of the memory plant, and, scattered over the dark surface, are many long needle-like objects. These are the sharp spicules, or needles of crystal, that pierce the tongue and cause the terrible burning sensation when a portion of the bulb is taken into the mouth. Jack's root is harmless in appearance, but it is well protected, and the microscope shows how.

The plant is also known as Indian turnip, because the Indians are said to have used it for food, first boiling the bulb, and this way, it is said, destroying the needles, or the spicules, as the botanist calls them.-CLEMENT B. DAVIS.

TWO ODD NESTING PLACES

THE first illustration shows a humming-bird's nest, that I took last summer on the porch of a friend's house. The electric light hung a little too low, so a knot was tied in the cord to raise it. That left a loop about two inches long, and the little hummers built their nest on it. The light was turned off and on every night and morning,

THE HUMMING-BIRD'S NEST ON A HORSESHOE.

THE LARGEST APPLE ON RECORD

THE gigantic apple shown in the picture was grown by F. L. Post and Sons, of Chelan, State of Washington. It measures seventeen and one eighth inches in circumference, and weighs more than forty-one ounces. It grew on an eight-yearold tree on sub-irrigated land. The tree received ordinary cultivation, and the apple had no extra care except that it was inclosed in thin netting and tied to the tree to prevent it from falling to the ground. The apple is of the variety known as "Spokane Beauty." These apples grow to great size, are good to eat raw, and for cooking, and not specially coarse in grain. The flavor is sub-acid. In color they are a light pink with darker stripes. The tree which bore this apple grew on the shore of Lake Chelan, about two miles from the town of Chelan, within a stone's throw of the water.

The owner of the apple-tree which bore this wonderful fruit writes to ST. NICHOLAS:

ONE OF NATURE'S TRAGEDIES

FOR several days, my brother and I had been searching the big pear-tree for the hummingbird's nest that we felt sure was there. Every. time we came near the tree, the old bird left it with a loud hum, so we were trying to see where she came from. At last we located the nest on a limb well out from the body of the tree, where it blended perfectly with its surroundings, and looked like an old, rough knot. It contained two snow-white eggs, about the size and shape of

THE PEAR THAT KILLED THE YOUNG HUMMING-BIRDS.

small navy beans. Just a few days after the discovery, the young birds burst their white prison and appeared as two dark objects-long-billed, homely, wiggling. They grew with amazing rapidity, and then we noticed a pear, on the end of a slender twig just above the nest, which also was We intended to watch it growing very fast. closely and pick it if it got too close to the nest. Then we had to make a trip to another farm fifteen miles away on Green River, and, in the hurry and preparation for the trip, we forgot all about the little birds and their impending fate. When we came home after a week's absence, the pear had so grown, and its increased weight had so bent the twig, that it rested squarely on top of the nest, and had killed both the birds, which were nearly full-grown. The accompanying photograph shows the tragedy. LEO C. THORNE.

DOES THE OSTRICH BURY ITS HEAD?

NEW ROCHELLE, N. Y. DEAR ST. NICHOLAS: I would like to know why an ostrich buries its head in the dirt when he sees anybody coming.

Your loving and interested reader, MARION F. HULSTEAD (age 9). Some naturalists refer to this widely known tale as a "foolish story," while others think it is possible, though not probable, that the ostrich does hide its head when frightened. Professor William T. Hornaday, Director of the New York Zoological Park, says, in reply to the question:

"I really do not know. I do not know any one who knows. To me the story is marked, 'Not proven.'"

A CAT CLOSES ITS EYES WHILE LAPPING MILK PALO ALTO, CAL. DEAR ST. NICHOLAS: My cat always closes his eyes when he laps milk. Could you please tell me why he does that? He is pure black and not full-grown, but I like to play with him.

I remain

Your affectionate reader,

ANNA FRANKLIN (age 11).

I think that the cat closes his eyes while lapping milk as an evidence of extreme satisfaction and pleasure while so occupied. I notice my own cat has that trick when he considers himself especially happy, and it gives him such an expression of bliss-no "smaller" word expresses it-that it often makes me wish I could stand in his paws (I could n't stand in his shoes, of course), and see for myself how he feels!-JANE R. CATH

CART.

THE VERY OLD GAME OF JACKSTONES CEDAR RAPIDS, IA. DEAR ST. NICHOLAS: I was playing a game of "jacks" to-day, and I was wondering where the game first originated, and when and by whom it was first played. I think it a very interesting game, because it requires practice and patience to do it well.

Your inquisitive reader,

LEONORA PARKER.

Nothing is known of the origin of the game of jackstones. It existed in classical antiquity, it is known in the Orient, and by children generally. The materials differ, but the rules of the game, as far as they are known, are everywhere about the same. Of certain games-chess, playing cards, dice-the line of descent may be traced, if not their precise origin. As far as I know, however,

fringetail used as an illustration in Wolf's book on goldfish. I know of a person who claimed sixteen years for a moon telescope-fish. My mother raised some common fish twenty years ago. We had one of them for fifteen years, and then gave it to a relative, who kept it alive under very poor conditions for three years more. During these three years a number of younger fish died in the same aquarium. Under proper conditions I am sure it would have lived for twenty years, and I believe that such a fish can be kept alive for a quarter of a century. Highly developed fish, if they live to become six months of age, will usually then live from two to four years.-WILLIAM T. INNES, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Germanized-English chemical language, and should bar them out from consideration as long words on the ground that they are compound words used without hyphens.-H. L. WELLS.

The comment of Professor Wells is perfectly correct, and I am heartily in accord with the opinion expressed in the last paragraph of his discussion. The word referred to by Mr. Darrah, Jr., is only given in my "History of Chemistry" ("Science-History of the Universe," 1909, Vol. IV, p. 2) to instance the chemical baptisms of our German co-workers, in this case Dr. Albert Maasen.-W. A. HAMOR.

AN ODD-SHAPED OAK

SANTA ROSA, CAL. DEAR ST. NICHOLAS: The accompanying photograph is of an odd-shaped oak-tree. The trunk has turned over until it somewhat resembles a horseshoe, and in between them a limb has grown uniting them firmly together, as shown in the photograph. The tree measures about one foot in diameter.

PETER KIRCH.

A LONG WORD IN CHEMISTRY

WHEELING, W. VA. DEAR ST. NICHOLAS: I have just found in a history of chemistry, written by William Allen Hamor, Research Chemist of The College of the City of New York, a word containing forty-nine letters. I won't ask what it means, but is "pentamethyldiamidothiodiphenylamindiiodomethylate" surpassed in length by any word at all? Hoping this will interest you as it has interested me, I remain,

Very truly yours,

ROBT. C. DARRAH, JR.

There is hardly any limit to the length of such words, and, if it were worth while, much longer words than the one given could be used to describe known or imaginary organic compounds.

Such chemical words are really compounds of a number of words. Sometimes hyphens are put in to separate some of the parts, but, following the German usage, according to which words of any length may be compounded, the hyphens are often not used by English-writing chemists.

I should insist that such chemical words do not belong to the English language at all, but to a VOL. XXXIX.-119.

A GLOBE MADE OF LIVING PLANTS.

plants, with white and pale yellow variegations. The bed at the base of the globe was made of the same colors. I do not think there is any black-and-white picture that could ever do it justice.

Respectfully,

RUBY BUTLER.