September 1, 1888.] 



KNOAATLEDGE ♦ 



247 



yet done it " — except himself. Now that he has done this 

 thing, we may safely infer that the odds are about a 

 thousand millions (the number of the adult population of 

 the world) to one against its being ever attempted again. 

 Let us, at least, devoutly hope so. 



A BOTANICAL ATROCITY. 



By Miller Christy. 



i':^I< >XG all the many ingenious contrivances 

 for effecting her various ends which Nature 

 makes use of, none are of a more fascinating 

 interest to the student than those by means 

 of which the flowers of plants are fertilised 

 and their seeds distributed over the ground 

 to spots where they may hope to obtain a 

 foot-hold— or, to speak more correctly, a root-hold. 



We are all of us accustomed to speak glibly of the 

 "struggle for existence," and we are apt to think that 

 nowhere throughout the whole wide range of nature is this 

 struggle more severe than in the case of our own exalted 

 species, in these days of excessive " competition " and "' over- 

 population." But a little reflection may well lead us to 

 doubt whether this is really so, and even to perceive that 

 the struggle is much keener with many other species than 

 with our own. How many, for instance, of the nine 

 millions of ova found in the roe of a single codfish ever 

 produce a mature fish ] How many, again, of the tiny 

 wriggling tadpoles that blacken the margins of our country 

 ponds in spring ever attain maturity as full-grown frogs 1 

 And what proportion of the seeds produced by any one 

 plant or tree ever finds itself so fortunate as to be able to 

 take root and grow, unsmothered by the surrounding vegeta- 

 tion ? Probably, in all these cases, not the one-hundredth 

 part survives to reach maturity. Were it otherwi.<!e, indeed, 

 the ocean would quickly become packed solid with codfish, 

 the land overrun with frogs more numerous than at the 

 time of the second Egyptian plague, and the surface of the 

 soil entirely concealed by a dense mass of impenetnxble and 

 tangled vegetation. An " infant mortality " so prodigious, 

 in our own species, would certainly appal even the soulless 

 official mind of a Registrar-General. 



If, then, the struggle for existence is so severe in Nature, 

 it can hardly be wondered at that many exceedingly inge- 

 nious contrivances have been, in the course of time, devised 

 by plants in order to ensure the wide dispersal of their 

 seeds, so that each may enjoy as good a chance as possible 

 of alighting upon some spot where there is sufficient room 

 for it to germinate into a healthy plant. It may be truly 

 said that, as a general rule, with all living things the chief 

 aim and object of their lives is the perpetuation of their 

 species by means of offspring. With plants this is well 

 shown by the extreme ingenuity of many of the contriv- 

 ances for ensuring proper fertilisation, and the consequent 

 production of good seed. And it may, I think, be said, 

 with equal truth, that second only in importance to this 

 great function, the production of seeds, comes the proper dis- 

 persal of those seeds, to which end many almost equally 

 ingenious devices have been adopted. Very many seeds 

 are furnished with minute hooks which fasten themselves 

 on to the wool of passing animals, and thus accomplish 

 the great end in view ; others are peculiarly adapted for 

 disper-sion by means either of wind or water ; others are 

 scattered broadcast after passing through the intestines of 

 birds ; while many plants have actually developed means 

 for throwing their seeds to a greater or less distance. There 

 are even some seeds which, in thus effecting their own ends, 



do so at the expense of living animals ; but no known seeds, 

 probably, employ means more atrociously and barbarously 

 cruel than those emploj'ed by the seed of a species of grass, 

 known as Stipa spartea, which is excessively common over 

 a large extent of the North- American prairies. Briefly 

 described, this villainous instrument is nothing more or 

 less than an automatic vegetable corkscrew, with an exceed- 

 ingly sharp point, and capable, by its own action, of boring 

 itself into the bodies of living sheep and other animals, and 

 of finally killing them by so doing. 



The plant pi-oducing this " instrument of torture " has a 

 very wide range of distribution in Americi. It inhabits the 

 drier portions of the plains and prairies of the west, almost, 

 if not quite, from the Mississippi River on the east to the 

 Rocky Mountains on the west, and from Texas and Mexico 

 on the south to the lonely Peace and Saskatchewan Rivers 

 on the north. The great and only redeeming feature in its 

 character is that, for purposes of pasturage, its leaves are 

 more succulent and valuable than those of any other of the 

 prairie grasses, and that, although too short and tussocky 

 to be made into hay, they formerly provided the buffaloes 

 with their chief winter forage, and now perform the same 

 office for the tame cattle on many a western ranche. Ou 

 this account it has received, among other popular names, 

 that of " buffalo grass " — indeed, its range in the west of 

 America is pretty nearly co-extensive with the ancient range 

 of the buffalo. 



During autumn, winter, and spring, the buflalo-gi-ass is in 

 all respects a most moral and respectable plant ; but, early 

 in the summer, it begins to plan evil ways. First of all it 

 throws up three or four tall flower stalks, each about a 

 couple of feet in height, and bearing six or seven of the 

 horrible instruments of toi-ture already mentioned. These 

 ripen about the middle of July, and for the nest two or 

 three weeks make themselves troublesome, not only to the 

 lower animals, but also to man, in districts where the plant 

 grows abundantly. It now is fully launched upon its evil 

 ways, and begins to deserve its other popular names, as 

 " .spear-grass," " oat-grass," " go-devil-oat," '■ wild-oat," 

 •' needle-grass," &a. As one walks over the prairie at this 

 time of the year, suddenly there comes a sharp prick, as of 

 a pin, on the leg, just above the ankle. Stop one must, to 

 investigate the cause, or the pricking will become more 

 severe, and then the traveller finds that one of these seeds, 

 and very often sever.al, has bored its way clear through 

 one's trousers and sock till it has reached the flesh. With 

 man it is an easy matter to prevent the mischief going any 

 further, but the case is very different with sheep, woolly- 

 haired dogs, and other animals. These cannot rid them- 

 selves of the " spears " the moment they begin to prick, and 

 in time the consequences begin to be serious. There is no 

 question that the seeds are able to penetrate the skins, and 

 bury themselves deeply in the flesh of these animals. AVhen 

 this is done, death sometimes supervenes, though oftener as 

 a result of the extensive ulceration thus set up, than as a 

 result of the direct action of ihe seeds. 



Next, a word as to the structure of these unpleasant 

 natural tormentors. In general appearance a complete 

 seed — or, to speak with greater botanical precision, a 

 complete " fruit " — a good deal resembles a twisted piece 

 of wire, having several slight bends in it, and being rather 

 thicker in some places than in others. The seed proper is 

 elongated, brown in colour, somewhat less than an inch in 

 length, and generally not very unlike a harmless oat in 

 its appearance. At one end, however, it is provided with 

 an excessively fine sharp point, surrounded with many 

 delicate barblike hairs, pointing backwards; while at the 

 other end it is produced into a stiff, slender awn, or shaft, 

 rather less than two inches in length. This portion is 



