164 
NATURE NOTES. 
avoid the showy lapidary shops at the seaside as they are apt 
as a rule to be high priced and unsatisfactory. 
I find the inner tray of ordinary matchboxes a very con- 
venient receptacle in which to place small stones or crystals. 
The trays being all of one size and shape, they fit in rows and 
take up little space ; when re-papered, with some white cotton 
wool at the bottom, they look neat and keep the minerals from 
getting mixed. 
Models of foreign fruits occupy the next wall case, and with 
them are some huge pods of tropical plants such as the entada, or 
sword bean of the East and West Indies. This is said to attain 
a length of from six to eight feet, and its seeds are converted by 
the natives into snuff-boxes, scent-bottles, spoons, &c. I have 
a coco dc mcr, or double cocoa-nut, the fruit of a tree which is 
only found growing on two islands of the Seychelles group. It 
is much to be lamented that this magnificent palm is gradually 
being eradicated by the constant felling of the trees to obtain 
the nuts. It is to be hoped that steps will be taken before it is 
too late to hinder the thoughtless destruction of such a rare and 
noble tree. The palm itself takes a century to come to maturity, 
and the nut, although it attains its full size in four years, re- 
quires ten years to be fully perfected, when it weighs about 
forty pounds. 
The other specimens in the case are a dried baobab fruit, 
a pod twenty-six inches in length, containing the seeds of 
some unknown plant, models of the banana and breadfruit, a 
piece of the stem of some ivy, grown here, which measures 
eighteen inches in circumference, and a portion of ancient 
papyrus on cardboard. I may here mention that anyone who 
happens to have papyrus growing in a greenhouse tank, can 
very easily make paper from it if so disposed. I have succeeded 
in making some which exactly resembles that used by the 
Egyptians. If the stem is cut into six-inch lengths, the green 
bark sliced off, and the rest cut with a sharp razor into thin 
layers and placed on clean white paper, a row of the slices 
touching each other, continued to whatever length is desired, 
then another row placed over these transversely, leaving no 
gaps, and the whole pressed quickly between sheets of white 
glazed paper, it becomes a mass of thin pulp. The glutinous 
juice of the plant makes the separate pieces adhere, and 'if 
carefully lifted to fresh paper and well ironed until dry, the 
manufacture will be a success. If the pulp covered by the 
paper above and below is placed between two sheets of mill- 
board one can then stand upon it, and ensure its being well 
pressed. It can be written upon with an ordinary pen, without 
sizing or any further preparation. 
With regard to fruits, I may mention that many curious 
specimens may be obtained by asking a fruiterer, when pur- 
chasing at some of the importers’ warehouses, to reserve such 
things as the Brazil nut as it is gathered, i.e., a large woody 
