SEEDLINGS, FOODSTORES AND GERMINATION. 83 



explanation of some peculiar reseniblances. Most seeds 

 are very difficult to detect when they are in the ground ; 

 for they are very commonly of the shape and colour of 

 particles of the soil or of small stones. The fruits 

 which do not open and are dispersed by any of the 

 ordinary methods often resemble seeds ; the fruits of 

 the common buttercup and the strawberry carpels are 

 e.g. very like seeds. The dry fruit of one of the Com- 

 positae. Calendula officinalis., resembles the larva of an 



Fig. 8. — Hippocrcpis sp. The pod resembles a caterpillar. 



insect Curculio. Some weeds have seeds resembling very 

 closely grains of corn. Sometimes this resemblance is 

 due to a family relationship, as in the case of several 

 Avenas (A. faUia, A. sterilis, etc.), which are very like 

 the Oat. But in other cases the resemblance cannot 

 be thus explained. Probably, though it is difficult to 

 prove, the resemblance has arisen from those which 

 were most like corn having been unconsciously pre- 

 served by man. 



Other more extraordinary cases of resemblance are 

 the pods of certain Leguminosae which are extremely like 

 caterpillars. The Castor-oil seed is again rather like a 



