SEEDS. 215 



son ; and accordingly its capsules open, when the rain 

 would cause others to close ; and its seeds are disper- 

 sed at the only time when their germination could be 

 effected. 



Here too we should mention the seed of the Walk- 

 ing or Animated Oat, Avena sterilis, whose awn is made 

 to move by the slightest variation of atmospheric va- 

 pour. It is not unfrequently found at a distance from 

 where it was originally deposited, marching with con- 

 stant step till it has penetrated the earth ; and even 

 then its progress is arrested only by the equal moisture, 

 which causes its seed to germinate, and fixes it to the 

 soil. 



Allied to the Walking Oat — equally alive to the vari- 

 eties of moisture, is the beak of the Erodium moscha- 

 turn, or Musk Geranium. While it remains attached to 

 the style, it is straight, but coils up after it is ripened, 

 whenever it is placed in a dry situation ; but water has 

 the power of extending it to its former shape. The 

 hairs with which the seed is invested, facilitate its en- 

 trance into the earth, and prevent its return ; so that 

 the whole economy of the seed is too curious to be 

 overlooked. 



The fruit of many plants being the food of animals, they 

 in various ways scatter the seeds abroad. The Squirrel 

 fills his storehouses with a stock of winter's food ; but 

 he is either destroyed, or forgets where his treasures 

 were deposited, till they are no longer desirable food. 

 Here his nuts are permitted to germinate, and the very 

 means which threatened to destroy, are made to pre- 

 serve the trees to which they belong. Birds also lay 

 up a store of food for themselves and their young. 

 While the Hollanders were in possession of the Spice 

 Islands, they endeavoured to destroy the Nutmeg? 



