102 SAGACITY AND MORALITY OF PLANTS. 



those of the thistle ! In apples and pears it grows 

 fleshy and bulky — in the latter it gets drier and 

 lighter. But in both instances the same end is sub- 

 served for the seeds ; the former enables them to 

 be disseminated by birds and mammals, and the 

 feathery parachute or " pappus " of the latter is 

 ingeniously contrived so that the seeds can be 

 dispersed by the wind ! 



I have drawn attention to the vast number of 

 plants which have selected bird-agency for scattering 

 their seeds. The fact that members of various orders 

 have laid themselves out for this purpose, and have 

 hit upon similar or analogous contrivances, in so many 

 places far removed from each other, is a pregnant 

 fact to the philosophical botanist. It cannot be 

 understood without callino; in the aid which the 

 modern doctrine of evolution affords. Black and 

 red appear to be the chief colours adopted by fruits, 

 although some have an attractive bluish " bloom " 

 about them, as in the sloe, grapes, etc. The berries 

 of the Mistletoe are of a whitish hue. But black (a 

 very rare colour in the petals of flowers) is common 

 among bird-distributed fruits. In the same order, 

 and not unfrequently even in the same family, 

 as among the Ericacece, for instance, we ' find the 

 most opposite results — some producing succulent 

 fruits, like the cranberry and whinberry ; and 

 others dry ones, as the Common Heath, etc. Next 

 to the Roses, this order has been most successful 



