(112) 
are exceedingly beautiful in foliage and in flower; the so- 
called Florida moss, or Spanish moss, clothes the trees of 
the live-oaks in the southern Atlantic States, and is not a 
moss at all, but a plant bearing small flowers which show its 
relationship to others of this family. The pineapple itself, 
doubtless the most familiar member of this group, has been 
cultivated in tropical regions for an indefinite period for fruit, 
and is not certainly known in the wild state; the pineapple 
fruit is the ripened bunch of flowers which forms at the top 
of the stem; the plant is propagated by cutting off the tuft of 
leaves, which is found on the top of the fruit, and by suckers 
which sprout from the side of the plant near the ground; it is 
an exception to the tree-loving habit of most of the family, 
in growing on the ground, and is cultivated in the Bahamas 
and on the Florida Keys often in very rocky soil. One of 
the very spiny-leaved species, Bromelia Pinguzn, is widely 
utilized as a hedge plant in the West Indies. Hanging from 
the rafters on both sides of this house will be found baskets 
containing the East Indian pitcher-plants, Vepenthes; these 
are mostly vines, growing naturally on trees, their leaves 
curiously modified at the ends into hollow structures pro- 
vided with lids and technically known as pitchers, which are 
often wrongly regarded as the flowers; these pitchers con- 
tain water and secrete from their sides a glutinous liquid 
which digests insects that fall or crawl into the pitchers; 
this form of nutriment is apparently not necessary at all, 
however, to the growth of the plants; the flowers are small 
but borne in large clusters arising from the stems and may 
often be seen in this collection. 
louse No. 3 contains specimens illustrating several fami- 
lies of monocotyledonous plants of tropical regions. The 
amaryllis family is represented by a number of species of 
the spider lily (Hymenocallis), bearing large white flowers, 
the commonest being Hymenocallis caribaea from the sandy 
coasts of southern Florida and the West Indies; large plants 
of the genus Crimum, some of which have white flowers and 
some red or purple, may be seen on the middle bench, and 
