36 IRamWes wttb IRature Students 



dried between sheets of blotting-paper, mounted into 

 a group with fine wire and placed under a glass shade. 



The following leaves succeed well : holly, mag- 

 nolia, pear, maple, poplar, and sycamore. 



Seed-vessels are very beautiful when carefully 

 cleaned. 



Stramonium, henbane, poppy, winter - cherry, 

 butcher's broom, yellow-rattle, a bunch of sycamore 

 keys ; and a very old Swedish turnip also makes 

 a sphere of woody fibre of fine delicate network, 

 which few people would ever guess to be the 

 framework of that homely vegetable. 



FOOTPRINTS IN SNOW 



A heavy fall of snow gives us a clue to the nocturnal 

 wanderings of such animals as hares, rabbits, foxes, 

 rats, and mice. With a little practice, we may learn 

 to recognise their respective footprints in the garden 

 and fields. 



Some animals run, others leap along ; each creature 

 has its own manner of getting over the ground, and 

 what we cannot see when we catch a glimpse of them, 

 when their limbs are in rapid action, is faithfully 

 revealed by the snowprints. 



We can soon learn hare and rabbit-marks, which 

 always show two feet in front, one before the other, 

 and the hind feet parallel. 



The fox runs like a dog, with alternate prints, the 

 squirrel places its short fore feet close together, and 

 the hind feet widely apart. 



Rats vary much in their movements ; land and 

 water-rats, young and old rats, all mark the snow 

 differently, and are very puzzling to define. 



