xxii DISPERSAL AND PROTECTION 



fruit has a disagreeable taste, is sometimes even 

 poisonous. It has no scent and is inconspicuous, 

 being green, like the foliage. Some fruits, like 

 the chestnut, walnut, etc., have an especial pro- 

 tection in the surrounding involucre. 



Some ripe fruits have certain means of protec- 

 tion against foes that destroy the seed as well as 

 the pulp. Mice are fond of rose hips and the 

 contained seeds, but do not venture along the 

 thorny way by which they are reached. Fallen 

 cherries are eagerly eaten by centipedes, but 

 hanging on their lengthened stalks they are 

 comparatively safe from them. 



Our knowledge is as yet not sufficiently detailed 

 to state definitely that all of the fruits described 

 in this work are used as food by birds or animals 

 that scatter their seeds. Such fruits are included 

 as seem adapted for transmission in this way. 

 We do know that many of them are eaten by 

 birds and know also the kind or kinds of birds 

 using them. Dr. C. F. Hodge, in his book, 

 " Nature Study and Life," has an interesting 

 table of birds and their foods which includes a 

 number of these fruits. Numerous investigations 

 along this line are being made. Birds from 

 various sections are sent to government experts, 

 who, from an examination of the contents of 

 their food tracts, are enabled to determine many 



