SELF-DISPERSAL 77 
vast number of cases provision is made for self- 
pollination, and we must not forget that there is such 
a thing as self-dispersal too, although only for a short 
distance and in comparatively few cases. 
It is rather noticeable that seeds that are shot 
are not infrequently provided with a bait to tempt 
the ants; for example, out of those that I have 
mentioned five are baited, namely, the two Spurges, 
the Wood Violet, the Box and the Gorse. 
This brings me to the last thing that I propose 
saying about seed-dispersal, although as a matter of 
fact there are a great many others that I have 
ignored altogether. 
The Gorse will illustrate my meaning. In the first 
instance the seed is shot away by the explosion of the 
pod, its bait tempts an ant to carry it off and enjoy a 
meal; it may then come in for a heavy downpour and 
be washed down a slope, and it is quite possible that 
it may subsequently be blown a considerable distance 
among dead leaves and then picked up in the wet mud 
by a passing animal and carried a very long way from 
its parent before it germinates. We must, therefore, 
never think of the seeds of any plant as being dis- 
persed only in one way, for it is quite certain that at 
different times the same seed may be helped along 
in its travels by several agents, and I am quite sure 
that the student will find no more engrossing and 
interesting subject for investigation than that of seed- 
dispersal, especially if he realizes when giving his 
attention to it that it brings before his notice one of 
the several ways by which, in the co-operative Scheme 
of Creation, the animal world ministers to the essential 
needs and necessities of the vegetable. It will not 
only help him to become a competent Botanist and 
