454 MR. T. A. DYMES ON THE 
integration of the mass by molluscs, and the subsequent dispersal of its 
components by ants, we may well ask why Helleborus fætidus should, so to 
speak, take all this round-about trouble, whereas its brother in this country, 
Helleborus viridis, in common with many other species of different genera 
and families, gets dispersed by the same agency without the intervention of 
the strip, the snails, or the slugs. Helleborus viridis adopts the simpler and 
the usual course of dropping its seeds singly, instead of in a mass ; they are 
polished, black, and sculptured, and, instead of a great connecting-strip of 
oily tissue, each of them is provided with an inconspicuous raphal bait. 
One must remember that, in this country, Helleborus fætidus, whose home 
is in Southern and Western Europe, is at the extreme of its northern 
and western distribution, and it is probable that an observer at its head- 
quarters would find differences in the environment which would throw the 
needful light upon the problem that the seed-mass still presents. It is 
conceivable, though perhaps not very probable, that on the continent, where 
the Roman snail, Helix pomatia, is common, or in our southern and midland 
counties, where it is plentiful, this mollusc, with its larger body, might be a 
more efficient dispersal agent than our smaller garden-snail, Ме!» aspersa, 
which, during two nights, cannot have accounted for more than 8 seeds out 
of 209, or about 4 per cent. ; probably it was only 5 or less, or perhaps 
none at all, and that under circumstances which one cannot consider 
unfavourable. 
[t is impossible to escape the conviction that the mass is an adaptation to 
some still unknown agent or agents, other than ants—perhaps to some 
species of bird, or possibly to some mammal or mammals that collect 
and store food ; and it is much to be desired that some competent naturalist 
may have, and may avail himself of, an opportunity of observing the dis- 
persal of this plant where it is at home, in the sense of being fruitful and 
multiplying in a truly wild state. For preference, one would choose its 
headquarters in South-west Europe ; and until this is done, the meaning of 
the mass must doubtless remain a mystery. 
Meanwhile, one can feel but scant satisfaction with such meagre and 
unconvincing results—sorry ones, indeed, for the future of Helleborus fatidus 
in this country, especially in view of its many difficulties, and with all due 
allowance for rain-runnels and other well-known means of occasional help in 
dispersal. Probably the soundest conclusion one can draw is the wholesome 
and chastening one, that one should study the life-history of any given 
species at or near its head-quarters and in a wild state, instead of in a 
more or less artificial environment, on the confines of its territory. 
Nevertheless, a certain interest attaches to an investigation of this sort, in 
that it reveals the difficulties and the fearful odds against which an organism 
has to struggle when at the end of its distributional tether ; if it be true that 
this plant is so handicapped as it appears to be in such vital matters as its 
