116 THE HUMAN SIDE OF PLANTS 



bows, and the airship, now a seaship, glides over 

 the ripples. 



Human aeronauts have boasted of their hydro- 

 planes as the conquerors of air and water simul- 

 taneously ; but let them observe the tiniest seedling, 

 and they will find their original contrivances but 

 poor imitations in larger form of the hydroplanes 

 in use in the realms of Plantdom for many centuries 

 past. 



Man in his frail hydroplane guards against death 

 among the waves by fastening a life-preserver 

 about his body; the aeronautic plants learned to do 

 that many ages ago. These plant life-preservers, 

 also, are frequently made of cork. The seeds of the 

 dock are so safe-guarded. 



But the air-tight compartment is the device gen- 

 erally used by the plant-mother to protect her seed- 

 children from the perils of the deep. The sedges, 

 water-plantain, and many varieties of the common 

 sea-weeds have these compartments. 



The airships built by the locust show tiny 

 bulkheads separating the air-tight staterooms in 

 which their passengers are lodged. Should there 

 be some accident on the sea, and part of the pod- 

 vessel be crushed, or broken open, the untouched 

 compartments will remain afloat and bear at least 

 one or two of the passengers to shore. There the 



