7 2 



POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



The fruit is the vehicle of the seed, and in each seed lies hidden 

 the germ of a new plant. To spread itself as far and wide over the 

 earth as its environing conditions will allow is the aim of every 

 plant. In some the fruit has developed into an edible berry, and 

 the hard-coated seeds pass uninjured through the bodies of animals, 

 and are scattered long distances away from the parent plants. In 

 many forms it is fashioned for sailing in air currents; in some, like 

 the cocoanut, with its tough, buoyant husk, to be floated on the 

 waves and washed by the tides and ocean currents to distant shores. 

 Every plant tends to hold back this dispersive effort until its seeds 



have matured. As this is ac- 

 complished the ovary ripens 

 into the fruit, of a form and 

 fashion after its kind. The 

 green color, that served to 

 protect it when ripening amid 

 the mass of foliage, changes to 

 the conspicuous reds and yel- 

 lows that catch the eye of a 

 wandering animal — and so its 

 part is played. Among these 

 burs and " stickers " of our 

 autumn woodlands we see but 

 another means for securing 

 this end. The wandering 

 deer or bear, the hunter fol- 

 lowing its trail through the 

 undergrowth, the fox, skunk, 

 raccoon, and such lesser wood 

 folk, each serves a turn in 

 bearing away these bristly 

 fruits. How well it has been 

 accomplished is seen in the 

 wide dispersal of these plants. A striking fact in evidence of this is 

 the relatively large number that have come from the shores of Europe 

 as uninvited guests. Circaea, the burdock, cocklebur, several species 

 of cleavers, and a species of comfrey have thus become naturalized 

 in our country, and it is not improbable that several of our native 

 species have found their way to the Old World by catching fast to 

 some passing vagrant, who later took ship and landed with the burs 

 still clinging to his clothes. 



Reproduction and dispersal are the two great aims in the life of 

 every plant and animal. All else is but the means, the mere con- 

 trivances to gain the best advantage in the accomplishment of these 



Ubo 



S.T 



