Settling himself in front of the singer, he would listen with bated breath and eyes widely dilated. Never would he move a muscle, unless after a prolonged interval in the music, when he would softly approach the vocalist to caress her face and neck with his paw or to smooth her cheek with his own. His coaxings always had the sought for effect, when he would once more seat himself with becoming decorum to imbibe the harmony which seemed to ravish his being. This is by no means an isolated instance of fondness for musical discourse on the part of cats, though this particular case affords an extravagant illustration of that æsthetic sensitiveness which characterizes probably the whole feline tribe. S. Virginia Levis. FIRE-FLIES. The Day, disrobing for her rest, Delayed to lift the twilight bars; And o’er them, from the golden West, Wandered this troop of truant stars. —Cora A. Matson Dolson, in Lippincott’s Magazine. [Illustration: SUGAR CANE. (Saccharum officinarum.) FROM KŒHLER’S MEDICINAL-PFLANZEN.] Description of plate: A, plant much reduced; B, stem portion with leaf; C, inflorescence; 1-6, parts of flower. SUGAR-CANE. (_Saccharum officinarum_ Lin.) Has God then given its sweetness to the cane, Unless His laws be trampled on—in vain? —Cowper: Charity, 190. This highly important plant belongs to the grass family. It is perennial, with thick, succulent, jointed rhizomes, having root tufts at the joints. The stems are numerous, erect, cylindrical, growing to a height of six to twelve feet. Like the rhizome, the stem is jointed, the internodes being, however, much shorter toward the base. The leaves are numerous toward the apex, being deciduous toward the base. The apical tuftlike inflorescence is quite characteristic. The individual flowers are small and unattractive in appearance. One of the remarkable things about the plant is that the fruit never matures. It must be remembered that the plant referred to is entirely distinct from the so-called sugar-cane of the Central States from which sorghum molasses is made.