FIELD AND FOREST. 25 



drawn from the water This is Anacharis, one of our natives which 

 has travelled to England and thriven so luxuriantly in their small 

 streams as to have become a nuisance. It is there called the "Amer- 

 ican water weed." It is a pretty plant when not covered with sedi- 

 ment, which the curly leaves seem particularly adapted to retain. 



In the more quiet pools will be found a plant with opposite, very 

 narrow leaves, known as the Naias or Water Nymph, but without 

 any particular grace to entitle it to such a name, which might more 

 appropriately be applied to the Co-atophyllum, or Horn-leaf, the most 

 attractive of all our water plants, with whorls of delicate round leaves, 

 each one forked at the end. As an ornament it is only equalled by 

 the Froserpinaca which we have not found in the Potomac. Chara 

 sometimes grows in the pools ];iear the river but is not a constant in- 

 habitant. It resembles in appearance the Ceratophyllmn, but has a 

 foetid smell, and is chiefly interesting to microscopists. 



All these plants are used in aquariums, but seem to differ in the fa- 

 cility of growth after being torn from their native beds, the Anachar- 

 is decaying very readily, and on two occasions, recently, its introduc- 

 tion was followed by the death of fish, and the communication of a 

 rank odor to the Avater. 



Wm. H. Seaman. 



Strength and Perseverance of Ants, 



A few evenings since, we were much interested in watching the la- 

 bors of a colony of ants that had taken quarters in a hole, just at the 

 surface of the ground, in the wall of a neighbor's house. Our atten- 

 tion was first attracted by seeing a dead specimen of a white butterfly, 

 killed a few hours before, moving slowly, yet steadily off over the 

 brick walk, without any apparent cause, but closer observation revealed 

 the cause to be a little brownish or black ant, scarcely quarter of an 

 inch in length, which had grasped the tail of the insect with its pow- 

 erful jaws, and proceeding backwards was progressing home in fine 

 style. At length, coming to a slightly wider and deeper depression 

 between the bricks, the butterfly fell in, and was stopped in its course. 

 Then such working and twisting and manoeuvring to get it out again ! 

 What a lesson in patience and industry ? Two or three times the work 



