SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



155 



notice, a few of which I should like to indicate : 

 Dactylis glomerata (Cock's-foot grass) seems to be 

 very regular in appearing, notwithstanding the 

 varied conditions of climate during the extensive 

 period noted, having eleven out of twelve dates in 

 the month of May. The male plants of Mcrcurialis 

 perennis (dog's mercury) in my observation have 

 always been first, but this season the rule was 

 reversed, as the female flowered as early as 

 Christmas last year. Corylus avellana and C. sativa 

 (the hazels) have only a variation of about a month. 

 Poa annua has all its records in the first month of 

 the year, but in this case the record is very meagre. 

 Tussilago far/am (coltsfoot), the four following, and 

 numerous others, have a variation of only two 



months, and seem very constant in all weathers. 

 Luzula campcstris and L. vcmalis (wood-rush) seem 

 to agree as to their several dates. Pctasites vulgaris 

 (butter-bur) bears the same date for three years in 

 succession. Oxalis acetosclla (wood-sorrel) has all 

 its entries in April, two being on the same day, 

 while Plantago lanceolata (narrow-leaved plantain) 

 has the same record in four different years. 

 Anthriscus sylvcstris (beaked parsley) shows a varia- 

 tion of several months. Lathrcea squamaria (tooth- 

 wort) has all seven entries in April ; this is a rare 

 plant which I have been led to believe is only to be 

 found in this one place in Essex. The above brief 

 summary may be largely added to, I have no doubt, 

 by thoughtful readers. 

 Coggcshall ; June, 1895. 



JUMPING SEEDS OF SOUTH AFRICA. 



■\ \ 7E have received the following communication 

 from a correspondent in Cape Colony, 

 accompanied by a specimen of the tree to which he 

 refers : 



" Enclosed I send a sample specimen of a wild 

 cypress tree, the peculiarity being that the ovaries 

 on the tree are occupied by the larvae of some 

 insect. The tree bears a cone, but on account of 

 the larvae the ovaries are undeveloped, only reach- 

 ing the size of a turnip-seed. When the larvas are 

 full grown these immature seeds fall to the ground, 

 and keep up an incessant jumping. They jump 

 about an inch in height, and on the surface of the 

 ground, and move, or I should say hop, great dis- 

 tances. The ground round the tree where this occurs 

 presents a strange sight, these thousands of cases 

 jumping about night and day. On opening one of 

 these cases carefully, the maggot may be seen, and, 

 when viewed under a magnifying glass, resembles 

 the maggot of a common fly. The body contracts 

 and expands, which causes the jumping, but how 

 the insect, shut up in its case, has the power 'to 

 move the case such a comparatively great distance, 

 and so incessantly, is a marvel. I should like to 

 know whether you have heard of some such cases 

 before. I would have sent some of the larvae in 

 their cases, but they shrink up and die on confine- 

 ment. I shall, however, try and get some of the 

 imagoes. "J. H. Bell, A.P.S. 



"Bran/ort West, South Africa ; March 5th, 1895." 



We have submitted the specimen and letter to 

 Mr. Rowland Trimen, F.L.S., F.E.S., the well- 

 known authority on South African Entomology, 

 who is at present visiting England. The following 

 are his remarks upon Mr. Bell's communication, 

 which Mr. Trimen has been kind enough to send 

 in reply to our enquiry : 



" Hyde Park Court, Albert Gate, London, S.W. 

 "June 28th, 1895. 



" I received your note of the 18th inst., enclosing 

 one from Mr. J. H. Bell, of Branfort West, Cape 

 Colony, dated March 5th, respecting an insect whose 

 larva sterilizes the ovary of a conifer, and on the fall 

 of the aborted cone, appears to make the latter jump 



freely about, by the contortions of the larva 

 within it. 



" The case is quite new to me, and very different 

 in its details from that of the ' Jumping Eggs ' 

 which I recently commented on in a letter to Miss 

 Hopley, which was printed in the ' Entomologist ' 

 (vol. xxviii, page 52). In the latter case the larva 

 (the perfect insect of which is not yet known) 

 inhabits a membranous-like cyst or pseudo-cocoon 

 in the leaves and terminal twigs of a species of 

 Rhus, and it is only when the cyst (or so-called 

 ' egg ') is taken out of the leaf or shoot that any 

 jumping occurs, or can occur. 



"Dr. H. Trimen thinks that the 'wild cypress,' 

 concerned in the case mentioned by Mr. Bell, is 

 probably a Widdringtonia, or a Callitris (?), but the 

 specimen submitted is too imperfect for deter- 

 mination. " R. Trimen." 



Larvae causing the cases in which they are 

 enclosed to " jump " have for some time been well 

 known. The "jumping beans," from Central 

 America, are now familiar, not only to entomologists 

 , but also to many persons who visit curiosity shops. 

 We recently saw some on view in a shop window 

 in Main Street, Winnipeg, whose owner deemed 

 them a great novelty. The examples quoted by 

 Mr. Rowland Trimen are apparently much larger 

 than those noted by Mr. Bell. They are to 

 be found on Table Mountain, Cape Town, and, 

 to quote Miss Hopley, are "perfectly oval, white, 

 and about the size of a small sugar-plum," which 

 is rather indefinite. Miss Hopley continues "it 

 was the strangest sight to watch these tiny eggs 

 rolling and springing or standing on end. Almost 

 a foot they sometimes jumped, either in height or 

 in distance." Further the lady says : " The shell 

 or case, though only membranous, is hard enough 

 to rattle when confined in some small box. Some 

 of the eggs given to me in Cape Town had been 

 procured the previous day by a young gentleman, 

 who assured me that they kept up such a racket 

 in a match-box in which he had placed them, that 



