188 THE RING OF NATURE 



the balloon or even, the balloon having gone, by 

 the fluting of the seed case. There are hundreds 

 of them in this particular trade, the members of 

 the great composite family numbering in Great 

 Britain alone fully a hundred and thirty species. 

 This particular fruit, aided by a very gentle rising 

 breeze, has travelled uncommonly far for a thistle, 

 the majority of the balloons we see careering in all 

 sorts of unexpected places up and down the land 

 having lost their cargoes within forty or fifty 

 yards of the parent plant. We may find that 

 there are some other seeds apparently not so well 

 equipped for travelling that succeed in colonizing 

 many thousands of miles from their home. 



Nearly all the best flying seeds belong to the 

 composite family, and nearly every member of 

 that family migrates by the air. The habit has 

 in a measure been forced upon them by their very 

 compositeness. When the flowers, for the purpose 

 of better attracting the insects, took to growing 

 all together on one head with a communal arrange- 

 ment of bracts by way of calyx, we may say that 

 in quite an impersonal way the question arose, 

 What was to be done with each flower's own calyx. 

 The scheme of a dandelion would obviously be 

 spoiled if a hundred and fifty green calyces poked 

 out all over and reduced the radiant gold of the 

 ' blossom ' to something little different from the 

 grass of the field. The florets are safe in their 

 numbers, and do not require the protection of a 

 calyx for each of them. The calyx is not wanted, 



