KIDD'S OWN JOURNAL. 



89 



months here, and at Brox bourne, are September 

 and October. Above Page's the water is private, 

 as far as Crame's lock. The Rye House, the 

 King's Arms, near Hoddesden, is a favorite 

 resort for London anglers, and the accommodation 

 is good. The water is free for visitors, and 

 abounds with fish. I have been told, that in 

 October fifty pounds' weight of roach have been 

 taken by one rod in one day. The river here in 

 many parts is very deep and very still, which 

 accounts for the number of roach it produces. 

 Beyond this, to Ware, the water is, I believe, 

 private property. Hoddesden is seventeen miles 

 from London. 



Indications op Instinct. By T. Lind- 

 ley Kemp, M.D. Longman and Co. 



This very interesting publication forms 

 No- 54 of " The Traveller's Library ; and 

 every page of it proves that the author is 

 in love with the subjects on which he 

 treats. 



The book is divided into sections ; and 

 treats in turn upon Plants, Insects, Reptiles, 

 Fishes, &c. Where all is so instructive, it is 

 somewhat difficult to make a selection; but as 

 Spring is at our doors, let us introduce a few 

 of Dr. Kemp's seasonable observations on 



THE INSTINCTS OF PLANTS. 



That varied and complicated movements take 

 place in many plants has long been known. But 

 such have been little investigated, and the nature 

 and end of them have generally been passed over 

 in silence. They are, however, very clearly ex- 

 amples of instinctive movement, and in many 

 cases serve highly important and essential ends in 

 the vegetable economy, although from our imper- 

 fect observation we cannot always point out 

 decidedly the results that they produce. 



A very familiar instinctive movement that 

 occurs in plants, is the opening and shutting of 

 the flowers. Generally, these organs are spread 

 open so as to expose the stamens and pistils to 

 the action of light during the day, and closed 

 during the dark, so as to protect from external 

 injury these delicate organs. A good deal of variety, 

 however, prevails in this respect. Some plants, as 

 the Portulaca oleracea, only open their flowers 

 for about one hour daily, and this at mid-day. The 

 Oenothera biennis, on the contrary, keeps its 

 flowers shut all day, and only opens them when 

 night comes on ; and when the sun rises the 

 flowers close again unless it be a very cloudy day, 

 in which case the plant only shuts its flowers 

 partially, or not at all. The flower of the com- 

 mon dandelion generally lives two days and a 

 half. On the first two days it is awake, and is 

 expanded in the earlier part of the day, and shuts 

 at night ; but on the third day it closes about 

 mid-day, and this closing is followed by the death 

 of the corolla. Moisture appears necessary to 

 plants of the Carlina species, ( a near relation of 

 the thistle ;) and accordingly, on a dry day, the 

 flowers shut, and thus lose no water by evapora- 

 tion. When the atmosphere becomes charged 

 with moisture, the flowers re-open. Still more 

 remarkable is the Nymphaia alba, or water-lily, 

 which, when night comes on, not only closes its 



flower, but gradually lowers it until it is beneath 

 the surface of the water, and thus reposes sub- 

 merged. 



Another example of an instinctive movement 

 for a very definite end, may be noticed in the com- 

 mon berberry. The flower of this plant contains 

 six stamens which surround a single pistil ; the 

 stamens being inclined back upon the petals, and 

 so away from the pistil. If, however, any of the 

 stamens be touched near the base, it immediately 

 starts forward to the pistil, and strikes the top of 

 that organ with its anthers. It soon resumes its 

 original position. Of course, the same effect is 

 produced whenever an insect alights upon them. 

 Whenever the anther is ripe, and an insect enters 

 the flower, the filament strikes against the pistil 

 with such force as to burst the anther, and thus 

 scatter the pollen upon the pistil, and thereby 

 produce a seed. There is another plant, the Cac- 

 tus tuna, which, whenever an insect enters its 

 ripe flowers, immediately inclines all its stamens 

 over the pistil. In a somewhat similar manner, if 

 the stalk of the stamen of the Cetasetum be dis- 

 turbed, it springs up with such violence, that the 

 top of it is broken off, and actually darted to a 

 very considerable distance. 



The motions of the leaves of plants must have 

 been noticed by every one. The most common 

 instances of such are called, in ordinary language, 

 the sleep of plants, although the expression is a 

 bad one. The phenomenon was first noticed by 

 Linnasus. He was carefully cultivating some 

 lotus plants, or birds'-foot trefoil, one of which had 

 two flowers. Chancing to look at the plant one 

 evening, the flowers were not to be seen, and 

 Linnseus supposed that some one had plucked 

 them. The next morning, however, they were 

 again visible, but on returning at night they had 

 once more vanished. The plant was then care- 

 fully examined, and it was found that the leaflets 

 had altered their position, approached one another, 

 and by so doing concealed the flowers. Extend- 

 ing his observations, Linnaeus found that some- 

 thing analogous to this occurred in all plants. 

 Generally this folding of the leaves takes place as 

 darkness comes on, but is in reality performed inde- 

 pendently of light and darkness ; and it has been 

 ascertained, that plants kept constantly in the 

 dark, open and close at regular intervals. It by 

 no means follows that the leaves of plants close in 

 this mannner at the same hour that the flowers do. 

 Berthollet watched an acacia, the leaflets of which 

 closed at sunset, and unfolded at sunrise ; while its 

 flowers closed at sunrise and expanded at sun- 

 set. 



The manner in which leaves change their 

 position is various. Some raise their leaflets so 

 that their upper stalks are brought into contact, 

 while others depress theirs so that their under 

 surfaces meet together. Others, again, undergo 

 other contractions. 



The sensitive plants afford very striking illus- 

 trations of movements performed by vegetables. 

 The most common of these is the Mimosa pudica, 

 an annual, the leaves of which fold up on being 

 touched, the phenomenon faking place at so early 

 a period in the existence of the plant as from when 

 its cotyledons have expanded. If the stimulant 

 be applied in sufficient intensity — as if, for ex- 

 ample, a leaflet be touched with a burning candle, 



