420 



THE GUIDE TO NATURE 



Two Naturalist Presidents. 



Everybody knows that Mr. Roose- 

 velt takes an active interest in natural 

 history as a scientific pursuit. A state- 

 ment was recently made by President 

 Osborn of the American Museum of 

 Natural History that he is the first 

 president to take such interest. The 

 fact was commented on by the editor 

 of "The Outlook." 



Mr. Frederick J. Shepard, of Buffalo, 

 New York, writes as follows to "The 

 Outlook," calling attention to the fact 

 that President Jefferson was also a 

 naturalist : 



"Both you and Mr. Osborn seem to 

 have forg-otten that William Cullen 

 Bryant in his youthful poem 'The Em- 

 bargo' derided President Jefferson for 

 that very thing. He wrote : 



'Go wretch, resign the Presidential chair, 

 Disclose thy secret measures, foul or fair. 

 Go search "with curious eyes for horrid frogs 

 'Mid the wild wastes of Louisianian bogs; 

 Or where the Ohio rolls his turpid stream, 

 Dig for huge bones, thy glory and thy theme.' ' 



TAKING OFF "THE CAP. 



READY TO BURST. 



Astonishing Flowers of the Royal 

 Palm. 



Air. George Lauder, Jr., of Greenwich, 

 Connecticut, recently visiting in Ber- 

 muda, was able to obtain some remark- 

 able photographs of the opening of the 

 astonishing Mowers of the royal palm. 

 The first picture shows the bud; in the 

 second the man is cutting away the out- 

 side shell and in the last is a fountain- 

 like bursting Mower. Mr. Lauder fur- 

 ther writes as follows : 



"These pods grow on the royal palm, 

 Roxstonca Rci^ia, just above the bark 

 line and of course naturally open of 

 themselves. The pod shown in the pho- 

 tographs was one of rather extraordi- 

 narily large size and was opened by Mr. 

 Clavelle, the horticulturist of the Hotel' 

 Colonial at Nassau." 



