NATURE LEAVES 



the fertile flowers are small and upon the roots hid- 

 den beneath the surface. What purpose the showy 

 infertile flowers serve in the economy of the plant 

 I am unable to say. 



In the Southern States the plough sometimes 

 turns out of the soil a curious vegetable product 

 called "Tuckahoe," or "Indian loaf," that suggests 

 a counterfeit of some sort. It is a brown roundish 

 mass, the size of a cocoanut or larger, whitish within, 

 with a characteristic odor, and it is said to be use- 

 ful and nutritious in diseases of the bowels. It is 

 thought that the Indians used it as a kind of bread. 

 Its origin is shrouded in mystery. What it springs 

 from, what conditions favor its growth, are all un- 

 known. It is not a fungus, like the truffle, nor a 

 normal vegetable product. It has no cellular struc- 

 ture, as has the potato, for instance, and it contains 

 no starch, but is composed mainly of pectin, which 

 for the most part makes up the jellies of fruit. It is 

 probably the result of degeneration in the roots of 

 some plant. 



Among animals shams and imitations are not 

 uncommon. The marsh wren, for instance, often 

 builds several sham, or cock, nests in the reeds sur- 

 rounding the real nest. These nests seem like the 

 mere bubbling over or surplusage of the breeding- 

 instinct in the male. Many birds, especially ground- 

 builders, feign lameness or paralj^sis to draw atten- 

 tion to themselves and lure the intruder away from 



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