Democratic Sentinel, Volume 12, Number 38, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 12 October 1888 — CURIOSITIES OF NATURE. [ARTICLE]

CURIOSITIES OF NATURE.

W* Jumping Gall, the Acrobatic Bean, and Seeds that Explode. “Here is a ouriosifcy," said a botanist. It was a little ball of wood or fiber that when held in the palm seemed endowed with life, rolling over and over and flying into the air. “I’ve had people come to me with these,” oontinued the speaker, "and say they were bewitched. One man holier ed he had discovered spontaneous generation; another wrote an exhaustive paper whioh he tried to read at all thtf learned societies, showing that here was the beginning of both animal and plant Hfe. In fact, the little gall, for that is what it is, has attracted a good deal of attention.” “So it is only a plant,” said a reporter. "Not exaotly a plant, but the unnatural growth of vegetable matter on trees, bushes, or shrubs, caused by the secretion in the bark of an insect egg that hatches and causes the growth. In this- case, you see, the gall is little larger than a mustard seed. “The gall is produced in this way : The eggs of a very small insect, known as cynips, are deposited in the leaf, and, from some secretion introduced into tlio wound, the vegetable matter entombs the inseot in a ball of fiber separate from the leaf, from which it finally drops. The larva’* movements in restraint create the ourious activity. “There are many kinds of galls, and though they are injurious to trees they are invaluable to man, and are staple commodities. The ordinary oak galls of commerce are made by a oynips. When they are green, blue, or black, the inseot is in them, but when white it has escaped. England is the oenter of the trade, and receives galls from Germany, Turkey, Egypt, China, and Bombay. The galls are used for a variety of purposes. One sort of blasting powder is made of powdered galls and chlorate, but the most valuable product is ink. This is made from thetn almost entirely. “Seeds often jump about in the same mysterious way. In Mexico stranger* see a curious seed known as devil’s bean, or jumping seed. In appearance it is a small triangular body. The first time I saw these seeds I was sure that they were arranged with mechanical springs, as they not only rolled about, but jumped several inches in the air. But open one of the seeds and the mystery is explained. The shell is hollowed out, containing nothing but a white larva, that has eaten out nearly all the interior and lined it with «11t- Its motions occasion the strange movements. “Borne seeds move by an entirely different process—that of exploding. Jk friend of mine got some seeds in India once, and placed them on his cabin table, All at once came an explosion like that of a revolver, and he reoeived a blow on the forehead that drew blood, while a looking glass opposite was shattered. The seeds had become heated, and all at once the covering exploded, scattering the seeds in all directions. That is their manner of dispersal, and a large number of plants have a similar method of scatteriaj their seed.”— New York Sun.