16 
ANNIVERSARY ADDRESS 
that this provision is not of service in the dissemination of the 
plant, for the spores on being carried over a damp soil, where they 
flourish, will fall on account of their increased density. The 
spores of the Fungi are microscopic, and are easily dispersed by 
the faintest breeze. In the Phalloidei, however, the spores are 
involved in a slimy mucus which renders their diffusion by such 
means less probable. This mucus is, however, exceedingly attractive 
to insects, which possibly may swallow and drop the spores in the 
same way as birds do seeds. 
Conclusion. 
In concluding my Address, I feel that I have scarcely more than 
touched upon the threshold of a vast subject which must ever 
increase with the growth of man’s knowledge off the mutual 
relations of plants to animals, combined with those of plants to 
one another. 
Nettles are protected from herbivorous animals by the sting, but 
possibly their very abundance and comparative freedom from such 
interference have led to their being the food-plant of so many 
lepidopterous larvae, which, in the imago stage, fertilize plants. 
The nectar on the leaflet^ of the bull’s-horn thorn provides a 
bountiful supply of food to the ants (.Pseudomyrma bicolor), which 
occupy its hollow thorns, and which form a standing army of defence 
against leaf-cutting ants, caterpillars, and grazing animals. Other 
ants (Lasius flavus) convey the eggs of aphides to their nests during 
winter, and, after sheltering them with the greatest care, place the 
resulting young ones during March on the young shoots of the 
daisy. Yet these ants, like others, must confer a benefit to all 
vegetation by removing the honey-dew from the surface of leaves. 
Grazing animals are the greatest enemies of the grasses, yet the 
finest grasses are found in pastures, without being placed there by 
man. Again, how would the rank growth of those plants be pre¬ 
vented if not by animals? And if not prevented, would not the 
air and light be shut off from the young shoots ? May not the 
snails and slugs, which destroy indiscriminately so many young 
plants whether they be weak or strong, be the means of preventing 
the predominance of a few species ? If this be the case, may not 
snails and slugs be regarded as enemies of the few and friends of 
the many ? May not the larvae of the saw-flies which attack our 
rosebuds prevent the plant from over-blooming ? May not the 
aphides which flourish on sickly growths improve the species of 
the plant by eliminating the least fit ? When, therefore, we speak 
of the means of protection possessed by plants, we feel that only 
