68 THE NATURE-STUDY OF PLANTS 
of the seed to the leaf. I remember experimenting 
with those of the Bird’s-eye and some leaves that I 
had brought home which were lying about the plant. 
The result that I obtained was that on one and the 
same leaf some of them adhered, whereas others did 
not ; this was the last thing I should have expected, 
and, moreover, the previously recorded results of a 
much more experienced observer were that they were 
not adhesive at all. A second trial of my own with 
another leaf entirely confirmed his observations, and 
an examination of the misleading leaf revealed thereon 
a fairly broad slime track, left no doubt by a good- 
sized slug. It had become sticky when I moistened 
the leaf, but, at any rate, it was worth while learning 
that slime tracks play this subordinate but useful 
part in seed-dispersal, and we should remember that a 
vast amount of it is effected by the co-operation of the 
wind and dead leaves. 
Whether wet or dry, adhesive or not, seeds are 
thus seattered broadcast over considerable areas, 
even such large ones as those of the Yellow Flag, 
which emit no mucilage; they, nevertheless, adhere 
to leaves so long as they are wet, and even when 
leaves and seeds are both dry they are blown along 
together for considerable distances. I have, for 
example, found the Yellow Flag’s many yards from 
the parent plant, and under circumstances that left 
no doubt about the part played by the leaves. 
I shall have to refer again in the next chapter to 
the adhesive powers of seeds, and then we shall 
understand their use at another equally important 
stage in the life-history of the seed. 
Lastly, the wind is responsible for a good deal of 
short-distance dispersal over the water as well as over 
