DEAD WILLOW BEND. 137 



applied to sucli experiments as I have made; as, for 

 instance, when I separated a mother catfish from her 

 brood, and had a thick mat of water-milfoil between 

 them ; and again, a nesting sunfish was taken a long dis- 

 tance down a stream, and yet promptly returned to its 

 nest, although it could thread its way only through a 

 narrow and tortuous channel, flanked on each side with 

 dense aquatic vegetation. Yet, when opposite the nest, 

 which was near the shore, it came directly through the 

 weeds to it. In this case there were no landmarks, and 

 it is still to be explained how the fish could know which 

 direction to take ; for the creek was essentially the same 

 in appearance for a much greater distance than it could 

 see. 



It is useless to dispute the claim of the palm to be 

 the type of grace in the plant world ; but were there no 

 palms, the purple coxcomb grass, in August, and on these 

 meadows, would bid fair to win the prize in a contest 

 for that claim. I had already paused to admire a rank 

 growth of cat-tail, about which was entangled a pretty 

 climbing hempweed, with its pink and purple blossoms, 

 and still remembered the beautiful oval clusters of pur- 

 ple " meadow-comb " grass, that as I came from home 

 was sparkling with dew, and as it trembled in the pass- 

 ing breeze was the embodiment of grace. To eclipse 

 the merits of these, the plant must indeed be beautiful, 

 and this the purple coxcomb had the high honor of doing. 

 I forgot, for the time, the outspread beauties of the ear- 

 lier hours, while I sat and gazed at the tall, waving, pur- 

 ple plumes of this beautiful grass. One feature of the 



