Irugtvseggen fjsernes. Han niener, at hindringen for spiringen ligger 

 i den hårde frugtviegs modsland mod vandets indlryengen, og at derfor 

 den vigtigste betingelse er tilstra^kkelig miengde al" vand for kimen. 

 En temporier törring fremmer spiringen, fordi fiugtvjeggen hos visse 

 vandplanter da let revner, når frugterne derpå bliver lagte i vand. 

 Ligeså mener han, at syrers og basers virkning, selv om man ikke 

 kan se nogen synlig förändring i frugtvseggen, godt kan bestå i en 

 förändring af dennes reaktion överfor vandets indtriengen. Medens 

 således Fischer forklarer spiringsvanskelighederne som forårsagede 

 af egenskaber hos kimen, hegger Crocker dem i frugtvteggens kon- 

 sistens. Hvem af de lo forskere der har ret, er det ikke muligt at 

 afgöre nu for tiden; andre forsög må nödvendigvis udföres, for at 

 bringe klarhed i denne sag, og det vilde viere önskeligt, om nogen 

 vilde läge sägen op til fornyet undersögelse. 



REMARKS ON AN EXPERIMENT CONCERNING THE GERMI- 



NATION OF SEEDS WHICH HAVE PASSED THROUGH THE 



DIGESTIVE APPARATUS OF A BIRD. 



SUMMARY. 



In the introduction the natural faclors acting as means for the 

 dispersal of seeds are shortly mentioned; only the birds as faclors 

 are dealt with at some lenglh. It is pointed oul that migratory 

 birds have been taken as important helpers for the dispersal of 

 seeds at long distances, hut that this is hardly true, as birds, when 

 migraling, are clean and have empty stomachs. On the other hand 

 the birds surely are important faclors for dispersal of seeds at short 

 distances. The birds — as other animals — act as dispersing 

 agents in three manners: endozoic\ synzoic and epizoic (cfr. R. Ser- 

 NANDER, 12). Only the endozoic manner is trealed. S. Birger (11), 

 O. Ekstam (4), H. Hessel.man (ti), J. Holmboe (7) and R. Sernander 

 (12) have examined the contents of the digestive apparatus of 

 Scandinavian birds with regard to seeds. We have thus at present 

 a fairly good knowledge of which seeds are to be found in the 

 digestive apparatus of birds and which birds do eat seeds, but no 

 experiments on the germinating power of seeds laken from the shot 

 birds have been made. When such investigalion may be done, it will 



