::::::::se THE TROPICS as:::::::: 



little rodents within a few hundred yards of our camp, 

 and they were so tame that they would not move more 

 than a few feet out of our way. 



They kept mostly on the ground, but occasionally 

 a dozen would rush up a tree near camp and show that 

 they had lost little acrobatic skill for all their usual 

 terrestrial life. This particular tree was bare of leaves 

 and fruit, save for one large oval pod. I climbed up 

 one day and cut this olt". It split open in my hand — 

 a wooden pod or box filled 

 with great, delicately tufted 

 seeds, much larger, and with 

 even more filmy plumes than 

 our common milk- weed. In- 

 deed I found that it was really 

 a form of arboreal milk-weed 

 {Calotropis jyrocera), not a 

 native of Mexico, although 

 growing here in some abun- 

 dance, but imported by some 

 accident from Asia. 



We often saw what we 

 thought was a species of wild 

 cotton, with good-sized bolls ; 

 but a closer investigation re- 

 vealed the fact that the cotton 

 was really a parasitic out- 

 growth from the under side 



THE COTTON GALL 



287 



