A FLOATING SNAIL. 



THERE is a small snail which is so 

 fond of the sea that it never 

 comes to land, and it builds 

 such a capital boat for itself and its 

 eggs that while large ships are sinking 

 and steamers are unable to face the 

 storm it tosses about in perfect safety, 

 says the Philadelphia Press. 



The little snail is of a violet color 

 and is therefore called lanthina. It 

 has a small shell and there projects 

 from the under part of the body a 

 long, tongue-like piece of flesh. This 

 is the raft, and it is built upon most 

 scientific principles, for it has com- 

 partments in it for air. It is broad 

 and the air compartments are under- 

 neath, so that it cannot capsize. 



Moreover, the snail knows how to 



stow away its cargo, for the oldest 

 eggs and those which hatch the soon- 

 est are placed in the center and the 

 lightest and newest on the sides of the 

 raft. The lanthina fills its own air com- 

 partments by getting a globule of air 

 underneath its head, the body is then 

 curved downward beneath the raft, 

 and, the head being tilted on one side, 

 the air rushes in and fills the spaces. 

 It feeds on a beautiful little jelly fish, 

 which has a flat, raft-like form with a 

 pretty little sail upon it, and they con- 

 gregate in multitudes when the sea is 

 calm. 



Sometimes specimens are washed 

 upon the northwestern coast of France, 

 and when they are handled they give 

 out a violet dye. 



EGYPTIAN TREES FOR AMERICA. 



HERE is a new kind of tree with 

 which people in some of the 

 parts United States will prob- 

 ably celebrate Arbor Day after 

 a while. In Southern California, Ari- 

 zona and some parts of Texas, and, 

 generally speaking, in the southwestern 

 portion of this country, are great tracts 

 of land without a solitary tree. The 

 government has at last found a tree 

 which it is believed will grow and 

 thrive in these warm, dry climates, and 

 has imported seeds and settings with 

 which to make experiments. It is 

 called the lebbek tree and is a native 

 of Egypt. It grows to a large size and 

 has a thick foliage, with compound 

 leaves like those of the honey locust. 

 The bark makes good dye stuff and 



the wood is fair timber. One of the 

 avenues leading to the great Pyramids 

 is lined with these trees for a distance 

 of four miles. They form a complete 

 arch and the shade is so dense that no 

 sun ever reaches the roadway beneath. 

 In India these trees are called the Siris 

 trees. They grow wild in the forest 

 and their trunks attain a circumference 

 of nine feet. 



Their adaptability to the dry sections 

 of the United states was discovered 

 and reported upon by David G. Fair- 

 child, one of the explorers for the 

 agricultural department at Washing- 

 ton. The lebbek tree is a deep feeder 

 and therefore is expected to thrive on 

 the moist subsoil found at great depths 

 even in the American desert. 



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