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DORIS LOVE 



Quite a number of plants and seeds, if eaten, can be accidentally dispersed 

 over considerable distances. 



Considering first the role of animals as a transportation medium, we find 

 that at the present time man is by far the most active plant disperser, even in 

 the northern latitudes with which v/e are concerned. But his role is of a very 

 late date, seen against the geological time scale, and for our particular purpose 

 if is actually insignificant. I will therefore disregard man-made dispersal. 



Table 1 



Exact Distances in Miles and Kilometers between the Nearest Points of the Land- 

 masses IN THE North Atlantic Area. Courtesy Dr. J. D. Ives, Geographical Branch, and 

 the Computer Center of the Department of Mines and Natural Resources, Ottawa, Canada. 



Among other mammals, polar bears and foxes are the only ones that are 

 occasionally carried by ice between the North Atlantic islands (and even from 

 Greenland to Iceland). But during the time when these animals venture so far 

 from land (and the possibility of eating vegetable matter) that they are caught 

 in the drift ice, they subsist exclusively on animal food. We can therefore 

 safely ignore them as possible plant dispersers. 



With birds it is another question. They travel freely between landmasses in 



