1903] Nature Study — No. 5. 115 



leave those stones there." "This is not Poison-ivy," said the 

 other, as he seized the shrub and drew it to one side, " I attended 

 Norway Beach summer school, where I learned that this is Vir- 

 ginia Creeper, for each leaf has five leaflets, not three as Poison- 

 ivy." 



As mosquitoes were a feature in the environment, they also 

 received a little scientific attention. The malaria-inoculating- genus 

 {Anopheles) was described, and the students were asked to bring 

 specimens on the day following. The shaded wings and pointed 

 pose of the body when the insect is at rest, betray the Anopheles, 

 whose long palpi, if closely examined, furnish a corroborative 

 means of identification. It is rather difficult to kill a mosquito 

 without injuring it as a specimen ; indeed, the writer spent half an 

 hour that evening in the attempt to do so. At last one was secured, 

 and he proceeded to examine it with a magnifying glass. So life- 

 like was the corpse that a little boy who saw it, exclaimed : 

 "There's a mosquito!" and immediately crushed the dearly- 

 bought insect between his finger and thumb. 



Someone has said, "Punctuality is the thief of time." In 

 order that those who arrived at the auditorium punctually, should 

 not have their time wasted, an opportunity was given them of 

 examining objects under a microscope while the tardy ones were 

 on the way. On one occasion a drop of blood was required, to 

 obtain which, all the mosquitoes present were invited to "bite." 

 As none took advantage of the invitation (and certainly mosquitoes 

 have reason to be suspicious of scientific inquirers), a little girl 

 volunteered to shed her blood in the cause of science. She did so 

 by opening a recent wound on one of her bare feet. The blood 

 corpuscles were soon revealed, and the students present realized 

 how small the microbe of malaria must be when they had been 

 informed that a colony may develop within one corpuscle. 



While due emphasis was given to the fact that botanical 

 classification is based on the structure of the flower, the leader 

 encouraged the student to give attention to relationship as revealed 

 in other organs. For instance, after the Prince's-pine {Chi7naphila) 

 had been made a subject of analysis, the class was asked to brino- 

 other plant species which they might reasonably expect to belong 

 to the same family. Trailing Arbutus, Bearberry, Creepino- Win- 



