; 
i: 
_ fall over upon the ground. In either case the seeds are turned out 
— has si 
: supposition, for ] 
S the jar casein pe nicl ) rhe flowers are SD but the seeds are 
| fale held i in an apr ht basket where ines retained until me age 
288 BOTANICAL GAZETTE | APRIL 
SEED CRESTS AND MYRMECOPHILOUS DISSEMINATION 
IN CERTAIN PLANTS. 
A NUMBER of common plants have seeds with whitish fleshy appen- 
dages, varying in form and in the extent of attachment to the seed, but 
at most hardly forming more than a ridge on one side. 
In those plants in which dissemination is effected by mammals or 
birds which swallow the fruit, the fleshy coat completely covers the 
seed, at least in the ordinary cases, and we would hardly expect these 
creatures to be attracted by appendages of the limited size of ordinary 
seed crests. On the other hand, there seems to be no improbability of 
their being attractive to ants, and they form a very convenient handle 
by which the ants may seize and carry away the seeds. 
A long time ago I noticed that a follicle of Sanguinaria Canadensis 
had dropped its seeds in a cluster upon the ground. Returning to the 
spot a short time after I was surprised to find that all of the seeds were 
gone except one in the clutches of an ant which had already dragged 
it a few feet away. This case was reported verbally to Professor Tre- 
lease and was mentioned by him in a paper on myrmecophilism.’ 
Since that time I have frequently exposed seeds of Sanguinaria in sit- 
uations frequented by ants and have observed that these insects invari- 
ably seize the seeds and carry them away. On another occasion the 
contents of several fruits of Sanguinaria Canadensis, Uvularia grandi- 
flora, and Trillium recurvatum were placed in a run frequented by 
Formica fusca, and it was observed that all of the seeds were carri 
away in about an hour. 
The supposition that the plants depend upon the crests for dissem- 
ination is strengthened if it can be shown that they have no other 
means of seed dispersal. In Sanguinaria the follicles remain erect or 
upon the ground without being scattered. In Erythronium albidum, 
ae ccd similarly crested seeds, the capsule bends the: scape down so 
at, when it opens, the seeds roll out. : 
At first the case of Uoularia So seemed age to the 
