120 



SAGACITY AND MORALITY OF PLANTS. 



unless they fall to the ground. We have seen 

 how birds have been converted into useful friends, 

 to disperse the seeds, instead of being constantly 



contended with as enemies. 

 Moreover, birds are so con- 

 stituted that fruits poisonous 

 to other animals are probably 

 not so to them. They are, as 

 a race, in the condition of an 

 arsenic or opium-eater, who, 

 by constantly partaking of 

 such drugs, is by and by en- 

 abled to safely consume what 

 would be a fatal dose to other 

 persons. In this way such 

 poisonous fruits as yew berries 

 are protected from mammals 

 (which would be unserviceable 

 and even injurious to the seeds), 

 and are confined to birds which 

 have become constituted to 

 partake of them without injury. 

 I believe that the bright red 

 fruits of the Lords and Ladies 



Fig. 49.-Arum, or Cuckoo Pint. [A rUIH maculattlin)^ which Stand 

 (rt) spathe ; {b) spadix. r . i • • , i . 



forth m promment clusters m 

 our country lanes in the autumn time, are not guilty 

 of the deed ascribed to them by Grant Allen, viz. — 

 of attracting birds to eat them, and then poisoning 



