have been dreamed away barren of adventures, had it not been for our indomitable professor.  We had missed him but a moment, when suddenly he reappeared, holding at arm’s length what seemed in the distance about a dozen brown, scaly snakes a yard long, all strung together.  Simultaneously the entire company sprang to their feet and started for a race as this regiment of frightful reptiles was thrust into their midst by the radiant “dominie,” whose face was fairly aglow with mischief.  “Where did they come from?  What are you going to do with them?” exclaimed everybody at once, turning to look at the monsters as they lay passive and motionless where the professor had thrown them.  “Give them to Saint Patrick, to keep company with those he drove out of the Emerald Isle; or we’ll have them for dinner if you prefer,” was the laughing response.  Reassured by the non-combatant air of the dreaded reptiles, we ventured a nearer approach, and our astonishment may readily be imagined when we found not snakes, but simply a cluster of the pendent blossoms of the rattan tree (Arundo bambos), one of the strangest of all the floral products of the tropics.  They hang from the tree in clusters usually of ten or twelve, each a yard or more in length, looking like a soldier’s aigrettes suspended among the green leaves, or perhaps still more like a string of chestnut-colored scales threaded through the centre.  Waving to and fro in the summer breeze, as I afterward saw them, intertwined with the graceful tendrils of the beautiful passion-flower with its rare feathery chalice of purple and gold, and flanked on every side by ferns of exquisite symmetry, reflecting their dainty fringes in the clear waters, the tout ensemble is one of radiant loveliness, seemingly too fair to be hidden away among lonely jungles.

Consigning our newly acquired treasure to the keeping of the comprador, we sauntered forth in search of other discoveries, and were richly rewarded by finding several perfect specimens of the monkey-cup or pitcher-plant (Nepenthes distillatoria).  This plant is found in moist places, such as are suited to the growth of ferns, mangroves and palmate shrubs.  It has pendent from each leaf a natural pitcher or elongated cup, growing perfectly upright and capable of holding a pint or more of liquid.  It is provided also with a natural cover, which when closed prevents the ingress of leaves or rubbish falling from other trees.  The most curious circumstance connected with this strange plant is, that it is nearly always found full of pure, sparkling water, and that the lid closes of itself as soon as the receptacle is full, and opens whenever it is empty.  The water is thus protected from dust, and kept always fit for the use of thirsty travelers, as well as of the immense troops of monkeys that inhabit tropical jungles.  When the dainty cup has been drained of its refreshing contents, this wonderful little plant again throws wide the portals of its exhausted