40 
THE SILVER-TREE. 
shower among the stunted trees and scrub, I 
observed hundreds of large globular land-snails 
suddenly make their appearance on the sandy soil 
where before the rain they had lain perdu to avoid 
the heat and drpiess of the sun. Here then we 
had before us a true buiTOwing snail ! 
During our brief sojomii at the Cape I was greatly 
interested in the way in which Nature provides for 
the dissemination of the seeds of the splendid silver- 
tree, the Leucodendron argenteum of botanists. 
The lance-like leaves, the stem, the branches, and 
even the fruit-cones, are covered with a silky down 
which glistens in the sun with a silvery sheen, and 
the mode by which the fruit is dispersed is, as I have 
said, very curious. The large, oval, silvery cone is 
covered with scales, which being recurved by the 
heat, the ripe fruit or seed is suddenly cast forth 
with a little click. It docs not fall at once however 
to the ground, but is borne uj) by a beautiful con- 
trivance. The fruit is enclosed in a thin^ amber- 
coloured capsule or case, sunnounted by a crown 
composed of four feathery shafts, which radiate 
