PREHISTORIC BOTANISTS. 



141 



S 



A RANDOM POSY. 



kingdom than that between the pineapple and 

 the Southern moss which drapes our subtropi- 

 cal trees. And yet the discriminating eye of 

 the botanical analyst readily detects their 

 close kinship, and places them side by 

 side. My knowledge of the Southern 

 flora and fauna is limited. I do not 

 happen to know of any insect that 

 inhabits the swinging fringe of the 

 bayou, but if any there be I should 

 confidently expect its discovery also 

 upon the leaves of the pine- 

 apple. There is, indeed, 

 scarcely a single family of 

 plants without its responsi- 

 ble specialist among the in- 

 sect tribes. We have already 

 noted a number of such, and 

 the list of ready authorities 

 is doubtless as complete 

 throughout this primal su- 

 preme botany as in the 

 modern human infringement. 

 Among these orders not al- 

 ready mentioned is the Willow 

 family the poplars and wil- 

 lows being interchangeable as 

 the choice of many insects. 



The great Composite? have 

 many experts, likewise the 

 oak pink, polygonum, mint, and 

 ranunculus. There are many dis- 

 ciples of the Rose keen senses 

 <p that discover it in the apple, cherry, 

 plum, hawthorn bramble, cinquefoil, 

 spirea, and strawberry. The Apple-tree moth 



