| → fresh-water 1859 1860 1861 1866 1872 |
| the same fresh-water 1869 |
|
| → vast distances, and if consequently the range of these plants was not very great. 1859 1860 1861 1866 |
| unstocked ponds and streams, situated at very distant points. 1869 1872 |
|
| → in pellets or in excrement, many hours afterwards. 1859 1860 1861 1866 1869 |
| many hours afterwards in pellets or in the excrement. 1872 |
|
| → this 1859 1860 1861 1866 1869 |
| the distribution of this 1872 |
|
| → its distribution 1859 1860 1861 1866 1869 |
| the means of its dispersal 1872 |
|
| → although I do not know the fact, yet analogy makes me believe that a heron flying to another pond and 1859 1860 1861 1866 1869 |
| Now this bird must often have flown with its stomach thus well stocked to distant ponds, and then 1872 |
|
| → would probably reject from its stomach a pellet containing 1859 1860 1861 1866 1869 |
| analogy makes me believe that it would have rejected 1872 |
|
| → of the Nelumbium undigested; or the seeds might be dropped by the bird whilst feeding its young, in the same way as fish are known sometimes to be dropped. 1859 1860 1861 1866 1869 |
| in a pellet in a fit state for germination. 1872 |
|
|
of many kinds, and were altogether 537 in number; and yet the viscid mud was all contained in a breakfast cup! Considering these facts, I think it would be an inexplicable circumstance if water-birds did not transport the seeds of
→fresh-water
plants to
→vast distances, and if consequently the range of these plants was not very great. The same agency may have come into play with the eggs of some of the smaller fresh-water animals. |
|
| Other and unknown agencies probably have also played a part. I have stated that fresh-water fish eat some kinds of seeds, though they reject many other kinds after having swallowed them; even small fish swallow seeds of moderate size, as of the yellow water-lily and Potamogeton. Herons and other birds, century after century, have gone on daily devouring fish; they then take flight and go to other waters, or are blown across the sea; and we have seen that seeds retain their power of germination, when rejected
→in pellets or in excrement, many hours afterwards. When I saw the great size of the seeds of that fine water-lily, the Nelumbium, and remembered Alph. de
remarks on
→this
plant, I thought that
→its distribution
must remain
inexplicable; but Audubon states that he found the seeds of the great southern water-lily (probably, according to Dr. Hooker, the Nelumbium luteum) in a
→although I do not know the fact, yet analogy makes me believe that a heron flying to another pond and
getting a hearty meal of fish,
→would probably reject from its stomach a pellet containing
the seeds
→of the Nelumbium undigested; or the seeds might be dropped by the bird whilst feeding its young, in the same way as fish are known sometimes to be dropped.
|
|
| In considering these several means of distribution,
|
