354 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY, 



these kiiuls the assemblies answering to them, so far as may be in 

 position and function, are formed under the influence of tradition or 

 example ; and in default of men of the original kind are formed of 

 others generally, however, of those who, by position, seniority, or 

 previous official experience, are more eminent than those forming pop- 

 ular assemblies. It is only to what may be called the normal consul- 

 tative body which grows up during that compounding and recom- 

 pounding of small societies into large ones which war effects that the 

 foregoing description applies ; and the senates, or superior chambers, 

 which arise under later and more com23lex conditions, may be consid- 

 ered as homologous to them in function and composition so far only 

 as the new conditions permit. 



-- 



ON FEUITS AND SEEDS/^ 



By Sir JOHN LUBBOCK, F. E. S. 



IN a very large number of cases the diffusion of seeds is effected by 

 animals. To this class belong the fruits and berries. In them an 

 outer fleshy portion becomes pulpy, and generally sweet, inclosing 

 the seeds. It is remarkable that such fruits, in order, doubtless, to at- 

 tract animals, are, like flowers, brightlj^ colored as. for instance, the 

 cherry, currant, apple, peach, plum, strawberry, raspberry, and many 

 others. This color, moreover, is not present in the unripe fruit, but is 

 rapidly developed at maturity. In such cases the actual seed is gener- 

 ally protected by a dense, sometimes almost stony, covering, so that it 

 escapes digestion, while its germination is perhaps hastened by the 

 heat of the animal's body. It may be said that the skin of apple and 

 pear pips is comparatively soft; but then they are imbedded in a 

 stringy core, which is seldom eaten. 



These colored fruits form a considerable part of the food of mon- 

 keys in the tropical regions of the earth, and we can, I think, hardly 

 doubt that these animals are guided by the colors, just as we are, in 

 selecting the ripe fruit. This has a curious bearing on an interesting 

 question as to the power of distinguishing color possessed by our an- 

 cestors in bygone times. Magnus and Geiger, relying on the well- 

 known fact that the ancient languages are poor in words for color, and 

 that in the oldest books as, for instance, in the Vedas, the Zend- 

 Avesta, the Old Testament, and the writings of Homer and Hesiod 

 though, of course, the heavens are referred to over and over again, its 

 blue color is never dwelt on, have argued that the ancients were very 

 deficient in the power of distinguishing colors, and especially blue. 

 In our own country Mr. Gladstone has lent the weight of his great 



* Continued fro'.Ti page l^l. 



