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F. E. Weiss. 
several germinated seeds of Ulex, but these and others in the 
neighbourhood might have got there by the force of dehiscence of 
the pod, as they were close to a mature gorse-bush. There were 
other seeds, particularly of grasses, which had germinated on one of 
the ant-hills, but these may easily have been blown there. I took 
away with me, however, about as much of the deeper portion of 
the ant-hill as would fill a litre measure, with a view of examining 
its seed-contents. This proved somewhat difficult from the many 
round seed-like particles of earth and wood and the innumerable 
small dry winter buds of the oak of which it consisted. I found 
that the best method of sorting out the seeds was to let them begin 
to germinate and then to pick out the seedlings with the seeds 
attached. In this way quite a number were separated out, and 1 
had the kind assistance of Miss E. M. Kershaw and of Mr. Clement 
Reid in their identification. Most of them, curiously enough, were 
the seeds of plants not considered myrmecochorous by Sernander, 
but as he points out in his monograph (p. 176), ants seem very 
indiscriminate in their choice of seeds, which in some cases may be 
used as building material. Also we must remember that many 
seeds which are carried by the wind (anemochorous), will be readily 
caught by the ant-hill, which rises above the surrounding vegetation, 
and will become covered up by the ants. This was probably the 
case with the fruits of Anthoxanthum odoratum (the Sweet Vernal 
Grass) of which twenty-seven fruits, with their awned glumes 
attached, were found in the portion of the nest analysed. Sernander 
states (p. 179) that he found twenty-two in one ant-hill of Lasius 
niger in Sweden and often saw them carrying the fruits along. On 
the whole however, we may, I think, attribute their presence largely 
to the wind. This is, I think, borne out by the fact that the fruit 
which was next in order of frequency was that of Hypochceris 
glabra (which is provided with a feathery pappus). Of this plant four 
fruits were found. I think we may probably also attribute the 
presence of fruits of Arrhenatherum (the False Oat) and Rumex crispus 
(the Dock) with fruiting perigon to the action of the wind. The 
seeds of Senebiera didyma, Cotyledon umbilicus, Stellaria Holostea, 
Luzula campestris, Conopodium denudatum and Ulex europceus, presu¬ 
mably owed their presence to the activity of the ants. Only one seed 
of each of these plants was found in the portion of the nest examined, 
and of these Ulex alone is considered myrmecochorous. Possibly 
earlier in the season the Ulex seeds might have been brought in 
greater quantity and then have been thrown out when the elaiosome 
