THE VEGETABLE KINGDOM. 



407 



furnished with a horizontal micrometric thread, upon the 

 end of the stem of certain plants, just as astronomers do 

 when they place the cross-thread of the telescope athwart a 

 star of which they want to ascertain the movement. The 



189. Gigantic Lycoperdon, or Puff-Ball, Lycoperdon giganlewm (Batsch),of one night's growth. 



From nature. 



Spanish botanist made his observations principally on agaves 

 and bamboos. With the latter the experiments might yield 

 very clear results, as they grow with such rapidity that we 

 sometimes see them attain the height of a three-storied 

 house in a month. 



A bamboo which grew a few }^ears ago in one of the 

 greenhouses of the Jardin des Plantes at Paris lengthened 

 out its stem at the rate of about five inches and four fifths 

 daily, so that it could easily have been seen growing, as its 



