LV nn saa ANE (RUSOES William race Murrill i i imu 1924 wo olin,anx ‘Three Young Crusoes Their Lite and Adventures on an Island in the West Indies BY WILLIAM ALPHONSO MURRILL, A.M., Px.D Assistant Director of the New York Botanical Garden; Associate Editor of North American Flora; Editor of Mycologia; Fellow of the New York Academy of Sciences; Author of Billy the Boy Naturalist, Edible and Poisonous Mushrooms, with large Colored Chart, Northern Polypores, Southern Polypores, Western Poly pores, Tropical Polypores, American Boletes, Murrill’s and Saccardo’s Names of Polypores Compared and various other books and papers on botanical subjects Illustrated with 83 Halftones and 2 Colored Plates PUBLISHED AND FOR SALE BY W. A. MURRILL Bronxwoop Park, New York Ciry 1918 Price $1.50 CopyrIGHT, 1918 By WILLIAM ALPHONSO MURRILL TO DOROTHY DIX PREFACE Tuts book was written for the entertainment and instruction of children between twelve and eighteen years of age, the underlying idea being that the stu- dent of nature need never be lonely. Forced to lead the simple life on a deserted island far from friends, books, and other advantages, the three Cru- soes found that nature supplied them not only with bodily, but also with mental wants. While the characters, the story, and the setting are fictitious, the natural history is entirely reliable, and the reader enjoys the rare privilege of having the nature treasures of many different localities brought together into a rather limited area. On this account, Visitors to any part of the West Indies may find the book helpful. It may be added that the opinion of experts is divided regarding the origin of the monkey used in this story, some claiming that he was native to the island and others contending that he was introduced through human agency. The author is inclined to lean toward the latter theory. Witiiam A. MurrILe AvucusT 5, 1918 CON TEN TS CHAPTER I. Savep FROM SHIPWRECK I]. Expiorinc THe Istanp.............. Tl Ds, SAP Vee VAs rayon weet kn aecrodee aE Vis iH EGR EP Ne ee se evar ho rahi wen V. Goine FisHinc...... ee ae, VI. Epona Takes SwiIMMING Se esons VIT. A Watkin THE Forest....... VIII. Musyrooms ann ToapstooLs..... P IX. Tue Frerps BEyonpn tHE GARDEN..... X. SnowsBatt AND THE Monkey Go Co.- POTN Ga stener pee tanya had eta ahaa eel XI. THe Marrer or CLoTHEs...... NIT.) Wiiritam is Arrackepb By a WiLp ae NIT. Pranrinc Poraroges............ XIV. CHaAsep By AN ALLIGATOR...... XV. THe TREES IN THE YARD......... XVI. Some InreREsTING DISCOVERIES...... XVII. A New Ibea. er eee XVIII. Tue Co.iecrion or Wo OODS:.4 242 NUK. JA) CHRISTMAS TREE: sigs hi Gas XX. Epna’s FERNERY. : XXI. More Discoverigs................. XXII. Trees Founp 1n THE FIELps....... NNIITI.) Fixinc up ror Company... XXIV. Carcuinc Witp ANIMALS...... vil PAGE Vill CHAPTER XXV. XXVI. XXVII. XXVIII. XXIX. XXX. XXXI. XXXII. Three Young Crusoes Birps...... INsEcTS AND THEIR RELATIVES....... Epna’s Flower GARDENS PLAYTIME SaLtt WaTER COLLECTING............ A Nuccet or GoLp...... Tue Rescue Sup Home AGaAIn Lis TUF FLLUST RATIONS Grateful acknowledgements are due several institu- tions and individuals who have generously assisted with the illustrations. Photographs for figures 29, 31, 32, 46, 47-49, 65, and 71 were contributed by the Bureau of Plant Industry at Washington, through Mr. P. H. Dor- sett; for figures 11 and 73-75 by The New York Zoological Society, through Dr. C. H. Townsend; for figures 52-54, 56, 58, and 59 by The American Museum of Natural History, through Dr. G. Clyde Fisher; and for figure 3 by Mrs. James Brown. Figures 10, 19, 26-28, 42, 43, 45, 67, 68, and 70 were taken from the Journal of The New York Botanical Garden; and the colored plate of tropical fruits and the outline drawings of Jamaican insects, etc., were prepared by Miss Mary E. Eaton. The remaining 60 illustrations are from the author’s originals. FIGURE PAGE 1. Children playing on the ship.................. xXIv Me Cocoanut: palinovkmw ssa tene gure wes Lee 6 ae Rheswatertal lions Fic. 52. A mother possum and her affectionate family. a coon, which made him feel very much at home. The coon became a pet and had the run of the house, greatly to the disgust of the monkey. Big iguanas, several feet long, and numerous smaller, brilliantly-colored lizards were easily caught 1$4 Three Young Crusoes with nooses and nets and thelatter made excellent cap- tives because they caught most of their own food. The same was true of the little tree-toads, which earned their living and furnished music besides. The ig- uana eats fruit chiefly, and that is probably why he is so highly prized for food. Fic. 53. The coon, Catching Wild Animals es There were bats enough already in the cave, and rats and mice were common about the house and garden, while the agouti, a rat-like animal over a foot long, often eaten by poor people, was sufficiently abundant in the sugarcane field. The boa constrictor gave them the greatest trou- ble. It was twenty feet long and very powerful, although sluggish and not poisonous. Instead of Fic. 54. A boa constrictor. bringing it home, they built a cage for it out in the woods where it was caught, and left it there. It was a case of Mahomet going to the Mountain. The juba, the blind snake, and other smaller snakes were kept there also, in separate cages, so as to have all the serpents together. The giant manatee, which sometimes visited the 136 Three Young Crusoes mouth of the creek, they could not manage; nor did they care to fool with the old alligators and croco- diles, but they had a whole pen full of crawling young ones, and a half-grown green turtle to keep them company. Henry had once seen twenty big green turtles, weighing over three hundred pounds apiece, lying on their backs on the deck of a ship with their flippers tied together. He was told that they had made the journey from Yucatan to New York in that way and that six weeks or more without food seemed nothing to them. Snowball and the monkey took great interest in the animals and always helped to feed them, be- cause they loved to see them eat. They reserved the privilege, however, of pulling their tails and teasing them in various ways, which made the boys rather glad that the boa constrictor’s cage was some distance off in the forest. lic. 55. The land crab. It has amiable eyes but wicked claws. I Catching Wild Animals 1g = During a period of rain, a number of land crabs had been caught by torch light near the mangrove swamp and, after supplying several good meals, there were still enough left to fill a cage. This was one animal Snowball did not like. He did at first, but it took William and Edna, with the monkey thrown in, to separate that first crab from Snowball! CHAPTER XXV Birbs THE whole system of trapping had to be revised for the birds. For the ordinary forest species, a bamboo cage constructed on the principle of a fly- trap proved very effective. For ground-feeders, like doves and pigeons, a coop-trap fitted with a figure four was used; while butterfly nets came in handy for hummingbirds and for all kinds of young birds just beginning to fly. Wild turkeys were caught in a covered pen with a trench approach in which corn was scattered. They would keep their heads down while following the trail of corn and raise them up so high when they got in the pen that they could not see how to get out. The birds that first attracted the attention of our young naturalists were the kinds they had seen at home. Some of these, like the kingfisher and the hawks, remained during the entire year, but most of them came down to spend the winter and went back early in the spring. Among these migratory birds were the following: 158 Birds 159 Ruby-throat hummingbird, olive-backed thrush, wood thrush, catbird, cedar waxwing, bobolink, mourning-dove, meadow-lark, bittern, killdeer, av- Fic. 56. Sandhill cranes and their nest among the cat-tails. ocet, godwit, Wilson’s snipe, plover, great blue heron, mallard duck, green-winged teal, wood duck, and hooded merganser. 160 Three Young Crisoes When the season arrived for these birds to return to their northern homes, those that were in cages were set free and allowed to go with the rest. The lic. 57. Caged birds for sale in Mexico City. The Indians buy them eagerly. children were themselves prisoners and would glad- ly have flown home with the birds. “Why not let them carry a message toour friends?”’ Birds 161 said Edna, excitedly, as she opened one of the cages and let a wood thrush out. “Why not?” replied William. “It might not do any good, and still it might. There is no harm in trying.” So they fastened a tiny message to a number of the birds in such a way that they would not be in- jured or impeded in their flight, and turned them loose with the hope that somebody would get a chance to read it. There was a catbird that had been Edna’s special pet, singing for her while she worked and making a terrible fuss when she paid too much attention to Snowball. When he was turned loose, he lingered near for several days and would come to Edna’s window in the morning and wake her with a cheer- ful song. Finally, he too disappeared, impelled by the uncontrollable instinct that drove him north- ward. But there were many, many birds entirely new to the boys, and it was exciting and pleasant work to observe their habits in the woods and fields and to study them at close range in the bamboo cages. Af- ter the nests were empty they were also collected for specimens. The hummingbirds were a source of continual en- 162 Three Young Crusoes joyment as they darted about the flower gardens and displayed their brilliant colors while hovering over equally brilliant blossoms. The long-tailed hummingbird, or doctor-bird, was the largest, and he shone resplendent in his emerald vest, velvet crest, and long tail-plumes. The tiny vervain hummingbird would sit in the top of an orange tree and warble its sweet note for ten minutes at a time, then flutter about the orange blossoms for nectar and insects, looking a good deal like a hummingbird moth. The smallest of all, the smallest bird in the world, was Princess Helena’s hummingbird, a perfect little fairy only two and a quarter inches long, with me- tallic-blue back, white breast, and rose-red head. Its nest measures three quarters of an inch across the cavity and the eggs are one quarter of an inch in length! The mango hummingbird was remarkable be- cause the female was more brilliantly colored than the male. In all other hummingbirds, and in most birds, the reverse is true, since the female is in dan- ger while on the nest and sober colors protect her from hawks and other enemies. A pair of palm swifts built a tiny nest of silk- cotton, tillandsia down, and feathers, glued to the Birds 163 under side of one of the royal palm leaves, and three little white eggs were laid in it. A larger, blackish- brown swift was seen, but its nest was not discovered. The common martin, with habits like those of the purple martin, was steel-blue above and pure-white below. The palm chat, or palm sparrow, was eight inches in length, dark-brown and olive above, and yellow- ish-white beneath. It lived in colonies in royal palms, making large nests of big sticks, and ate fruits and insects. It was a very noisy bird; the whole colony would start and stop singing at the same time, as if by signal. The honey creepers were small, active, and bright- colored. The banana quit caught insects in flowers as the hummingbirds did, and it was very fond of cactus fruits. The grackles were much like our crow blackbirds, and the two kinds of red-wing blackbirds differed from ours only slightly in color. The flicker differed in having a white rump thickly spotted with black. Chuck-will’s widow, which ranges northward to southern Virginia, resembled the whippoorwill in habit but had a different call. There were numerous pigeons and doves, many of them feeding on the ground in flocks. The scaled pigeon was an excellent game bird, although hard 164 Three Young Crusoes to see with its dark, lead-colored coat and wine- colored head markings. One of the most interest- ing birds was the burrowing owl, which dug holes from five to ten feet long and laid seven to nine white eggs. The young made a noise like a rattle- snake. The lizards were often caught by hawks, but it was strange to see a kind of cuckoo, called the lizard catcher, engaged in this business. It would remain perfectly quiet until a lizard got within range, then dart upon it and kill it. This bird was a foot and a half long, ashy-brown above, and ashy-white below, with a long, loud call. Another cuckoo, called the blackbird or ani, lived in large flocks and ate cattle ticks. All the birds of a flock laid their deep-green eggs in one big nest, with layers of leaves between them. This bird can be taught to talk, like a crow. The todies, of which there were several kinds, looked like miniature kingfishers. One kind made burrows in banks with its beak and laid white eggs exactly like small kingfisher’s eggs. It was very tame and apparently lazy until an insect came near, when it would dart at it with the quickness of a hawk. The green tody, sometimes called robin, laid three or four eggs at the end of its burrow on a Birds 165 heap of soft earth without any lining whatever to its nest. It was bright-green above, with crimson throat, and yellowish-white below. The wings were blackish, while the flanks showed tufts of pink feath- ers, and it made a whirring noise when it flew. While William was visiting the pine grove on the mountain one day, he saw a flock of birds eating the seeds out of the pine cones. On creeping close to them, he noticed that they were crossbills and very much like the white-winged crossbill sometimes seen in Virginia during the winter, only their bills were heavier. It was interesting to see how skil- fully they worked and how happy they were, feed- ing together. The egrets, glossy ibis, and white ibis were hand- some birds. The wood ibis was white with a bluish head and neck. It had the peculiar habit of danc- ing in the water to muddy it and make the fish come to the surface, when it would catch them. One of the queerest birds of all was the snake bird, which was well named because it was a yard long, including its very slender neck and tail. It was greenish-black above, black below, and lived on fish, for which it could dive at least a hundred yards. Its nest was built of sticks and leaves in swamps, and it laid from three to five bluish eggs. 166 Three Young Crusoes The frigate, or man-o’-war, bird, with long bill abruptly hooked at the tip, was a terror to gulls and terns, which it would rob of their hard-earned catch, never ceasing the chase until the fish was dropped. Pic. 58. The man-o’-war bird. Birds Fic. 59. A colony of flamingoes. 168 Three Young Crusoes Flamingoes, resplendent in delicate pink, lived in great colonies along the beach and made their peculiar mud nests just high enough to keep the wa- ter from their eggs. The boys were surprised to see them sitting on the nests with their legs folded un- der them instead of hanging down as pictured in the geographies. There were only two eggs to a nest, pure-white and over three inches long. One of the greatest surprises was a pair of guineas in the coop-trap one morning. They had evidently run wild into the woods, as guineas have a habit of doing, and it was now the pleasure of our young ex- plorers to bring them back to civilization again. William also reminded himself that he could teach Snowball how to fight Easter eggs, and wondered how a little freckled guinea egg would stand up in a battle with a big white flamingo egg. Some OTHER Birps THat WERE SEEN Small gray gnatcatcher, wood pewee, large fly- catchers, gray kingbird, vireos, warblers, barn swal- lows, mockingbirds, mangrove cuckoo, belted king- fisher, trogon, red-headed woodpeckers, ivory-billed woodpeckers, parrots, plovers, crows, ground dove, quail dove, white-winged dove, pea-dove, blue pig- eon, bobwhite, wild turkey, terns, coot, pied-billed Birds 169 grebe, black-capped petrel, yellow-billed tropic-bird, crane, gull, sandpipers, black-crowned night heron, great white heron, turkey buzzard, duck-hawk, pigeon-hawk, sparrow-hawk, everglade kite, short- tailed hawk, sharp-shinned hawk, short-eared owl, barn owl, and stygian owl. CHAPTER XXVI Insects AND THEIR RELATIVES Wits such a large family of birds to feed, the cap- ture of insects became a necessity. This was done with sweeping nets in rather a wholesale manner and the catch picked over for specimens before the birds were fed. Butterflies were taken with care, so that their delicate wings would not be injured. The boys be- came very expert in the use of the net and in stalk- ing their game. There are tricks in all trades, which only experience will make perfect. Caterpillars were carried home and fed on the same kind of leaves they were eating when found, until they went to sleep in cocoons or queer, orna- mented cases and emerged as beautiful moths and butterflies, ready to sip nectar from every inviting flower. This method gave perfect specimens and no end of pleasure for all the members of the family. At night, around the torch light, hundreds of moths, beetles, and other insects collected and were easily caught. Sugaring for moths was practised on TS 70 Insects and Their Relatives V7T the bamboo pole holding the pine knots, the surface of the pole being smeared bountifully with sugar syrup. There was one little cricket that was very hard to catch. It lived about the house and chirped almost continually after dark, but, when they came near, it backed away in a crack, waving its very long an- tennae by way of farewell. It was at first rather exciting to hunt scorpions, centipedes, and tarantulas, but there was little dan- ger after their habits were learned. The boys some- times took Edna along at night to catch fire-beetles, which, with two big luminous spots on their heads, lighted up the fields like thousands of tiny candles. Three of these beetles in a bottle or a little cage would furnish light to read by, while a dozen would make a pinguin ball-gown shine resplendent. BUTTERFLIES Butterflies, or‘‘flutterbys” as Snowball called them, liked the daylight and rested with their wings erect, while their antennae showed little knobs at the tips. Moths loved the darkness and folded their wings flat when at rest, and their antennae were often very delicate and feathery, as though fitted for some sort of wireless telegraphy. 172 Three Young Crusoes There were three butterflies that William had seen in Virginia. One was the large, brick-colored milkweed butterfly, another the white cabbage butterfly, and a third, about the size of the cabbage butterfly, was yellow, and collected in numbers in wet mud and sand. He discovered one that looked like the milkweed butterfly, but it had a broad dark band on the margin of the hind wing. He also saw a yellow one a good deal larger than the one with which he was familiar. One of the most interesting new kinds had pe- culiar, long, narrow, yellow and black, transparent wings; and the birds would not eat them any more than they would the milkweed butterfly. They were brilliantly colored and conspicuous, but seemed to have some peculiar charm that protected them. Victorina collected by the hundreds on rotting mangoes and sucked their juice; dione liked vanilla; black page loved the hot sunshine fully as much as the butterflies farther north; while cracker had a peculiar habit of resting with its wings folded flat on a tree trunk like a catocala moth, or underwing, and crawling around to the opposite side like a squir- rel when the boys came toward it. Sometimes, there would be nearly a dozen cracker butterflies on the same trunk and they would almost jostle one another in their haste to get around. Three Young Crusoes PLATE 2 ee eee 1, 2. The zebra and black swallowtails of the United States. . The mud-loving butterfly of the United States and the West Indies. 4. The viceroy, which protects itself from birds by mimicking the milkweed butterfly, although much smaller. a es J Insects and Their Relatives 173 Then there was flam-flam, and donkey eyes, and zebra, but not the zebra William knew. The black swallowtail had an unfamiliar yellow band across its front wing; while the only skipper seen had brown- ish wings, a blue back, and long blue tails. Chil- ades, syntarucoides, eurema, kricogonia, acolastus, hesperia, anastrus, padraona, calpodes, and nic- oniades completed the list. Morus First of all, William recognized his enemy of the tobacco fields, the big tobacco-fly, hovering about the Jimson weeds at dusk. Resembling this in shape and habit, were the frangipani sphinx, the blue-green sphinx, the brownish-yellow sphinx, and the green sphinx. A beautiful little moth with rose-colored hind wings and narrow, white front wings covered with orange and black dots, reminded him strongly of one he had seen in the fields at home; but there were two little new ones that seemed even prettier. One had a blue body and crimson wings with blackish borders, while the other was blue all over except for a white bar across its front wings. A handsome moth visited the sapodilla trees; the sugarcane was attacked by a borer which turned in- 174 Three Young Crusoes to the sugarcane moth; the coffee leaves were mined by tineid larvae; crotalaria suffered from the cro- talaria moth; and vegetables from army worms and cutworms. Other moths collected were: pilocrocis, syngamia, epitamyra, galasa, mapeta, carcha, melanchroia, thysanopyga, syrrhodia, semiothisa, attacus, blep- tina, bibacta, macrodes, bendis, remigia, erebus, letis, homoptera, and aclytia. OTHER INSEcTS A small red ant with a powerful bite sometimes waked the boys up at night. Ants came into the kitchen hunting for sweet things, and even cut the leaves off the trees. White ants attacked most kinds of wood. Mosquitoes, sand flies, jiggers, and fleas had their off seasons, but cockroaches were al- ways present and always hungry. The boys threat- ened to make boxes of Spanish cedar or red cedar to sleep in, thinking thus to escape the insects. Grasshoppers, katydids, crickets, and mole crick- ets were common. Also a peculiar kind of praying mantis, called the pimento horse, with body and upper wings the color of a twig and the under wings bright-green like a leaf. It was almost impossible for a bird to see this queer creature because it looked so much like the twig on which it rested. Insects and Their Relatives 175 A large cicada, called the singer or old witch, was much like the jar-flies at home. A little red lady- bird and a white grubworm looked ever so familiar, while hundreds of other beetles were new. Fic. 60. The praying mantis, or pimento horse. SPIDERS Henry noticed that spiders had eight legs while the true insects had only six. He took much more 176 Three Young Crusoes interest in them after he discovered the silk-lined burrow of the trap-door spider, and he must have collected at Jeast a hundred different kinds. One was entirely green, and one looked like the argiope so common in flower beds about New York; while a third was black with a bright-red spot on the Fic. 61. A beetle which attacks cocoa trees. under side of its body, reminding him of what his teacher had once said about spiders: ‘‘ None around here are considered poisonous, but the black one with a red spot has a bad reputation.” Insects and Their Relatives roy One day Henry found the most remarkable spider web he had ever seen. It was nine feet wide, seven feet high, and a yard thick; and each one of the hun- dreds of females in the big web had a special web of Fic. 62. A black spider found in Jamaica. Two of its legs were unlaw- fully long and had to be amputated. her own, while all the little males were huddled down in one corner to themselves. He thought that was woman’s suffrage with a vengeance! Other creatures with many legs were the daddy- long-legs, earwig, scorpion, and centipede, or forty legs, which ate insects and had a bite almost as se- vere as the scorpion’s sting. 178 Three Young Crusoes Tue Insect COLLECTION Henry had seen the beautiful museum collections of insects in New York, but it took considerable ex- perimenting before he and William could even be- gin one of their own. Instead of pins, they had to A OEE LN ay 99 BAP OP OP 1 a ee | Fic. 63. The centipede; one half natural size. use thorns, cactus spines, and bamboo fibers sharp- ened to a fine point. Instead of cork or peat, corn- stalk pith, corkwood, and slices of the flowering stalks of yucca and agave were used. As a substitute for glue, they gathered fresh pine resin, gum chicle, and cashew gum, the last being excellent because it dissolved in water and also kept the insect pests away. They had no naphthalene, but used Spanish cedar and red cedar wood to pre- vent insect attack, or bamboo sections with chips of camphor wood. For labels, thin strips of pine wood seemed to be the best. They were careful to preserve only perfect spec- imens, with not even a foot gone or a scale ruffled. Insects and Their Relatives 179 Hard insects, like beetles, were mostly glued down to show both upper and under sides, while most other insects were stuck on thorns or fibers and fastened upright in the slices of pith. Butterflies and moths had their wings spread so that the hind margins of the front wings made a straight line at right angles to the body. Dupli- cate and reserve specimens were carefully folded and packed between thin layers of bombax bark for spreading at some future time, after they had been softened by lying a few hours in a moist cham- ber. The insect collection was like a munition factory; it was no place either for enemies or for careless friends. Cockroaches, ants, mice, the pet coon, and likewise Snowball and the monkey, were emphatic- ally barred. CHAPTER XXVII Epna’s FLOWER GARDENS Epna went into her work with flowers with as much enthusiasm as the boys displayed in building up their zoo. She soon found, however, that one Fia. 64. A tree covered with air-plants. 180 Edna’s Flower Gardens 181 Fic. 65. Vanilla vines in a shed at the U. S. Plant Introduction Field Station near Miami, Florida. 182 Three Young Crusoes big flower bed would not do at all, because some plants loved the sun and others the shade, and some needed to be kept dry, while others loved the water. While cutting down trees, Henry had taken spe- cial pains to get Edna a good collection of orchids and other air-plants, and these were now growing on Fic. 66. The patio, or court, of a tropical house, with a fountain in the center, and showy plants and cages of singing birds. the trees about the house and even on the walls of the house itself. He also made her boxes and hang- ing baskets for some of the prettiest kinds, which Edna’s Flower Gardens 183 she hung where she could see them best and enjoy their fragrance. Cattleyas, laelias, oncidiums, and many other rare and beautiful forms were her daily companions. Vanilla vines climbed up the trunks of the cocoa- nut trees and the royal palm. The shape of the flowers showed that they were orchids, which sur- prised Edna. Their long pods are usually gathered Fic. 67. Acollection of desert plants at the New York Botanical Garden, with melon cacti and century plants in the foreground. before they are quite ripe and cured in a special way to develop vanillin, the substance which gives the agreeable odor to the pods. In a dry corner of the yard, fenced off from Snow- ball, Edna had her rocky bed of cacti, century plants, 184 Three Young Crusoes and yuccas. These needed very little water, but they could not quite grow in the air like the orchids. The night-blooming cereus bore large, fragrant flowers that opened at night and attracted splendid moths; the Turk’s-headcactus had a red cap somewhat Fic. 68. The Turk’s-head cactus. like a Turkish fez; and there was a tall cactus with little red specks on it, which were really cochineal insects. The milky euphorbia, or spurge, used for the Edna’s Flower Gardens 185 hedge around the yard, looked like a cactus but did not have cactus-like flowers. The Spanish dagger, with its ‘‘shoe-string”’ leaves and tall cluster of flowers, seemed to Edna the same as the Spanish bayonet in her front yard at home. It is much planted for hedges, and the purple, bitter-sweet pulp of the fruit is often eaten. Several kinds of century plants completed the bed. When they bloomed, they sent up wonder- Fic. 69. A maguey plantation in Mexico. The young flower-stalks are cut out of the agave plants and the juice collected and made into pulque by fermentation. 186 Three Young Crusoes ful, branched flower-clusters many feet high. No wonder it took them from five to twenty years to get ready to bloom. The thick leaves were full of I'tc. 70. An attractive tropical house covered with bignonia. The trees are eucalyptus, from Australia, now planted extensively in warm countries because of their exceedingly rapid growth. long, thread-like fibers, which showed plainly when the leaves were scraped or began to decay. Sisal, or henequen, so much used for ropes, twine, Edna’s Flower Gardens 187 fine hammocks, etc., is made from the leaves of a century plant extensively grown in Yucatan and other parts of tropical America. The ancient in- habitants of Yucatan dragged up the huge stones used for their pyramids with ropes made from this plant. Edna next called upon the boys for posts, frames, and trellises for her climbing plants, which were easily made of bamboo and various woods, and she covered them with purple bougainvillaeas, yellow allamandas, orange bignonias, pink antigonums, and other interesting plants like cobaea, monstera, and philodendron. The balsam apple bore small spiny pods with red seeds; the sarsaparilla vine looked just like one of the catbriers in Virginia; and the gouania furnished good toothbrushes, or ‘“‘chaw sticks,” not so different from those sometimes made of dogwood in the eastern United States. To cap the climax, the boys constructed a beau- tiful little summerhouse near one corner of the yard, and Edna covered it with white-fowered moon vines, scarlet-fowered cypress vines, blue and pur- ple morning-glories, wild clematis, and dutchman’s pipe. When she sat in this with her sewing on her lap, the familiar flowers made her feel very much at home. One vine came up, however, which was 1H wm oe Three Young Crusoes Fic. 71. Flowers and fruits of the passion-flower vine. Edna’s Flower Gardens 189 strange to her. It was the seven-year vine, with flowers and pods like the common morning-glory but very much larger. Of course, the monkey and Snowball had to have their summerhouse, too; so Edna planted the rose- srr Fic. 72. Tropical flowers tor President Palma. colored granadilla, the bell-apple, and other passion- flowers about it, because they not only bore orna- mental flowers, but also pretty and edible fruits. 190 Three Young Crusoes Flowers were used to border the beds of veget- ables in the garden. White, pink, and yellow ata- masco lilies, the spider-lily, the red-flowered Barba- dos lily, crinums, and other species were planted in abundance. Also yellow cannas, roses, tuberoses, caladiums, alpinias, begonias, four o’clocks, liras, and castor-oil plants. One of the handsomest plants was a tropical Jim- son weed with immense flowers, commonly cultiva- ted, while the ordinary Jimson weed of the United States grew wild. Other familiar weeds seen in the fields were the dandelion, some little blue speed- wells, the curly dock, the shepherd’s purse, the yel- low wood-sorrel, and a large dodder, which sent its yellowish threads over the vegetation in large masses and lived parasitically. Weeds that looked like some at home but showed slight differences were: a spiny cocklebur, two kinds of purple wood-sorrel, a skullcap, two species of ground-cherry, a mountain species of blackberry, a white milkweed, and numerous forms of “mistle- toe”’ growing on the trees. The Mexican poppy and the crotalaria were very attractive in the fields, one with red and the other with yellow flowers. The sensitive plant was com- mon and would fold up its delicate leaves at the Edna’s Flower Gardens IgI slightest touch. A common cassia supplied seeds frequently sold as a substitute for coffee. The pretty little creeping fig and the life plant, which sprouts from the notches in its leaflets, were abund- ant everywhere in waste ground, on stones, and on tree trunks. Thickets of bamboo, giant reed, and wild cane were found in open places in the forest and also in low grounds. A small clump of each, with one of pampas grass, was planted in the garden next to the bananas. Shade-loving flowers were grown in the edge of the woods near the spring, while a pretty pool in the stream was selected for an aquatic garden and planted with cat-tails, rushes, yellow-flowered ne- lumbo, floating-heart, marsh pennywort, water hya- cinth, morass weed, and white water-lilies. These were all found growing along the stream at various places, and the water hyacinth was sometimes too abundant. Seaside plants could not be cultivated near the house because they required the salt, as well as the sand, for their happiness. Among them were the tassel plant; the bur-nut, with big yellow flowers and clinging burs; the glasswort, which loves man- grove swamps; the sea ox-eye; the seaside heliotrope, 192 Three Young Crusoes having white flowers with a yellow eye; the shrubby sea lavender; and the seaside morning-glory, that trails across the sand for sixty feet or more. When the flower gardens were all finished, Edna said, ‘I love the flowers and I love to work with them, but sometimes I feel like the old woman who lived in a shoe and had so many children she didn’t know what to do.” “We know exactly how you feel,” replied Will- iam, thinking of their animals, “but they are worth te “Tm glad you fenced in that cactus bed,” added Edna, ‘“‘or I would have had more sewing to do for Snowball.” CHAPTER XXVIII PLAYTIME Witti1am made Snowball a swing in one of the mango trees, but he tried to do all the fancy tricks the monkey did and naturally came to grief. For- tunately, he landed on his head. In order to com- fort him, Edna got some little round palm-nuts and bright-colored beans and played marbles with him, but the nuts would disappear every time they turned their backs. Henry then came to the rescue and dressed Snowball up like an African chief, with shield and spear and painted face, which pleased him immensely. Edna sat in the summerhouse watching the boys running, jumping, climbing trees, throwing the lasso, pitching ball with oranges, and playing croquet with cocoanuts. It was amazing how they had im- proved physically. “If they ever get to college,” she thought to herself, “they will certainly show the other fellows something. It will be like Tarzan of the Apes coming back to civilization.” “The monkey broke up the game,” said William, 193 194 Three Young Crusoes as the boys joined Edna in the summerhouse. He insisted on stealing our croquet balls.” “Well, it isn’t much of a game, anyway, for peo- ple with muscle,”” remarked Henry. ‘‘What’s that on the table, Edna?” ‘“That’s a queer lichen I found in the woods yes- terday. Do you know anything about lichens?”’ “Only two things; that the reindeer lives on rein- deer moss, which is not a moss but a lichen, and that the manna that the Children of Israel lived on in the Wilderness was a lichen that blew down from the hills during the night.” “You know more than I do about them.” “And I know a reindeer story, too. A Swedish servant applied for work at a service bureau in New York. ‘Can you cook?’ ‘No. ‘Clean?’ ‘No.’ ‘Wash?’ ‘No.’ ‘Well, what can you do?’ ‘I can milk reindeer.’ ”’ At this point, William interrupted. “And I know,” he said, “that the ruby-throat humming- bird covers its little nest with lichens to make it look like a knot, and it nearly always uses the same kind of lichen. It seems to me a lot of unnecessary trouble, because I have hunted for days and never found but one hummingbird’s nest.” “Lichensseem tomeso different from other plants,” Playtime 195 said Edna. ‘They are so gray and stiff and grow on rocks and trees and other places where they get no water except when it rains. I don’t know how they live unless they are like my resurrection fern, which curls up and rests in dry weather.” “Suppose we look out for lichens and bring some of the prettiest ones in for our collection,” remarked Henry. MossEs From lichens, the conversation turned to mosses, which seemed to grow everywhere, but were so small that it was hard to notice many differences in them. Henry knew of packing plants and making surgical dressings with sphagnum, and putting mosses in the walls of houses in cold countries to keep them warm. William knew a moss with big hairy caps, and Edna had made playhouses of one that grew in pretty white tufts on the ground in woods. “What I should like to know,” said Henry, “is how to reconcile ‘an old mossback’ with ‘a rolling stone gathers no moss.’ They seem to me to con- tradict each other.” “Be that as it may,” replied William, “I'd like to gather a few mosses, just for the fun of it.” On burnt ground, they found the common cord moss; on rocks and about ferns in marshy places, 196 Three Young Crusoes the Florida syrrhopodon, the hair-like bryum, and Crueger’s bryum; and on the moist walls of their cave near the entrance, the common tortula and the black-fruited gyroweisia. These were all small and erect like the cord moss. They also found larger mosses in similar places that were branched and prostrate, sending up their little stalked fruit-bodies at intervals. Among these were the tomentose hairy-cap, the small- leaved haplocladium, and the glossy isopterygium. Hepatics on trees and rocks, like Joor’s leptoclea, the small-lobed lejunea, and the spreading frullania, were mistaken by the children for mosses not in fruit; while forms like marchantia and dumortiera, found on wet rocks and mud, were perfect puzzles to them. “T think we may as well try the ocean next,” re- marked Henry. ‘‘Do you remember those beauti- ful seaweeds and the sea gardens? And I'll show you a trick I learned at Coney Island from a soldier who had been in the Philippines.” CHAPTER XXIX Satt WaTER COLLECTING THe next day the boys invaded the ocean for some of its secrets not already cast upon the beach. They began with shells, because they were easiest, and, after they had brought in a large number of different kinds, they hunted snail shells on land to make the collection as complete as possible. Some of the live oysters contained pearls, which Edna prized highly. “Just to think,” she said,’ that the beautiful pearl is caused by a grain of sand or something else irritating to the delicate insides of the oyster, and it covers it up with mother-of-pearl like the inside of the shell to stop it from hurting.” “You might call them the oyster’s tears,” sug- gested William. Henry showed them the Philippine trick of stay- ing under water by holding a hollow reed in his mouth and breathing through it. This proved useful in studying the sea gardens and in collecting seaweeds, corals, and sponges, as well as shells. 197 198 Three Young Crusoes SEAWEEDS The seaweeds were green, brown, red, and var- 1ous intermediate shades of color; while the different shapes were too numerous to mention. Some were delicate and feathery, such as gracilaria and the feather-like caulerpa; some were tough or leathery, such as the fan-like udotea, the goblet udotea, the three-toothed halimeda, and the honey-comb hal- imeda; and others were stony and looked like coral. Most of the corallines had rather coarse branches, but one form, the fragile amphiroa, had thousands of needle-shaped branches arranged very close to- gether like a bed of moss. Much of the land which was formerly supposed to be built up by coral polyps is really the work of these coral-like seaweeds. Then there were other forms still more interest- ing on account of their peculiar shapes. The mer- man’s shaving-brush and the sea-broom could not have been better named; while the mermaids should certainly be proud of the dainty little stalked cups, less than an inch across, that are known as mermaid’s wine-glasses. FIsHES Fishes were abundant, probably numbering six hundred kinds, and many of them of great beauty. Salt Water Collecting 199 The hook, the gill-net, the bamboo trap, the torch at night, and work in the sea gardens gave the boys considerable knowledge of their appearance and habits of life. Some of them, like the flying fish Fic. 73. The green parrot fish. and the bat fish, even came out of the water and sailed away ahead of their canoe in full view. The squirrel fish, the rock beauty, the angel fish, the parrot fish, and other brilliantly colored species attracted them by their beauty; the sea horse, the shell fish, the swell toad, and the porcupine fish were very curious; and the scorpion fish inflicted painful wounds with its spines. Three Young Crusoes 200 runk fish. I 74 Fic. Salt Water Collecting 201 Some of the fish were very large, among them the shark, the tarpon, the sea-wolf, the tunny, so well known in cans, the king fish, and the black moray eel, six feet long and strongly contrasted with the tiny worm eel no bigger than an earthworm. al Fic. 75. A red hind resting by a sea-fan on a bed of coral. Other kinds worthy of mention were the lady fish, herring, sardine, lagarto, sheepshead minnow, top minnow, silver gar, hound fish, mullet, jack, yellow jack, goggle-eye, old wife, amber fish, horsehead, red hind, negro fish, chub, margate fish, grunt, pork 202 Three Young Crusoes fish, mutton fish, schoolmaster, snapper, porgy, big- eye, goat fish, hog fish, pearl fish, pipe fish, turbot, and horn fish. CHAPTER XXX A Nuccet or GoLp On the bank of the aquatic pool, Edna picked up a flat stone with the print of a shell upon it and brought it to the house. This started a hunt for fossils. It was not easy to find them, but still they existed, mostly in forms like clams, oysters, and snails. One lucky day down in the gorge, they discovered what seemed to be an old cave filled up with drifted sand and clay, and in this were numbers of prints of leaves and other parts of plants, which were care- fully removed and put with their collection of fossil shells. While looking for fossils, the boys noticed that the rocks were not all the same; some were volcanic, some limestone, some conglomerate, some shaly, etc. So they took specimens of the different rocks and searched eagerly for more. About this time, the water pipe became clogged up with sand and leaves and William was cleaning it out, when he stopped suddenly, held something up to the light, and started home on a run. 203 204 Three Young Crusoes “Henry, take a look at this, will you?” he said breathlessly. “I found it in the water pipe.” Henry took the small, irregular lump in his hand and examined it carefully. ‘‘That’s a gold nugget, William; Pve seen some like it in the museum. You're a lucky boy!” When Edna had seen the shining nugget and had properly expressed her congratulations, all three started off for the water pipe. In front of each par- tition in the bamboo, they found little nests of gold- en grains, which, being very heavy, had settled there as the sand was washed along. It was an exciting, happy time for the young ad- venturers. They had been attracted by many things in their brief lives, but never before by the lure of yellow gold. Money meant so much to them if they could only get back home, and all of them expected to get back some time. When they reached the end of the pipe in the gar- den, the sand simply glistened with shining grains, and they had passed there every day without seeing them! They scooped up the sand and carried it back three or four lengths of pipe and put it in the water so that the gold would be caught by the par- titions as before. Every few days after that, the pipe was examined A Nugget of Gold 205 for gold dust and with the hope of finding more nug- gets,—a proceeding entirely unintelligible to Snow- ball and the monkey. A week later, Edna discov- ered a precious gourd of ordinary sand under Snow- ball’s bed, which he had evidently hidden away for gold. CHAPTER XXXI Tue Rescue Suipe “Our catbird has hurted his wing, Mother, and I’m ’fraid kitty will get him.” William’s little sister Annie had found the cat- Fic. 76. William’s little sister Annie with her puppy. 206 The Rescue Ship 207 bird in the yard at the old home in Virginia and her soft heart went out to the bird that had sung for them so many seasons. Fic. 77. William’s mother had treasured in her heart the memory of that last evening before he sailed away on the fateful voyage. Her mother took the injured bird and examined its wing to see if it was broken. Then she found the message. ““My darling boy is still alive!” she exclaimed. se EY Se a ROS Itc. 78. Edna’s little brother tried hard to keep the weeds out of her flowers while she was away. The Rescue Ship 209 The news spread like wildfire through the coun- try. All the papers published in large type the message that the catbird brought. The New York Academy of Sciences was just fit- ting out an exploring expedition and they under- took to rescue the children. A wealthy member loaned his yacht, a gentleman from the Museum of Natural History went, with his wife and three young assistants; and there were experts from the Aquar- ium and the Zoological Park and a botanist by the name of Wilson from the Botanical Garden. Knowing the course of the wrecked ship and the date of her sinking, it was not difficult to locate the island; and, after cruising about the coast for some time, they finally sighted the flag of distress waving at the top of the bamboo pole. “T had a dream last night,” said Edna at the breakfast table. “J dreamed that one of our mes- sages had been found and that a pretty white ship was coming for us. You know, ever since we found gold I have been anxious to get home and spend my share of it.” ‘““T read in a book once,” said William, ‘“‘that mon- ey always makes people dissatisfied, but I don’t be- lieve it. I should be perfectly happy if I could spend my gold on a college education.” “The same here,” said Henry. “If a man is ed- 210 Three Young Crusoes ucated, he can always make money and he has the pleasure of knowing things besides. But, if we are going to have that picnic down on the beach Fic. 79. A picnic in the wilds of Cuba this afternoon, don’t you think we had better get to work?” And so it happened that all the family were on the beach enjoying themselves when the white ship came in sight about five o'clock, just as they were thinking of going back home and having supper. CHAPTER XXXII Home AGaIN Wild yells of delight greeted the ship. The boys threw their hats into the air, Snowball stood on his head, and the monkey ran up the flagpole and tore the flag into a thousand pieces. As the boat from the ship approached the shore, the boys went out in their canoe to meet it and led the way back to the landing. Greetings and intro- ductions and scraps of news and anxious inquiries about friends were mingled in a perfect babel of voices. The newcomers were wonderfully surprised at the house and its beautiful surroundings, and at the story of their life on the island for the three years past. Edna prepared a typical dinner of tropical foods, which was highly appreciated, and then they had some music under the torch light, with singing, in which everybody joined. Next morning, the visitors were shown the mu- seum, the animals, the birds, and the flower gardens, and they were simply astonished at what the chil- dren had accomplished. They decided to spend a 211 =) al to Three Young Crusoes E vscapvstipséii nao seiisensnns cima peaiiail Phos nea Fie 80 Last call for dinner on the vacht. Home Again 219 week or more there and find out all they could about the wild life of the island with the aid of such able guides. In the afternoon, all went aboard the yacht, where some civilized clothes were hunted up and a good dinner eaten. Snowball rejoiced in his first pair of trousers, which Edna adapted from an old pair belonging to one of the young assistants. The mon- key imbibed too freely after the company left the table and fell overboard. When he was fished out, he seemed to have some weighty resolution on his mind. The work of packing up, taking specimens of the flowers, making notes, collecting in the forest, and getting the bones out of the cave required consider- able time, but the hours were very happily spent. Finally, all was ready for the homeward voyage. The three children went together to visit their fav- orite spots and bid them farewell; while Snowball and the monkey took a last look at the guava trees and the fishhook cactus. The days flew swiftly by as the yacht sped toward New York, where all the specimens were safely landed and distributed among the various scientific institutions for study. Edna went with her birds to the Zoo and saw them safely housed, while the 214 Three Young Crusoes others watched the unloading and transfer of the animals. When the monkey saw so many of his relatives behind the bars, he turned pale with fright and could not speak for several days. Henry and William sold their gold and went to Fic. 81. Henry and William during their senior year at college. college, where they carried off high honors in science and athletics. The monkey lived with them and was the mascot of the football team, dressed in a Home Again 21 Fic. 82. Edna at her home in Virginia. c Young Crusoes Three 216 flowers. na’s Snowball working Fd 83. Bic; Home Again oi / red coat with high hat and cane. It may be inci- dentally mentioned that, since his experience at the first dinner on the yacht, he had been a perfect mod- el in deportment in spite of frequent tempting offers from the college boys. Snowball went home with Edna to Virginia and helped her work in her flower garden and later be- came her chauffeur. Henry and William and the monkey always came to see them during vacation. When their college courses were finished, Henry became a Curator at the Museum of Natural His- tory in New York and William a Professor of Nat- ural History in one of the Virginia colleges. A few months after his appointment, William married Ed- na and took her to New York to spend the Christ- mas holidays, and Snowball went along to carry their hand baggage. The New York Academy of Sciences was holding its annual banquet, at which reports of scientific work completed during the year were being read. High up among the distinguished guests at the head of the table, with Henry and William and Edna, sat Snowball and the monkey. Finally, the Chair- man rose and said: “Ladies and Gentlemen: 1 wish now to present an important piece of work, the results of which B18 Three Young Crusoes are published in the large volume I hold in my hand. This work would not have been possible but for the untiring industry and keen insight into Nature pos- sessed by the distinguished guests who have hon- ored us with their presence this evening. [/p- plause.| The Academy has voted specially bound and signed copies of this publication, with a hand- some gold medal to those before us who have thus advanced the cause of Science. [Loud applause.| I might also add that a new animal and a new tree have been named for the gentlemen of the party, a beautiful and fragrant new flower for the lady, a rapidly climbing plant for the monkey, and a new cactus for Snowball.” [Loud and prolonged ap- plause, in which the monkey joined with enthusiasm and vigor!] Recent Publications By Witiiam A. Murai, A.M., Pu.D. Assistant Director of the New York Botanical Garden, Editor of Mycologia, and Assist- ant Editor of North American Flora. Billy The Boy Naturalist..................... $1.50 The true story of a naturalist’s boyhood in Virginia just after the civil war. 43 Illustrations. Edible and Poisonous Mushrooms............ $2.00 A large colored chart and a descriptive handbook containing the chief edible and poisonous species in America. American Boletes.. i ee $1.00 Including all the species foun in | temperate andl icepneul North America, both on the mainland and on the islands, south to South America. Nothern Polypores. ey $1.00 Including species found i in 1 ai ade: | the U nited Stat ates 3 south to Virginia and west to the Rockies. Southern Polypores . $1.00 Including species found in 1 the United States from North Caro- lina to Florida and west to Texas. Western-P olpares: 1.0 sss aioe aaa ie $1.00 Including species found in the states on the Pacific coast from California to Alaska. Tropical Polypores. . $1.50 Including species found in "Mexico, Central. America, southern Florida, the West Indies, and other islands between North America and South America. Murrill’s and Saccardo’s Names of Polypores (DOmipAle deren in oe a ene seen setae 35 This also serves as a check list of North American polypores and boletes. The above prices include prepaid postage, even to foreign coun- tries. No reduction is made to anyone, dealers excepted. The author regrets that, owing to the small editions, no copies can be distributed for examination, but a free desk copy will be supplied, if requested, with an order for ten copies of the same book sent to one address. Remit by Postoffice or Express Money Order, or if by Check, please add Exchange. W. A. MURRILL Bronxwood Park NEW YORK CITY 2 ues fae a Seep