58 SAGACITY AND MORALITY OF PLANTS. 



mention " proliferous " Ferns, which bear young speci- 

 mens on the upper surfaces of their fronds. They 

 are not at all unfrequent in well-kept ferneries, where 

 there is a superabundance of vegetable food. 



The Strawberry affords us an instance of pro- 

 pagation by means of peculiar creeping roots. 

 Everybody is acquainted with the shoots thrown out 

 by its roots in gardens. Strawberries grow more 

 luxuriantly there than on the wild hedge - banks, 

 for more nutriment is present ; but the habit was 

 originally acquired in the desperate battle for 

 vegetable life which takes place on every bank ex- 

 posed to the sun. At each joint of these Straw- 

 berry '' runners," as they are called, small leaves 

 sprout, and the gardener can propagate a* new plant 

 from them. " Couch-grass " and many other plants 

 belonging to widely separated orders have found 

 out a similar plan. Adams and Leverrier discovered 

 the planet Nepttme almost simultaneously, each 

 without the knowledge of the other ; — plants in their 

 life -histories have not unfrequently hit upon the 

 same lucky devices ! 



Not unfrequently, on very succulent leaves, simi- 

 lar accidental buds are formed. Some plants — like 

 the little freshwater Hydra among animals — have 

 even learned to take advantage of accidents that 

 would destroy other individuals, and to propagate 

 their kind thereby. Mr. Herbert Spencer points 

 out that Bryophylluin calycimun has succulent leaves, 



