54 PLANT LIFE. 



produced, and could be of no value till they had 

 become complete, cannot be brought into line with 

 any theory. 



It only remains to mention a few unusual, and 

 decidedly special, cases of arrangements for seed dis- 

 persion. The seeds of the Cow-wheat {^Melampyruni) 

 are exceedingly like the larvae of certain ants, and it 

 has been found that they are actually carried about as 

 larvae by the ants and thus distributed. The squirrel 

 makes a store of nuts, and sometimes forgets where they 

 have been placed, and in this way Oak and Hazel 

 nuts are not infrequently dispersed. The crow also 

 carries acorns about, and drops them in a new position ; 

 uninjured seeds of Potamogeton natans, Chenopodimn 

 alburn^ Euphorbia helioscopia, etc., are also said to have 

 been found in birds' crops. These, of course, might 

 germinate if thrown out. 



Drifting wood may carry seeds, or even entire plants, 

 over wide distances. Sloane in 1695 recorded the 

 occurrence of Guilandina Bonduc on the coast of Ireland, 

 and R. Brown mentioned that the seeds germinated. 

 It is not at all impossible that the Eriocaulon Angusti 

 folium, found in the Hebrides, reached Britain in this 

 way. Other plants, such as the common Shepherd's 

 Purse {Capselld)^ produce so many seeds that, although 

 these do not show any remarkable adaptations, the plant 

 has, nevertheless, a much greater chance of reproduction 

 than plants in which only a few seeds are produced, 

 though these have a very complete mechanism for 

 dispersion. These plants, like the rabbit, survive in 

 virtue of their great reproductive power. Thus 

 Phnpinella integerrima will produce some 29 umbels, 

 with, on an average, 1600 fruits (Harshberger) or 

 46,400 (92,800 seeds) in the year. Capsella, in which 



