PREHISTORIC BOTANISTS. I ^ l 



most certainly also inhabit the mulberry. Have we not here a 

 prehistoric prophecy fulfilled in an immemorial, emphatic indorse- 

 ment of the recent classification of a difficult group of plants, con- 

 cerning which the botanical fathers were long at differences ? 



There would indeed appear to be little in common between 

 the nettle and the elm -tree, or sugar-berry tree with its sweet 

 edible drupes, but the modern scientific analyst readily discovers 

 their close affinity, though for years, under sanction of learned 

 authorities, the elm and Celtis and others of the group were 

 classed among totally distinct orders of plants. 



An equally remarkable fidelity to a single group of vegetation 

 is seen in the example of our beautiful black Swallow-tail butter- 

 fly the papilio of the umbel worts or Parsley family. 



In the early summer we may find upon the garden fennel or 

 parsley the beautifully marked caterpillar of this species bright 

 apple green, with circling bands of sable velvet studded with 

 golden yellow buttons. They are conspicuous to the eye in their 

 beauty, and when disturbed, conspicuous in a less gratifying sense 

 to the nostril, giving forth an obnoxious odor from an extensible 

 double glandular horn, usually concealed within the front seg- 

 ment of the body. The caterpillar is easily recognized any- 

 where, and its habitat is wide. Let us examine its bill of fare. 

 The plants commonly attributed to this species are parsley, fen- 

 nel, carrot, and celery. Harris found them also on poison -hem- 

 lock, cicuta, dill, caraway, and anise, -to which list I can append 

 the further additions from observation: wild carrot, sanicle, with 

 its tenacious burs (in the woods), angelica, archangelica, cow- 

 parsnip, and lovage. All of these will be found to follow in their 

 natural sequence, in the classification of our botanies, under the 

 order Umbellifera. 



This strange fidelity of the Asterias to a single order of 

 plants I had noted even in boyhood, and had welcomed my but- 

 terfly as an infallible aid in my botanical study. But one day my 

 confidence was shattered by the discovery of a number of caterpil- 

 lars feeding upon a creeping, round-leaved plant growing by the 

 edge of the brook a prostrate succulent herb, seemingly devoid 



