132 VIOLA SAGITTATA. ARROW-LEAVED VIOLET. 



produce seed. Prof. Goodale says in his " Wild Flowers " that the 

 Viola sagittata was never known by him to have seeds from 

 the complete flowers, nor does the writer of this remember to 

 have seen any. The same 'thing, however, has been believed in 

 relation to some English species ; but Mr. Darwin says it is a 

 mistake, as he has seen some fruit in a few cases. 



Another very interesting observation has been made in con- 

 nection with the scattering of the seeds. The capsule is three- 

 valved, and when the seed has matured in all the valves, the lat- 

 ter contract, pressing the grains of seed, which then fly out as a 

 bean flies from between the fingers when pinched. There is 

 a popular prejudice in some parts of England that the Violet 

 " breeds fleas," and this, no doubt, originated from the brown 

 seeds being ejected in the way described. The seeds are about 

 the size of a flea, and any one not looking close enough at the 

 plant to notice the seeds as they are ejected, would be very 

 likely to take the " jumping creature " for a veritable flea. 



So far as our observation extends, the Arrow-leaved Violet 

 grows in the Northern States, in open fields or hillsides, in 

 rather dry places ; but as we go South, it seems to prefer damp 

 situations. The place of growth seems in some measure to 

 influence its character. Dr. Willis says, in his " Catalogue of 

 New Jersey Plants," that it is generally " slightly pubescent 

 (hairy or downy) when growing in dry soil, and entirely smooth 

 when growing in damp places." Situation and external cir- 

 cumstances often influence form, but frequently there are laws 

 which cause changes quite independent of anything external. 



Violets abound in our country, but yet the individual species 

 have a circumscribed limit in many instances. Thus Chapman 

 says of the species to which this article is devoted, that within 

 the area covered by his " Flora of the Southern United States" 

 it is chiefly confined to the upper districts. Its chief territory 

 seems to be Canada and the more northern Atlantic States, 

 and from there west to Michigan, sweeping thence southerly to 

 Arkansas and Florida. 



