ENTOMOLOGIST AND BOTANIST. 



285 



cal labor, can all the meu, women and children, 

 all the animals of the earth, and all the loco- 

 motives and engines on sea and land perform? 

 The leaf does just as much as all those combined. 



We have said nothing of the festhetics of 

 leaves — of their beauty and variety (we must 

 not forget that all flowers are leaves). There 

 is not a leaf iu the whole vegetable kingdom 

 that does not excite emotions of the beautiful, 

 either by its form, color, or odor. There is 

 beauty in the leaves of the solitary palm, and 

 beauty in those of the dense forest, crowded so 

 thick that beneath them the " shadow hardly 

 moves." Beauty iu the microscopic moss-cup, 

 as well as in the palm whose leaves expand to 

 thirty feet in circumference— beauty and glory 

 in them all. 



Not only, then, does the leaf supply all the ma- 

 terial wants of man, but it also ministers to his 

 spiritual nature— reveals the character of God, 

 blesses man, makes him nobler, wiser and bet- 

 ter. In autumn, when the cold winds blow and 

 tlie leaves turn yellow and red, it is the popular 

 belief that the frost has colored and killed the 

 leaves, and caused them to fall away. Not so. 

 We mistake here a coincidence for a cause. The 

 time for frost and for falling leaves is the same 

 — one has no relation to the other. There has 

 been no work of violence wrought — -no destruc- 

 tion. The leaf has tinished its allotted task, it 

 has built up its appointed cycle, stored up the 

 food for its snccessoj-s, and now its work is 

 done — Ah! well done. No duty has been 

 neglected ; it has tinished its course ; and now 

 it arrays itself in its most gorgeous hues, for its 

 hour of glory has come, and it rests upon the 

 bosom of its mother earth. 



May it not teach us here a lesson— a marvel- 

 ous lesson — how to live and how to die ; how a 

 true life is crowned by a triumphant death? 



POISON IVY. 



(lihus to.ticodenilron, L.) 



I will pluck a leaf with a pair of fire-tongs, at 

 arm's length, press it dry so as to make an exact 

 drawing of it, and write a full account of this 

 venomous plant . I will try to make the whole 

 matter so plain that everybody can detect and 

 avoid the vile thing which is making me so 

 much trouble. These were some of my mid- 

 night thoughts, as I feverishly turned in bed 

 while suffering from its effects. Water, satu- 

 rated with salt, was my only remedy. The 

 poison was followed by two generous crops of 

 boils, about fifty in number, lasting for over two 



weeks. Now I can only look at the plant with 

 a sort of subdued feeling, as though it were 

 more than a match for me. Look out for Bhns 

 toxicodendron, which trails in the sand, or 

 among the bushes, or lurks in the grass like a 

 treacherous serpent! To touch it means a face 

 swollen to blindness, great irritation, itching, 

 and smarting and burning of the parts affected. 

 Poison Ivy, or Poison Oak, is a humble 

 shrubby vine, with light-green leaves and clus- 

 ters of greenish flowers looking something like 

 the flowers of the grape vine. The leaves are 

 compound, consisting of three leaflets, the size 

 and shape of which are shown by Figure 178, 



[Fig. 178 : 



Poison Ivy (Rhus toxicodendron, L.) 



which illustrates the veins of the underside. It 

 belongs to the Sumach family, a group of plants 

 which has rather a bad reputation, on account 

 of several poisonous species it contains. 



To some people it is harmless, even when the 

 sap is rubbed on the skin, while others are sure 

 to be affected even by touching the naked stems 

 and buds. I have known instances iu which 

 some members of the same family were easily 

 poisoned while others were not at all affected. 

 Why do we not get vaccinated, as it were, and 

 never get poisoned a second time? Do our 

 entomological friends find any insects that can 

 eat the leaves? 



The plant most likely to be mistaken for 

 poison Ivy is — 



