In short, it was pointed out in the _Standard_, in illustration of the extreme sensitiveness of certain plants to surrounding influences, how the _Haedysarums_ have been well known ever since the days of Linnseus to suddenly begin to quiver without any apparent cause, and just as suddenly to stop.

Force cannot initiate the movement, though cold will stop it, and heat will set in motion again the suspended animation of the leaves.

If artificially kept 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.