Seed-Scattering 253 



hazel are shot out to a distance of from twenty to 

 five-and-forty feet. 



If, when these and other similar seeds are discharged, 

 a strong wind should happen to be blowing, they may 

 of course be carried much further ; and even if it be 

 not to any really great distance, yet it will give them 

 an advantage ; their descendants will advance further 

 still, and thus, in the course of generations, the plants 

 may spread over very wide areas. 



Even individual seeds transported by the wind do 

 not always accomplish the whole of their journey * all 

 in a breath ' ; for the wind comes in successive waves, 

 not in one continuous blast. 



Of a hundred seeds carried off by the wind, all will 

 be dropped when the first lull comes, and when the 

 next gust or wave rises, probably not more than half 

 will be lifted up again to continue their journey; at the 

 third wave, perhaps ten will be caught up again, but 

 at the fourth or fifth, probably not a single one, for 

 they will have been dropped upon damp earth, or 

 water, into cracks, under bushes, or upon moss, all of 

 which act as traps, and, once caught, do not readily 

 give them up again, even to the most violent 

 blast. 



Of course, the lighter the seeds, the better chance 

 they have of being carried far, unless they are caught 

 in these ways; and some few seeds, such as those of 

 the orchids, are so exceedingly minute and light, that 

 no mere lull in the wind is enough to make them drop, 

 for they manage to float even in the still, draughtless 

 air of a hot-house. In this respect they resemble the 

 spores of ferns, mosses and fungi, which can hardly 

 come to the ground at all except when the air is 



