270 Our Wild Gooseberries. regs 
thetic trustfulness of the poor monkey, Marimonda, — what of it 
all? “Ah!” said our friend with the orthopterous ‘ doxy,” but 
who is afraid of crickets, and despises bugs generally, ‘* Don’t you 
mind ; is it not all simply instinct? ” “ No,” we answer, “ buta 
part of a grand something, more complex and less blind; a fabric 
which God has been building since before the world.” Our friend, 
who looked astonished, was one who always made full tithes of the 
anise and the cummin, even if he did overlook the weightier mat- 
ters of the law. Hence he was so particular about his yowels, 
too. “ Fay-brick, fay-brick,” he reiterated; “what do you 
mean?” “ Ay, bricks; ay, bricks, indeed,” we said, simulat- 
ing the sound, “ bits of the divine temple, you know. That is 
all.” 
OUR WILD GOOSEBERRIES. 
BY PROFESSOR ASA GRAY. 
(PRE AMERICAN NATURALIST may be of much use as a medium 
of communication with every part of the country, and our 
scattered botanists may turn it to greater account than they have 
yet done. There are many queries to ask, and bits of informa- 
tion wanted, which the local botanist or zodlogist may answer or 
supply with little trouble and essential advantage to the science. 
The only difficulty is to bring the demand into connection with 
the source of supply. For that I know no. better way, in the 
present instance, than to use the columns of this widely circu- 
lated journal, if I may be permitted to do so. Let me say, then, 
to the botanists, that the wild gooseberries of the United States 
are not in a satisfactory condition as they stand in the books, 
and that information and specimens are needed from very various 
parts of the country. A response to this appeal made by a few 
persons happily situated, in this and that part of the country, 
may perhaps clear up the principal difficulties in the course 0 
the current season. 
A cursory sketch of our species as I now understand them 
may show what is most wanting to'a better understanding of 
them. 
I. Let us begin with the species which a gardener might say 
was a cross between a gooseberry and a currant, namely, — 
Ribes lacustre Poir., well marked by having racemes of numer- 
ous small flowers, in the manner of a common currant, the blos- 
som as small and as open, and the very small reddish berries 
: 
i 
| 
q 
Ns 
| 
| 
