THE FUN OF SEEING THINGS 



307 



near the rim of the volcanos in South 

 America, and is known by several 

 names ; sometimes they are called 

 "roses" and again "Rosas de Inherno" 

 the Spanish for "Roses of Hell," and 

 I am told that the Indian name is "Co- 

 chij Riche." In general the wood of 

 the host is of a light tint, slightly red- 

 dish externally and yellow cored. The 

 inside of the "rose" is invariably dark- 

 er than the host branch. 



I obtained the following front a Lat- 

 in-American magazine, which is pub- 

 lished in this city, and which I believe 

 will give you about as much informa- 

 tion as I can obtain at this time, al- 

 though possibly the American Museum 

 of Natural History might be able to 

 give you further information : 



"The wooden flower consists of an 

 excrescence found on the branch of 

 an}' tree by the invasion of a certain 

 parasite, which forces itself into them, 

 working actively on their organism. 

 This parasite is generated by seeds 

 conveyed by birds, which seeds contain 

 a viscid matter which allows their 

 holding wherever are dropped. 



The substance as well as the plant 

 which produces it is called liga (gt 

 a sticky substance used for catching 

 birds. The plant belongs to the Loran- 

 thus or Struthantus family, and is in- 

 dige to the Yolcan de Fuego, 



where alone its results, the wooden 

 flower, are known. So true is this that 

 the distinguished French naturalist 

 Morelot, believed that these flowers 

 were produced by emanations from the 

 volcano. The parasite, it is further 

 said, has no roots; the seed fixes itself 

 to the tree, and a tumor-like swelling 

 is formed which assumes a spherical 

 shape; sometimes several ; be 



seen on one branch. Parasite and host 

 are so closely united that a transverse 

 section hardly shows any division of 

 the fibers. The invader is short-lived 

 — three or four years at the most — the 

 wooden flower's dead image on the tree 

 indicating its place of refuge. The 

 size varies from two centimeters to 

 sixty centimeters. The wooden flower 

 must be regarded as an extension of 

 the woody fibers of the host tree, not 

 the parasite ; 'the injury has not yet 

 been studied, but there must be injury 

 or the phenomenon is not explicable.' 

 This strange and beautiful result is, 



then, classed with the gall-nut found 

 on oak-trees, or the red silky excres- 

 cence seen on rose-bushes ; in all cases 

 an envelopment of the foreign body by 

 the fibers of the host occurs, in much the 

 same circumstances as are responsible 

 for the formation of the pearl in the 

 oyster-shell." 



I hope that you will find the above 

 information of interest, and that the 

 "rose" will give pleasure to you and 

 those who may frequent ArcAdiA. 

 Very truly yours, 



Arthur S. Baiz. 



Starlings in New Hampshire. 



Nashua, N. H. 

 To the Editor : 



Just at sunset the other day Avhile 

 down town on our main street, I notic- 

 ed a flock of about a dozen starlings 

 fly to the steeple of an old abandoi 

 church and disappear within. An- 

 other flock followed, and then another. 

 I stood and watched for about three- 

 quarters of an hour while the starlings 

 continued to arrive, and counted dur- 

 ing this ti o hundred and nin 

 seven birds. I do not know how many 

 arrived before I noticed them. These 

 birds evidently roost in the old be 

 I have observed starlings he 

 but had no idea there were so n 

 of them. 



These birds are not here in the day- 

 time, for I have repeatedly looked for 

 them during the past two weeks. They 

 evidently breed somewhere in this gen- 

 eral locality, but where, I do not know. 

 Their present feeding ground is also 

 a mystery. This is the third year of 

 the starling in Nashua. 



M. B. Towxsi-xd. 



The Egoistical View of Nature. 



A little while ago, at Buffalo, 1 was 

 the guest of a lady who, a fortnight be- 

 fore, had taken her seven-} ear-old boy 

 for the first time to Niagara Falls. The 

 child silently glared at the phenomenon 

 until his mother, supposing him struck 

 speechless by its sublimity, said, "Well, 

 my boy, what do you think of it?" to 

 which, "Is that the kind of spray I 

 spray my nose with ?" w r as the boy's 

 only reply. That was his mode of ap- 

 preciating the snectacle. — William 

 James in "Talks to Teachers." 



