FINDING PHRYMA. 69 



rattlesnaikes, so the whole party took a special 

 hunt one day and collected seven. Previous to 

 that they had not seen a single one. If this 

 happened in the tropics, don't you think we 

 need not worry about snakes here?" 



It is not always snakes which prove to be the 

 bete noir of the woman botanist. It is much 

 more likely to be tramps. The locality is in- 

 deed sequestered from the haunts of man where 

 the uppermost thoughts of the lonely female 

 herbalist are not mixed with fears of meeting 

 some lawless member of the vagabond class. 



It was a hot day in August. Any other 

 woman would have been taking an afternoon 

 nap, but the spirit moved the woman-botanist 

 to go to a certain locality in the country in 

 search of certain specimens which were due to 

 have reached the time of seed. The woods ex- 

 tended for about half a mile along the road. 



"I will enter at this end of the woods," said 

 she to the boy who was driving, "and I will 

 walk through to the other end, where you may 

 wait for me." 



So saying, she crossed the fence and disap- 

 peared in the thick undergrowth, while the boy 

 and the phaeton also disappeared down the 

 road. 



