im-: AMKRICAN HOTANIST 133 



iircd and deep colored. l''vcn slii^hlly shrivelled fruits may 

 irove desirahk'. 



L'liAi i.MooCKA ()ii,. — A considerable stir has recently been 

 made in the i)uhlic prints rei^arcHni; the \irtures of chaulnio- 

 ),iira oil in the cure of leprosw ( )ne nii,<;;ht infer from this 

 that the idea is new, I ml this proves not to he the case. .\s 

 .•arly as 1881. Dr. John 1). Hill suggested this use of tlie oil 

 in the "New York Medical Abstracts." The oil and it> u>e 

 is also mentioned in the "V. S. Dispensator)", edition of 1888. 



MiLKW KKD 'pR.M'S. — The Asclepias' method of i)(»llination 

 ;loes not seem very effective to me. In one umbel I counted 

 ninetv-four flowers each of which possessed two embryo pods 

 \ et rarelv as manv as five in the whole cluster develop. Does 

 the plant need all of those fragrant blossoms to coax insects 

 to help her make one or two grow into fruits.'' Nature is 

 la\i>li again when she doe> make a jxid for in one 1 cotuUed 

 two hundred and lwent\--five seeds, each with il> own pretty 

 w hite sail. One June day 1 watched an ant struggling des])er- 

 atelv on one of these blossoms. The middle and hind legs 

 were all entrapped in the slits between the upstanding", en- 

 ticinglv sweet. hood>. The poor ant had no thought about 

 the sweetness, being too bus\" trving to free itself. it would 

 pull and twist and sometimes a leg would slip out but with 

 the ne.xt movement it would slip in again. 1 wanted to helj) 

 and held mv middle hnger for it to cling to. Then the middle 

 legs came out and one of them bore a pair of yellow pollen- 

 masses. A moment later the two other legs were freed. Tiie 

 insect was in a great lunr\- and it was difficult to keep it crawl- 

 ing on nn hands and arms until I di.scovered pollen bags on 

 one of the liind legs too. It seemed excited .ami bothered 

 with the stick\- appendages. I wished it could Hy for it re- 



