226 



THE NATURE BOOK 



ducing clusters are readily distinguished 

 by their numerous purple-tipped spines, 

 to which the wind carries the needed 

 pollen. 



The fruits grow into hard, roughened 

 balls, composed of a multitude of wedge- 

 shaped httle nuts. From the thick 

 rounded head of each Httle nut projects 

 a short, stiff spine, curved at the point. 

 From one to four of these balls, or 

 " buttons," as Americans name them, 

 grow attached to a single, long, flexible 

 stalk. As already stated, these remain 

 on the tree till sjiring is well advanced. 

 Then the small nuts begin to separate. 

 Each, as it emerges from the cluster, dis- 

 plays a circle of golden hairs arranged 

 and expanded parachute-wise on the 

 inner tip of the wedge-shaped nut. The 

 expansion of these hairs thrusts the nut 

 out from the cluster, and the parachute 

 arrangement sends them sailing dowoi the 

 wind and ensures a wider scattering. 

 The stalks, too, that sustain these 

 fruiting balls from autumn to spring, 

 gradually disintegrate, weather-worn, 

 and become merely ragged fibres that 

 barely support the weight of the ripened 

 nut clusters ; so that where these have 

 not already been separately dispersed, 

 they fall in mass about the time that 



the leaves and flowers have reached 

 maturity. 



Two main varieties of Planes are dis- 

 tinguished — the Eastern and the Western. 

 The Western Plane is the "Button- 

 wood " tree of the Americans. The differ- 

 ences between these varieties are but 

 slight. Most of our Planes are of the 

 Eastern variety ; the Western is seldom 

 met with in Britain. Perhaps the com- 

 monest of all with us is that specified 

 as " maple-leaved," and very generally 

 as " the London Plane." It approxim- 

 ates to the Western type, though it is 

 usually regarded as a hybrid between 

 the Eastern and the Western. Its chief 

 tendency is to have fewer and less decided 

 leaf divisions than the Eastern Plane, 

 and one, or at the most two, spherical 

 fruit clusters attached to a single stalk. 



In distinguishing the Planes from the 

 Sycamore and other Maples, it is enough 

 to note the speckled bark and the alternate 

 bud (and consequently leaf) arrangement 

 of the Plane ; also, particularly, the hiding 

 of the bud in the base of the leaf-stalk, 

 or, when the leaf has fallen and the bud 

 is exposed to view, the circular leaf-scar 

 that surrounds it. The Plane's globular 

 clusters of flowers and fruits on hanging 

 stalks also are conclusive as to its identity. 

 Henry Irving. 



HOW TO KNOW THE WILD ANIMALS 



By DOUGLAS ENGLISH, B.A., F.R.P.S. 

 Author of "Wee Tim'rous Beasties," etc. 



THE HEDGEHOG 



"With Photographs by the Author 



IN the three following articles I propose 

 to deal with our five insectivorous 

 animals — the Hedgehog, the Mole, 

 and the three species of Shrew Mice. 



The order to which these animals belong 

 is an extremely interesting one, not only 

 on account of its antiquity (something 

 very like our Hedgehog has been in 

 continuous existence since the Pleistocene 

 period), but also on account of some 



peculiarities of stnicture, habit, and 

 character, which are excellently displayed 

 by its British representatives. 



However correct the attribute " insec- 

 tivorous " may have been in Pleistocene 

 times (and it seems not unlikely that the 

 first small animals on our planet perforce 

 were insectarians), it is characteristic 

 of the modern representatives of the order, 

 found in this country, that their taste in 



