TRANSACTIONS OF SECTION D. — DEPT. ZOOLOGY AND BOTANY. 371 



shell, remain undigested. Such fruits are generally brightly coloured, such as 

 the strawberry, peach, apple, currant, &c; the colours, like those of flowers, 

 serving to attract animals. In other cases the action of animals is involuntary. 

 These may be divided into two classes, those in which the seeds adhere to animals 

 by hooks, and those in which this is effected by sticky glands. Various cases of 

 both were cited, and specimens shown, especially the South African Harpagophyton, 

 a plant whose seeds are provided with terrible hooks, more than an inch long. 

 These seeds are said sometimes even to destroy lions ; they roll about over the 

 sandy plain, and if one attaches itself to the skin the wretched animal tries to tear 

 it off, and getting it into its mouth, perishes miserably. Sticky seeds - are also thus 

 transported. 



The next point is that seeds'should find themselves in a spot suitable for growth. 

 Most seeds, we know, germinate on the ground : the mistletoe, however, is parasitic 

 on trees, and its seeds are imbedded in a viscid substance, so that if dropped by a 

 bird on a bough it adheres to it, and is in no danger of being blown or washed off. 

 An allied species described by Sir J. Hooker, which lives on the beeches of Tierra 

 del Fuego, has four long feathery, flexible appendages. By means of them it is 

 blown from tree to tree, and as soon as the seed touches a twig the appendages 

 twine round it and thus anchor the seed. 



In some case3 plants bury their own seed. This, for instance, is the case with 

 our subterranean clover, and the ground-nut of the West Indies. In both cases the 

 seed-stalk elongates, curves downwards, and forces the seed into the ground. In 

 other instances the seed buries itself, as in some grasses and the Crane's Bills {Ero- 

 dium). The seed of Stipa, for instance, is pointed, and clothed with short, re- 

 versed hairs. It terminates in a spiral appendage, covered with similar hairs. Now, 

 if one of these seeds is laid on the ground, it remains quiet as long as it is dry, but 

 as soon as it is damp the hairs on the seed commence to move outwards, g-radually 

 raising the seed into an upright position, with its point downwards. The spiral 

 appendage then begins to unwind, and if its hairs come in contact with any ob- 

 stacle, such as a leaf, twig, &c, as is most probable, the seed is then forced into 

 the ground. Sir John, in conclusion, called attention to mimicking seeds. The 

 pods of Scorpiurus, for instance, a plant allied to the vetch, do not open, but they 

 look so exactly like worms that birds are probably induced to peck at them and 

 thus free the seeds. 



2. On the Insects tvhich Injure Boohs. By Professor Westwood, M.A. 



Referring to an address delivered by Dr. Hagen, of Harvard College, Mass., 

 U.S., on July 2, 1870, before the American Library Association on the same sub- 

 ject, Professor Westwood passed in review the life-history of the different species 

 of insects which have been found to destroy books and printed papers, several of 

 which were not noticed by Dr. Hagen in his address. 



The caterpillars of the moth Aglossa pinguinalis, and also of a species of 

 Depressaria, often injure books by spinning their webs between the volumes, 

 gnawing small portions of the paper with which to form their cocoons. A small 

 mite {Cheyletus eniditus) is also found occasionally in books kept in damp situa- 

 tions, where it gnaws the paper. 



A very minute beetle (Sypothenemus eruditus, Westw.) forms its tinv burrows 

 within the binding of books, of which a small portion, with specimens of the 

 beetles, was exhibited. 



The small silvery insect (Lepisma saccharina) found in closets and cupboards 

 where provisions are kept, also feeds on paper, of which a curious example was 

 exhibited in a framed and glazed print, of which the plain portion was eaten, 

 whilst the parts covered by the printing-ink were untouched. The Professor had 

 been assured that the same fact had been observed in India, where some of the 

 Government records had been injured in the same manner. This habit of the 

 Lepismse had not been previously recorded. 



The white ants (Termitidce) are a constant source of annoyance in hot and 



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