

 and the readers of The Guide to Na- 

 ture. 



The capsule not only looks terribly 

 forbidding but is as murderous in its 



"AS 



[URDEROUS IN ITS ACTIONS AS IN 

 ITS APPEARANCE." 



actions as in its appearance. No rain 

 falls on the mountain plateaus of 

 Persia during the whole summer. 

 Vegetation is luxurious in the spring 

 when water in abundance runs down 

 to the plains from the snow covered 

 mountain chains and ridges, but a 

 merciless sun and a dry desert atmos- 

 phere soon evaporate the moisture 

 that is not carefully stored by artificial 

 means, and all plant life withers and 

 dies, except desert thorns and some 

 species of thistles. 



During the spring the fat-tailed 

 sheep and the camels enormously in- 

 crease the fatty deposit in tail and 

 hump, the bees in two months' time 

 store up honey enough for the rest of 

 the year, and all nature seems to labor 

 over time. 



