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Many of these have long ago ceased their travels and have be- 

 come squatters on every available inch of soil, as the jimson-weed 

 and Jerusalem oak (Chenopodium botrys), while others like the 

 human tram]) appear in one place to-day and another to-morrow, 

 ever restlessly wandering over the face of the earth. Now and 

 then, among these traveling species, one chances upon a plant of 

 better estate, just as an occasional honest working-man, out of a 

 job, is found among the tramps. Often these plants, like the 

 working-man, can look back to more prosperous days, when they 

 had an acknowledged position in the world. Of this class, I 

 count the white campion or evening lychnis (Lychnis alba), 

 which strayed into my collecting grounds for the first time this 

 year, and which I decided to make the most of, fearing that it 

 might move on to pastures new another year. 



This species is doubtless an escape from some old garden, 

 for the flowers are attractive enough to be valued, and are fully 

 the equal in beauty of many kinds that are given a place among 

 cultivated things. The plant scarcely behaves like a true immi- 

 grant ; there is nothing in its bearing which betokens an intention 

 of conquering the new r world for itself. It seems quite satisfied 

 with a few inches of earth in which to root and cares not at all 

 for admiration. During the day, when botanists are abroad, it 

 has an ordinary and weedy look and it is not until evening, when 

 the botanist has betaken himself to his books, that it unfurls its 

 pretty white flowers and sends a delicate perfume into the night 

 as a notice to the insects. Apparently insect visitors are of prime 

 necessity, for the flowers are usually dioecious. In the staminate 

 plant, the clustered anthers appear at the top of the corolla ''tube," 

 encircled by a delicate ruffle formed by the crown of the petals. 

 The pistillate plant, on the contrary, has its styles and stigmas 

 projecting nearly half an inch beyond the rest of the flower, in 

 order to be sure of obtaining any pollen that may chance to pass. 



There is a noticable difference in the appearance of the two 

 forms of flower, so much so that one might easily mistake the 

 staminate plant for the night flowering catch-fly (Silene nocti- 



