Natural History 617 



adapting themselves to environment ; we may suppose that an act 

 of the plant is just as full of practical import as that of an animal : 

 in the latter case the act may suggest intelligent behaviour, in the 

 other it is only the result of an inherited tropism. The plant, like 

 the animal, can camouflage and deceive. The pitcher-plant and 

 bladderwort are as guilty of false pretences as the spider; the 

 sundew and the fly-catcher are adepts in preparing a bait for 

 confiding insects. The white ant will squirt an obnoxious juice in 

 the face of an attacker ; so do plants produce poisonous and evil- 

 smelling substances to keep off an enemy. Each species lives for 

 itself; no species ever undertakes anything for the sake of any 

 other, except in the expectation of a corresponding advantage. 

 If the wild thyme lays by in its throat abundant honey for the bee, 

 that is because the bee carries its pollen from blossom to blossom. 



The Part the Root Plays 



Typically the main root grows straight down, the main stem 

 straight up. If a seed happens to be planted right way up the 

 young root and stem grow on in the way they are pointing; but 

 if the seed lies on its side or is inverted, the root and stem make 

 active curvatures till they point in the proper directions. When 

 we sow seed we do not require to arrange it also ; we leave proper 

 orientation to the powers of the growing plant. Indeed, in many 

 seeds the embryo is originally curved and must in any case 

 straighten out. Nor is this power confined to the seedling stage ; 

 a stem which has been bent over curves up, in the growing apical 

 part, in the course of a day or so. The plant is capable of active 

 curvature, and this movement is set agoing by some external direc- 

 tive influence. 



The movements of roots, as they grow in the earth, 

 suggest that they are seeking for nutriment. Spots in the 

 earth which are found to be unfavourable to progression are 



