8 
NATURE NOTES 
she simply utilises another for the same purpose, as we shall 
see. 
Bud-scales may protect the undeveloped leaves or flowers. 
I am here only concerned with the former. To find out what 
a leaf-bud consists of we must collect some examples, and I 
would suggest the following as illustrating the remarks I am 
about to make. Horse chestnut, ash, and walnut, these have 
one kind of bud-scale ; elm, lime, and hazel will be good 
examples of a second kind ; the common laurel and rose repre- 
sent a third sort ; while lilac, privet and the way-faring tree 
( Viburnum Lantana ) will stand for a fourth. 
Of course there are many other kinds of buds, as those borne 
underground by subterranean stems of various sorts, such as 
bulbils, corms, &c. ; but space will not allow of any further 
reference to these. My object is to call attention to peculiarities 
of buds of trees and shrubs, hoping it may lead others to 
observe some very curious phenomena connected with these for 
themselves. 
Petiolar Bud-Scales. — Selecting a lateral bud of the horse 
chestnut it will be seen to have overlapping, dark brown, very 
sticky scales ; removing these there will be found a little woolly 
body in the middle, and on “ teazing ” it out with needles it 
will be seen to consist of minute leaves densely clothed in white 
wool, an excellent protection against injury by low temperatures, 
as wool is a non-conductor ; so that if one be spread out flat it 
looks just like a miniature woolly glove. Now, what are the 
leaf-scales ? Let us imagine spring has come — and the bud 
must be re-examined when it does — we shall find that the outer- 
most dark brown resinous scales are being thrown off (the sticky 
matter was secreted by their surfaces), having now done their 
duty of protecting the leaves within ; but the innermost and 
greener scales become more elongated and show little stunted 
rudiments of blades at their tips. Such reveal the fact that the 
bud-scales are “ arrested leaves,” but of which the petioles are 
abnormally flattened, the blades remaining very minute. 
As soon as the true leaves can escape the observer must 
notice how the leaflets at once curve downwards, so as to put 
their upper surfaces in a vertical plane, for this position lessens 
the chance of injury from radiation, and it is not until they are 
pretty nearly full-grown that they finally acquire a horizontal 
position. 
Fig. i illustrates the former state of the leaves, and, if this 
be compared with the accompanying figure of a lupin when 
“ asleep” at night (fig. 2), it will be seen that the position of the 
leaflets is the same, for the object is identical. The lupin, 
moreover, is an adult leaf, and sleeps periodically, the leaflets 
falling at eve and rising at dawn. 
The walnut has a pinnate leaf like the ash, with four or five 
pairs of leaflets. As soon as the leaf can escape from the bud 
the main petiole curves strongly downwards (fig. 3). The leaflets, 
