The scarlet painted cup of our illustration (_Castilleja coccinea, L._) is a native of the eastern half of the United States and the southern portion of Canada. It prefers the soil of meadows and moist woods and has been found growing abundantly at an elevation of from three to four thousand feet. The generic name was given this plant by Linnæus in honor of a Spanish botanist. The specific name is from the Latin, meaning scarlet. Nearly all of the forty species are natives of North and South America. The flowers are dull yellow in color and are obscured by the rather large floral leaves or bracts, which are bright scarlet--rarely bright yellow--in color. These conspicuous leaves are broader toward the apex and usually about three-cleft. By the novice they are usually mistaken for the flower, which is hardly noticeable. The stem seldom exceeds a foot in height and bears a number of leaves that are deeply cut in narrow segments. The bright color of this plant has given it many local common names more or less descriptive. Prominent among these is the Indian paint brush. A pretty myth tells us that the painted cup was originally yellow, but that Venus, when lamenting the death of Apollo, pressed a cluster of the blossoms to her parched lips and drank the dew from the flowers, the outer leaves of which have ever since retained the color of her lips. [Illustration: YELLOW LADY'S SLIPPER AND PAINTED CUP. BY PER HARRIET E. HIGLEY. A. W. MUMFORD, PUBLISHER, CHICAGO. COPYRIGHT 1900, BY NATURE STUDY PUB. CO., CHICAGO.] THE YOUNG NATURALIST. SAHARA SEA.--Much of the great desert of Sahara is below the level of the Atlantic. It is proposed that the water be let in. The space covered would be big enough to warrant us in speaking of it as an ocean. There would be islands in it, as there are places that are of considerable elevation. So much water would make a difference in climate in all directions from the present desert. It is thought the vineyards of southern Europe would be injured, as they are dependent on the dry winds that come across the Mediterranean from the great desert. The rainfall in at least one-third of the inhabited parts of the globe would be affected by this great change in the amount of water on the surface. Ships would be able to sail to ports at the south of Morocco and Algiers where now are shifting sands and few people, and new cities would spring into being far to the south where the new coast line would be formed.