526 THE UNIVERSE. 



which so frequently travel on the ice-blocks, some seeds torn 

 from the boreal regions often reach happier climates. 



Animals also contribute freely to the dissemination of 

 vegetable products. Marmots, dormice, hamsters, heap up 

 fruits in their underground abodes. Frequently a part of 

 the booty accumulated by their active foresight is left for- 

 gotten in the ground, germinates there, and develops with 

 the return of spring. At other times the weapon of the 

 sportsman slaughters the owner of the store, and his hoard 

 turns to the profit of vegetation. Squirrels break down the 

 cones of the pine in order to devour the seeds, of which 

 they are very fond. But during this occupation some of 

 the seeds escape them, fall, and take root in the ground. 



Some mammals assist the process of dissemination by a 

 still more simple means : the seeds cling to their wool, and 

 are transported hither and thither by them during their 

 peregrinations. The seeds of the burdock, which end in a 

 hook, are very well adapted for this purpose. Those of the 

 goose-grass (Galium aparine), roughened with fine points 

 like so many fish-hooks, cling to the skin of any animal or 

 the dress of any man who may happen to pass near them ; 

 a peculiarity which acquired for this plant the surname of 

 philanthropos among the witty Greeks. 



Although animals consume a large quantity of seeds for 

 their food, nature, by a happy compensation, finds in this 

 consumption an inexhaustible source of regeneration. 



In this way great troops of reindeer, which are scattered 

 over the plains of Siberia, emigrating in masses on all sides, 

 sow, as they pass along, a host of plants, the seeds of which, 

 swallowed with their food, have resisted their digestive 

 powers. 



