Some Interesting Questions.
Last year I bought three of the dancing or jumping beans, which were then a great novelty. With them came a circular describing them and their habits, which, unfortunately, I have thrown away. However, it was to the effect that the beans were hollow shells which were found on some tree or shrub in Mexico. Each shell contained a small white worm, which would live, the circular said, about six months.
If one of the beans was placed on the palm of the hand, or on a slightly warmed surface, it would begin to move around in little jerks or jumps which were caused by the worm inside. One theory was that if the shell remains stationary in its native home something will destroy it. The worm has no desire to leave the shell. If a hole is bored in it he will straightway patch it up, and if removed from the shell entirely he will try to cover himself up, but cannot make a new shell.
My part of the story is different. Last spring, the beans being still alive, I put them in a small box and packed them away for the summer. When I unpacked them, what do you suppose I found? Three shells, each with a hole in it, the dried skin of the worm, and also a perfect specimen of a strange moth. I cut one of the shells in half, and there were a number of eggs as yet unhatched. Will the Editor please have these specimens conveyed to Mr. W. Hamilton Gibson, who writes such interesting articles for young folks about natural history, so that he may write on this subject if he thinks it of sufficient interest.
Why did the moth or worm bore the hole and lay the eggs? Did the moth die of hunger or suffocation; if so, why did not the worm die in the shell? How could it be a cocoon if the worm did not make it? Why did it lay all the eggs in one shell? All are questions which, when answered, will surely be interesting.
John Hawkesworth, R.T.F..
New York.