42 



THE GUIDE TO NATURE 



When the spring luxuriance of ver- 

 dure is passing our fiendish plant gets 

 in its deadly work. The fully de- 

 veloped seed pods, hidden under the 

 withering foliage of brown and yellow 

 leaves, fasten their tiger-like claws in 

 the nostrils of a grazing camel, a wild 

 ass, an antelope or a sheep ; the animal 

 tries to rid itself of the sharp prongs 

 by rubbing, but the more it rubs the 

 deeper it forces the claw-like tentacles 

 into its tender, tortured skin. Inflam- 

 mation of the entire throat in many 

 eases follows, and the poor animal, un- 

 able to eat or drink, succumbs. That 

 appears to have been the object of this 

 fiendish plant, for it seems that only 

 in the rich fertilizer of a decaying vic- 

 tim can it find enough nourishment for 

 its numerous offspring that sprout 

 from the hundreds of black seeds con- 

 tained in the great, belly-like capsule. 

 This is what the drivers of my caravan 

 told me, and they hold the plant in 

 fearsome awe, giving it many a bad 

 name in their native tongue, such as 

 rheitan — no bana — devil's flower, the 

 killer. The herds of breeding camels 

 .are left on the grazing grounds in a 

 semi-wild condition under the care of 

 one or two shepherds, and wander 

 over many miles to find subsistence. 

 We may thus understand the danger 

 to which this queer vegetable enemy 

 exposes the unfortunate quadrupeds. 



John C. Uhreaub. 



Success in an Important Work. 



The real lover of nature knows that 

 the important thing is not so much 

 how to know one flower or bird from 

 another ; the point of supreme im- 

 portance is hozu to love nature. 



I was not aware that you were at- 

 tempting to issue a monthly of the 

 comprehensiveness of The Guide to 

 Nature until it was recently called to 

 my attention. I wish to congratulate 

 you on your evident success, and dare 

 say that you have had uphill work 

 with the magazine, as the times have 

 been so very unfavorable to many 

 lines of business during the six years 

 since you started the magazine. You 

 and all who have helped in any way 

 to make it a success certainly deserve 

 credit. — Harry Edward Miller, White 

 Plains, New York. 



Omitted for One Number. 



We regret that we were obliged to 

 hold over the interesting "Birds in the 

 Bush" department by Edmund J. Saw- 

 yer. This will appear in our next 

 number with some special features. 



DOGWOOD. 



Down through the sunlit ether 

 Some clouds have drifted low, 



And are trailing through the woodlands 

 The whiteness of the snow. 



— Emma Peiree 



'THE WHITENESS OF THE SNOW." 



