4O2 PROPAGATION OF THE SPECIES. CHAP. IX. 



v 



seed itself, as in the case of nuts hoarded up by 

 Squirrels, which are often dispossessed by some other 

 animal, that not caring for the hoard scatters and 

 disperses it. Sometimes the hoard is deposited in 

 the ground itself, in which case part of it is generally 

 found to take root and spring up into plants. But 

 it has been observed that the Ground Squirrel often 

 deprives the kernel of its germe before it deposits 

 the fruit it collects ; which it has been supposed to 

 do from some peculiar instinct as the means of pre- 

 venting the germination of the seed. It has been 

 suggested, however, that the preference thus given 

 to the embryo arises perhaps from its possessing 

 some specific flavour peculiarly agreeable to the 

 animal's taste ; and this is perhaps the true solution 

 of the question.* Crows have been also observed 

 to lay up acorns and other seeds in the holes of 

 fence-posts, which being either forgot or acci- 

 dentally thrust out, fall ultimately into the earth 

 and germinate. 



But sometimes the seed is even taken into the 

 stomach of the animal, and afterwards deposited 

 in the soil, having passed through it unhurt. This 

 is often the case with the seed of many species of 

 berry, such as the Miseltoe, which the thrush 

 swallows and afterwards deposits upon the boughs 

 of such trees as it may happen to alight upon. The 

 seeds of the Loranthus americanus, another parasiti- 

 cal plant, arc said to be deposited in like manner on 

 * Barton's Elem, of Bot. p. 233. 



