ANIMAL CANNONEERS AND SHARP-SHOOTERS. 255 



to fix the starch in its cells by any gum or cement, before or after 

 cutting the sections, proved with me entirely futile. 



EXPLANATION OF PLATE XIV. 



Transverse Section of Grain of Wheat. 

 1. — Fruit coats : epidermis, mesocarp, and endocarp. 

 2. — Seed coats. 



3. — Gluten cells, or perisperm. 

 4. — Starch cells, or endosperm. 



animal Cannoneere an& Sbarp^Sbootcra.'' 



By James Weir, Junr. 



ALTHOUGH the animals concerning which I wish to write 

 in this paper do not use powder and ball in charging their 

 weapons, they do use materials which, if not so deadly, 

 are yet very efficient missiles. I am inclined to believe that the 

 Chinese borrowed one of their defensive as well as offensive 

 weapons, the stink-pot, from one of the lower animals, — namely, 

 the bombardier beetle. 



I well remember that, when a lad, I once experienced the 

 overpowering effects of a Chinese stink-pot which had been 

 brought from China by a missionary. This gentleman, who was 

 a practical joker, ignited this instrument of barbaric warfare and 

 placed it on a table in the hall of the house where I happened 

 to be visiting. In a very few moments the house was emptied 

 of all its inhabitants, who fled, coughing and strangling out into 

 the open air. 



I remember distinctly that I likened the effluvia that escaped 

 from this horrible weapon to the odour of the " stink-bug," an 

 insect belonging to a family {Fenfatomidce)^ genera of which exist 

 throughout the entire world. 



Professor Comstock pleasantly calls attention to this family of 

 animal bombardiers in the following words : " To those who live 



* From Lippincotf s Magazine. 



