Jumping Beans As A Novelty
When the bean is abruptly warmed (by being held in the palm of the hand, for example) the larva twitches and spasms, pulling on the threads and causing the characteristic hop. Leaving the beans in a heated environment (such as direct sunlight), however, can easily kill them.
The beans become active when one holds them in the hand (out of the box) for a few minutes. The beans should also appear to be a very slight shade of green on the side. If one shakes a bean near one's ear and hears a rattle inside, the larva inside has either died or entered the pupal stage where its hardened shell makes a softer rattle.
Jumping beans are still available for sale in the United States. In the UK, they were a common novelty item in the 1950s.
A plastic toy under this name was manufactured and sold in packages containing several devices in the 1960s. It resembled a "time release" capsule and had a metal ball inside. When the surface on which the capsule was laid was tilted, the ball would roll to the other end and make the capsule twitch.
Read more about this topic: Mexican Jumping Bean
Famous quotes containing the words jumping, beans and/or novelty:
“Unwind, hands,
you angel webs,
unwind like the coil of a jumping jack,
cup together and let yourselves fill up with sun
and applaud, world,
applaud.”
—Anne Sexton (1928–1974)
“I’m no good at being noble, but it doesn’t take much to see that the problems of three little people don’t amount to a hill of beans in this crazy world. Someday you’ll understand that.”
—Julius J. Epstein, U.S. screenwriter, Philip Epstein, screenwriter, Howard Koch, screenwriter, and Michael Curtiz. Rick Blaine (Humphrey Bogart)
“Here also was made the novelty ‘Chestnut Bell’ which enjoyed unusual popularity during the gay nineties when every dandy jauntily wore one of the tiny bells on the lapel of his coat, and rang it whenever a story-teller offered a ‘chestnut.’”
—Administration for the State of Con, U.S. public relief program (1935-1943)