iv.] SEEDS WHICH MIMIC ANIMALS. 93 



fruits. The pods of Lotus, for instance, quaintly 

 resemble a bird's foot, even to the toes ; whence the 

 specific name of one species, ornithopodioides ; those 

 of Hippocrepis remind one of a horse-shoe ; those of 

 Trapa bicornis have an absurd resemblance to the 

 skeleton of a bull's head. These likenesses appear 

 to be accidental, but there are some which probably 

 are of use to the plant. For instance there are two 

 species of Scorpiurus, Fig. 57, the pods of which lie 

 on the ground, and so curiously resemble the one 

 (5. subvillosa, Fig. 57, a) a centipede, the other (S.ver- 

 miculata, Fig. 57, U] a worm or caterpillar, that it is 

 almost impossible not to suppose that the likeness 

 must be of some use to the plant. May it not 

 be possible that in these cases birds carry the seeds 

 some little distance before they find out that they 

 are not really insects ? 



The pod of Biserrula pelecinus (Fig. 58) also 

 has a striking resemblance to a flattened centipede ; 

 while the seeds of Abrns precatorius, both in size and 

 in their very striking colour, mimic a small beetle, 

 A rtemis circumusta. 



Mr. Moore has recently called attention to other 

 cases of this kind. Thus the seed of Martynia 

 diandra much resembles a beetle with long antennae; 

 several species of Lupins have seeds much like spiders, 

 and those of Dimorphochlamys, a gourdlike plant, 

 mimic a piece of dry twig. In the common Castor 

 Oil plants (Fig. 58^), though the resemblance is not 

 so close, still at a first glance the seeds might readily 

 be taken for beetles or ticks. In many Euphorbi- 

 aceous plants, as for instance in Jatropha (Fig. 



