PREHISTORIC 

 BOTANISTS 



A MOXG my earliest memories associ- 

 /~~\ ated with nature, and one that will 

 always vividly linger, is that thrilling 

 spectacle of a winter butterfly hovering about 

 the farm-yard of my Xew England home. It 

 was the middle of January, one of those balmy 

 days of respite from the north wind, when the 

 careful alder catkins are beguiled, and the 

 puss- willow's paws first peep from beneath 

 their snuggeries. The odors of wet twigs 

 and sweet sap and soggy snow, tinctured with 

 the wine of quickened loam, saturated the air. 

 The patches of thawing drifts lay like mimic gla- 

 ciers amid their melting areas on the barn and 



