GATHERED BY THE WAY 
or bunch-berry, in the woods, to the red thorn in 
the fields, every fruit-bearing plant and shrub and 
tree seems to advertise itself to the passer-by in its 
bright hues. Apparently there is no other use to 
the plant of the fleshy pericarp than to serve as a 
bait or wage for some animal to come and sow its 
seed. Why, then, should it not take on these allur- 
ing colors to help along this end? And yet there 
comes the thought, may not this scarlet and gold of 
the berries and tree fruits be the inevitable result of 
the chemistry of ripening, as it is with the autumn 
foliage? What benefit to the tree, directly or in- 
directly, is all this wealth of color of the autumn? 
Many of the toadstools are highly colored also; how 
do they profit by it? Many of the shells upon the 
beach are very showy ; to what end? The cherry- 
birds find the pale ox-hearts as readily as they do the 
brilliant Murillos, and the dull blue cedar berries 
and the duller drupes of the lotus are not concealed 
from them nor from the robins. But it is true that 
the greenish white grapes in the vineyard do not 
suffer from the attacks of the birds as do the blue 
and red ones. The reason probably is that the birds 
regard them as unripe. The white grape is quite 
recent, and the birds have not yet “caught on.” 
Poisonous fruits are also highly colored; to what 
end? In Bermuda J saw on low bushes great masses 
of what they called “pigeon-berries” of a brilliant 
yellow color and very tempting, yet I was assured 
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