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THE OENITHOLOGIST AND BOTANIST. 



BOTANIST 



A MONTHLY DEVOTED TO BIRDS AND FLOWERS. 



Joseph E. Blain, Publisher. 



WlLLARD N. ClUTE, EDITOR. 



Articles on subjects of interest to Botanists and 

 Ornithologists solicited from all. 



TERMS OF SUBSCRIPTION. 



One Subscription, six montlis, - - 30 cents. 

 One Subscription, one year, - - - 35 cents. 

 Single Copies, ------ 3 cents. 



Advertising rates made known on application. 



If manuscript is accepted the author will be noti- 

 fied at once. Rejected manuscript will be returned 

 when accompanied by stamps. We reserve the 

 right to edit all manuscript. 



Addi'ess all communications to 



Joseph B. Blain, Binghamton, N. Y. 



Vol. I. SEPTEMBEE, 1891. No. IX. 



The Ornithologist and Botanist has 

 acquired the right to fill all unexpired 

 subscriptions of the Wisconsin Natural- 

 ist. To the many subscribers of that 

 naagazine whose subscriptions ended 

 with the last issue, we would respect- 

 fully suggest that this journal be allow- 

 ed to replace the other. You will want 

 some magazine through the long winter 

 evenings and why not take this. By a 

 special arrangement we are able to offer 

 the magazine to all the Naturalist's old 

 subscribers at the low price of twenty- 

 five cents a year. Coin may be sent at 

 our risk if enclosed in a stout envelope. 

 If you accept this offer state that you 

 were a subscriber to the Nat iralist. 

 Will you try a year with us ? 



The query in the July issue of this 

 magazine in regard to the origin of the 

 names "hobble bush" and "American 

 wayfaring tree" as applied to Vibumnm 

 lantanoides has elicited several replies. 

 While it is generally conceded that the 



names are given to the plant from its 

 manner of growth, there is some differ- 

 ence of opinion as to how they were de- 

 rived. Mr. E. E. Bogue, Orwell, Ohio, 

 writes; 



"Hopple is only a corruption of hob- 

 ble which comes either from the Danish 

 word hoppelen or the German hupfen 

 meaning to leap by sudden starts. As is 

 mentioned in Gray's Manual the stems 

 often take root where they come in con- 

 tact with the ground and thus, before 

 the stem dies at the place from whence 

 it started, it left a loop which will give 

 an unsuspecting person a trip and if he 

 turns to see what it was, unless he is 

 more than an ordinary observer will lay 

 it to some unknown cause. This may 

 account for the name 'witch-hopple.' 

 It is probably on account of the pecul- 

 iarity of the branches taking root that 

 some one called the plant ' hopple-bush' 

 from hobble meaning to go but a short 

 distance at a time. 



"Some one else, seeing it travel in its 

 singular fashion, probably thought it 

 proper to call it the ' American wayfar- 

 ing tree.' It is as near a walking bush 

 as Camptosorus rhizophillus is a ' walk- 

 ing fern.' 



"It is known in some places by still 

 another common name, 'wild gulder rose' 

 from the beautiful white flowers that is 

 bears in spring. It is quite a common 

 shrub in woods and thickets here in 

 northwestern Ohio." 



Another subscriber adds; "It appar- 

 ently hobbles along, bending down, and 

 as witches were portrayed as bent and 

 hobbling old women, some called it 

 ' witch hobble. ' " 



Mr. S. C. Stuntz, Monroe, Wis., says; 

 "Webster gives one definition of " hob- 

 ble' to move irregularly, and as the 

 plant grows with long irregular branch- 

 es, the plant has hobbling branches and 

 is therefore ' hobble bush. ' " 



In autumn, when our flora is domi- 

 nated by the great family of composites, 

 with asters, goldenrods and sunflowei's 

 everywhere, it is a pleasure to find an 

 occasional member of some other order 

 in bloom. It would seem as if the single 

 flowers had lost courage in the face of 



