4 
XATURE XOTES 
of the Equisetum. They are produced in a spdre at the apex of 
the fertile fronds, and this appears to be filled with a blue-green 
dust. Shake a little of this out upon a glass slide and place it 
upon the stage of the microscope, when the minute spores will 
appear like fairy blue pills, each embraced by its four minute 
thread-like “ elaters,” which move the spore about over the field 
of view like so many tiny spiders. Breathe on them and they 
at once cease to move, but when they become dry again their 
singular motion is resumed. 
Many more microscopical plants exhibit free motion in the 
water in which they live, but we will now turn our attention to 
higher orders of the vegetable kingdom, many of which present 
to our view spontaneous motions in some of their organs. The 
most wonderful among these is Desmodium gyrans, which has been 
popularly named the Telegraph plant. It belongs to the 
Legnminoscs, and has pinnate foliage, the terminal leaflet being 
large and well developed, while the lateral ones are small. It 
is a native of Bengal, found near the sacred river Ganges, its 
native name being Buram Chandali, “active or living plant.” 
It was known to the great Linnaeus, who calls it a wonderful 
plant, on account of its voluntary motion, this not resulting from 
any touch or irritation or movement of the air, as in Mimosa, the 
sensitive plant, Oxalis, the sensitive Wood-sorrel, and Dionaa, the 
Venus’s fly-trap; nor is it evanescent, as in Amorpha (the false 
Indigo), which only displays motion in its very young foliage, 
as noted by Humboldt. As soon as the young plants raised 
from seed have acquired their proper ternate leaves, they begin 
to be in motion, this way and that, the movement not ceasing 
during the whole course of their vegetation, nor are they 
obser\ant of any time, order, or direction, one leaflet frequently 
revolving, while the others on the same petiole are quiescent. 
At times a few leaflets only are in motion, then almost all of 
them will be moving at once. The whole plant is seldom 
agitated, and that only during the first year. It continues to 
move during the second season of its growth in the stove, and 
is not at rest even in the winter. 
Schwartz states that the motion is irregular, and that at 
times it ceases entirely ; that on a very hot day the leaf is im- 
mobile, being agitated only in the evening, and then slowly. 
In our climate in general it only makes a faint and feeble attempt 
towards noon of exhibiting this extraordinary faculty. The 
motion does not depend upon any external cause that we" can 
trace, nor are we able to excite it by any art we possess. It is 
not excited by the sun’s action, for the plant is fond of shade, 
and the leaves revolve well on rainy days, while during the night, 
or if exposed to too much wind or sun, they are quiet. 
“Perhaps,” writes Linnaeus, “there may be some part in 
vegetables where the cause of motion resides?” Though we 
cannot fathom this mystery, yet one thing is almost clear, and 
that is that motion of any kind in a minute plant, or organ of 
