440 THE UNIVERSE. 



Many plants perform instinctively almost incredible ac- 

 tions in seeking for the necessaries of their existence. M. 

 Grimard, in his charming work on botany, written with re- 

 markable independence of thought, quotes the history of a 

 Scaly LathraBa (Lathrcea squamaria, Linn.), which, having 

 germinated at the bottom of a mine, raised itself to the 

 prodigious height of 120 feet, in order to reach the light, 

 although it ordinarily attains a length of only five or six 

 inches. 



intensity of the light is diminished. The rhythmical tremors observed by M. 

 Lecoq in the leaves of Colocasia esculenta are so violent that on one occasion the 

 pot in which the plant was growing was so shaken that it could with difficulty 

 be steadied. The Oxalis sensitiva, probably in its own country the most sensitive 

 of plants, is in this country (England) nearly or quite destitute of such a power. 

 One of the most extraordinary of these plants is the Desmodiitm gyrans, or tele- 

 graph plant, possibly the same plant described by M. Pouchet as D. oscillans^ a 

 native of India. The leaves consist of two small lateral leaflets and a terminal 

 one. The latter works up and down according to the intensity of the light, while 

 the side leaflets work day and night, like the old semaphore signals. Dr. Masters 

 confirms the statement of Desfontaines as to the effect of travelling on the Mi- 

 mosa, having noticed it while conveying a specimen by railway. When the ether 

 spray is directed with some force upon the leaves of the Mimosa pudica they close 

 up, but if the spray be so directed that it only touches the leaves very gently they 

 seem paralyzed. Analogous facts are constantly seen in disease. M. Blondeau 

 says that when a direct current from a galvanic battery is passed through the 

 plant it is not affected, but if an indirect current from a small Ruhmkorff coil be 

 substituted the leaflets roll up immediately. Popular Science Review, vol. vii., 

 p. 22. TR. 



