The J^at'oralists’ Companioii. 
‘*Wlierc.soev<*r the Katuralist liirns liis eye, life or llie germ of life, lies spread before IiIiii.’'--}liiml>oI(H. 
35 Cents per 
Aaiiisuui. 
CHARLES P. GHELF, 
EDITOR .-. AND .ri’BLIMIER. 
Single Copy, 
5 Cents. 
VOL. I. 
BROCKPORT, N. Y., MAY, 1886. 
NO. II. 
The Seal and the Sea Mew. 
The Seal on a floe of ice as he lay 
Did thus to the whirling Sea Mew say: 
“Mr. Mew, if I had such wings as those, 
I w'ould fly to the sun and warm my nose.” 
And the Mew said, “Yes, just so thought I 
How pleasant it nuist be up in the sky; 
But the higher I went the colder it grew, 
So I turned from the sun, and came down 
to you.” 
The colder it grew, though the sun’s so hot 
A proper puzzle the Seal has got. 
And he lies on his side and thinks it o’er. 
Till he falls asleep, and begins to snore ; 
But still in his sealish brain there runs 
A kind of a dream of wings and suns. 
A Walk with a Purpose. 
BY AVIS. 
Let US go for a walk to the woods 
this bright, mild April day. 
The exercise, the welcome sight of 
the sim’s bright face after it has been 
hidden fromms so long, the warmth of 
his rays, and the faint fresh grassy smell 
peculiar to early spring, all these are to 
be enjoyed if one has only enjoyment 
in view ; but some of us wish to start an 
herbarium this year and we are going to 
search for oiii first specimens. 
So providing ourselves with a tin lunch 
box, one that folds up so it can be car¬ 
ried in the pocket is best, a trowel and 
a knife, we set forth. 
The lunch box will be used to hold 
the specimens after they are gathered, 
and if they are placed carefully and the 
box is kept closed they will remain fresh 
several hours. The trowel will be use¬ 
ful to dig up the loots of the plants we 
wish to examine. 
The first flower we will be likely to 
find is the hepatica, or liver leaf, a plant 
which may be said to do its spring work 
in the fall, as, unlike most plants, its 
leaves and flower buds are fully formeci 
in the fall, and being protected by the 
dry leaves of the woods, are carried 
safely through the winter and are thus 
ready to show their dainty blossoms al¬ 
most before-the snow is gone, and while 
the other plants, like the violet, are just 
waking from their long sleep and pro¬ 
ceeding to develop leaves and flowers 
from the mold. 
but no ! one of our party has found 
in a moist, sunny coi ner of the woods a 
delicate little plant, bearing rose-color¬ 
ed blossoms, and which she calls a spring 
beauty. We recognize it to be the 
Clay ton ia, an example of our native 
purslane, a genus of plants belonging to 
the order of Portulaceae as it has the 
two-cleft calyx, the requisite number of 
petals and stamens, etc. One can hardly 
believe that it is a near relative of the 
purslane of our gardens which is so pro¬ 
voking to the gardners that it has passed 
into proverb, and anything that is ‘‘as 
mean as pusley’ ’ is almost beyond com¬ 
prehension. 
Such is the fadt, however. Relatives 
they are, and the family resemblance is 
strong when one considers the points 
