III.J INDEPENDENT SIMILARITIES OF STRUCTURE. 



79 



" Seeds firo disseminated by (heir minuteness — by their 

 capsule ])eing' converted into a light balloon-Iikc envelope 

 — l)y being (imbedded in pulp or flesh, formed of the most 

 diverse parts, and rendered nutritious, as well as conspicu- 

 ously colored, so as to attract and be devoured by birds — 

 by having hooks and grapnels of many kinds and serrated 

 awns, so as to adhere to the fur of quadrupeds — and by be- 

 ing furnished with wings and plumes, as different in shape 

 as elegant in structure, so as to be wafted by every breeze." 

 Again, if we consider the poisoning apparatus pos- 

 sessed by different animals, we find in serpents a perfo- 

 rated — or, rather, very deeply-channelled — tooth. In wasps 

 and bees the sting is formed of modified parts, accessory 

 in reproduction. In the scorpion, we liave the median ter- 

 minal process of the body specially organized. In the 

 spider, we have a specially-constructed antenna ; and final- 

 ly in the centipede a pair of modified thoracic limbs. 



A CENTirEDE. 



It would be easy to produce a multitude of such in- 

 stances of similar ends being attained by dissimilar means, 

 and it is here contended that by " the action of Natural 



