LEAVES FROM MY NOTE-BOOK. 159 



eastern as well as on the western side of the Rocky Mountains. 

 It seems a most interesting example both of adaptation and of 

 heredity, the flower being undegenerate, and like that of any other 

 heaths, whilst the rest of the plant is changed almost beyond 

 recognition, owing to its saprophytic habit of life. This year I 

 have, as yet, been unable to find the plant, or I would give a more 

 exact description of the flower. A lady who has made a large 

 collection of British Columbia plants says that she also has been 

 unable to find any semblance of a root in the Ghost-Flower. 



I do not suppose that any of the evidence of adaptation to 

 the environment given in the foregoing instances wfll have any 

 effect on those who deny this power of adaptation ; but the facts 

 themselves must be of interest both for Neo-Lamarckians and for 

 followers of Professor Weismann. 



[After sending the preceding paper, Mrs. Bodington wrote 

 to the Union Storage Co., of Pittsburg, Pa., and in forwarding 

 us their reply she very pathetically says : — " It turns out that 

 there are no rats with furry tails in the business ; no cats with 

 abnormal whiskers ; no convulsions on being taken into the open 

 air; no constant cold and darkness, and nothing to demolish 

 Prof Weismann." The following is the letter referred to.— Ed.] 



^'Dear Madam, — 



Your favour of the 3rd inst. was handed to the writer a few 

 days ago. While there is some foundation for the newspaper 

 article, a copy of which you enclosed, it is somewhat exaggerated. 

 We are engaged in the storage business, having several warehouses 

 for general storage, and one large house for cold storage. The 

 cold storage house is separated into rooms of various sizes, varying 

 from 10 degrees to 40 degrees above zero. Our experience has 

 taught us that the best way to destroy mice that are likely to come 

 in goods sent to us for storage is by the use of cats. 



About a year ago, for the first time, we discovered some mice 

 in one of the rooms in our cold storage house. We removed one 

 of the cats from our general storage warehouse into the room 

 referred to in our cold storage-house. While there, she had a 

 litter of seven kittens. Four of these we transferred into one of 

 the other warehouses, leaving three in the cold storage house, 

 where they now are. After the kittens were old enough to take 

 care of themselves, we put the old cat back into the house we had 

 taken her from. The change of climate or temperature seemed to 



