218 Discovery of the Laws of Evolution. [April, 
months have a continual jumping movement. The shrub is 
small, from four to six feet in height, branchy, and in the months 
of June and July yields the seeds, a pod containing from three 
to five seeds. These seeds have each a little worm inside. The 
leaf of the plant is very similar to that of the ‘garambullo,’ tlie 
only difference being in the size, this being a little larger. It 
is half an inch in length and a quarter of an inch in width, a 
little more or less. The bark of the shrub is ash-colored, and 
the leaf is perfectly green during all the seasons. By merely 
stirring coffee or any drink with a small branch of it, it acts as 
an active cathartic. Taken in large doses it is an active poison, — 
speedily causing death unless counteracted by an antidote.” 
Mr. Riley stated that the seed of Tamariscus was known to 
be moved by a Coleopterous larva (Nanodes tamarisci) that fed 
within it ; and he concluded by describing and exhibiting a still 
more wonderful jumping property in a seed-like body which may 
be observed in our own woods. It is a little spherical, seed-like 
gall produced in large numbers on the under side of the post and 
other oaks of the white-oak group. This gall drops in large 
quantities to the ground, and the insect within can make it 
bound twenty times its own length, the ground under an infested 
tree being sometimes fairly alive with the mysterious moving 
bodies. The noise made often resembles the pattering of rain. 
The motion is imparted by the insect in the pupa and not in the 
larva state. Mr. Riley presented a description of the gall, which 
may be known by the name of Quercus saltatorius, the black fly 
which issues from it having been described as Cynips saltatorius 
by Mr. H. Edwards, of San Francisco. 
THE PROGRESS OF DISCOVERY OF THE LAWS OF 
EVOLUTION. 
Pe a recent meeting of the Academy of Natural Sciences of 
Philadelphia, Professor Cope made some remarks on the 
progress of discovery of the laws of evolution, of which the fol- 
lowing is a synopsis : — 
He remarked that while Darwin has been its prominent advo- 
cate within the last few years, it was first presented to the scien- 
tifie world in a rational form by Lamarck, of Paris, at the com- 
mencement of the present century. Owing to the adverse in- 
fluence of Cuvier, the doctrine remained dormant for half a cent- 
ury, and Darwin resuscitated it, making important additions at 
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