THE YOUNG NATURALIST. 



267 



sion of the American hunter ; so pene- 

 trating and ineradicable is this exuda- 

 tion that any article or object that has 

 been touched by it never loses the 

 detestable smell, and no dog, however 

 brave, can be urged to renew the 

 attack if once it has come under the 

 influence of the foetid odour. All 

 animals, therefore, give the shunk a 

 wide berth, and this nauseous secretion 

 is consequently a powerful means of 

 defence, it appears to be perfectly 

 under the control of the animal. I 

 have seen it suggested that under 

 certain circumstances, various other 

 animals such as game birds, had the 

 power of witholding their scent so as 

 to baffle the hunter with his keen- 

 nosed hound. A perfume that is ordi- 

 narily pleasant and enjoyable to our 

 senses may be rendered overpowering 

 and oppressive when unduly concen- 

 trated. Thus the fragrance of jon- 

 quils and narcissus and meadow sweet, 

 which are agreeable in the airy con- 

 servatory or open meadow, often pro- 

 duce nausea in sensitive persons, when 

 massed together in bouquets in small 

 and close rooms. As prussic acid is 

 largely present in certain members of 

 the Rosacea, to which meadow sweet, 

 the cherry laurel, &c. belong, direful 

 results might easily accrue from a too 

 free and careless inhalation of their 

 fumes. The hunters who deprive the 

 musk deer of the receptacles which con- 

 tain the odoriferous secretion known 



as musk, have to cover their faces with 

 a cloth to prevent haemorrhage from 

 the pungent odour. So potent and 

 penetrating is the aroma of this sub- 

 stance that vessels carrying tea cargoes 

 are prohibited from carrying any of it 

 for spoiling the flavour of their freight. 

 So infinitesimal are the particles of 

 perfume necessary to affect the sensa- 

 tion of smell, that a portion of musk 

 after radiating into space its inimitable 

 fragrance for twenty years, has shown 

 no appreciable diminution of weight 

 or bulk. Numerous plants derive their 

 names from the resemblance of their 

 fragrance to the aroma of musk, such 

 as the musk mallow, musk stork sbill, 

 musk thistle, and the true musk 

 {Mimulus mosc7iatus) y the strong per- 

 fume of which is so satiating or cloy- 

 ing to our sense of smell that no 

 second whiff can be enjoyed till the 

 nerves have had time to regain their 

 tone. 



But to return to the cause of scent 

 in flowers, we find that as a rule those 

 blossoms that are most liberally dowered 

 with perfume have the flowers either 

 small or inconspicuous, or they are 

 green and white in colour. The anti- 

 thesis of this being also true that those 

 plants with large or brightly coloured 

 blossoms are comparatively scentless. 

 This is often well exemplified in closely 

 allied plants, thus in the common 

 clematis or virgin's bower {Clematis 

 vitalba), the small green inconspicuous 



