870 THE DISPERSION OF SPECIES BY MEANS OF FRUITS AND SEEDS. 



phenomenon in question is not merely a matter of conjecture, but has come actually 

 under observation. 



About 10 per cent of all Flowering Plants possess fruits or seeds which are 

 dispersed by means of clawed or barbed processes. This mode of dissemination is 

 very like that whereby sticky fruits attain the same object. The part of the plant 

 which is provided with these structures hooks on to the hairs, bristles, or feathers 

 of 'any bird or other animal that happens to come into contact with it. The conse- 

 quence is that it is torn away and carried off by the animal. This act of depredation 

 is of course not intentional on the part of the creature that performs it; on the 

 contrary, such appendages are a source of discomfort, and are got rid of as soon as 



Fig. 476.-Sticky fruits. 



t ,u, CalyX f the 



6 Stalked adhesive glands on the fruit of the same; X 60. Ltonaa borealis. 



Capensis. < Pisonia 

 7 Fruit of the same; x 5. 



possible. But in many cases this is not accomplished until a considerable distance 

 been traversed, and sometimes the troublesome objects remain for weeks in the 

 creature's coat or mane. The organs of attachment are either hooked at the tip or 

 *set with barbs (see figs. 477 and 477 -). In the latter case the barbs are borne 

 L special rigid bristles or needles, and are either collected together at the top as in 

 arpoon, or else are arranged in longitudinal rows as in a hackle for combine flax 

 i a few instances (e.g. in Polygala glochidiata, Stellaria glochidiata, and 



y 7^ ideS) d ^ StrUCtUre8 > Which y be cl d together 

 and hooked prickles, occur on the seeds themselves; usually they 

 are appendages of the pericarp, and as such exhibit every degree of sizP possible 



Harpoo i Fruit 



Af an 



The hooked spines f the iatter 



ciows feet, and are a notorious source of vexation to 



