Human Factor in Plant Evolution 291 



army of European weeds, with which they managed 

 to compete pretty successfully, and now mingle with 

 them on an equal footing in the floral display of 

 the meadows and roadsides of the New England 

 States. 



Sometimes plants that have been introduced for 

 ornament or for useful purposes, prove so well 

 adapted to their new home that they escape from 

 cultivation, and may become a veritable pest, just 

 as in the animal kingdom the rabbits in Australia, 

 and the sparrows in America, have proved alto- 

 gether too well fitted to their new homes. A good 

 instance of this is found in the Hawaiian Islands, 

 where a rather pretty garden shrub, Lantana, has 

 spread over all the drier lowlands so that it now 

 has become a real nuisance. It is said that the Mina, 

 a bird introduced from India, is largely responsible 

 for distributing the seeds of the Lantana. In New 

 Zealand, the sweet-briar and gorse, introduced by 

 the early British settlers, have similarly escaped 

 from cultivation and become troublesome weeds, and 

 many similar cases can be cited from various parts 

 of the world. 



Deserted Land Returning to Forest. As the 

 arable lands of the East have been exhausted, and 

 deserted for the rich prairie farms of the Middle 

 West, they have often been abandoned, and now 

 Nature is trying to repair to some extent the rav- 

 ages made by man. Many of the deserted farms in 

 New England and New York have rapidly reverted 



