DISSIMULATION OF FRUITS AND 8EIDS. 255 



Another single instance is that of the Egyptian bean where about 20 

 seeds grow in a receptacle. After a time this buaks lccse and floats down 

 the river. The beans begin to geiminate within the receptacle, but after a 

 time drop out and root in the mud. 



One of the tropical fruit cells which is very interesting is the monkev 

 ipot. This is large and urn shaped and has a round cover. The monkeys 

 are very greeiiy after the saparcaia nuts that are found in them. When tie 

 fruit is ripe, the cover loosens and the nuts drop out, iben it becomes a haul, 

 woody shell. This is filled with sugar and placed where the monkeys fre- 

 quent. The monkeys pick out the sugar leisurely well enough, but when 

 lrightened they stick their fist in and grasp a handful and stait to run, but 

 they cannot get their hand out and so are run down. 



The squirrel plants many oaks as does the bluejay, who hide the acorns 

 under the leaves and in holes. 



The nuthatches pull off the beech twigs and try to poke them in the 

 holes of trees and in so doing knock off the nuts that grow in the spring. 

 It is said thai the migration of tribes can be followed by the plants that 

 are found ; for instance, the kochia of the Asiatic steppes has been found in 

 Bohemia and Carmola and the sea kale in Hungary and Moraria. The North 

 American Indian calls the plantain the foot print of the white*, and a common 

 specie.s of vetch marks, a former abode of Norwegian settlers in Greenland. 

 One of the most stiiking instances of this is the extension of the thorn ap- 

 ple over the whole of Europe. This plant has followed 'the Gypsies from 

 Asia. The Gypsies make frequent use of this poisonous plant in their un- 

 lawful proceedings, and it is much cultivated by them. It also occurs uncalled 

 for near the place of their encampment. 



There are many species ol the water chestnut. One of these, much cul- 

 tivated in China, resembles the r head and horns of a buffalo. Another that is 

 cultivated in Cashmere has the horns replaced by sharp spines. This is 

 cultivated so much as to become a large part of the food of the people. 

 Lake Oiler is said to produce 128,000 mule loads of nuts every year. 



There is still another that has four spines at right angles to each other. 

 It is curious to notice the way in which some seeds are held. One instance 

 is found in a sedge where the stamens lengthen out and form a net which 

 holds the nut containing the seeds for some time after it has detatched it- 

 self from the plant. The same happens in the mangrove. 



When walking in the pine woods in March on a warm day, if you hap- 

 pen near a pine tree you will hear a curious chuckling noise, always accom- 

 panied by a fall of buff colored seeds. The cones of the pitch pine are 

 firmly cemented together in the fall, but in the spring the heat dries up 

 the gum and the scales spring open and let the seeds drop. If the cones die 

 brought into the house and exposed to artificial heat, they will open with a 



