iS6 THE PLANT WORLD. 



from trees in the swamp when there was not a cloud in the sky. For 

 several falls the mysterious phenomenon has been observed, but none 

 had been able to explain or discover the cause. In the beginning of 

 November we chanced to pass under a tree and distinct splashes of 

 water-drops fell upon us, and gazing upward it dripped into our faces. 

 The ground underneath it was damp, and the dead concave leaves upon 

 the ground, like cups, caught and held the water. Upon examina- 

 tion we perceived that it was a large Holly tree and its leaves liter- 

 ally perforated with holes. We sought out many other Holh' trees 

 and found the same peculiar conditions pervading all of them. The 

 ground elsewhere was dry and hard, while beneath the Hollies it was 

 soft and wet. The swamp growth of laurels and other bushes looked 

 parched and withered from the long drought, while underneath the 

 Hollies they were fresh and green. For days I plied questions to 

 everyone about the m3^stery, and visited the trees half a dozen times 

 a day — to find no cessation in the rain showers. We thought the sap 

 oozed through the eaten holes in the leaves and dripped down, but 

 upon close examination of the leaves we found the edges of these 

 holes healed and dry, with no vestige of dampness upon them. I 

 observed that the water-drops distinctively splashed the upper side of 

 the leaves, and there was no watery-dampness whatever upon the 

 under side as if the substance dripped from the leaf itself, nor was 

 there any dampness upon the bark of the branches and twigs as indi- 

 cative that the drops were emitted through the bark. Finally I hired 

 a boy to carr}- a ladder into the woodland and climb high into one of 

 the largest Hollies, but he declared that he saw nothing. I com- 

 manded him to break off a branch and throw it down to me. He did 

 so, but there was no further clue to the mystery. I proceeded to 

 climb up into the tree, determined to take a seat up there and watch 

 until I obtained some clue. As soon as I got up among the branches, 

 I perceived hundreds of bugs, the size of our common Candle-fly, 

 ranged lazily, and perfectly still, in single and double file all along the 

 wood of the twigs and branches. I at once fixed my gaze upon them, 

 and in rapid succession I saw the little bugs spurt forth miniature 

 rain-drops — one alone sent forth by actual count twenty-five drops in 

 about a minute For this to me curious new bug, I coined the name 

 of "fountain bug." [It is known scientificall)^ as /*;'<?rt?;/zrt ?/;/<^/<'?/'«. — 

 Ed.] Subsequently, I observed that the shower, or down-fall, was 

 of greater abundance on murky, damp days than in clear, dry ones. 



Mr. C. G. Pringle the well-known botanical collector, is collecting 

 this season in Central Mexico. The first installment of his collection, 

 embracing about seventy-five species, has just been sent in. 



