CHAPTER IX. 
SOME REASONS FOR PLANT MIGRATION. 
53. Plants are not charitable beings. — Man uses to his 
advantage a large number of plants, but there appears to 
be no evidence that the schemes for their dispersion were 
designed for anything except to benefit the plants them- 
selves. The elegant foliage and beautiful flowers, the 
great diversity of attractive seeds and fruits, all point to 
plants as strictly selfish beings, if I may so use the term ; 
and not to plants as works of charity, to be devoured by 
animals without any compensation. By fertilizing flowers, 
by distributing plants, and by other helpful acts, animals 
pay for at least a portion of the damage they do. 
By an almost infinite number of devices, we have seen 
that seeds and fruits flee from the parental spot on the 
wings of the wind, float on currents of ocean, lake, and 
river. They are shot by bursting pods and capsules in 
every direction. With hooks, barbs, and glands they cling 
to the covering of animals. Allured by brilliant colors, 
birds and other animals seek and devour the fruits of 
many plants, the seeds of which are preserved from harm 
by a solid armor ; these seeds are then sown broadcast 
over the land, ready to start new colonies. Nuts are often 
carried by squirrels for long distances, and there securely 
