Seed- Ca rriers 275 



carriers they are distinctly out of place both in orchard 

 and kitchen-garden ; they are not wanted in that capa- 

 city, and, in fact, if they were, they are incompetent ; 

 for, where cherries and plums have been so increased 

 in size that they can only be pecked at, not swallowed, 

 the flesh only is taken, and the stones are left. 



Where plants are cultivated for the sake of their 

 leaves or roots, not their fruit, the former are altered, 

 but the latter remains the same, with the same means 

 of getting its seed carried to a distance which were 

 possessed by the plant's wild ancestors. The fruit of 

 the garden carrot, for instance, like that of the wild, is 

 covered with minute hooked bristles ; that of the par- 

 snip is winged ; and the seeds of the onion, tobacco, 

 and flax are just as easily scattered by the wind in the 

 cultivated as in the wild state. 



But to mention, in conclusion, some of the other 

 seed-carriers besides the birds. Among these must 

 be reckoned fish, locusts, cattle, and, perhaps above 

 all, pigs. 



Fish swallow the seeds of many water and land 

 plants, including even the large seeds of the water-lily; 

 but, being confined to their own pond, lake, or river, 

 their range is necessarily limited. When, however, 

 they, in their turn, are swallowed by herons, storks, 

 kingfishers, and other fish-eating birds, the seeds may 

 be conveyed to much greater distances and be dropped 

 quite uninjured. Some large seeds of the great southern 

 water-lily, for instance, found in the stomach of a 

 heron, had probably first been swallowed by a fish. 



The locusts which frequent parts of South Africa 

 are believed by the farmers to have introduced there 

 various new plants which are injurious to the grass ; 



