ShIPMPEES Of The NIPIATE, AS Ron == WORLD 3 AMES |OHONNOY New York State Callege of Agriculture At Gornell University Ithaca, N. B. Library iniversi limpses of the animate world; or, Scien NATURAL HISTORY SERIES—BOOK FIFTH. GLIMPSES OF THE ANIMATE WORLD: OR, SCIENCE AND LITERATURE OF NATURAL HISTORY, FOR SCHOOL AND HOME. COMPILED AND ARRANGED BY JAMES JOHONNOT, AUTHOR OF ‘PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICE OF TEACHING,” ‘4A GEOGRAPHICAL READER,” ‘COUNTRY SCHOOL-ILOUSES,’’ ETC. NEW YORK .-:- CINCINNATI -:- CHICAGO AMERICAN BOOK COMPANY. ee ; COPYRIGHT, 1883, 1885, By D. APPLETON AND COMPANY, wp4 PREFACKH. THE philosophy which underlies the art of reading may be briefly stated. In the process of mental development objects are observed, and the perceptive faculties are there- by cultivated. In this way the mind comes in possession of the bundles of related ideas which we term thoughts. These thoughts seek expression, and in the endeavor to ex- press, speech is cultivated. The form of speech is a matter of imitation. A thought is expressed by a sentence, and the child, in learning to speak, uses either fragmentary or complete sentences. When sentences are written, the pro- cess of obtaining and expressing the contained thought is reading. Under the old system, which, happily, is now rapidly becoming obsolete, the mechanical pronunciation of the words of a sentence in their proper order was called read- ing; but most improperly so, as the apprehension and ren- dition of the thought, which constitute the very essence of reading, formed no part of the process. The means were mistaken for the end, and the true end was not reached. In consequence of this mistaken notion, reading exercises, in the schools where it prevailed, were dull, distasteful, and unprofitable to the pupil, and monotonous and wnpleasant to the hearer. The means employed in these schools were as vicious as the theory adopted. The pupil was required to pronounce iv PREFACE. words which he did not understand, a process not only negatively barren and wasteful, but positively evil, as it en- gendered the habit of regarding words as disassociated from ideas. Again, he was required to attempt to read that which was quite beyond his mental grasp, or which was so forcign to his experience that, understanding bemg hope- less, he ceased to try to understand, each successive lesson more widely separating language and thought. The diet of husks, unfortunately, was not confined to the prodigal who had wasted his substance in riotous living. Under the later system, the truth is recognized that the object of all school exercises is to promote mental growth, to which end ideas and thoughts are indispensable. Words, hke bank-notes, are regarded, not for their intrinsic, but for their representative value. In so fur as they clearly re- veal the gold of thought, they may be taken for genuine coin, but, failing in this, they are worthless counterfeits. The kinds of ideas and thoughts are also a matter of serious moment. In each stage of the mind’s growth those only should be used that will command the attention by the in- terest excited, that will stimulate the reflective activities of the mind, and that will incite to further observation and investigation. With these objects kept clearly in view, reading, and the general acquisition of language, become secondary, and not primary processes. They are incident to the general objects of instruction. Reading matter is selected upon the same principles as studies—that which will interest, stimulate, and incite. At every stage of growth it is such as will best serve the present purposes of the mind, and, at the same time, promote the next step in advance. The pupil reads because he is anxious to know. His progress is rapid he- cause he is interested. Tis manner of reading is correct, because he understands the thought, and thought controls the expression, PREFACE. v The present work has been prepared as a companion to the Geographical Reader, to furnish reading matter of this desirable kind. Natural History, whether considered in its relations to mental development or as furnishing the mind with useful knowledge, can scarcely be overestimated. It deals with life in all its varied forms, and from concrete facts it rises to a consideration of those principles upon which human existence depends. Its common facts are such as come under the cognizance of every pupil, giving a basis of personal observation which makes the treatment of every department intelligible and of the greatest interest. In selecting the articles, an endeavor has been made to secure the interest which comes from variety. Care has been taken also that the statements shall be scientifically correct, though mere scientific abstracts have been avoided. The poetry and general literature of natural history have also received due consideration. In many of the articles it will be found that the statements are clear and precise, answering the demands of science, but at the same time are crisp and sparkling, stimulating the imagination, and giy- ing that nameless charm which appeals to the sense of beauty and arouses the finer emotions and sentiments. In beauty of literary form, and in variety of literary expression, the work will be found fully equal to the reading books that have an unlimited scope of subjects. Another point has been kept in view. ‘The old primal animal instinct in man to hunt and kill, necessary in savage life, still persists, and is sufficiently strong without special cultivation. At present the lower animals need no longer be regarded as enemies to be destroyed, but rather as friends to be cultivated, or as curious objects to be studied. Most of the articles selected, it will be seen, are pervaded by a strong humanitarian sentiment, which is felt as an under- lying principle, and is all the more effective from not being formally expressed. The tenderness and finer emotions vi PREFACE. which come from the study and care of creatures inferior to ourselves are elements essential to the highest character. It will be seen that the general subjects follow each other in an ascending series, conforming in the main to scientific treatment. In each branch the topics relating to home life are first presented, to the end that instruction may be based upon experience, that greater interest may be excited, and that the pupils may be led to make careful and accurate observations—a most necessary step in true mental development. These details of life about home are followed by a series of sketches, which, while exciting pres- ent interest, have a tendency to produce a hunger that only large reading and reflection will satisfy. Princeton, N. J., March 3, 1883. INTRODUCTORY. To TracHeErs.—Mechanical and unintelligent reading is the great reproach of our schools at the present time. In the process of instruction, whenever the attention is al-. most exclusively directed to words, such reading inevitably results. The cause of the evil at once suggests the remedy : make thought the primary object of attention, and regard words as important only as containing the thought. When the subject is intelligible and interesting, it takes full pos- session of the mind, compelling the proper delivery. Pro- ductive effort on the part of teachers will therefore be di- rected to the end that the pupils clearly understand what they read. When pernicious habits are once formed, the task of the teacher is a difficult one. He must not only teach the right way, but he must eradicate the false notions, and correct the consequent false practice. Of one thing, how- ever, he may be sure: one factor indispensable to his suc- cess is the use of reading matter which will interest the pupils and thereby arouse mental activity. The greater the interest, the more quickly will the best results be obtained. The tones of reading usually should be those of com- mon conversation. The general law in regard to reading is that it should be like speech under similar circumstances. When the pupil reads a sentence which he has used in ex- vill INTRODUCTORY. pressing a thought, the delivery will conform to speech with great exactness. When reading the thoughts of others, this conformity will be in the exact ratio of the con- formity of the thought and form of expression to the men- tal habits of the reader. In impassioned reading, the in- tense emotions need be indicated rather than acted, the reading beeoming speech moderated. Giving full weight to all these modifying and exceptional circumstances, the statement that “reading is speaking from the book” is true. In using this book, something more than mere reading should be accomplished. It can be made instrumental in development and training in many different ways. First—At the close of each lesson the subject-matter should be familiarly discussed in class, for the purpose of ascertaining whether all the points are understood, and of exciting a greater interest. Obscure points should be cleared up by the teacher. Second.—If there are literary allusions, they should be briefly noticed and explained, just enough to awaken curi- osity, but not enough to satisfy it. A great mistake may be made by dwelling too much upon mere accessories and side-issues: the perspective is destroyed, the attention is diverted from the main topic and dissipated on irrelevant details, and continuity of thought is broken up. Third—Inmediately after the lesson, or the next day, the pupils may be called upon to state orally the main points. Care should he taken that thoughts, not lan- guage, are reproduced. In this way accuracy and fluency in speech are cultivated, and a test is made of both under- standing and memory. Fourth—Kach topic and sub-topic may be made the basis of a composition exercise. In the effort to reproduce, the use of capitals, punctuation, and all the mechanics of construction are mastered, and the practice tends to clear- INTRODUCTORY. ix ness and precision in expression. By both the oral and the written exercises another good results: the pupil incident- ally and unconsciously learns the art of arrangement in thought. This ‘art may afterward be supplemented by the science which gives the reason for the order. Fifth—When the topics relating to familiar things are read, let the pupil deseribe some similar thing, or relate some incident bearing upon the subject, which has come under his own observation or has been told him. Such an exercise associates the school-lesson with personal experi- ence, and produces that functional activity of the mind which is one of the principal ends of education. Sixth—Special topics suggested by the lesson may be given out which will require careful observation, and some- times investigation extending over considerable time. Notes of results may be made, and the whole topic finally presented in the form of a report. This trains the percep- tion, and calls into active exercise all the higher faculties of the mind. Seventh—Attention may next be called to the litera- ture of the subject, and books may be searched for further information upon this and kindred topics. Items in news- papers that touch upon the points under consideration may be clipped and preserved, and magazines laid under contribution. When the mind is awake and alert, it is sur- prising how much valuable matter may be found that would otherwise have escaped notice. As resultants of such a course as is here pointed out, pupils will become eager to pursue studies of which they have obtained a smattering and in which they have taken so much interest, and education will be rescued from the re- proach of being a mere process of cramming words, or un- related facts, and will become in fact what it is in name— the means by which all the functions of the mind are aroused into healthful activity. x INTRODUCTORY. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS.—In many cases, for the purposes of this work, it has been found necessary to abridge articles as they originally appeared. Whenever the language of the author has been preserved throughout, or when slight changes, rendered necessary by the abridgment, only have been made, the author’s name has been appended to the article. Where both language and arrangement have been changed to a considerable extent, or when the facts from different authorities have been made into a kind of mosaic, no names in justice could be given. It will be seen that several of the articles are credited to the magazines from which they were selected ; in these cases the names of the authors were not given. It must not be thought, however, that our indebtedness to the maga- zines is confined to the few selections directly ascribed to them. A large majority of the articles in the book first made their appearance in some one of the English or American periodicals. Some of these have been collected into books, forming an important part of the literature of the subject, and some of them still remain waifs and estrays. In this country the ‘* Atlantic Monthly,” ‘* Har- per’s Magazine,” and the ‘‘ Century” have been the me- diums through which much of the best literature of natu- ral history has been given to the public. Through the magazines, John Burroughs, at once sci- entific observer and poct, first became known ; and we are sure that the few beautiful extracts which we have made from his essays will lead to a desire for a more general perusal of the volumes which he has published; and we are equally sure that taste thus developed will be in the direction of purity and refinement, both of thought and diction. The faculty of understanding the language of birds, which Oriental fancy in the Arabian tales ascribed to magical art, seems to have been inborn with Mr. Burroughs, and he, more than any other writer of the present day, may INTRODUCTORY. xd he considered the accredited interpreter of the feathered creation. We are most largely indebted, however, to the ‘* Popu- lar Science Monthly ” for the material used. Many of the articles credited to different authors first appeared in its pages, and the most valuable productions from the English magazines were given to the American public through its mediumship. That its articles are not confined to dry state- ments of scientific facts is sufficiently attested by the ad- mirable sketches from the pen of Rev. Samuel Lockwood. This acute observer has a poetic insight and a sense of humor which invests every subject with which he deals with a peculiar human interest. While thus expressing our obligations, we would say that in return we have endeavored to put good matter to the best of uses—that of instructing and inspiring the young. CON DE NTS, PART I. HOME PLANTS AND THEIR WAYS. Prelude tothe Forest Hymn............. cece eee eects Bryant, The Pride of New England...................0.. Atlantic Monthly. How Plants -Travelivs¢ 2s: satu. dean doa ieee nes M, Schele De Vere. ED warn nO: PLATES fos cavarpasis sotiertane ora net foc hevsugeianetensue Ht avees Francis Darwin. Hoobk-Climbersi. wesc aaa shee ale teas tee bas Francis Darwin. The Hospitality of Plants.....................+-JL Schele De Vere. Te: FHOM Oa se Pate consicc patir ous aces, winners einai neitei eal ea staves Emerson. PART If. STRANGE PLANTS AND THEIR WAYS. The Builder’s Tree of China.................... World of Wonders. The Scholar’s Plant of Egypt................0.. World of Wonders. A. Migratory ROSC.c i) sisceSe nek cate wertie sakes sce: Chambers’s Journal. Refreshment- Tees. sss aise sceciyacie ie ate ec ouetiagiede hauls wwe oa tia Me ao The Monarch of African Forests............... 0000202... Piguier, The Sacred Tree of India............ eee sreanahune aie Siendeievaifare wren eetee Whe Muealyptuss< gists eres pose ea wie alas s Wossdura bt oveb lee nk aisles The Sensitive: Plantucidenes cs 4 seewes ceage hee bes wee ease Shelley PART III. LOW LIFE IN THE SEA, Animated Jellies cicc0 cise pace vewmew ee ogee es World of Wonders. Blowers: of the Seac.s.6 05 ssvcacde cae tee cess Rev. Samuel Lockwood. PAGE wp ee a eo ol 54 57 xiv CONTENTS. LATS OL NOI Cain cerns, ecasape ose edie orn s wa GR MMN a aaa aup gna TA axe Builders in the Ocean . Corals, and How they are chadied, La Vrs, Hlizabeth CL Agassiz. The: Coral (Grover . 65 CoraL MADREPORE Fi . F ° . 2 67 AN ATOLL ‘ ‘ . * . s i . 69 CoraL Porite : - , : : a 5 73 Episte Crap . ‘ ‘ @ é ‘ ei . 49 FippLEr-CRraB < A a é é . 82 Hermit-Crap . : : . 84 Tue Octopus , ‘* ° é ‘ i ‘ 87 Octopus RUNNING ‘ i A . ‘ é - 88 Tae ANGILER-FISH qi a 3 a 3 5 92 Tue TorRPEDO . ‘ * : . 3 A . 89 XX LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. Tue SirxK-Worm Mosquitoes 4 é : Warrion Termires Tae Praying Manis Z 5 ALLIGATORS IN FLoripa Swamp . THe Nite Crocopite . s ‘ THE CHAMELEON . 5 A Forest WARBLER ‘ ‘ Bobouink “ i ‘“ Houmaine-Birps i i . Bank-SwWALLows AND THEIR NESTS A Group oF OwLs . ‘ : Fiaminco anp Nest ‘i ‘ Brrp or ParaDIse "3 ‘ a Tue APTERYx 3 ‘ 3 Tue SrorK i ‘ i : Tur Eacir ‘ . 5 Pierrot THE FaIrHruL i ‘ A Frerce Doe AN ArrecTIONATE Dog ; ‘ A Cat, SAVAGE, AND READY TO FicHT AN AFFECTIONATE Cat ‘ AMERICAN CHIPMUNK BEAVER Dam . 3 ‘ : THE Srae . ‘ Tue Lemuinc, orn Norway Rat . Coati-Monpr Coati-Monp1 ASLEEP. 3 ‘i Tue Svricare (JEMMy) . _ Tue Aarp-VARK F 5 S THE ORNITHORHYNCHUS * PAGE 111 125 130 13 ; : : . 144 : : : 146 158 = c x . 179 ‘ . S 192 : : ° . 216 : 3 5 e 226 % ‘ F . 238 F : ‘ ° 245 . 3 . 249 < ‘ é ; 258 s A é . 261 5 5 ‘ 266 295 : F ; : 299 ‘ a 7 . 3800 5 3 4 : 802 é : é . 808 : ‘ ; 311 : . - - 37 ° . ‘ ; 849 : . ‘ . 859 NATURAL HISTORY READER. PART I. HOME PLANTS AND THEIR WAYS. PRELUDE TO ‘‘A FOREST HYMN.” . THE groves were God’s first temples. Ere man learned To hew the shaft, and lay the architrave, And spread the roof above them,—ere he framed The lofty vault, to gather and roll back The sound of anthems; in the darkling wood, Amid the cool and silence, he knelt down, And offered to the Mightiest solemn thanks And supplication. For his simple heart Might not resist the sacred influences Which, from the stilly twilight of the place, And from the gray old trunks that high in heaven Mingled their mossy boughs, and from the sound Of the invisible breath that swayed at once All their green tops, stole over him, and bowed His spirit with the thought of boundless power And inaccessible majesty. 2, NATURAL HISTORY READER. 3. Ah, why Should we, in the world’s riper years, neglect God’s ancient sanctuaries, and adore Only among the crowd, and under roofs That our frail hands have raised ? Let me, at least, Here, in the shadow of this aged wood, Offer one hymn—thrice happy, if it find Acceptance in His ear. Bryant. THE PRIDE OF NEW ENGLAND. 1. ABove all the trees of the New World, the elm de- serves to be considered the sovereign tree of New England. It is abundant both in field and forest, and forms the most remarkable feature in our. cleared and cultivated grounds. Though the elm is found in almost all parts of the.coun- try, in no other is it so conspicuous as in the Northeastern States, where, from the earliest settlement of the country, it has been planted as a shade-tree, and has been valued as an ornament above the proudest importations from a foreign clime. It is the most remarkable of the drooping trees ex- cept the willow, which it surpasses in stateliness and in the variety of its growth. 2. When I look upon a noble elm, though I feel no dis- position to condemn the studies of those who examine its flowers and fruit with the scrutinizing eye of science, or the calculations of those who consider only its practical use, it is to me an object of pleasing veneration. I look upen it as the embodiment of some benign intention of Providence, who has adapted it in numerous ways to the wants of his creatures. While admiring its grace and majesty, I think of the great amount of human happiness and of comfort to the inferior animals of which it has been the blessed in- HOME PLANTS AND THEIR WAYS. 3 strument. How many a happy assemblage of children and young persons has been, during the past century, repeated- ly gathered under its shade in the sultry noons of summer ! How many a young May-Queen has been crowned under its roof, when the greensward was just daisied with the early flowers of sprmg! And how many a weary traveler has rested from his journey in its benevolent shade, and, from a state of weariness and vexation, when o’erspent by heat and length of way, has subsided into one of quiet thank- fulness and content ! 3. Though the elm has never been consecrated by the Muse, or dignified by making a figure in the paintings of the old masters, the native inhabitant of New England associates its varied forms with all that is delightful in’ the scenery of his own land, or memorable in its history. He has beheld many a noble avenue formed of elms, when standing in rows in the village, or by the rustic road-side. He has seen them extending their broad and benevolent arms as a protection over many a spacious old farm-housge and many an humble cottage, and equally harmonizing with all. They meet his sight in the public grounds of the city, with their ample shade and flowing spray, invit- ing him to linger under their pleasant umbrage in sum: mer; and in winter he has beheld them among the rude hills and mountains, like spectral figures keeping sentry among their passes, and, on the waking of the year, sud- denly transformed into towers of luxuriant verdure and beauty. Hvery year of his life has he seen the beautiful hang-bird weave his pensile habitation upon the long and flexible branches of the elm, secure from the reach of every living creature. From its vast dome of interwoven branches and foliage he has listened to the songs of the earliest and latest birds; and under its shelter he has witnessed many a merry-making assemblage of children, employed in the sportive games of summer. 4 YATURAL HISTORY READER. 4. To a native of New England, therefore, the eln. has a value more nearly approaching that of sacredness than any other tree. Setting aside the pleasure derived from it as an object of visual beauty, it is intimately asso- ciated with the familiar scenes of home and the events of his early life. In my own mind it is pleasingly allied with those old dwelling-houses which were built in the early part of the last century, and form one of the marked feat- ures of New England home architecture during that pe- riod. They are known by their broad and ample, but low- studded rooms, their numerous windows with small panes, their single chimney in the center of the roof, that sloped down to the lower story in the back part, and, in their “general unpretending appearance, reminding one vividly of that simplicity of life which characterized our people be- fore the revolution. Their very homeliness is delightful, by leaving the imagination free to dwell upon their pleas- ing suggestions. Not many of these charming old houses are now extant ; but whenever we see one, we are almost sure to find it accompanied by its elm, standing upon the green open space that slopes up to it in front, and way- ‘ug its long branches in melancholy grandeur over the ven- erable habitation which it seems to have taken under its protection, while it droops with sorrow over the infirmi- ties of its old companion of a century. 5. The elm is remarkable for the variety of forms which it assumes in different situations. Often it hay a droop- ing spray only when it has attained a large size; but it almost invariably becomes subdivided into several equal branches, diverging from a common center, at a consid- erable elevation from the ground. One of these forms is that of a vase, the base being represented by the roots of the tree that project above the soil and join the trunk, the middle by the lower part of the principal branches, as they swell out with a graceful curve, then gradually di- HOME PLANTS AND THEIR WAYS. 5 verge, until they bend downward and form the lp of the vase by their circle of terminal branches. Another of its forms is that of a vast dome, as represented by those trees that send up a single shaft to the height of twenty feet or more, and then extend their branches at a wide divergency, and to a great length. The elms which are remarkable for their drooping character are usually of this shape. 6. At other times the elm assumes the shape of a plume, presenting a singularly fantastical appearance. It rises up- ward, with an undivided shaft, to the height of fifty feet or more, without a limb, and bending over with a gradual curve from about the middle of its height to its summit, which is sometimes divided into two or three terminal branches. The whole is covered, from its roots to its sum- mit, with a fringe of vine-like twigs, extremely slender, twisted, and irregular, and resembling a parasitic growth. Sometimes it is subdivided at the usual height into three or four long branches, which are wreathed in the same man- ner, and form a compound plume. %. Unlike other trees that send up a single undivided shaft, the elm, when growing in the forest, as well as im the open plain, becomes subdivided into several slightly diver- gent branches, running up almost perpendicularly until they reach the level of the tree-tops, when they suddenly spread themselves out, and the tree exhibits the parasol shape more nearly even than the palm. When one of these forest elms is left by the woodman, and is seen standing alone in the clearing, it presents to our sight one of the most graceful and beautiful of all arborescent forms. Atlantic Monthly. 6 NATURAL HISTORY READER. HOW PLANTS TRAVEL. 1. PLANnts have both life and motion; we dare not as yet say whether it be the effect of a mere dream, of a me- chanical pressure from without, or of instinctive hfe with- in. For what do we as yet know of the simplest functions of the inner life of plants? Who has not, however, ob- served how the pale sap courses through the colossal stems of gigantic trees and the delicate veins of a frail leaf, as rapidly and marvelously as through the body of man ? Take a microscope, and you will see the plant full of life and motion. All its minute cells are filled with countless little currents, now rotary and now up and down, often even apparently lawless, but always distinctly marked by tiny grains which are seen to turn in them or to rise with- out ceasing. 2. But plants move not only where they stand, they travel also. They migrate from land to land, sometimes slowly, inch by inch, then again on the wings of the storm. Botanists tell us of actual migrations of plants, and a suc- cessive extension of the domain of particular floras, just as we speak of the migration of idioms and races. Individual plants, however, travel only as man ought to travel, when they are young. If they have once found a home, they settle quietly down, grow, blossom, and bear fruit. There- fore it is that plants travel only in the seed. For this pur- pose, seeds possess often special organs for a long journey through the air. 3. Sometimes they are put, like small bomb-shells, into little mortars, and fired off with great precision. Thus arise the well-known emerald rings on our greenswards, and on the vast prairies of the West, which some ascribe to elec- tricity, while the poet loves to see in them traces of the moonlight revels of fairies. The truth is scarcely less po- HOME PLANTS AND THEIR WAYS. q etical. A small circular fungus squats down on a nice bit of turf; it prospers, and fills with ripening seed ; when it matures, it discharges the tiny balls already mentioned in a circle all around, and then sinks quictly i the ground and dies. Another season, and its place is marked by an abundance of luxuriant grass, feeding upon its remains, while around it a whole ring of young fungi have begun to flourish. They die in their turn, and so the circle goes on enlarging and enlarging, shifting rapidly, because the fungi exhaust the soil soon of all matter necessary for their growth, and closely followed by the rich grass that fills up their place and prevents them from ever retracing their steps. 4, A similar irritability enables other plants also to scat- ter their seeds far and near, by means of springs bent back, until a breath of wind, a falling leaf, or the wing of an in- sect, causes them to rebound, and thus to send the pollen with which they are loaded often to a great distance. The so-called touch-me-not balsam scatters its ripe seeds, by such a contrivance, in all directions, and the squirting cu- cumber is furnished, for the same purpose, with a complete fire-engine. Some of the geraniums, also, of our green- houses have their fruit-vessels so curiously constructed that the mere contact with another object, and frequently the heat of the sun alone, suffices to detach the carpels, one by one, with a snapping sound, and so suddenly as to cause a considerable jerk, which sends the seeds far away. 5. Other fruit-vessels, again, have, as is well known, contrivances the most curious and ingenious by which they press every living thing that comes near them into their service, and make it convey them whithersoever they please. Everybody is familiar with the bearded varieties of wheat and other grain ; they are provided with the httle hooks which they cunningly insert into the wool or hair of grazing cattle, and thus they are carried about until they 8 NATURAL HISTORY READER. find a pleasant place for their future home. Some, who do not like to obtain services thus by hook and crook, succeed by pretended friendship, sticking closely to their self-chosen companions. They cover their little seeds with a most ad- hesive glue, and when the busy bee comes to gather honey from their sweet blossoms, which they jauntily hang out to catch the unwary insect, the seeds adhere to its body, and travel thus on four fine wings through the wide, wide world. Bee-fanciers know very well the common disease of their sweet friends, when so much pollen adheres to their head that they can not fly, and most miserably perish, one by one, under the heavy burden which these innocent-look- ing plants have compelled them to carry. 6. We have but little knowledge as yet of the activity of life in the vegetable world, and of its momentous influ- ence on the welfare of our own race. Few only know that the gall-fly of Asia Minor decides on the existence of ten thousands of human beings. As our chppers and steamers carry the produce of the land from continent to continent, so these tiny sailors of the air perform, under the direction of Divine Providence, the important duty of carrying pol- len, or fertilizing dust, from fig-tree to fig-tree. Without pollen there come no figs; and, consequently, on their ac- tivity and number depend the productiveness of these trees; they therefore regulate, in fact, the extensive and profitable fig trade of Smyrna. Y%. When neither quadruped nor insect can be coaxed or forced to transport the young seeds that wish to see the world, they sometimes launch forth on their own account, and trust to a gentle breeze or a light current of air rising from the heated surface of the earth. It is true, nature has given them wings to fly with, such as man never yet was skillful enough to devise for his own-use. The maple —our maple, I mean—has genuine little wings with which it flies merrily about in its early days ; others, like the dan- HOME PLANTS AND THEIR WAYS. 9 delion and the anemone, have light downy appendages, or little feathery tufts and crowns, by which they are floated along on the lightest breath of air, and enjoy, to their hearts’ content, long autumnal wanderings. These airy ap- pendages are marvelously well adapted for the special pur- pose of each plant—some but just large enough to waft the tiny grain up the height of a mole-hill, others strong enough to carry the seed of the cedar from the low valley to the summit of Mount Lebanon. 8. The proudest princes of the vegetable kingdom often depend for their continuance on these little feathery tufts, which but few observers are apt to notice. A recent writer tells us that, a few years ago, the only palm-tree the city of Paris could then boast of suddenly bore fruit. Botan- ists were at a loss how to explain the apparent miracle, and skeptics began to sneer, and declared that the laws of na- ture had failed. An advertisement appeared in the papers, inquiring for the unknown mate of the solitary tree. And behold, in an obscure court-yard away off, there had lived, unknown and unnoticed, another small palm; it also had blossomed apparently alone, and in vain—but a gentle breeze had come, and carried its flower-dust to its distant companion, and the first’ palm-fruit ever seen in France was the result of this silent meditation. 9. Reckless wanderers, also, there are among the plants, who waste their substance, and wildly rove about the world. The rose of Jericho, and a club-moss of Peru, are such er- ratic idlers that wander from land to land. When they have blossomed and borne fruit, and when the dry season comes, they wither, fold their leaves together, and draw up their roots, so as to form a light, little ball. In this form they are driven hither and thither on the wings of the wind, rolling along the plains in spirit-like dance, now whirling in great circles about, now caught by an eddy and rising suddenly high into the air. It is not until they reach a moist 10 NATURAL HISTORY READER. place that they care to rest awhile, but then they settle down at once, send down their roots, unfold their leaves, assume a bright green, aud become quict, useful citizens in their own great kingdom of plants. 10. Seeds that have not leamed to fly with their own or other people’s wings, it scems are taught to swim. Trees and bushes which bear nuts love low grounds and. river- banks. Why? Because their fruit is shaped like a small boat, and the rivulet, playing with its tiny ripples over sil- yer sands, as well as the broad wave of the Pacific, carry their seed alike, safely and swiftly, to new homes. Rivers float down the fruits of mountain regions into deep valleys and to far-off coasts, and the Gulf Stream of our Atlantic carries annually the rich products of the torrid zone of America to the distant shores of Iceland and Norway. Seeds of plants growing in Jamaica and Cuba have been gathered in the quiet coves of the Hebrides. 11. But we need not go to far-off countries to sce plants wandering about in the world: our own gardens afford us, though on a smaller scale, many an instance of the reckless- ness of those very plants that are so much commiserated because they can not move about and choose their own home. Every casual observer even knows that many bulbs, like those of crocus, tulips, or narcissus, rise or sink by form- ing new bulbs above or below, until they have reached the proper depth of soil which best suits their constitution —or perhaps their fancy. Some orchids have a regular locomotion : the old root dies, the new one forms invaria- bly in one and the same direction, and thus they proceed onward year after year, though at a very modest, stage- coach rate. Strawberries, on the contrary, put on seven- league boots, and often escape from the rich man’s garden to refresh the weary traveler by the wayside. Raspberries, again, mine their way stealthily under ground by a sub- terranean, mole-like process ; blind but not unguided, for HOME PLANTS AND THEIR WAYS. 11 they are sure to turn up in the brightest, sunniest spot they could have chosen had their eyes been wide open and their proceedings above ground. M. Schele de Vere. TWINING PLANTS. 1. CLimBine plants are, first of all, divided roughly into those which twine and those which do not twine; twiners are represented by the hop and the honeysuckle, and all those plants which climb up a stick by winding spirally round it. Those which are not twiners—that is, which do not wind spirally round a stick—are such as sup- port themselves by seizing hold of any neighboring object with various kinds of grasping organs ; these may be simple hooks, or adhering roots, or they may be elaborate and sen- sitive tendrils, which seize hold of a stick with a rapidity more like the action of an animal than of a plant. I wish now to insist on the importance of distinguishing between these two methods of climbing, in one of which the plant ascends a support by traveling spirally round it; in the other, fixes on to the support by seizing it at one place, and continuing to seize it higher and higher up as its stem in- creases in length. 2. I have heard the curator of a foreign botanic garden bitterly complain of his gardeners that they never could learn the difference between these two classes of climbing plants, and that they would only give a few bare sticks to some tendril-bearing plant, expecting it to twine up them iike a hop, while the plant really wanted a twiggy branch, up which it might creep, seizing a twig with each of its delicate tendrils, as it climbed higher and higher. These two kinds of climbers—twiners and non-twiners—may be seen growing up their appropriate supports in any kitehen- . 3 12 NATURAL HISTORY READER. garden, where the scarlet-runners twine spirally up tall sticks, while the peas clamber up the bushy branches stuck in rows in the ground. 3. A hop-plant will supply a good example of the mode of growth of true twining plants. Let us imagine that we have a young hop-plant growing in a pot ; we will suppose that it has no stick to twine up, and that its pot stands in some open place where there are no other plants to interfere with it. A long, thin shoot will grow out, and, not being strong enough to support itself in the upright position, will bend over to one side. So far we have not discovered any- thing remarkable about our hop; it has sent out a strag- gling shoot, which has behaved as might be expected, by falling over to one side. But now, if we watch the hop- plant closely, a very remarkable thing will be seen to take place. 4. Supposing that we have noticed the shoot, when it began to bend over, pointed toward the window—say a north window—and that, when we next look at it after some hours, it points mto the room, that is to say, south, and again north after another interval, we shall have dis- covered the curious fact that the hop-plant has a certain power of movement by which its shoot may sometimes point in one direction, sometimes in another. But this is only half the phenomenon, and, if we examine closely, we shall find that the movement is constant and reqular, the stem first pointing north, then east, then south, then west, in regular succession, so that its tip is constantly traveling round and round like the hand of a watch, making on an average, in warm August weather, one revolution in two hours. Here, then, is a most curious power possessed by the shoots of twining plants, which is worth inquiring fur- ther into, both as regards the way in which the movement is produced, and as to how it can be of any service to the plant. HOME PLANTS AND THEIR WAYS. 13 5. Questions are often asked in gardening periodicals as to how hops or other climbing plants always manage to grow precisely in the direction in which they will find a support. This fact has surprised many observers, who have supposed that chmbing plants have some occult sense by which they discover the whereabouts of the stick up which they subsequently climb. But there is in reality no kind of mystery in the matter: the growing shoot simply goes swinging round till it meets with a stick, and then it climbs up it. Now, a revolving shoot may be more than two feet long, so that it might be detained in its swinging- round movements by a stick fixed into the ground at a dis- tance of nearly two feet. There would then be a straight bit of stem leading from the roots of the plant in a straight line to the stick up which it twines, so that an observer who knew nothing of the swinging-round movement might be pardoned for supposing that the plant had in some way perceived the stick and grown straight at it. This same power of swinging round slowly comes into play in the very act of climbing up a stick. 6. Suppose I take a rope and swing it round my head: that may be taken to represent the revolving of the young hop-shoot. If, now, I allow it to strike against a rod, the end of the rope which projects beyond the rod curls freely round it im a spiral. And this may be taken as a rough representation of what a climbing plant does when it meets a stick placed in its way. That is to say, the part of the shoot which projects beyond the stick continues to curl in- ward till it comes against the stick; and, as growth goes on, the piece of stem which is projecting is, of course, all the while getting longer and longer ; and, as it is continu- ally trying to keep up the swinging-round movement, it manages to curl round the stick. But there is a difference between the rope and the plant in this—that the rope curls round the stick at the same level as that at which it is i4 NATURAL HISTORY READER. swung, so that, if it moves round in a horizontal plane at a uniform height above ground, it will curl round the stick at that level, and thus will not climb wp the stick it strikes against. But the climbing plant, although it may swing round, when searching for a stick. at a fairly uniform level, yet, when it curls round a stick, does not retain a uniform distance from the ground, but by winding round like a corkscrew it gets higher and higher at each turn. 7. As plants have no muscles, all their movements are produced by unequal growth; that is, by one half of an organ growing in length quicker than the opposite half. Now, the difference between the growth of a twining plant which bends over to one side and an ordinary plant which grows straight up in the air lies in this, that im the upright shoot the growth is nearly equal on all sides at once, where- as the twining plant is always growing much quicker on one side than the other. 8. It may be shown by means of a simple model how unequal growth can be converted into revolving movement. The stem of a young hop is represented by a flexible rod, of which the lower end is fixed, the upper one being free to move. At first the rod is supposed to be growing vertically upward, but when it begins to twine one side begins to grow quicker than any of the others: suppose the right side to do go, the result will be that the rod will bend over toward the left side. Now, let the region of quickest growth change, and let the left side begin to grow quicker than all the others, then the rod will be forced to bend back over to the other side. Thus, by an alternation of growth, the rod will bend backward and forward from right to left. 9. But now imagine that the growth of the rod on the sides nearest to and farthest from us enters into the com- bination, and that, after the right side has been growing quickest for a time, the far side takes it, up, then the rod will not bend straight back toward the right, as it did be- HOME PLANTS AND THEIR WAYS. 15 fore, but will bend to the near side. Now the old move- ment, caused by the left side growing quickest, will come in again, to be followed by the near side growing quick- est. Thus, by a regular succession of growth on all the sides, one after another, the swinging-round movement is produced, and by a continuation of this action, as I have explained, the twining movement is produced. 10. I have spoken as if the question of how plants twine were a completely solved problem, and in a certain sense it isso. I think that the explanation which I have given will remain as the fundamental statement of the case. But there is still much to be made out. We do not in the least know why every single hop-plant in a field twines like a left-handed screw, while every single plant in a row of beans twines the other way ; nor why in some rare instances a species is divided, like the human race, into right- and left-handed individuals, some twining like a leit-handed, others lke a right-handed screw. Or, again, why some very few plants will twine half-way up a stick in one direc- tion, and then reverse the spiral and wind the other way. Nor, though we know that in all these plants the twining is caused by the change in the region of quickest growth, have we any idea what causes this change of growth. Francis Darwin. HOOK-CLIMBERS. 1. THE common bramble climbs or scrambles up through thick underwood, being assisted by the recurved spines which allow the rapidly growing shoot to creep upward as it lengthens, but prevent it from slipping backward again ; the common goose-grass (Galiwm) also climbs in this way, sticking like a burr to the side of a hedge-row up which it climbs. Most country boys will remember having taken 16 NATURAL HISTORY READER. advantage of this burr-like quality of Galiwnm in making sham birds’ nests, the prickly stems adhering together in the desired form. Such plants as the bramble or Gatiwmn exhibit none of the swinging-round movement of climbers : they simply grow straight on, trusting to their hooks to re- tain the position gained. 2. In some species of clematis we find a mechanism which reminds one of a simple hook-climber, but is in real- ity a much better arrangement. The young leaves project- ing outward and slightly backward from the stem may re- mind us of the hooked spines of a bramble, and, like them, easily catch on neighboring objects, and support the trailing stem. Or the leaf of a species of clematis may serve as an example of a leaf acting like a hook. The main stalk of the leaf is bent angularly downward at the points where each snecessive pair of leaflets is attached, and the leaflet at the end of the leaf is bent down at right angles, and thus forms a grappling apparatus. 3. The clematis does not, like the bramble, trust to mere growth to thrust itself among tangled bushes, but possesses the same powers of revolving in search of a support which simple or true twining plants possess. Indeed, many species of clematis are actually twining plants, and can wind spi- rally up a stick placed in their way. And the same revolv- ing movement which enables them thus to wind spirally also helps them to search for some holding-place for their hook- or grapple-hke leaves, and in many species the search is carried on by the leaves swinging round, quite independ- ently of the revolving movement of the stem on which they are borne. 4, Ifa leaf of a clematis succeed by any means in hook- ing on to a neighboring object, the special characteristic of leaf-climbing plants comes into play. The stalk of the leaf curls strongly over toward the object touching it, and clasps it firmly- It is obvious how great is the advantage thus HOME PLANTS AND THEIR WAYS. 17 gained over a mere hook. 5 - $1.38 Revised edition. Adapted for advanced grades of high séhodls or sudae nies and for first work in college classes, STEELE’S POPULAR ZOOLOGY. By J. Dorman Steere and J, W. P. Jenxs. Cloth, 1r2mo. 360 pp. $1.20 For academies, preparatory schools and general reading. 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