﻿Field and Forest 



A MONTHLY JOURNAL 



DEVOTED TO THE NATURAL SCIENCES. 



Vol. II.— OCTOBER, 1876.— No. 4. 



Jumping Seeds. 



We have recently had the pleasure of examining a small phial of 

 these so-called jumping seeds received from California, and said by 

 the gentleman collecting them to be found under oak trees, and to be 

 quite easily obtained. They are somewhat the size and color of a 

 mustard seed, perhaps a little more irregular in shape, and a lighter 

 yellow. Their peculiarity seems to be the manner in which they move 



and roll around, or jerk them- 



\V )j)% //£^Sf ' /^k selves about, as though pos- 



' sessed of independent life and 



581^X12 N ^2S6^' motion - In reali ty> these lit- 

 <■""%.•<« tie objects are not seeds, but 



are cases each containing the larva of an insect, and upon gently jar- 

 ring them so as to move their positions, numbers will be observed to 

 spring with a quick jerking motion, sometimes to the distance of half 

 an inch. 



A hasty examination, with the microscope, revealed in the interior 

 of the case a white fleshy little organism, curled up in the exact posi- 

 shown in our figure, having what appeared to be a pair of faintly 

 brownish jaws upon one end of the body, and so closely resembling the 

 little grubs or larva; frequently found in minute galls that we had 

 little hesitancy in calling it a Cynips, and the receptacle a small species 

 of oak-gall. Becoming interested in the matter, and desirous of know- 

 ing what had been written upon the subject, our libraries were con- 

 sulted with the following result, which may prove interesting to our 



