to gather and bring home a 

 pocketful of these various 

 cones with a view to witness- 

 ing their curious antics in-doors. There 

 ^"" is no telling just what any particular 



cone will do when once placed upon your par- 

 lor mantel. They are full of individual whims, 

 and occasionally show an exhibition very much 

 like hocus-pocus. Here is one, for instance, from the 

 pitch-pine. Yesterday, when gathered, it was trim and 

 compact, without a crack upon its surface ; and now, as 

 though bewitched in the night, it has blossomed out 

 into a rose-like form with open flaring scales, occupying 

 three times its former space, and is quietly resting in a 

 bed of a hundred buff-colored filmy seeds. And there 

 is another that has rolled half-way across the shelf, and 

 every few moments takes a new turn in a most restless 

 fashion. Yonder by the vase we see two of them quietly 

 rolling over as though seeking a more comfortable posi- 

 tion, while an impetuous specimen in their midst is 

 evidently determined to be rid of its restless associates, 

 for with a sharp click it clears the group at a jump and 



