218 DISTRIBUTION OF 



of man to estimate the number of seeds which are en- 

 closed in a capsule of a Moss or on the single leaf of a 

 Fern. 



Whenever they are less numerous, they are defend- 

 ed from injury by the hardness of their external coat, 

 by the thorns with which they are invested and by the 

 acrimony of their juices. 



Thus productive, and thus defended, it is probable 

 that no family of plants now in existence, will prema- 

 turely cease to be. We now see how various and 

 yet how essential are the means which nature em- 

 ploys for the dissemination of plants. Seeds are liter- 

 ally scattered over the whole face of the globe, but 

 their dispersion is neither the effect of accident or 

 chance. The mountain has its favourite plant whose 

 seeds are endowed with the power of reaching its 

 summit, while those which delight in the valley, are 

 carried by opposite means to their destined abode. 

 The seeds of mountain plants are sometimes the food 

 of birds, through whose agency they reach the place 

 most favourable to their germination. Sometimes 

 they rise on the wings of their feathery crown, sail 

 through the air, till they reach their final home, on 

 the brow of some neighbouring hill. And is it not de- 

 lightful to observe the various means which are em- 

 ployed for their dispersion, to see some furnished with 

 wings which enable them to fly more like things of life 

 than tenements in which it slumbers ; to see those do- 

 mestic plants which linger around the dwellings of man 

 furnished with seeds whose hooks attach them to the 

 dress of every visitor, by which they are scattered at 

 a distance from their original locality, though near 

 the walks and around the habitations which they de- 

 light to honor ; to see the seeds of aquatic plants en- 



