THE MICROSCOPE. Rar 
eastern part of the country, are rapidly becoming common wayside 
ornaments. Consequently there need be no difficulty in making the 
experiment. The Catalpa is said to be a native of the Southern 
States, but it has successfully adapted itself to the climate of our 
northern and eastern regions, where it grows rapidly and is happily be- 
coming more abundant every year. The Paulownia, it is stated, 
was introduced from Japan and first used as an ornamental tree in 
parks and large private grounds. It, too, is cheerfully adapting 
itself to the exigences of our remarkable climate, and is fast becoming 
a wild plant, springing up in unexpected places. The winged seeds 
of both trees fly lightly on the wind, and their mature or even their 
young products resemble each other in general appearance and, when 
the flowers and fruit have fallen, may readily be mistaken the one 
for the other. 
The leaves of Catalpa are described as “opposite, simple, 
petiolate, ovate-cordate, acuminate, subentire and pubescent 
beneath ;” those of Paulownia, as “opposite, petiolate, broad 
cordate, above entire or somewhat trilobate, villous-pubescent both 
sides, smoothish above when full grown”—the differences seeming 
to be almost as great as those between tweedle-dum and tweedle-dee. 
Both trees, as uncultivated plants by the roads and waysides, are 
more then welcome, but to recognize them by their leaves is, I 
believe, an impossibility without the use of the pocket-lens; but 
after the microscopical secret has been learned, the characteristic 
points may be distinguished by the naked eye, and the origin of 
even the youngest leaves readily determined. 
THE YOUNG LEAVES OF CATALPA BIGNONIOIDES, WALT. 
There are two classes of appendages to be examined, hairs and 
glands, both of which are here abundant. 
The youngest leaves have the upper surface thickly studded with 
minute, hemispherical, sessile glands which, to the naked eye, give 
the part a silky aspect. These quickly disappear as the leaf 
becomes older and larger, leaving the surface smooth when viewed 
with the pocket-lens. A quarter-inch objective discloses innumer- 
able, minute, colorless hairs, to which the peculiar glossy appearance 
may in some part be due. 
The entire lower surface is downy, with colorless, variously 
curved but wholly unbranched hairs, mingled with minute, sessile 
glands similar to those on the upper surfaces. The prominent veins 
are especially villous, and the petioles of the youngest leaves are 
both downy and glandular. From the petioles these appendages soon 
disappear, leaving them smooth and glossy. To the lower surface of 
