Marvels of the Universe 



441 



manifest to an\-one who watches the behaviour of the plant. It is a native of India, Ceylon, etc., 

 and belongs to the great pea family. Like so many other members of that family, its leaves are 

 broken up into three leaflets, of which one is enormously larger than the other two, which look like 

 mere stipules, one on each side of the leaf-stalk. These small leaflets are in almost constant move- 

 ment, and this quite independently of any movements in the air. In this country, of course, they 

 can only be grown in hothouses, and there, where the air is quite still, the movements can be seen 

 to best advantage during the hours of sunlight. The leaflets revolve, so to speak, on their stalks, 

 their movements describing an ellipse. Sometimes they move very gradualh', sometimes by jerks ; 

 sometimes repeated up-and-down movements take the place of the elliptical progression. The 

 movement of the large leaflet is not so obvious, as it maintains a more or less horizontal position 

 during the day ; but at night its tip always points towards the earth. 



Now these movements are perfectly spontaneous ; that is to say, they are not due — as in the 

 case of the Sensitive Mimosa — to external stimulus or irritation. It is safe to say that they serve 

 some important purpose in the economy of the plant. You may try to influence their movements 

 in the ways that are adopted towards the Mimosa, but the Telegraph Plant pays little or no attention 

 to \-our efforts. The plant bears upright spikes of violet flowers, much hke those of the lupine. 



A BEAUTIFUL 

 SHRIMP 



BY E. J. SPITTA. F.R.M.S. 



The Crustaceans are an im- 

 portant division of animals, to 

 which crabs, lobsters, crayfish, 

 shrimps and prawns belong, 

 and which are characterized bj' 

 having an external skeleton of 

 shell in manj' pieces. They are 

 mostly aquatic, and all, even 

 the terrestrial forms, breathe 

 through the integument, or 

 through the projections of the 

 integument which are known 

 as " branchife," or gills. Their 

 integument, or covering, is 

 made of a peculiar substance 

 called " chitin," which is also 

 the chief ingredient of the wing- 

 cases of insects. It is of great 

 hardness, resisting almost any 

 ordinary means of cutting or 

 biting, as witnessed by the 

 hard shell of the lobster or the 

 tough skin of the shrimp or 

 prawn. Its actual formation 

 as a covering skin is a mystery 

 at present, and its power of 

 resisting alcohol, ether, water. 



f'/ioloby] [/■:. J. Spina. 



A BEAUTIFUL SHRIMP. 



Arcturus. as this little creature has been named, is noted for its beautiful 

 pink colouring and its bright blue eyes. It is here shown in the characteristic 

 attitude which it takes up on a branch of coralline, after the manner of the Mantis 

 on a land plant, and with a similar purpose. 



