218 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



that somebody was pulling her nose, and resented it accordingly. 

 At the close of this final seance, at which I had invited the pres- 

 ence of Colonel de Rochas, I explained to him the extent of the 

 imposture, and showed him the false glass of water and the twin 

 doll, the sham magnet, and the method which we had pursued in 

 working the electro-magnet under a system of contradictory direc- 

 tions. I may venture to repeat that Colonel de Rochas acted in 

 this, as throughout, as a gentleman of the most perfect good faith. 

 He was duly and adequately impressed with this new order of 

 facts. It is of course impossible to say what may be the conclu- 

 sions at which he will ultimately arrive, but I understood him to 

 incline to the vague belief that " it was all suggestion." — Nine- 

 teenth Century. 



(To be continued.) 



ADAPTATIONS OF SEEDS AND FRUITS. 



By J. W. FOLSOM. 



IF we consider the great variety of seeds and fruits, we natu- 

 rally inquire its meaning ; and if we are sufficiently interested 

 to observe carefully the part which seeds play in Nature, we soon 

 find that in innumerable ways they are adapted to their surround- 

 ings. On the seed, primarily, rests the all-important responsi- 

 bility of perpetuating the species, and success or failure in this 

 duty depends upon the manner in which the seed is adapted to 

 encounter the dangers that threaten it. 



The manifold adaptations of this kind which Nature exhibits 

 have been brought about chiefly by natural selection, resulting 

 from the co-operation of two laws : the law of heredity and the 

 law of variation. Under the former, characteristics of a parent 

 are transmitted to its offspring. In obedience to the latter, no 

 offspring is exactly like its parent, but differs from it more or less. 

 The variation being inherited by the succeeding generation will, 

 if of favorable nature, tend to be perpetuated indefinitely. Con- 

 trarily, variation in an unfavorable direction will conduce to 

 extermination of the species from the very nature of the case. 

 Thus it follows that the accumulation of advantageous variations, 

 however slight, and the necessary destruction of species possess- 

 ing unfriendly characteristics, results in producing kinds well 

 fitted for existence. 



Bearing the above in mind as a general explanation, let us con- 

 sider some of its effects as displayed in seeds and fruits. 



We usually find seeds in a seed vessel of some sort, the whole 

 affair constituting the " fruit." Common to all immature fruits 

 is their necessity for protection, and this is met in various ways. 



