No. 383.] DISPERSION OF SEEDS AND FRUITS. 865 
project outward, making a secure covering for the fruit. In 
time the berry and the papery calyx ripen, and the pedicel 
becomes stiff and elastic. In five places close up under the 
calyx the “ skin ” of the fruit splits open and rolls slowly back, 
exposing seeds. The dry dehiscent pods of most kinds of 
plants become wet, close up more or less, and suspend the 
scattering of seeds in time of a shower. Not so with Nycan- 
dra, for each berry is kept dry by an umbrella, cap, or shed, 
which nature has deftly built. The numerous persistent, in- 
flated calyxes expose much surface to the wind, even after 
the leaves have left the dry plant. The dead plant is rattled 
about by every breeze, scattering seeds freely. While these 
are dropping, the five scrolls on the surface continue to open 
further and further, permitting more seeds to fall. 
Some friends of mine collected a quantity of hazel nuts and 
placed them near the house, while yet the green husks enclosed 
the nuts. At once they were discovered by a blue jay, which 
picked out a nut at a time, flew away, held the nut between its 
toes, cracked it from the apex, and ate the contents. In this 
operation a number of nuts slipped away and were lost. Half 
a dozen or more grew, and to-day a new patch of hazel bushes 
is growing in the yard. 
The unicorn plant (Martynia proboscidea) is a coarse diffuse 
herb found growing from southern Indiana to Iowa and northern 
Mexico. The ripened fruit is oblong, about three inches long 
and an inch in diameter, with a beak at the base, and two long, 
slender, spreading and incurved points at the apex. On the 
side of the fruit next to the long curved beaks is a crest, con- 
sisting of stiff pieces a fourth of an inch long. The whole is 
tough, hard, and elastic. The three beaks curve toward each 
other, roughly outlining two-thirds of a circle with a diameter 
of five inches. It is a queer-looking thing, difficult to describe. 
A peck of them placed in a basket hold together well, having 
developed the propensity “ to catch on ” to a remarkable degree. 
The three beaks curving toward each other, with the crest 
inside the ring, adapt it admirably to become attached to the 
feet of cattle, sheep, horses, and the buffalo, which once roamed 
over this region in great abundance. 
