114 The Ottawa Naturalist. [September 



convinced of her error, but even the youngest member of the class 

 felt the appropriateness of its name, — Viburnum acerifolium. 



A few days later the Purple-flowering Raspberry was the 

 subject under examination. After two or three other brambles 

 had been named, the students were told that all belonged to the 

 genus Rubus. They were then asked to propose a suitable speci- 

 iic name for the plant under immediate consideration, and Rubus 

 acerifolius was at once suggested — a more satisfactory name 

 perhaps than Rubus odoratus, by which it is known to botanists. 



Attention was then called to the fact that the fruit of the 

 Raspberry consists of an aggregation of drupelets, each of which 

 is itielf a perfect fruit,— W(??-e thaii one puit from one flower. The 

 fruit of the Partridge-berry (Mitchella) has on its surface two de- 

 pressions the significance of which was discovered by a bright boy 

 who suggested that each pit was the place where a flower had 

 been, — one fruit from Jtiore than one flower. 



Another problem was to interpret the significance of the fleshy 

 teeth of the fruit of the Creeping Wintergreen [Gaultheria). Alter 

 the capsule had been dissected out, it was made clear that these 

 teeth were the lobes of the enlarged calyx. The leader then asked 

 the students to name a fruit cultivated for the sake of its fleshy 

 calyx and was surprised to have a little girl give the apple as an 

 example. On being questioned as to the source of her informa- 

 tion, she said that Mr. Macfarlane had the year before called the 

 attention of the students to the fact. She had not forgotten it 

 though twelve months had elapsed. 



Another instance of the lasting impressions made by the 

 nature study method of teaching was furnished by a girl of twelve 

 who was asked to tell how a tree should be planted. She described 

 minutely the method illustrated a year ago by Mr. W. T. Macoun, 

 who gave a practical demonstration by planting a little pine tree 

 in the auditorium during the course of his lecture. 



There was also a sequel to Mr. R. B. Whyte's talk of last 

 year on the shrubs of Norway Beach, when the characteristics of 

 Poison-ivy were specially emphasized. Some time after, two 

 young men of that locality were picking stones in a field when 

 they came to a heap over which trailed Virginia Creeper. One of 

 them said, " Rather than run the risk of being poisoned, we will 



