from moving they will, when released, instantly begin their task anew
and with redoubled energy. Similarly the leaves of the Colocasia
esculenta--the tara of the Sandwich Islands--will often shiver at irregular
times of the day and night, and with such energy that little bells hung on
the petals tinkle. And yet, curious to say, we are told that the keenest eye
has not yet been able to detect any peculiarity in these plants to account
for these strange motions. It has been suggested that they are due to
changes in the weather of such a slight character that, "our nerves are
incapable of appreciating them, or the mercury of recording their
accompanying oscillations."
Footnotes:
- Tylor's "Primitive Culture," 1873, i. 130. 2. See "English Folk-lore," pp. 42, 43. 3.
"Primitive Manners and Customs," p. 74. 4. Dublin University Magazine,
December 1873, p. 677. 5. See Swainson's "Weather-lore," p. 257. 6. See "Flower-
lore," p. 226. 7. See Notes and Queries, 1st Ser. II. 511.