The Life of the Spider 



receive the cucumber's grapeshot in your 

 face. 



The fruit of the garden balsam, when ripe, 

 splits, at the least touch, into five fleshy valves, 

 which curl up and shoot their seeds to a dis- 

 tance. The botanical name of Impatiens given 

 to the balsam alludes to this sudden dehiscence 

 of the capsules, which cannot endure contact 

 without bursting. 



In the damp and shady places of the woods 

 there exists a plant of the same family which, 

 for similar reasons, bears the even more ex- 

 pressive name of Impatiens noli-me-tangere, 

 or touch-me-not. 



The capsule of the pansy expands into three 

 valves, each scooped out like a boat and laden 

 in the middle with two rows of seeds. When 

 these valves dry the edges shrivel up, press 

 upon the grains and eject them. 



Light seeds, especially those of the order 

 of Composite, have aeronautic apparatus — ■ 

 tufts, plumes, fly-wheels — ^which keep them up 

 in the air and enable them to take distant voy- 

 ages. In ths way, at the least breath, the seeds 

 of the dandelion, surmounted by a tuft of 

 feathers, fly from their dry receptacle and 

 waft gently in the air. 

 i88 



