1 1 i.l PROTECTION OF SEEDS. 4? 



so-called seeds are really fruits ; that is to say, they 

 are seeds with more or less complex envelopes. 



We all know that seeds and fruits differ greatly in 

 different species. Some are large, some small ; some 

 are sweet, some bitter ; some are brightly coloured ; 

 some are good to eat, some poisonous ; some spherical, 

 some winged, some covered with bristles, some with 

 hairs ; some are smooth, some very sticky. 



We may be sure that there are good reasons for 

 these differences. In the case of flowers much light 

 has been thrown on their various interesting pecu- 

 liarities by the researches of Sprengel, Darwin, Mliller, 

 and other naturalists. As regards seeds also, besides 

 Gaertner's great work, Hildebrand, Krause, Stein- 

 brinck, Kerner, Grant Allen, Wallace, Darwin, and 

 others, have published valuable researches, especially 

 with reference to the hairs and hooks with which so 

 many seeds are provided, and the other means of 

 dispersion they possess. Nobbe also has contributed 

 an important work on seeds, principally from an agri- 

 cultural point of view, but the subject as a whole offers 

 a most promising field for investigation. It is rather 

 with a view of suggesting this branch of science to you, 

 than of attempting to supply the want myself, that I 

 now propose to call your attention to it. In doing so 

 I must, in the first place, express my acknowledg- 

 ments to Mr. Baker, Mr. Carruthers, Mr. Hemsley, 

 and especially to Mr. Thiselton Dyer and Sir Joseph 

 Hooker, for their kind and most valuable assistance. 



It is said that one of our best botanists once observed 

 to another that he never could understand what was 

 the use of the teeth on the capsules of mosses. " Oh," 



