ON THE IVJNGS OF THE WIND. 



41 



eiitiic central part of the cucumber, in short (answering 

 to tlio seeds and pulp of a lipe melon), squirts out 

 clastically through the breach in the outer wall, leaving 

 the hollow shell behind as a more empty windbag. 



Naturally, the squirting cucumber knows its own 

 business best, and is not without sufiicient reasons of its 

 own for this strange and, to some extent, unmannerly 

 behaviour. By its queer trick of squirting, it manages 

 to kill at least two birds with one stone. For, in the 

 first place, the sudden clastic jump of the fruit frightens 

 away browsing animals, such as goats and cattle. Those 

 meditative ruminants are little accustomed to finding 

 shrubs or plants take the aggressive against them; and 

 when they see a fruit that quite literally flies in their 

 faces of its own accord, they hesitate to attack the 

 uncanny vine which bristles with such magical and 

 almost miraculous defences. Moreover, the juice of the 

 bf[uirting cucumber is bitter and nauseous, and if it gets 

 into the eyes or nostrils of man or beast, it impresses 

 itself on the memory by stinging like red pepper. So 

 the trick of squirting serves in a double way as a pro- 

 tection to the plant against the attacks of herbivorous 

 animals and other enemies. 



But that's not all. Even when no enemy is near, the 



ripe fruits at hist drop off of themselves, and scatter their 



seeds elastically in every direction. This they do simply 



iiu order to disseminate their kind in now and unoccupied 



spots, where the seedlings will root and find an opening 



lin hfe for themselves. Observe, indeed, that the very 



word ' disseminate ' implies a general vague recognition 



[of this principle of plant-life on the part of humanity. 



