A WAYSIDE BERRY. 19 



the comparatively unimportant receptacle is all 

 that we usually think of when we talk about 

 strawberries. After our usual Protagorean 

 fashion we regard man as the measure of all 

 things, and pay little heed to any part of the 

 compound fruit-cluster save that which minis- 

 ters directly to our own tastes. 



But why does the strawberry develop this 

 large mass of apparently useless matter ? 

 Simply in order the better to ensure the dis- 

 persion of its small brown fruitlets. Birds 

 are always hunting for seeds and insects along 

 the hedge-rows, and devouring such among 

 them as contain any available foodstuff. In 

 most cases they crush the seeds to pieces with 

 their gizzards, and digest and assimilate their 

 contents. Seeds of this class are generally 

 enclosed in green or brown capsules, which 

 often escape the notice of the birds, and so 

 succeed in perpetuating their species. But 

 there is another class of plants whose mem- 

 bers possess hard and indigestible seeds, and 

 so turn the greedy birds from dangerous 



C 2 



