128 THE NATURE-STUDY OF PLANTS 
naturalist, the body of an animal such as a bird, or the 
wings of the wind, or the autumn gales ; nor must we 
forget the value of mud and rain-runnels. 
On one occasion I found among the dead leaves in 
my garden two, to each of which a single seed of the 
Herb Robert was clinging. When dealing with mucila- 
ginous seeds I referred to the value of fallen leaves 
for dispersal purposes and to the part that they play, in 
conjunction with worms, in seed-sowing in Nature. 
I should add, however, that the seeds of this plant 
are not and do not become adhesive when wetted ; 
apart from moisture pure and simple their only other 
means of clinging is by the threads. 
These then are some of the more interesting 
ways in which the seeds of the Herb Robert are 
dispersed. 
There is still one experiment made by me that is 
perhaps worthy of passing notice; it has to do, 
however, not with dispersal, but with another im- 
portant point, the sowing of the seeds in the soil. 
Those of this plant must be covered over to give the 
cotyledons a fair chance of breaking out of the seed- 
coat, for germination on, instead of in, the soil is 
fatal. 
In the evening, and especially when it is damp, 
one can usually find plenty of Earthworms lying well 
out of their burrows ; now if we take one of the seeds 
by the threads and drop it on to the wet body of a 
worm we shall probably give him such a fright that 
he will vanish like a flash, seed and all, into his 
burrow. At any rate, the seed will stick, and if the 
worm happens to be less timid than most of his 
fellows he will, nevertheless, be sure to disappear 
at once on the slightest touch or in response to a 
