THE AMERICAN BOTANIST. 
It grows best in wet meadows and frequently in bushy swamps 
and swampy pastures and often in moist places by the roadside. 
In the meadows it is almost certain to be cut down with the late 
grasses, before maturing its seed, by the roadside it is equally cer- 
tain to be gathered in flower. But, beside these dangers, it has 
another enemy more destructive than all others. Several years 
ago I found nearly a hundred of these plants in flower by the side 
of an unfrequented road. I gathered all those that were con- 
spicuous, hoping that the others would escape observation. Later 
I visited them again, and found the seedpods matured and gather- 
ed some hundreds of them. On examination not one in twenty 
of these contained any seed. The others were inhabited by a 
small, light colored larva that had devoured most of the seed, and 
was rapidly consuming the rest. In December of the same year, 
I was exploring a woodland some five miles away from the place 
where these seeds were gathered, and found a number of dried 
plants still holding their seedpods upright. On examination 
these were found to contain from one to three of similar larva in 
each pod, much larger and darker in color than those found in 
the fall. They had consumed exery seed and were evidently hi- 
bernating for the winter. 
The s_eed we had collected were carefully planted. Some im- 
mediately after gathering, and some in the following spring. 
They were planted in the window garden, in the green house, in 
the flower garden and in the fields. Some that my wife planted 
in the window garden came up, and she had two or three dozen 
plants. These were potted up as they became large enough and 
some of them were planted out in the spring. They were slender 
and slowgrowing plants, very sensitive to injuries, and all of them 
died at various periods before reaching maturity. None of the 
other seeds planted at various times and in various places ever 
came up. 
Another of our wild flowers the mountain fringe {Adhimia 
fungosa) is generally called a biennial. Three years ago I took 
a young plant from the mountain, and set it out back of my wood- 
house ; it grew luxuriantly and covered the roof with vines loaded 
with flowers, which ripened an abundance of its black, shiny seeds 
The next year to my surprise none of them came up, but this year 
