SEPTEMBER 189 



The only plant likely to be confused with 

 our strenuous foe is the Virginia creeper. 

 This can be distinguished from the poison 

 ivy by the fact that its leaves have five 

 leaflets each, while its venomous double 

 is content with three. It seems strange that 

 so successful a device for the protection of 

 the plant as the formation of a poison should 

 have been so rarely seized upon by others 

 of our thousands of plants. The truth is 

 that while a few, like the tomato for in- 

 stance, are somewhat irritant to an occa- 

 sional sensitive skin, only one other plant 

 native to the eastern United States is seri- 

 ously poisonous to the touch and that is the 

 swamp sumac. 



THE DRAGON-FLY 



Over the neighboring pond darts that 

 fascinating insect, about which cling so 

 many strange notions. It would seem as if 

 the dragon-fly is the victim of a curse. 

 Many are the names under which he goes, 

 but every one is a reflection on his char- 

 acter. 



