I04 SAGACITY AND MORALITY OF PLANTS. 



lected so various an assemblage into one common 

 group, as regards the means adopted for the dispersal 

 of their seeds. 



Man has eagerly seized upon those species of 

 succulent fruits which happened to suit his taste 

 and appetite, and has practically robbed the birds 

 of them. But there still remain many kinds he is 

 in no hurry to " annex." Some are regarded by 

 him as poisonoiLS — many of them are natcseous, as 

 the attractive berries of the Honeysuckle, Bitter- 

 sweet, Bryony, and Yew, for instance. Those of 

 the Juniper are employed in the manufacture of gin, 

 but they have their revenge on man in another way. 



The fact is, many of these fruits have discovered 

 they were liable to be devoured by animals unser- 

 viceable to them for the purposes of dissemination, 

 and so they have gradually secreted in their pulpy 

 flesh substances objectionable to mammals, but to 

 which birds have grown accustomed to consume with 

 the utmost safety. Such are the fruits of the Bryony, 

 Bitter-sweet, Black Nightshade, Yew, and perhaps 

 those of the Arum and Deadly Nightshade {Atropa 

 belladonna) as well. In South America, we read 

 that one of the most fatal of all known poisonous 

 fruits, the Manchineel {Hippomane mancmella), is eaten 

 with impunity by native birds. The fruits which 

 have thus learned to confine themselves to birds are 

 evidently gainers by the artifice, and we can there- 

 fore understand why many of them, in this respect. 



