tv.] SEEDS WHICH MIMIC ANIMALS 93 



fruits. The pods of Lotus, for instance, quaintly 

 resemble a bird's foot, even to the toes ; those of 

 Hippocrepis a horse-shoe ; those of Trapa bicornis 

 have an absurd resemblance to the skeleton of a 

 bull's head. These likenesses appear to be accidental, 

 but there are some which probably are of use to the 

 plant. For instance there are two species of Scorpi- 

 urus. Fig. 57, the pods of which lie on the ground, and 

 so curiously resemble the one (6". subvillosa. Fig. 57, 

 a) a centipede, the other {S. vermiculata, Fig. 57, U) 

 a worm or caterpillar, that it is almost impossible 

 not to suppose that the likeness must be of some use 

 to the plant. The seeds of some Mallows resemble 

 small caterpillars and centipedes ; those of Melam- 

 pyrum Ant cocoons. May it not be possible that in 

 these cases birds carry the seeds some little distance 

 before they find out that they are not really insects ? 



The pod of Biserrula peleanus (Fig. 58) also 

 has a striking resemblance to a flattened centipede ; 

 while the seeds of Abrus precatorius, both in size and 

 in their very striking colour, mimic a small beetle, 

 Artemis circumusta. 



Mr. Moore has recently called attention to other 

 cases of this kind. Thus the seed of Martynia 

 diandm much resembles a beetle with long antennae ; 

 several species of Lupins have seeds much like spiders, 

 and those of Dimorphochlamys, a gourdlike plant, 

 mimic a piece of dry twig. In the common Castor 

 Oil plants (Fig. 58^), though the resemblance is not 

 so close, still at a first glance the seeds might readily 

 be taken for beetles or ticks. In many Euphorbi- 

 aceous plants, as for instance in Jatropha (Fig. 58^), 



