KIDD'S OWN JOURNAL. 



91 



springs from the upper part of the flower, and 

 " when it opens, the upper part turns round within 

 the box, conies out at the bottom, and turns up 

 and back — so that when fully expanded, it stands 

 fairly over the flower. The moment a small insect 

 touches the point of the lid, it makes a sudden 

 revolution, brings in the point of the lid at the 

 bottom of the box, so that it has to pass the 

 anthers in its way, and makes prisoners any small 

 insect that the box will hold." He adds, that if 

 the insect be caught, the box remains shut for some 

 time ; but that if the animal has managed to fly 

 out, it soon opens again. 



Still more surprising acts of motion take place 

 in the lower plants. Among the Confervce, or 

 jointed Algce, is a genus called oscillatoria, the 

 members of which might almost be mistaken for a 

 number of worms writhing together. These shift 

 their position with very considerable alacrity. If, 

 for example, a patch of them be placed in water, 

 in a plate, and a black bell glass be inverted over 

 them in such a manner as not to quite touch the 

 bottom of the plate, the conferva — in a very short 

 time, will be found to have glided out at that side 

 of the bell glass most exposed to light. They 

 have been observed to travel in a few hours to a 

 distance of ten times their own length. The young 

 of certain species of them, too, when separated, 

 from the mother plant, move onwards in the water 

 with velocity until they reach a shady spot, when 

 they take root and remain fixed. 



The climbing plants also appear to have a kind of 

 instinctive motion, and those of the same species 

 move always in the same direction. Those that 

 move from right to left, never, under any circum- 

 stances move from left to right, and vice versa. 

 Thus the hop invariably turns from the left to the 

 right, and the stem of the convolvulus or bind- 

 weed always turns from the right to the left. 



It is probable that still more remarkable in- 

 stinctive movements take place underground. 

 The structure of plants consists of about a dozen 

 elementary substances, all of which are present in 

 fertile soil ; and it is from the soil (and also, with 

 regard to one or two elements, from the air) that 

 they obtain them. The roots send forth radicles, 

 which move on until they arrive at particles of the 

 different elements that the plant stands in need of. 

 And the distance to which one of these radicles 

 will so travel is often very great. Moreover, the 

 difference between different plants mainly depends 

 upon the varying proportions of these elements of 

 which their structure, and consequently their food, 

 is composed. The ash of bean, for example, is 

 found to contain nearly fifty per cent, of potassa, 

 and about six of silica ; while that of barley has 

 not eight per cent, of potassa, and more than fifty 

 of silica. If the half of a field, the soil of which 

 is quite uniform, be planted with beans , and the 

 other half with barley, the rootlets of the bean and 

 barley plants wander along under ground until 

 they come into contact with just the requisite 

 quantities of those two substances ; and when they 

 have obtained the requisite quantities, seek no 

 more. Those of the bean plant wander on until 

 they have formed the large amount of potassa, 

 and those of the barley of silica ; while the bean 

 roots are content with having found the small 

 quantity of silica, and the barley ones the com- 

 paratively small amount of the alkali. 



As is familiar to every one, there is a regular 

 gradation in the different classes of living beings. 

 We are in the habit of pronouncing cryptogamic 

 plants as less perfect than flowering ones, polypi 

 as inferior animals to reptiles, reptiles to birds, 

 birds to mammals ; and among mammals we assign 

 various degrees of rank, esteeming a dog or an 

 elephant as superior to a sloth or a mole. It must 

 not be supposed, however, that all the endowments 

 go on increasing according to the scale of increas- 

 ing perfection. Indeed, in one respect, in that 

 which now employs us — the instincts — the very 

 reverse is the case, and some of the most striking 

 of the instinctive arts are to be witnessed in the 

 beings that are ranked as lowest. Tins being the 

 case, we should expect to find that these instinc- 

 tive movements in search of food are most ener- 

 getic in the lowest plants ; and such is certainly 

 the case. A fungus, as a common edible mush- 

 room, may be at sunset a mere dot of matter, 

 scarcely or not at all appreciable to our senses ; 

 and may by next morning be a large plant that 

 weighs a ppund. This indicates an immense 

 activity of its radicles during these few hours, and 

 a degree of instinctive movement and instinctive 

 selection that is very extraordinary. 



The author's remarks on Instinct and 

 Reason are admirable. We shall have 

 occasion to return to them hereafter. 



Rural Economy. By Martin Doyle. 



Groombridge and Sons. 



This is one of those useful, plain-spoken 

 Manuals, for which the present age is famous, 

 — affording, at a small cost, much practical 

 information on the care and management of 

 domestic animals. 



We have of late been asked a multitude of 

 questions about Rabbits ; and we are enabled 

 by the aid of this little brochure, to reply to 

 them without loss of time. The author's 

 judicious treatment and long experience 

 enable him to speak oracularly. 



Almost every boy in the course of his life takes 

 a fancy to rabbit-keeping ; and yet scarcely one 

 boy have we met with who knows how to treat 

 the animals properly. Many rabbits, we are sorry 

 to say, have been starved by neglect (not wilfully 

 perhaps), poisoned with filth or foul air, or other- 

 wise destroyed by injurious treatment. While, 

 on the other hand, many are killed with kindness ; 

 by supplying them with an over-abundance of 

 certain kinds of food improper for them. We 

 now wish to point out these things, and to give 

 judicious practical directions for the management 

 of rabbits. 



Rabbit House. — The first and most important 

 matter is to have a good dry house or shed, in 

 which the animals can be well protected from 

 damp weather. Too much moisture is as fatal to 

 rabbits as it is to sheep. It gives them the rot. 

 Dampness may. be all very well for fishes ; but it 

 is not good for men, women, and children ; nor yet 

 for horses, cows, pigs, poultry, bees, or rabbits ; 

 these all thrive better, and are preserved from 

 many diseases, by being protected from it. 



But though you keep out the wet from your 

 rabbit-house, you must not at the same time ex- 



