58 
SEED DISPERSAL. 
future study some pods of the Chinese wistaria, and left 
them on my desk in the library for the night. The house 
was heated by a hot-air furnace. In the morning the 
pods were in great confusion ; most of them had split 
and curled up, and the seeds were scattered all about the 
room. As usual the little daughter, an only child, was 
accused of spoiling my specimens, but she showed her 
innocence. A little investigation and a few experiments 
with some pods not yet opened explained the whole 
matter satisfactorily. The stout pods grow and ripen in 
a highly strained condition, with a strong tendency to 
burst spirally, the two half-pods being ready to coil and 
spring in opposite directions; when the valves can no 
longer hold together, they snap wdtli a sharp noise and 
sling the heavy seeds, giving them a good send-off into 
the world. As a pair of birds build a nest, hatch eggs, 
rear their young, and then send them forth to seek their 
fortunes, so for months the mother plant had labored, 
had produced and matured seeds, which at last it scat- 
tered broadcast. Goethe, Kerner von Marilaun, each in- 
dependently, and very likely others, had an experience 
with ripe pods brought to a warm room very similar 
to my own. In many cases the ripe and drying fruits 
are “ touched off ” by wind jostling the branches or 
by animals passing among them ; in the latter case 
there is a chance that a portion of the discharges will 
be lodged somewhere on the animal and be carried 
along with it. 
