n6 HOUSE, GARDEN, AND FIELD 



than a house-fly. It was not long before the fertile 

 females were seen exploring the surface of the cheese for 

 crevices in which to lay their eggs, and a new generation 

 of the cheese-hoppers will soon appear. 



Here is an excellent subject for home-study. The 

 cheese-hopper is an animal of complex structure and 

 singular mode of life, which can be obtained with very 

 little trouble and in large quantities ; I hope that some 

 of my readers may think of investigating it for themselves. 

 A convenient receptacle is a box a foot deep, in which a 

 bowl can be set to hold the cheese. The bowl should be 

 covered with a glass plate, and the cheese must not be 

 allowed to get dry ; it has little tendency to dry up if 

 the larvae are numerous. A larder, where the smell of 

 cheese will give no offence, will do to hold the box. I 

 kept mine in a private laboratory, and suffered no 

 annoyance. 



XXIII. BANANAS. 



Look at a banana, and see what you can make out by 

 your own observation. I think you ought to discover 

 that it is a fruit, that it is a fruit of that particular kind 

 which we call a berry, and that it proceeds from a flower 

 with an inferior ovary. 



It is certainly a fruit. You have seen the great green 

 spikes hanging in the fruiterers' shops, and bearing hun- 

 dreds of unripe bananas apiece. Soft, pulpy objects 

 arranged on a stem in that candelabrum-fashion cannot 

 be supposed to be leaves, nor branches, nor anything but 

 fruits. If the banana is a fruit, where are the seeds ? 

 You may eat the fruit, or slice it, or examine it in any 

 other way that you can think of, but you will discover 

 no seeds at all. The banana must be one of those plants 

 whose fruits are devoid of seeds. Have you ever eaten 

 an orange which had no pips ? Seedless pears, grapes, 

 figs, pine-apples, dates, and pomegranates are well known. 



