256 



KNOWLEDGE. 



[November 1, 1897. 



Fig. III.— Capsule of tlie Willow- 

 herb, opening. 



One very manifest advantage here is the gradual dis- 

 tribution of the seeds ; the members of each series are 

 discharged at intervals — not simultaneously — whereby more 

 widespread distribution is likely to be attained. When a 

 gardener is sowing small seeds in drills he naturally takes 

 a pinch between his thumb and two first fingers ; straight- 

 ening the thumb and fingers slightly causes them to 

 separate a little at their tips, so that the seeds fall with 

 sufficient slowness for his purpose. The opening of the 

 seed-vessel of Kpilohium takes place after the same 

 fashion ; its slender valves, slowly curling outwards, act in a 

 manner precisely analogous to the gardener's thumb and 

 fingers and regulate the sowing of the willow-herb. It is 

 conceivable that the same end might have been more 



simply attained by the 

 valves falling apart, and by 

 the seeds retaining their con- 

 nection with the placenta 

 until their arillodes were per- 

 fected. But the seeds in each 

 row are so close, and the four 

 parallel rows themselves are 

 so close, that the hairs on 

 none of the seeds would have 

 had sufficient room to ex- 

 pand, either in a horizontal 

 orinavertical direction. Now 

 the peculiar manner in which 

 this fruit opens not only in- 

 sures the retention of the 

 seeds for a sufficient length 

 of time after the opening of the capsule to admit of the 

 proper drying of the hairs, but also secures additional space 

 both horizontally and vertically. Not only are the four 

 rows separated, but the individual seeds in each row are 

 placed at a greater distance from each other, whereby a 

 free circulation of air between them becomes possible. 



The long slender valves are highly hygroscopic, and as 

 they dry become more and more curved, so much so that 

 a plant of EpHohium after its seeds are shed presents 

 quite a tangle of curled fibres, especially if the atmosphere 

 be dry. So marked is the hygroscopic property of these 

 segments of the fruit that even after they have bent 

 almost into a circle, if we moisten them they again 

 become perfectly straight. This property is doubtless of 

 use, since to some extent it enables a capsule which has 

 begun to open to close up again should the weather 

 become unfavourable, bo that the seeds are protected from 

 rain, which would greatly interfere with the development 

 of their arillodes. 



Possibly the special provisions for dispersion in the fruit 

 of the willow-herb may have been rendered necessary on 

 account of the shape of the capsule being ill adapted 

 otherwise to promote dispersion. Be this as it may, we 

 have in the willow-herb a capsular fruit which has become 

 modified in a singularly striking manner to assist in the 

 dispersion of arillate seeds. Ejiilohiuni literally hangs out 

 its seeds to dry. There are other cases in which some- 

 thing of the same kind occurs. When the capsule of 

 MdiinoUd opens, its seed is thrown out, but remains 

 attached by its long slender funiculus. The seed of the 

 magnolia is succulent and coloured ; the object of hanging 

 it out in this fashion is evidently to attract the notice of 

 birds, through whose agency such seeds are disseminated. 

 lioxhimjia presents a closer analogy to Epilohium .• its 

 tufted seed is hung out until torn off by the wind. But 

 neither of these examples shows the elaborate combination 

 of correlated adaptations co-operating to one end which we 

 have been endeavouring to describe. 



ISvttisl) CDvmt1)oIogtcat Jilotcs. 



Conducted bij Harry F. Witherby, f.z.s., m.b.o.u. 



Cuckoo anp Hedge Sparrow. — Cuckoo's egg found in 

 hedge sparrow's nest. May 27th, 1807. May Blst, young 

 cuckoo and three young hedge sparrows in nest, the latter 

 much larger than their foster-brother, suggesting that the 

 cuckoo had been hatched later. Unfortunately, for fear of 

 disturbing the foster-mother on the nest, I had not been 

 there between the 27th and the Slst. On June 3rd the 

 cuckoo was still blind ; the young hedge sparrows had their 

 eyes open. June 5th, only the young cuckoo in the nest ; 

 one dead hedge sparrow found among the nettles and 

 tangled brambles close by. I could not search thoroughly 

 for the other two without disturbing the nest. The length 

 of the cuckoo from beak to tail was now two and three- 

 quarter inches ; the hedge sparrow measured nearly the 

 same, but its bulk was decidedly greater. The cuckoo was 

 still blind. June 0th, when I put him in the palm of my 

 hand, he was unable to straighten his legs. His back was 

 only three-quarters of an inch above my hand. The nest 

 was one and a-half inches deep ; the thickness of the walls, 

 which were nearly flat at the top, was one and three-eighths 

 of an inch. How had the young hedge sparrows been 

 ejected '? It is not possible that the young cuckoo had 

 achieved this. It is possible that some human hand may 

 have flung them out, but this seems unlikely. Had the 

 mother cuckoo visited her offspring and done for him what 

 he was unable to do ? In colour he was, at first, a bright 

 pink ; of down there was not a sign on his body. But 

 gradually his skin became almost black. The hollow in 

 his back, just anterior to the pelvis, was very marked from 

 the first. On June 8th it had filled up to a great extent. 

 On June 10th the cuckoo had been taken from the nest. — 

 F. W. Headley, Haileybury College. 



Kites in Wales.— I have paid two short visits this 

 summer to the remote district in South Wales where I 

 have known kites to exist for the last thirty years. I am 

 glad to say they are still there, though on each occasion 

 they only appeared once. The first time, early in July, I 

 unluckily missed them myself ; but my companion, who 

 was fishing separately, had a very fine view of a pair, and 

 watched them in their spiral ascent to an almost incredible 

 height, as I have described them doing in the second 

 chapter of " Summer Studies of Birds and Books." On 

 the second visit I saw one only, which crossed a broad 

 valley apparently without a single motion of the wings. 

 Whether their eggs have been taken this year I cannot be 

 sure, but I have some reason to believe so. In order to 

 protect these grand birds efficiently, it is necessary that 

 three counties should combine, viz., Carmarthenshire, 

 Cardiganshire, and Breconshire. The gain would be 

 immense, for buzzards and ravens are still fairly common 

 in the district, and little harm is done by any of them, 

 unless it be to some extent by ravens in the lambing 

 season. — W. Warde Fowler, Chipping Norton. 



[The eggs of the kite are protected by law in Breconshire, 

 but the Comity Councils of Carmarthenshire and Cardigan- 

 shire have done nothing to protect either the eggs or the 

 birds.— H.F.W.] 



ISABELLINE VARIETY OF THE MeADOW PiPIT IN HEREFORD- 

 SHIRE. — My brother-in-law, Capt. J. C. Tyrwhitt-Drake, of 

 Dulas Court, Pontrilas, Herefordshire, sent me a buflf- 

 coloured meadow pipit, which he shot on his land on the 

 2nd September last. I have met with isabelline varieties 

 of the skylark, corn bunting, house sparrow, and other 

 birds, but this is the first pipit I have seen thus coloured.— 

 W. S. M. D'Urban, Newport House, near Exeter, 



