SECT. II. SEEDS. , 401 



great distance ; but where distance of dispersion is 

 required, nature is also furnished with a resource. 

 One of the most common modes by which seeds are 

 conveyed to a distance from their place of growth 

 is that of the instrumentality of animals. 



Many seeds are thus carried to a distance from By the in- 

 the place of growth merely by their attaching them- aih^of 1 '" 

 selves to the bodies of such animals as may happen animals> 

 accidentally to come in contact with the plant in 

 their search after food ; the hooks or hairs with 

 which one part or other of the fructification is often 

 furnished serving as the medium of attachment, and 

 the seed being thus carried about with the animal 

 till it is again detached by some accidental cause, 

 and at last committed to the soil. This may be 

 exemplified in the case of the Bidens and Myosotis, 

 in which the hooks or prickles are attached to the 

 seed itself; or in the case of Galium aparine and 

 others, in which they are attached to the pericarp ; 

 or in the case of the Thistle and Burdock, in which 

 they are attached to the general calyx. 



Many seeds are dispersed by animals in conser 

 quence of their pericarps being used as an animal 

 food. This is often the case with the seeds of the 

 Drupe, as Cherries, Sloes, and Haws, which birds 

 often carry away till they meet with some con- 

 venient place for devouring the pulpy pericarp 

 and then drop the stone into the soil. And so also 

 fruit is dispersed that has been hoarded up for the 

 winter, though even with the view of feeding on the 



VOL. II. 2 D 



