ENTOMOLOGIST AND BOTANIST. 



313 



The loaves are liable to much variation in size 

 and shape, in some cases the lobes being only 

 marked by gentle undulations, in others by 

 sharp and deep notches. The acorn is slioi-t and 

 ovoid, and nearly half covered by the rough- 

 scaled cup. 



A LIST OF PLANTS 



The district around Uhicago might scorn lo 

 one not personally acquainted with the country 

 as a poor one for botanical collection, consisting 

 mainly, as it does, ol ilat prairie; but our city 

 botanists familiar with the region, have found 

 it (juite fruitful in species. 



Taking the city as a centre, within the area 

 of a circle swept by a radius of thirty miles, I 

 am inclined to think a greater variety of plants 

 may be collected than withiu the same space in 

 any other portion of this State. lu the barren 

 sandy soil along Lake Michigan we find plants 

 suggestive of the sea shore, including a number 

 of species limited elsewhere to the Atlantic 

 coast, or the neighborhood of saline deposits in 

 the interior. Passing to the prairie within five 

 or six miles of the city, along the lines of several 

 railroads, where a strip of land has been rescued 

 from tillage and protected from cattle, we may 

 still find the distinctive plants of the prairie 

 in rich profusion. This is peculiarly true of 

 Graceland and Hyde Park suburbs. 



For the species belonging to the woods and 

 the moist river region we have our choice of 

 following up the north branch of Chicago river, 

 or at a somewhat greater distance, the course 

 of the Des Plaincs. A day's trip to Glencoe 

 takes us to deep ravines with their appropriate 

 plants; while an excursion to Lake Calumet, 

 or the adjoining county of Lake, brings us to a 

 local flora of mnch interest; in the latter case 

 the plants are associated with evergreens. 



Within such an area we migbt reasonably 

 expect to find a varied vegetation. Our season 

 here opens rather late compared with other sec- 

 tions, but advances with rapid strides after the 

 middle of April. 



My list for March includes only that odd plant 

 the Skunk Cabbage {SymiJlocarpus fatidus), 

 whose variegated spathes, just thrust above 

 ground, suggest at once the tulip and some 

 fleshy fungus. This abounds in swampy locali- 

 ties north of the city, and along the Des Plaines 

 river. It is our first spring flower, but to my 

 surprise last fall, just as the Gentians were put- 

 ting in an appearance, I found a solitary purple 

 and green spathe of this plant. What abnormal 

 condition caused this unusual blossoming I am 

 unable to decide. It is paralleled in my own 

 observation, however, by the appearance in 

 autumn of the flowers of Viola pedata. In such 

 plants the flower buds are so far advanced at 

 the close of autumn as to yield to the first 

 touches of spring, so that but little stimulus of 

 a certain character starts them into bloom. Au- 

 tumnal impulses may thus occasionally antici- 

 pate those of spring. The Hepatica and May 

 flower (Epiyea) may doubtless be found in 

 bloom under similar circumstances with any of 

 the stemless violets. April ushered in the 

 Prickly Ash {Zunthoxyluia Americana), its 

 yellowi«h-green flowers clustered on the bare 

 and prickly twigs, in the river district; while 

 along the lake shore the low shrubs of the aro- 

 matic Sumac {lihus aromatica) displayed thin 

 yellow spikes of blossoms. I noticed that the 

 lower branches lying on the sand bloomed a 

 week earlier than the upper ones, the warming 

 up of the sand doubtless being the cause. 



The country a few miles back from Lake 

 Michigan, especially in the region of the Des 

 Plaines river, has an earlier season than the lake 

 shore by a Avcek or ten days. Here were found 

 about the middle of April Hepatica triloba, var. 

 acutiloha, I51ood-root {Sanguinaria Canaden- 

 sis), the white Dog-tooth Violet {Erythronium 

 alhidum), the Hue Anemone {Thalictrum ane- 

 nionoides), JJicentra cucullaria and Claytonia 

 Virginica. Old collectors report Isojiyrum biter- 



