The JYaturaMsts’ Companion. SI 
Ill's ‘‘toad fadloryof the Charles,” as his 
incipient mnseimi was named, in as good 
Prench as we could muster, a fine but¬ 
terfly. 
We came to Bethlehem, N. H., and 
in going up a long hill, approaching 
from Littleton, we all got out and walk¬ 
ed, except C- C- Felton, who remained 
with the driver on the box. As we 
walked uji the hill, running here and 
there, swee})ing with the muslin net, 
turning over logs and stones, pouncing 
on frogs, etc,, the driver said to Profes¬ 
sor Felton, “Who are these men you 
have with you?” “Oh,” replied he, 
“they aie a set of naturalists from an in¬ 
stitute near Boston,” 
In the stage was a man not of our 
party. He walked solemnly up the hill 
in front of us; he had preserved from 
his entrance into the stage a dozen miles 
back, a profound silence, and a very 
austere countenance, mingled with mel- 
oncholy. Suddenly he was observed to 
take off his hat, make various fantic 
swoops there-with, and finally, as the 
Butterfly rose over a clump of tall alders, 
he sprang high in the air after it, mak¬ 
ing a last desperate swoop with his hat, 
and screaming for the fii-st time the 
watchword, “Beau papillon 1 ” at the top 
of his lungs and top of his compass. At 
that moment the down stage met ours, 
and as they passed they both stopped an 
instant, d'he other driver gazed down 
the hill in astonishment, and said, 
“What sort of a lively freight have you 
there?” Our driver, leaning over, an¬ 
swered in a loud confidential whisper, 
“They are a sort of naturals from the 
asylum near Boston ; their keeper just 
told me so.” 
d'he next day Peirce-and Agassiz were 
together on the shores of Echo Lake; the 
latter had borrowed his boy’s net, and 
was interested to catch a particular spe¬ 
cies of dragon-fly. The two friends 
had sejrarated a few paces, when Peirce 
saw one of the coveted dragon-flies, and 
in his eagerness to have it secured, call¬ 
ed it by the name which he had always 
heard it called in his boyhood: “Here, 
Agassiz] here’s one of those ‘devil’s- 
needles.’ ” At that moment he became 
aware that the meloncholy man of the 
day before was close behind him. The 
austere man, as if to rebuke Peirce for 
using a word bordering in his mind on 
profanity, asked, in the most solemn 
and deliberate , manner, “Sir, can you 
tell me the proper botanical designation 
of that insedl ?” 
And for the rest of the time that our 
party was together we could not say 
“pioper name,” or “real name,”—the 
fascinating absurdity of “botanical des¬ 
ignation” was applied to every kind of 
subject or object.— Register. 
Our next issue will be finely illustrated. 
We will send loo sheets of unruled 
writing paper post-paid for 25c, 
This })aper and the Young Naturalist’s 
Journal both one year for 50 cents. 
We can. supply all back numbers of 
this paper, excepting Nos. i, 3, 10, and 
II, at five cents each. 
We have receive several copies of 
the “Auk,” the leading ornithological 
journal in this country, and cannot 
juaise it too highly. 
A new discovery is that by the sim¬ 
ple use of citric acid or citratic of silver, 
sea water may be made drinkable. By 
this means chloride of silver is precipi¬ 
tated, and a harmless mineral water is 
produced. An ounce of citrate makes 
a half-pint of water drinkable. 
