128 BOTANY 



particular adaptations to the mode of dispersal which the 

 plant has adopted and should be studied mainly from 

 this point of view. 



Small fruits and seeds are blown about by the wind 

 or carried by birds. Some are furnished with buoyant 

 accessories, which enable them to remain in the air 

 for considerable periods. In some cases the fruit splits 

 open with explosive violence and the seeds are jerked 

 to some distance. Often small fruits or seeds are 

 carried long distances embedded in mud, into which 

 they have fallen and which has subsequently become 

 attached to the feet of birds or other animals. Larger 

 fruits become attached by means of hook-like append- 

 ages to the coats of similar wanderers. Many fruits are 

 capable of floating long distances in water are indeed 

 often furnished with special mechanisms to enable 

 them to float. Indeed, the means of dispersal are so 

 numerous and in many cases so intricate that it is im- 

 possible here to do more than indicate the merest out- 

 lines of the subject. The mechanisms are easy to study 

 and every plant one meets affords an example which 

 will well repay investigation. 



THE TEMPLE PRESS, PRINTERS, LETCHWORTH 



MM I 1, /V 



