Seed- Carriers 267 



country ; and they did it with such energy, that within 

 a few years it was found necessary to pass an Act of 

 Parliament ' against the growth of thistles,' and all 

 persons allowing them to remain on their land, or even 

 on their half of the road, were made liable to heavy 

 fines. 



The ' Bathurst bur ' was in fact, from man's point 

 of view, a terrible nuisance ; but from its own, it was 

 .a peculiarly successful colonist. It had secured such a 

 change of air and change of soil as agreed with it 

 amazingly ; it had made use first of the horses, then 

 of man, to attain its object ; and finally, on reaching 

 the new continent, its downy seeds, being fully ripe, 

 had been launched on the winds, and borne hither and 

 thither to their new settlements. Their descendants, 

 again, had been carried yet further afield, and so with 

 giant strides it had advanced over the country — a most 

 successful plant ! 



The merino sheep has been similarly instrumental 

 in introducing another thistle-like plant to South 

 Africa. Indeed, plants with downy seeds have been 

 eminently successful, not only in dispersing their 

 offspring far and wide, but also in becoming natural- 

 ized — making themselves so thoroughly at home in 

 their new quarters that they are able to mature their 

 seed, and so to propagate their species without 

 artificial help. 



But birds are the great carriers ; and the migrants, 

 especially, transport such seeds as lay hold of them to 

 much greater distances than quadrupeds ever travel, 

 at least without the help of man. 



There is a species of sedge which grows by the 

 water in the highlands of Jamaica, whose fruit is 



