FUNCTION IN PLANT LIFE 33 



When that happens and the acorn is cut in halves longi- 

 tudinally it presents the following appearance : 



Fig. 31. DOUBLE ACORN IN SECTION. 



The sides and lower surfaces of 1, 2, 3, 4 the cut 

 surfaces only being exposed are sheathed in insulating 

 membranes, which extend to and cover them from the inner 

 part of the contact a after the acorn has ripened. 



COB-NUTS. 



After discovering that Nature had, for a reason not 

 yet understood, joined up acorns in series, one remembered 

 that other things with which we are familiar are connected 

 either in multiple arc or clusters in series. The cherry, 

 with three or more stalks tapped off a main contact, is an 

 excellent example of this, and I wish I had sketched or 

 photographed a group of them when they were in season. 

 Fortunately, however, we had not to look far for other 

 specimens of the Great Electrician's craft. It was the 

 time of year for cob-nuts, and the cluster shown in Fig. 32 

 served to illustrate one method of connecting which appears 

 to be in the above category. The main lead, the stalk, 

 it will be noticed, is unusually thick. It carries current to 

 supply four nuts, and if we imagine them to be incandescent 

 lamps instead of nuts we know we should have to make 

 similar arrangements for their supply. 



Where it joins the base of the cluster, as photographed, 

 the stalk splits into four branch leads, each of which 

 connects with a cup not unlike that of the acorn, but out- 

 wardly continuous with the foliage, into which the nut fits 



D 



